Outer Space Today - News, Research, & Insights for the Space Economy

Institutional-grade space intelligence. Launches, defense contracts, venture rounds, and market coverage for the orbital economy.

• UAE Reveals Asteroid Belt Lander Ahead of 2028 Launch to Mysterious Red Asteroid

  October 12, 2026

  The United Arab Emirates has unveiled the lander for its second interplanetary mission, an eight-year journey through the asteroid belt that will end with a touchdown on the unusually red asteroid 269 Justitia. The mission team presented a half-scale model of the homegrown probe at an October 1 press conference in Abu Dhabi, marking a major step toward a planned March 2028 launch. The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt follows the UAE Space Agency's Hope Mars orbiter, which has studied the R

• Space Weapons Admission Fuels Opposition to New Haleakalā Telescopes

  October 12, 2026

  Air Force Secretary Troy Meink's confirmation that the United States has deployed weapons in orbit has intensified concerns on Maui over the Air Force's plan to build up to seven additional telescopes atop Haleakalā, a summit many Native Hawaiians consider sacred. Opponents say the disclosure clarifies the purpose of the ground sensors the service wants to add. Speaking Sept. 14 at the Air and Space Forces Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference in Maryland, Meink said the United States h

• Sierra Space Drops Ghost Reentry Vehicle From 68,500 Feet in Orbital Delivery Test

  October 12, 2026

  Sierra Space demonstrated the flight recovery capabilities of its Ghost reentry vehicle on October 11, 2026, dropping a 10-ton test article from high-altitude balloons over Utah. The test validated the structural thermal protection and precision landing guidance behind a concept designed to deliver cargo anywhere on Earth within 90 minutes. The demonstration took place under U.S. Space Command's Apollo Nexus exercise at the Dugway Proving Ground. It marks the latest milestone for the logistics

• German Space Command Chief Warns Russian Satellites Are Shadowing Allied Spacecraft

  October 12, 2026

  Major General Traut, head of Germany's Space Command, has warned that Russian military satellites are shadowing allied spacecraft, raising concerns about the vulnerability of commercial satellite networks supporting Ukraine. The warning, reported October 12, 2026, frames commercial constellations as frontline infrastructure now exposed to on-orbit threats. The warning places a senior European military-space official on record describing active on-orbit shadowing by Russian assets, a direct coun

• Amazon Leo to Bundle Satellite Broadband With Prime Subscriptions

  October 12, 2026

  Amazon disclosed on October 11, 2026, that it will bundle satellite broadband internet from its Amazon Leo unit with Amazon Prime subscriptions and other consumer ecosystem services. The strategy positions the company to challenge SpaceX's Starlink in the consumer satellite broadband market, with a service launch targeted by year-end 2026. Formerly known as Project Kuiper, the low Earth orbit satellite communications unit aims to leverage Amazon's retail, streaming, and AWS enterprise platforms

• Redwire Launches Final ROSA Wings to ISS, Capping Multi-Year Power Overhaul

  October 12, 2026

  Redwire Corporation announced on October 12, 2026 that the fourth and final pair of its Roll-Out Solar Array wings for the International Space Station is launching aboard NASA's SpaceX 35th commercial resupply services mission. The delivery completes a multi-year effort to modernize the station's aging electrical power system with higher-efficiency arrays, closing out one of the longest-running hardware upgrade campaigns on the ISS. The modernization program replaces the performance lost by the

• AnySignal and Andrenam Partner on Underwater Acoustic Modem, Targeting 2027 Shipments

  October 11, 2026

  AnySignal and Andrenam announced a partnership on October 9 to develop and market a new family of underwater acoustic communications modems, with initial shipments expected in the first half of 2027. The companies plan to make the modems broadly available to the market while also integrating them into their own products and services, extending communications from the seabed to space. The two companies have a history of collaboration and position themselves as leaders in distributed maritime pla

• Starlink's India Launch Hinges on Security Safeguards, Not Just Ground Stations

