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The week was well rounded with a lot funding for space tech companies coming from public institutions as well as a few new defense contracts. Also find some beautiful images and interesting developments in space science.

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A University of Manchester study suggests SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researchers may have overlooked both a swath of the radio spectrum and millions of stars already within their reach.

PhD researcher Louisa Mason conducted the first SETI survey using ALMA in Chile, analyzing archived Band 3 observations at millimeter and submillimeter frequencies far above the traditional 1.42–1.66 GHz "water hole" where most searches concentrate (wavelengths ranging from roughly 21 to 18 centimeters.) She found no candidate technosignatures in the two frequency windows examined, drawn from four archived observations, but argues higher frequencies, which suffer less signal distortion from dispersion, warrant exploration.

Separately, Mason quantified the "stellar bycatch" captured incidentally within radio telescopes' fields of view. Applying the Besançon Galactic Model to a prior survey of 1,327 pointings by the Green Bank and Parkes telescopes, she recalculated the stars included at over 6.1 million, up from roughly 288,000 estimated using Gaia catalogues, which miss stars too faint to see optically. Mason stressed the null result does not exclude intelligent life. The Besançon Galactic Model (BGM) is a computer simulation program of the Milky Way that uses stellar population synthesis to predict what stars exist, where they are, and how they move. Astronomers use it to test theories about how our galaxy formed and evolved.

The work was presented in July at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham and described in two Monthly Notices papers.

4 August, 2026

NASA engineers freed up power on Voyager 2 through a maneuver nicknamed the "Big Bang," extending the 48-year-old spacecraft's science operations by at least a year. Managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the effort simultaneously shut off certain powered devices and substituted lower-power alternatives while keeping the probe warm enough to function far from the sun. Both Voyagers draw electricity from radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert heat from decaying plutonium, and each loses about 4 watts annually as that supply depletes.

Since 2024, the power squeeze has already cost each probe two science instruments; Voyager 2, launched in 1977 with 10 instruments, is now down to three. Without the swap, it would have had to disable another before the end of 2026. NASA plans the same procedure on Voyager 1, now nearing 171 astronomical units, farther than Voyager 2's 142, in the coming months. Voyager 1 as the most distant human-made object at 15.9 billion miles.

5 August, 2026

A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the moon Aug. 5 at about 2:35 a.m. EDT, striking the sunlit western limb near the Einstein and Bell craters at roughly 8,700 km/h / 5,400 mph, seven times the speed of sound. The 4,000-kilogram stage, left over from the January 2025 launch of Firefly's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience landers, had used most of its fuel reaching a high, moon-crossing orbit and couldn't deorbit; solar activity and gravity steered it into the moon. It likely gouged a crater up to 27 meters wide 4 meters deep.

Lowell Observatory reported detecting a sodium and lithium gas plume tens of kilometers across, lasting five to 10 minutes. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the ShadowCam on Korea's Danuri orbiter, and ground telescopes are seeking before-and-after imagery, though results may take days. Researchers value the impact's known mass and velocity for calibrating ejecta models and assessing debris hazards to future lunar missions.

Two separate research papers frame the crash as a rare controlled experiment. A team led by William Jo of the University of Texas at Austin, posting on the arXiv preprint server, ran physics simulations predicting the debris plume's central ejecta spike would reach 75 to 100 kilometers in altitude and shine several orders of magnitude brighter than the dark-sky background for its first few minutes, though Jo stressed the flash "isn't really the story," the real value being the chance to calibrate ejecta-plume models against an impact of known energy.

Another paper led by Benjamin Fernando of Los Alamos National Laboratory calculated that ejected particles could travel just under 1,000 kilometers, which is far enough to threaten future astronauts or infrastructure across much of the lunar surface. The paper treats the event as a testbed for locating impacts seismically and studying lunar dust dynamics. Both note the plume's brightness and visual magnitude were only loosely predicted beforehand, which is what makes direct observation of a well-characterized artificial impact scientifically worthwhile.

