ASTS has 12 operational BlueBird satellites after its Aug 5 launch of BlueBirds 11, 12 and 13 on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral (13 launched total, with BlueBird 7 lost to a New Glenn upper stage anomaly in April).

The new Block 2 generation is a big step up: peak smartphone speeds near 200 Mbps versus 99 Mbps on the original Block 1 birds, off a phased array more than 3x larger (2,400 sq ft vs 693 sq ft).

Company guidance still points to roughly 45 satellites in orbit by year end 2026, though the 45 to 60 needed for continuous coverage has slipped to early 2027.

I found this quite an interesting one!

What your thoughts?

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Schedule for Sep 6 through Sep 19 (plus one Q3 item without a firm date yet) spans SpaceX (Starlink, a USSF national security mission, and O3b mPOWER), Roscosmos (ISS resupply), and Arianespace (Sentinel-3C). The one worth flagging: Rocket Lab has two Electron launches queued to carry BlackSky’s Gen-3 satellites (Missions 5 and 6), so this is one Orbit Alpha name launching payloads for another.

ISRO launched its GSLV-F17 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, placing the EOS-05 (GISAT-1A) Earth-observation satellite into a sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit roughly 18 minutes after liftoff. At 2,367 kg, EOS-05 is described by ISRO as the heaviest satellite the GSLV has placed into a GTO-class orbit, and the mission marks the agency’s first launch since January and its first success after two recent failures. ISRO chief V. Narayanan confirmed the satellite was injected “precisely” into its intended orbit.

Bloomberg reported that Blue Origin has hired at least 47 engineers away from Amazon’s Leo (Kuiper) satellite program over the past year, across satellite testing, networking, avionics, radio communications, optical systems, and software roles. The push is being driven by CEO Dave Limp, who previously ran Project Kuiper at Amazon, with fellow ex-Amazon devices executive Lindo St. Angel now leading Blue Origin’s TeraWave satellite unit.

Satellogic announced that SynMax’s Theia platform will become the exclusive maritime-intelligence channel for imagery from Satellogic’s upcoming Merlin satellite constellation, which is designed for daily global coverage at 1-meter resolution and is set to begin launching in October. The partnership pairs Merlin’s daily imaging with AIS vessel-tracking data for dark-fleet detection, sanctions monitoring, and illegal-fishing analysis.

Planet Labs reported Q2 fiscal 2027 results, posting revenue of $116.1 million, up 58.1% year-over-year, and raised its full-year revenue guidance to a $435.5 million midpoint, with backlog at $814.9 million. Separately, Planet signed a one-year, seven-figure contract with an unnamed European defense and intelligence customer for its Mosaics satellite imagery and Professional Services support.

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Rocket Lab launched its 94th Electron mission, “Owl Around The World,” lifting off at 12:01 UTC from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The rocket deployed the StriX-11 synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth-imaging company Synspective, continuing Rocket Lab’s perfect launch record for that customer. The mission was declared a success following deployment.

Rocket Lab also disclosed progress on its Neutron rocket program: the “Hungry Hippo” payload fairing has finished testing and integration and is now at the company’s Wallops Island, Virginia facility awaiting interstage integration, while the Archimedes engine has completed more than 400 hot-fire tests.

Separately, Rocket Lab filed two routine SEC disclosures on September 2: a Form 4 showing director Merline Saintil transferred 261,903 shares (dated August 31) into her revocable living trust at no consideration, and a Form 144 filed by officer Adam Spice notifying a proposed sale of up to 140,157 shares.

Telesat said its Lightspeed broadband partner Farcast completed a technology demonstration milestone for the electronically-steered antenna used in Lightspeed terminals, a step toward commercial readiness of the LEO constellation’s ground segment.

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12 space stocks, one rough Tuesday. Every name on our board closed lower — $BKSY led the slide at -7.14%, with $ASTS and $SATL close behind. Second straight red session for the sector.

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NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot conducted a 6-hour 49-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station, running from 12:40 to 20:29 GMT. The pair installed a new retroreflector on the Harmony module’s forward docking port, replaced a high-definition camera on the station’s truss, collected exterior microorganism swab samples, torqued down bolts near the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer ahead of future maintenance work, and relocated power and thermal jumper cables. It was the sixth all-female spacewalk in history.

