Astronomy Prints 🌌

Monday, June 8, 2026

Space Minds: Delian Asparouhov and Philip Johnston on the case for orbital data centers

06/08/2026

Watch and listen to the Space Minds podcast by SpaceNews

Hire the space industry’s top talent: Need to grow your team quickly? Reach qualified candidates on the SpaceNews Job Exchange. Post your job now.

This episode of Space Minds is from SpaceNews’ recent event on orbital data centers. There, Jeff Foust talks with talks with Founders Fund’s Delian Asparouhov about why he’s warming to orbital data centers. And in the second half, Jeff chats with Philip Johnston, CEO of Starcloud.

Delian Asparouhov and Philip Johnston on making the case for orbital data centers

FROM THE CONVERSATION

“Even if you assume that the terrestrial cost doesn’t go up — which I think it almost certainly will — there’s still a point in the next five years where the cost of doing this in space is cheaper than terrestrially."

—Philip Johnson, cofounder and CEO, Starcloud

FROM SPACENEWS

The first SpaceNews mobile app is now available on Apple and Android devices. Now, you can get our latest coverage of the companies, policies, tech and trends shaping the business of space whenever you want to catch up quickly. Choose your key topics and authors to curate your personalized My SpaceNews feed and save articles for offline reading. Or download the most recent issue of SpaceNews magazine and tune in to our Space Minds podcasts. It's all in the SpaceNews app.

Download the app

📨 Don't miss what's next. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters:

NEW SpaceNews Mission Brief: Orbital Data Centers: A series explaining the latest developments in the rapid race to conceive, finance, develop and launch the future of on-orbit computing.

Europe Report: Tracking the policy landscape, investment climate and regional priorities driving Europe’s space ambitions.

First Up: Every weekday morning, Jeff Foust delivers the day's most important industry headlines.

Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin with weekly news and insights for the military space professional.

China Report: Biweekly news and analysis from correspondent Andrew Jones on business, politics and technology in the Chinese space industry.

SpaceNews Mission Brief: Golden Dome: Explaining the Golden Dome initiative and what it means for the space industry.

Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing and advertising trends for industry communications leaders.

Editor’s Choice: Our most important recent stories you may have missed, with background and insights from editors, reporters and contributors.

Opinions: A weekly digest of the latest commentary and analysis.

SpaceNews This Week: The week’s top headlines and our conference coverage.

Subscribe to SpaceNews

This email has been sent to generalastronomy110.stnirp@blogger.com because you previously opted in to receive emails from SpaceNews. Unsubscribe here. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters.

SpaceNews.com | Advertise with SpaceNews
Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions

Exclusive: Startup valuations soar as 30 companies now hold unicorn status

06/08/2026

EXCLUSIVE

Space startup valuations soar as 30 companies now hold unicorn status

A new analysis by SpaceNews counts 30 privately held space companies with unicorn status, meaning they are valued at $1 billion or more. Roughly two-thirds achieved that status since the beginning of 2025. Notably, more than half of those that became unicorns since January were founded within the past five years.

In the absence of a widely accepted global list of space unicorns, SpaceNews compiled its own data using public disclosures, company statements, conversations with sources and reports from around the world.— By Jason Rainbow

Read Now

Subscribe to SpaceNews

This email has been sent to generalastronomy110.stnirp@blogger.com because you previously opted in to receive breaking news alerts from SpaceNews. Unsubscribe here. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters.

SpaceNews.com | Advertise with SpaceNews
Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions

NASA's interest in reboosting Hubble

06/08/2026

READ IN BROWSER

Hire the space industry’s top talent: Need to grow your team quickly? Reach qualified candidates on the SpaceNews Job Exchange. Post your job now.

By Jeff Foust

In today's edition: NewOrbit raises funding for VLEO satellites, NASA's interest in reboosting Hubble, another Falcon 9 reuse record and more.

If someone forwarded you this edition, sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday. Have thoughts or feedback? You can hit reply to let me know.

Top Stories

Astronauts on the International Space Station briefly sheltered in a Dragon spacecraft docked there Friday due to concerns about Russian work to repair an air leak. NASA instructed the four members of Crew-12, along with a NASA astronaut who flew to the ISS on a Soyuz, to go to the Crew Dragon there shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern Friday. NASA said the move was prompted by repair work two Russian cosmonauts were doing in a part of the Zvezda service module that has suffered long-running but small air leaks. Those leaks had increased in recent days, leading Roscosmos to try repairs. Astronauts left the Dragon less than two hours later after Roscosmos called off the repairs and elected to collect data. NASA later said it was concerned that the planned work "could have resulted in elevated risk to the structure in the area." The agency said it will work with Roscosmos and the other partners to "assess and ensure" a solution to the air leaks. [SpaceNews]

Luxembourg's OQ Technology plans to test direct-to-smartphone satellite connectivity in Germany next year. The company announced a partnership Monday with Telefonica Germany to demonstrate two-way messaging and voice capabilities between a small satellite slated to launch in the first half of 2027 and standard, unmodified smartphones. The test will use cellular spectrum assigned to Telefonica. The trial would follow SpaceX's early direct-to-device (D2D) progress using cellular spectrum from partners across multiple countries to connect smartphones via about 650 specialized Starlink satellites. [SpaceNews]

NewOrbit Space, a UK startup developing satellites for very low Earth orbit (VLEO), has raised $18.5 million. The company announced the Series A round Monday led by Voyager Ventures with participation from several other firms and individuals. The funding will allow NewOrbit to fly its first mission in 2028, demonstrating a spacecraft design intended to operate at altitudes below 300 kilometers. NewOrbit is the latest company to pursue plans for VLEO satellites, which offer benefits like improved imaging resolution and communications performance but face technical challenges addressing atmospheric drag at those altitudes. [SpaceNews]

