Launches accelerate orbital competition worldwide & Starship targets first revenue mission - Space News (Sep 18, 2026)

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Lindy is your ultimate AI assistant that proactively manages your inbox - https://try.lindy.ai/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad - KrispCall: Agentic Cloud Telephony - https://try.krispcall.com/tad Support The Automated Daily directly: Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/theautomateddaily Today's topics: Launches accelerate orbital competition worldwide - Russia, China, and the United States all advanced major space operations, highlighting the growing role of military and constellation-driven launch activity. The latest missions show how low Earth orbit is becoming more strategically important and increasingly crowded. Starship targets first revenue mission - SpaceX's fourteenth Starship flight could mark the vehicle's transition from experimental testbed to operational launcher. If it successfully deploys Starlink V3 satellites into stable orbit, it would be a major milestone for reusable heavy-lift spaceflight. Europe expands sovereign space infrastructure - ESA is pushing ahead with secure connectivity, sovereign Earth observation, and climate monitoring through EOGS, IRIS², ARGUS, FLEX, and Sentinel-3C. These initiatives show Europe moving faster toward independent and secure space capabilities. Plilliant Pluto and a fresh Moon scar - New Horizons data suggest Pluto may have experienced recent liquid nitrogen flow beneath Sputnik Planitia, while NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter identified the largest newly formed crater ever seen in the solar system. Together, the discoveries reveal active processes on worlds once thought relatively quiet. Youngest exoplanet challenges formation timelines - Astronomers have confirmed Elias 2-24 b as the youngest exoplanet yet discovered, less than one million years old. The finding puts new pressure on models of giant planet formation and suggests some worlds form much faster than expected. Black holes obey one jet rule - A new study indicates black holes of vastly different sizes may launch jets at the same accretion threshold, around two percent of the Eddington limit. That idea pairs with simulations suggesting JWST's Little Red Dots are rapidly growing black holes in the early universe. Roman could become a decades-long observatory - NASA's Roman Space Telescope may have enough fuel to operate for up to twenty-two years, far beyond its original plan. The update reinforces the scientific value of long-lived flagship observatories and sustained space-based monitoring. Episode Transcript Launches accelerate orbital competition worldwide We'll start with launch activity, where the global tempo remains high. Russia's Space Forces successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b from Plesetsk with an undisclosed payload, likely tied to defense, surveillance, or communications. At the same time, China added nine more satellites to its state-backed SatNet broadband constellation and launched two SpaceTY radar imaging spacecraft, while the United States flew the classified USSF-259 mission on a Falcon 9. The big picture is clear: constellations, national security payloads, and persistent orbital coverage are now defining the launch market. Starship targets first revenue mission Next is SpaceX, which is targeting Starship Flight 14 as a major turning point. Unlike earlier missions focused mostly on testing, this flight is expected to carry around twenty production Starlink V3 satellites and attempt insertion into a stable low Earth orbit. If the mission succeeds, Starship will move one step closer to becoming not just a prototype, but a revenue-generating heavy-lift launcher with direct commercial utility. Regulatory approvals were still pending, but strategically this flight could mark the moment Starship begins transitioning from spectacle to service. Europe expands sovereign space infrastructure In Europe, the story is about sovereignty, security, and environmental monitoring. ESA has awarded architecture study contracts to ICEYE and Leonardo for a future Earth Observation Governmental Service, designed to keep sensitive imaging and data systems under European control. Meanwhile, the IRIS² secure connectivity program and its ARGUS mission are aimed at improving both protected communications and space domain awareness, including radiofrequency interference and orbital congestion tracking. Europe also boosted its climate toolkit with the launch of FLEX and Sentinel-3C, strengthening long-term monitoring of vegetation health, oceans, land surfaces, and atmospheric change. Plilliant Pluto and a fresh Moon scar Now to planetary science, where Pluto and the Moon both delivered surprises. A new analysis of New Horizons data suggests that liquid nitrogen may have flowed beneath and onto the surface of Pluto's Sputnik Planitia, implying that the dwarf planet is far more geologically active than once believed. On the Moon, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter identified the McG