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SpaceX is attempting to deploy its first-generation Starlink V3 satellites aboard Starship, marking the rocket's first orbital satellite deployment attempt. The launch comes as Amazon's rival Leo constellation has stalled at 396 satellites, with no successful deployment in twelve weeks, largely due to grounded launch partners ULA's Vulcan and Blue Origin's New Glenn.
SpaceX plans to launch its Starship rocket from Starbase, Texas, on Monday morning, aiming for the vehicle's first orbital flight after 13 prior suborbital tests. The FAA authorized the launch and reentry operations on Sept. 26, and SpaceX intends to deploy 26 new Starlink V3 satellites during the mission.
Dr. Tony Phillips of spaceweather.com has built a method to track Earth's upper atmosphere by analyzing orbital decay data from SpaceX's Starlink satellites, along with constellations from Planet Labs, Amazon Kuiper, and Eutelsat OneWeb. He uses the 'B-star' drag term buried in Space Force tracking data to measure how much the atmosphere expands in response to solar activity, finding a roughly two-day lag between solar radio flux changes and atmospheric response.
SpaceX confirmed it has finished a full launch rehearsal for Starship ahead of its 14th test flight, targeted for September 28 with an 8:15AM Eastern launch window. The rehearsal involved fueling the rocket, running through countdown procedures and simulating a scrub before draining propellant, all without liftoff.
A fire broke out overnight at a ground station in Wola Krobowska, near Warsaw, that handles internet traffic for Poland and Ukraine, including Starlink connections. Polish deputy prime minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the blaze at the facility, owned by state operator Exatel, appears to have been set deliberately, and police and internal security agents were sent to investigate. Gawkowski said the incident bears the hallmarks of Russian sabotage, though the investigation is ongoing.
Researchers are monitoring the atmospheric drag experienced by SpaceX's more than 11,000 Starlink satellites to calculate a daily 'sink rate,' the altitude a typical satellite at 480 km would lose in one day without thruster corrections. In 2026 that figure has swung from 19.7 meters per day during quiet conditions to 127.6 meters per day during the year's largest geomagnetic storm in January.
A new European report examines the growing risk of orbital collisions as active satellites have surged from roughly 1,000 in 2013 to about 17,000 today, according to CelesTrak. SpaceX's Starlink constellation accounts for most of this growth with around 11,000 satellites, while Amazon, Chinese internet constellations, and planned orbital data centers are set to add many more.
Amazon announced a partnership with Uzbek ISP Uztelecom to deploy its Leo satellite internet service in remote and hard-to-reach areas of Uzbekistan, including mountainous and desert regions where cabled infrastructure is difficult to install. The service will supplement Uztelecom's existing network, which already reaches 96 percent of communities, though Leo has not yet launched publicly and is still being tested internally and with select enterprise customers ahead of a rollout later this year.
SpaceX is targeting September 28 at 8:15AM Eastern for Starship's 14th flight, pending regulatory approval, after pushing the date back from September 22. Unlike prior suborbital tests, this flight will send Starship into orbit for six loops around Earth over 10 hours and deploy 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into the constellation. The Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper stage will later be deorbited into the Pacific.
LeoLabs has built a transportable radar system called Scout-S, a shipping-container-sized unit that can be set up almost anywhere in a matter of hours using just a generator and a Starlink connection. The system is designed to monitor the rapidly growing number of satellites and debris fragments in low Earth orbit, which has swelled from roughly 2,000 objects in 2019 to nearly 17,000 today, with Starlink accounting for most of that growth.
At the first International Space Summit in Paris on September 10, European leaders including Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron called for the continent to build its own launch and crewed spaceflight capacity rather than relying on NASA and firms like SpaceX. The event took on added significance after reports that the White House discouraged US companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin from attending, which one former satellite executive called a wake-up call.
The UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is spending $94 million over three and a half years across 18 projects to build high-altitude pseudo-satellites—essentially long-endurance drones—that would deliver wireless internet to areas lacking ground networks. The program, called Enduring Atmospheric Platforms, targets a unit carrying a 300-watt communications payload that can stay airborne for a full week, with work split into technology development, system integration, and deployment phases.