weekly digest
The last 7 days at a glance: the week's items by importance, the scores that moved, and the sweeps that were quiet. ← sweep log
// 2026-07-04 to 2026-07-11 · 43 items
seismic
China recovers Long March 10B first stage on maiden flight
China's Long March 10B flew for the first time and recovered its first stage at sea, the second country to do so.
major
Blue Origin raises $10 billion in first outside funding round
Per the New York Times, Blue Origin is raising $10B at a $130B valuation from Coatue and Bezos, its first outside funding.
MDA Space agrees to buy 70% of French EO firm CLS
MDA Space is acquiring a 70% stake in French EO data analytics firm CLS for 567 million euros, per SpaceNews.
York Space Systems closes $300 million buy of All.Space
York Space Systems closed its purchase of satcom terminal maker All.Space at $300 million, down from the $355 million first announced.
Isar Aerospace signs launch site deal with Maritime Launch Services
Isar Aerospace will pay Maritime Launch Services for a dedicated Spectrum launch complex at Spaceport Nova Scotia in Canada.
Rocket Lab completes VICTUS HAZE mission for Space Force in record time
Rocket Lab says it finished all VICTUS HAZE mission phases for Space Force ahead of deadline, including on-orbit tracking in under 59 hours.
Chang Guang Satellite completes nearly 5 billion yuan equity round
Jilin-1 operator Chang Guang Satellite raised about 5 billion yuan for satellite production and constellation growth.
notable
ElevationSpace advances reentry vehicle toward 2027 demo
ElevationSpace signed a partner for its AOBA reentry demonstrator and detailed progress toward a mid-2027 first flight.
Space Force completes reorganization into nine acquisition portfolios
Space Force finished restructuring procurement around nine mission-focused portfolios instead of individual programs, per SpaceNews.
Space Force awards Pulse Space $40 million for laser power tech
Pulse Space won a $40 million Space Force contract to mature laser-based power and data transmission between spacecraft.
Marcia Smith says UNOOSA satellite-registration outage is a governance failure
Per Marcia Smith: UNOOSA's months-long halt on public satellite registrations is "a failure of the international space governance regime."
NASA finds Umbra SAR data misses geolocation accuracy spec
NASA's CSDA program found Umbra's SAR data underperforms on geolocation accuracy and radiometric calibration versus reference systems.
Reflect Orbital wins first FCC approval for sunlight-reflecting satellite
The FCC approved Reflect Orbital's Eärendil-1 test satellite, which will reflect sunlight to Earth after dark.
D-Orbit signs launch-services contract with ArkEdge Space
D-Orbit will fly ArkEdge Space demo satellites on its ION carrier from 2027, per SpaceNews.
Space Force adds Relativity, Impulse Space to NSSL Lane 1
Space Force added Relativity Space and Impulse Space to its NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 launch-services pool.
Telesat Lightspeed wins Canadian Arctic military connectivity deal
Canada's Armed Forces picked Telesat Lightspeed for secure Arctic military satellite connectivity under ESCP-P.
ispace books 500 kg of SpaceX Starship lunar cargo space
ispace reserved 500 kg of Starship cargo capacity for a lunar mission targeting no earlier than 2030, a roughly $50 million deal.
Beyond Gravity signs deal for 27 Ariane 6 payload fairings
Beyond Gravity will supply 27 payload fairings for Ariane 6 flights 16 through 42, its largest Swiss launch-vehicle contract yet.
BOEM seeks input on using offshore oil platforms for rocket launches
The Interior Department's BOEM opened a comment period on repurposing offshore oil rigs and new platforms for rocket launch and re-entry.
Earthjustice petitions FCC to pause orbital data center licensing
An Earthjustice-led coalition asked the FCC to complete a full environmental review before licensing any orbital data center satellites.
BRIN targets January 2027 launch for Indonesia's first sovereign EO satellite
Indonesia's BRIN said its domestically built NEO-1 Earth observation satellite is targeted to launch in January 2027.
ICEYE launches four satellites on Transporter-17, debuts Gen4 SAR model
ICEYE says its SAR constellation now stands at 76 satellites after a four-satellite Transporter-17 launch.
Simera Sense to supply imagers for Canary Islands EO constellation
Per SpaceNews, Simera Sense won a deal to supply eight multispectral imagers for a new regional EO constellation.
Rocket Lab CFO says 'panic' setting in over Falcon 9 rideshare access
Rocket Lab's CFO says Falcon 9 rideshare-access anxiety has reached 'panic' amid reports SpaceX is capping new bookings.
