SpaceNews.com
• Jeff Foust
Voyager Technologies remains optimistic about Starlab’s prospects but is seeking changes to NASA’s commercial space station request for proposals. The company wants certain requirements relaxed, highlighting the tension between NASA’s program objectives and industry’s ability to deliver commercially viable orbital infrastructure.
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Voyager Technologies remains optimistic about Starlab’s prospects but is seeking changes to NASA’s commercial space station request for proposals. The company wants certain requirements relaxed, highlighting the tension between NASA’s program objectives and industry’s ability to deliver commercially viable orbital infrastructure.
Startup Endeavor Optical Networks has emerged from stealth with plans to build an optical satellite network in medium Earth orbit for space-based data transfer. The company’s announcement adds a new entrant to the developing market for high-capacity intersatellite and space-based communications infrastructure.
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Spanish startup Kreios Space will demonstrate its air-breathing electric propulsion system in Very Low Earth Orbit aboard a microsatellite bus supplied by Kongsberg NanoAvionics. The mission targets the atmospheric-drag challenge that limits sustained VLEO operations and is planned as the first in-orbit demonstration of the technology.
High activity
SpaceX heads into its first post-IPO earnings report as employee and insider lockups expire, creating a fresh test for its private-market valuation. Short interest has reached an estimated $23.6 billion, exceeding Tesla’s, while investor enthusiasm around Elon Musk’s companies faces renewed scrutiny.
SpaceX plans to launch the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-95 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Rocket Lab also secured up to $266 million from the U.S. Space Force for as many as 18 suborbital missile-defense launches from Alaska.
Amazon has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission to operate a direct-to-device network in low Earth orbit, targeting a constellation sized at more than 5,000 satellites. The filing signals Amazon’s entry into the direct-to-device satellite communications race and escalates competitive pressure in LEO broadband.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Rocket Lab a $266 million multi-launch contract for suborbital missile-defense testing under its Rocket Systems Launch Program. The deal covers 12 missions over three years, with an option for up to six additional launches, starting no earlier than late 2026 from a new launch pad at Kodiak, Alaska.
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