By Jeff Foust

In today's edition: industry asks Congress to keep TraCSS on track, Maxar racks up $205 million in new contracts, China proposes a mission to Neptune and more.

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Top Stories

Several industry groups are asking Congress to restore funding for the Commerce Department's space traffic coordination system. Seven groups representing more than 450 companies signed letters sent Monday to leaders of House and Senate appropriations subcommittees, asking them to fund the Office of Space Commerce's Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) at its 2025 level of $65 million. The White House's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 would cancel TraCSS. The industry groups say they're not sure why the administration wants to end TraCSS but are hopeful that Congress will step in and fund it. The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up its commerce, justice and science spending bill on Thursday, while the House has postponed consideration of its version of that bill that was planned for this week because of overall changes in the House schedule. [SpaceNews]

Maxar Intelligence says it has signed contracts worth nearly $205 million for government customers in the Middle East and Africa. The company announced Tuesday it closed three contracts valued at a combined $204.7 million with undisclosed government customers in those regions. Under the multi-year agreements, these governments will be part of Maxar's Direct Access Program, a premium service that allows vetted customers to directly control and task the company's high-resolution Earth observation satellites from their own secure ground stations. The deals, among Maxar's largest outside the United States, reflect a rising global demand for space-based intelligence. [SpaceNews]

Satellite manufacturer Muon Space has hired a new slate of executives. The new management team includes Paula Trimble, most recently policy chief and director of legislative affairs at the Space Development Agency, as its new vice president of government affairs and strategy. The company also hired former Google and Raytheon executive Carl Nardell as vice president of mission engineering and ex-Loft Orbital executive Gautier Brunet as vice president of product. Muon designs, builds and operates LEO satellites, including its Halo platform for Earth observation, environmental monitoring and national security missions. [SpaceNews]

ESA has picked five companies as finalists for its European Launcher Challenge. ESA said Monday that it "preselected" Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Orbex, PLD Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg for the competition, which will fund contracts for institutional satellite launches and work to upgrade launch vehicles. The funding is contingent on decisions ESA member states will make at a ministerial conference in November on funding for the program. ESA previously said it received 12 proposals for the competition, and picked the five companies based on technical and financial factors. [SpaceNews]

Chinese scientists want to launch a mission to Neptune as soon as 2033. The mission, detailed in a newly published concept study, envisions a 15-year interplanetary cruise followed by orbital insertion and a gravity assist from Triton, Neptune's largest moon, to adjust the spacecraft's orbit. The spacecraft would carry 11 instruments and use radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, for power. If approved, it could be the first orbiter mission to the "ice giant" planets of Uranus and Neptune given likely delays in a proposed NASA Uranus orbiter mission. [SpaceNews]

Other News

SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 4:21 a.m. Eastern and put 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the first Falcon 9 mission in six days after the July Fourth holiday. [Spaceflight Now]

Globalstar has procured another Falcon 9 launch for a set of replacement satellites. The company said Monday it acquired the launch for the remainder of the 17 next-generation satellites being built by MDA and Rocket Lab. Globalstar had previously purchased a Falcon 9 for the first eight satellites, expected to launch later this year. The new Falcon 9 launch is projected for 2026. [Globalstar]

A Chinese cargo spacecraft undocked from the Tiangong space station Tuesday. The Tianzhou-8 spacecraft undocked from the station at 3:09 a.m. Eastern and will destructively reenter. The spacecraft had been at the station since mid-November. A new Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is expected to launch to the station later this year. [Xinhua]

A French astronaut going to the International Space Station will bring with her some very haute cuisine. Sophie Adenot worked with French chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who has 10 Michelin stars, to develop food for Adenot's 2026 ISS mission that meets NASA's rigorous requirements but also is a change of pace from typical food choices. Among the items on the menu for Adenot will be lobster bisque, foie gras and onion soup as well as desserts like chocolate cream with hazelnut cazette flower and coconut and smoked vanilla rice pudding. "Cooking for space means pushing the boundaries of gastronomy," said Pic, who described the challenge of creating fine dining on the station "a thrilling challenge." [The Guardian]

When Chefs Become Astronauts

"With more people going to space, we're going to need chefs in space. When we go to Mars, that chef is also going to be an astronaut. Let them wear that word with pride."

– Nicolina Elrick, an investor who flew on a Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital flight, explaining why she thought people going to space on commercial missions should be considered astronauts during a panel at the Spacetide conference Tuesday.

FROM SPACENEWS

The business case for the moon: The latest episode of Space Minds features a discussion on the future of commercial lunar exploration. The panel was recorded live as part of the ispace U.S. and Commercial Space Federation lunar landing watch event for the Hakuto-R Mission 2 on June 5. Listen now

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