Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

South Korean company to do sounding rocket launch next year from the Philippines

August 1, 2026 10:20 am Robert Zimmerman

Spaceport proposed for the Philippines

During his state of the nation speech last week, the president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that the South Korean company Perigee — in partnership with the Philippines Space Agency — will launch one of its sounding rockets next year from an airport in the Cagayan Economic Zone located on the northern tip of his nation’s largest island Luzon.

Next year’s sounding rocket test launch will be a demonstration flight of a liquid-fueled rocket from the Philippines. It will carry a locally developed payload weighing up to 2 kilograms to an altitude of at least 5 kilometers.

The project will be implemented by PhilSA, the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, together with Ascend International Gateway Inc. and South Korean company Perigee Aerospace Inc.

This deal between these four Philippine agencies and Perigee was originally announced in March 2026, but at that time no launch site was specified. The plan now is to do this small launch in Cagayan to demonstrate the potential of this economic zone as a spaceport location. Based on the map to the right, this location is excellent for orbital launches, especially on its eastern coast. That coast however has almost no development, so putting a spaceport there will be difficult simply because the most basic facilities (roads, utilities, etc) are not presently available.

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SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites

July 31, 2026 11:09 pm Robert Zimmerman

SpaceX tonight successfully placed another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage (B1081) completed its 26th flight (37 days after its previous mission), landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

92 SpaceX
50 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
10 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 92 to 85.

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July 31, 2026 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast

July 31, 2026 10:20 pm Robert Zimmerman

Embedded below the fold in two parts.

To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more

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Vinheteiro – Can You Hear the Difference Between The Most Expensive Pianos of the World?

July 31, 2026 6:05 pm Robert Zimmerman

An evening pause: Impossible to really judge as he plays different pieces on each. To my ear I liked the second piano’s sound the best (the piano on the bottom of the video graphic below, but that could be the music.

Have great weekend!

Hat tip Phill Oltmann.

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July 31, 2026 Quick space links

July 31, 2026 2:40 pm Robert Zimmerman

Because BtB’s stringer Jay is on a work assignment for the next two weeks, he will be unable to send me the links. Thus the daily quick links post is either going to be non-existent, short, or empty until he returns.

However, I welcome my readers to send me links in the interim. I do not want major stories, which I will cover myself in full posts. What the quick links requires are generally short X posts indicating some item of interest but doesn’t merit a full post. For example, reader Nate P. sent me this X post yesterday:

Musk: Launch cost for Starship could drop well below $100/kg to orbit with fast reusability and access to local production of liquid CH4 & O2
At that price it would cost only $10,000 to place an average person in orbit. Obviously, the actual price would be higher but, based on this very typical overly optimistic Musk estimate, getting to space will become not much more expensive than buying a first class airline ticket.

If you see something on X that you think will work, use the “Copy Zelle Email” button in the tip jar to get my email address and send it to me.

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Is Pluto’s atmosphere collapsing as predicted?

July 31, 2026 2:32 pm Robert Zimmerman

Pluto as seen by New Horizons in 2015. The frozen nitrogen
ocean, Sputnik Planitia, is the light-colored smooth area.
Click for original image.

Astronomers, using data from the ten times Pluto passed in front of a star during the period from 2017 to 2023, now believe that its thin atmosphere has begun to condense as expected as the planet moves outward away from the Sun.

You can read their paper here [pdf]. From the press release:

In a new paper published in the Planetary Science Journal, Sickafoose and her team describe how Pluto’s atmosphere changed over the 2017-2023 timeframe. They found that between the 2015 New Horizons flyby and part way through 2021, Pluto’s atmospheric pressure remained constant. Then, between mid 2021 and July 2023, the bulk pressure decreased by 16%. Their models assumed a hazy atmosphere, as was seen during the Pluto flyby.

Pluto’s atmosphere was first discovered by stellar occultation studies in the late 1980s. At that time it was predicted the atmosphere would completely condense out once Pluto reached the farthest and coldest point from the Sun. The discovery of the vast nitrogen sea Sputnik Planitia by New Horizons during its close fly-by in 2015 however has caused some scientists to predict the atmosphere will not completely condense, though its thickness is still expected to decline. This new paper fits both theories. It is still too soon to know what will happen.

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Mars is NOT dry: New global maps of the near surface ice on Mars

July 31, 2026 1:05 pm Robert Zimmerman

Near-surface ice on Mars, indicated by white-to-blue.

