Space News for Thursday, September 10, 2026

0:00Thank you for joining us here on the GIST Space News Daily Podcast where we take a brief look at some of the top space-related news stories of the day. These are articles taken on Thursday, September 10, 2026 from Sat News. Ariane Space Secures Contract for 10. Ariane 64 launch vehicles allocating six missions to Amazon Leo. On September 9, 2026, Ariane Space announced a commercial agreement to launch 10 Ariane 64 heavy-lift rockets, the largest single-order edition in the company's history. The deal expands the Ariane 64's payload capacity to support a range of high-value missions. It underscores Ariane Space's growing role in the competitive heavy-lift market and positions the agency to secure more high-profile payloads in the coming years. From Sat News, Silicon Valley Space Week's speaker-focused Courtney Sales, Scout Space.

1:01Scout Space secured $18 million in May to expand its optical payloads that monitor other satellites while Blue Origin successfully deployed its owl sensor on the inaugural Blue Ring mission. Meanwhile, Courtney Sales, Chief Product Officer of Scout Space, will join the Space Control Panel at the closing day of the Millsat Symposium during Silicon Valley Space Week. The event highlights growing commercial interest in satellite monitoring and space-situational awareness. These developments underscore the rapid pace of innovation in space technology. From Sat News, SIPLINK secures $1.2 million defense contract for multi-orbit networking in Asia. SIPLINK Inc. Announced on September 9, 2026, that it's secured a follow-on order exceeding $1 million from a defense customer in Asia. The order builds on the company's earlier contract for wireless link optimization technology, scoring growing demand for secure communications in military applications. SIPLINK's solution enhances signal integrity and reduces latency for high-speed data links. The new contract is expected to strengthen the firm's foothold in the defense sector.

2:02From Sat News. I-SY-E and Ariane Space Execute Agreement to evaluate Ariane 6 for Sobrin-SAR missions. I-SY-E, a leading synthetic aperture radar satellite operator, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ariane Space to secure launch services for its upcoming satellites. The agreement will see Ariane Space provide launch vehicles for I-SY-E's next-generation SAR payloads, ensuring timely deployment and expanded global coverage. By partnering with the European launch provider, I-SY-E aims to accelerate its satellite constellation expansion and deliver high-resolution Earth imaging to customers worldwide. The MoU marks a significant step in enhancing global surveillance and data accessibility. From Sat News. SSC Space and Firefly Aerospace Sign contract for two Alpha Launches from S-Range Space Center. On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Swedish Space Services firm SSC Space and American launch provider Firefly Aerospace announced a multi-launch contract for two Alpha Rocket missions from

3:03the S-Range Space Center. The partnership will see Firefly's Alpha Rockets ferrying payloads into orbit while SSC Space manages ground support and mission integration. The launch is a schedule for late 2026 and early 2027, marking a significant expansion of commercial launch services in the Nordic region. This collaboration underscores Sweden's growing role in the global space industry. From NASA. Dust storm sweeps over Mali. NASA's Terra satellite captured a dramatic dust storm over Mali on September 5, 2026, showing a thick plume, blanketing parts of West Africa and its neighbors. The event, driven by powerful, convective winds known as Habubes, sent aerosols drifting westward across the Atlantic, though a full trans-Atlantic crossing remains unlikely. Scientists note that the developing El Nino could shift the intertropical convergence zone, altering dust, laden air masses and convection patterns over the Sahel. This observation highlights how seasonal wind changes and global climate phenomena together shape the region's dust activity. From payload space, any signal, land spot on Apex Bus Menu.

4:08RF start-up any signal has formalized a partnership with bus manufacturer Apex, enabling customers to integrate its any-link network and radios directly into Apex's spacecraft platforms. The deal builds on a long history of collaboration. With any link first proven on Apex Bus is across multiple missions and offers optional telemetry, tracking, and command capabilities from design through on-orbit operations. Any link aggregates ground networks from providers like KSAT, Leafspace, and RBC signals into a single, optimized path akin to a phone plan that roams seamlessly between towers. Streamlining will traditionally requires multiple vendors and custom software. The partnership whose value remains undisclosed comes as any signal continues to win Space Force Awards, field projects such as Raiden and satellite to satellite links, while expanding its commercial and tactical connectivity portfolio. From payload space. Apex RF flies suborbital semiconductor demo. Apex RF has successfully flown its first suborbital mission, proving that its semiconductor

5:09manufacturing canisters keep waifers clean in the vacuum of space and protect them through reentry. The July 5 flight on a SpaceX Falcon 9 carried Bessar's own waifers and samples for the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin, demonstrating the company's hard work and withstand atomic oxygen and contamination. With a $9.35 million seed round led by Dawnplus Ventures, Bessar plans to expand to 12 sub-orbital flights and eventually longer in-space manufacturing using Starship compatible canisters. The company's next launch is slated for later this year, aiming to deliver higher quality lower cost chips from orbit back to Earth. From payload space. Eclipse space unveils three satellite platforms for constellations. Eclipse space, a former SpaceX engineer's startup, has revealed its first three satellite platforms. Citrusat for direct-to-device communications. Clysat for high throughput broadband and surgesat for in-orbit computing. Each designed to fold flat into a rocket-faring to maximize launch capacity.

6:12Watch SpaceX launch classified mission for the US Space Force today. SpaceX will lift off a Falcon 9 from California's Bandenberg Space Force Base at 1137 AM. ET today for the classified USS F-153 mission. Little is known about the payload, but analysts suspected carries a batch of Starsheald low-Earth orbit satellites, echoing earlier classified launches. From space.com, this impossible black hole merger may be explained by a warp in space time. LIGO's 2023 detection of GW231123 initially pointed to a collision between two black holes each over a hundred times the Sun's mass, a puzzling event for stellar evolution. New research argues that gravitational lensing by a massive foreground object warped the waves, making the black holes appear larger than they truly were. Using the lensing effect shows the actual masses were about 140 solar masses, removing the need for exotic spin or formation scenarios from space.com. Astronomers discover two stars that joined together to form a binary system just 60 years

7:12ago. Scientists using the Almer radio telescope have watched two massive protostars locked together to form a binary system just 60 years ago, a process never before directly observed. The stars, located about 5,300 light years away in the IRA 07299 2016 51 system, did not originate from the same collapsing cloud as their misaligned disks and highly eccentric orbit reveal. From space.com, NASA's newly launched Roman Space Telescope will directly image exoplanets. For what does that mean? NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on August 30 carries the most advanced coronavirus ever flown, a device that blocks starlight with destructive interference to reveal orbiting exoplanets. This first ever active coronavirus can adjust its mirrors in real time, ensuring the delicate balance needed to isolate the faint light reflected by distant worlds. By directly imaging these planets, scientists will not only see pale brown dots, but also dissect their reflected light to probe atmospheric composition.

8:14The telescope's breakthrough capability promises to open a new window on exoplanetary science that previous observatories could not achieve. Thank you for listening to The Space Gist for the day. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your podcast tool of choice. End of podcast.