European Union to restructure its space bureaucracy

10:38 am

The European Union
This label would be more accurate if it read
“NOT made in the European Union”

The European Commission of the European Union (EU) announced earlier this week that it is renaming its “European Union Agency for the Space Programme” to the “European Union Space Services Agency (EUSPA)”, with the new agency aimed at running the EU’s various satellite projects, including its Galileo GPS-type constellation, its proposed communications constellations, and its various European security satellite projects.

The proposed regulatory document can be read here [pdf]. More details can be found here:

In the text of the draft regulation, the Commission says the agency is expected to play a crucial role in implementing Union space systems and wider space policy from 2028 to 2034 as part of the European Competitiveness Fund. That places the agency firmly inside the next generation of EU planning for satellite navigation, Earth observation, secure connectivity, space situational awareness and related civil and defence applications.

One of the clearest elements in the proposal is the agency’s planned renaming. The draft regulation states that the current European Union Agency for the Space Programme would become the European Union Space Services Agency. The Commission says this is meant to reflect more accurately the body’s current and future role as an operational actor supporting the delivery of Union space systems rather than simply administering a programme framework. That change in title is therefore intended to signal a broader institutional shift rather than a cosmetic rebranding.

The language above as well as the actual regulation itself I think illustrates well why the European Union is increasingly falling behind the rest of the world in space. The wording is obtuse, complex, and jargon-filled, often aimed at making things seem more significant than they really are.

The number of different bureaucracies involved is also a bad sign. On top is the EU. Under that is the European Commission. Below that is this new agency EUSPA. On the side is the European Space Agency, which though it will have a representative at all EUSPA meetings the division of responsibilities between it and EUSPA is very unclear.

All told, everything about this document and the government bureaucracies involved seems designed to do things slowly and in a manner guaranteed to cost more.

No wonder many member nations of the EU and ESA have decided to go their own way, even as they politely maintain membership in these organizations. Germany, France, Spain, and Italy are all now pushing the development of new commercial independent space companies within their borders, all attempting to launch similar space assets, but with the ability to eventually do it faster and cheaper.

I would expect those new private companies will soon eclipse anything proposed by EUSPA in the coming decade.

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ESA paid Arianespace about $96 million for an Ariane-6 launch

9:24 am

According to a story today on European Spaceflight, the European Space Agency (ESA) paid its commercial division Arianespace €82 million [about $96 million] for its Ariane-6 launch in November 2025 of ESA’s Earth observation Sentinel-1D satellite.

The European Space Agency has disclosed that launching the Sentinel-1D Earth observation satellite aboard an Ariane 62 rocket in November 2025 cost €82,070,773. As part of its involvement in the development of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation satellite constellation, ESA is responsible for placing contracts with European industry for the development, launch, and operation of satellites. As part of this responsibility, the agency publishes an annual list of all contracts awarded with a value of more than €15,000. In 2025, this included the disclosure of the cost of launching Sentinel-1D aboard an Ariane 6 rocket in its two-booster variant [dubbed Ariane-62].

This is the first time ESA or Arianespace have revealed any price figures for using Ariane-6, and shows that Arianespace is attempting to price Ariane-6 competitively with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The article notes that SpaceX charged ESA about $90 million for an earlier Sentinel launch.

Because Falcon 9 is mostly reusable, SpaceX’s profit margin is far higher than Arianespace’s. Ariane-6 is expendable, and thus costs more. Thus, if necessary SpaceX could significantly lower its price, but hasn’t because it hasn’t yet felt any competitive pressure to do so. When the new reusable rockets from Stoke Space and Rocket Lab begin launching sometime this year, then launch prices will drop considerably, and Ariane-6 will find itself very over-priced, with no way to lower its cost enough to compete.

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Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

Saxavord spaceport lost about $7 million in both ’23 and ’24; Andoya launch scheduled for today

9:00 am

Proposed or active spaceports in North Europe
Proposed or active spaceports in North Europe

According to a report in the Times of London yesterday, the Saxavord spaceport on the Shetland Islands lost about $7 million in both ’23 and ’24.

Annual accounts for Shetland Space Centre, the SaxaVord operating company, show a near 32 per cent rise in revenue to £2.5 million for 2024. The document, recently lodged at Companies House, shows a £5.4 million [$7.25 million] pre-tax loss, compared to £5.1 million [$6.85 million] in 2023.