Two teams of scientists today released competing but remarkably comparable maps of near-surface ice on Mars, showing where orbital radar data suggests there is ample ice in the first 15 feet of depth.

The map above comes from Figure 2 of paper 1 [pdf], led by Hanna Sizemore. The blue areas down to about 40 degrees latitude north and south indicate places where the data suggests near-surface ice exists at depths as little as two feet. The maps in Paper 2 [pdf], led by Samuel Courville, are quite similar. Both are from the Planetary Science Institute’s (PSI). From the discussion section of paper 2:

It has long been expected that the stability of water ice increases with poleward latitude because of colder temperatures, and thus the “ice table” likely deepens equatorward. These studies largely find that ice is stable at depths shallower than one meter only at latitudes greater than ∼40°–50° poleward. However, theoretical ice stability at present does not rule out the existence of midlatitude ice that is a relict from past climates that were more conducive for ice. It is simultaneously known that ice has been exposed at latitudes as far south as 35 north. Abundant mid-latitude ice is also likely present within debris-covered glaciers . So, it is highly likely that relict ice exists.

We present a data-driven analysis of near-surface ice, disjoint from ice stability analyses. We find that the regions above 45°–50° poleward show high probabilities of near-surface ice—often in excess of pore space—consistent with ice stability predictions and past studies. Though the data disfavors high ice quantities at lower latitudes, the data cannot rule out the presence of near-surface ice within pore space in many regions. Lastly, the existing orbital data are insufficient to constrain ice quantity and ice depth, especially for any ice that may exist at depths of ∼1–10 m.

These maps are also comparable to earlier maps (see here, here and here) and continue to confirm the ample existence of ice on Mars above the mid-latitudes, with the transition zone from the dry equatorial regions to the icy higher latitude regions found in the latitudes from 30 to 45 degrees, exactly where orbital imagery finds lots of features resembling glaciers.

The scientists note that though there is no ice found or expected near the surface in the dry tropics of Mars. there is no reason to preclude its existence deeper underground. In fact, other research (here and here) has already found evidence it likely exists.

In other words, the data continues to tell us that future colonists will not struggle to find water on Mars. Their big problem will be to dig it up and process it for use.

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FAA proposes exempting rocket companies from environmental regulations that now require repeated and duplicative environmental reassessments

July 31, 2026 11:33 am Robert Zimmerman

On July 28, 2026 the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) submitted a new proposed rule that would exempt launch companies and spaceports from thirteen environmental laws that for the last few decades have been requiring environmental reassessments — the equivalent of environmental impact statements — repeatedly for the same location whenever a company decides it wishes to change its operations in some manner, no matter how minor.

FAA proposes to amend its commercial space licensing regulations to streamline the licensing process and reduce regulatory burden for applicants. Specifically, FAA proposes to invoke the Secretary of Transportation’s statutory authority to waive requirements of laws of the U.S. for a license or permit, after consultation with the head of the appropriate executive agency, when the requirement is not necessary to protect the public health and safety, safety of property, and national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

FAA proposes waiving requirements under 13 laws for commercial space licenses and permits to operate a launch site, licenses to operate a reentry site, experimental permits, and licenses to operate a launch or reentry vehicle.

Environmental reassessments have become excessively complex in the last decade, generally involving multiple government agencies and requiring months if not years to get written and finalized. And there has been a decided mission creep, requiring them more and more sometimes for relatively minor changes at a site or for a rocket. » Read more

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Spain offers more than $1 billion to get the long delayed Thirty Meter Telescope to move to the Canary Islands

July 31, 2026 10:12 am Robert Zimmerman

In a new bid to get the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to move from Hawaii, which has blocked its construction for more than a decade, the Spanish government has put together a $1.14 billion package that would not only pay for construction on the Canary Islands, but would finance an additional half century of operations.

The package is conditional on the TMT International Observatory formally choosing La Palma as its construction site. The financing architecture has three pillars and two additional contingent instruments.

The first pillar is €400 million (approximately $456 million USD) from Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, routed through the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI). This figure was first pledged a year ago in July 2025 as Spain’s initial bid.

The second pillar is a €300 million (approximately $342 million USD) loan from the EIB [European Investment Bank] itself — subject to satisfactory completion of the bank’s technical, financial, and legal due diligence and approval by its governing bodies.

