Plus: How to support space nuclear power systems
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: what the House Armed Services Committee's defense authorization bill could mean for space, the Space Force's largest unfunded priority and the space industry's role in the UK economy.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
The House Armed Services Committee has advanced its version of a defense authorization act. The committee voted 55-2 late Tuesday to send the National Defense Authorization Act to the full House. The bill includes key policy provisions that formalize Pentagon procurement of commercial satellite imagery and back the Trump administration's Golden Dome missile defense program despite Democratic skepticism. The bill overall emphasizes Pentagon procurement reforms aimed at accelerating weapons acquisition and strengthening the defense industrial base. [SpaceNews]
A proposed low Earth orbit communications constellation is the Space Force's largest "unfunded priority" it has disclosed to Congress. The Space Force says it needs $3.5 billion for MILNET Block II satellites and $686 million for satellite launch services. The existence of the so-called MILNET PLEO (Proliferated Low Earth Orbit) SATCOM satellite communications program surfaced for the first time in the Trump administration's 2026 defense budget request with a $277 million budget line to support the development and demonstration of a new, secure, government-operated satellite communications constellation. MILNET has created confusion in industry and in Congress as it coincides with a halt in the Space Development Agency's Tranche 3 Transport Layer communications satellites. MILNET would rely on SpaceX Starshield satellites. [SpaceNews]
A study emphasizes the growing reliance on satellite services in the United Kingdom. The report by the U.K. Space Agency this week found that satellite technologies supported industries accounting for about 18% of national gross domestic product, or £454 billion ($608 billion) in 2022. Satellite navigation services supports the biggest part of U.K. GDP, followed by weather satellites, satellite communications and Earth observation. Space-related businesses in the U.K. brought in an estimated £18.6 billion in 2024. [SpaceNews]
A new report calls for the U.S. government to support rapid development of space nuclear power systems. The study said that while efforts over recent decades to develop space nuclear power and propulsion systems have foundered, factors ranging from growing industry capabilities to geopolitical factors make now the right time to pursue development of space nuclear power, with the goal of fielding a system in space by 2030. One approach would be a government-led development of a large system capable of producing up to 500 kilowatts of power, while an alternative would use public private partnerships for smaller systems. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX is considering getting into the space manufacturing business. The company is pursuing a concept called Starfall that would launch pharmaceutical payloads on its Starship vehicle, which would carry out drug research and production in microgravity before returning to Earth in capsules. SpaceX is proposing starting Starfall by the end of the decade and is in talks with potential customers. Starfall would put SpaceX in competition with startups like Varda Space Industries, which announced last week it raised $187 million to accelerate its work on in-space biotech research. [Bloomberg]
| | | | | | Other News
SpaceX launched a set of spacecraft for a competitor in the satellite broadband market overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:30 a.m. Eastern, placing 24 satellites into orbit for Amazon's Project Kuiper. The launch is one of three that Amazon ordered from SpaceX in late 2023 to augment contracts it has with Arianespace, Blue Origin and ULA. The SpaceX launches will deploy only a small fraction of the overall constellation of more than 3,200 Kuiper satellites. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX also launched more satellites for its own Starlink constellation. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:05 p.m. Eastern Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, putting 26 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch ended a two-week lull in flights from Vandenberg. [Noozhawk]
The first launch of an Australian rocket has slipped again. Gilmour Space had planned to launch its first Eris rocket Wednesday (local time) from its launch site in northern Queensland, but the company said an operational delay, coupled with forecasts of high upper-level winds, forced it to reschedule the launch to no earlier than July 26. The inaugural flight of Eris, a small launcher, has suffered months of delays, including an incident in May when the rocket's payload fairing separation system was triggered while the rocket was on the launch pad. [NASASpaceFlight.com]
Sierra Space won a contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for docking systems. Sierra Space said Tuesday it will supply components such as the Passive Common Berthing Mechanism used for spacecraft going to the International Space Station. MHI makes the HTV-X, a next-generation Japanese cargo vehicle for ISS missions. [Sierra Space]
If you've got a spare $4 million or so, you could buy a big piece of Mars. Sotheby's is auctioning this week a 25-kilogram Mars meteorite, the largest yet found on Earth. The auction house estimates that the rock will sell for between $2 million and $4 million, but noted it might go much higher. Sotheby's last year estimated a Stegosaurus dinosaur skeleton would sell for $4-6 million, but the winning bid was $44.6 million. [Space.com]
| | | | | | Start Small
| "Time and again we have tried to begin with building the space equivalent of the SR-71 when we should have started with the Wright Flyer."
| | – Bhavya Lal, former NASA associate administrator for technology, policy and strategy, during a presentation about a new report on space nuclear power at a Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon Tuesday.
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