Space News for Wednesday, September 09, 2026

0:00Thank you for joining us here on The Gist, a 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 Wednesday, September 09, 2026, from Sat News. Sue Wallst and SBS Law Issue, October 30th, lead plaintiff deadline reminder for York's Space System Securities Litigation. Invest in notification services Sue Wallst and Securities Litigation for an SBS Law announced on Tuesday that shareholders have until October 30th, 2026 to file a lead plaintiff application in a pending securities case. The notices issued on September 8th urge investors to act quickly to join the lawsuit seeking damages for alleged misconduct from Sat News. AT&T and Amazon Leo Advanced Strategic Fiber to Space Alliance to Challenge SpaceX Stalling. AT&T and Amazon are tightening their partnership by integrating operations across their shared

1:01commercial broadband network. The move comes as Amazon's Seagz FCC approval for a 5,000 1-on-5 satellite constellation aimed at delivering direct-to-device connectivity. Together, the company's plan to expand high-speed internet coverage, especially in underserved areas. This collaboration positions them to compete more effectively in the growing satellite broadband market. From Sat News, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Edge Cortex partner to develop AI. Enabled aerial defense platforms. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Edge Cortex Inc. announced a multi-year teaming agreement on September 7th, 2026 to collaborate on advanced semiconductor solutions from Sat News. GSMA Intelligence highlights UK Space Strategy opportunities within European satellite ecosystem. GSMA Intelligence released an analysis on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026 after the UK Government announced its updated national space strategy. The report, led by head of research Tim Hat, examines how the new plan will reshape the UK Space sector, boosting investment, talent development, and international collaboration.

2:05Hat notes that the strategy aims to position Britain as a global hub for satellite technology, data services, and space-derived economic growth. The analysis underscores the potential for increased public and private sector partnerships to drive innovation and secure the country's space future. From Sat News. Uncontrolled CEO highlights maritime GNSS-spooping threats and multi-layer navigation solutions. Ground control released an industry analysis on September 8th, 2026, that warned of mounting operational risks to commercial maritime navigation caused by persistent GNSS interference. The report highlights increasing incidents of jamming and spoofing the threatened vessel safety, navigation accuracy, and regulatory compliance. It recommends deploying multi-constallation receivers, integrating a no-shall navigation systems, and establishing real-time interference monitoring to mitigate these threats. From NASA. Curiosity blog shows 1.95-501-5000 Martian days on Mars. NASA's Curiosity rover celebrated its 5,000th Martian day on August 29th, 2026, having

3:06climbed more than a kilometre above its Geocrater landing site. The rover is now studying a wind-formed ripple called Chokta-Tal on Mount Sharp, a candidate transverse eulian ridge that may reveal how Martian sand layers form in my grid. Using ChemCAM, Mascam, MASH-CAM, MA, H-Li, and APXS, the team is mapping grain sizes, layering and chemical composition while honoring late-colleid pole geyser. With this milestone behind it, the Curiosity crew looks forward to the next 5,000 souls of discovery. From NASA. Anaccracketal rumbles again. An explosive eruption at Indonesia's Anaccracketal volcano on September 5th, 2026 sent ash and volcanic gases high into the atmosphere, disrupting thousands of flights into grading air quality in Jakarta and surrounding areas. satellite images from Landsat 8 and Suomi NPP captured a wide plume of gas over a brown ash cloud, with ash reaching up to 15,000 ms. west of the volcano. Eight airports were temporarily closed, and nearly 3,000 flights were halted before operations resumed by September 8, though the volcano remained on the second highest alert level.

4:09The eruption, which subsided after 24 hours, left a lingering health risk from ash fall, especially for residents east of the volcano. From NASA. From the core to the cosmos, featuring Jaden Karadine. Jaden Karadine dreamed of engineering from age 8, but first served 5 years as a Marine Corps mechanic, 4 of them in Japan, before enrolling at Embry Riddle and landing a NASA pathways internship at Langley. He discovered his aerospace passion after learning about a magnetic launch system that's been satellites into orbit and shows NASA for its non-profit missions to remove barriers for industry. At Langley, he works with the ISM team, curating the state of play report and building an automated tool that aggregates aerospace news to streamline updates, carading credits his marine experience, and the Japanese concept of Iki-Gai for guiding his career, and he praises NASA's collaborative culture that breaks down departmental silos. From NASA. Superbubble in the large Magellanic cloud. NASA and ESA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a stunning image of the N-44 Nebula in the

5:10large Magellanic cloud on September 3, 2026. The Nebula is dominated by a vast central void, a superbubble roughly 210 by 140 light years across, surrounded by a shell of dense, dusty gas. Powerful stellar winds and supernovae from glittering stars at the center have blown away much of the gas, creating the bubble. This photo showcases the dynamic interplay of star birth and death in a nearby galaxy, from payload space. Utilset taps infinite orbits for GEO Life Extension mission. UtahSat has just inked a deal with French satellite servicing firm Infinite Orbits to extend the life of one of its GEO satellites, marking Infinite Orbits' third life extension order after agreements with SES and his basalt. The endurance spacecraft will rendezvous and dock with the aging satellite, adding roughly five years of operational life and keeping revenue flowing from an asset that would otherwise de-obit. Infinite Orbits says the cost of the mission is outweighed by the extra revenue potential, and the company is already expanding its production capacity with a new 1000 square meter

