Top Stories

The United States and United Kingdom militaries have conducted their first coordinated satellite maneuvers. U.S. Space Command said Thursday the maneuvers with the United Kingdom took place Sept. 4 through 12, when a U.S. satellite repositioned into close range of a U.K. spacecraft to inspect, monitor and validate its status. No further details about the spacecraft were disclosed. The operation marks an expansion of allied cooperation in the increasingly militarized space domain, where nations are developing capabilities to protect critical satellite infrastructure from potential threats. This operation occurred just months after the U.S. revealed it had conducted similar operations with France, and is part of Multinational Force Operation Olympic Defender, a U.S.-led initiative aimed at bolstering international cooperation in space defense. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force is moving ahead with plans to tap commercial geostationary small satellite constellations to bolster military communications. The service released this week an updated request for information for its Maneuverable Geosynchronous Orbit (MGEO) Commercial Satellite-Based Services program. The MGEO program seeks to support mobile ground forces that may find themselves in battlefields where satellite communications signals are being jammed or disrupted. The MGEO program specifically seeks solutions across both widely available and traditionally scarce spectrum, including bands difficult to secure commercially. [SpaceNews]

Companies developing hyperspectral satellite services say one of their biggest challenges is making customers aware of applications of such imagery. Hyperspectral datasets can reveal atmospheric greenhouse gases, identify stores of lithium and other high-value minerals, measure nitrogen in agricultural fields and pinpoint the telltale signs of biological, nuclear and chemical weapons, but satellite operators said at World Space Business Week that awareness of those capabilities remains limited. To help the market mature, startups are offering training online, working directly with customers to demonstrate potential use cases and employing artificial intelligence to simplify queries of hyperspectral data cubes. [SpaceNews]

Space Norway and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) are partnering on a radar satellite program for maritime domain awareness. The companies said Friday they are developing a synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite optimized for tracking ships. The first spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2027 and will be used by the Norwegian military to monitor the North Atlantic. The companies say they are considering a six-satellite constellation to provide rapid revisits of that region as well as others of potential interest to customers. [SpaceNews]

Chinese launch startup iSpace has raised $98 million. The company, formally known as Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., announced its Series D+ round Thursday, which will go towards development of the medium-lift Hyperbola-3 launcher. The company raised several tens of millions of dollars earlier this year. Hyperbola-3 is a methane-liquid oxygen rocket that can put 8,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit in reusable mode and 13,400 kilograms when expended. In March, iSpace stated it was targeting December for an inaugural flight, and did not provide an update in this funding announcement. [SpaceNews]

Other News

Blue Origin is retiring a New Shepard capsule after a 12th flight on Thursday. The New Shepard vehicle lifted off at 9 a.m. Eastern from the company's West Texas launch site on the NS-35 mission, carrying several dozen research payloads. The capsule landed a little more than 10 minutes later after completing a typical flight profile to about 105 kilometers. The capsule, called RSS H.G. Wells, will be retired after this flight, the company said, after making 12 suborbital trips since its introduction in 2017. Blue Origin has two other New Shepard capsules it currently uses for crewed suborbital flights. [SpaceNews]

Stratospheric "pseudo-satellites" are winning more business from governments and industry. Such vehicles, known as high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), are being flown regularly by companies such as Aalto, Aerostar and Sceye. Following an investment from Japanese internet giant Softbank, Sceye is planning a commercial pilot next year that would see its stratospheric vehicle take off from New Mexico to provide mobile broadband over Japan. Aalto is gearing up for a commercial demonstration of its Airbus-backed solar-powered, fixed-wing Zephyr platform over Japan in 2026. While current interest is primarily from governments, HAPS companies say commercial use cases, particularly direct-to-device connectivity, are catching up. [SpaceNews]

Rocket Lab has filed paperwork to sell up to $750 million in shares. The company, in an SEC filing this week, disclosed plans to sell shares in an "at the market" offering to raise money. The new plan replaces an earlier at-the-market offering of up to $500 million in shares, which Rocket Lab used to raise almost $400 million. The company did not disclose its plans for any funds it raises through this sale of shares. [Investing.com]

Interlune has announced a new customer for helium-3 it plans to extract from the moon. Bluefors, a Finnish company that makes refrigeration systems for quantum computers, said it will buy tens of thousands of liters of helium-3 from Interlune, a deal that could potentially be worth more than $300 million. The deal covers helium-3 sales between 2028 and 2037. Interlune previously announced other customers for helium-3, but called this the biggest sale yet involving resources extracted from space. Interlune has yet to mine any helium-3 from the moon and will fly its first prospecting instrument, a camera, on a rover launching as soon as late this year. [Washington Post]

It may be much harder than previously expected for a Japanese spacecraft to land on an asteroid. The Japanese space agency JAXA is sending the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on an extended mission to the asteroid 1998 KY26, arriving in 2031 to touch down on the asteroid's surface. The asteroid was initially estimated to be about 30 meters across, but new observations of 1998 KY26 show it is instead only about 11 meters across. The asteroid is also spinning faster than first estimated, with a period of just five minutes. The new observations raise concerns about the ability of Hayabusa2 to touch down safely on the asteroid. [Space.com]

The Truth Is in There

"I would love to say finding UFOs, because someone wanted to look at the Pyramids in Giza and see if there were hidden signs of ancient civilizations or UFOs. But I think that's just a one-off."

– Awais Ahmed, CEO of hyperspectral imaging company Pixxel, when asked about emerging applications for hyperspectral satellites during a panel at World Space Business Week on Thursday.

FROM SPACENEWS

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