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By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Reflect Orbital shines brightly with a new funding round, AST SpaceMobile's new work with the Space Force and in Japan, China proposes a cislunar satellite constellation and more.
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Top Stories
Reflect Orbital has raised $73.5 million for satellites that would reflect sunlight to the ground, a concept that has attracted potential customers and controversy. The company said Tuesday it raised the round from a mix of existing and new investors. The funds will go toward work on its initial satellites and to support commercial partnerships. Reflect Orbital is developing satellites that would deploy large mirrors in orbit, reflecting sunlight to the ground. The company says the satellites would be able to illuminate solar farms to generate more power and provide lighting for construction sites or search-and-rescue efforts. The company's plans for a large constellation of satellites, though, has raised concerns from environmentalists and astronomers. The company planned to launch its first satellite with a reflector this year, but recently said it will instead launch next April a satellite without a mirror to test other spacecraft systems. [SpaceNews]
Firefly Aerospace argues its deal to sell rocket engines, rather than launches, to AST SpaceMobile is a "win-win" for the two companies. Firefly announced last week it will sell Miranda and Vira engines, along with a license to produce the engines, to AST, which said it will build its own launch vehicle, Blacklift, for launching its direct-to-device satellites. Firefly said in an earnings call Tuesday that the $1.3 billion deal provides an injection of capital into the company to accelerate work on its own Eclipse launch vehicle. Firefly will offer Eclipse to commercial and government customers while Blacklift will be used exclusively for AST's own satellites. Firefly, though, did not state when it expects Eclipse to start launching. Firefly separately announced Tuesday a contract from Synspective, a Japanese radar-imaging company, for up to 10 launches of its smaller Alpha rocket through 2030. However, Firefly said the next Alpha launch has slipped to early next year, citing the requirements of an unidentified national security customer. [SpaceNews]
AST SpaceMobile will be part of a Space Force effort to track aircraft and other airborne threats from orbit. AST said it is supporting defense technology firm Systems & Technology Research, or STR, which is a prime contractor for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator, or SB-AMTI, program. The Space Force has not disclosed what STR and AST will deliver, how many spacecraft are involved or when their technology will be demonstrated, but AST said the program will provide the company with $100 million in revenue. SB-AMTI is intended to provide persistent tracking of airborne targets, including aircraft and cruise missiles, particularly in areas where large surveillance planes could be vulnerable to advanced air defenses. [SpaceNews]
AST also announced a joint venture to provide direct-to-device (D2D) services in Japan. The company said it will build up to 50 satellites for the joint venture with Japanese technology conglomerate Rakuten. The joint venture would be 51% owned by Rakuten, which controls the country's fourth-largest mobile operator and has previously invested in AST SpaceMobile. Rakuten is in line to get up to $1 billion in subsidies from the Japanese government for a sovereign D2D system. AST said the satellites would be part of its own network when operating outside of Japan. Deployment of the full AST constellation has been slowed by launch issues, but AST said it expects to provide "nationwide intermittent service" in the United States and a few other countries by the end of the year. [SpaceNews]
China is recruiting international partners for a constellation of small spacecraft operating in cislunar space. The Cislunar CubeSat Constellation (C3) is led by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory and the International Deep Space Exploration Association with support from the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization. C3 features 30 standardized 12U cubesats of up to 25 kilograms each, plus four lunar resource exploration satellites of about 200 kilograms. The cubesats will operate in nine-day orbits at altitudes ranging from 10,000 to 360,000 kilometers, and would each carry a high-energy particle imager, a magnetometer and a gamma-ray burst detector. Partners identified so far for C3 include Thailand, Serbia, Egypt, Senegal and Indonesia. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Iridium expects to secure another long-term Pentagon satellite communications contract as it pitches new capabilities. The company's seven-year Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services agreement, known as EMSS, expires in March 2027 after the U.S. Space Force extended it for six months in September. Under that contract, Iridium provides unlimited voice, messaging and data services for military personnel and other government customers. Iridium says it is in talks with the Space Force on a new deal as well as additional services, such as D2D services for a wider range of military equipment. [SpaceNews]
Anduril has developed three satellite payload systems for space surveillance and other applications. Several technologies were demonstrated aboard Anduril-216, a company-funded satellite launched in July. The payloads include an infrared sensor designed to detect spacecraft even when they are obscured by Earth's shadow, an onboard computer that can process data and support autonomous operations, and a power-management system that allows different payloads to operate on commercially manufactured satellites. Anduril executives said the company wants to become a mission systems integrator, combining spacecraft, sensors, computing hardware and software into operational systems tailored to military requirements. [SpaceNews]
The first flight of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane is expected next spring. The FAA said Monday it issued a reentry license to Sierra Space, allowing up to four Dream Chaser landings a year at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The FAA said the license supports the company's plans for a first flight in the spring of 2027, although Sierra Space has not announced a date for the mission. The company developed Sierra Space to transport cargo to the International Space Station, although the company now plans to use the uncrewed vehicle for other applications for government and commercial customers. [SpaceNews]
The British government is considering awarding a military communications satellite contract to an American company. The U.K. Ministry of Defence has reportedly recommended that a contract for a new generation of Skynet satellites worth 2.4 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) be awarded to Lockheed Martin rather than Airbus Defence and Space, which built previous generations of those satellites at a U.K. facility. Those reports claim that Airbus warned it would cut up to 3,000 jobs at British facilities if the government selected Lockheed for the contract, although Lockheed pledged to build the satellites in a new factory in Britain. A final decision on the contract will be made by Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the next two weeks. [Sky News]
The U.K. government now owns more than a quarter of SaxaVord Spaceport as part of a public-private investment agreement. The British government announced in September it would invest 30 million pounds ($40 million) in the spaceport, an amount matched by Wild Ventures, an investment firm owned by Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen. Wild Ventures was previously the majority shareholder in SaxaVord but now owns between 25% and 50% of the spaceport, according to company filings, which also state that the government also owns between 25% and 50%. SaxaVord plans to use the new funding to build out spaceport infrastructure, including additional launch pads. [European Spaceflight]
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From RVs to RVs
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"We started off in an RV repair shop in Torrance, California. We used to get people coming by to get their RV repaired: Recreational vehicle, not reentry vehicle."
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– Nick Cialdella, CTO of Varda Space Industries, discussing the company's origins at the Space & Satellites USA conference Monday. He noted the "W" in its W-Series reentry vehicle comes from "Winnebago."
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FROM SPACENEWS
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20 days until the 2026 Icon Awards: Join us on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C., when we announce the 2026 Icon Award winners, recognizing leaders and accomplishments that exemplified excellence across the industry during the last 12 months. See the list of finalists and secure your spot to celebrate with us.
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