Joe Landon leads Rendezvous Robotics, which is developing flat, modular tiles that launch stacked and autonomously self-assemble in space into large antennas and power-generation structures.

A fourfold increase in atmospheric drag can irrecoverably degrade a satellite’s orbit if the satellite has electronic propulsion and was not already performing orbit-raising maneuvers before the drag increase.

The SmallSat Symposium highlighted a shift from pure innovation to operational maturity as the commercial space sector deepens ties with the Department of Defense.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) are increasingly overlapping in audit responsibilities.

Panelists at the SmallSat Symposium estimated that achieving CMMC Level 2 compliance requires an investment between $100,000 and $200,000 for early-stage companies.

Starfish Space secured a $52.5 million contract with the Space Force.

Financial auditors are increasingly examining government property records to align with the Department of Defense’s internal audit readiness goals.

Companies developing dual-use technologies must track government-funded hardware separately from commercial assets to avoid business system disapprovals or payment withholds.

Prime contractors are contractually obligated to enforce compliance standards on their subcontractors.

Seed-stage space companies do not need to implement the same controls as established defense primes, making over-compliance a potential waste of resources.

Millennium Space Systems requires clear visibility into supplier operations to manage supply-chain risk despite operating with a focus on speed.

Sourcing components from restricted jurisdictions, such as China, can jeopardize DoD satellite programs.

Robust back-office systems and audit-ready fundamentals are becoming as critical as orbital hardware for companies scaling in the commercial space sector.

Errors in founder share redemption can disqualify a company from Qualified Small Business Stock tax benefits.

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 establishes new cybersecurity standards for defense contractors.

Starfish Space implemented a targeted digital enclave to protect Controlled Unclassified Information instead of applying CMMC compliance across the entire company.

The consortium will develop a CubeSat-format satellite prototype conceived exclusively for ground validation to evaluate payload capabilities and associated detection and geolocation algorithms.

The ESA contract strengthens the consortium's position in the development of advanced spectrum-monitoring technologies and expands solutions aimed at protecting orbital assets and enabling future specialized constellations.

The project has a planned duration of 24 months starting on 1 December 2025.

GMV Poland is responsible for mission analysis and full-system simulation for the project.

WideNorth is responsible for the design, manufacture, and verification of the radio-frequency frontends that will be part of the payload prototype.

Alén Space will develop the onboard application for detection and identification of radio-frequency interferences.

Alén Space will perform the tests required to demonstrate the functionality of the payload based on Trevo, a high-performance software-defined radio developed by Alén Space.

The project is funded by the European Space Agency under the FutureEO program.

A consortium led by Alén Space that includes GMV (Spain and Poland), WideNorth, and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid has been selected by the European Space Agency for a space-based radio-frequency interference detection and monitoring project.

Alén Space will manufacture the laboratory prototype of the satellite and its payload.

The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid will design and develop the interference geolocation algorithms for the ground segment.

GMV Spain will define the requirements for ground algorithms and will conduct the test campaigns.

The project aims to develop a prototype capable of identifying and geolocating interference sources on the Earth's surface across a frequency range of 1 to 40 GHz.

Alén Space is the coordinator of the consortium and is responsible for the preliminary platform design for the satellite prototype.

The consortium comprises entities from Spain, Norway, and Poland.

NASA’s R5 Spacecraft 10 (R5-S10) will act as a free-flying imager for Momentus’ Vigoride 7 Orbital Service Vehicle to assess spacecraft health and performance.

Momentus’ Vigoride 7 Orbital Service Vehicle is fully booked for hosted payloads.

Momentus was selected to perform the Low-Cost Multispectral RPO Sensor suite rendezvous demonstration mission for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s SPACEWERX organization.

NASA and Momentus signed a Space Act Agreement for a mission to advance in-orbit servicing and assembly capabilities.

Payload data transferred to the Vigoride host platform will be downlinked to the Momentus Operations Center and NASA Johnson Space Center.

The Small Spacecraft Technology program is based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and operates in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

The R5-S10 technology demonstration mission is funded and managed by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program and the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Vigoride 7 is scheduled for launch no earlier than March 2026 on a SpaceX Transporter mission to low Earth orbit.

Inter-satellite link demonstrations on the mission will use WiFi-based data transmission to transfer large files from the CubeSat to the Vigoride host platform.

R5-S10 and several other payloads will ride aboard Momentus’ Vigoride 7.

The Low-Cost Multispectral RPO Sensor suite is designed to enhance spacecraft situational awareness and relative navigation for ISAM, autonomous satellite servicing, and space debris management.

Momentus will deliver a NASA CubeSat to low Earth orbit to demonstrate joint rendezvous and proximity operations and formation flying.

The FCC’s Space Bureau accepted SpaceX’s application for a massive non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation.

The filing roughly parallels SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI.

SpaceX requested authorization to use specific radio frequency bands on a non-interference basis for the proposed system.

SpaceX filed an application with federal regulators seeking approval to launch up to one million satellites for an orbital data center system.

SpaceX requested waivers of standard FCC regulations, including exemptions from typical deployment milestones and surety bond requirements for non-geostationary orbit systems.

SpaceX’s proposed orbital data center system would dwarf the company’s existing Starlink internet network.

The proposed satellites would operate at altitudes between 500 and 2,000 kilometers in orbital shells spanning up to 50 kilometers each.