BREAKING: NASA officials shared a progress update on their efforts to return US astronauts to the Moon, as well as the finer details of the mission plans for Artemis III and IV, targeting flights in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Long story short: NASA remains confident it can meet the timeline for both missions. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman has the details of the missions. Link to the full story in the comments.

Payload's editor @jacqfeldscher traveled to Seattle this week, where she spoke with @PortalSpaceSys CEO @JeffThornburg about the company's Starburst-1 spacecraft, which launched on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 earlier this week, and what comes next for the company. The Starburst that’s in orbit was built in Portal’s previous 6,000-sq.-ft. facility. The future fleet will be built in the company’s new 65,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing space that opened in August. The new facility—a former mega-church—will be designed to pump out 28 spacecraft a year: 16 Starbursts, and 12 Supernovas, Portal’s larger, more powerful maneuverable spacecraft. Read the full story on Payload. Link below

The C-130 Hercules aircraft and variants have hauled cargo, flown as gunships, and refueled military jets midair. Now, @OrbitalOps_ wants to do the same in space. The startup won up to $35M from the Pentagon to fly a full-scale, in-orbit demo of Astraeus—its cryogenic-maneuvering vehicle. “Space is now a contested environment,” Orbital Ops CEO Benjamin Schleuniger told @vicky_woodburn. “We’re going into this new space age where there’s all these new orbits and all of these new ideas coming around…we just need more dynamic assets out there to transport things around.” Read the full story for the inside look at Astraeus and why its capabilities are more timely than ever. ⬇️

Four major European mobile network operators (MNOs) are joining forces to explore a potential bid for future allocation of mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum, as part of a strategy to provide the European market with D2D services. Under the Letter of Intent, @deutschetelekom, @orange, @Telefonica, and @vodafone plan to establish ground network infrastructure across Europe, and partner with an as-yet undetermined satellite operator for the D2D connection. In today's edition of Payload Europe, reporter Douglas Gorman explores the macro market the new partnership is forming within, what potential opportunities lie ahead, and what unanswered questions remain following the LOI. Link in the comments

Astronauts are heading back to the lunar surface, and now the scientific community has made its voice heard on where they should go with the release yesterday of a @theNASEM report ranking the top four Sites were weighed on three criteria: whether science aligned with the decadal surveys and NASA’s Moon to Mars objectives, if the missions would expand US exploration capabilities, and, to a lesser degree, how they would contribute to public inspiration. Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn details which sites were selected, and why. Link to the full article below.

Today, @XonaSpace announced a $250M Series D to accelerate production of its Pulsar commercial GPS constellation, which is aiming to begin service in 2027. Xona’s long-term plan is to build a ~258-sat constellation to offer an upgraded commercial alternative to government GPS networks. Xona’s pitch: GPS is a critical capability underpinning much of the modern economy, but publicly funded GPS networks are costly, complex, and too exposed to spoofing and jamming. In today's piece, Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman dives into Xona's plans for the new funds. Link below.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (@HPE) announced that its new AI-compute module—Spaceborne Computer-4—is set to deploy on Astrolab’s FLIP rover during a mission expected to launch this year. Computer-4 stands on the shoulders of three earlier models that flew to the ISS in 2017, 2021, and 2024, Computer-4 is HPE’s first Spaceborne Computer to operate in the vacuum of space. As such, its been designed to withstand the harsh environment on luna: 💾 Low-power CPU and GPU, and flash-memory storage inside solid-state drives from KIOXIA. 🪭 The system is designed to weather the lunar environment by operating without fans, instead using a space radiator to keep the system from overheating. ☢️ Computer-4 is also engineered to monitor the effects of radiation, and lower its compute power during episodes that could damage the hardware. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman explores how the mission will set the groundwork for future AI workloads on the lunar surface. Link below.

With its first full quarter as a public company under its belt, @SpaceX blew past expectations Tuesday with ~$14.7B in revenue and net income of $4.4B. The revenue number is up 87% from Q2 and 161% YoY—substantially higher than the ~$12.8B that analysts had expected. Key figures include: 🚀 Space revenue in Q3 jumped 84%; 🛰️ Starlink earned $2.4B in operating income on $5.2B in revenue—36% of the company’s total; 🤖 SpaceXSI brought in $7.6B in Q3, nearly triple its Q2 total and more than half of SpaceX’s revenue. Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn explored where the company's financials stand as it heads in to the final months of the year. Link below.

The State Department is starstruck. At last week’s second annual US Space Forum, the US Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna launched Project Constellation, a $5M effort to build international space partnerships. The State Department tapped three US organizations to run the program: 💰 Meridian International Center—the prime recipient—will oversee strategy, delivery, partner coordination, and finances, and organize exchanges through its diplomatic and industry networks. 🏛️ The Commercial Space Federation will lead the commercial side, promoting procurement and building business partnerships with US companies. 📝 SPACEAIMS—a public policy consulting firm—will guide the law, policy, governance, and diplomacy work, including country assessments, policy dialogues, and training. Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn has the full story in Payload. Link below.

In the contest to build up commercial launch capabilities in Canada, Quebec-based startup @Reactiondyn has entered a new weight class. The launcher today unveiled its medium-lift rocket—called Borealis—which is targeting a debut orbital launch attempt in 2031. Borealis’ 6,000 kg to LEO payload capacity represents a massive leap compared with the company’s ~200 kg capacity Aurora small-lift launcher—which is targeting a first orbital launch attempt in Q4 2028. But both vehicles are built on much of the same underlying technology. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman has the deets. Link below.