Space Commerce Week

You've heard of the "Big Beautiful Bill" ... also known as the Budget Reconciliation Act. One of the provisions in that bill is for space companies to pay a fee for launching rockets beginning next year. According to the text of the bill in both houses of Congress, starting in 2026, the Secretary of Transportation would impose fees on each space launch or reentry under a license or permit. The fee...

The 66th Electron rocket launched by Rocket Lab has deployed the latest satellite to orbit for Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS). The ‘The Mountain God Guards’ mission was Rocket Lab’s second launch in less than a month for iQPS and its fourth overall with 100% mission success. The deployment of the QPS-SAR-11 was relayed to the early-morning YouTube audience by Rocket Lab Mission...

ispace suffered another setback Thursday when the HAKUTO-R Lunar Lander was apparently lost during its landing attempt . Telemetry was lost from the lander about 65 seconds before the scheduled landing time. After a tense half hour, the ispace commentators on the company live YouTube stream said that the mission control team had been unable to establish communications with the lander. "We haven't...

SpaceX has a mantra: Fly, Learn, Repeat. And there will be a lot for SpaceX to learn from the ninth test flight of Starship, which ended with the loss of both the booster and 'Ship'. Starship’s ninth flight test lifted off at 6:36 p.m. CT on Tuesday from Starbase, Texas. The Super Heavy booster supporting the mission made the first ever reflight in the Starship program, having previously launched...

(Editor’s Note: After the production deadline for the audio version of our weekly review, the FAA approved Starship for its Return to Flight) The FAA has approved license modifications for the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mission. The approval includes final action allowing SpaceX to increase Starship operations from five up to 25 per year at Boca Chica, Texas. However, SpaceX may not launch until the...

The FAA has released its Final Tiered Environmental Assessment authorizing SpaceX to conduct as many as 25 Starship launches per year from Starbase in Boca Chica. The Revised Final EA evaluates two alternatives in detail: the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative. The Proposed Action alternative would modify SpaceX’s existing vehicle operator license. It would authorize the company's propo...

The first look at the NASA budget, and a self-assembling space architecture. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The FY26 federal budget proposed by the Trump administration would accelerate NASA's human space exploration of the Moon and Mars with what the administration calls a fiscally responsible portfolio of missions. The Budget refocuses NASA funding...

Closing In on a NASA Administrator, and the Impact of the Space Economy. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 19-9 on Wednesday to advance the nomination of Jared Isaacman to be the next administrator of NASA. The nomination now moves to the full senate for a final vote. Isaacman, 42, has traveled to space on two occasio...

Obtaining Space Situational Awareness Data, and a Curriculum for the Final Frontier. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) has released a Request for Information seeking input on a future multi-vendor contract structure for obtaining space situational awareness (SSA) data and services. Responses will help shape OSC’s acqui...

Space employment and space investment are both on the rise. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The Space Report 2025 Q1, which shows space sector employment growth outpacing U.S. private sector growth, has been released by The Space Foundation. In the last decade, overall private sector employment increased 14.3%, while space sector employment increased...

NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman meets with the U.S. Senate, and Political Change and Space Commerce. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee held a hearing Wednesday to consider the nomination of Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be the next NASA Administrator. While Isaacman by his own adm...

The impact of space commerce on the U.S. economy, and another all-civilian space flight. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has released new and updated U.S. space economy statistics for 2012–2023. These statistics provide estimates of the U.S. space economy's gross domestic product (GDP) and...

SpaceX looks to increase its launch cadence from Cape Canaveral. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. The FAA has posted for public review a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzing the SpaceX proposal to increase Falcon 9 operations from 50 to up to 120 per year from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Statio...

Lunar Success, and the return of Crew-9. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the stories we covered for you this week on The Journal of Space Commerce. After landing on the Moon with NASA science and technology demonstrations March 2, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 concluded its mission March 16. But analysis of data returned to Earth from the NASA instruments continues, benefitting fut...

Blue Ghost captured a solar eclipse from a unique angle this week. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. Normally, when we think about a solar eclipse, it's the Moon crossing in front of the Sun and casting a shadow on Earth. But this week, the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander watched the Earth pass in front of the sun from its vantage point on the Moon...

Space exploration is all about successes and setbacks, and there was some of both this week. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. We'll start with a success. On Sunday, Blue Ghost Mission 1 ... dubbed by Firefly Aerospace as "Ghost Riders in the Sky"… successfully landed on the Moon . The achievement marked the first time that a commerc...

Starship tries again for orbit, and Intuitive Machines is on its way back to the Moon. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. SpaceX has updated its projection for the 8th Starship test flight to not earlier than Monday, March 3. The launch window will open at 5:30 p.m. CT. The launch was originally planned for last Friday, but it was del...

A bi-partisan group of senators has reintroduced the Situational Awareness of Flying Elements, or SAFE, in Orbit Act , which would encourage the development of commercial space capabilities. That would be accomplished by directing the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to acquire and disseminate unclassified data, analytics, information, and services on space activities and space traffic coordination...

House members are requesting a review of the space launch licensing process. Here are some of the top stories this week from The Journal of Space Commerce. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) have sent a letter to the Comptroller General requesting an independent review of the federal processes for licensing commercial la...

Are you interested in a Moon Rover ... low miles, never used? After the program was cancelled in 2024, NASA is now looking to secure a public/private partnership and land and operate NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission on the Moon. As part of an agreement, NASA would contribute the existing VIPER rover as-is. Potential partners would need to arrange for the integ...

The 24th edition of the Novaspace annual Government Space Programs (GSP) report reveals that global government space investments reached approximately $135 billion in 2024, a 10% increase compared to 2023. Defense spending, now the majority of budgets at $73 billion (54%), underscores space’s growing importance as a contested and strategic domain. The widening gap underscores the growing emphasis...

Analysts are still bullish on the potential for the space economy. For evidence, we cite the 11th Edition of the Novaspace Space Economy Report , which forecasts that the global space economy will grow from $596 billion in 2024, to $944 billion by 2033. This steady growth, driven primarily by advancements in downstream solutions, could mark a pivotal decade for the industry. The report emphasizes...

People who count backwards to zero got a good workout this week, with multiple notable launches on both coasts. And some were more successful than others. We'll start with New Glenn , which after years of delays and several scrubs got off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station very early on Thursday morning, marking a first step towards Blue Origin challenging SpaceX for a piece of t...

An agreement has been reached between SpaceX and Vast to launch two crewed missions to the International Space Station in support of Vast’s future bid for NASA’s private astronaut missions (PAM). These missions, contingent on Vast being selected by NASA, will be the fifth and sixth such missions ever awarded by the agency. While Vast is developing its private space station, Haven-1, the company pl...

NASA is now targeting no earlier than March for the launch of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. The new spacecraft is set to arrive at the company’s processing facility in Florida in a few days. NASA and SpaceX assessed various options for managing the next cr...