T-Minus Space Daily

Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB) in California has released a new strategic plan outlining priorities for 2026 and beyond. A winter storm is the latest delay to finalizing budget decisions in the US. Palladyne AI’s subsidiary, GuideTech, has secured a contract with Portal Space Systems to support the development of next-generation, maneuverable spacecraft platforms, and more.

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T-Minus Guest

Dave Bittner, host of The Cyberwire, and cybersecurity executive Brandon Karpf, join us for the monthly space and cyber segment.

Selected Reading

Vandenberg Announces New Strategic Plan

What’s Happening in Space Policy January 25-31, 2026 – SpacePolicyOnline.com

Palladyne AI Secures Next-Generation Spacecraft Contract, Unlocking New High-Growth Opportunity

Stratolaunch Raises Significant Capital to Further Accelerate Hypersonic Capability at Scale

MACH-TB 2.0 Program Award to Explore Reusable & Recoverable Hypersonics Testing - NSTXL

ESA - Flight ticket initiative: more tickets booked, flying with RFA One

Breaking News: Orbex Denmark Fails, Scottish Operation Has a Buyer? - Orbital Today

NASA is about to send people to the moon — in a spacecraft not everyone thinks is safe to fly- CNN

Sidus Space and Maris‑Tech Achieve Integration Milestone for LizzieSat‑4 Mission

Artemis II Crew Enters Quarantine Ahead of Journey Around Moon - NASA

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On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. It was an accident witnessed by millions who were tuning in to see the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, on her first mission. Instead of a statue in memory of the lives lost that day, the families of the Challenger Crew established the Challenger Center to honor the crew’s mission to inspire future generations of explorers.  Former NASA Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger is the incoming chair of the Challenger Center Board of Directors and shared how the education facilities are marking the 40 years since the Challenger disaster.

You can connect with Dottie on LinkedIn, and find out more about the Challenger Center on their website.

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D-Orbit has raised $53 million in a Series D funding round. Loft Orbital was selected as the prime contractor for France’s Démonstrateur des Éléments Souverains d’Imagerie Radar (DESIR) program. Aalyria has been selected by the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development (RAPID) program to advance software solutions for managing complex military space communications networks, and more.

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T-Minus Guest

Elysia Segal brings us the Space Traffic Report from NASASpaceflight.com.

Selected Reading

D-Orbit Secures $53M Series D Funding to Accelerate M&A and In-Space Computing Capacity – SatNews

Loft Selected as a Prime Contractor for France’s First Space-Based Radar Imaging Program

Aalyria Selected by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory for Space Data Network Experimentation (SDNX) Program

Tomorrow.io Announces DeepSky, the World's First AI-Native Space-Based Weather-Sensing Constellation

Chinese capsule damaged by space-junk strike returns to Earth (video)

Spire Global Selected by AiDASH to Bring Space-Powered Weather Intelligence to Vegetation Risk Platform for Electric Utilities

Blue Origin Completes 38th New Shepard Flight to Space

Study shows how earthquake monitors can track space junk through sonic booms - ABC News

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Blue Origin has unveiled a new satellite communications network called TeraWave. Rocket Lab held its first launch of 2026 with “The Cosmos Will See You Now” mission for Open Cosmos. Lunar Outpost has announced a new In‑Orbit Demonstration to support the launch, integration, and on‑orbit operations of Thermal Architecture Components (TACOS), and more.

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T-Minus Guest

Our guest today is Dr. Melissa Patton from Patton Consulting Group.

You can meet Melissa at SpaceCom in Orlando January 27-30.

Selected Reading

Blue Origin Introduces TeraWave, a 6 Tbps Space-Based Network for Global Connectivity

New Glenn-3 to Launch AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Satellite- Blue Origin

AST SpaceMobile Announces Timing of BlueBird 7 Orbital Launch, Advancing Direct-to-Device Cellular Broadband Connectivity

New Shepard Mission NS-38 Updates - Blue Origin

Rocket Lab Delivers Mission Success on First Launch of 2026 for New Customer: Open Cosmos- Markets Insider

Rocket Lab Neutron Test Update

New In‑Orbit Demonstration Mission Awarded: TACOS (Thermal Architecture COmponentS)

Thales Alenia Space selected by CNES and DGA for payload and user ground segment for France’s DESIR radar imaging space mission

Orbex’s Subsidiary in Denmark to File for Bankruptcy - European Spaceflight

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SWISSto12 has secured €73 million in financial support from European Space Agency (ESA) member states through the HummingSat ARTES partnership project. Canada Rocket Company (CRC) has emerged from stealth with $6.2 million CAD in seed funding from entirely Canadian investors. Starfish Space has been awarded a $52.5 million contract by the US Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) to provide Deorbit-as-a-Service for satellites within the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, and more.

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Selected Reading

€73 Million From ESA Member States Towards HummingSat – SWISSto12’s Next-Gen Affordable, Compact Satellite, to Meet Growing Demand for Commercial and Sovereign Communications

Canada Rocket Company wants Canada to stop hitching rides to space- BetaKit

Starfish Space Awarded First Ever End-of-Life Disposal Contract for a LEO Constellation

New NASA Artemis Payloads To Study Moon’s Terrain, Radiation, History

Orion Space Solutions to operationalize IARPA system for space debris detection and tracking

Astra Ships 110 Satellite Engines, Focuses on 2026 Test Flight of New Rocket

The first commercial space station, Haven-1, is now undergoing assembly for launch - Ars Technica

Comtech Receives Space Components Award Exceeding $5 Million to Support Critical Civil Space Program

Space sector eyes further investment growth in 2026 after record year- Reuters

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