China has launched 150 satellites so far this year to bring its total to 650 and is expected to develop an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon targeting Geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) systems, a top Pentagon official said on Dec. 6. “China has the operational direct ascent ASAT missile intended to target Low Earth Orbit satellites, and the…

Slingshot Aerospace raised $40.85 million in an oversubscribed Series A2 funding round announced Tuesday, to grow and commercialize its space situational awareness capabilities.  CEO and co-founder Melanie Stricklan sees the funding as validation of Slingshot’s mission to  keep space safe and its approach, as the company raised capital despite signs of a global economic downturn. …

SpaceX is venturing into Earth observation (EO) and hosted payloads for national security use, with a new business line called Starshield. The company added a section to its website for Starshield on Friday, describing it as “SpaceX's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts.” While Starlink is a commercial business, Starshield will…

The FCC approved part of SpaceX’s application for the second generation of the Starlink constellation, which will allow SpaceX to deploy up to 7,500 satellites. The order was a partial approval, because SpaceX had requested approval for 29,988 satellites, and the order also put additional constraints on the system.  The FCC’s partial approval released Dec.…