6 August, 2026

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has cleared a key test of the flexible antenna that will let its SkyFall Mars helicopters hunt for shallow subsurface ice, the lab announced Aug. 6. The trio of rotorcraft will each carry ground-penetrating radar with a flexible-fabric antenna to map subsurface ice in the top few yards of regolith, a zone that orbiters cannot see but where future astronauts would source water, oxygen and fuel.

The radar’s fabric antenna called "Vivaldi," sheathed in polyester and the super strong Vectran, and weighing about 5 ounces, must bend during landings and spring back for flight. Invented in 1978, the antenna is 1.5 times longer than the helicopter’s legs so as to be able to use a frequency range from 500 to 2,500 megahertz, corresponding to wavelengths of about 24 to 5 inches / 60 to 12 centimeters and conduct shallow sub-surface surveying under 16 feet, or 5 meters, in the dry Martian regolith. In JPL testing, it withstood 200 simulated Mars landings which is more than double the prime mission's requirement, through Martian thermal swings without losing performance. Each helicopter carries four instruments. SkyFall, following NASA's Ingenuity, is set to launch in late 2028 aboard the nuclear-powered Space Reactor-1 Freedom.

6 August, 2026

The rescue mission for NASA's Swift Observatory is facing its own malfunctions. LINK, the private spacecraft built by Katalyst Space Technologies and sent to boost the aging telescope out of a decaying orbit is now recovering from an unexpected spin that has threatened the effort.

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a $250 million telescope studying gamma-ray bursts and launched in 2004, carries no thrusters and has fallen from its initial 600-km / 375-mile altitude; its descent accelerates as thickening atmosphere increases drag. NASA expects it to reach a point of no return near 300 kilometers by October.

To save it, the agency awarded Arizona's Katalyst Space Technologies $30 million last September to build LINK, a refrigerator-sized spacecraft with three robotic arms meant to boost Swift higher. But LINK, launched July 3, began spinning at about 9 degrees per second roughly three weeks in, causing communications dropouts, a platform reset, and the failure of two of its three reaction wheels. Using electric-propulsion burns and under 100 grams of propellant, Katalyst slowed the spin to 1.47 degrees per second. A flight software update expected within days should restore control and begin maneuvers toward Swift.

5 August, 2026

A European Space Policy Institute report published Aug. 5 warns that Europe risks dependence on foreign orbital data centers (ODC) as China moves from concept to deployment and US ventures draw large funding. According to Northern Sky Research, a market-research and analyst firm that covers the satellite and space industry and functioning as the report's source of the demand forecast, space data will grow fourteenfold by 2030, to 500 exabytes, more than terrestrial data centers can practically absorb as satellites and sensors proliferate. China has advanced through top-down policy, municipal incentives and state-owned enterprises: ADA Space's Three-Body Constellation, the first operational space-based computing example, deployed 12 of a planned 2,800 satellites in May 2025 with Zhejiang Lab, and in-orbit tests since demonstrated networking, computing and payload verification.

Other Chinese players include China Mobile and Shanghai Xingshu Tiansuan, which reportedly began a 1,000-satellite network in July. US firms Starcloud and Cowboy Space are billion-dollar unicorns; Europe remains at research and demonstration stage, via projects like ASCEND and ESA's Φ-sat-2. ESPI recommends a flagship EU initiative under the 2028–2034 research program, ESA acting as early customer, and an "ODC Challenge" for startups. ESPI also urged Europe to convene international working groups to shape standards and data-sovereignty rules, and to pair policy drafting with industry implementation as China has.

4 August, 2026

The U.S. Space Force awarded $615 million in contracts to Rocket Lab, Systems & Technology Research (STR) and an undisclosed third vendor to advance technologies for the Space‑Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program, or SB-AMTI which will track aircraft and missile threats from orbit.

