MDA Adds 340 Vendors to $151 Billion SHIELD Enterprise in Third Major Tranche – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2026-01-15 00:00
The Missile Defense Agency has executed a third massive tranche of contract awards. The awards are under its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense program. The selection process was highly contested, with the MDA reporting that 2,463 offers were received. Several important satellite and space companies were included in the awards.
Permission to Shout: The Risks Inside the New SpaceX License – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2026-01-15 00:00
The FCC’s December 16, 2025, grant of the SpaceX/T-Mobile Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) license officially graduated Direct-to-Device from a beta experiment to a commercial utility. The license authorizes a Power Flux Density (PFD) of approximately -110.6 dBW. This is a “signal punch” necessary for indoor connectivity, significantly “louder” than the conservative -120 dBW baseline that incumbents fought to maintain.
The Orbital Pivot: Reconciling Scientific Discovery with the Trillion-Dollar Space Economy – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2026-01-15 00:00
The future of discovery is now inextricably linked to the success of private infrastructure. NASA signaled a significant course correction in its lunar strategy by awarding the VIPER delivery task order to Blue Origin. The primary driver for this commercialization is the projected growth of the space economy toward a trillion-dollar frontier.
TrustPoint Achieves Key Milestone in Resilient, GPS-Independent Navigation – SatNews
Original Publication Date: 2026-01-15 00:00
TrustPoint announced the first successful demonstration of its Low Earth Orbit Navigation System. TrustPoint plans to scale its LEONS infrastructure to support other LEO operators seeking resilient timing. Long-term, TrustPoint aims to deploy a constellation of approximately 300 spacecraft to provide global, commercial GPS-equivalent services.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 Wraps Up Space Station Science
Original Publication Date: 2026-01-15 15:37
The SpaceX Crew-11 mission returned to Earth after a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. Cardman, Fincke, and Yui contributed more than 850 hours of research to help prepare humanity for the return to the Moon and future missions to Mars. Here’s a glimpse into the science completed during the Crew-11 mission.