Category: Behind The Black

SpaceX’s files FCC application for 100,000 satellites in third generation Starlink constellation

10:02 am

On July 7, 2026 SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to expand its Starlink constellation to 100,000 satellites, an a third generation upgrade that will include data and AI capabilities.

According to the technical attachment, these satellites would operate lower than the current Starlink satellites, in two bands of thin shells with nominal altitudes between 323 and 327.5 kilometers and 473 and 477.5 kilometers. The Gen3 satellites described in the filing will be equipped with advanced phased array beam-forming and digital processing technologies, as well as optical inter-satellite links.

SpaceX has authorization to deploy up to 15,000 Gen2 Starlink satellites after receiving approval from the FCC in January of this year. SpaceX has said this authorization will allow the Gen2 system to deliver “gigabit-speed service.”

The application does not actually name this new upgrade “Starlink”, even though it describes in connection with the first two Starlink generations. This filing is also separate from SpaceX’s earlier FCC filing for its proposed million satellite data center “Starmind” constellation.

It is clear that the company is looking to put Starship to use aggressively, once it becomes operational.

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Space Force adds two startups to its list of space companies that can bid on its contracts

8:01 am

The Space Force on July 8, 2026 added the rocket startup Relativity and the rocket engine company Impulse Space to its list of approved space contractors, awarding both a $5 million task order to “conduct an initial capabilities assessment.”

The U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) acting Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space Access awarded two additional Firm Fixed-Price (FFP), Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 contracts to Impulse Space and Relativity Federal Inc., a subsidiary of Relativity Space. The two providers join Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA who were on-ramped in FY24, and Rocket Lab and Stoke Space who were on-ramped in FY25.

…Phase 3 Lane 1 contract provides commercial-like launch services for Space Systems Command’s (SSC) more risk-tolerant missions. The Lane 1 contract focuses on rapid contract award, streamlined integration phases and reduced timelines from award to launch.

What this means is that these two companies will be able to bid on certain projects that are tailored for smaller newer companies in which the Space Force can accept a higher risk of failure.

Back in 2014 the Air Force (which then ran the military’s space operations) was so hidebound it would only entertain bids from one launch company, ULA. SpaceX had to sue to end that monopoly. Even so, for years the Air Force was reluctant to expand this list beyond these companies, which is one reason the Space Force was created. The Air Force wasn’t really interested in space; the War Department needed an agency focused on these assets exclusively.

Since then the Space Force has aggressively expanded this list of approved companies, almost faster than the companies become operational. This has resulted in more launches at lower cost, benefiting both the military and private sector.

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China successfully launches and recovers first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket

10:14 pm

The first stage of Long March 10B after recovery
The first stage of Long March 10B after recovery

China’s state run press has now confirmed that today (July 10, 2026 in China) it successfully launched and recovered the first stage of its new Long March 10B rocket on that rocket’s very first launch.

The second link above shows the launch, cued to just before lift-off. The two images to the right come from the third link, a tweet showing the first stage captured on its recovery vessel, using a net catch system. The location of this recovery was in the middle of the South China Sea, about 300 nautical miles west of the Philippines.

Video of the first stage landing is here.

It is not clear if the launch was placing any payloads in orbit, but I will assume so, and add it to my launch count. If this changes I will update.

Either way, China has now joined a very small select group (SpaceX and Blue Origin) capable of landing and recovering a first stage. What is even more impressive about this achievement is that China did it with a completely different recovery technique — a net — that does not require legs (saving weight) that no one else has tried or proposed. Moreover, it demonstrated the ability to bring that stage down precisely and in a controlled manner.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

82 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
8 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 82 to 77.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the live stream and landing images and video.

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July 9, 2026 Quick space links

3:03 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

Note: X now appears to require log in to view videos. You can get around this by clicking on the three dots at the top right to get the embed code. Ask for the code for an “embedded video.” The video will then be available for watching.

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More “Fluvial Processes” on Mars

12:59 pm

More fluvial processes on Mars
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on June 4, 2026 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The scientists label this “Fluvial processes inside crater,” an apt description based not only on the small section of the full image to the right, but on the full image itself. The entire surface of the crater floor’s western end appears filled with glacial material, in many places twisted and warped by past slow motion movements.

I picked out the area in the picture because of its particularly warped nature. It appears as if the material in the higher elevations to the upper right have been flowing downward, and in the process have pushed the glacial debris on the crater floor to the southwest.

It also appears that in the higher locations the near surface ice has been sublimating away, giving the surface a corroded look.
» Read more

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Vantor’s 10-satellite imaging constellation now providing high resolution 3D pictures

10:16 am

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris

The satellite company Vantor is now offering high resolution 3D imagery from its 10-satellite constellation at resolutions in some cases able to see objects as small as six inches across.