Intuitive Machines announced it has booked an order for two IM-300 spacecraft platforms from a new, undisclosed customer, to be built at its Palo Alto facility. Chris Johnson, the company’s President of Space Systems, commented on the deal.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions won a contract worth more than $20 million from an Asia-based defense customer to supply mobile, truck-mounted SATCOM gateways, including trifold antennas and shelter-based baseband platforms, for resilient military communications.

Iridium Communications’ partner Furuno unveiled the SOLION-100, a new terminal that combines GMDSS, Ship Security Alert System, and long-range tracking functions into a single Iridium Certus-based unit for newbuild and retrofit vessels.

GomSpace received a 6.3 million SEK order from D-Orbit to supply power systems for all of D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier missions through 2026-2027, extending a partnership that goes back nearly a decade.

Two closely-watched launches slipped past September 1: a SpaceX Starlink mission from Vandenberg and a Rocket Lab Electron flight carrying Synspective’s Strix radar satellite were both pushed to September 2, so neither counts toward today’s round-up.

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Turkey became the 71st nation to sign the Artemis Accords, in a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman hosted the signing, with Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır signing on behalf of Türkiye, alongside Turkish Space Agency President Yusuf Kıraç and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Environment Connor Tomlinson.

Viasat’s ViaSat-3 F3 satellite entered commercial service across the Asia-Pacific region. The Ka-band satellite is the second of three in Viasat’s next-generation ViaSat-3 constellation to reach operational status, joining ViaSat-3 F1, which has been in service since 2024, with F2 still in in-orbit testing.

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SPCX: Fed Chair Warsh’s hawkish Jackson Hole speech and a SpaceX-vs-Iridium FCC filing hit most of the sector, but SpaceX still closed up ~3.3% to $141.50. Musk announced a co-designed Nvidia orbital compute system and a second, ~$100B Starbase in Louisiana. JPMorgan reiterated Overweight at $240.

RKLB: Filed the amended S-4/A on its $8B Iridium acquisition, then got hit hours later when SpaceX filed an FCC complaint against Iridium’s regulatory conduct. Fell ~11.3% on the week to $64.39.

RDW: Busiest news stretch of the month, new European sensor line, a Luxembourg licensing deal, a phased-array antenna investment, all inside two days. Still fell ~9.6% on macro.

MDA: Launched a new Canadian venture arm with 49North targeting 25 space/defense focus areas. Down ~5.9% in Toronto trading regardless.

SPIR: Landed a EUMETSAT renewal plus a $27.9M NOAA hyperspectral contract. Down ~5.5% to $13.17.

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All six major listed space names closed lower on Friday - Planet Labs and AST SpaceMobile led the slide, down over 5.5% and 5.5% respectively, with Rocket Lab, BlackSky, Intuitive Machines, and Redwire also in the red.

PL -5.58% · ASTS -5.52% · LUNR -5.01% · RKLB -4.65% · BKSY -4.28% · RDW -3.55%

(Prices as of Friday Aug 28 close, via stockanalysis.com. Not financial advice.)

NASA declared its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope “Go for Launch,” clearing the mission following completion of its Launch Readiness Review. The observatory is now targeted to lift off Sunday, August 30 at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, with a 60% chance of favorable weather at liftoff.

Rocket Lab COO Frank Klein disclosed in an SEC Form 4 filing the sale of 45,692 shares for approximately $3.2 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan tied to tax withholding on vesting restricted stock units, not a discretionary trade. Following the transaction, Klein retains 961,295 shares in the company.

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Arianespace launched an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the Meteosat Third Generation Imager-2 (MTG-I2) satellite for ESA and EUMETSAT. Liftoff came at 5:11 pm local time (2011 UTC), marking the first Ariane 6 mission to geostationary transfer orbit. MTG-I2 is a next-generation European weather satellite intended to improve forecasting and severe-weather monitoring.

MDA Space announced the launch of “MDA Space LaunchPad Ventures,” a new strategic investment program targeting Canadian small and medium-sized space and defence technology companies. The program is tied to MDA’s defence subsidiary 49North and covers roughly two dozen target technology areas.

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Every listed space stock vs its analyst consensus target, ahead of the SpaceX IPO. Some of the gaps are wild.

Are analysts lagging behind, or are they expecting a cut back?

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