The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) increased Lockheed Martin’s contract for the Blackjack program by US $25.3 million, the agency announced. The Blackjack project is aimed at validating high-speed military communication, navigation and missile warning capabilities of small satellites.

Yahsat has chosen SpaceX to launch its Airbus Defence and Space-built Thuraya 4-NGS next-generation mobile connectivity satellite, the companies announced. The terms of the contract have not been disclosed by either side. Yahsat selected Airbus to develop Thuraya 4-NGS last year. The preliminary design review in June found that the development of the satellite was on schedule.

The smoke alarm went off yesterday in Russia's segment of the ISS while astronauts smelled burning plastic on board, Roscosmos and NASA said. The news comes after small cracks have been found in the Zarya module just last month. The smoke detector was triggered during automatic battery charging, Roscosmos said.

The UK branch of D-Orbit signed a €2,197M contract with ESA for phase 1 of the development and in-orbit validation of a “Deorbit Kit”, D-Orbit said. The agreement is part of ESA’s Space Safety Programme. The decommissioning kit is a self-contained suite of equipment that can be used with space vehicles of any size.

Orolia is paid €70 million to provide atomic clocks for the first 12 satellites of the Galileo Second Generation System (G2S), Orolia announced. The funding comes in two contracts, one with ESA and the other with Leonardo. The news comes after the European Commission and ESA chose Orolia’s Skydel GNSS signal simulation core engine for the G2S radiofrequency constellation simulator in May.

Virgin Orbit is planning to expand its participation in the military by competing for tactically responsive launch contracts with Space Force, SpaceNews reports. They are trying to prove that rockets launched from airplanes in flight can be useful for national security.

Masten Space Systems was awarded a Phase II SBIR contract to develop and test a lunar positioning and navigation network prototype, Masten said. The GPS-like solution is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX program. The network will boost cislunar security, improve landing accuracy and hazard avoidance by providing location tracking for spacecraft and astronauts on the lunar surface.

Investigation uncovered that Firefly Aerospace’s first Alpha rocket had failed due to the shutting down of one of its first-stage engines, Firefly said. The launch took place at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 2nd September. The engine shut down just a few seconds after lift-off making the rocket tumble out of control two and a half minutes into the flight.

The Chang’e-5 orbiter module is currently on its way back to the Moon following deep space tests according to reports. Last year, the orbiter delivered a return module containing 1.731 kg of lunar samples to Earth before setting off to deep space. Chang’e-5 orbiter was in orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) where it carried out orbit control tests and observations.

The U.S. Space Force and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force reached an agreement on 27th August to join South Korea’s air force in U.S. Space Force-led military drills, ROK Air Force said. The aim is to reinforce the U.S. Space Force’s defence capabilities in outer space.