• ISRO will launch three new satellites—NVS-03, NVS-04, and NVS-05—by 2026 to restore full functionality to India’s regional navigation system, NavIC.

• Only four of the original IRNSS satellites remain operational, prompting efforts to reduce reliance on foreign systems and strengthen national navigation infrastructure.

• India and the U.S. will launch the jointly developed NISAR Earth observation satellite on July 30, offering open-access data for climate, agriculture, and disaster management worldwide.

• Space Insider tracks space tech news in real time and delivers trend-driven insights to help decision-makers invest, partner, and innovate in the space industry. See how our data can work for you.

PRESS RELEASE — India is taking steps to strengthen its satellite infrastructure on two fronts: expanding its indigenous navigation satellite system and launching a major Earth observation mission in collaboration with the United States.

According to a recent post from Indian Express, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch three additional satellites for its Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) by 2026. The first of these, NVS-03, is slated for launch by the end of this year, with NVS-04 and NVS-05 to follow at six-month intervals. The announcement was made in a written response to Parliament by Union Minister of State for Space Dr. Jitendra Singh.

IRNSS, also known operationally as NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), was originally envisioned as a seven-satellite constellation providing navigation coverage over India and a 1,500 km radius around it. While 11 satellites have been launched to date, only four are currently operational. Two satellites failed to reach their intended orbits, and one, NVS-02, launched in January during ISRO’s 100th mission, suffered a technical malfunction during orbit-raising and could not be placed in its designated slot.

The new batch of satellites will help restore full functionality to the NavIC system, which provides regional positioning services similar to GPS and Galileo but tailored for Indian strategic and civilian use. The move comes amid broader efforts to reduce reliance on foreign navigation systems and enhance resilience for national security, transportation, and disaster response.

Meanwhile, India is also preparing for the upcoming launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, scheduled for July 30 at 17:40 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. As reported by DD News, this joint initiative between NASA and ISRO is a milestone in international Earth observation cooperation and space technology transfer.

NISAR is the first Earth observation satellite co-developed by the two agencies, with a combined investment exceeding $1.5 billion. The 2,392-kg satellite will be deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit aboard the GSLV-F16 rocket—the first time India’s GSLV has been used for this orbital configuration. The satellite’s payload includes dual-frequency synthetic aperture radars: an L-band SAR supplied by NASA and an S-band SAR developed by ISRO, mounted on a 12-meter deployable antenna.

The mission will provide global revisit data every 12 days, enabling frequent observation of Earth’s land and ice surfaces. With an open-data policy, NISAR will make its data publicly available within 24 to 48 hours, and in near-real time during emergencies. This capability is expected to support applications in climate monitoring, agriculture, and disaster management across both developed and developing countries.

Describing the launch as a “defining moment in India-US space cooperation,” Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the broader impact of the mission. “NISAR will not only serve India and the United States but will also provide critical data for countries around the world,” he stated. The initiative is seen as a tangible example of India’s growing participation in global science efforts and its evolving role as a technology partner to the international community.

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Investment

• Iridium Communications reported strong Q2 2025 results with $216.9 million in revenue (up 8% YoY), highlighting continued growth in its satellite-based services across commercial and government markets. Space-relevant updates include the ramp-up of its direct-to-device satellite connectivity and expanding applications of its Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) service. The company’s U.S. Space Force EMSS contract, a $738.5M agreement for satellite airtime, continues to anchor Iridium’s government operations, which saw a 1% revenue increase despite subscriber decline. Engineering and support revenue surged 62%, driven by increased government activity.

• Collins Aerospace will expand its manufacturing and R&D operations in Richardson, Texas, creating over 570 new jobs and investing more than $57 million. Supported by a $3.7 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant, the expansion reinforces Texas’ position as a national leader in aerospace and defense innovation.

• Amazon has confirmed that its $139.5 million investment in Florida, including a 100,000-square-foot payload processing facility at Kennedy Space Center, is central to ramping up the launch cadence for Project Kuiper, its 3,232-satellite broadband constellation. The facility supports integration and fueling of Kuiper satellites for missions aboard rockets from ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin, enabling Amazon to process over 100 satellites per month and manage three simultaneous launch campaigns, helping relieve payload processing bottlenecks on the increasingly crowded Space Coast.