Italian ground segment operator Leaf Space is working with D-Orbit and Endurosat on a new space connectivity service. The technology, named TreeNet, aims to make space communications more seamless by treating individual satellites as nodes in an interconnected communications network. Endurosat and D-Orbit will deploy four satellites with TreeNet nodes in the first half of 2027, with commercial service set to begin by the end of 2027. [SpaceNews]

NASA is open to reboosting the Hubble Space Telescope provided its operating costs can be reduced. The agency is preparing a mission to raise the orbit of the Swift gamma-ray observatory spacecraft, which will reenter as soon as the end of the year if it is not reboosted. An agency official said last week that the cost of the Swift mission is lower than expected, opening the door to doing something similar with Hubble, which is projected to reenter in the 2030s. However, NASA said doing so would require steps to reduce the nearly $100 million annual cost of operating Hubble to free up funds for new missions. [SpaceNews]

Axiom Space unveiled the design of another part of the lunar spacesuit it is developing in partnership with Prada. The companies showed off Sunday the design of the suit's inner layer, called the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment, which includes a water cooling system to keep astronauts from overheating. Prada, which worked with Axiom on the design of the suit's outer layer, is providing its expertise in materials and production for the inner layer. Axiom said development of the suit is on schedule after NASA's inspector general warned that the suit might not be ready until after the end of the decade. NASA wants to test the suit in space next year, either on the Artemis 3 mission or on the International Space Station. [SpaceNews]

Other News

Thirty space companies are "unicorns," a term for a privately held company with a valuation of at least $1 billion. An analysis shows that two-thirds of those companies achieved unicorn status since 2025, and more than half of the companies that became unicorns since January were founded within the past five years. The surge shows how investor expectations are moving beyond launch and classic satellite businesses into orbital data centers, space stations and other infrastructure once considered too speculative even for venture capitalists. [SpaceNews]

SpaceX launched two more sets of Starlink satellites over the weekend. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:24 a.m. Eastern Sunday. That launch carried 21 Starlink satellites as well as two Starshield satellites, a military version of the spacecraft. A second Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:13 a.m. Eastern Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. That launch used a booster making its 35th flight, a new record for the company. [Spaceflight Now]

The next Ariane 6 launch will be the first to use upgraded boosters. That launch, scheduled for June 17, will carry 36 Amazon Leo satellites, the companies announced Friday. The launch will be the first to use more powerful P160C solid rocket boosters, increasing the Ariane 6's payload performance to low Earth orbit by more than two metric tons. That allows the vehicle to carry four more Amazon Leo satellites than previous Ariane 6 launches for Amazon Leo in February and April. [SpaceNews]

NASA plans to find a new building for its Washington headquarters by the end of the year. At a National Academies meeting last week, the agency official tapped last month to lead the relocation effort said he is working to find office space in Washington the agency can move into when the lease on its current headquarters expires in August 2028. NASA is looking at a range of options to lease or buy office space, citing a "depressed" commercial real estate market in the city. NASA plans to decrease the amount of office space it has for its headquarters, with some staff potentially moving into offices at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the Maryland suburbs. [SpaceNews]

Switzerland will not participate in Europe's Copernicus Earth science satellite program. The country's federal government said Friday it elected not to contribute funding to Copernicus for the next European Union funding cycle that begins in 2028, citing budget constraints. Switzerland is not part of the EU but said four years ago it was interested in providing funding for the program, which develops and operates a fleet of Earth science satellites developed in cooperation with the European Space Agency. [Swissinfo]

Scientists have updated plans for what to do if they detect evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. The protocols released last week by the International Academy of Astronautics are an update of 2010 guidelines about notification should efforts such as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) find evidence of life elsewhere. That includes steps for verifying the evidence and disclosing it to governments and the public. The rise of social media, including its ability to amplify false information, was one factor driving the updated guidelines. [The Guardian]

FROM SPACENEWS

Download the app

The Week Ahead

Monday-Wednesday:

Arlington, Va.: The MILSATCOM USA conference will discuss military satellite communications.
Washington: The Senate Armed Services Committee marks up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2027. Most sessions are closed.

Tuesday:

Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of a Zhuque-2E rocket carrying an undisclosed payload at 4:20 a.m. Eastern.
Washington: The Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee holds a hearing on the Department of the Air Force budget request at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Houston: NASA announces the crew for the Artemis 3 mission and discusses other details about that mission at the Johnson Space Center at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Online: The Beyond Earth Institute hosts a webinar titled "On to Mars: Are We Ready?" at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Tuesday-Thursday:

Online: The Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) meets for information on missions to small solar system bodies and related research.

Wednesday:

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Tanegashima, Japan: No-earlier-than rescheduled launch of an H3 rocket on a test flight at 8:53 p.m. Eastern.

Wednesday-Sunday:

Berlin: The ILA Berlin air show includes a space stage and a series of presentations by ESA.

Wednesday-Thursday, June 18:

Vienna: The UN's Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space meets in its 69th session.

Thursday:

Wenchang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 5 with an undisclosed payload at 3:30 a.m. Eastern.
Washington: The House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee meets in closed session at 9 a.m. Eastern to mark up its fiscal year 2027 spending bill.

Thursday-Friday:

Boulder, Colo.: The Humans to Titan Summit 2026 discusses potential human exploration of Saturn's moon Titan.

Friday:

Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 8:27 a.m. Eastern.
New York: Anticipated start of public trading of SpaceX stock on the Nasdaq exchange.

Sunday:

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Jiuquan, China: Projected launch of a Kinetica 1 rocket with an undisclosed payload at 11:40 p.m. Eastern.