Included in the satellites is Spire’s next-generation Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder—a compact, space-ready sensor built to demonstrate global weather forecasting from space

Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) has now shipped nine satellites, all designed and built by the company’s in-house manufacturing team, have journeyed to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California prior to their launch aboard SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon 9 Twilight mission.

The mission includes the company’s Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder (HyMS) satellite demonstrator, a compact, space-ready sensor built to advance global weather forecasting from space.

Developed in collaboration with the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space and STAR-Dundee Ltd., HyMS is designed to capture detailed internal views of the Earth’s atmosphere, measuring important atmospheric variables including temperature, humidity, and precipitation. As a first-of-its-kind hyperspectral microwave mission, it will aim to help forecasters better understand how weather systems form and evolve in real time.

In addition to the HyMS demonstrator, the Falcon 9 Twilight launch will include seven, Spire-built satellites for customers and one constellation replenishment satellite supporting the company’s operational data missions. All the satellites were designed, built, and tested by Spire’s teams in Glasgow, Scotland.

With more than 200 satellites launched across more than 40 launch campaigns, Spire’s vertically integrated approach – designing, manufacturing, testing, and operating satellites in-house – enables rapid iteration and deployment of new technology that helps customers across government and commercial sectors make faster, data-driven decisions.

HyMS marks a meaningful step in expanding how we observe Earth’s atmosphere from space,” said Theresa Condor, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Global. “Two of the most impactful sources of data for improving forecast accuracy are radio occultation and microwave observations, areas where Spire is uniquely positioned to lead. This mission is a critical milestone on that path to delivering deeper atmospheric insights from space.”

Portal Space Systems has introduced Starburst, an ESPA-class rapid-maneuverability spacecraft, and confirmed Starburst-1 will launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 in Q4 2026 for the company’s first free-flying mission with live payloads—this mission will demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), rapid re-tasking, and rapid orbital change for national security and commercial use cases.

Starburst is built to bring maneuverability to proliferated space architectures, giving operators a maneuverable bus that can be delivered to an orbit of interest and maneuver rapidly within LEO, MEO, or GEO. It is being developed in sync with Portal’s trans-orbital vehicle, Supernova, which is designed for cross-domain transitions from LEO to cislunar and a 6 km/s-class maneuverability profile. The two platforms share many core subsystems and manufacturing processes, including Supernova’s high performance RCS thrusters which will serve as the main translational propulsion for the Starburst vehicle. The shared architectures mean the 2026 mission will demonstrate the Starburst product while simultaneously validating key systems for Supernova. Starburst will be available for customer missions in 2027.

Starburst-1 will fly to sun-synchronous orbit (SS0) for a one-year primary mission. Targeted maneuverability is 1 km/sof total delta-v and will host two payload partners onboard. TRL11 will provide full-motion video with onboard edge processing to enable mission assurance through real-time health monitoring while capturing visuals for documenting mission outcomes. Zenno will demonstrate superconducting magnet technology for fuel-free control authority and precision interactions during close operations, using the world’s most powerful magnetic actuator ever built and flown to space.

Our strategy is to deliver what customers need now and accelerate what they’ll need next,” said Jeff Thornburg, CEO of Portal Space Systems. “Starburst gives operators a maneuverable bus that supports proliferated architectures in the orbit that matters to them. Supernova brings the trans-orbital reach. Flying Starburst-1 in 2026 lets us field capability quickly and advance the shared systems that raise confidence for Supernova’s 2027 debut.”

Zenno is building next-gen hardware for maneuverability in space, leveraging solar energy and Earth’s magnetic field to drive real impact,” said Max Arshavsky, Founder and CEO at Zenno. “Portal’s Starburst platform embodies that vision, and we’re proud to provide its debut flight with our Supertorquer – the world’s most powerful magnetic actuator ever flown.”

Together, these payloads highlight how on-orbit maneuverability converts sensing into decision speed for defense and commercial use cases.

About Portal Space Systems
Portal Space Systems is a next-generation spacecraft company headquartered in Washington state. The company builds reconfigurable, maneuverable spacecraft designed to support defense and commercial missions on operational timelines. Portal emerged from stealth in 2024, earned STRATFI support, raised one of the largest publicly announced seed rounds in the sector.

INNOSPACE (KS:462350) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Madari Space to cooperate on the joint development and commercialization of space data centers in the UAE.

Through this MOU, INNOSPACE and Madari Space will jointly explore new space business, focusing on the establishment of space data centers, the development of launch and satellite operation–linked services, and the identification of related commercialization opportunities.

The two companies will collaborate to identify launch service opportunities in line with the growing global demand for space-based technologies, while also exploring pathways for technical integration and sustainable business models. INNOSPACE will leverage its comprehensive service portfolio, encompassing system development, component and system-level environmental testing, launch operations, and data transmission, whereas Madari Space will contribute its specialized expertise in orbital data center development and strong regional networks. Together, the partners aim to advance practical collaboration toward establishing next-generation, space-based data infrastructure platforms.

