Space News for Tuesday, July 28, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:21) Upper C-band auction offers another lift for GEO industry(00:47) Sphinx Defense wins $287 million contract for strategic satellite communications software(01:31) Orbes unveils Exo-ORB and agreement with Symphony Space(02:31) Intel debuts new chip for space computing(02:57) SpaceNews Welcomes Max Aliprandi as Business Development Associate(03:22) L3Harris Signs Multi-Year Framework Agreement to Quadruple THAAD Propulsion Production(04:05) STMicroelectronics Reports Q2 2026 Earnings Growth Driven by AI Data Centers and Satellite Demand(04:42) Amazon Files FCC Application for 5,105-Satellite Constellation to Enable Direct-to-Device Mobile Services(05:12) FCC Approves Upper C-Band Order, Allocating $5.6 Billion to SES and $504 Million to Eutelsat(05:52) Astrolight Advances End-to-End Lasercom Network to Address Orbital Bandwidth and Spectrum Bottlenecks(06:29) Smoke Blankets Oregon(07:13) NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Returns to Earth(07:46) NASA Science Soars During August Total Solar Eclipse(08:03) Launch Preview: Falcon 9 and Chang Zheng rockets set to launch this week(08:26) The unique DJI Lito X1 drone is packed full of functionality and you can't buy it in the USA(08:37) Starship in space! See highlights of SpaceX megarocket's epic Flight 13 test launch (video)(08:51) Rocket Lab to start launching missile-defense missions from Alaska under $266 million Space Force deal(09:33) On this day in space! July 27, 1962: The 1st zero-g cosmonaut training flight took off on a Soviet jetliner(09:50) Are we overlooking signs of alien life that aren't technological or biological? 'Bread would be a signature of intelligence'