A week of contrasts in space: while investment in the satellite sector set a fresh all-time record and SpaceX reported earnings for the first time as a public company, the sky belonged to science, with a total solar eclipse over the North Atlantic and Europe, the full start of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's landmark survey in Chile, and new data on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Here is our review of the economic and scientific highlights of recent days.
Economy, investment and industry
1. Satellite investment already sets an annual record at the halfway point of 2026
Investment in satellite companies reached USD 8.1 billion in the first half of 2026, surpassing every previous annual total tracked by investment firm Space Capital. The infrastructure segment captured a quarterly record of USD 20.7 billion, driven mainly by a USD 12 billion Series B mega-round for a Jeff Bezos industrial-AI venture. In the specifically space-focused arena, Finland's Iceye stood out, raising a USD 1.2 billion Series F to expand production of its radar-imaging satellites amid strong defense demand. Appetite for space runs counter to the broader venture-capital slowdown, sustained by public-market enthusiasm, defense interest, and orbital operations that are ever cheaper and more sophisticated. Source: SpaceNews
2. SpaceX reports earnings for the first time after going public
In its first results as a public company following June's historic IPO, SpaceX reported it ended the quarter with USD 93.5 billion in cash (up from USD 24.7 billion at the end of the first quarter) and that Starlink now has 12 million subscribers, double a year earlier. Starlink contributed USD 11.4 billion of SpaceX's USD 18.7 billion in 2025 revenue, roughly 61% of the total, at 63% operating margins. The figure that raised eyebrows: capital expenditure jumped more than sixfold year over year to USD 18.37 billion in the quarter, of which USD 15.83 billion went to artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Source: CNBC
3. Rocket Lab races the clock to debut Neutron in 2026
The window for the debut of Neutron, Rocket Lab's new medium-lift reusable rocket, is "narrowing" as development continues, the company itself has acknowledged. Neutron is Rocket Lab's bid to compete in the medium-payload segment currently dominated by the Falcon 9, and bringing it into service is key to the company's growth plan, even as it keeps winning defense and commercial launch contracts and expanding its launch infrastructure. A slip to 2027 would directly affect its revenue timeline. Source: Spaceflight Now
4. Amazon accelerates with Leo and seeks approval for 5,105 direct-to-phone satellites
Amazon has asked U.S. regulators for authorization to launch up to 5,105 satellites for direct-to-device connectivity, a move that places it squarely in the battle against Starlink and Apple for the satellite-to-phone market. The Amazon Leo constellation (formerly Project Kuiper) already has more than 337 production satellites in orbit across a dozen missions, and the company is reinforcing its position with the roughly USD 11.6 billion acquisition of Globalstar, which adds licensed spectrum and regulatory approvals in more than 100 countries. Source: CNBC
5. Europe organizes its access to space: new launchers and in-orbit services
ESA is advancing the European Launcher Challenge, under which it pre-selected five European launch providers to support their ramp-up phase and co-fund capacity expansion, with the agency acting as a customer of new commercial services. In parallel, Arianespace signed a deal with U.S.-based Katalyst Space to launch the NEXUS-1 in-orbit servicing vehicle (rendezvous and docking with satellites for hardware upgrades, refueling and life extension), and the next Ariane 6 flight, planned for August 27, will carry the MTG-I2 weather satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. Source: ESA
6. Argentina: CONAE presses ahead in Antarctica despite budget cuts
On the regional front, CONAE continues to build out its satellite network with the construction of a ground station at the Belgrano II Antarctic Base, a strategic node for tracking and receiving data from its missions, with the antenna system installation planned for this year. The progress comes amid deep cuts to the agency's budget and the rescheduling of projects such as Tronador and SAOCOM 2, which makes every piece of infrastructure the agency manages to sustain especially significant. Source: Agenda Malvinas
Science, exploration and missions
7. A total solar eclipse swept across the North Atlantic and Europe
On August 12, a total solar eclipse swept across Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic, and a strip of Spain and Portugal, the first totality visible from continental Europe in years. For most observers, totality lasted less than two minutes. NASA deployed a major science campaign: its high-altitude WB-57 jet chased the Moon's shadow through the skies of Iceland to study the solar corona, while university students launched stratospheric balloons from Iceland and Spain to measure how the sudden darkening alters the atmosphere. Source: NASA Science
8. China targets the lunar south pole with the Chang'e 7 mission
China is preparing to launch Chang'e 7 toward the Moon's south pole, one of the most sought-after regions in current exploration because of the water ice found in its permanently shadowed craters. The mission is especially ambitious: it combines an orbiter, a lander, a rover, and a hopping probe designed to "leap" into a dark crater in search of ice, with a planned duration of several years and a liftoff aboard a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang. It is a central step in the race to establish permanent infrastructure at the lunar south pole. Source: Chang'e 7 (Wikipedia)
9. From Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is already filming the universe
With a Latin American angle: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, perched on Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes and equipped with the world's largest digital camera, fully began its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in July, a ten-year survey that will produce the most comprehensive, "cinematic" record of the cosmos ever made. Its first images already revealed millions of galaxies and thousands of never-before-seen asteroids, and it will generate more data than all previous telescopes of its kind combined: a discovery machine that will operate throughout the coming decade from South American soil. Source: NSF
10. Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, now in Gemini and heading for the exit
The third known interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, remains under observation as it moves away from the Solar System following its closest approach to the Sun in October 2025; by mid-August it was located in the constellation of Gemini. The object has already made history: it was the first interstellar comet observed in X-rays (by the XRISM and XMM-Newton telescopes), and water-vapor emission was also detected. A recent study attributes its extreme chemical ratios to bombardment by galactic cosmic rays during its long journey through interstellar space. Source: NASA Science
11. James Webb studies the surface of a rocky exoplanet for the first time
The James Webb Space Telescope directly analyzed, for the first time, the surface of a rocky planet beyond the Solar System: the "super-Earth" LHS 3844 b, about 30% larger than our planet and some 50 light-years away. The verdict: "a dark, hot, barren rock, devoid of any atmosphere." The milestone matters because it shows Webb can characterize rocky worlds, not just gas giants, a necessary step in the long search for potentially habitable planets. Source: Space.com
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