Satellites

Editors are joined by Russ Matijevich, space industry veteran and a judge in the Space Tech Challenge Awards. Nominations are now open—could your solution be a winner?

Two Chinese rockets—CASC's Long March 3B and private launch provider Galactic Energy's Ceres 2—failed in launch attempts on Jan. 17.

Ukraine and Iceye have signed an agreement to expand the embattled country’s access to high-resolution SAR satellite imagery on an expedited basis.

Recently unveiled plans by several Chinese companies to launch more than 200,000 collectively represent “nothing untoward,” says an editorial in China Daily.

CesiumAstro will receive a $200 million financing package from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and JPMorgan.

MaiaSpace has signed an accord with Eutelsat to be a key partner in deploying the sat service provider’s next wave of 440 OneWeb broadband sats.

Planet Labs is trying to get a new satellite production facility in Germany operational before year-end, though timing is somewhat linked to securing approvals.

Following a banner year of satellite launches and two reusable launch attempts, China appears poised to demonstrate more cutting-edge tech on orbit in 2026.

The National Reconnaissance Office expects to launch its first mission of the year as early as Jan. 16, the office said Jan.14.

France has yet to find a ride to space for its twin-nanosatellite “Yoda” demonstration program for geostationary patrol against potential unfriendly spacecraft.

Airbus plans to test a software-defined satellite to underpin efforts to develop non-terrestrial 5G connectivity infrastructure.

Open Cosmos received Ka-band spectrum rights through Liechtenstein as the European space tech company prepares to deploy an LEO broadband satellite system.

Startup sees space-based radar as cheaper than aircraft-based AWACs.

Startup Array Labs is attempting to develop formation-flying radar satellites to study the feasibility of conducting “persistent, wide-area” airborne moving target indication missions from space.

Europe’s meteorological agency Eumetsat gave the formal go-ahead to the EPS-Sterna program, which aims to grow a system of 20 weather monitoring satellites.

Australia agreed with Luxembourg-based satellite communications provider SES to extend the life of the IS-22 satellite’s UHF satcom services for military use.

A Jan. 11 SpaceX rideshare launch carried 40 payloads to orbit, including 10 satellites from Kepler Communications.

Sweden is joining the list of European countries buying Iceye synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.

Eutelsat says it will buy another tranche of satellites from Airbus to build out its OneWeb low-Earth-orbit broadband communication system.

U.S. regulator approves SpaceX to add 7,500 Starlink Gen2 satellites along with other system enhancements.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded military space launches worth $739 million to SpaceX to support future missions for the Space Development Agency and NRO.

The UK defense ministry is broadening its search for alternative means of position, navigation and timing.

Rocket Lab joins established primes as the U.S. Space Development Agency scales its proliferated missile-warning and tracking architecture.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has awarded Astroscale a contract to develop “a general gripping mechanism system” to grab “national satellites.”

One week into 2026, United Launch Alliance is preparing for its first mission of the year.