By Jeff Foust

In this today's edition: France takes a larger stake in Eutelsat, ESA studies potential use of a commercial space station, NASA again delays an ISS launch, and more.

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Top Stories

The French government is leading an investment of more than $1.5 billion into satellite operator Eutelsat. The company said Thursday it planned to raise $1.56 billion by the end of the year. The French government will become Eutelsat's largest shareholder, more than doubling its current stake to nearly 30%. Eutelsat said the extra capital would help reduce its debt and thus allow the company to take out loans on more favorable terms, such as financing backed by export credit agencies. Eutelsat will need that help to both deploy a second generation of OneWeb satellites as well as finance its stake in the IRIS² system. [SpaceNews]

ESA and the European Commission say their relationship is better than ever as they plan an imaging satellite constellation. At a briefing this week at the Paris Air Show, ESA's director general and the EU commissioner responsible for space said they were working well together as they laid the groundwork for European Resilience from Space, a plan to develop a satellite constellation for imaging the Earth with rapid revisit times. ESA plans to seek about one billion euros ($1.15 billion) from member states in November for the first phase of the program, with the European Commission contributing to later phases. Earlier in the week, an official with the French space agency CNES sounded a word of caution about the program, arguing ESA should focus initially on determining user needs and completing risk reduction work before spending billions on satellites. [SpaceNews]

ESA signed an agreement this week to study potential uses of the proposed Orbital Reef commercial space station. Under a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday, ESA will work with Blue Origin and Thales Alenia Space to study potential European uses of Orbital Reef, including hardware contributions. ESA is interested in using commercial space stations to maintain a presence in low Earth orbit after the retirement of the International Space Station. However, an ESA official said in a panel discussion at the Paris Air Show on Thursday that the agency would like to see a "strong European industry presence" on those stations. [SpaceNews]

Chinese launch vehicle developer Landspace performed a nine-engine static-fire test of its new Zhuque-3 rocket. The nine engines of the Zhuque-3 stainless steel first stage ignited at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Friday at a pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test is a key milestone ahead of the first launch of Zhuque-3, planned for the third quarter of this year. The rocket is designed to place up to 21,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit when the booster is expended, although Landspace plans to start recovery attempts of the booster in 2026. [SpaceNews]

Portal Space Systems will establish a second factory for producing its high-performance in-space vehicles. The company announced at the Paris Air Show this week it signed an agreement to open a larger factory a few kilometers from its current facility in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, Washington. The new factory will enable production of its Supernova spacecraft at a rate of one per month. Supernova will have a solar thermal propulsion system capable of high performance and high delta-V. Portal is planning two test flights next year to test key spacecraft technologies before a first flight of Supernova in late 2026 or early 2027. [SpaceNews]

Other News

NASA said it needs more time to study an International Space Station air leak before giving the go-ahead for a private astronaut mission. The agency said late Thursday it was delaying the launch of Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission, which had been scheduled for early Sunday, with no new launch date announced. NASA said it needs more time to evaluate ISS operations after detecting a "new pressure signature" in a Russian station module earlier this month. NASA wants to complete that work before sending more people to the station. [NASA]

Rocket Lab scrubbed the launch of a confidential commercial satellite early this morning. The company called off the Electron launch shortly before the scheduled 5:24 a.m. Eastern liftoff time, citing strong upper-level winds that had pushed the launch back to the end of a roughly two-hour window. Rocket Lab did not announce a new launch date. The Electron is carrying a satellite for an undisclosed customer that will be placed into a 650-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. Rocket Lab announced the contract with this customer earlier this week, a deal that includes a second launch by the end of the year. [X @RocketLab]

Blue Origin is opening a European office in Luxembourg. At a ceremony Thursday, Luxembourg government officials, joined by Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, announced the company would establish an office in the country to manage its European supply chain. The office will also support development of commercial space services by the company. [Govt. of Luxembourg]

The Indian government has selected a company to take over production and operations of a small launch vehicle. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre said Friday it will work with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to privatize the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), with the company ultimately responsible for manufacturing and launching the rocket as well as marketing it to customers. The Indian space agency ISRO will work with HAL on technology transfer, including support for the first two SSLV rockets HAL will produce before the company takes full control. SSLV is designed to place up to 500 kilograms into low Earth orbit but has launched only three times, including a failed inaugural launch in 2022. [India Today]

The Canadian Space Agency's budget has reached a record high. A document released by the agency shows it is projecting to spend $834 million Canadian ($608 million) in its 2025-2026 fiscal year, a sharp increase from last year. The increase is linked to its work on the Canadarm3 robotic arm for the Gateway and remote sensing satellite programs. Spending could slightly increase in 2026-2027 before dropping as those programs and initiatives are completed. [SpaceQ]

A Testy Subject

"As someone who has a background in human physiology, I think one of my key focus areas, and also for the human spaceflight directorate, is, indeed, how are we going to get sufficient test subjects? And I'm sorry that I keep referring to astronauts like that."

– Angelique Van Ombergen, chief exploration scientist at ESA, during a panel discussion about human spaceflight at the Paris Air Show on Thursday.

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