Plus: The Space Force completes an acquisition overhaul
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: China lands its first booster, the Space Force completes an acquisition overhaul, the government seeks information on offshore launch options and more.
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Top Stories
China has become the second country to successfully land an orbital booster with the inaugural flight of its Long March 10B rocket Friday. The rocket lifted off at 12:15 a.m. Eastern from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. The booster landed 11 minutes later on a ship offshore using a net capture system. With the successful recovery, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation joins U.S. companies SpaceX and Blue Origin who have recovered an orbital booster. The Long March 10B, capable of placing up to 16,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, meets the needs of various missions such as low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation deployment and large commercial satellite launches while also reducing costs. On this launch, the rocket placed an unnamed satellite into orbit. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force has completed the biggest overhaul of its acquisition organization since the service was established more than six years ago. The reorganization creates nine mission-focused Portfolio Acquisition Executives to oversee the buying, integration and modernization of the military's space capabilities. The new structure replaces an acquisition system centered on individual programs with one organized around operational missions, and gives a small group of executives broad authority over how the service buys and integrates space capabilities. The structure reflects a broader Pentagon push to speed defense acquisition amid criticism that programs move too slowly from development into operational use. [SpaceNews]
A coalition of environmental and scientific groups petitioned the FCC to halt consideration of applications for orbital data center constellations. The coalition, represented by nonprofit public interest environmental law organization Earthjustice, called on the FCC to conduct a thorough environmental review, known as an environmental impact statement, before moving forward with licenses. Advocacy groups have urged the FCC for years to scrutinize megaconstellations more closely, but orbital data center systems represent a major step up, with SpaceX seeking permission for up to one million satellites. [SpaceNews]
European spaceflight firm The Exploration Company has established an entity in the United States. The company announced this week it created TEC Federal, a United States-based entity that will enable it to compete for U.S. government programs and contracts. It also opened a facility in Houston to support work on a crewed version of Nyx, the cargo vehicle it is developing for an ESA-backed test flight to the International Space Station in 2028. [SpaceNews]
Japanese startup ElevationSpace signed an agreement with a European company for its reentry vehicle. ElevationSpace said Thursday it will work with Space Cargo Unlimited to study how to fly that company's microgravity experiment platforms on its spacecraft. ElevationSpace is developing ELS-R, a free-flyer spacecraft with a reentry capsule to conduct microgravity research and manufacturing, as well as a version intended to return experiments from space stations. ElevationSpace recently raised $40 million ahead of a test flight of ELS-R in 2027. A company executive said at a conference Thursday that he believes there is room for his company's vehicle alongside SpaceX's much larger Starfall reentry vehicle. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Volatility is the name of the game when it comes to SpaceX stock. Only a small amount of SpaceX stock is available for public trading, making the shares susceptible to big swings as insiders remain subject to lockups. Some expect volatility to remain part of the company's stock market story in the short term, particularly because of an unusually large retail allocation that brings in buyers more likely to chase the IPO's momentum, or retreat quickly on negative headlines. [SpaceNews]
An office within the Department of the Interior is seeking information about offshore launch systems. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued an RFI this week looking for information from companies planning offshore launch or reentry platforms that would operate on the outer continental shelf. It said it is seeking the information as part of broader efforts to assess offshore launch systems and their requirements. There has been renewed interest in offshore launch as a means to reduce congestion at spaceports like Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg. [SpaceNews]
Pulse Space, a startup developing laser technology designed to transmit power and data between spacecraft, won a $40 million Space Force contract. The award will support development of its laser-based technology but the company did not specify what military applications will be demonstrated under this agreement. Pulse Space is developing laser systems that can wirelessly transmit electrical power and data between spacecraft, technology that could support space networks by allowing satellites to share power and communicate through optical links. [SpaceNews]
Navigation satellite startup Xona Space Systems has announced partnerships with companies developing equipment compatible with its planned constellation. Xona unveiled the Pulsar Verified program Thursday, giving companies a technical path to validate the compatibility of receivers and simulation equipment with Xona's Pulsar constellation. Xona has been working for years with industry partners including the largest commercial manufacturers of Global Navigation Satellite System chipsets to ensure their equipment can work with the Pulsar low Earth orbit system. Xona plans to begin in-space beta testing later this year after the launch of six satellites. [SpaceNews]
Loft Orbital has signed a launch agreement with MaiaSpace. The companies provided few details about the agreement announced this week other than it includes multiple launches on MaiaSpace's small launch vehicle starting in 2028. Loft Orbital develops satellites that have, to date, launched on SpaceX rideshare missions. MaiaSpace is planning a first orbital launch attempt in the second half of 2027. [European Spaceflight]
Wally Funk, a pilot whose decades-long dreams of spaceflight were finally realized five years ago, has died at the age of 87. Funk was among 13 female pilots known as the "Mercury 13" who went through astronaut medical testing in the early Space Age but were not selected by NASA to become astronauts. Funk finally made it to space on the first crewed New Shepard suborbital flight in 2021 alongside Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. Funk, who was 82 at the time of that flight, is the oldest woman to go to space. [Washington Post]
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