Bloomberg
• Francine Lacqua, Samuel Stolton
The European Union’s antitrust chief said a proposed satellite venture intended to provide a regional answer to SpaceX will face normal scrutiny from competition authorities. The warning contrasts with strong political support from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and signals that strategic importance will not override competition rules.
Commercial Space
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A public financial disclosure shows President Donald Trump bought as much as $50,000 and sold as much as $15,000 in SpaceX shares in July. The transactions involve a government contractor run by his former adviser, adding a financial-disclosure dimension to SpaceX’s government-facing business.
The European Union’s antitrust chief said a proposed satellite venture intended to provide a regional answer to SpaceX will face normal scrutiny from competition authorities. The warning contrasts with strong political support from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and signals that strategic importance will not override competition rules.
Falling launch costs and a rising launch cadence are turning orbital data centers from a speculative idea into a potential commercial business. The concept is also creating unsettled intellectual-property questions as companies consider how ownership and protection of data-center technologies would work in orbit.
Fredrik Gustavsson of SWISSto12 discusses the company’s approach to profitable growth and the use of 3D-printed payloads in the space industry at WSBW 2026. The conversation highlights the intersection of commercial performance and advanced manufacturing in space hardware.
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Planet Labs plans to launch its first German-built satellite on a German-built rocket in early 2027, while Exolaunch has contracted a dedicated SpaceX Starship mission for 2029. China, meanwhile, completed four orbital launches in 45 hours to accelerate its Qianfan and SatNet broadband constellations.
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SaxaVord has abandoned plans for a shared suborbital launch rail, leaving HyImpulse to bring and operate its own launch system for the second flight of its SR75 rocket. The change adds infrastructure responsibility to HyImpulse’s launch campaign and alters the planned operating model at the spaceport.
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ESA is expanding Europe’s role in low Earth orbit through an agreement with Axiom Space, support for Sateliot’s IRIS² connectivity work, and extended cooperation with India’s ISRO. Eutelsat’s live rail demonstration in Poland further highlights the emerging use of LEO networks for terrestrial connectivity.
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Demand for launch capacity is intensifying as SpaceX begins winding down its flagship rocket, while competitors work to increase their own flight cadence. The resulting supply crunch is making it more difficult for customers to secure rides to orbit and could sharpen competition among launch providers.
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