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• Jeff Foust
Reflect Orbital, whose proposal to direct reflected sunlight to specific locations on the ground has drawn both interest and controversy, has raised $73.5 million. The announcement adds substantial financing to a commercial space concept whose intended application is sunlight delivery from orbit.
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Reflect Orbital, whose proposal to direct reflected sunlight to specific locations on the ground has drawn both interest and controversy, has raised $73.5 million. The announcement adds substantial financing to a commercial space concept whose intended application is sunlight delivery from orbit.
Japan’s Synspective has ordered 10 launches on Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket, with two StriX synthetic aperture radar satellites planned for each flight. Firefly says Alpha Block II can carry about one ton and offers responsive launch, while the company’s earlier Alpha flights recorded three clean successes in seven attempts.
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SpaceX has moved Starship’s Super Heavy booster to the launch pad for Flight 15, a test planned for Friday, Nov. 13. The mission is expected to last more than 22 hours and will attempt to catch both the booster and Starship spacecraft with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, after about 14 Earth orbits.
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A lawsuit between two space-station companies centers on claims that one copied the other’s work. NASA advised that Vast’s submission used “the PAM Provider” in some locations where it had previously named Axiom, according to the article summary.
Morgan Stanley is maintaining its overweight rating on SpaceX, according to a roundup of Tuesday’s notable Wall Street analyst calls. The report provides no price target, rationale or additional details on the analyst’s assessment.
Rocket Factory Augsburg is targeting 2027 for the first launch of its RFA One rocket from SaxaVord spaceport in Scotland, according to the report. The spaceport is drawing interest from several companies for orbital and suborbital missions, as RFA discussed its plans with delegates from Germany’s aerospace research center DLR.
Chinese launch company Kuaizhou Aerospace plans to begin flying two new rockets in 2027, including the reusable Kuaizhou-6 and the low-cost Kuaizhou-12. The company also plans a first-stage recovery attempt, putting reusability on the agenda for its next-generation launch vehicles.
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Rocket Lab lifted the price of a dedicated Neutron launch from $55 million to $70 million, citing strong demand and constrained launch capacity. The company booked more than $515 million in Neutron launch contracts last quarter, including eight missions across five constellation operators, while shifting the rocket’s first launch to 2027.
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