| By Jeff Foust
In this today's edition: Parsons continues its space industry push, satellite operator SES wants to get more involved in manufacturing, Arianespace to begin Amazon Leo launches and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
Parsons is buying Altamira Technologies for $375 million to expand its capabilities in space data analytics and intelligence missions. Altamira specializes in signals intelligence, missile warning and space-focused data analytics. It has developed artificial intelligence and machine learning analytic tools designed to process and interpret data from missile warning satellites. The acquisition adds to Parsons' footprint in the space and defense sectors. Traditionally known for engineering, infrastructure and program management work, Parsons has used acquisitions in recent years to move further into high-end intelligence, cyber and space-related missions. [SpaceNews]
Congress has passed a spending bill that largely rejected proposed steep cuts at NASA. The Senate passed the minibus appropriations bill on a 82-15 vote Thursday, a week after the House overwhelmingly passed the measure. The bill includes $24.4 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2026, slightly less than what it received in 2025 but far more than the $18.8 billion requested by the White House in May. It restores funding for science and space operations close to 2025 levels. However, the bill accepts NASA's proposal to cancel the Mars Sample Return program, directing some funding to technologies that could be used for future Mars missions. [SpaceNews]
Japanese launch startup Interstellar Technologies has closed a $130 million funding round. The company announced Friday it closed the Series F round with a mix of debt and equity from new and returning investors. Interstellar says the funds will allow it to continue work on Zero, a small launch vehicle slated for its first flight in 2027, as well as ramping up manufacturing capabilities for the rocket and development of satellite systems. [SpaceNews]
Arianespace will start launches of Amazon Leo satellites in February. Arianespace said Thursday the first launch for Amazon will be on Feb. 12, carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites on the first flight of the Ariane 64, the version of the Ariane 6 with four solid rocket boosters. Arianespace has a contract for 18 Amazon Leo launches, its largest commercial customer. The launch provider is projecting seven to eight Ariane 6 launches this year, up from four last year, with several of them for Amazon. While its manifest is full for 2026 and into 2027, the company says it has "quite a lot of availability" in 2028 and beyond to support launches of the IRIS² constellation, new German military programs and other customers. [SpaceNews]
Slingshot Aerospace won a $27 million contract to develop a training system to prepare military personnel for conflicts in space. The 18-month agreement supports the Space Force's Operational Test and Training Infrastructure, or OTTI, program to train satellite operators for contested, fast-moving orbital environments. Slingshot's system, Thinking Agent for Logical Operations and Strategy (TALOS), is designed to act as an autonomous virtual opponent, simulating realistic satellite behavior during training exercises. Under the new contract, Slingshot said it will advance TALOS for use within OTTI, modernizing scenario-based training by using AI to mirror what the company described as the real orbital threat landscape. [SpaceNews]
A startup developing a low Earth orbit navigation satellite system has completed a key technology demonstration. TrustPoint said it has successfully transmitted time and tracking signals from a ground station to a spacecraft in orbit, marking a key step in its effort to build a GPS-independent system. The ground station was developed to support TrustPoint's own proposed constellation. Interest in non-GPS positioning, navigation and timing, known as PNT, has grown as military and commercial satellite operators face interference in conflict zones. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
China conducted its fourth launch in three days on Thursday. A Ceres-1S rocket, operated by Galactic Energy, lifted off at 3:10 p.m. Eastern from a converted sea platform off the coast from Shandong province. The rocket placed into orbit four satellites for the Tianqi internet-of-things constellation. The mission marks a return-to-flight for the Ceres-1 small launcher following a launch failure in November 2025 stemming from an anomaly affecting the fourth stage. Galactic Energy is also preparing for the first launch of its larger Ceres-2 as soon as late Friday from the Jiuquan spaceport. [SpaceNews]
Portal Space Systems will use new shielding material from another startup on an upcoming spacecraft. Portal said it will use Space Armor, a protective material developed by Atomic-6, on its Starburst-1 spacecraft launching in October. Space Armor is designed to be an alternative to metallic Whipple shields traditionally used on spacecraft to protect them from micrometeoroid and orbital debris impacts. This will be the first in-orbit demonstration of Space Armor after a series of ground tests showed the material could withstand impacts of small particles at orbital velocities without fracturing and creating debris. [SpaceNews]
Satellite operator SES plans to get more involved in satellite manufacturing. The company is creating a manufacturing facility in Luxembourg where it will work with Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space on ways to customize satellites to meet SES's needs. SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said his company recently hired a head of manufacturing from an American firm as part of efforts to speed up production of payloads for its satellites. "We will be moving from an operator into an industrial player," he said at an event Thursday. [Luxembourg Times]
A key senator wants NASA to accelerate work on commercial space stations. At an event this week by a Texas space industry group, a staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Cruz has made it "painfully clear" he wants NASA to ensure that there is no gap between the end of the International Space Station and the introduction of commercial stations. NASA has a program to support work on those stations, but that effort has been in transition since August after the agency's acting administrator at the time, Sean Duffy, announced the agency would revamp its approach. NASA has yet to release a final revised call for proposal for the next phase of that program. [Ars Technica]
While many airlines are lining up to install Starlink on their aircraft, one says it's not interested. Michael O'Leary, CEO of European low-cost carrier Ryanair, said he has ruled out Starlink, claiming customers are not interested in in-flight connectivity on flights averaging just one hour. He added that installing the antennas on its aircraft would create drag that causes a 2% loss in fuel efficiency. SpaceX disputed those claims, noting that the Starlink antenna has a much lower profile that traditional aircraft satellite antennas, reducing the fuel efficiency loss to 0.3%. Elon Musk warned that Ryanair "will lose customers to airlines that do have internet." That promoted a riposte from O'Leary: "He's an idiot. Very wealthy, but he's still an idiot." [Business Insider]
Objects called "little red dots" seen by the James Webb Space Telescope may be baby black holes. JWST images of the early universe showed a large number of these compact red objects, which disappeared once the universe was two billion years old. A study published this week used spectroscopic examinations of those objects to determine they are black holes early in their development, surrounded by dense clouds of ionized gas that gave them their characteristic red color. Once the clouds evaporated, the red glow disappeared. The black holes weigh between 100,000 and 10 million times the sun, a tiny fraction of the supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies today. [Scientific American]
| | | | | | | FROM SPACENEWS |  | | Join us in DC on Wednesday, Jan. 21: The U.S. Space Force of 2040 will operate in a far more contested, congested, and fast-moving domain than the Guardians of today — one where space control, speed and resiliency will define U.S. military advantage. The next installment in our series with Johns Hopkins University will examine what the Space Force must become to succeed against growing threats. SpaceNews' Sandra Erwin will sit down with Space Force Gen. Shawn Bratton following a panel discussion with leaders from Vantor, K2 Space and JHU APL. Register now. | | | | | | Enjoying Space
| "They could have been on a one-year expedition and they would have probably told you that it's bittersweet coming home. Astronauts really enjoy being in space."
| | – NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a Thursday press conference after the return of Crew-11. One of the returning astronauts, Mike Fincke, had noted the early end of the mission was "bittersweet" but the right decision.
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