Rocket Lab received $397 million to develop, launch and operate multiple Neutron‑launched “Flatellites” equipped with space‑based sensors and high‑bandwidth links, with options for additional spacecraft. STR will provide advanced sensing and signal‑processing technologies, while the unnamed contractor remains classified for operational‑security reasons. The awards follow SpaceX’s $4.16 billion contract for the initial AMTI constellation and are intended to diversify sensing approaches, expand the supplier base and mature alternative architectures for persistent airborne threat tracking.

4 August, 2026

Canadian satellite operator Telesat secured the largest contract in its history, a roughly $1.63 billion agreement with Canada’s Defence Investment Agency to deliver military Ka‑band communications across the Arctic and expand its Lightspeed constellation. The deal includes two five‑year options worth about $142 million each, extending service to 15 years and raising the total value to approximately $1.92 billion. Milestone payments beginning in 2026 will fund 69 additional satellites, increasing Lightspeed’s fully financed fleet from 156 to 225 and boosting MDA Space’s manufacturing order by 27 spacecraft.

Lightspeed remains on schedule to begin global service in early 2028, providing secure Arctic connectivity between 65° and 90° north latitude under Canada’s Enhanced Satellite Communications Project–Polar. Telesat said the expanded military Ka‑band capacity significantly increases its defense market potential among NATO and allied governments.

7 August, 2026

U.S. lawmakers, senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Katie Britt introduced bipartisan legislation to expand the U.S. Space Force’s training, wargaming and simulation for potential conflict with China, while requiring an unclassified assessment of China’s commercial space sector within 180 days. Filed as an amendment to the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the Space Superiority Readiness Act directs the Pentagon to increase capacity for space‑control training and enhance modeling of peer threats, building on the service’s ongoing Operational Test and Training Infrastructure efforts.

The proposal follows a May congressional delegation to Arctic bases where lawmakers received briefings on missile warning and strategic competition. Cortez Masto and Britt, neither of whom serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the measure responds to China’s expanding military space capabilities. The bill’s reporting requirement would provide public analysis of how China’s commercial space industry could support counterspace operations.

2 August, 2026

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) delayed its first RFA One orbital launch after a July 28 pad test revealed a vehicle issue requiring the rocket to be de‑stacked and its tanks examined, prompting SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland's Shetland Islands to cancel its August–September launch window. On an Aug. 6 earnings call, Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB, which owns 65% of RFA, said engineers are investigating the tank data and expect the vehicle to return to the pad soon, with a test flight still planned this year. RFA ONE can loft about half a metric ton to orbit.

The German low-cost orbital launch systems developer, is among four companies funded by ESA's European Launcher Challenge receiving €187 million / $216 million. Part of the ESA funding will support an upgraded variant, RFA ONE Block 2, slated to debut in 2028. Fitted with upgraded engines, it would raise payload capacity to 1.5 metric tons and add a first stage designed to be recoverable and eventually reusable. Fuchs additionally urged increasing Ariane 6’s annual flight rate beyond its current capacity of 9–10 launches, citing rising European civil and defense demand and OHB’s role as a supplier through MT Aerospace.

In its first earnings as a public company, SpaceX posted a $541 million net loss despite record revenue, deployed Starlink V3 satellites on Starship Flight 13, and outlined robot-run lunar factories.

4 - 7 August, 2026

SpaceX used its first earnings call as a public company Aug. 4 to announce that Starship's next flight, tentatively set for late August, will be the vehicle's first orbital attempt, carrying operational Starlink V3 satellites and attempting to catch the returning upper stage at the launch tower for the first time. CEO Elon Musk said Flight 14 would deploy V3 communications satellites to operational orbit and, pending regulatory approval, try to catch the ship rather than splash it down.