The third is a potential €300 million (approximately $342 million USD) participation from the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Spain’s state development finance institution, evaluated under equivalent conditions to the EIB loan but subject to its own separate analysis. Spain’s export credit agency, Cesce, may also provide coverage instruments, and the EIB has left open the possibility of expanding its support through intermediated financing mechanisms or guarantees.

TMT has been blocked because of local protesters in Hawaii — who apparently oppose the presence of whites in Hawaii as well as on the mountain Mauna Kea — and have been supported by the state government run by the Democrats. In response, the consortium building TMT had chosen the Canary Islands as its back-up location, but that choice meant that Japan pulled out of the partnership. In addition, the National Science Foundation has withdrawn all funding from the project. Thus, nothing could be built anywhere.

Since late last year TMT has been in serious negotiations with Spain. Apparently it wanted Spain to come up with more cash before committing to the move.

Spain has now done so. Whether TMT will accept remains uncertain. The Canary Islands is not as good a site for the telescope than Mauna Kea in Hawaii. And it appears there is also local opposition to the project. But considering TMT does not have the funding in Hawaii, it seems that either it accepts this offer or the telescope will never be built.

It seems a far better choice for TMT would be to get Spain to use that billion dollars to build a really good space telescope. The pay-off would be far better than building a ground-based telescope — no matter how large — that will have to look through both the atmosphere as well as the millions of satellites expected to be launched in the next decade.

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Update on Blue Origin’s effort to resume New Glenn launches

July 31, 2026 9:45 am Robert Zimmerman

Link here. The article provides a good summary of the company’s impressive effort to dismantle and then rebuild the launchpad, largely destroyed when its New Glenn rocket exploded on the pad on May 28, 2026.

However, the article had no further information on the company’s investigation into the cause of the explosion itself, or what fixes it is instituting to prevent it from reoccurring.

What actually caused the explosion is still unclear. [David] Limp [Blue Origin’s CEO] has only said early analysis points toward the aft section of the first stage, with the full investigation still open. Company leadership hasn’t wavered from the end-of-2026 target, though some outside observers have called that timeline ambitious given how long comparable pad rebuilds have historically taken. NASA has been notably patient about it. Administrator Jared Isaacman called the recovery progress “almost beyond impressive.”

The company’s silence on this issue could simply be its normal reticence. Blue Origin has never been transparent when it has had this kind of technical issue. It said nothing for years about the problems with its BE-4 engine, and in fact, details were only revealed when the then-CEO of ULA described them.

A worse possibility for the silence could be that Blue Origin has been unable to pinpoint the problem. If so, then a launch of New Glenn before the end of the year becomes less likely.

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Rocket Lab wins third multi-launch contract from Japanese satellite company IQPS

July 31, 2026 9:21 am Robert Zimmerman

Rocket Lab yesterday signed its third multi-launch contract from the Japanese satellite company, the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (IQPS or Q-shu), adding three more launches and bringing the total of launches purchased to 18, seven of which have already launched.

These three new dedicated launches for iQPS are scheduled to take place from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 from late 2027. Each mission will deploy a single QPS-SAR satellite to a 575km low Earth orbit that will continue the build out of iQPS’ Earth-imaging constellation using synthetic aperture radar: a technology that enables images to be created from radio wave measurements and allows data to be collected during any time of day and under any weather conditions.

The signing of this contract at this moment is somewhat reassuring. Rocket Lab’s last attempt to launch anything was for Q-shu on June 30, 2026, but that launch aborted at T-0 seconds. Since then Rocket Lab has attempted no other launches, including delaying a launch of NASA that had been scheduled for mid-July. At present its next launch, another attempt for Q-shu, is tentatively set for August, but no date has been set.

The gap in launches had suggested there was a larger more serious issue with Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. This contract signing tells us that concern is over-rated. Q-shu would know better than anyone what the issues were for the abort and gap, and yet it signed a new contract today.

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BBC – How David Mason got the job to record the piccolo trumpet in Penny Lane

July 30, 2026 6:01 pm Robert Zimmerman

An evening pause: A bit of pop music history.

Hat tip Cotour.

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July 30, 2026 Quick space links

July 30, 2026 2:56 pm Robert Zimmerman

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 requires log in to view videos with sound. 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 with sound.