Madari Space, headquartered in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, is a space data center development startup that combines high-capacity data storage technology and satellite-based high-performance computing to provide secure, reliable, and AI-driven data solutions for global users. Supported by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF) under the UAE Ministry of Finance, the company is developing a next-generation data storage and processing infrastructure operating in LEO. In collaboration with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Madari Space plans to launch a pilot orbital data center system into LEO in 2026.

This collaboration reflects our shared ambition to push the boundaries of how nations secure and manage their most critical data. Madari Space brings a new model of sovereign, orbital data infrastructure designed for reliability, privacy, and advanced AI processing. We are committed to supporting South Korea’s efforts to strengthen the protection of national data assets and look forward to engaging with the Korean government on future initiatives,” said Dr. Shareef Al Romaithi, Founder and CEO of Madari Space.

This MOU marks a strategic starting point for building new space technologies and business models through collaboration with a UAE company. The combination of INNOSPACE’s integrated service platform and Madari Space’s regional network and expertise in space data centers will serve as a solid foundation for creating long-term, global business opportunities in the sector,” said Soojong Kim, Founder and CEO of INNOSPACE.

Another group of SpaceX smallsats were launched Tuesday, November 18th at 7:12 p.m. ET, to meet up with the Starlink constellation. SpaceX will be busy again on Thursday with two launches and one each planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Photos captured by Satnews.

Tuesday’s Falcon 9 launch of Group 6-94 sent 29 Starlink smallsats to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the 12th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-S1, and now six Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

York Space Systems earlier this month completed the initial commissioning of the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) payload aboard the BARD mission, marking a significant step forward in validating the mission’s concept of operations (ConOps) and advancing next-generation, wideband space communications capabilities for NASA.

During a precisely scheduled continuous wave pass, York’s mission operations team achieved first-contact telemetry download with outstanding results. Data returned with no anomalies, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) confirmed real-time acquisition of signal with an exceptionally strong carrier-to-noise ratio, and a clean loss of signal was observed at the conclusion of the pass—together confirming seamless end-to-end performance.

Telemetry highlights confirmed that every system performed exactly as designed. Signal strength matched predictions, planned operations ran without error, and the amplifier, synchronization, and Doppler correction all worked seamlessly. Temperatures and power levels stayed well within safe limits, and no commands were rejected or fault flagged. Together, these results confirm the spacecraft’s health and validate the mission’s meticulous planning and execution.

This achievement validates the full ConOps and establishes a strong operational foundation for the mission’s next phase. York will now move into rigorous verification of pointing performance to enable high-fidelity data transfers with government and commercial networks in geostationary orbit, beginning with TDRS.

Launched in July of 2025, BARD was procured as a commercial mission from York and developed in collaboration with NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The mission will provide a flight demonstration of the APL-designed and built PExT payload, an advanced communications payload designed to enable real-time interoperability between government and commercial satellite relay networks – a first-of-its-kind capability supporting NASA’s shift toward a commercial communications architecture.

This milestone demonstrates not only the robustness of our integrated systems, but also the precision and expertise of our operations team,” said Michael Lajczok, CTO at York. “From spacecraft maneuvering to payload execution, every component of the mission is performing exactly as designed. It’s a strong validation of our ability to deliver on complex, high-performance communications missions for government and commercial customers.”

SBQuantum, the first company developing quantum diamond magnetometers capable of providing accurate readings from space, has received another contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Funded through ESA’s FutureEO Program, the deal is worth nearly $1 million (€800,000) and will see SBQuantum deliver a new prototype of its quantum magnetometer sensor, optimized for Earth Observation (EO) missions in space.

The upgraded version of the device will remain the same size and weight while delivering a number of enhanced capabilities, including improved sensitivity (sub 100 Picotesla), higher bandwidth (400 Hz) and greater accuracy (200 Picotesla) as required by ESA for advanced EO missions.

This follows a previous contract wherein SBQuantum provided a magnetometer design to ESA, customized to meet that agency’s requirements for EO. This new contract also builds on continued support from the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program (STDP), funded in part by Canada’s National Quantum Strategy, and was made possible thanks to Canada’s unique status as the only non-European cooperating state of the ESA.

SBQuantum’s sensors can easily be mounted on small CubeSats and launched into orbit at a nominal cost, making precise, detailed data about the Earth’s magnetics and geophysics easily accessible to those stakeholders who require it for planning operations, mapping logistics or other relevant applications.

“Securing this second contract with ESA is the latest in a series of strong signals from the market indicating the vast potential our quantum magnetometers offer as a sensor deployed in space. The Earth and its ecosystem are evolving, and humankind needs to better monitor changes in ocean currents and temperatures, among many other transformations, so we can fully understand them, prepare and adapt,” said David Roy-Guay, CEO and Founder at SBQuantum. “A byproduct of demonstrating space readiness is that this doubles as a strong validation of terrestrial readiness for our hardware. By combining this highly accurate sensor with advanced interpretation algorithms, our Magnetic Intelligence product will also unlock novel security applications for an increasingly uncertain world. Our mission is to remain at the cutting edge of applied quantum sensing.”

