| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: the Air Force adds billions to a Raytheon contract, a startup files for an 88,000-satellite orbital data center constellation, soaring demand for geospatial intelligence services and more.
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The Air Force has added $2 billion to a Raytheon contract for terminals that connect to the military's most secure satellite communications network. The Strategic Communications Division of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center announced Friday it raised the ceiling on a 2021 contract award to Raytheon for Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) terminals from $960 million to nearly $3 billion. The contract covers equipment installed on aircraft, ground stations and command posts that allows them to connect to the AEHF constellation. Those satellites provide highly encrypted, jam-resistant communications links designed to operate in contested environments. [SpaceNews]
With the National Space Council no longer active, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has stepped in to coordinate space policy. While the first Trump administration revived the council in 2017 as a forum for interagency coordination on space, the White House disbanded the council in an executive order in December. At a conference last week, an OSTP official said the office has taken on the role of "coordinator and integrator" for space policy. OSTP is responsible for implementing many of the policy provisions in that December executive order, from a space nuclear strategy to potential updates to national space transportation policy. [SpaceNews]
Eutelsat has ended capacity leases on two Russian spacecraft after one failed in orbit and the other is set to relocate. Eutelsat had planned to lease capacity for at least three more years from Express-AT1 and Express-AT2, two Russian satellites in GEO, but Express-AT1 malfunctioned earlier this month. Eutelsat said it expected only a "low single-digit million" loss of revenue that would be offset by lower costs by terminating the leases. It allows Eutelsat to get out of contracts hit by Western sanctions and the structural decline in TV broadcasts. [SpaceNews]
Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is driving demand for commercial geospatial intelligence services. The busy shipping corridor has become a contested maritime environment where governments, energy companies, insurers and militaries are trying to understand events as they unfold. One geospatial intelligence company, Danti, said the crisis is driving demand for tools that combine satellite imagery with other sources of intelligence, such as radio-frequency and other signals data and automatic identification system (AIS) ship tracking feeds. Danti says AI analysis of that data can help detect trends early. [SpaceNews]
A startup has filed plans with the FCC for a constellation of up to 88,000 orbital data center satellites. The FCC accepted for filing Friday an application by Starcloud for that constellation, which would feature spacecraft operating in a series of low Earth orbits to provide computation for AI models and other services. The application provided few details about the satellites themselves, such as their size. Starcloud launched a smallsat last November with an Nvidia processor for testing AI models and is working on a second, commercial satellite for launch in 2027. The filing comes after SpaceX proposed in late January an orbital data center constellation of up to one million satellites. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese state-owned space contractor has unveiled a concept for an "economical lunar cargo transport" system. At a conference exhibit last week, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology showed off plans for a family of cargo landers capable of delivering between 120 and 5,000 kilograms to the lunar surface. The tiered payload classes suggest a logistics architecture capable of supporting regular cargo deliveries to the lunar surface, suggesting a shift in China from single flagship lander missions. SAST has developed a prototype that has performed takeoff and landing tests. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
China performed two launches within 24 hours. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 9:22 a.m. Eastern Sunday, putting the Yaogan-50 (02) satellite into a retrograde orbit. The satellite is described as a remote sensing satellite, likely with military applications. A Kuaizhou-11 lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:12 a.m. Eastern Monday, placing eight satellites into orbit. The satellites include one from a Chinese university that will test a robotic arm. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX also conducted two more Starlink launches within 24 hours. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:57 a.m. Eastern Friday, putting 25 Starlink satellites into orbit. A second lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:37 a.m. Eastern Saturday, carrying 29 Starlink satellites. [Space.com]
Astroscale will launch an active debris removal mission on an Isar Aerospace rocket. Astroscale said Friday it signed a contract with Isar for the launch of the ELSA-M spacecraft on a Spectrum rocket in Astroscale's 2028 fiscal year, which begins in May 2027. ELSA-M, being built by Astroscale's U.K. subsidiary, will deorbit a OneWeb satellite. Isar is gearing up the its second Spectrum launch as soon as Thursday. [SpaceNews]
The first field test of Leonardo's Michelangelo "security dome" architecture will take place in Ukraine this year. Michelangelo, first announced in November 2025, is Leonardo's proposal for an integrated, multi-domain structure spanning air, land, maritime and space. It will include the company's Space Guardian constellation of 20 Earth observation satellites under development for launch in 2027 and 2028. Michelangelo is emerging within a broader wave of European initiatives aimed at strengthening air and missile defense capabilities, although it is unclear if these various efforts are being coordinated. [SpaceNews]
Northern California startup iMetalX emerged from stealth to announce a partnership to help model space objects. The startup is working with Psionic, partnering that company's Space Navigation Doppler Lidar with iMetalX's Asgard data and simulation platform. The combination of those tools will give customers the ability to create accurate 3D models of resident space objects in minutes. Its development of software for space battle management comes after iMetalX was originally founded to work on 3D printing and metallurgy. [SpaceNews]
An Indian navigation satellite has failed. ISRO said the atomic clock on its IRNSS-1F satellite shut down, keeping it from broadcasting navigation signals. The satellite is part of India's NavIC system that provides navigational services in and around India using several satellites in geosynchronous orbit. With the failure of IRNSS-1F, only three satellites are providing NavIC services. Indian officials previously said the system required at least four working satellites. [Indian Express]
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has endorsed reclassifying Pluto as a planet. In an interview, he said he supported "President Trump making Pluto great again." Pluto, considered the ninth planet at the time of its 1930 discovery, was redesignated as a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in a controversial vote of its membership in 2006. It is unclear what the president could do to change that; any executive order on the topic would not be binding on the IAU. [The Daily Mail]
| | | | | | The Week Ahead
Monday: -
International Space Station: The Progress MS-31 spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the station at 9:24 a.m. Eastern. -
Teleconference: NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) holds its first quarterly meeting of 2026 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
-
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:37 p.m. Eastern.
Monday-Friday: Tuesday: Wednesday: -
International Space Station: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams perform a spacewalk starting at 8 a.m. Eastern to prepare the station for the installation of a new solar array. -
Online: The Mitchell Institute's Schriever Spacepower Series hosts a talk by Space Force Maj. Gen. Samuel Keener at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Wednesday-Friday: Thursday: Friday: Sunday: -
Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Scheduled launch of the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft to the ISS on a Soyuz-2.1a at 7:59 a.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:43 a.m. Eastern.
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