This week in space blended a strong financial pulse with several heavyweight industrial signals: satellite investment set a record in the first half of the year, K2 Space closed a mega-round, and space stocks rebounded, driven by defense contracts. On the science and exploration front, Blue Origin pinpointed the cause of its New Glenn explosion, NASA completed a key spacewalk, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile released its first science image, packed with hundreds of thousands of galaxies.
Economy, investment and industry
1. Satellite investment hits an all-time record at the 2026 halfway mark
Investment in satellite companies reached $8.1 billion in the first half of 2026, already surpassing every previous annual total tracked by specialist firm Space Capital. Spacecraft manufacturers draw the most investor attention, capturing more than 40% of capital, and space infrastructure is consolidating as a national strategic priority across several countries. Source: SpaceNews.
2. K2 Space raises $500 million in a Series D round
Large-satellite manufacturer K2 Space closed a $500 million Series D round at a $6.8 billion valuation to scale its satellite operations. It is one of the year's largest rounds and confirms investor appetite for high-power satellite platforms. Source: Cyclop SpaceTech.
3. Rocket Lab lands a $397 million Space Force contract
Rocket Lab won a $397 million U.S. Space Force contract to build and launch threat-tracking "Flatellite" satellites, while sustaining a steady cadence of Electron launches for iQPS's SAR constellation. The deal underscores growing defense demand as a driver of New Space. Source: SpaceNews.
4. Space stocks bounce back sharply after a weak July
After a rough month, sector stocks rebounded hard: Voyager Technologies +54%, Redwire +38%, AST SpaceMobile +29% and Rocket Lab +28%. The momentum came from real numbers: Redwire beat second-quarter revenue estimates and reaffirmed its guidance, while Voyager raised its 2026 forecast after record bookings. Capital is tilting toward defense and safety in space. Source: Cyclop SpaceTech.
5. Neuraspace raises €15.6 million for space surveillance
Europe's Neuraspace secured €15.6 million to expand its space-domain-awareness (SDA) and orbital traffic-management capabilities, a segment increasingly in demand from defense budgets and the rising number of objects in orbit. Source: Cyclop SpaceTech.
6. ESA awards €65 million to ispace-Europe for the MAGPIE rover
The European Space Agency granted ispace-Europe a €65 million contract to develop the MAGPIE rover for a lunar mission planned for 2029. The agreement reinforces Europe's bet on surface mobility and resource exploration on the Moon. Source: Cyclop SpaceTech.
7. Argentina: SABIA-Mar enters its final stage and CANSAT 2026 kicks off
CONAE is advancing SABIA-Mar, its next Earth-observation mission focused on the Argentine sea, coasts, continental waters and ocean ecosystems, now in the final stage of integration and testing. In parallel, the agency launched CANSAT Argentina 2026, an educational challenge for secondary and university students to design, build and launch small-scale satellites between August and October. A concrete sign of satellite development and space-talent training in the region. Source: Argentina.gob.ar (CONAE).
Science, exploration and missions
8. Blue Origin identifies the cause of the New Glenn explosion
Blue Origin confirmed that a failure in the main oxygen valve of a BE-4 engine caused the explosion that destroyed a New Glenn stage during a May test and severely damaged its launch complex. The company will apply a minor, quickly retrofittable modification to the valve. The finding has implications beyond Blue Origin: the same BE-4 engine powers ULA's Vulcan Centaur. Source: Spaceflight Now.
9. NASA spacewalk prepares the station for new solar arrays
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station, meeting their main objective: preparing the 3B power channel for the future installation of a roll-out solar array, part of the orbital lab's power upgrade. Source: NASA.
10. Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory releases its first science image
With a Latin American angle: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, on Cerro Pachón (Chile), published the first science image and catalog from its LSST camera —the world's largest— of the famous COSMOS field, featuring hundreds of thousands of galaxies: spirals, ellipticals, mergers and faint red galaxies from the distant universe. It is a milestone of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, a sky survey that will run for ten years. Source: phys.org.
11. China prepares to launch Chang'e 7 to the lunar south pole
China is readying its Chang'e 7 robotic mission, aimed at the rim of Shackleton Crater at the Moon's south pole. The mission includes a lander and a rocket-propelled hopping rover that will search for water ice in permanently shadowed regions, a key resource for a future sustained human presence on the Moon. Source: Chang'e 7 (Wikipedia).
12. The China-U.S. lunar race intensifies
Progress on China's lunar-landing plans has reignited the debate over its competition with the United States to return humans to the Moon. With NASA's Artemis 3 rescheduled for late 2027 and dependent on systems still in development (Starship and Blue Moon), the timing window has become a central strategic factor in the new space race. Source: CNN.
Join Argentina Space 2026
Argentina Space 2026 — Argentina driving the New Space Economy will take place on November 11, 12 and 13, 2026 at the Salta Convention Center. It is the first major national gathering of the space, technology and science industry, bringing together agencies, companies, universities, startups and investors from Argentina and around the world.
Join Argentina Space 2026 and be part of the founding core of New Space in Argentina, as an exhibitor, sponsor or attendee. More information: https://argentinaspace.com · Contact: marketing@argentinaspace.com.