  October 11, 2026

  Starlink's commercial launch in India remains contingent on the government being satisfied that the operator can comply with domestic traffic-routing rules, lawful interception requirements and directions to restrict services in specified geographical areas. These conditions extend well beyond the establishment of ground infrastructure, meaning the company's buildout of gateway sites does not by itself satisfy the pending security review. The issue sharpened after Elon Musk criticized Indian bu

• Astrolight Links Orbiting Laser Terminal to Greek Ground Station in First End-to-End Demonstration

  October 11, 2026

  Astrolight has established its first end-to-end optical communication links from space to ground, connecting its ATLAS-1 laser communication terminal in orbit with its OGS-2.5 optical ground station in Greece. The company announced the demonstration on October 8, reporting that the link progressed from first light to routine operations at 1 Gbps within a week. Astrolight developed the terminal in cooperation with the European Space Agency and worked with the Department of Aerospace of the Unive

• Honda and Redwire Team on Robotic Lab Assistant for Commercial Space Stations

  October 11, 2026

  Honda is partnering with space infrastructure firm Redwire to develop an automated laboratory support system intended for future commercial space stations. The system aims to take over routine scientific maintenance tasks on stations that will be smaller than the International Space Station and frequently uncrewed. On the ISS, astronaut time is the most limited resource, with crew schedules planned to the minute. Some of that time goes to mundane work such as scanning barcodes for inventory man

• Telecom Stocks Plunge After SpaceX’s $8 Billion Spectrum Deal

  October 10, 2026

  America’s biggest wireless carriers suffered a sharp selloff Friday after SpaceX’s latest spectrum deal raised the prospect of a more formidable Starlink Mobile competitor. AT&T fell approximately 10%, Verizon lost 9%, and T-Mobile tumbled 13% during the October 9th trading session. The declines followed Thursday’s announcement that SpaceX had agreed to acquire Grain Management’s entire nationwide 800 MHz wireless spectrum portfolio. Reuters reported a value of approximately $8 billion, citing

• NASA Opens Competition for ISS Successor With Final Station Proposal Call

  October 10, 2026

  NASA on Friday released its final request for proposals asking the US commercial space industry to develop private space stations that could succeed the International Space Station as early as 2030. The 360-page solicitation finally answers questions about the capabilities the agency is seeking, and sets a December 8 deadline for industry responses. The release caps years of design and development work by private companies eager to learn NASA's requirements. In a cover letter accompanying the d

• NASA Turns a Departing Cargo Ship Into a Flying Heat Shield Lab

  October 10, 2026

  NASA is testing the next generation of thermal protection materials by hitching a ride on a cargo spacecraft at the end of its life. When Northrop Grumman's 24th cargo resupply mission undocked from the International Space Station, it carried 12 small experimental capsules designed to gather reentry data on materials that could protect astronauts returning from the Moon and Mars. The experiment, called the Kentucky Reentry Probe Experiment, or KREPE-3, is the third in a series of low-cost missi

• NASA and Boeing Restore Two Starliner Missions, Set December Launch Window for Uncrewed Flight

  October 9, 2026

  NASA and Boeing announced changes to the Starliner contract that add resources for human spaceflight certification and support the spacecraft as a long-term provider of crewed missions to low Earth orbit. The uncrewed Starliner-1 mission, carrying cargo to the International Space Station, is planned for the December 2026/January 2027 timeframe, with a crewed Starliner-2 mission to follow in 2028. The contract modification follows two years of joint work to address technical issues identified du

• Cygnus XL Departs International Space Station for Destructive Re-Entry

  October 9, 2026

  The Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft is leaving the International Space Station, with ground controllers commanding its detachment from the Unity module ahead of release around 12:43 p.m. EDT. The spacecraft, which completed Northrop Grumman's Commercial Resupply Services-24 mission, is loaded with disposal items and will burn up during re-entry. The departure marks the end of a mission that began earlier this year. Cygnus XL launched April 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40