CACI is planning a $2.6 billion acquisition of ARKA Group to deepen its expertise in space-based sensing and optics.

CACI is charged with transforming and unifying legacy network infrastructures across 14 Space Force installations.

The work will be performed under the United States Air Force Base Infrastructure Modernization contract vehicle.

The upgrades will provide high-bandwidth connectivity across all security classifications.

The contract requires CACI to deliver a software-defined, enterprise-level overhaul of the U.S. Space Force's base area networks to support high-security operations.

Congress allocated $650 million to the Mars Sample Return mission, which is higher than the administration’s proposed $300 million budget.

The Artemis program is proposed to receive $7.6 billion for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

The budget also includes continued support for the Human Landing System (HLS) and the development of the Lunar Gateway.

The proposed NASA budget of $24.4 billion represents a $1.1 billion increase over the FY2025 enacted level.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed the proposed budget, expressing gratitude for bipartisan recognition of NASA's value to the nation.

The House Appropriations Committee released its Fiscal Year 2026 spending bill on January 5, 2026, proposing $24.4 billion for NASA.

The budget includes full funding for the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft.

The Trump administration sought to reduce NASA's topline budget to under $22 billion by targeting Earth Science and long-duration exploration missions.

If the $24.4 billion figure holds through reconciliation, it will mark the fourth consecutive year of budget growth for NASA.

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is a joint mission between NASA and the French space agency CNES.

SWOT revealed that tsunami waves following the Kamchatka earthquake were trapped along the continental shelf, known as 'edge waves'.

SWOT captured high-resolution data of a tsunami that challenged existing scientific models following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in late 2025.

The SWOT mission is supported by partners like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency.

SWOT was launched in December 2022 to survey nearly all of Earth's surface water.

The data suggests that the risk of flooding or dangerous currents can persist much longer than previously anticipated following a major earthquake.

SWOT's mission validates a new approach to Earth observation, moving from 1D tracks to 2D maps of water height.

SWOT's advanced Karin (Ka-band Radar Interferometer) instrument showed that a significant portion of the tsunami's energy became trapped along the continental shelf.

The ability to observe hidden wave patterns has implications for coastal safety and early warning systems.

The edge waves phenomenon lasted for hours after the tsunami was generated.

The U.S. Space Force is interested in commercial platforms that can deliver environmental data directly into military decision-support systems.

Commercial constellations often provide higher revisit rates than government-only fleets, which is critical for tracking rapidly evolving storm systems.

SSC intends to use vendor responses to shape future procurement strategies for the 2027 fiscal year, potentially leading to pilot contracts for weather data integration.

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command has released a Request for Information seeking commercial sources for environmental monitoring data to support global military operations.

Interested vendors are required to submit their capability statements and technical roadmaps by February 13, 2026.

The Space Force aims to increase the resiliency of its weather monitoring capabilities by leveraging commercial environmental data.

The RFI is part of a broader Department of Defense strategy to transition away from large, monolithic legacy satellites like the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

The Space Force is developing a disaggregated architecture that combines government-owned assets with commercial 'Data-as-a-Service' contracts.

The RFI outlines interest in commercial environmental data and its technical integration into military operations.

The inquiry is managed by System Delta 810, which is the U.S. Space Force's dedicated weather and domain awareness unit.

The RFI focuses on identifying industry capabilities for providing high-revisit cloud characterization and theater weather data.

Samsung announced that the entire Galaxy S26 lineup now features the Exynos 6000 chipset, which includes a native Non-Terrestrial Network modem.

Apple is debuting 'Satellite Live' for the iPhone 17, which is a software-hardware integration leveraging Globalstar's newest Low Earth Orbit satellites.

Satellite connectivity has transitioned from a niche emergency feature to a baseline consumer expectation for the 2026 product cycle.

The mass adoption of GaN-based amplifiers from Mission Microwave has allowed satellite hardware to shrink enough to fit into standard consumer form factors without sacrificing battery life.

The consumer demand at CES is hardening national infrastructure through government partnerships with consumer tech.

SpaceX announced that 'Starlink Direct' has officially exited beta and is now live for unmodified 5G phones across its partner carriers, including T-Mobile, KDDI, and Optus.

The consumer market provides the volume that justifies the multi-billion dollar cost of Low Earth Orbit fleets.

Major OEMs are launching Satellite-First laptops and ruggedized wearables that offer Direct-to-Device messaging as a standard service for routine travel.

Demand for satellite features is forcing the industry to adopt unified standards like 3GPP Release 17/18.

Satellite constellations like Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, and Telesat Lightspeed require millions of users to be financially viable.

Companies in the space industry are trending toward vertical integration, controlling both satellite hardware and AI algorithms.

Traditional satellite manufacturers are transitioning to reinvent themselves as software companies.

Satellites are processing massive datasets using artificial intelligence before sending refined results to ground stations.

The U.S., China, and the European Union are moving beyond the hardware-first era of satellite manufacturing toward AI-integrated space infrastructure.

As of January 7, 2026, the competitive landscape of the space industry is now defined by edge computing in orbit.