The Vantor image to the right of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has such a resolution.

The product is available through two options designed for different mission needs:

  • Rapid 3D: Designed for time-sensitive missions where terrain conditions can change quickly, this product delivers updated 3D terrain within 24 hours of image collection with just a single satellite pass. Accessible via Vantor™ Hub, it delivers 50 cm-class resolution and 4 m accuracy in all dimensions.
  • High-definition (HD) 3D: Designed for missions that require greater fidelity, this product provides detailed 3D maps at 15 cm resolution and 3 m accuracy in all dimensions. Available globally on a project basis, this capability can also be delivered through change-based refresh subscriptions for customers who need to monitor terrain and infrastructure over time.

The company began launching its 10-satellite constellation in 2024 under the ownership of Maxar. In 2025 the Maxar Intelligence division running the project was rebranded Vantor. Its constellation “can revisit the same location on Earth 15x per day, with downlink speeds as fast as 15 minutes after collection.”

The commercial and military possibilities of this technology can hardly be measured. I also suspect that Vantor and the War and State departments have a close working relationship as to the release of this data and who can get it.

Vantar is also once again demonstrating the advantages of freedom, competition, and capitalism. A decade ago the military struggled to build on its own such imaging constellations. Little got built, though budgets ballooned. Since it shifted to the capitalism model, hiring private companies to do the work, it has gotten it done fast, cheap, and with capabilities the military couldn’t dream of in the past.

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Private company Auxilium Biotechnologies successfully prints kidney and liver tissues on ISS

9:51 am

The private company Auxilium Biotechnologies today announced it has successfully printed kidney and liver tissues as well as manufactured 28 nerve implants during a recent mission on ISS.

During the mission, Auxilium’s AMP-1 orbital bioprinter successfully manufactured kidney, liver, and cartilage tissues while also producing 28 nerve repair implants. The achievement represents the first demonstration of kidney tissue manufacturing in space, the first demonstration of liver tissue manufacturing in space, and the first mission to manufacture three distinct tissue types during a single spaceflight. The production of multiple tissue types and clinically relevant nerve repair implants represents the first demonstration of a scalable, multi-product biomanufacturing platform in space.

Equally important, the mission demonstrated the ability of a single autonomous manufacturing platform to produce both living tissues and implantable medical products during the same flight. The simultaneous production of multiple tissue types alongside 28 nerve repair implants highlights not only the versatility of the platform, but also its scalability and higher-throughput manufacturing in space.

Because NASA forbids the manufacture of any products on ISS for sale later, this experiment by Auxilium is merely a demonstration of the technology. The company however already has a deal to do this work on Vast’s space stations, and appears in negotiation with the Starlab space station as well. Once those private stations launch, it is now certain that Auxilium will rent space on those stations to begin production and sale of these medical products.

In other words, these space stations have a growing and viable customer base, outside of NASA and the government.

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Blue Origin to seek private funding beyond Jeff Bezos

9:39 am

For the first time Blue Origin now intends to raise additional outside private funding, $10 billion total, beyond the billions Jeff Bezos has been investing in company for the past decade.

In a memo sent to employees on Wednesday and seen by Business Insider, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company would raise [$10 billion in] funds at a $130 billion valuation.

…The New York Times’ DealBook earlier reported on the raise and said it is being led by asset management firm Coatue Management with a $2 billion contribution from Bezos.

By my count in 2020, Bezos had pumped somewhere between $2 to $6 billion into Blue Origin, the funds coming from sales of his Amazon stock beginning in 2017. With this new investment round, he will have committed another $2 billion.

Unlike the earlier funding from Bezos, however, this new investment is occurring with Limp as the company’s CEO. When the previous funding occurred the company’s CEO was Bob Smith, who essentially wasted more than five years from 2017 to 2023 accomplishing nothing. No rockets got built, engine development was delayed endlessly, and good engineers were seen fleeing the company. Since Limp took over in 2024 he has aggressively worked to change the moribund culture he inherited from Smith. Under his leadership this funding could really make a difference.

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Rocket engine startup Venus Aerospace raises $91 million in investment capital

9:13 am

Following a successful suborbital test flight of its rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) in May, the rocket engine startup Venus Aerospace has now raised an additional $91 million in private investment capital, on top of $80 million raised previously.

Venus Aerospace today announced the close of a $91 million Series B financing led by Mercury Fund, a Houston-based venture capital firm, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, Green Sands Equity, Seraph Group, Trousdale Ventures, and other new and existing strategic and institutional investors.

…Unlike conventional rocket engines, which burn fuel through subsonic combustion,Venus’ RDRE employs a continuous supersonic detonation wave that rotates around the combustion chamber. The result is the most efficient rocket engine architecture ever flown, by a margin of 15 percent.