The plan follows Flight 13, a July 24 suborbital mission from Starbase, Texas, that deployed 20 functional Starlink V3 satellites, which ran brief tests before reentering, and saw the ship survive reentry and an Indian Ocean splashdown intact, a first, even after toppling over. Musk called the heat-shield problem "solved," dismissing white streaks on the tiles that some read as hot-gas intrusion, though he wanted to inspect the vehicle to confirm. By Aug. 7 he said recovery of the floating ship, under tow toward Western Australia in worsening seas, was "not looking good," though crews obtained close-up heat-shield and engine photos. Musk did not address the Super Heavy booster's failure to complete a controlled splashdown, its second consecutive.

SpaceX reported second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion, nearly double the year-earlier $4.1 billion, and a net loss of $541 million, down from $1 billion. Its connectivity segment, which includes Starlink, earned $4.29 billion in revenue and $1.66 billion in operating income; the space segment, which includes launch, posted $962 million in revenue and a $542 million operating loss; the AI segment reported $2.56 billion in revenue and a $1.26 billion operating loss. AI capital spending of $15.8 billion dwarfed the $1.17 billion on space and $1.37 billion on connectivity. Musk projected $100 billion in annual recurring revenue by December and pulled the company's $1 trillion annual revenue target forward a year, to 2030.

Musk forecast Starship reaching at least one flight daily within a year, which is more than double SpaceX's 165 Falcon 9 launches in 2025, and said Starlink V3 would materially improve service once roughly 1,000 satellites reach orbit, around the second quarter of 2027. CFO Bret Johnsen said Starship aims to quadruple payload capacity and cut launch costs tenfold against Falcon 9. Musk also sketched longer-term plans for robot-run lunar factories launching locally made satellites via electromagnetic mass drivers.

Separately, a Falcon 9 launched three of AST SpaceMobile's next-generation BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites from Cape Canaveral in late July, raising the total launched to 13; the booster, on its 30th flight, landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. SpaceX's June IPO, the largest ever, raised $86 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation.

4 August, 2026

Voyager Technologies is pressing NASA to relax some proposed requirements for commercial space stations as it awaits the next phase of the agency's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program, executives said on an Aug. 4 earnings call. CEO Dylan Taylor said human-rated hardware needs robust requirements but warned that overly strict ones in NASA's July 6 draft request for proposals could make stations impossible to build on time and budget; he expects some to be changed or relaxed in the final version.

Voyager reported more than $500 million in agreements to use its Starlab station, whose initial design NASA has funded through a $218 million Space Act Agreement now nearing completion. Taylor expects a final RFP shortly, proposals in mid-to-late fall, and awards early next year, ahead of the ISS's end-of-decade retirement. Voyager reported $52.7 million in second-quarter revenue, up 15% year over year, against a widened net loss of $46.5 million. Its Astrobotic unit, now Voyager Lunar Systems, is expected to add $40–50 million in revenue this year. Voyager raised 2026 revenue guidance to $275–305 million, citing its $171 million Astrobotic acquisition, which closed July 13.

Airbus and Thales build Spain's military satellite; NOAA extends Spire's weather sounder; the European Commission advances IRIS² secure connectivity with SpaceRISE consortium; Northrop and Canada's CSA redirect Gateway hardware to NASA's lunar base.

3 August, 2026

Airbus and Thales Alenia Space were selected to build SpainSat NG 3, a geostationary military communications satellite replacing SpainSat NG 2, which failed after a January 2026 particle strike. Airbus will supply the spacecraft and its X‑band payload, while Thales provides UHF and Ka‑band systems. The satellite is slated for launch in Q3 2030 and service entry in early 2031, covering the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East alongside SpainSat NG 1.

Airbus said NG 3 will feature enhanced agility, bandwidth and jamming protection. The contract comes as Airbus, Thales and Leonardo continue work on Project Bromo, a planned joint venture now undergoing EU antitrust review through 2027. Leonardo’s CEO said the companies are already operating jointly, citing strong institutional demand, while Thales highlighted growth tied to ESA spending and the EU’s IRIS² constellation.

