Space News for Thursday, July 16, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:23) Swissto12 raises $70 million to accelerate small GEO satellite production(01:18) Space Force awards Slingshot $69 million for AI-enabled training technology(02:10) Commercial Space Federation Launches State and Local Council to Align States on National Space Capacity and Strengthen the U.S. Industrial Base(02:56) Startup working with University of Texas focuses on trapping small debris(03:23) SpaceX to deploy first Starlink V3 satellites on suborbital Starship-Super Heavy flight(03:41) NASA Details Docking and Software Protocols for Revised Artemis III LEO Demonstration(04:10) Frontier Airlines and Indigo Partners Select Starlink for Multi-Airline Inflight Connectivity(04:50) Gilat Satellite Networks Secures $20 Million SkyEdge Ground Segment Order(05:09) Keysight and Sateliot Secure ESA Award for Blockchain-Anchored 5G NTN Security(05:50) Space Development Agency Awards $1.75 Billion for 36 Additional Missile-Tracking Satellites(06:13) Ontario Wildfire Smoke Moves East(07:05) NASA Uses Subscale Aircraft to Accelerate Flight Innovation(07:20) NASA Study of Pristine Meteorite Adds to Story of Ancient Asteroids(07:37) Anil Menon Launches to Space Station(08:16) Starship Flight 13: Potentially the final Suborbital Flight(08:47) Exclusive: Loft Orbital Scales Offering with Apex Bus Purchase(09:33) NatSec Space Policy Nominees Face Questions from Senators(09:51) 'Full steam ahead': NASA ramps up prep for Artemis III astronaut launch in 2027(10:41) Watch Archimedes burn! Rocket Lab fires up engine for its powerful next-gen Neutron launcher (video)(11:30) Meteorite that crashed through New Jersey house could hold the clues to life's origins(12:20) Raspberry sugar spotted in interstellar space, a sweet discovery that could reveal clues about life's origins