The spaceport is controlled by billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, who had been instrumental in using the courts to block launches from the other proposed spaceport in Sutherland, Scotland. Saxavord meanwhile was first proposed about four years ago, but it has also not yet had its first launch. In both cases, the major obstacle has been the United Kingdom’s regulatory bureaucracy run by its Civil Aviation Authority, which has taken years to issue permits and licenses. Those delays have bankrupted two rocket companies, Virgin Orbit and Orbex, because they were unable to launch as scheduled.

Saxavord hopes its first launch will occur later this year, from the German rocket startup Rocket Factory Augsburg. That company had hoped to launch in 2024 — after more than a year delay due to red tape — but an explosion during the final static fire test of the first stage ended those plans.

Meanwhile, the first orbital launch from Norway’s Andoya spaceport is now expected later today by the German rocket startup Isar Aerospace. This will be the second launch of its Spectrum rocket, the first failing just after lift-off in 2025. This second attempt had been scrubbed in January and March, and is now scheduled for 1 pm (Pacific) today. I have embedded its live stream below.
» Read more

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Russia’s latest plans for its post-ISS space station

8:12 am

The present Russian plans to transition from ISS to its Russian Orbital Station
Click for full resolution image.

Anatoly Zak yesterday posted the picture to the right, showing a presentation by Russian officials of Roscosmos’ latest plans for its transition from ISS to their own Russian Orbital Station (ROS). Though it is in Russian, I think I can glean from it some significant take-aways about Russia’s future space plans.

First, if these plans proceed as planned (doubtful based on Russia’s track record in the past three decades), at some point in the next four years they will attach a new module to ISS, docking with the Prichal docking hub, launched in 2021. Then in 2030 they will undock this new module as well as Prichal and the Nauka module, which also launched in 2021, and use these three modules as the core of their new station.

That 2030 date is significant, as it is an admission by Russia that it intends to stay with ISS until then. Up till now Roscosmos has only committed to ISS through 2028, even though NASA and its partners at ESA and Japan have set 2030 as ISS’s present retirement date.

Second, they plan to add more modules to this core station, beginning in 2031, and by 2034 to have completed a four-module cross-shaped station with Prichal as the central hub. That completion date is one year later than the timeline Russia announced in 2024, when it claimed ROS would be completed in 2033. That 2024 timeline also said ROS’s first module would be launched in 2027, but the graphic to the right no longer gives any date for that launch. I suspect 2027 is extremely unlikely.

Finally, don’t expect the new modules promised in the 2031-2034 timeframe to launch on schedule either. As I note above, all Russian space projects in this century have routinely been delayed repeatedly, with most never launching at all.

This plan also makes no mention of an agreement with India in December 2025 to coordinate the construction of its station with Russia’s, flying both in the same inclination presently used by ISS. This is not really a surprise, as both projects will operate independently, so that delays in one do not impact the other.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Conscious Choice cover

Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!

From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.

 
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.  
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.

 

“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.

 

All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.

Leaving Earth cover

Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.

If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.

 
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke

China launches 18 more Qianfan internet satellites

5:16 pm

Earlier today China successfully placed 18 more Qianfan internet satellites into orbit, its Long March 8 rocket lifting off from its coast Wenchang spaceport.

This was the seventh launch for this Starlink competitor, which is also called Spacesail or G60, bringing the total number of satellites launched to 137, out of a planned constellation of as many as 10,000. The first phase of the constellation however only requires 648. Though China hopes to reach that number before the end of this year, it will be a year late, based on the constellation’s international licensing requirement. Moreover, there have been stories suggesting this project is short of cash.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

42 SpaceX
17 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, as it did in both ’24 and ’25, 42 to 32.

China was supposed to do another launch this afternoon, but as of posting there is no report announcing it.

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April 8, 2026 Quick space links

2:47 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.

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Update on SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy launchpad improvements at Boca Chica

9:35 am

Link here. The article provides many details about the design improvements and testing that SpaceX is doing at the Boca Chica launchpad prior to the next Starship/Superheavy orbital test flight, now expected sometime in mid-May.

