THE SIGNAL

The commercial satellite communications sector has reached a structural turning point. The assumption of a borderless sky, where global mesh networks and technical neutrality defined market access, no longer holds. The industry has entered a new phase in which states ...

SatNews Editorial Analysis Before we dream of floating data centers, we must understand why the SmallSat is the only laboratory that matters. Welcome to The Fractal Lab: a three-part series on why orbital computing succeeds or fails first at 10 ...

That "always sunny" optimism is exactly what's fueling the most audacious pivot in the space industry right now. It's certainly true that as of early 2026, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have become much more than just entrepreneurs. They are ...

In Part 2 of this series, we examine the second bottleneck facing the Orbital Data Center (ODC) : Data Gravity. We will explore why moving exabytes to and from orbit is harder than processing them, and how this specific constraint ...

Before we dream of floating data centers, we must understand why the SmallSat is the only laboratory that matters. Welcome to The Fractal Lab:  a three-part series on why orbital computing succeeds or fails first at 10 kilograms, not 10,000 ...

This is the second in a continuing series on the strategic evolution of space regulation. Part one, “The 200,000-Satellite Filing: When Commercial Loopholes Become State Weapons,” examined how speculative filings distort global coordination. Part two examines the U.S. regulatory response ...

By Evan Grey, Legal Contributor, SatNews The primary battleground for space supremacy has shifted. While the world watches the launchpads, the decisive contest is unfolding inside the filing processes of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In the final week of ...

The January 17 rollout of Artemis II represents a genuine technical achievement and a policy paradox. To understand why NASA is rolling out a roughly $4 billion-per-launch vehicle in an era of reusable rockets, we must examine what happened in ...

The battle for Direct-to-Device supremacy will now be decided here, on the ground, where competitors will look for any evidence that SpaceX's adaptive beams are degrading local service. SatNews Editorial Analysis Executive Summary The Event: The FCC's December 16, 2025, ...

By Evan Grey, Legal Contributor, SatNews Recent developments in Greenland offer a case study in how geopolitical tensions are influencing satellite service procurement decisions. While the territory's small population limits direct market impact, its choices illuminate broader trends that operators ...

There are clues that something is bubbling under ...

With industry attrition climbing to 7.1% and recruitment times stretching to 10 weeks, filling critical seats has become as complex as the missions themselves. SatNews Editorial Analysis The satellite and space industry has a problem it doesn't want to talk ...

By Evan Grey, Legal Contributor, SatNews For decades, the satellite industry operated under a coordination framework designed to manage interference through established ITU and FCC procedures. As of today, January 8, 2026, that framework is facing a definitive stress test ...

The era when being a “Space Prime” required owning the factories and controlling the org charts may be ending. The next great prime might exist not as a corporation but as a constellation of focused companies bound by capital, strategy, ...

Twenty years ago, Wall Street laughed at an online bookstore trying to rent out its excess server capacity. They called it AWS. Today, Amazon isn't trying to win the space race for the headlines; they are trying to win the ...

In a move that signals a shift in the Pentagon's long-term orbital logistics strategy, Space Launch Delta 30 (SLD 30) released a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting industry interest in Space Launch Complex 14 (SLC-14) at Vandenberg Space Force Base ...

The integration of xAI serves as a proof-of-concept for the DoW’s aggressive push to modernize its regulatory framework. By treating a foundational large language model (LLM) as a modular insertion rather than a monolithic program of record, the DoW has ...

In Washington, modernization is usually a euphemism for forming a committee to study a problem. For FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, it appears to be a euphemism for a demolition crew. In a statement released Tuesday, Carr summarized his first year ...

The timing of Tory Bruno’s resignation, announced Monday and effective immediately, strikes a discordant note in an industry that prizes orchestrated stability ...

Abbey White | Staff Writer, SatNews — On Monday, American Tower Corp (Tower Corp) officially signaled it was done waiting for the "cell tower in the sky" narrative to pay rent. In a regulatory filing disclosed December 15, the terrestrial ...