Weekly Space Report 

Poland Bids to Host New ESA Dual-Use Technology Center

Poland has launched a high-level bid to establish a European Space Agency (ESA) center on its territory, focusing on dual-use technologies for both civilian and military applications. The initiative, announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, aims to capitalize on recent national space achievements. The new center would be a strategic move to affirm Poland as a major Central European hub for advanced space security and technology, transforming the country into a key producer and owner of critical space infrastructure within Europe. Negotiations are underway between Polish officials and the ESA Director General.

ESA Backs New European Launchers

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the preselection of five private companies to move forward in the highly anticipated European Launcher Challenge (ELC), a program designed to foster independent, competitive, and commercial European launch capabilities. The five firms chosen were Isar Aerospace (Germany), Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) (Germany), MaiaSpace (France), PLD Space (Spain), and Orbex (United Kingdom). The initiative aims to shift ESA’s strategy from traditional in-house launcher development toward a procurement-driven model, similar to NASA’s commercial programs. This competition is intended to build a robust ecosystem of European launch providers, reduce reliance on non-European rockets, and ensure Europe’s autonomy in space access. Companies may be awarded up to €169 million to provide launch services and to demonstrate enhanced capability by 2028.

Boeing Wins Major US Space Force Contract

Boeing was awarded a massive $2.8 billion contract by the U.S. Space Force to develop and produce the first two satellites for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (ESS) program. The ESS satellites will operate in geostationary orbit to replace the aging Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system. They are designed to provide continuous, secure, and resilient communications for the U.S. military’s nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) infrastructure, specifically engineered to withstand advanced electronic warfare and cyber threats. The first ESS satellite is scheduled for delivery by 2031. This award is a foundational part of the broader $12 billion ESS Space Segment acquisition aimed at modernizing strategic communications.

Planet-Forming 'Pebbles’ Spotted Around Infant Stars

Astronomers announced a new discovery, revealing key insights into how solar systems are born. Using the e-MERLIN radio telescope array, researchers detected centimeter-sized „pebbles” swirling in the protoplanetary discs around two young stars, DG Tau and HL Tau, located approximately 450 light-years from Earth. These pebbles are the essential raw ingredients that clump together to form planets. Their detection at distances equivalent to Neptune’s orbit in our own solar system suggests that the formation of large planetary families may be more common than previously thought. This discovery helps fill in a missing piece of the planet formation puzzle and sets the stage for future telescopes to map hundreds more planetary nurseries with unprecedented detail.