| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: SpaceX's million-satellite orbital data center constellation, Cesium Astro raises $470 million, Amazon buys more Falcon 9 launches, and more.
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| | | | | | Top Stories
SpaceX filed plans with the FCC on Friday to deploy an orbital data center constellation with roughly one million satellites. In the filing, SpaceX said it would place the satellites in orbits ranging from 500 to 2,000 kilometers altitude and at both sun-synchronous and 30-degree inclinations. The company provided few technical details about the satellites, such as the size or mass, but said they would primarily communicate through intersatellite optical links with Starlink satellites, using Ka-band primarily as a backup for telemetry, tracking and commanding. The filing also did not include a deployment schedule or cost estimate for the system. SpaceX argues that the satellites, using solar power, "will achieve transformative cost and energy efficiency while significantly reducing the environmental impact associated with terrestrial data centers." [SpaceNews]
The new interest in orbital data centers by SpaceX and others has led many to scrutinize the business case for such satellites. Orbital data centers promise to avoid the power and environmental permitting challenges of terrestrial data centers that are in high demand because of AI. However, some analyses show that orbital data centers would still be several times more expensive than terrestrial systems. There is also a concern that the overall AI industry may be in a bubble that could soon burst, diminishing demand for data centers on Earth or in space. [SpaceNews]
CesiumAstro has raised $470 million to advance production of phased-array antennas. The company announced Monday it raised $270 million in a Series C investment round led by Trousdale Ventures with participation from several other funds. The company also recently secured $200 million in debt financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank's Make More in America initiative and JPMorgan. With the capital, CesiumAstro is establishing a 25,000-square-meter headquarters and manufacturing facility in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, where the company will mass-manufacture phased-array antennas for space and terrestrial applications. [SpaceNews]
Blue Origin is halting New Shepard suborbital flights for at least two years. The company said Friday it will suspend the New Shepard program to focus its resources on human lunar exploration, including its Blue Moon lunar landers. The news, coming just eight days after the most recent New Shepard flight, took the industry by surprise as a Blue Origin executive said last fall the company was planning to increase the New Shepard flight rate and build additional vehicles. The company did not explain how New Shepard resources would be redirected to lunar programs or how the pause would affect jobs. [SpaceNews]
Amazon has purchased 10 more Falcon 9 launches for its broadband constellation. Amazon revealed the purchase in an FCC filing Friday seeking a two-year extension or waiver of a July deadline to deploy half of its 3,232-satellite Amazon Leo constellation. Amazon has so far launched 180 satellites, including 72 launched on three Falcon 9 flights last year under a contract announced in late 2023. Amazon plans to rely primarily on Ariane 6, New Glenn, and Vulcan Centaur for most of the constellation, but delays with those vehicles, among other factors, have slowed deployment of Amazon Leo. Amazon says it expects to have 700 satellites in orbit by July and still expects to meet the original July 2029 deadline for deploying the entire constellation. [SpaceNews]
L3Harris says it is committed to its space business as its work on missiles grows. The Defense Department announced last month it will invest $1 billion into L3Harris as part of efforts to increase missile production. That includes spinning off the company's Missile Solutions business into a standalone entity that will go public in the second half of the year. In an earnings call last week, L3Harris CEO Christopher Kubasik pushed back on the notion that the missile push signals a retreat from space, saying the company is committed to work such as production of satellites for the Space Development Agency. [SpaceNews]
Apolink has partnered with ground segment provider RBC Signals to resell the startup's proposed in-orbit relay services. Apolink is planning a constellation of satellites that will serve as data relays for other spacecraft. Besides having RBC Signals serve as a reseller, Apolink also plans to use RBC Signals' network of nearly 100 antennas across more than 60 sites as part of the end-mile teleport for its relay architecture. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
China launched an Algerian satellite late Friday while other Chinese launches remain grounded. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 11:01 p.m. Eastern and placed the Algerian Remote Sensing Satellite-3B, or AlSat-3B, satellite into orbit. The satellite joins AlSat-3A, launched in mid-January. Other launches, particularly of Long March 7A and Long March 8A rockets from Hainan, have been postponed. That may be due in part to an investigation into a Long March 3B launch that failed last month because of a problem with its upper stage. The Hainan spaceport is also preparing for an in-flight abort test of the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, expected to take place by mid-February. [SpaceNews]
NASA is pressing ahead with a countdown rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission. Preparations for the wet dress rehearsal started Saturday night ahead of fueling of the Space Launch System later Monday. The countdown test is scheduled to end late tonight. Unusually cold weather in Florida delayed the wet dress rehearsal by two days, and temperatures remain a watch item for the test today. The two-day delay means the earliest Artemis 2 launch attempt is late Sunday, Feb. 8, with additional windows early Feb. 10 and 11. If Artemis 2 does not launch by then, the next opportunity will not be until early March. [SpaceNews]
Varda Space Industries' fifth reentry vehicle landed in Australia last week. The W-5 capsule landed at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia Thursday, concluding a mission that started with a launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission in late November. The W-5 mission included a U.S. Navy payload to collect hypersonic data during reentry. The mission was the first end-to-end demonstration of a new satellite bus built in-house. The W-4 mission, launched last summer, also uses the new design but is still in orbit after encountering a propellant feed issue when attempting reentry maneuvers in December. Varda says it is evaluating "a few paths" to bring W-4 back but did not elaborate. [SpaceNews]
NASA selected Axiom Space for the next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. NASA announced late Friday it selected Axiom for a fifth mission to the station, scheduled for no earlier than January 2027. Axiom has not announced who will fly that mission. Axiom won the four previous private astronaut mission opportunities solicited by NASA, often with little or no competition, but another commercial space station developer, Vast, previously said it would bid on this opportunity. NASA requested proposals last year for both a fifth and sixth private mission to the ISS, and the agency said Friday it is finalizing the order for the other mission. [SpaceNews]
Optical communications startup Transcelestial will provide laser terminals to Gilmour Space. The companies announced an agreement Monday where Gilmour will incorporate a Transcelestial terminal in a satellite it is launching later this year to test the effectiveness of space-to-ground laser communications. Such communications offer much higher data rates than traditional radio-frequency communications and are also not susceptible to jamming, but can be hindered by weather. Transcelestial says it has developed technology to compensate for some weather conditions and plans a large network of optical ground stations to ensure at least some stations are available to a spacecraft at any time. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX reportedly generated $8 billion in profit on revenues of $15–16 billion in 2025. According to sources familiar with the private company's finances, Starlink accounted for as much as 80% of the company's revenue. Those financial results lead some banks to estimate that the company could raise more than $50 billion in an IPO this year at a valuation of more than $1.5 trillion. [Reuters]
The European Union has selected three companies for studies of responsive launch systems. The awards, announced last week, went to teams led by Spanish space technology company GMV, French launch startup Sirius Space Services and consultancy PwC. The awards, with a combined value of nearly 1.9 million euros ($2.25 million), will examine the feasibility of a European system for rapid launch of satellites using a mobile system. [European Spaceflight]
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Monday: -
Plesetsk, Russia: Scheduled launch of a Soyuz-2.1a carrying an undisclosed payload at 10 a.m. Eastern. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:38 a.m. Eastern. Monday-Tuesday: Monday-Friday, Feb. 13: Tuesday:
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Washington: The Senate Commerce Committee holds an executive session at 10 a.m. Eastern to consider several nominations and bills, including two space-related bills. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5:12 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday: Thursday-Friday: Friday: Saturday: Sunday:
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