6:12facility in to lose. Future plans include demonstration flights, a 2027 life extension for SES, and further missions as more GEO satellites reach the end of their natural life spans, from payload space. The exploration company raises $450 M series C. The exploration company, TEC, secured a $450 million series C, bringing its total funding to roughly $680 million. The capital will bankroll the development of its Nixcargo reentry vehicle and storm reusable rocket engine, as well as new hires across the US, Europe and the UAE, and fund Nix's first ISS mission slated for 2028. Despite mixed results from two recent demo flights, TEC has already won more than $2 billion in contracts, including ESA, Axium Space, Star Lab and VAST. The influx of funds will also support subscale testing and the eventual full-scale launch of the storm engine in the coming years. From payload space, she has become CSO amid space workforce shortages. Gen.

7:12Douglas Shears has been sworn in as the Space Force's third chief of space operations, taking the helm after Gen. B. Chance Sultzman's retirement. During the ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, she stressed that space superiority is vital for national security and warned of growing threats from China and Russia. He emphasized that the service's mission is deterrence, not confrontation, and that any conflict would expose a critical workforce shortage. A recent RAND report urges the Space Force to invest in training, internships and automation to rebuild space assets quickly have needed from payload space. Pixel raises $100m Series C to fund Nix Gen Sats. Pixel, the high-perspectral satellite operator, has closed a $100m Series C round led by Temasek and Seraphim Space, boosting its total funding to $195m. The capital will fund a new U.S. Production facility, launch upgraded honeybee satellites with expanded spectral and S.A.R. capabilities, and enhance AI-driven data services for government customers.

8:12Since its 2022 demo launches, Pixel has secured contracts from the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. NASA's Small Sat Program, and India's Government, positioning it at the forefront of sovereign sensing. With about 25 satellites in development, the company plans to deploy 12 Nix Gen honeybees by 2027 and expand its footprint into Europe and the Middle East from space.com. Did Venus eat its own moon? Scientists now think Venus may have swallowed its own moon, explaining why the planet has none today. A new simulation shows that a moon orbiting Venus would normally spiral inward and be torn apart, unless Venus spun very fast and the moon was relatively small. Even a massive moon would be destroyed more quickly because it drains Venus' rotation. Though direct evidence will be hard to find, future Venus probes may search for the chemical fingerprints of such a long gone collision. From space.com, Stokespace raises $1bn for fully reusable rockets, targets early 2027

9:14for first-ever launch. Stokespace has closed a $1bn series E-Round, bringing its total funding to $2.3bn, and will use the money to advance its fully reusable Nova Pathfinder and the more powerful Nova Block 2 launch vehicles. From space.com, on this day in space, set. 8.2004, NASA's Genesis Spacecraft crashed in the Utah desert, chattering its samples of solar wind particles from the Sun. On September 8, 2004, NASA's Genesis Spacecraft crashed in Utah when its parachutes failed to deploy, shattering the fragile solar wind samples it had collected at the L1 Lagrange point. The MIS-HAP was traced to a design error that had installed gravity switches backward, preventing the parachute system from activating. Despite the crash, scientists salvaged portions of the sample canister extracting valuable data from the shattered wafers. The incident prompted a review of similar systems on other missions, such as the successful star-dust comet sample return. From space.com, SpaceX rocket taxi returns after Roman telescope launch.

10:15Space photo of the day for SEPT. 8.2026, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, marking the first launch of the new observatory designed to rival Hubble and James Webb. After delivering the telescope, the Falcon Heavy's two reusable boosters returned to Earth, landing precisely at landing zone 2 and landing zone 40 in a spectacle captured live by observers at Kennedy Space Center. The event highlighted SpaceX's continued success in reusing rocket components, turning the boosters into a space taxi that can be deployed again for future missions. With the launch complete, scientists now await the telescope's first images of the universe, expected to arrive next year. From ours, Technica, the secret to protecting next-gen spacecraft might be eggshells. Space debris slammed a hole into the US shuttle Endeavour in 2007, and with a launch of more satellites, the problem has only gotten worse. In response, Chinese researchers have engineered a new aluminum alloy modeled after the structure of eggshells, hoping a conbetta shield spacecraft from micro-meteoroids and orbital junk.

11:19Egg shells have long intrigue scientists because their ovoid shape gives them remarkable rigidity, allowing a clean break without shattering. This new material could provide the next generation of protective panels for satellites and space probes. Thank you for listening to the Spaces for the Day. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your podcast tool of choice. End of podcast.