True Anomaly touts the success of its Jackal spacecraft to track and hunt and evade its target spacecraft, Rocket Lab’s Puma spacecraft
See the full story here.

Roskosmos says it is committed to removing Angara rocket production from Moscow to Siberia to cut costs
The contractor responsible for building the new factory however is bankrupt. In other words, it ain’t happening, at least not for the near future.

The bankruptcy of Echostar’s Hughes network is a problem for OneWeb, as it relies on proprietary, single-source Hughes technology

Film and audio from the Apollo 15 lunar module (dubbed Falcon) on July 30, 1971 as it landed on the Moon
It still had approximately 103 seconds of fuel remaining. Astronaut Dave Scott landed the module about 1,800 feet from the planned landing site at Hadley Rille on the edge of Mare Imbrium.

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Crater and boulder distribution on the Martian moon Deimos suggest its surface either has been renewed recently or its orientation shifted drastically

July 30, 2026 2:37 pm Robert Zimmerman

Crater and boulder distribution on Deimos

Using data and images from the United Arab Emirates Al-Amal Mars orbiter, scientists have obtained good imagery of large areas of the Martian moon Deimos previously unphotographed, and have used that data to compile maps of the crater and boulder distribution across most of its surface.

That data is shown to the right, Figure 1 of their paper. The top map shows the crater distribution. The bottom map shows the boulder distribution in the area of the top map outlined in green.What they learned was that the distribution was uneven, but contrary to theoretical predictions. From the paper:

Previous studies suggest that the Mars-facing side of the Martian moons may experience lower impact rates than the anti-Mars side due to the shielding effect of Mars (Christou et al., 2014). However, our results show the opposite trend: the Mars-facing side of Deimos exhibits a higher crater density than the anti-Mars side.

Moreover, much of the moon’s surface was smoother than expected. From the paper’s abstract:

Our results show that Deimos’s surface has not reached a steady state where old craters are steadily replaced by new ones, which would happen if it had been exposed to asteroid impacts for a long time. This suggests that the surface was renewed relatively recently. We also found small differences in crater spatial density depending on location, suggesting that Deimos may have shifted its orientation over time or that dust in the Martian system collected unevenly on its surface.

If the surface was renewed, they believe this was due to a recent impact that caused the surface to be reshaped, either from melting or a simple shake-out that smoothed things. A depression near the south pole is a candidate for that impact.

That impact might have also shifted the moon’s orientation, with the scientists proposing two possibilities, either a 90 degree or 180 degree flip. Both flips would also explain the contradiction between the distribution and theory.

Finally, they consider the possibility that Martian dust might be filling in craters, thus hiding them. This theory posits the existence of a dust torus around the moon, coming from the planet below. At present however this is only a theory, as no evidence of such a dust torus as been obtained.

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A Martian cliff wall collapses

July 30, 2026 1:26 pm Robert Zimmerman

Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on May 28, 2026 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The scientists label this a “small slump landslide,” though it really isn’t that small. From rim to floor that cliff drops more than 3,700 feet. The landslide itself appears to have dropped about 2,300 feet, with the debris pile at the base a mile wide and about three-quarters of a mile long. The force of the collapse pushed that debris a half mile into the crater.

What caused the collapse? Maybe an impact on the rim (such as that 1,900-foot-wide crater near the top of the image) caused this section to break off as a unit. Or possibly a seasonal freeze/thaw cycle of ice or dry ice weakened the cliff face, allowing this large section to separate. Or maybe there was once ice impregnated in the ground and the cliff simply became structurally weak and collapsed.

The location, as shown on the overview map below, tells us however that if either of the last two theories is correct, neither could not have happened recently.
» Read more

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What China routinely does to its people when it launches rockets

July 30, 2026 12:18 pm Robert Zimmerman

Chinese citizens locked underground during launch

Whenever China launches a rocket from one of its three interior spaceports, the lower stages of its rockets must fall within Chinese territory. Most of those rockets use very toxic hypergolic fuels, which can dissolve your skin if you come in contact with it. Though a few years ago China attempted to control the fall of those rocket stages with either parachutes or copies of the grid fins on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, those efforts were apparently a failure, and the stages continue to fall uncontrolled.

Unsurprisingly, China’s state-run press never mentions where those stages crash. Once in awhile a local resident films a nearby crash and it appears online, but usually China squashes such reports.