4 August, 2026

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) extended its evaluation of Spire Global’s Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder (HyMS) under a six‑month, $3 million contract announced Aug. 4, expanding analysis of how hyperspectral microwave data can improve numerical weather prediction across wider atmospheric and seasonal conditions. The extension tests sensor performance across a wider range of atmospheric conditions and seasons and gauges its effect on forecast accuracy.

HyMS, launched in January, collects more than 2,000 sensing channels to provide high‑vertical‑resolution profiles resilient to radio‑frequency interference, offering potential benefits in regions with limited traditional observations, capabilities NOAA says legacy broadband microwave instruments lack, since they cannot resolve fine atmospheric structures. NOAA will assess sensor performance and data impact on forecast accuracy, with an unfunded option for three additional months of data valued at $2 million. Spire previously received a $4 million NOAA award in 2022 to develop the in‑orbit demonstrator.

7 August, 2026

The European Commission signed an implementation agreement with the SpaceRISE consortium (led by SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat), a milestone called Rendezvous 1 that moves the IRIS² secure connectivity constellation into full deployment while expanding its size and cost. The system grows to 348 satellites (from a 264-satellite high-LEO shell), 330 in high low Earth orbit, 18 in medium Earth orbit, with 66 high-LEO satellites added for defense, security and emergency services, boosting secure governmental capacity 60% within the EU and 54% worldwide. Under a public-private partnership, the constellation will be built by a European supply base including Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space, OHB and Aerospacelab, with start-ups and SMEs encouraged to add Internet-of-Things and Direct-to-Device capabilities.

First launches remain set for 2029, with services from 2030. Hispasat put the revised cost at €15.6 billion / $18 billion, a 47% rise from December 2024's €10.6 billion estimate; SpaceRISE contributes €4 billion and the Commission and ESA €11.6 billion. Hungary has committed €500 million, Poland €656 million, and Spain between €1.6 billion and €2 billion, with further member-state agreements being finalized.

Northrop Grumman and the Canadian Space Agency are redirecting Gateway‑related work toward NASA’s planned lunar base, repurposing technologies originally developed for the HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module and Canadarm3. Northrop Grumman will repurpose hardware into three Lunar Infrastructure Demo missions to the moon's surface using HALO‑derived power, thermal, autonomy and communications systems, the company said Aug. 4. It will test power, data and mechanical interfaces built for the HALO module to show surface assets can survive the lunar night near the south pole. NASA said the payloads will fly on Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions during Phase One of its Moon Base program, running through 2029, with contracting still being finalized.

The Canadian Space Agency said Aug. 6 it would adapt its Canadarm3 robotic arm, built by MDA Space under a C$1 billion / $717 million contract, for lunar-surface and commercial low-Earth-orbit station use. Both shifts follow NASA's March decision to pivot from the orbital Gateway to surface operations. MDA reported rising lunar‑focused revenue and additional work on landing sensors and rover concepts as agencies pivot from Gateway to sustained surface operations.

Consumer GEO broadband, EchoStar's Hughes, folds to Starlink's LEO competition, files for bankruptcy; Rocketdyne relaunched independently under private investment firm, AE Industrial, in propulsion; Portugal's Neuraspace raised for space domain awareness and China's Orienspace closed a round in launch ahead of an IPO.

3 August, 2026

EchoStar’s Hughes geostationary broadband unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy citing mounting losses in its consumer internet business as competition from Starlink and other low‑Earth‑orbit operators accelerates. Subscriber counts fell 21.7% year‑over‑year to about 641,000, with latency and performance gaps driving customers to LEO systems.

The company lacked cash to repay about $1.5 billion of debt due Aug. 3 and notified 400 employees of layoffs in late July. Hughes will refocus on enterprise, government and defense customers, pointing to a $1.5 billion contracted backlog. The filing, which excluded international subsidiaries and came without a pre-agreed creditor deal, follows last month's bankruptcy of EchoStar's satellite-TV and 5G units. It will continue operations during restructuring. EchoStar revenue declined 4% to $3.6 billion last quarter.

