Plus: How to integrate commercial space into military plans
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Artemis 2 is scheduled to return home, PLD Space secures a European loan, the challenges of integrating commercial space capabilities into military plans and more.
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Top Stories
Artemis 2 is set to conclude its mission with a reentry and splashdown tonight. The Orion spacecraft is scheduled to splash down off the coast from San Diego at 8:07 p.m. Eastern, a little more than a half hour after the spacecraft's crew module separates from the service module. If all goes as planned, the four astronauts will be extracted from the capsule and be on a U.S. Navy ship within two hours after splashdown. Agency officials said they were confident in the performance of the spacecraft despite lingering concerns among some about the spacecraft's heat shield. At a briefing Thursday, mission leaders said they have been studying leaking valves in a helium pressurization system for the spacecraft's thrusters. That does not pose an issue for Artemis 2 but will require a redesign by the time of the Artemis 4 mission to the moon in 2028. [SpaceNews]
China's next robotic lunar lander has arrived at its launch site. Chang'e-7 will be prepared for launch on a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang spaceport, with earlier reports suggesting launch in August. The mission consists of an orbiter, lander, rover and a unique hopping probe to seek out evidence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar south pole. The Chang'e-7 mission, together with Chang'e-8, scheduled for around 2029, will form a basic outline of the China-led International Lunar Research Base. [SpaceNews]
Spanish launch startup PLD Space has secured a 30 million euro ($35 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan will be used for supporting final development of the company's Miura 5 small launch vehicle ahead of a first launch planned before the end of the year. This loan is the EIB's first direct investment in small launchers. PLD Space received 169 million euros from the European Space Agency as part of the European Launcher Challenge last November and raised 180 million euros in a Series C round in March. [SpaceNews]
German launch startup Isar Aerospace scrubbed another attempt to launch its Spectrum rocket Thursday. The company called off the launch from Andรธya Spaceport in northern Norway after detecting a leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel in the rocket. The company did not disclose a new launch date. This would be the second flight of Spectrum after the first crashed shortly after liftoff in March 2025. [Space.com]
A Commerce Department budget proposal has raised new questions about the future of the TraCSS space traffic coordination system. A high-level budget proposal last week included $11 million for the Office of Space Commerce for fiscal year 2027, but did not include any further details about those funds. The 2026 budget proposal included $10 million for the office but nothing for TraCSS, a cut that House and Senate appropriators sought to reverse. Industry sources said the 2027 budget proposal appears to be another attempt to either cancel TraCSS or severely curtail it. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Commercial space technologies are become central to the U.S. military's plans, a shift that brings with it new challenges. One concern raised by the military is the need for "battle hardening" of commercial technology, without stripping away the very attributes that made it valuable in the first place. One proposed solution has been the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, which the Space Force has been studying for years, modeled on a similar air reserve program. However, for commercial firms, participation could mean diverting bandwidth from paying customers. It raises unresolved questions about liability, compensation and exposure, with implications for companies involving insurance, investment and international business relationships. [SpaceNews]
India's space agency ISRO has performed another Gaganyaan spacecraft parachute test. In the second Integrated Air Drop Test on Friday, a simulated Gaganyaan crew module was dropped from a helicopter at an altitude 3,000 meters to test the deployment of its parachutes. The capsule splashed down safely in the sea and was recovered by a ship. ISRO conducted a similar test last August ahead of uncrewed flight tests of the spacecraft later this year. The first crewed Gaganyaan mission is now planned for no earlier than 2027. [ThePrint]
Amazon plans to begin limited commercial services with the broadband constellation this summer. In a letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon Leo services will begin in mid-2026. He claimed the service would provide better uplink and downlink speeds than "what customers have access to now," an apparent reference to Starlink, and be at a lower cost. Amazon currently has less than 10% of its full constellation in orbit, which would limit the availability of those services. [PC Magazine]
The FCC plans to vote at its next commission meeting on a rule to adjust limits on signals from broadband constellations like Starlink and Amazon Leo. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said commissioners will take up a report and order to modify rules on equivalent power flux density that date back to the 1990s. Those rules limit the power at which low Earth orbit systems can operate to avoid interference with geostationary satellites. The FCC argues that new spectrum sharing technologies will allow LEO systems to operate at higher power levels, enabling better performance. [FCC]
A former president of the Italian space agency ASI is now leading commercial space station Vast's European office. Vast announced Friday it hired Giorgio Saccoccia as president for Europe. In his new role Saccoccia will work with European governments on future human spaceflight and science missions on Vast's commercial space stations. He will also support other international expansion activities by Vast outside Europe. [Vast]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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SmallSat Europe 2026 will be one of the most important gatherings of civil, defense and commercial smallsat professionals of the year. SpaceNews joins this year's event as the official partner and producer of the Defense Stage, bringing together military leaders, startup founders and industry executives for conversations spanning launch access, resilient communications, AI, missile defense and the evolving orbital threat environment. Sign up through Friday to save 30% on your registration. |
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Cramped Conditions
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"You can do anything for 10 days, but you can't do anything for 10 months."
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– Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts, discussing the cramped conditions inside Orion and the need for more living space on future missions to Mars during a panel at the New Space Conference at MIT on Thursday.
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