Amazon has built 1,000 satellites for its Leo internet network and plans to start selling service this year, but only 396 are in orbit because its rockets are late

The rest of the day

14 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   US proposes lighter launch licence rules

   On Tuesday the US Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, proposed five changes to Part 450, the rule the US aviation regulator uses to license commercial rocket launches and returns from orbit. [8] The rule took effect in March 2021 to speed licensing up, but companies complained it did the opposite. [8] It produced 14 licences in five years. [8] One change deletes the single word 'hypothetical', because some applicants read the rule as asking them to guess where people might live in future. [8] Public comments close on 4 November. [8]

   Why it matters — The changes are meant to help reach a US government goal of 1,000 commercial launches and returns a year by 2030. [8] By March every older US launch company had moved its licences onto this rule. [8]

2. 03

   SpaceX buys airwaves that reach indoors

   SpaceX agreed on Thursday to buy licences for up to 14 megahertz of airwaves in the 800 MHz band from Grain Management, a company that invests in digital networks. [5] SpaceX says these low airwaves will let its Starlink Mobile phone signal reach inside buildings, not only work under open sky. [6] Earlier this week the FCC approved 15,000 SpaceX satellites that connect straight to ordinary phones. [7] The new deal still needs FCC approval. [5]

   T-Mobile11%

   Verizon6.6%

   AT&T6.6%

   Why it matters — SpaceX says it will join those satellites with phone masts on the ground and compete with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. [6] T-Mobile shares fell more than 11% after hours, and AT&T and Verizon about 6.6%. [7]

3. 04

   Oldest radio flash ever traced

   Astronomers using MeerKAT, 64 radio dishes in South Africa, caught a fast radio burst in March 2024 that left its galaxy about 10 billion years ago. [10][12] A fast radio burst is a flash of radio waves lasting a few thousandths of a second, and nobody knows for sure what makes them. [12][11] The James Webb Space Telescope then found the faint, small galaxy it came from, which was making stars quickly. [11][12] It is about twice as far back as the old record, the team reported in Science on Thursday. [12][10]

   Why it matters — Radio waves slow slightly as they pass through the thin gas between galaxies, so each burst measures matter no telescope can see. [10] The team has Webb time once a year for three years to chase more of them. [10]

4. 05

   Four astronauts home after eight months

   Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway of NASA, Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia splashed down in the Pacific off California on Thursday. [13][14] They flew up in February to replace a crew sent home early after NASA's Mike Fincke fell ill, NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of human spaceflight. [13] Their own replacements arrived three weeks late because their capsule needed repairs. [14] Adenot, from France, spent more than 230 days in space, the longest flight by any European astronaut. [15]

   230+ daysSophie Adenot, 2026

   vsvs

   201 daysLuca Parmitano, 2019-20

   Why it matters — The old European record was 201 days, set by Italy's Luca Parmitano in 2019 and 2020. [15] Seven astronauts from the US, Russia and Canada stay on the station, and SpaceX's next cargo flight to it is set for 13 October. [13][16]

5. 06

   American Airlines picks Starlink for every jet

   American Airlines will put Starlink Wi-Fi on its whole main fleet, more than 1,030 planes, starting next year. [4] In May its deal with SpaceX covered only 500 planes. [4] United already flies Starlink on 724 planes, about 41% of its fleet, and Starlink now works with 48 airlines. [4] Delta chose Amazon's network earlier this year, but that service will not start on Delta's planes until 2028. [4]

   American, from 20271,030 planes

   United, now724 planes

   Why it matters — Airlines are one of the business customers Amazon says Leo was built for. [1] American's more than 165 million passengers a year will be on Starlink instead. [4]

6. 07

   China plans a bigger station and tests Moon gear

   China will grow its space station from a T shape to a cross by adding one more module, Yang Liwei, a deputy head of China's crewed space agency, said this week. [17] He spoke at the International Astronautical Congress in Antalya, Turkey, and gave few dates. [17] China also plans to fly a space telescope with a 2-metre mirror beside the station. [17] For its first crewed Moon landing, due by 2030, it has finished landing trials of its Lanyue lander and test firings of its Long March 10 rocket. [17]

   Why it matters — A Chinese Moon landing needs a crew ship, a lander and a big rocket to work together, and China says it has now tested parts of all three. [17] It is also adapting reusable rockets to cut the cost of flying crews. [17]

7. 08

   NASA weighs a simpler Moon suit

   NASA asked Axiom Space, the US company building its next Moon spacesuits, to study a 'sortie suit'. [18] That is a slightly stripped-down version that could be ready while work on the full suit goes on. [18] It is meant for the Artemis IV and V Moon missions. [18] Axiom's chief executive, Jonathan Cirtain, said NASA is deciding now. [18] Axiom will hand NASA a test suit before the year ends, and a suit for a spacewalk at the space station next year. [18]

