Bloomberg
• Satviki Sanjay
Elon Musk is promoting Starlink as a way to connect India’s underserved rural regions, where more than 11,000 villages reportedly lack 4G, even as the service’s launch remains stalled over security concerns. Separately, Ukrainian officials are seeking approval to use Starlink-equipped drones against Russian ballistic-missile launchers.
Space Policy & International Cooperation
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Elon Musk is promoting Starlink as a way to connect India’s underserved rural regions, where more than 11,000 villages reportedly lack 4G, even as the service’s launch remains stalled over security concerns. Separately, Ukrainian officials are seeking approval to use Starlink-equipped drones against Russian ballistic-missile launchers.
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A new National Space Transportation Policy directs the U.S. government to support commercial launch providers and scale national launch and reentry activity to 1,000 missions annually by 2030. The target arrives as SpaceX reaches 100 launches in 2026 and Starlink approaches 11,000 operational satellites.
SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile are reportedly seeking Grain Management spectrum valued at about $6 billion for direct-to-device satellite services, while Muon Space raised $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Muon plans to expand its San Jose factory toward 500 satellites annually by 2027 and deepen defense, NASA and NOAA work.
Christophe Bosquillon examines USSPACECOM’s SWE 2040 framework, focusing on its implications for future space warfare, interoperability and allied integration. The vision signals how European partners may need to align operational concepts, capabilities and cooperation with an increasingly integrated U.S.-led approach to space security.
Space Forge has signed a master research agreement with The Texas A&M University System, creating a framework for collaborative research into advanced semiconductor materials. The partnership is intended to expand U.S. capacity in a strategically important area of space-enabled materials development and manufacturing.
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured the clearest views so far of a new lunar crater created when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon at roughly 8,700 km/h after drifting in space for 19 months. The images document the unexpected impact and its comparatively small crater.
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Globalstar deployed all eight replacement satellites built by Rocket Lab and MDA Space, while Eutelsat completed the first rendez-vous for Europe’s IRIS² programme. Separately, Viasat selected Rocket Lab for a U.S. Space Force GEO satellite, and Finland’s ReOrbit launched a €4.6 million connectivity R&D programme.
SPRIND and SWE 2040 present competing visions for Europe’s orbital future: one prioritizes technological sovereignty and independent capabilities, while the other emphasizes interoperability with military partners. The divide highlights a strategic choice that could shape Europe’s space policy, industrial priorities and approach to security cooperation.
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