Missions & Constellations
Compliance Becomes the New Gatekeeper for Space Startups
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The SmallSat Symposium traditionally showcases hardware and orbital mechanics, but this year a different theme emerged. As the commercial space sector deepens ties with the Department of Defense, the focus is shifting from pure innovation to ...
SmallSat Launch Prices Rise as Competitors Stall on the Pad
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The era of cheap, plentiful, and diverse access to space was supposed to be here by now. Instead, the industry arrived at the 2026 SmallSat Symposium only to find itself trapped in a bottleneck of its ...
The Benign Era is Over: Why the Commercial Space Sector Just Woke Up on the Front Lines
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For the past decade the SmallSat industry operated under a comforting delusion that low Earth orbit was a sanctuary where commercial operators could move fast, break things, and prioritize automotive-grade electronics over military-grade hardening. Dr. Paul ...
The New Space Playbook Faces a Physics Cliff at the Moon
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For the past decade, the commercial space sector has benefited from a benign era defined by a quiescent sun and the protective magnetosphere of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This stability allowed companies to prioritize speed and ...
From Sandbox to Shield: The SmallSat Industry Grows Up
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. If the mood at past SmallSat Symposiums was defined by exuberant experimentation, this year feels different. The energy has not vanished, but it has matured. During the session Engineering the Future Spacecraft, a clear signal emerged ...
From SmallSat Gold Rush to Fortress: The Militarization of Commercial Space
Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium: The era of the slide-deck billionaire is dead. Attendees entering the Small Satellites: Trends and Opportunities session expecting standard futurism about connecting the unconnected or democratizing the stars were likely disappointed. The mood at SmallSat Symposium ...
Kepler Communications’ next-generation optical data relay constellation launched
Kepler Communications has successfully launched the first operational tranche of its next-generation optical data relay constellation. The mission, carried out aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, successfully deployed ten 300-kilogram-class satellites into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit ...
Space: Disproving the Known
By early 2026, the data streaming back from our expanded orbital neighborhood has moved beyond merely filling in gaps in our knowledge; it is fundamentally challenging long-held scientific certainties. From the earliest moments of the universe to the chemical makeup ...
Expanding Beyond our “Urban” Satellite Congestion
The Yogi maxim "No one goes there anymore, it’s too crowded," matches a massive strategic shift in the space industry. The "crowded restaurant" of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is driving a significant expansion into what experts call the "Expanded Neighborhood" ...
Space Is Hard But It’s Always Sunny in Orbit
That "always sunny" optimism is exactly what's fueling the most audacious pivot in the space industry right now. It's certainly true that as of early 2026, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have become much more than just entrepreneurs. They are ...
Muon Space ramps up multi-mission satellite constellations
On February 4, 2026, Muon Space announced a major transition from executing discrete satellite missions to the sustained deployment of multi-mission constellations. This strategic shift follows a period of rapid growth for the Silicon Valley startup, which reported a 100 ...
OHB Hellas’ Versal Orbital HPC hardware collaboration with Parsimoni’s Satellite App Store,
On February 4, 2026, OHB Hellas and Parsimoni announced a strategic joint project to launch a secure, sovereign in-orbit software platform designed to accelerate value creation for European space missions. This collaboration integrates OHB Hellas’ Versal Orbital HPC hardware with ...
NASA Launches “Space to Soil” Challenge to Pioneer Onboard AI for Earth Observation
On January 30, 2026, the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) officially opened the Space to Soil Challenge, an initiative inviting the global SmallSat community to propose mission concepts that leverage adaptive sensing and onboard artificial intelligence (AI). The challenge ...
ST Engineering Unveils Advanced Satellite Roadmap at Space Summit 2026
During the Space Summit 2026, ST Engineering announced an ambitious expansion of its space program, introducing three major satellite initiatives—NEBULA, NeuSAR-2, and POLARIS—designed to bolster Singapore’s sovereign capabilities in high-speed communications and Earth observation. NEBULA: Pioneering Gigabit Laser Communications Scheduled ...
Midnight and Spacecoin Partner to Secure Global Communications via Decentralized Satellite Network
Targeting the growing gap between encrypted application layers and vulnerable terrestrial infrastructure, Spacecoin and the Midnight Foundation announced a partnership on January 29, 2026, to develop a private peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging platform. Screenshot The collaboration aims to bypass traditional internet ...
SSTL and Oxford Space Systems Achieve Successful In-Orbit Deployment of CarbSAR Antenna
On January 29, 2026, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and Oxford Space Systems (OSS) confirmed the successful in-orbit deployment of the Wrapped Rib Antenna aboard the CarbSAR In-Orbit Demonstration mission. This milestone marks the first flight heritage for the OSS ...
TeraWave: Blue Origin Enters the High-Capacity Backbone Market with 6 Tbps Constellation
In a strategic expansion that shifts its focus from launch services to orbital infrastructure, Blue Origin announced on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, the development of "TeraWave"—a multi-orbit satellite communications network. Designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 ...
Russian “Starlink” Launch Pushed to 2026 Amid Production Shortfalls
In a report released on Friday, January 23, 2026, the Russian aerospace company Bureau 1440 announced the postponement of its initial deployment of 16 high-speed internet satellites. Originally scheduled for late 2025, the launch of the first batch for the ...
Blue Origin Completes Critical Acoustic Qualification for Blue Moon MK1 Using Direct Field Technology
The test utilized a portable, high-intensity loudspeaker array to simulate the ascent environment, replacing traditional shaker-table methods for the massive lunar vehicle ...
KAI, Hanwha Systems Vie for ROK Military’s 40-Satellite SAR Constellation Contract
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Systems are competing for a 1.2 trillion won ($850 million) military contract to construct a 40-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, with the South Korean government piloting a rare "develop-first, select-later" procurement strategy to ...
