SatNews

A collection of 421 posts

SatNews

Compliance Becomes the New Gatekeeper for Space Startups

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The SmallSat Symposium traditionally showcases hardware and orbital mechanics, but this year a different theme emerged. As the commercial space sector deepens ties with the Department of Defense, the focus is shifting from pure innovation to operational maturity. Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/

SatNews

The End of the Open Range: LEO’s Spectrum Crunch Hits Home

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. With over 14,000 satellites in orbit and filings for hundreds of thousands more flooding the International Telecommunication Union [ITU], the industry has hit a wall. Success is no longer determined by who can launch the fastest. Instead, it depends on who can find a clear

SatNews

FCC Proposes Assembly Line Licensing to Replace Decades-Old Space Rules

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Speaking at the SmallSat Symposium, Sheppard Mullin partner Drew Svor outlined the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to retire legacy Part 25 rules in favor of a modular system under Part 100. This proposal seeks to modernize a licensing process that has struggled to keep pace

SatNews

The Empire Strikes Back: Europe’s Defense Giants Are Done Playing Catch-Up

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Dr. Marco Brancati, newly minted Technical Director of the Leonardo Space Division, took the stage for the Keynote By Leonardo. Brancati didn't come to Mountain View to talk about democratizing space but to describe a fortress under construction. Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/

SatNews

The Benign Era is Over: Why the Commercial Space Sector Just Woke Up on the Front Lines

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For the past decade the SmallSat industry operated under a comforting delusion that low Earth orbit was a sanctuary where commercial operators could move fast, break things, and prioritize automotive-grade electronics over military-grade hardening. Dr. Paul Struhsaker, CEO of Arrasar Partners, with the precision of the

SatNews

The End of the Passive Satellite

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For years, the SmallSat Symposium acted as a showcase for cheaper data relays and internet-from-the-sky optimism. But inside the Grand Hall today, the mask slipped during the session on Building the Physical Layer of Autonomy. The industry isn't just building smarter cameras but constructing

SatNews

The $175 Billion Shadow: Inside the Golden Dome’s Identity Crisis

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Even here in the heart of Silicon Valley, the conversation has pivoted aggressively toward the Pentagon. The topic is the Golden Dome, the administration’s missile defense architecture mandated by Executive Order 14186 and funded at $175 billion. Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/

SatNews

China Advances 2030 Lunar Timeline with Successful Long March 10 Integrated Test

JIUQUAN, China – The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has completed an “extraordinary” integrated flight test involving its next-generation Mengzhou crew capsule and the Long March 10 (CZ-10) reusable rocket. […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/china-advances-2030-lunar-timeline-with-successful-long-march-10-integrated-test/

SatNews

US-India Space Forum Convenes in Bengaluru to Solidify TRUST Initiative Framework

BENGALURU, India – Key government officials and industry leaders from the United States and India met in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Feb. 10, for the inaugural US-India Commercial Space Forum of […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/us-india-space-forum-convenes-in-bengaluru-to-solidify-trust-initiative-framework/

SatNews

Global Defense Budgets Shift Toward Total Situational Awareness and Orbital AI

HERNDON, Virginia – Targeting the gap between raw satellite data collection and actionable battlefield intelligence, global defense agencies have officially pivoted toward “Total Situational Awareness” as a primary budget priority […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/global-defense-budgets-shift-toward-total-situational-awareness-and-orbital-ai/

SatNews

AST SpaceMobile Shares Rally Following Successful Deployment of Massive BlueBird 6 Array

MIDLAND, Texas – Shares of AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) climbed as much as 6.9% in premarket trading on Wednesday, Feb. 11, following the company’s announcement of the successful unfolding […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/ast-spacemobile-shares-rally-following-successful-deployment-of-massive-bluebird-6-array/

SatNews

SatService to Deploy Q/V-band Ground Station for German Bundeswehr University

Steißlingen, Germany – SatService GmbH, a subsidiary of Calian Group Ltd. (TSX: CGY), has been awarded a contract by the German Federal Ministry of Defence to deliver a full-service Q/V-band […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/11/satservice-to-deploy-q-v-band-ground-station-for-german-bundeswehr-university/