All the improvements appear designed to allow for quicker reuse of the pad, including protecting it better when both Starship and Superheavy return to be captured by the chopstick towers. For example:

On the tower, work has progressed on the Ship Quick Disconnect (SQD) arm, which connects to the Starship upper stage for propellant loading. This week, technicians added steel reinforcements to the lower side of the arm’s shoulder section. These additions are believed to strengthen the structure while enabling the arm to retract more quickly during launch.

A faster swing-out reduces the risk of damage from the intense exhaust plume of Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines at liftoff. This improvement should minimize post-launch refurbishment and contribute to a higher launch cadence. The core work on the SQD arm itself appears largely complete, and scaffolding may soon be removed as final preparations continue.

Other work includes a new tower roof structure to protect it from the rocket’s engine exhaust, and other work on the pad itself to facilitate faster fueling. These additions have been accompanied by testing to make sure they work.

All this work appears intended to make it possible to launch frequently once the next test launch is completed.

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Spanish rocket startup PLD borrows $35 million

9:27 am

The Spanish rocket startup PLD, which hopes to complete its first orbital launch of its Miura-5 rocket this year, has now obtained a $35 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), in addition to the more than $400 million in investment capital it had previously raised, and a variety of government grants totaling around $200 million.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €30 million [$35 million] venture debt loan with PLD Space, an international space transportation company headquartered in Elche, Spain, to support the final development stage of MIURA 5, the company’s rocket designed to deploy small satellites into orbit. The operation represents the EIB’s first direct investment in small launchers for the transport of satellites into space. The financing will also support scaling of PLD Space’s industrial and launch capabilities to transition toward commercial operations.

Considering how much actual capital and government grants PLD has raised, one wonders why it also needs to take out this loan. It suggests the company has cash flow issues, despite the funding obtained.

Though the company appears to be on schedule for its planned launch of Miura-5 this year from French Guiana, no launch date has been announced.

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Orbital repair startup Starfish raises $100 million in private investment capital

9:13 am

Remora rendezvous
Images taken by Starfish’s camera.

The orbital servicing startup Starfish Space has now raised an additional $100 million in private investment capital, in addition to the $29 million raised previously.

Seattle-based Starfish announced April 7 it closed a Series B round led by Point72 Ventures, raising more than $100 million. Activate Capital and Shield Capital co-led the round, with major participation from Industrious Ventures and NightDragon. Several other new and existing investors were also part of the funding round.

…The company, which raised $29 million in November 2024, says the funding will enable it to scale up production of its Otter line of spacecraft designed for in-space servicing of other spacecraft. The company has won several contracts from government and commercial customers for missions to extend the lives of satellites or deorbit defunct satellites.

Starfish has already won contracts to do a variety of demo and satellite repair missions with the military (see here, here, and here) totaling about $144 million.

This financial success has occurred despite the fact that Starfish’s Otter servicing robot has yet to dock and repair any satellite. It has done two rendezvous and proximity demo missions, the second of which was supposed to do a docking but could not when the owner of the target satellite backed out of the project. The Otter-2 robot is still working in orbit, but the company has not been able to find a new target spacecraft to dock to. The company has also demonstrated its camera on another company’s orbital tug, as shown by the images above.

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Astroscale to fly mission to rendezvous and inspect two different satellites

8:01 am

Screen capture of ISSA-J1 operations around ALOS
Click for full animation.

The Japanese orbital tug company Astroscale this week announced a 2027 mission to fly an inspector satellite to rendezvous and inspect closely two different defunct satellites in different orbits.

The ISSA-J1 mission will inspect two retired Japanese satellites launched in the early 2000s. By approaching them in orbit, ISSA-J1 will observe their current condition more than 20 years after launch, including their attitude, rotation behavior and signs of degradation. The mission will conduct close‑range observations of multiple objects, closer than traditional monitoring methods, demonstrating new possibilities for on‑orbit inspection services.

The screen capture graphic to the right shows ISSA-J1’s proximity flight path around the first defunct satellite, ALOS, which was an Earth resource satellite that operated from 2006 to 2011. After completing its inspection of ALOS, it will then move into a higher orbit to inspect ADEOS‑II, another Earth observation satellite that operated in 2003.

Astroscale has already demonstrated it can do these kinds of inspection missions with its ADRAS-J mission, which flew within fifty feet of an abandoned rocket upper stage. Its eventual goal is to do space junk removal missions, grabbing this kind of space junk and de-orbiting it.

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