Author: starpathwp-production
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Op-ed: Aging Weather Satellites Are Raising Risks for America. It’s Time for a Hybrid Solution.
Next month, United States weather forecasting capabilities are set to hit a troubling milestone—the formal end of the DoD’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s lifespan. Those satellites have orbited hundreds of miles above the Earth for decades, collecting data on cloud patterns and other atmospheric parameters. When those sensors go silent this fall, the country will…
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Space Force Seeks to Double Budget to $71 Billion for Orbital Combat Mission
The proposed expansion reflects a transition from passive orbital surveillance and launch support toward managing active theater support roles in contested operational environments. The request comes as space operators move from theoretical planning to real-world combat support across multiple combatant commands. Outgoing Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman pointed to recent operations in…
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Senate Confirms Schiess as Space Force’s Top Officer Amid Push to Match China
Schiess succeeds Gen. Chance Saltzman as the service’s top uniformed officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has served as the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for operations since late 2025. The six-year-old service is seeking a major increase in resources to support new missile warning and tracking satellites,…
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BlackStar Orbital Takes SPAC Deal
Blackstar Orbital Technologies, a company developing a reusable spacecraft platform, plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger. BlackStar announced the deal with SPAC Pono Capital Four on Thursday that values the company at $380 million. The company is developing the SpaceDrone, which is designed to launch on a traditional rocket…
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Europe’s IRIS² Constellation Grows by 66 Satellites as Cost Climbs to 15.6 Billion Euros
The European Commission selected the SpaceRISE consortium, led by satellite operators Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES, in December 2024 for a one-year design phase, followed by negotiations on the implementation agreement that formed part of Rendezvous 1. At that stage, IRIS² principally included 18 satellites in medium Earth orbit and 264 satellites in high low Earth…
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Scaleup Europe Fund Makes ICEYE Its First Bet, Signaling End to Continent’s Capital Drought
The Scaleup Europe Fund was announced in 2025 as part of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, an effort to reshape the region’s regulatory and financial landscape to support local deep-tech industries. While its first investment supported the space sector, the fund’s scope is broader, with managers exploring future investments in AI, robotics, semiconductors, energy,…
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SpaceX AI Segment Turns EBITDA Positive Two Years Ahead of Expert Forecasts
SpaceX’s AI segment generated $1.15 billion in adjusted EBITDA during the second quarter of 2026, reversing a $609 million loss in the first quarter and a $276 million loss in the same period last year. The result represents a roughly $1.76 billion sequential swing in just three months. AI revenue reached $2.56 billion, up 213…
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Rocket Lab Completes 92nd Electron Launch for iQPS Earth-Imaging Constellation
Rocket Lab Corporation, a global leader in launch services and space systems, successfully launched the 13th Electron rocket of the year to deploy the latest satellite to space for multi-launch customer Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), operators of the QPS-SAR Earth-imaging constellation. ‘The Grain Goddess Provides’ mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex…
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Umbra Secures Sole-Source NRO Contract for Commercial Radar Augmentation
Umbra, an American space technology company, announced it has been awarded a sole-source contract by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) through its Commercial Systems Program Office (CSPO) for radar commercial augmentation (RCA) services. The award is a follow-on to four years of contracted work together, expanding the agency’s access to U.S. commercial synthetic aperture radar…
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Blue Origin narrowing in on root cause of catastrophic rocket accident
Blue Origin provided its first substantive update this week on the cause of the catastrophic loss of the New Glenn rocket and most of its launch pad infrastructure at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May. The space company’s chief executive, Dave Limp, said investigative work is continuing into the anomaly that happened during a hot-fire test…