satellites

Google’s AI chip satellite reaches orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 11:32 a.m. PT. It was carrying the Transporter-18 rideshare mission and its 130 payloads, among them the first prototype satellite for…

China completes six orbital launches in six days

China's space launch sector put on a striking display of capacity and variety last week, sending four different orbital rockets aloft in roughly 45 hours from September 15 to 17 — and then following up with two more launches by…

Paris space summit closes with €20B in deals, Iris² contracts

The first International Space Summit concluded at the Grand Palais in Paris on Thursday, September 10, with France and the European Union throwing their weight behind Iris², the bloc's flagship satellite communications constellation. The two-day event, which drew 90 countries…

Isar Aerospace confirms all satellites operational after historic European launch

German rocket startup Isar Aerospace made European space history on Saturday, successfully launching its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway — the first time a commercial launch vehicle developed in Europe has reached orbit and deployed…

UAE-led consortium unveils $1B AI satellite fleet at Paris summit

A consortium led by UAE-based Marlan Space and US-French startup Loft Orbital announced a $1 billion investment on Wednesday to expand an AI-powered satellite constellation from 10 to 50 spacecraft, in one of the largest commercial Earth observation deals of…

Isar Aerospace reaches orbit in first commercial launch from European soil

German startup Isar Aerospace on Saturday became the first commercial space company from Europe to deliver satellites into orbit, launching its Spectrum rocket from Norway's Arctic Andøya Spaceport at 10:12 p.m. local time. The flight marks the first time an…

SpaceX to launch Nvidia-powered AI satellite by late 2027, Musk says

Nvidia announced Monday that SpaceX's AI division will deploy the chipmaker's Vera CPUs and Vera Rubin platform to power next-generation agentic AI workloads, with plans to extend that computing architecture into orbit aboard a satellite called Starmind AI1. SpaceX CEO…

China launches satellites days after rare rocket failure

China sent a new batch of internet satellites into orbit on Sunday from its commercial spacecraft launch site in Hainan province, continuing the rapid expansion of its satellite constellation just six days after a separate rocket failure rattled the country's…

EU’s new tech fund picks Finnish satellite firm ICEYE as first investment

The European Union's new €5 billion technology fund made its first move on Wednesday, investing in Finnish satellite company ICEYE as part of a broader effort to prevent Europe's most promising tech firms from seeking capital in the United States…

A ton of space junk crashes to Earth every week, NYT investigation finds

More space debris is falling to Earth than ever before, a consequence of the accelerating race among governments and private companies to fill the skies with satellites and spacecraft. A new investigation by The New York Times published on July…

Amazon seeks FCC approval for 5,105 direct-to-phone satellites

Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission seeking permission to deploy a constellation of 5,105 low Earth orbit satellites that would beam voice, data, and emergency services directly to smartphones without the need for cell…

Space startups raise $7.5B in Q2 as SpaceX IPO draws new investors

Global investment in space startups remained near record levels in the second quarter of 2026, as enthusiasm surrounding SpaceX's historic initial public offering attracted a wave of new capital into the sector, according to a report released Wednesday by Seraphim…

SpaceX seeks FCC approval for 100,000 Starlink satellites

SpaceX has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission seeking authorization to deploy a third-generation Starlink constellation of 100,000 satellites, a proposal that would represent a tenfold increase over its current fleet and the company's most ambitious regulatory bid…

SpaceX targets late 2027 for orbital AI tests ahead of record IPO

SpaceX is pushing to demonstrate space-based artificial intelligence computing infrastructure by late 2027, ahead of the "as early as 2028" deployment timeline disclosed in its IPO filing, according to Reuters. The accelerated schedule emerged during investor presentations ahead of the…

Musk says orbital AI data centers need no ‘magic’ ahead of SpaceX IPO

SpaceX released a roughly 31-minute video on Monday in which CEO Elon Musk and engineer Ian Dahl laid out plans for AI satellites designed to function as computing nodes in orbit, positioning the concept as central to the company's future…