SaxaVord sets RFA ONE's maiden launch window for August 10
SaxaVord Spaceport told marine users RFA's first RFA ONE launch attempt opens a five-week window from August 10.
Orbit Fab hires new CEO, raises $25M ahead of Series B
Per SpaceNews, Orbit Fab appointed Peter Shaper as CEO and raised over $25 million in interim funding ahead of a Series B round.
SES wins 5-year Space Systems Command Ku-band deal
SES Space & Defense won a 5-year blanket purchase agreement to supply the US Space Force with managed Ku-band connectivity.
Muon Space deploys first operational FireSat wildfire-detection satellites
Muon Space says it deployed the first three operational FireSat satellites for the Earth Fire Alliance's wildfire-detection constellation.
Unseenlabs launches first satellite of its second-generation RF fleet
Unseenlabs says it launched BRO-31, the first satellite of a heavier, more capable second-generation RF-detection fleet.
Open Cosmos launches first satellites for Balearic Islands, Greece
Open Cosmos launched Posidonia, the Balearic Islands' first satellite, and Hyperion GR-1, the first of a planned Greek EO constellation.
GalaxEye loses contact with Mission Drishti satellite
GalaxEye lost contact with Mission Drishti, billed as the world's first OptoSAR satellite, after a geomagnetic storm.
Eight NATO allies launch HALO military satellite constellation initiative
Eight NATO members will network their sovereign military satellites into a shared hybrid constellation.
SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 weeks after its Nasdaq IPO
SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100 at a market value near $2 trillion, its shares slipping on the debut.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs split on SpaceX price target
Per Morgan Stanley: SpaceX is worth $300 a share on reusable rockets, Starlink and AI infrastructure; Goldman sees $205.
Axelspace launches seven GRUS-3 Earth observation satellites
Axelspace's seven next-generation GRUS-3 microsatellites reached orbit and returned first signals on Transporter-17.
Eurospace: EO overtakes telecom as Europe's top space revenue segment
Eurospace's 2025 report shows European space industry sales up 23% to EUR10.9 billion, with EO overtaking telecom as the top segment.
NASA and SBA partner to unlock capital for space suppliers
NASA and the SBA signed an agreement to help attract private capital for space technology suppliers.
Planet Labs adds Wolfgang Schmidt, ex-German Chancellery head, to European board
Former German Chancellery chief Wolfgang Schmidt joins Planet's European Advisory Board.
Blue Origin has seven Blue Moon landers in production, first slips to 2027
Blue Origin says seven Blue Moon lunar landers are in production, with the first cargo lander now slipping to Q1 2027.
NASA releases draft RFP for Commercial LEO Destinations space stations
NASA issued a draft RFP for Commercial LEO Destinations, planning to fund at least two station builders in early development.
CesiumAstro files for 737-satellite Synchronicity fleet
CesiumAstro asked the FCC to license its own 737-satellite Synchronicity constellation for reconfigurable connectivity.
Zenno Astronautics tests Supertorquer thruster in orbit
Zenno Astronautics says it is the first company to operate a superconducting product in space, testing its fuel-free Supertorquer thruster.
Australian Space Agency identifies Queensland beach spheres as rocket debris
The Australian Space Agency says metal spheres found on a Queensland beach are debris from a foreign rocket body.
snr movements this week
- 2026-07-10-china-long-march-10b-first-flight 3→4 CASC's own English-language newsroom article independently confirms the launch and recovery with additional first-party detail (vehicle dimensions, thrust, launch mass, LEO payload capacity, the Linghang Zhe recovery vessel) beyond the already-cited SpaceNews/Space.com/BBC coverage. Adding as a 4th distinct, first-party source; CASC's registry-recorded website (https://english.spacechina.com) exactly matches this URL's host.
- 2026-07-01-vantor-worldview-3d 3→4 Space.com published an independent July 8 piece on WorldView 3D with its own reporting (Yulin Naval Base and Hoover Dam image examples, its own author byline) beyond SpaceNews's original July 1 story; attached as corroboration.
- 2026-06-30-spacex-gen3-fcc-filing 2→4 Fierce Network, an established telecom trade outlet, published independent reporting on the same filing (docket SAT-LOA-20260630-00264) with original analyst commentary (MTN Consulting, BNP Paribas) not present in the original informal-tier sources; promoting it to lead upgrades the base tier from informal to trade. Also found SatNews's independent coverage (long-running satellite-industry trade outlet, cross-links its own prior coverage, no rewrite indicators) as further corroboration. Rescoring per the upgrade path since the lead source and its class both change.