Yesterday however Cosmic Penguin, an X feed that posts regularly on the Chinese program, posted the picture to the right, with this commentary:

BTW what happens when 4 big SRBs [solid-rocket boosters] falls towards your place which rarely sees rockets flying/dropping things over your head? The answer is you are called to stay in a hillside’s tunnel, as seen from people here in Lingchuan County in SE Shanxi Province.

Unfortunately the url to this specific tweet is not available. You can see it (for the moment) if you go here and scroll down, but that will soon disappear as more stories get posted in the feed. The tweet itself linked to this Chinese post, with this comment from the poster (translated by Google):

Our great motherland has launched a satellite into space, yet here I am, hiding in a cold, damp cave to escape the ravages of falling rocket debris.

The pictures that accompanied that Chinese post have been censored, so that they can no longer be viewed.

Regardless, it appears that China routinely orders large numbers of its citizens in the drop zones for these rocket stages into temporary underground shelters — in this case it looks like a road tunnel — until it knows where the stages have crashed and can institute clean-up procedures. This round-up also keeps those citizens from filming the crashes and letting the rest of the world know the callous way China treats ordinary people.

I wish I could say that this couldn’t happen in the U.S., but sadly in 2020 it did, when thugs like Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx manipulated politicians (many of whom went along eagerly) to cancel the Bill of Rights and impose similar restrictions on the entire American population.

The very nature of government is dangerous. It is a necessary evil, one that we should always try to limit to its only most necessary tasks. Ask it to do anything more, and such things above will happen, and will almost certainly lead to things far worse.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.

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SpaceX wins $1.6 billion Space Force contract for 18 Falcon 9 launches

July 30, 2026 11:05 am Robert Zimmerman

Despite widespread speculation in the past few years that SpaceX will likely shut down use of its Falcon 9 rocket once Starship/Superheavy becomes operational, actual market demand continues to suggest otherwise, as illustrated yesterday by the Space Force’s announcement that it has awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract to buy 18 Falcon 9 launches to place a variety of military satellites into orbit.

The task orders, awarded to SpaceX for a total of $1.6 billion, assure 18 Falcon 9 launches in support of the Space Based Sensing and Targeting (SBST) portfolio. All launches will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., and are expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

These shut down rumors were recently fed by SpaceX’s decision to no longer take orders from smallsat companies for future Falcon 9 Transporter missions after 2028, launches that carry dozens of payloads from many small companies. This new Space Force deal might add weight to those rumors in one respect. Assume that SpaceX is limiting construction of new Falcon 9 first stage boosters, anticipating its replacement with Starship/Superheavy. With SpaceX flying so many Falcon 9 missions in 2027, it could be the company might by ’28 be getting close retiring the boosters it has. The company has said 40 launches was the limit for Falcon 9 reuses, and several of those boosters are now getting close to that number, with many more not far behind.

At the same time, the market demand for Falcon 9 remains insanely strong, especially with the many proposed commercial satellite constellations in the works. It seems shutting down the Falcon 9 work horse just because SpaceX now has Starship would be counter-productive. Falcon 9 clearly has its own place in the launch market, outside of Starship. If I was Gwynne Shotwell, I would keep making new Falcon 9s, as the market demanded.

Note too the stark contrast between SpaceX and its chief competitors, ULA and Blue Origin. SpaceX will have no trouble launching these 18 Space Force payloads in the next year. Both ULA and New Glenn have not yet shown the ability to launch more than five times in a year, if that. And both can’t launch at all right now, because their rockets are grounded due to technical issues.

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Boeing’s disastrous inability to refurbish two 747s for Air Force One has now cost the company over $3 billion

July 30, 2026 10:40 am Robert Zimmerman

Boeing logo

In 2018 Boeing won a $3.8 billion fixed price contract to refurbish two of its own 747 airplanes to replace the old 747 that was presently doing the job as Air Force One. The new planes were supposed to be delivered by 2024.

Almost a decade later Boeing has still not delivered those planes, and it appears it won’t be able to deliver before 2027, at the earliest. Even worse for Boeing, these delays and the company’s inability to get the planes finished has now cost the company over $3 billion.

Boeing announced in its Q2 financial statement on Tuesday that the Air Force One program will cost an additional $280 million. The program is now $3.1 billion over budget. Unlike the Qatari jet, Boeing is footing the bill for cost overruns, not the taxpayer.

