Commercial Space News

Space Intel Report

Thales’ space unit rebounds: sales and profit rise in 3Q ended June 30 despite SES canceling two geostationary telecom satellite Thales’ space business—run largely through Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio—posted continued recovery in the three months ended June 30, with both sales and profit increasing. The improvement held even after a customer cancellation of two geostationary-orbit telecommunications satellites, costing €174.5M for Thales’ accounts.

2026-07-23T07:55:15.120102-07:00

Bloomberg

SpaceX IPO sparks bearish positioning: short sellers amass ~$15.5B paper profit; Google discloses ~$94B stake under sell restric Short sellers betting against SpaceX have accumulated an estimated $15.5 billion in paper profit since the company’s mid-June IPO, as the stock slid below the IPO price and short interest rose to nearly one-third of tradable shares. Google’s 10-Q shows a roughly $94 billion SpaceX stake, boosted GAAP EPS but subject to major sell restrictions, amid lockup and speculation risk.

2026-07-23T05:05:24.001622-07:00

Bloomberg

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SpaceX to retry Starship Flight 13 after last week’s scrub—second test of Version 3, deploying first Starlink V3 satellites SpaceX is scheduled to attempt Starship Flight 13 after abandoning takeoff last week, following fixes to an engine issue that caused the earlier abort. The flight is the second launch of the rocket’s Version 3 configuration and will deploy the first Starlink V3 satellites.

2026-07-23T03:05:59.008736-07:00

SpaceWatch Global

Vast appoints Melanie Stricklan as SVP of Special Programs; names Steve Isakowitz adviser to support a pivot toward U.S. nationa Vast has appointed Melanie Stricklan as senior vice president of a newly created Special Programs division and named Steve Isakowitz as an adviser. The moves accompany Vast’s stated pivot toward U.S. national security missions, signaling an organizational shift to support defense-focused programs.

2026-07-23T01:21:13.611735-07:00

SpaceWatch Global

Commercial Earth Observation’s ‘missing middle’ blocks scale: pricing isn’t the core bottleneck An analysis of commercial Earth Observation (EO) finds the sector’s biggest constraint is not pricing, but the absence of an “institutional layer” that reliably connects EO buyers with suppliers. The result is friction in contracting, onboarding, and repeatable procurement—slowing adoption of Earth data products.

2026-07-23T01:21:13.523167-07:00

CNBC

2026-07-22T17:22:01.067541-07:00

Inside India newsletter: Skyro

Via Satellite

Lite Coms awarded $22M SATCOM contract to support defense operational readiness Lite Coms says it has won a $22 million contract from an unnamed government and defense customer to deliver satellite communications capabilities. The work is aimed at maintaining reliable connectivity and operational readiness in “complex and dynamic conditions.”

2026-07-22T13:22:06.181315-07:00

Bloomberg

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FCC clears more upper C-band for a 5G auction and overhauls satellite licensing with an “assembly line” approach The FCC voted July 22 to approve another C-band auction next year, requiring satellite operators to clear 160 MHz of upper C-band spectrum, while also adopting sweeping reforms to space and earth-station licensing via a “licensing assembly line.” In parallel, the FAA will require radio altimeter upgrades ahead of expanded C-band wireless services starting in 2030.

2026-07-22T10:27:06.816588-07:00

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