- 2026-06-15-zhuque-2e-upper-stage-breakup 2→4 Standing task from the 2026-07-08 found_none audit (SWEEP_MEMORY 2026-07-08-J2, reports/found-none-audit-2026-07-08.md): fetched FODNews's page and confirmed it independently cites the US Space Force/space-track.org fragmentation advisory and secures its own named quotes from Darren McKnight (LeoLabs) and Jim Shell, distinct from a rewrite of Ars Technica. Correcting the crawl outcome from found_none to found_some via the upgrade path.
- 2026-07-07-spacex-nasdaq-100-inclusion 3→4 Impact corrected seismic to notable: the seismic moment was SpaceX's June IPO (now outside the freshness window), while the July 7 Nasdaq-100 index inclusion is a notable downstream event. This also lifts the extraordinary guardrail that a seismic non-first-party claim triggers, so the widely-reported public-record listing scores at its honest 4.
- 2026-07-07-rocket-lab-victus-haze-mission-complete 3→4 Corroboration correction (found_none was wrong): Defense Scoop and Space.com both cover the VICTUS HAZE mission and its on-orbit maneuvers. Rescored found_some with both attached.
- 2026-07-06-blue-origin-blue-moon-production 2→4 Corroboration correction (found_none was wrong): SatNews independently reports the same seven-lander Blue Moon production figure from the July 6 Spacetide talk. Rescored found_some.
- 2026-07-07-isar-aerospace-maritime-launch-nova-scotia 3→5 Corroboration correction and source upgrade (found_none was wrong): Isar's own press release confirms the deal first-party, with European Spaceflight and The Globe and Mail independently reporting the terms. Lead upgraded to first-party.
- 2026-07-08-space-force-relativity-impulse-nssl-lane1 2→4 Corroboration correction (Florian caught the found_none error): Inside Defense and Aviation Week both cover the NSSL Lane 1 additions; the original crawl missed them. Rescored with crawl found_some and both trade sources attached.
- 2026-07-07-isar-aerospace-maritime-launch-nova-scotia 2→3 European Spaceflight (Andrew Parsonson) independently reported the same July 7 agreement with matching deal terms ($3.75M/quarter, 10-year term, two 5-year options, $112.5M initial commitment) -- a second, distinct outlet confirming the story SpaceNews first reported. Corrects this morning's found_none corroboration outcome now that genuine independent coverage exists.
- 2026-07-06-planet-wolfgang-schmidt-advisory-board 3→5 Anti-spoof gate fix (PR #82): investors.planet.com now verifies as Planet's own domain, so the item's lead upgrades from the Business Wire copy (StockTitan) to Planet's own IR release, which the sweep had already found and linked but could not class first_party under the old exact-subdomain check. Crawl outcome corrected from found_none to found_some: the wire copy is the corroborating second source.
- 2026-07-02-true-anomaly-victus-haze-imaging 2→4 Crawl-engine audit (interactive, with Florian): the original corroboration crawl was confined to the run's 9-source filter and claimed found_none while independent coverage existed. Open-web search found Air & Space Forces Magazine (July 1, same 61-hour imaging figure and noncooperative-target detail) and Space.com (July 3, the intercept). Crawl outcome corrected to found_some.
- 2026-07-02-sybilla-technologies-funding-round 2→4 Crawl-engine audit (interactive, with Florian): the original corroboration crawl was confined to the run's source filter and claimed found_none. Open-web search found independent coverage of the same 35 million PLN round by Pulse 2.0 (June 14, naming 3TS Capital Partners and Vinci S.A.); EU-Startups also covered it but 403s our fetch tool, so it is not attached. Crawl outcome corrected to found_some.
- 2026-07-02-verde-technologies-space-pivot 2→4 Crawl-engine audit (interactive, with Florian): the original corroboration crawl was confined to the run's source filter and claimed found_none. Open-web search found independent solar-trade coverage of the same space-pivot announcement: Taiyang News (June 30, Poirier CEO appointment and space course) and Perovskite-Info (June 26, space as launch market). Crawl outcome corrected to found_some.
- 2026-07-02-isar-aerospace-planet-germany-launch-deal 4→5 Isar Aerospace's own newsroom published the July 2 press release for this exact deal (same Polak quote, 12-month target, and additional-satellite provision already in the item); upgrading the lead from European Spaceflight (trade) to Isar's first-party release and keeping the two trade sources as corroboration.
