Satellites

Finland says it will acquire synthetic aperture radar satellites from Iceye, continuing the steady drumbeat of European countries buying into that capability.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The U.S. Space Force is considering the optimal way to build out a vast and critical data transport satellite architecture in low Earth orbit.

Rocket Lab says ESA has picked the company to deploy the first two low-Earth-orbit positioning navigation and timing satellites using its Electron rocket.

Lawmakers want to give the U.S. Space Force $1 billion to support the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle program under the proposed budget reconciliation bill.

The Space Rapid Capabilities Office is gearing up to launch an undisclosed number of spacecraft in the near future.

NASA is preparing to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-14 mission its Arcstone cubesat.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket delivered 27 satellites—built, owned and operated by Amazon—into low Earth orbit June 23.

The Netherlands plans to field four high-resolution Iceye synthetic aperture radar satellites, the Finnish spacecraft provider says.

Eutelsat, whose OneWeb system competes with SpaceX’s Starlink, is raising $1.6 billion with backing from the French government.

The U.S. Space Force anticipates the initial use of a ground system developed to support its new protected tactical waveform on orbit in fiscal 2027.

The French government has launched several military space efforts, spanning space situational awareness initiatives to nanonsatellites.

Finnish satellite-maker Iceye says it will invest more than $287 million to scale up its SAR spacecraft production capacity and speed technology developments.

Two Chinese-built satellites may be on the verge of conducting an on-orbit, satellite-to-satellite refueling activity for the first time, U.S. space situational awareness company Slingshot Aerospace recently announced.

The U.S. Space Force is partnering with SpaceX to field a new satellite communications (satcom) network.

Aalto, Airbus’ high-altitude pseudo-satellite spinoff, will support French military efforts to better understand the stratosphere as a warfighting domain.

Thales Alenia Space is preparing a demonstration satellite for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) in low Earth orbit (LEO) for launch this year.

Lockheed Martin's push to quickly develop, field and launch a demonstration satellite on its own dime shows how the industry is meeting a moment.

The U.S. Space Force’s CSCO anticipates starting the acquisition process to buy commercially derived maneuverable satellites for use in GEO by early next year.

Astroscale UK and Open Cosmos have won a contract from the UK Ministry of Defense to develop two formation-flying satellites that would track space weather.

BlackSky Technology plans to expand its Gen-3 high-frequency monitoring constellation with new satellites designated AROS.

The U.S. Space Force will launch its first new missile warning satellite no earlier than March 2026.

Portugal has agreed to buy an SAR satellite from Iceye, becoming the latest European state to invest in building up its military Earth-observation capability.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury signals talks among his company, Thales and Leonardo to combine satellite operations may drag into 2026.

LEO satellite constellation startup Muon Space completed a $146 million Series B funding round that includes $89.5 million in new capital.