Commercial vs Government Space

Space Technologies

Good morning,

Everything that goes up, must come back down—except for Voyager spacecraft. This includes Starlink satellites, one of which provided a spectacular display this week as it burned up on reentry. But worry not, that one deorbited Starlink was offset by the 67 new Starlink satellites sent into orbit this week.

China is continuing to make strides in its burgeoning space industry, boosting support to commercial space and space tourism. The importance of commercial space is clear, as we continue to see government programs fall behind schedule. For example the Space Force’s GPS IIIF program (not to be confused with the new Resilient GPS program awarded in September) is months behind. The $7.8B program was awarded in 2018 but won’t meet their 2026 launch schedule.

Now let’s blast off!