Space News for Friday, July 17, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:23) SpaceX aborts Starship Flight 13 launch attempt(01:02) SpaceX launches 21 satellites for military data network(01:44) Nature study identifies a new way to spot nuclear weapons in orbit(02:25) Defense Innovation Unit seeks commercial path to deliver electrical power from orbit(03:03) Building the infrastructure for a shifting space economy with Massi Ladovaz(03:34) ATVA Opposes Proposed FCC Order Replacing National Broadcast Ownership Cap(03:53) U.S. Space Force Finalizes Acquisition Restructuring Under Nine Mission Portfolios(04:35) South Korea Accelerates Uncrewed Lunar Landing Target to 2030 Under New KASA Strategy(05:14) AST SpaceMobile Defers Commercial Direct-to-Device Timeline to Early 2027(05:30) A Tide-Fueled Trove of Biodiversity in Guinea-Bissau(06:25) NASA Welcomes Serbia as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory(07:18) NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet(08:04) Young Galaxy Cluster(08:21) SWISSto12 Closes $70M Series C(09:03) TraCSS Looms Large Over Mission Authorization Hearing(09:34) Falcon 9 Sales Freeze Anxiety and Our Launch Ramp Forecast Model for New Rockets(10:12) Astronomers discover landslides on Pluto large enough to bury entire cities on Earth(10:51) Astronomers discover 1st atmosphere around a rocky Earth-like planet in the habitable zone(11:17) SpaceX stacks massive Starship rocket ahead of today's Flight 13 test launch (video)(11:41) Stephen Hawking's famous 'leaky' black hole theory gets much-needed update(12:15) We've seen helium baked off a rocky exoplanet's atmosphere(12:44) Could China and Russia really destroy Starlink? Only with a boomerang.