4 August, 2026

Rocketdyne reemerged as an independent company after AE Industrial Partners closed its $845 million purchase of L3Harris’ space propulsion, power and electronics units, taking a 60% stake while L3Harris retains 40% and a strategic partnership. Led by CEO Kristin Houston, the 1,300‑person business will focus on launch‑vehicle engines, spacecraft propulsion, space electronics and nuclear power systems, including the RL10 upper‑stage engine and thrusters used across national security, civil and commercial programs.

Missile propulsion and the RS‑25 engine remain with L3Harris. Rocketdyne operates facilities in Florida, Ohio, California and Washington and supports missions ranging from GPS, WGS and Orion to GeoXO, WorldView Legion and NASA’s Dragonfly. AE Industrial said independence will enable greater investment and expansion across propulsion and power systems. This was the culmination of deal that started in January 2026.

5 August, 2026

Portuguese AI-enabled Space Domain Awareness provider, Neuraspace raised €15.6 million / $18 million on Aug. 5 to expand its space‑traffic management and defense capabilities, combining a €6 million Series B round with €9.6 million from Portugal’s EU‑backed Recovery and Resilience Plan. The public funding will advance NeuraspaceDEF, an AI‑driven space domain awareness platform integrating public catalogs, partner telescopes and proprietary optical sensors for real‑time tracking, collision alerts, maneuver guidance and threat assessment.

The company monitors more than 600 satellites, reports 350% revenue growth, and plans to add radar sensors. Neuraspace, founded in 2020, has raised €29 million to date and recently secured NATO DIANA selection and a prime contract with a European defense ministry ahead of a September announcement.

Chinese launch startup Orienspace has begun preparing for an IPO while closing a pre-C funding round worth several hundred million yuan, to accelerate its reusable Gravity-2 rocket. Backers including Vertex Capital, Shanghai STVC and AVIC Honghua hint at institutional and state-linked capital. The two-stage, 70-meter Gravity-2 will loft 21,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit expended, or 17,000 kg reusable, and serve China’s planned megaconstellations, powered by nine Force-110 kerosene-liquid oxygen engines; Orienspace targets a Q4 debut, slipped from late 2025. The company recently completed its third Gravity‑1 solid‑rocket mission, its first far‑offshore launch.

The move places the Shandong company among Chinese rocket makers such as LandSpace, CAS Space, Space Pioneer, Galactic Energy, racing toward Shanghai STAR Market listings under an eased rule for capital-intensive firms. Orienspace, founded 2020, has raised more than 1.7 billion yuan across five rounds.

6 August, 2026

Redwire subsidiary SpaceMD has bought a dedicated flight on SpaceX's Starfall reentry vehicle for microgravity pharmaceutical research, announced Aug. 6 on Redwire's second-quarter earnings call, in what would be the largest dedicated commercial microgravity research mission to date. The late-2028 mission will carry up to 32 of Redwire's PIL-BOX experiment packages, redesigned for Starfall, building on the 54 the company has flown to the International Space Station since 2023, with 12 more due this year.

Redwire’s PIL-BOX packages crystallize compounds in orbit, where microgravity can yield purer crystals than Earth allows, and SpaceMD sells that capacity to pharmaceutical customers who pursue the therapies themselves.

SpaceMD is the first established microgravity firm to commit to Starfall, which made its first test flight in June. SpaceX disclosed little about Starfall before its June test flight, with some technical details emerging only in a Federal Aviation Administration environmental assessment published in May. The deal shows SpaceX's competitive threat to reentry-vehicle startups in the US, Europe and Asia; most are still developing craft, though Varda Space Industries has flown six missions. Those firms cast SpaceX's entry as market validation and expect to find niches, but fear it could undercut them as its rideshare launches did to small-launch providers.

Despatch Out. 👽🛸