Plus: Neutron and Ariane 6 have successful launches
Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, an executive order reworked commercial space regulations, Neutron and Ariane 6 had critical launch successes, the FAA gutted its space transportation advisory committee and more.
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OUR TOP STORY
| | By Jeff Foust The White House has issued a widely anticipated executive order addressing several commercial space regulatory issues, from launch licensing reform to mission authorization.
The order, titled "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry" and signed by President Trump Aug. 13, has the stated intent of improving the competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space industry through several actions.
A key aspect of the order is to address commercial launch and reentry regulations. This has been a pain point for many companies in the industry as they struggle to adapt to Federal Aviation Administration licensing regulations called Part 450.
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CIVIL
| | Members of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee received letters Aug. 13 informing them that their membership on the committee had been terminated, effective immediately. The letters gave no reason for their removal.
In a keynote at the SmallSat 2025 Conference Aug. 11, Nicola Fox, NASA associate administrator for science, highlighted the role that smallsats were playing across the Science Mission Directorate, from Earth science to astrophysics.
| LAUNCH
| | United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off Aug. 12 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying the U.S. Space Force's USSF-106 mission. The launch marked Vulcan's first flight for the National Security Space Launch program, a milestone that comes after years of development and certification delays.
Landspace's Zhuque-2 rocket suffered an anomaly after liftoff Thursday, leading to loss of the mission and potential delays for its new Zhuque-3 reusable launcher. The payloads lost on the flight were not disclosed, as is typical in the case of a Chinese launch failure. Landspace expressed sincere apologies to the client for the failure.
The Ariane 62, the version of the rocket with two strap-on boosters, lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana Aug. 12. The vehicle's upper stage deployed its payload, MetOp-SG-A1, into a sun-synchronous orbit nearly 65 minutes later.
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COMMERCIAL
| | A year after announcing plans to offer rideshare missions to geostationary orbit, Impulse Space says the demand has been strong enough to plan an annual series of them. The rideshare service, which Impulse Space recently named Caravan, will involve an annual series of dedicated Falcon 9 launches of Helios, currently planned for the third quarter of each year.
Intuitive Machines has decided to bring in-house the production of satellites for a cislunar communications system, giving the company more schedule control and the ability to pursue other satellite opportunities. |
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OPINION
| | By Doug Milburn Walk into any student workshop at midnight during collegiate rover or rocket challenge season, and you'll see a scene that rivals professional aerospace labs — welding sparks flying, 3D printers humming, students debating propulsion trade-offs over cold pizza. It might look like chaos, but it's actually the birthplace of the next generation of aerospace innovators.
| | By Robert Zubrin
By David Logsdon and Rajeeshwaran Moorthy
By Henry Sokolski and Caitlyn Collett
By Stephen E. Doyle
| SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. The perspectives shared in these op-eds are solely those of the authors.
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| |  | Latest Press Releases
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FROM SPACENEWS |  | The evolution of multi-mission orbital vehicles: In this episode of Space Minds, catch SpaceNews' Jeff Foust panel discussion with Space Force and Firefly Aerospace leaders on what it takes to create agile, high-delta-V spacecraft capable of fulfilling multiple operational roles in orbit. Tune in for insights on the future of spacecraft modularity, propulsion innovations, and the real challenge: changing the mindset of space acquisition. | | |
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Sign up for our other newsletters First Up: The latest civil, commercial and military space news, curated by veteran journalist Jeff Foust. Delivered Monday to Friday mornings. Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin delivers news and insights for the military space professional. Delivered Tuesday. China Report: Analysis of China's space activities and what it means as one of the United States' top competitors from correspondent Andrew Jones. Delivered every other Wednesday. SpaceNext AI: Exploring the intersection of space and artificial intelligence. Delivered Thursday. Video & Audio: Upcoming live programs, scheduled guests, and recent Space Minds podcast episodes, webinars and other events. Delivered Friday. Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing, and advertising trends, upcoming SpaceNews opportunities, and editorial insights for communications and marketing leaders. Delivered monthly. |
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