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Monday, October 5, 2026

Space Minds: Rethinking risk with electronics for space

10/05/2026

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In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss speaks with Ken Stoler, the space business development lead for Arrow. They discuss how spacecraft designers and operators have changed their attitudes toward risk, how the move toward massive megaconstellations has started to impact purchasing behavior in the space supply chain and the challenges and constraints of adding more AI-enabling computing power to spacecraft. This episode of the podcast was sponsored by Arrow.

Rethinking risk with electronics for space

FROM THE CONVERSATION

Mike Gruss: How different are the electronics that are going into satellites from 10 or maybe even 20 years ago? There's always this sense that particularly 15, 20 years ago, these were very exquisite satellites built for maybe a single purpose and maybe there would be a few of them launched a year. Now, obviously, those numbers are very different

Ken Stoler: You you hit the nail on the head. Ten, 20 years ago, everything was boutique. The nature of the design was very hardened so that the amount of failure was limited to zero failure. Whereas now, customers are realizing that they can have a certain amount of failure if they build redundancy and resilience into their designs.

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The Army ramps up its space efforts

10/05/2026

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By Jeff Foust

In this today's edition: the U.S. Army ramps up its space efforts, a former NASA official joins Blue Origin, The Exploration Company scouts launch sites for a future heavy-lift rocket and more.

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FROM SPACENEWS

Top Stories

The U.S. Army is putting nearly $67 million into systems intended to make it harder for adversaries to target American forces. The Army announced last week it awarded agreements totaling $66.6 million to five companies to create prototypes for an Army effort known as counter surveillance and reconnaissance. It is intended to protect troops and equipment from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance threats, keeping an adversary's network of sensors from turning what it sees into targeting information for weapons. The companies will develop and deliver prototypes over the next 18 to 20 months. [SpaceNews]

More than 600 soldiers have joined the Army's new space operations career field. The soldiers officially reclassified last week as 40D Tactical Space Operations Specialists, a new military occupational specialty created to build a career path for enlisted personnel who work on space missions. The Army selected the first group from nearly 3,000 applicants, with many coming from military intelligence, air defense artillery and the Signal Corps. The change is part of a broader effort by the Army to make space expertise a permanent part of the force, rather than borrowing soldiers from other career fields who would work on space temporarily before returning to their original branches. Army leaders have sought to distinguish its space workforce from the much larger space mission assigned to the Space Force, with its focus on integrating space capabilities into Army operations and preventing an adversary from freely exploiting its space assets against soldiers. [SpaceNews]

German defense contractor Rheinmetall and Italian space company Argotec launched the first satellite developed under a new partnership. The satellite was carried into orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission last Thursday. The companies said the satellite is intended to identify activity on the ground associated with potential airborne threats and provide early warning to military personnel. The satellite is the first for a planned constellation, although the companies have not disclosed the size of the constellation or details about the sensors they will carry. [SpaceNews]

A former NASA associate administrator for science is joining Blue Origin. The company announced Friday that Thomas Zurbuchen will start Monday as the new senior vice president for advanced concepts. He will lead an advanced concepts group that works on a variety of projects, including efforts to prospect for and make use of lunar resources. Zurbuchen led NASA's science programs from 2016 to 2022 and for the last three years led a new space initiative at ETH Zurich, a Swiss university. [SpaceNews]

The Pentagon's head of space policy has left the department. Marc Berkowitz had been assistant secretary of defense for space policy since January but reportedly left last week. The Defense Department did not give a reason for his sudden and unannounced departure, although one source said that he clashed with his boss, Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy. Berkowitz's deputy, Michael Gancio, is serving as acting assistant secretary. [Breaking Defense]

Other News

The Exploration Company is considering launch sites in the Middle East for its proposed heavy-lift rocket. The European company announced this summer it was working on an engine called Storm that could be used on a future large launch vehicle, although the company has provided few specifics about the vehicle or the schedule for developing it. At a spaceport meeting Sunday, a company official said it anticipated strong demand for the vehicle, particularly outside the United States. The company is in talks about establishing a launch site for the vehicle somewhere in the Middle East, acknowledging that export controls will be a major hurdle to overcome. [SpaceNews]