Trump negotiated with Boeing during his first term to replace the aging Boeing VC-25A. The $3.9 billion deal signed in 2018 was a gamble for Boeing, because the aerospace giant agreed to a fixed cost. Boeing struggled to deliver the pair of VC-25Bs because of design changes, production issues and staffing problems. According to CNN, last quarter’s $280 million increase was for a “ramp-up in production and certification resources.” While the Department of Defense doesn’t have to deal with the added cost, the delayed delivery wasn’t a non-issue.

Meanwhile, there are rumors Boeing and NASA are negotiating an unmanned cargo flight of Starliner to ISS before the end of the year. I have doubts, because Boeing also says it will not foot the bill for this flight, while NASA under Isaacman has had second thoughts about paying Boeing for this third unmanned demo mission (plus one manned demo flight) to get Starliner certified for manned operational flights.

As with its Air Force One contract, Boeing’s NASA contract for Starliner was fixed price, and as with Air Force One, Boeing was entirely incapable of working under such conditions. The company had become spoiled by cost-plus contracts, which are essentially a blank check, and simply doesn’t know how to meet a budget, or schedule.

Even if NASA acquiesces and pays for another unmanned Starliner mission, do not expect Boeing to win any other contracts with the agency. Since 2020 NASA has said it would no longer consider any bids from Boeing because of its terrible track record. Nothing has happened since to change that determination.

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Mexico drops plans to sue SpaceX over Starship/Superheavy debris

July 30, 2026 10:12 am Robert Zimmerman

Starship flight path over the Pacific for landing at Boca Chica
Proposed Starship flight path for landing at Boca Chica,
avoiding Mexico

According to statements made this week by Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, it has abandoned for now its plan to sue SpaceX over the Superheavy debris dropped in the Gulf of Mexico during launches.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said last year that her government was weighing a lawsuit against the Elon Musk-led space company, said it has shelved that plan in favor of continued negotiations. “So far, things have worked reasonably well; if a lawsuit were to become necessary, we would evaluate it, but for now, we have opted for coordination,” she told reporters this week, according to Mexican media outlets.

The claims by Mexico and a bunch of leftist activist groups have generally been bogus. First, the amount of debris has exaggerated. Second, the amount has declined to practically nothing as SpaceX has refined the design and operation of Starship and Superheavy with each test flight. Third, SpaceX has taken aggressive action to salvage the Superheavies it has landed in the Gulf.

Finally, I suspect the Trump administration has been applying pressure on Mexico to back off. This pressure has also come parallel to efforts by SpaceX to minimize its footprint over Mexico. For example, it is reviewing new flight paths for Starship that would avoid flying over Mexico in returning to Boca Chica.

In sum, Mexico’s threats were simply another example of leftist “Chicken Little” whining, throwing a tantrum in order to try to get its way. The adults in the room (Trump and the people at SpaceX) did what adults do, ignored the screaming while telling the toddler to stop acting like a baby. While it is unlikely the leftist toddler will grow up, that really doesn’t matter at this point. Starship and Superheavy are launching.

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Satellite startup K2 raises $500 million in private investment capital

July 30, 2026 9:51 am Robert Zimmerman

K2's Gravitas satellite prior to launch.

Following the successful launch and operation of its first demo satellite Gravitas in March 2026, the satellite startup K2 has now raised $500 million in private investment capital, paving the way for its next even larger mission as well as building satellites for others.

“Scaling” is probably the word I’ve used most often the past few months in conversations with our investors, customers, and employees when talking about what’s next for K2 Space in 2027 and beyond:

We’re going to continue to scale up mass production, to deliver against the $1B + in contracts we’ve won to-date.

We’re going to scale up the satellite itself, from the 20kW Mega to the 100kW class Giga.

Gravitas, shown prior to launch to the right, is presently testing in orbit both its solar arrays (producing 20 kilowatts of power) and its ion thrusters (producing more power than present designs). The company already has contracts with a variety of customers, including the satellite company SES and the Pentagon. Its next test satellite, Trinity, will be bigger, and test panels producing five times more power.

It is exactly this technology that future data center satellite constellations will need, and it appears K2 is positioning itself as a provider of this technology to those constellations, even as it builds satellites for SES and the Space Force. To do so it is opening a facility in Seattle, and is putting out a call for new engineers interested in working there.

Hat tip to reader Nate P.

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