Air and Space Forces Magazine – Space Systems Command is tripling the size of one of its main launch procurement contracts from $5.6 billion to $17 billion to accommodate growing demand from government customers.

SpaceNews – The FCC adopted new space and Earth station licensing rules it said create a “licensing assembly line” for applications, and cleared lower and upper C-band frequences for terrestrial wireless networks.

Reuters – NASA remains on track for next year’s Artemis III mission, a key test of orbital ‌docking and lunar landers needed for future crewed moon landings, despite an explosion involving an unmanned Blue Origin rocket during a launchpad test in May.

Politico – The mission, dubbed Space Reactor-1 Freedom, aims to launch in late 2028. It would be the first flight demonstration of nuclear electric propulsion, and deliver three helicopters to collect scientific data and identify potential water sources on Mars.

FedScoop – The Genesis Mission, an effort to combine AI, quantum, and high-performance computing, is expanding beyond the DOE to include 20 federal agencies, which are bringing a combined commitment of more than $5 billion.

Breaking Defense – The new network, the Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space (HALO), will initially involve Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Turkey.

SpaceNews – The U.S. Space Force is widening the field of companies eligible to compete for national security launch contracts, adding launch startup Relativity Space and orbital transportation company Impulse Space to a roster of commercial providers

With countries around the world focusing on building sovereign satellite networks, Abu Dhabi-based Orbitworks is developing AI-enabled satellites that will form a 10-satellite Earth observation constellation called Altair.

SpaceNews – The reorganization gives a small group of executives broad authority over how the service buys and integrates space capabilities, reflecting a Pentagon-wide effort to speed procurement and make it easier to adopt commercial technology.

Breaking Defense – According to a new report from space monitoring firm LeoLabs, China has been abandoning used launcher rocket stages in low Earth orbit (LEO) at an ever-increasing pace.