The company intends to develop the engine for sale to many rocket companies and across many platforms. It already had a significant investment from Lockheed Martin, which tested its own RDRE engine in January 2026.

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SpaceX launches 29 more Starlink satellites; flies first stage for 36th time

8:42 am

SpaceX last night successfully launched another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force station in Florida.

The first stage (B1067) completed its 36th flight (31 days after its previous mission), landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. With this flight this booster maintained its second place position, behind the space shuttle Discovery, in the rankings for the most reused launch vehicle:

39 Discovery space shuttle
36 Falcon 9 booster B1067
34 Falcon 9 booster B1071
33 Atlantis space shuttle
33 Falcon 9 booster B1063
31 Falcon 9 booster B1069
29 Falcon 9 booster B1077
29 Falcon 9 booster B1078

Sources here and here.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

82 SpaceX
44 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
8 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 82 to 76.

China will attempt the first launch of its reusable Long March 10B tonight. The first stage is designed to be reusable, but instead of landing vertically on its recovery vessel in the ocean, it will be descend horizontally and be caught by a netting system on the ship.

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Anton Karas – Theme from the Third Man

6:01 pm

An evening pause: The movie, The Third Man (1949), was directed by Carol Reed and starred Orson Welles. This theme, played throughout, made the film something special. This live performance is from 1950. I like especially how it shows so clearly the intricate finger play.

Hat tip Wayne DeVette.

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July 8, 2026 Quick space links

2:58 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

Note: If the X video won’t play, right click on the tweet and open it in a new tab. It should play there.

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Bright spokes in Saturn’s rings

11:46 am

Bright spokes in Saturn's rings
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped slightly to post here, was taken on December 26, 2008 from a distance of 350,000 miles by the Cassini spacecraft as it orbited Saturn. The resolution is about 37 miles per pixel.

I think sunlight is coming from the upper left, its light bouncing off the rings and thus making the those spokes bright and visible.

In the viewing geometry in which Cassini is looking approximately in the direction of the sun (called high phase), the spokes appear white against the rings because the very small particles comprising the spokes preferentially scatter light forward (in this case, toward Cassini).

At least that’s one theory for explaining the spokes that appear randomly and for only short periods within Saturn’s rings, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, depending on the angle of the Sun. According to a Hubble press release from 2023, the spokes are formed due to an interaction between Saturn’s magnetic field, the solar wind, and the tiny particles in the rings.

“The leading theory is that spokes are tied to Saturn’s powerful magnetic field, with some sort of solar interaction with the magnetic field that gives you the spokes,” said Simon. When it’s near the equinox on Saturn, the planet and its rings are less tilted away from the Sun. In this configuration, the solar wind may more strongly batter Saturn’s immense magnetic field, enhancing spoke formation.

Planetary scientists think that electrostatic forces generated from this interaction levitate dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes, though after several decades no theory perfectly predicts the spokes. [emphasis mine]

Just another strange alien phenomenon in space that remains unsolved. All we really know is that the spokes appear, remain visible for at most a rotation or two of the rings, and then disappear.

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Japan’s Ispace signs deal with SpaceX to use Starship for lunar cargo delivery

9:14 am

Ispace's mobile cargo system
Click for original.

The Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace yesterday announced it has signed an agreement with SpaceX to use its Starship lunar lander to transport cargo to the Moon’s surface.

The Ispace graphic to the right shows the company’s proposed “Mobile Cargo System” on the Moon after deployment from Starship.

In preparation for the new business offering, Ispace has secured 500 kilograms of payload capacity on Starship, scheduled for launch as early as 2030. Ispace is offering global customers with relatively small payload delivery needs, weighing 500 kilograms or less, a comprehensive service to integrate, transport and operate their payloads on the Moon.

As part of the integration process, Ispace will assess each customer’s payload requirements and implement the quality control necessary for lunar transportation. Ispace will then integrate multiple payloads into the dedicated “Mobile Cargo System” in development by the company and provide services, including interface coordination with Starship as part of the system. Upon landing on the Moon, Ispace aims to provide operational support through the “Mobile Cargo System” to ensure the smooth deployment of payloads onto the lunar surface, their movement across the lunar surface, and access to other infrastructure.

Ispace is clearly hoping this cargo system will be of interest to NASA for its Moonbase project. It is also something that will appeal to other commercial customers who want to get a payload to the Moon cheaply.

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Satellite company Loft Orbital signs multi-launch deal with European rocket startup Maiaspace

8:59 am

Because it appears SpaceX is ending its multi-payload Transporter Falcon 9 launches for smallsats after 2028, the satellite company Loft Orbital has now signed multi-launch deal with European rocket startup Maiaspace.