- 2026-07-04-gao-space-force-satellite-portfolio 2→4 official record attached: GAO product page confirms report GAO-26-108457 and its July 2 date (item had July 4, the article date); crawl outcome corrected from found_none, the report number was named inside the article
- 2026-06-30-nasa-oig-starliner-report 2→4 official record attached: the OIG release page confirms the overconfidence finding, the simulator-data finding, and states 21 months (not 22) to the Type A classification; crawl outcome corrected from found_none
- 2026-06-30-nasa-lunar-lander-awards 3→4 NASASpaceflight independently covered the same June 30 Moon Base Phase One lander awards (Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, Firefly), including a direct on-record quote from NASA associate administrator Lori Glaze not carried by the SpaceNews lead; attached as a second distinct trade source.
- 2026-07-01-latitude-oman-launch-loi 3→4 European Spaceflight independently covered the same July 1 Latitude/Etlaq Spaceport Oman LOI; attached as a second distinct trade source.
- 2026-07-01-blue-origin-new-glenn-pad-conops 3→4 NASASpaceflight independently covered the same July 1 New Glenn LC-36 hybrid horizontal/vertical CONOPS plan; attached as a second distinct trade source.
quiet sweeps
Sweeps that added nothing, and why. A quiet day explained is a trust signal, not a gap.
- 2026-07-11 08:35 UTC · Narrow ~1h12m re-check (last sweep 2026-07-11T07:14:55Z). Harvester queue held only 6 in-window candidates, all off-topic/clickbait (SpaceX stock commentary, an opinion post, an already-covered FCC filing repost). All 30 HTML-only sources and all 16 fetchable signals channels fetched with no in-window on-scope content found. 8-query discovery pass covered the full matrix and surfaced nothing new. Zero items shipped.
- 2026-07-11 07:14 UTC · Extremely narrow re-check (~15 minutes since the prior sweep at 06:53:48 UTC). Harvester queue had exactly one candidate published after lastSweep (an off-topic Bluesky opinion post, discarded silently); all ~29 checked HTML-only sources showed no content newer than the prior sweep; signals rotation and an 8-query discovery pass surfaced nothing new. Zero items, a genuinely quiet sweep.
- 2026-07-08 11:30 UTC · Corrected the SpaceX Nasdaq-100 item to notable (the seismic moment was the June IPO, now out of window), lifting the extraordinary guardrail so the widely-reported listing scores at its honest SNR 4.
- 2026-07-08 10:44 UTC · Corrections pass after Florian falsified a found_none with one search: the NSSL Lane 1 item rescored 2 to 4 with Inside Defense and Aviation Week attached (crawl corrected to found_some); CesiumAstro and Ravee Optics re-checked and their found_none stands. Quoted-headline corroboration searches are now mandatory (SWEEP_MEMORY 2026-07-08-A).
- 2026-07-08 05:47 UTC · Quiet ~1h47m re-check (lastSweep 03:51 UTC) against the full unrestricted source list: candidates.json queue held nothing newer than lastSweep beyond routine/already-published stories, all 36 HTML-only sources and the signals pass's fetchable channels returned no content dated inside the window, and 4 open-web discovery searches (Chinese launch, constellation contracts, ISRO, general July 8 sweep) surfaced only older stories already outside scope for fresh coverage (a December 2025 Rocket Lab SDA contract and an April 2026 Amazon/Globalstar acquisition, both well predating this platform's coverage window). Zero items shipped.
- 2026-07-08 00:16 UTC · Narrow ~46-minute re-check of the 14-source filtered list (Planet Labs, Planet Labs IR, ICEYE, Rocket Lab, BlackSky IR, European Spaceflight, SpaceNews, Launch Library, and 6 SEC 8-K feeds) plus the signals pass. All sources returned only already-published stories; zero new candidates this run.
- 2026-07-07 21:45 UTC · Narrow same-day re-check (~77 min since last sweep) against the 14-source filtered list; every source returned unchanged content already reflected in items.json or held.json, and the signals pass surfaced nothing new. Zero items shipped.
- 2026-07-07 05:10 UTC · Narrow same-day re-check (~4h40m since the last sweep) against the 14-source filtered list plus the mandatory signals pass. Every named source, all 6 fetchable signal channels, and 3 best-effort X searches returned unchanged or pre-window content. Zero items, a legitimate quiet outcome for this short filtered window.
- 2026-07-07 00:25 UTC · Narrow same-day re-check (~99 minutes since the last sweep) against the 14-source filtered list plus the mandatory signals pass; every named source, all 6 fetchable signal channels, and 3 best-effort X searches returned unchanged or pre-window content. Zero items, a legitimate quiet outcome for this short filtered window.
- 2026-07-06 22:41 UTC · Narrow same-day re-check (~1.5 hours since the last sweep) against the 14-source filtered list plus the mandatory signals pass. All 14 named sources (Planet Labs, Planet Labs IR, ICEYE, Rocket Lab, BlackSky IR, European Spaceflight, SpaceNews, Launch Library, and all six SEC 8-K feeds) came back unchanged from the 21:08 UTC sweep: no filing, press release, or article published after that timestamp. Zero items is the correct outcome for this window.