“Our earlier research shows that diamond magnetometers may meet the performance needed for Earth observation. Now we need to prove that building such an instrument is possible,” said Aaron Strangfeld, Quantum & Emerging Sensing Technologies Engineer at ESA.

Two Launchers Exploitation Arrangements (LEA) have been signed at the European Space Agency (ESA) Headquarters in Paris, marking an important step in the continued operation of Ariane 6 and Vega-C.

Following decisions taken by the ESA Council in 2023, the revision of the Launchers Exploitation Declaration (LED) was finalized on July 10, 2025, and the Guiana Space Centre Agreement was signed on October 23, 2025. The signed Launchers Exploitation Arrangements translate the Launchers Exploitation Declaration mandate to ESA into concrete detailed implementation arrangements between ESA and the launch operators.

The two signed arrangements—one with Arianespace and ArianeGroup for Ariane 6 and one with Avio for Vega-C—define the roles and responsibilities of each operator and ESA’s role in monitoring its implementation. They also establish the framework for cooperation between the parties to ensure Europe’s continued autonomous access to space through the exploitation of ESA-developed launchers from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Josef Aschbacher said, “We now have two launch service operators at Europe’s Spaceport, each responsible for their launcher. This is just the start as the European launch services on offer are set to enlarge even more in the future with more actors and more choice, offering robust and diverse launch capabilities for Europe.”

Giuilio Ranzo said, “Avio is excited to assume the additional responsibilities for selling and operating the Vega launch service after almost 14 years since its inaugural flight in 2012 during which Avio acted as Vega’s technical authority and industrial prime contractor. We thank ESA for their extensive technical support and Arianespace for having established Vega as a successful launcher on the market.”

After an initial €7 million funding round in 2022, the French small satellite manufacturer U-Space has announced a new €24 million Series A round led by Blast, the French Ministry of Armed Forces’ Definvest fund managed by Bpifrance, and Expansion, alongside Primo Capital through its investment fund Primo Space, Karot Capital, ARIS, and Vertech Finance.

Building on its early commercial successes and driven by the ambition to become Europe’s leading smallsat constellation manufacturer, U-Space, now expanding into global markets, has secured renewed confidence from its long-standing financial partners and earned the trust of new investors.

With three satellites already on-orbit, around ten more to be produced and delivered over the year ahead, and major contracts signed with leading players such as CNES and Safran, U-Space has made a name for itself in the small satellite manufacturing market. This proven reliability, and the strong potential it signals for future growth, has convinced U-Space’s long-standing financial partners to once again back the French company.

U-Space has drawn inspiration from the best practices of the automotive industry to embrace a serial production approach. At the heart of its industrial strategy lies the “U-Zine,” an 850 m² cleanroom facility designed to ultimately reach a production rate of one satellite per day. The software development enabled by the €24 million raised will significantly support this ramp-up, with the first milestone being one satellite produced per week by 2027.

U-Space actively contributes to the France’s sovereign ambitions in the space sector. With its initial successes paving the way for many more to come, it was only natural for Defi nvest to renew its support,” said François Charbonnier, Investment Director at Bpifrance.

U-Space’s position within the value chain, combined with its technological expertise, gives it highly promising commercial potential. We are confident that the company has all the assets needed to establish itself as Europe’s leading manufacturer in the small satellite constellation market,” said Ilaria Cavalleri, Investment Principal, Primo Space Fund.

Charles Beigbeder, founder of Expansion, said, “Since inception, the founding team at U-Space has successfully reached critical milestones transforming a project into a fully-fledged industrial enterprise. With several satellites launched, including the fi rst European space-based SSA satellite, U-Space has already demonstrated a strong space heritage and the high reliability of its in-orbit systems. We’re deeply convinced the combination of industrial expertise, and their business vision promise a bright future to U-Space.”

Over the past few years, U-Space has demonstrated its ability to build a strong team and implement robust industrial processes. This new phase marks a strategic turning point, with the scaling up of production and expansion into international markets. We are proud to support a team and a company that are turning their space vision into industrial reality,” said Alexis Bès de Berc, Investment Manager (VC) at Blast

Following its recent commercial success with the United Arab Emirates’ National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC), U-Space is now turning to global markets, particularly Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Fabien Apper, President and Co-founder of U-Space:, said, “These regions demonstrate remarkable technological dynamism and a strong will to develop their space economies. They are strategic markets where we can contribute, both on governmental and commercial programs. This is an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to support global space ambitions, and this funding will allow us to do so.”

This is the beginning of a new phase of development for U-Space, enabling the company to expand into global markets and solidify its leadership ambitions in the satellite constellation sector.