Investing in Space: One big beautiful windfall

And 1 of the large windfall winners of U.S. President Donald Trump's taxation and spending megabill could extremity up being… unexpectedly, the U.S. Space Force.

There's a batch that the administration's enactment connected the enactment for the taxation and spending package, reputationally and politically, to unafraid Trump's legacy. And that's earlier factoring successful the immense magnitude of overtime senators person been putting in passim a 'vote-a-rama' marathon that Republicans privation to bring to the decorativeness enactment by Independence Day. After a last heated statement connected Thursday — including a record-breaking almost-nine-hour code from Democratic person Hakeem Jeffries — the bundle cleared the House of Representatives connected Thursday, mounting the signifier for Trump to aboriginal ink the measure into law.

If the reconciliation bundle is enshrined according to earlier versions, it and budgetary measures could beryllium acceptable to present the U.S. Space Force a 30% year-on-year summation successful backing to conscionable nether a whopping $40 cardinal successful 2026. That's nary tiny magnitude of change, adjacent comparative to the broader $1 trillion defence strategy that the administration's officials are trying to propulsion through.

And it adds up. Some $25 cardinal was slated for Trump's mammoth multi-layered rocket defence system, Golden Dome. Crunching immoderate numbers, that's a seventh of the full $175 cardinal outgo the White House medication has billed for the task — whose wide disbursal and viability lawmakers and analysts person repeatedly questioned — successful a abbreviated stretch. It is, nevertheless, worthy remembering different estimates enactment the last measure person to $540 billion.  

These funds volition marque an "initial investment" successful Golden Dome focused connected procuring interceptors similar the existing Patriots, processing caller space-based interceptor options, and putting a down outgo connected precocious sensors and bid and power systems, according to a U.S. Department of Defense briefing connected June 26.

The wealth volition spell toward "vital space-based capabilities" alongside "space power and resilient combat credible architectures," each portion of a broader bid to execute Washington's "space superiority," a elder defence authoritative said past week. That's yet a acquainted playbook for the White House, which was for years locked successful an exhaustive abstraction contention with the Soviet Union earlier clinching triumph done the archetypal manned Moon landing — the lone quality is the pivot from abstraction exploration to defence among the stars. The U.S. Space Force's chief, General Chance Saltzman, warned of the "mind-boggling" gait astatine which Washington's frenemy China was putting subject capabilities successful space, all the mode backmost successful October.

Whatever its faults, for defence and abstraction companies, Golden Dome's been providing a uncommon beacon of concern anticipation amid fund cuts astatine space-geared authorities contractor NASA. Moreover, there's the boon successful the project's extended execution and agelong backing scope — and that's earlier getting into the anticipation that sunken-cost concerns mightiness coerce aboriginal administrations to spot Golden Dome through, adjacent if it doesn't wrapper up by the extremity of Trump's 2nd term.

And it's not conscionable abstraction by mode of defense. Trump's made nary concealed of his ambitions – antecedently joyously shared with past ally, present professional Elon Musk — to enactment radical connected Mars, and the measure besides provides for exploring the reddish planet. That narration remains connected the rocks. When I began penning connected Tuesday, heated words were inactive flying — not the slightest of which from Musk, who this week doubled down connected erstwhile disapproval of the megabill to liken it to a "DEBT SLAVERY measure with the biggest indebtedness ceiling summation successful history" earlier calling for a caller governmental enactment that "actually cares astir the people." The tech billionaire was wide seen arsenic a adjacent state of Musk until their nationalist feud past period that inevitably brought into question the destiny of SpaceX's existing and aboriginal authorities contracts.

As ever, it's not implicit until it's implicit — let's spot wherever things onshore for space.

As a heads up, the newsletter's skipping adjacent week portion yours genuinely jetpacks connected assignment, but volition beryllium backmost successful enactment connected July 17.

• NASA fund cuts enactment Europe's Mars ngo astatine risk — Proposed budgetary downsizing astatine NASA would further postpone Europe's ExoMars rover mission, which has suffered repeated delays and was astir precocious acceptable to footwear disconnected by 2028. — Space.com
• Space Forge launches UK's archetypal in-space manufacturing satellite — Welsh startup Space Forge has launched the in-orbit ForgeStar-1 manufacturing outer onboard a SpaceX Flacon 9 flight. The satellite, which made interaction with the Space Forge Mission Operations Centre successful Cardiff wrong hours, volition manufacture high-value materials that cannot beryllium generated connected Earth. — The Engineer
• UK abstraction bureau puts £2.5 cardinal into nationalist services utilizing outer intel — The U.K.'s abstraction bureau has offered £2.5 cardinal successful funds to 5 projects utilizing outer data, including a biodiversity mapping instrumentality and a methane tracking service.  — Electronics Weekly

• Space Force mulls outer coms plans — The U.S. Space Force is present rethinking whether an existing connection outer network, mostly dominated by SpaceX, tin bash the occupation initially slated for a 3rd constellation purchase. — Defense News
• SpaceX says efforts to retrieve Starship debris hindered — SpaceX has said its attempts to retrieve debris aft the latest detonation of its mammoth Starship rocket person been obstructed, with the institution reaching retired for practice from the Mexican medication of Claudia Sheinbaum. — Reuters
• NASA to watercourse unrecorded connected Netflix — NASA's unrecorded programming showcasing launches, spacewalks and ngo sum volition beryllium disposable connected Netflix starting this summer. — NASA
• Bezos seeks much authorities contracts for Blue Origin — Jeff Bezos and different executives of Blue Origin person appealed for much authorities contracts successful the aftermath of U.S. President Donald Trump's estrangement from SpaceX laminitis Elon Musk, according to radical acquainted with the matter. — Wall Street Journal

• SpaceX clinches upwind outer motorboat contract — SpaceX has won an $81.6 cardinal declaration from the Space Systems Command to motorboat a subject weather-monitoring outer (the WSF-M2) and a 2nd experimental tiny outer successful 2027. — Space.com
• Satellite security marketplace is contracting amid increasing costs — Around 300 retired of 13,000 progressive satellites successful orbit are presently insured against in-orbit incidents, industry

• July 8 — SpaceX's Falcon 9 to depart with Starlink satellites retired of Florida.
• July 15 — Gilmour Space to motorboat Austria's archetypal orbital rocket, Eris-1, retired of Bowen.
• July 16 — The Indian Space Research Organisation's GSLV Mk II to permission connected the Nisar ngo retired of Sriharikota.