HyImpulse has secured a license for launches from SaxaVord Spaceport. The company said last week it received a Launch Operator Licence from the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority, allowing it to finalize plans with regulators for a launch of its SR75 suborbital rocket from SaxaVord next spring. The company said the license will also set a regulatory framework of its future SL1 orbital rocket from SaxaVord. The license came the same day as Orbex, another company that planned to launch from SaxaVord, sold much intellectual property and manufacturing assets to a Portuguese space technology company, Omnidea. Orbex filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and Omnidea said it would use the Orbex facilities and technologies to expand its work in space systems, including launch. [SpaceNews]

Sweden's Esrange Space Center is preparing for a busy period of launch activity as it seeks to host orbital launches. Those launches include several hop tests of the European Space Agency's Themis reusable rocket demonstrator along with a series of sounding rocket flights. Esrange is preparing for its first orbital launches, with SSC announcing an agreement last month with Firefly Aerospace to purchase two Alpha launches from the center no earlier than 2028. Swedish lawmakers have expressed concern the country is falling behind its neighbor Norway, whose Andøya spaceport conducted its first successful orbital launch last month by Isar Aerospace. Norwegian officials, meanwhile, announced last week plans to spend $65 million on a second orbital launch pad at Andøya after worries Norway might fall behind other countries, including Sweden. [SpaceNews]

SpaceX scrubbed a planned launch overnight of a set of Space Development Agency satellites. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was scheduled for 4:17 a.m. Eastern on Monday, but the launch was scrubbed after an issue in the final minute of the countdown. The launch has been rescheduled for no earlier than Tuesday at the same time. The rocket is carrying a set of Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites for the SDA. [Spaceflight Now]

A Crew Dragon spacecraft will depart the ISS no earlier than Wednesday. NASA announced over the weekend that the Crew Dragon for the Crew-12 mission will undock at 1:05 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, pending suitable weather at the splashdown site off the California coast. Splashdown is scheduled for Thursday at 11:25 a.m. Eastern. NASA had hoped for Crew-12 to depart as soon as Monday, but cited conditions at the splashdown locations as the reason for the slip. [NASA]

The Week Ahead

Monday:

Washington/Online: AIAA and the National Academy of Engineering hold the annual Yvonne C. Brill Lecture in Aerospace Engineering on "Rotorcraft – The New Frontier in Extraplanetary Exploration" at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Monday-Wednesday:

Dubai, UAE: The Satexpo event, part of the CABSAT 2026 conference, will discuss satellite business and technology issues.

Monday-Friday:

Antalya, Turkey: The 77th International Astronautical Congress includes panels and technical sessions on a wide range of civil and commercial space topics.

Monday-Saturday:

Various: World Space Week features events worldwide with the theme of "Rocket Revolution."

Tuesday:

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Rescheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying a set of Space Development Agency Tracking Layer Tranche 1 satellites at 4:17 a.m. Eastern.
Naro Space Center, South Korea: Projected launch of a KSLV-2 rocket carrying the NeonSat-2 satellite and several other payloads at 11:23 p.m. Eastern.

Tuesday-Thursday:

Irvine, Calif./Online: The National Academies' Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences holds its fall 2026 meeting to discuss NASA planetary science programs and research.

Wednesday:

International Space Station: Scheduled departure of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to conclude the Crew-12 mission at 1:05 a.m. Eastern.

Thursday:

Online: GSOA holds a webinar on "From Liftoff to Last Mile: How the Rocket Revolution Is Transforming the Satellite Ecosystem" at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Thursday-Friday:

Boulder, Colo./Online: The Venus Exploration Analysis Group holds its 24th meeting to discuss Venus research and missions.

Friday:

Wenchang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 12 with an undisclosed payload at 3:25 p.m. Eastern.

Saturday:

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 7 p.m. Eastern.