This Week in Space Tech: Oct. 20 to 26, 2025
Launch tempo stayed high, Europe moved toward consolidation, and lunar timelines stirred fresh debate.
Welcome to This Week in Space Tech. Below are the biggest launches, industry shifts, and program milestones that happened between Oct 20 and Oct 26.
Launchpad highlights
SpaceX flew back-to-back Starlink missions over the weekend, pushing its 2025 cadence past last year’s record with a Saturday liftoff from Vandenberg followed by a Sunday Florida flight. The Saturday launch alone set a new annual mark for Falcon 9 missions.
SpainSat NG-2 reached orbit on an expendable Falcon 9, a rare non-recovery flight to boost a 6.1-ton secure comsat for Spain and European GovSatCom, with deployment confirmed shortly after liftoff.
China launched a new communications technology test satellite on Long March-5, validating multi-band, high-rate links from Wenchang, Hainan, late on Oct 23 local time.
Big industry moves
Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales agreed to combine major space businesses, laying groundwork for a single European “space champion” subject to approvals, with an ownership split of roughly 35 percent for Airbus and 32.5 percent each for Leonardo and Thales.
ESA signaled it will assess the merger’s broader impact while its Council met in Paris during the week, advancing several cooperation items and noting Cyprus’ Associate Agreement on the path to Associate Membership.
Avio shareholders approved a €400 million capital increase, shoring up the Vega program’s finances and Europe’s launcher supply chain.
Programs and infrastructure
NASA completed stacking of the Artemis II vehicle in the VAB, placing Orion atop SLS and keeping the crewed lunar flyby targeted no earlier than early 2026.
NASA leadership said it will open Artemis III’s lunar-lander contract to competition, citing schedule pressure on Starship and inviting rival bids as the program recalibrates timing.
Startup and capital corner
Austria’s GATE Space raised about €10 million to scale propulsion systems and prep in-orbit demos, adding momentum for European space mobility startups.
Policy watch
FCC “Space Month” teed up for Oct 28 with items spanning direct-to-device, licensing, and orbital safety on the agenda published earlier; the community spent this week readying comments and analysis ahead of the vote.