T-Minus Space Daily

NASA now will target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the Artemis II launch. SpaceX has acquired xAI. A SpaceX Falcon 9’s second stage experienced an off-nominal condition during preparation for the deorbit burn after launching Starlink satellites on Monday, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is Sara Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation.  You can connect with Sar...

CesiumAstro Inc. has secured $470 million in growth capital. SpaceX has unveiled a novel Space Situational Awareness (SSA) system called Stargaze. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to inform and support the decision on whether to issue SpaceX a new, or modify their existing, vehicle operator license for Starship-Super Heavy at Launch Complex-39A, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Bailey Reichelt from...

Space-based data gathering has been a growing area in the industry over the last decade. Turning that data into intelligence is the next logical step. Our guest is Eric Anderson, Founder and CEO at SynMax. You can connect with Eric on LinkedIn, and learn more about SynMax on their website. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the...

The US Army is now accepting applications for a new enlisted career track focused entirely on space operations. Varda Space has successfully completed the reentry of its W-5 capsule.SpaceX is reportedly considering a merger with Tesla and artificial-intelligence company xAI, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Elysia Segal brings us the Space Traffic Report from NASASpaceflight.com. Selected Reading ...

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has shared plans to develop space-based data centers. A SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle launched the GPS III-9 Space Vehicle 09 for the US Space Force (USSF). The US Space Systems Command (SSC) has released a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the Hybrid Architecture and Development for Experimental Systems, or HADES, contract, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today...

The European Union has officially and metaphorically switched on the IRIS2 secure satellite communications network, the homegrown 10.6 billion Euro European alternative to Starlink. ESA and EUMETSAT have finalized their agreement on the EPS-Sterna constellation. Planet Labs has signed a new agreement with the Surveying and Mapping Authority of Slovenia, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is  Les Lake,  Vice President of Business Development at All...

Northwood Space has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round and announced a new $50 million US Space Force (USSF) contract. NASA has selected Intuitive Machines (IM) as part of 34 global volunteers chosen to track the Artemis II Mission. Blue Origin plans to spend $71.4 million to expand thruster production in Alabama, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is David Buck, Lt. Gen., USAF (Ret.), President, BRPH...

Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB) in California has released a new strategic plan outlining priorities for 2026 and beyond. A winter storm is the latest delay to finalizing budget decisions in the US. Palladyne AI’s subsidiary, GuideTech, has secured a contract with Portal Space Systems to support the development of next-generation, maneuverable spacecraft platforms, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Dave Bittner, host of The Cyberwire, and cy...

On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. It was an accident witnessed by millions who were tuning in to see the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, on her first mission. Instead of a statue in memory of the lives lost that day, the families of the Challenger Crew established the Challenger Center to honor the crew’s mission to inspire future generations of explorers.  Former NASA Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger is the incoming chair of the Challenger Center Board of Directors and shared how the education facilities are marking the 40 years sin...

D-Orbit has raised $53 million in a Series D funding round. Loft Orbital was selected as the prime contractor for France’s Démonstrateur des Éléments Souverains d’Imagerie Radar (DESIR) program. Aalyria has been selected by the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development (RAPID) program to advance software solutions for managing complex military space communications networks, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Gue...

Blue Origin has unveiled a new satellite communications network called TeraWave. Rocket Lab held its first launch of 2026 with “The Cosmos Will See You Now” mission for Open Cosmos. Lunar Outpost has announced a new In‑Orbit Demonstration to support the launch, integration, and on‑orbit operations of Thermal Architecture Components (TACOS), and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is Dr. Melissa Patton from Patton Consulti...

SWISSto12 has secured €73 million in financial support from European Space Agency (ESA) member states through the HummingSat ARTES partnership project. Canada Rocket Company (CRC) has emerged from stealth with $6.2 million CAD in seed funding from entirely Canadian investors. Starfish Space has been awarded a $52.5 million contract by the US Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) to provide Deorbit-as-a-Service for satellites within the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. <...

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft reached Launch Pad 39B after a nearly 12-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) . Gilmour Space Technologies has raised $217 million Australian dollars in a Series E round. The UK Space Agency UKSA) has supported the opening of a new £20 million space innovation hub in Buckinghamshire. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is Christian Dav...

Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) is the practice of intercepting and analyzing electronic signals, like phone calls, emails, radar, and telemetry, to gather actionable intelligence for national security, defense, and military operations. It’s primarily conducted by agencies like NSA, but over the last decade many companies in the commercial sector have grown in this vital area of national defense, especially in space. Our guest is Dave DeWalt, CEO of NightDragon, who shared why his firm is investing in tech and space.  You can connect with Dave on LinkedIn, and learn more about NightDragon on their website. Rem...

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 NASA/NOAA Appropriations Bill cleared the US Senate. Eutelsat has signed a deal with French space startup MaiaSpace for future launches of its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Isar Aerospace is targeting its second flight and qualification mission from the company’s dedicated launch complex at Andøya Space in Norway from January 21, 2026, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Elysia Segal brings us the...

Zak Kassas, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University, recently released a white paper on “Navigating the Arctic Circle with Starlink and OneWeb LEO Satellites” and shares his insights. The study suggests that radio signals from low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites could become reliable navigation alternatives, as disruptions to GPS services increase globally. Zak helps us understand how he reached that conclusion.  You can read  “Navigating the Arctic Circle with Starlink and OneWeb LEO Satellites” here. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. <...

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 has returned to Earth, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Slingshot Aerospace has been awarded a $27 million US Space Force (USSF) contract to modernize scenario training activities. Chinese commercial company CAS Space debuted its suborbital two-stage research rocket, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Our guest today is Cherie Matthew, Architect/ Project Manager at Jacobs.  You...

Chinese firms have submitted more than a dozen proposals to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 200,000 internet satellites. China launched a new batch of internet satellites from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site on the southern island province of Hainan on Tuesday. ispace has been selected by JAXA to conduct a study and provide a study on space debris mitigation in lunar orbit and disposal management on the lunar surface, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram.<...

Astroscale UK has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency to lead the design of the In-Orbit Refurbishment and Upgrading Service (IRUS) mission concept. Planet Lab has signed a multi-year agreement with the Swedish Armed Forces to deliver a suite of satellites, space-based data and awareness solutions to support the country’s peace and security operations. Aerospacelab has been selected by Xona Space Systems to produce eight additional satellites for their Pulsar constellation, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T...

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke hands command of Expedition 74 to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov ahead of Crew 11’s departure from the International Space Station (ISS). US Space Systems Command (SSC) awards $739 million in launch contracts to SpaceX. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying NASA’s Pandora planet observing satellite along with 39 payloads as part of the Twilight rideshare mission, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Guest Parker Wishik, Senior Communications Spec...