The Department of Defense will prioritize launch providers based on technology performance and delivery speed rather than company name.

SpaceX currently plays a pivotal role in national security space launch markets.

The administration seeks to blend civil, commercial, and military capabilities to leverage U.S. economic power to maintain superiority in orbit.

The Pentagon will accept a higher risk threshold for certain missions to operationalize proliferated low Earth orbit constellations more rapidly and enhance missile warning and tracking capabilities through the Space Development Agency.

The Department of Defense seeks robust competition among launch providers to ensure resilience and reduce costs.

On January 9, 2026 the Space Force awarded $739 million in task orders under NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1.

The AT&T–Amazon partnership focuses on fixed broadband and backhaul via Amazon’s satellite layer rather than relying solely on AST SpaceMobile.

AT&T remains committed to AST SpaceMobile as a Plan B or specialized cell-tower-in-the-sky solution for direct-to-smartphone connections.

Globalstar has relied on an exclusive relationship with Apple for emergency SOS services.

SpaceX is merging with xAI in a deal valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion and signaling intent to build orbital data centers.

The deal provides an immediate resilience layer for AT&T’s FirstNet public safety network to help first responders stay connected when terrestrial towers fail during disasters.

Shares of Globalstar fell 8% following the AT&T–Amazon announcement.

Analysts view the emergence of vertically integrated super-platforms that control rockets, satellites, cloud, and AI software as a growing competitive threat to smaller satellite companies like AST SpaceMobile and Globalstar.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile fell 12% following the AT&T–Amazon announcement.

The AT&T–Amazon agreement secures a large, guaranteed revenue base for Amazon’s Leo constellation as it deploys its satellite array.

Amazon is deploying a Leo constellation planned to total 3,236 satellites.

The partnership’s fiber-to-space ecosystem is designed to eliminate domestic dead zones and provide resilient infrastructure capable of supporting advanced AI applications at scale.

Investors are concerned about AST SpaceMobile’s high cash burn and the performance gap between its handful of BlueBird satellites and the thousands being deployed by SpaceX and Amazon.

The AT&T–Amazon deal integrates AWS cloud services into AT&T’s network, including migrating major AT&T workloads to AWS hybrid cloud platforms.

Amazon Leo is the rebranded commercial wing of Project Kuiper and will serve as a primary satellite layer for AT&T’s business and public safety customers.

The AT&T–Amazon partnership will connect AWS data centers via high-capacity AT&T fiber as part of a combined cloud-and-connectivity architecture.

On February 4, 2026, AT&T and Amazon formed an extensive strategic partnership that integrates terrestrial fiber infrastructure with orbital satellite capabilities.

Panasonic Avionics is developing plans to integrate Shanghai Spacesail Technologies’ planned Low-Earth Orbit satellite constellation into its in-flight connectivity network.

Panasonic Avionics is a California-based in-flight engagement and connectivity provider.

Panasonic Avionics and Shanghai Spacesail Technologies signed a memorandum of understanding to begin collaboration on integrating Spacesail’s LEO constellation into Panasonic Avionics’ connectivity services.

Spacesail signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to integrate its future network into Airbus’s HBCplus in-flight connectivity portfolio.

Shanghai Spacesail is a Chinese Low-Earth Orbit satellite constellation with 108 satellites in orbit.

John Wade is vice president of Connectivity at Panasonic Avionics.

Kymeta previously introduced a Ku/Ka antenna capable of supporting both Ku and Ka bands simultaneously.

Kymeta and Japan Display Inc disclosed their collaboration on Feb. 4.

Kymeta considers the collaboration the next critical phase in its multi-band product roadmap.

The Ku/Ka metasurface terminal is intended to lay the groundwork for seamless satellite roaming across frequency bands and orbits.

Kymeta achieved a Ku/Ka breakthrough in 2025 that demonstrated simultaneous Ku and Ka capability.

Kymeta aims to bring multi-orbit, multi-band communications to its customer base.

Manny Mora is President and CEO of Kymeta.

Kymeta selected Japan Display Inc for JDI’s capabilities in rigid flat-panel thin film transistor manufacturing and high-volume production.

Kymeta detailed a lab demonstration in which a prototype single-aperture antenna transmitted and received both Ka-band and Ku-band beams simultaneously.

The Kymeta–JDI partnership is intended to enable terminals to be built at scale.

Kymeta is partnering with Japan Display Inc to develop a multi-band metasurface aperture that enables concurrent operation across Ku- and Ka-band satellite frequencies.

The letter attributed to Elon Musk outlines the possibility of factories on the Moon that use local lunar resources to manufacture satellites.

The letter frames lunar resources as the base for an autonomous production chain intended to reduce costs and logistical complexity associated with transporting materials from Earth.

The letter integrates production and transport into a single technological ecosystem in its vision for lunar industrial development.

The letter presents lunar industry as an extension of traditional space infrastructure with an active role in production and deployment of orbital systems.

The idea of using materials available on the Moon in the letter aligns with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts in space research.

On February 2, 2026 Sawyer Merritt shared on X an excerpt of a new letter attributed to Elon Musk.

The letter attributed to Elon Musk proposes deploying satellites manufactured on the Moon further into space using an electromagnetic mass driver.

The excerpt shared by Sawyer Merritt does not specify timelines, programs, or actors involved in the proposed lunar industrial model.

The letter references an electromagnetic mass driver as a non-chemical launch system that could accelerate payloads from the lunar surface by leveraging the absence of atmosphere and lower lunar gravity, implying lower energetic cost than comparable terrestrial launches.

The non-completion of the transaction has no impact on Eutelsat’s Financial Objectives for FY 2025–26 except for Net Debt to EBITDA, which is now expected to stand at around 2.7 times at the end of the financial year versus 2.5 times previously.

The net proceeds attributable to Eutelsat from the proposed transaction would have been in the region of €550 million (≈$650 million).