- 2026-07-06 17:59 UTC · Follow-up to the 17:48 UTC sweep: the anti-spoof gate now reduces www-recorded registry hosts to the apex domain (PR #82), so the Wolfgang Schmidt item's lead upgrades to Planet's own investors.planet.com release (first-party) with the Business Wire/StockTitan copy attached as corroboration; crawl outcome corrected to found_some.
- 2026-07-06 17:25 UTC · Crawl-engine audit repair pass (interactive): re-ran the corroboration crawl on the open web for all six items penalized with found_none under the old filter-confined crawl. Three had real independent coverage and were rescored (True Anomaly/VICTUS HAZE, Sybilla Technologies, Verde Technologies, each 2 to 4); three were re-searched and genuinely have no other coverage, so their found_none stands honestly (Austria/R-Space, MaiaSpace fourth engine, Lunar Forge). Corroboration is now open-web by policy; the run source filter constrains discovery only.
- 2026-07-06 15:34 UTC · Supervised review: attached BetaKit's independent report to the Telesat Venezuela item and Firefly's first-party release to the NASA four-lander batch item (the Firefly award is one of the four); the duplicate standalone Firefly card is removed separately.
- 2026-07-06 14:13 UTC · Supervised copy correction: dropped the outlet prefix from the Isar/Planet headline after its lead was upgraded to Isar's first-party release (prefix is reserved for non-first-party leads).
- 2026-07-06 13:07 UTC · Filtered 14-source regulatory/financial/procurement backfill (window 2026-06-29T00:00Z to now): all six SEC EDGAR 8-K feeds, FCC IBFS, FCC Daily Digest, ITU SNL, NOAA CRSRA, SAM.gov, ESA esa-star, EUSPA procurement, and NGA contract announcements were checked and none carried a filing, procurement notice, or press item dated inside the window. Several source URLs had moved (NOAA CRSRA, EUSPA procurement, NGA) and were run down to working pages; two sources (SAM.gov, esa-star) are unusable without deeper API/key access. Zero items shipped; a genuinely quiet sweep across this named list.
- 2026-07-06 12:53 UTC · Supervised corrections to the 12:46 UTC backfill: both report-based items (GAO Space Force portfolio, NASA OIG Starliner) had their official documents attached as corroborating official records and their crawl outcomes corrected from found_none (the primary documents exist; GAO's report number was named inside the SpaceNews article). Copy fixed to the officially stated dates and figures (report dated July 2 not July 4; 21 months to the Type A classification per the OIG). Both items move from SNR 2 to 4.
- 2026-07-06 12:27 UTC · Narrow same-day re-check (~3h16m since last sweep) against the 12-source filtered list. All sources fetched cleanly; Planet Labs, ICEYE, Rocket Lab, European Spaceflight, Launch Library, and all six SEC 8-K feeds were unchanged from the prior sweep. SpaceNews carried three fresh entries, all excluded on scope grounds (deep-space science, institutional analytics MoU, third-party market-research report). Zero items shipped.
- 2026-07-06 11:41 UTC · SNR migration (SNR_SPEC.md): scored all 22 items through the engine and retired the confidence ladder; released the held Rocket Lab-Iridium press release as a source attach to the SEC-sourced item; backfilled registry SNR badges (528 aggregator and 4 press fields at 4 canonical, 44 computed fields at 5; 623 Wikipedia/first-party fields stay unscored per SNR_SPEC 2.3).
- 2026-07-05 18:12 UTC · Filtered re-check of 12 named sources (Planet Labs, ICEYE, Rocket Lab, European Spaceflight, SpaceNews, Launch Library 2, six SEC 8-K feeds) since the 2026-07-05 08:58 UTC sweep. All but one source had no content newer than the last sweep. SpaceNews carried one fresh story (ESA authorizing Airbus to begin Aeolus-2 wind-lidar satellite development, EUR51M initial phase, 2034 target launch) which was evaluated and excluded as out of scope: legacy institutional weather-science procurement via a heritage prime, not a new-space-economy event. Zero items added, updated, or held this run.
- 2026-07-05 06:16 UTC · Filtered re-sweep of Planet Labs, ICEYE, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the PL 8-K feed, and Launch Library shipped zero new items; Rocket Lab's own /updates/ page surfaced a striking "Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium" headline dated July 3, 2026, but the underlying press release is blocked by a Cloudflare challenge on every fetch attempt, so it was held pending verification instead of published on headline alone.