   Why it matters — Cirtain says the full suit contract needed 30,000 documents covering 4,000 risks before its design review. [19] Now that NASA has set what Artemis IV needs, the suit can be cut to fit that mission, he said. [18]

8. 09

   Station builders say NASA asks too much

   NASA has delayed its call for companies to build a private successor to the International Space Station. [19] It says it needed time to work through the many comments on a draft it published in July. [19] Blue Origin, Vast, Voyager Technologies and Axiom Space are expected to bid, and NASA plans to pick two and then one, 14 to 15 months later. [19] Axiom's chief called the draft overly prescriptive, saying it will slow the contest without reducing risk. [19]

   Why it matters — Builders also worry about rides for crews once SpaceX stops flying its Dragon capsule. [19] Blue Origin said it will not pay to build a crew ship on its own, and that crew and cargo flights make up two-thirds of what a station costs once it is built. [19]

9. 10

   NASA and US energy department team up on reactors

   NASA's head, Jared Isaacman, and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed an agreement to work together on nuclear reactors for space, NASA announced on Thursday. [20] It covers research, fuel, testing and launch, but its full text does not appear to have been published. [20] NASA wants a reactor for a Moon base, Lunar Reactor-1, ready to launch by 2030. [20] Before that, Space Reactor-1 is to power a craft called Freedom, due to leave for Mars in December 2028. [20]

   Why it matters — That reactor would make more than 20 kilowatts to drive Freedom's electric engines and deliver three small helicopters to Mars. [20] NASA has shown little public evidence that either date is on track. [20]

10. 11

    India denies blocking Starlink

    India's telecoms ministry said on Thursday that its process for approving satellite internet is fair, hours after Elon Musk accused unnamed 'oligarchs' of blocking Starlink. [21] Starlink and the satellite ventures of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, the two companies that dominate India's phone market, have early approval. [21] All three still wait for airwaves and final clearance. [21] India's ministry said the three are at about the same stage, with security checks under way for each. [21] Starlink has waited four years. [21]

    Why it matters — The consulting firm Deloitte expects India's satellite internet market to be worth $1.9 billion by 2030. [21] The US government has pushed for Starlink's access in trade talks with India, and the two have not yet agreed a trade deal. [21]

11. 12

    Trump bought SpaceX bonds before a launch policy

    Donald Trump's August financial filing shows his accounts bought between $1 million and $5 million of SpaceX bonds on 18 August, CNBC reports. [9] A bond is a loan to a company, and these pay 5.35% a year until 2031. [9] Two days later he signed a policy calling for more than 1,000 US launches and returns a year by 2030. [9] Trump's spokesman, Davis Ingle, said Trump does not direct the trades and his money is managed independently. [9]

    Why it matters — CNBC notes that SpaceX is a major launch company for NASA and the US military, so a policy that wants more launches helps it. [9] The licence changes proposed this week are the first step toward that same 1,000-a-year goal. [8]

12. 13

    US military satellites wait until Saturday

    SpaceX now aims to launch 21 data-relay satellites for the US Space Development Agency no earlier than Saturday, 10 October. [22] A Falcon 9 stopped in the final minute of its count on 5 October, and SpaceX gave no reason. [22] The satellites were built by Northrop Grumman, a large US defence company. [22] Three earlier launches put 63 satellites of this first batch, called Tranche 1, in orbit. [22]

    Why it matters — The network is meant to pass missile warnings and secure messages between US and allied forces, and the batch is due to start working in 2027. [22]

13. 14

    Start-up raises $30m for guard satellites

    Fortastra, a Californian start-up building spacecraft to protect US satellites, said on Thursday it has raised $30 million. [23] Founded in 2025, it has flown two test satellites, one on a SpaceX shared launch this month. [23] Its next, much closer to a finished design, could launch in early 2028. [23] It plans one craft a year at first, and says it may one day build hundreds a year. [23]

    Why it matters — Fortastra expects investors to grow more willing now that the US Air Force's top civilian, Troy Meink, said last month that the US runs weapons in space. [23] Fortastra says it wants to give troops ways to deal with a hostile satellite that do not threaten everyone else's. [23]

14. 15

    Webb sees young star systems where planets crash

    Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to study 21 young star systems full of warm dust, the kind left when large rocky bodies smash together. [24] Only about 1% of young stars show it. [24] In eight systems the dust is rich in silica, a sign of violent crashes between Mars-sized bodies. [24] Those eight sit only around stars younger than 300 million years, the team reported on Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal. [24]

    Why it matters — Earth's Moon is thought to have formed in such a crash about 4.5 billion years ago. [24] These systems show what our own solar system may have looked like while Earth was forming. [24]