Although the announcement provided few details, it did share that the first flight was expected in 2028. In an 8 July press release, MaiaSpace explained that the multi-launch agreement “consolidates its launch manifest,” adding that the company has now sold more than half of all capacity for its first three years of operation.

To date, all Loft Orbital satellites have been launched aboard SpaceX Transporter rideshare missions. However, according to reporting from SpaceNews, in recent weeks, several customers of these missions have said that SpaceX is not accepting Transporter reservations beyond late 2028 or early 2029. The publication quoted Rocket Lab CFO Adam Spice as saying that there “seems to be a panic setting in.”

If the SpaceX aspect of this story is true, it means there will now be a slew of new satellite customers for all the many rocket startups, not just Maiaspace. In fact, it is puzzling Loft Orbital went to Maiaspace first. That company does not expect to do its first orbital test flight until late ’27. Meanwhile the Spanish startup PLD, the Indian startup Skyroot, the South Korean startup Innospace, the German startups Isar and Rocket Factory, and the American startups Stoke Space and Relativity are all expected to try their first launches before the end of this year. In addition, Rocket Lab has its Electron rocket, and hopes to launch its new Neutron rocket also by the end of this year.

That SpaceX is no longer taking reservations for Transporter flights after late 2028 also gives us a hint as to the company’s future plans for its Falcon 9 rocket. There has been much speculation it would be replaced by Starship, and this news suggests that transition from Falcon 9 to Starship is now beginning.

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Saxavord approves August launch window for Rocket Factory Augsburg

8:40 am

Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe
Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe

The Saxavord spaceport yesterday announced it has approved a five week launch window beginning on August 10, 2026 during which the German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg will be permitted to attempt a launch of its RFA-1 rocket.

SaxaVord Spaceport said the launch window was designed to minimise disruption to everyday life in Unst while maintaining the highest safety standards. The window spans five weeks from Monday 10 August, but restrictions will not be in place continuously throughout that period. Instead, potential launch attempts can only take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 4pm and 8pm.

In April Rocket Factory had applied for a launch window opening on July 1st. As expected, Saxavord did not give it, likely because of regulatory demands by the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It appears the CAA had in 2024 required Saxavord to put in a perimeter fence surrounding the facility, and it had not done so. Last week the spaceport announced it would spend more than $100K to install the fence. I suspect this last delay is to give it time to do the work.

The launch itself will be Rocket Factory’s first attempt. In 2024 it was gearing up for a launch, but an explosion during the last static fire test of the first stage destroyed the stage and damaged the pad.

If this launch occurs as planned, it will end almost a decade of delays at Saxavord, almost all of which the result of red tape from the CAA. As a result, though Saxavord had a significant head start on the other spaceports shown on the map above, it remains uncertain whether it or Norway’s Andoya spaceport will achieve the first successful launch. The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace has been trying to launch from Andoya since last year. Its first attempt in 2025 was a failure, and its second attempt has been scrubbed three times since January. A new launch attempt is tentatively scheduled for later this month.

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Firefly to build descent aeroshell for NASA’s Mars Skyfall helicopter mission

8:01 am

Skyfall concept
SkyFall helicopter deployment. Click for original animation.

In a press release yesterday, Firefly Aerospace announced it has won a $13 million contract to build the descent aeroshell that will be used to protect the three Ingenuity-class helicopters being sent to Mars in 2028 on NASA’s proposed Skyfall mission.

The SkyFall aeroshell, comprising both the backshell and heatshield, will be developed within Firefly’s new Gloworks innovation lab and manufactured at the company’s Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas. Firefly will utilize advanced carbon composite technologies from its proven Blue Ghost lunar landers, Elytra orbiters, and Alpha and Eclipse launch vehicles to rapidly produce high-strength, lightweight structures.

This press release provides the most details yet about the mission. The graphic to the right is a screen capture from a video from JPL, showing the mission concept. First the helicopters would descend through the Martian atmosphere encapsulated in Firefly’s aeroshell. The bottom half would then drop off, and parachutes would release from above. Once close to the ground, the helicopters would be lowered out of the shell on the frame shown to the right, turn on their rotors, and then be released to fly away and land on their own.

This technique utilizes an entry capsule to release the three helicopters during descent, eliminating the need for a landing platform. The helicopters will then fly to the surface and capture high-resolution surface imagery and subsurface radar data.

We still do not know the chosen landing location on Mars, though the press release mentions a search for water ice, suggesting it will not be in the dry equatorial regions, where almost all landers and rovers have gone, but in mid-latitudes or higher where glaciers and lots of near surface ice has been detected.

The mission is intended after launch to use the nuclear propulsion engines NASA is developing jointly with the Energy Department to get to Mars. I remain skeptical those engines will be ready by 2028.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.

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