SatNews

Silicon Valley to Aerospace: Code is the New Steel

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Rockets still make a lot of noise, but the revolution visible at the SmallSat Symposium moves silently, digitally, and at the speed of code. For decades “metal benders”—those massive aerospace conglomerates that first weld titanium and then figure out the flight computer—have defined the

SatNews

D2D’s Hype Hangover: The Physics Finally Bite Back

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The free drinks at SmallSat Symposium usually signal a celebration, but this year they feel more like a necessity. If 2024 was the year of the press release, early 2026 is the year of the hangover. Breathless promises of ubiquitous, high-speed connectivity from space have collided

SatNews

The New Orbital Guard: Commercial Tech Steps Up as the Pentagon’s Watchtower

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The mood at the SmallSat Symposium has shifted from anxiety to resolve. While previous years were defined by fear of orbital overcrowding, this year marks the moment the industry decided to act. Experts at the Space Domain Awareness panel officially retired the “Big Sky” theory, the

SatNews

Space Has a Plumbing Problem, and It’s Getting Expensive

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Rockets function reliably. Satellites roll off assembly lines at scale. Yet the buzz at SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View can’t mask a sobering reality: data gets stuck on the way down. Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/10/space-has-a-plumbing-problem-and-its-getting-expensive/

SatNews

The Commercial Mask Slips: Space is Now a Sovereign Arms Race

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The polite fiction that the commercial space industry exists primarily for crop yields and climate monitoring has ended. During the symposium’s Future of Geospatial Intelligence session, industry titans stopped pretending their product is intended for sale to NGOs, admitting they are instead building a new

SatNews

The New Space Playbook Faces a Physics Cliff at the Moon

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. For the past decade, the commercial space sector has benefited from a benign era defined by a quiescent sun and the protective magnetosphere of Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This stability allowed companies to prioritize speed and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components over traditional radiation hardening. Yet, as

SatNews

The Space Data Layer is Coming, Just Not as Fast or as Small as You Think

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Attendees at the SmallSat Symposium might have envisioned a future Space Data Layer as a seamless optical-mesh network capable of near-instant data transmission. During the symposium’s Edge of Orbit session, however, participants scrutinized the mechanics available to make that ideal materialize quickly. Attendees backed off

SatNews

From Sandbox to Shield: The SmallSat Industry Grows Up

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. If the mood at past SmallSat Symposiums was defined by exuberant experimentation, this year feels different. The energy has not vanished, but it has matured. During the session Engineering the Future Spacecraft, a clear signal emerged from the noise: the industry is graduating. Focus has shifted

SatNews

From SmallSat Gold Rush to Fortress: The Militarization of Commercial Space

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium: The era of the slide-deck billionaire is dead. Attendees entering the Small Satellites: Trends and Opportunities session expecting standard futurism about connecting the unconnected or democratizing the stars were likely disappointed. The mood at SmallSat Symposium has shifted from gold-rush optimism to the cold calculus of

SatNews

The Golden Dome Grinds into Gear: SDA Acting Chief Sovereign over the Supply Chain

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The age of PowerPoint architecture has passed. For five years, the Space Development Agency operated as the Pentagon’s rebellious startup, promising to deliver a Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture faster than the establishment could draft a requirements document. At the SmallSat Symposium, however, no celebratory mood

SatNews

ULA Targets Operational Acceleration Following Leadership Transition

DENVER, Colorado – In the wake of the sudden departure of long-time President and CEO Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is moving to stabilize its flight manifest and rebuild […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/10/ula-targets-operational-acceleration-following-leadership-transition/

SatNews

The maiden launch of the Ariane 64, Europe’s most powerful rocket and an emotional countdown

The European space community began an emotional countdown at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, marking the final hours before the maiden flight of the Ariane 64. As the most […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/10/the-maiden-launch-of-the-ariane-64-europes-most-powerful-rocket-and-an-emotional-countdown/

SatNews

KSAT Launches Hyperion Demonstration for In-Orbit Data Relay

At the SmallSat Symposium in Silicon Valley on February 10, 2026, Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) unveiled the Hyperion mission, a pivotal demonstration intended to move its HYPER in-orbit relay constellation […] Source: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/10/ksat-launches-hyperion-demonstration-for-in-orbit-data-relay/