By Jeff Foust

In this today's edition: how Starshield could zero out Tranche 3, a Chinese spacewalk, Rocket Lab's back-to-back launches and more.

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Top Stories

A budget reconciliation bill in the Senate could boost Space Force spending to nearly $40 billion in 2026. The unprecedented budget structure, which defense officials describe as "one budget, two bills," would give the Space Force $26.1 billion in traditional discretionary funding while adding another $13.8 billion through the sweeping reconciliation package. The reconciliation bill also includes $25 billion for Golden Dome. The total $39.9 billion request would represent the most dramatic year-over-year increase for the military's newest service branch. However, the Pentagon said it has no backup plan for increasing defense spending if the bill fails. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force is pausing the procurement of the next set of low Earth orbit communications satellites as it studies whether to turn to SpaceX. The Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget would suspend procurement of data-transport satellites for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The Space Development Agency had planned to procure up to 140 Tranche 3 satellites for that system in 2026 for launch in 2028. The Space Force is instead considering using SpaceX's Starshield program, a militarized version of the company's commercial Starlink broadband satellites. Under that plan, the Tranche 3 satellites would be replaced with 480 Starshield satellites being procured for the "Milnet" program. That approach has raised concerns in industry about the health of satellite manufacturers and supply chains who built up their capabilities to support a steady stream of procurements for the PWSA constellations. [SpaceNews]

Two Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station Thursday. Chen Zhongrui and Chen Dong spent nearly six and a half hours outside the station on a spacewalk that concluded at 9:29 a.m. Eastern. The two installed debris shields on the exterior of the station and performed inspections of equipment. This was the second spacewalk for the two astronauts since they arrived at the station two months ago on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft. The mission's third astronaut, Wang Jie, supported the spacewalk from inside the station. [SpaceNews]

An agreement between the governments of Sweden and the United States brings Firefly Aerospace one step closer to launching from a Swedish spaceport. The countries signed a technology safeguards agreement (TSA) last week to allow the export of commercial launch vehicles to Sweden for launches there. The TSA is needed for Firefly to launch its Alpha rocket from Sweden's Esrange Space Center under a deal with the Swedish Space Corporation announced a year ago. The first launches of Alpha from Esrange could take place as soon as late 2026. [SpaceNews]

Other News

Rocket Lab launched four satellites for HawkEye 360 Thursday in the first of back-to-back launches. An Electron rocket lifted off from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 1:28 p.m. Eastern, deploying its payload nearly an hour later. The rocket carried three Cluster 12 satellites HawkEye 360 will use for radio-frequency intelligence as well as a tech demo satellite, Kestrel-0A. Rocket Lab said after the launch it had rescheduled another Electron launch for a confidential customer, postponed from last week, to early Saturday. The two launches within 48 hours would be the shortest turnaround between Electron missions from Launch Complex 1. [SpaceNews]

The president of Mexico is threatening to sue SpaceX regarding Starship debris that landed in the country. Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference this week that the government was considering legal action after incidents like last week's static-fire test explosion that rained debris on Mexican territory across the Rio Grande. SpaceX said any debris posed no "chemical, biological, or toxicological risks" and claimed that its efforts to recover debris were hindered by "unauthorized parties." SpaceX added it is willing to offer resources and assistance to Mexican authorities for debris cleanup. [New York Times]

Korean conglomerate LG Group is looking to get into the space industry. Company executives met with officials from South Korea's space agency, KASA, on Friday to discuss cooperation on space activities. That included unspecified support for upcoming launches of South Korea's Naro rocket and work with a Korean startup on a small lunar rover. [JoongAng Daily]

A former head of the Indian space agency ISRO is advising a launch startup in the country. Skyroot Aerospace said it named former ISRO chairman S Somanath as its honorary chief technical adviser. He will provide technical support as the company works on its Vikram small launch vehicle. Skyroot separately announced Thursday a memorandum of understanding with Axiom Space to examine how Skyroot could assist Axiom's commercial space station and other plans. [The Economic Times]

New Continent

"It's like discovering a continent you didn't know existed."

– Valerio Carruba of the São Paulo State University in Brazil, who led a team that discovered evidence of a new family of asteroids in the same orbit around the sun as Venus. [Space.com]

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