Partnerships

• Turkey’s first domestically built communications satellite, TÜRKSAT-6A, has completed its first year in geostationary orbit. Developer ASELSAN is now expanding its space technology collaboration with Azerbaijan, with an intention to co-develop the Azerspace-3 satellite through a technology transfer model that supports Azerbaijani engineers and lays the groundwork for an independent regional space industry.

• HII has been awarded a $74 million, five-year task order to provide modeling and simulation capabilities for the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, supporting the AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base. The work includes developing operational simulations for space unit training, machine-to-machine decision support tools, and readiness solutions for improving space asset survivability in contested multi-domain environments.

• The U.S. Space Force has released its first-ever International Partnership Strategy, outlining a long-term vision to strengthen global collaboration and integration with allies to maintain a secure, stable, and sustainable space domain. Emphasizing that “spacepower is the ultimate team sport,” the strategy sets three main goals: empowering allies as combat multipliers, maximizing information sharing, and integrating coalition forces across design, development, and operations.

Applications

• Researchers at UC Irvine have discovered a new state of quantum matter within a custom material called hafnium pentatelluride, achieved under extreme magnetic fields up to 70 Tesla. Notably, this quantum phase is highly radiation-resistant, making it a candidate for space-based electronics capable of withstanding deep space environments.

• NASA successfully launched the TRACERS mission on July 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg, deploying two satellites to study magnetic reconnection in Earth’s polar cusps, a process relevant to both aurora formation and geomagnetic storms. The $170M mission will collect over 3,000 data points in a year, advancing our understanding of space weather and its impact on systems like GPS and satellite operations.

• A Vega C rocket is set to launch tonight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying five satellites focused on Earth and climate monitoring. The mission, VV27, includes MicroCarb, a French-led satellite that will map global carbon dioxide sources and sinks with unprecedented precision. It also carries four CO3D satellites from CNES and Airbus, which will generate high-resolution 3D maps of Earth’s land surfaces using multispectral optical imaging.

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• Just days before the Senate was expected to vote on Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA, President Donald Trump has withdrawn the nomination, citing “a thorough review of prior associations.”
• Concerns reportedly surfaced over Isaacman’s ties to Elon Musk, who left the administration earlier this week.
• Isaacman responded to the withdrawal on X: “I have not flown my last mission—whatever form that may ultimately take–but I remain incredibly optimistic that humanity’s greatest spacefaring days lie ahead. I’ll always be grateful for this opportunity and cheering on our President and NASA as they lead us on the greatest adventure in human history”

Just days before the Senate was expected to vote on Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA, President Donald Trump has withdrawn the nomination, citing “a thorough review of prior associations.”

Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and commercial astronaut, had advanced through the Senate Commerce Committee in April and was on track for a confirmation vote next week. The White House confirmed the decision to pull the nomination on Saturday. Trump posted on Truth Social: “After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA. I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.”

White House spokesperson Liz Huston emphasized the administration’s priorities: “The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars. It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda.”

Concerns reportedly surfaced over Isaacman’s ties to Elon Musk, who left the administration earlier this week. Conservative commentator Laura Loomer raised the issue publicly, and Senator Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) voiced strong opposition to the nomination being derailed. During his committee hearing, Isaacman distanced himself from Musk’s views, pledging support for NASA’s lunar landing plans, which Musk has previously called a “distraction.”

Isaacman responded to the withdrawal on X, stating: “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump, the Senate and all those who supported me throughout this journey. […] The President, NASA and the American people deserve the very best — an Administrator ready to reorganize, rebuild and rally the best and brightest minds to deliver the world-changing headlines NASA was built to create.”

NASA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since Bill Nelson stepped down in January. Trump’s replacement nominee is expected soon.

• Sierra Space has been awarded a NASA contract under NextSTEP-2 Appendix R to study the use of its expandable space station technology for lunar surface logistics and mobility in support of NASA’s moon to Mars strategy.
• The study will explore applications of Sierra Space’s LIFE® habitat and related systems for functions including tunnel construction, goods tracking, trash management, and integrated habitation on the lunar surface.
• Building on recent hypervelocity impact tests and prior design work on lunar systems, Sierra Space aims to deliver scalable infrastructure solutions for sustained human presence on the Moon.

PRESS RELEASE –Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime that is building a platform in space to benefit and protect life on Earth, announced it has won a significant contract from NASA to study the use of Sierra Space’s expandable space station technology on the moon. The purpose of this contract will be to ultimately develop innovative solutions for lunar surface logistics and mobility supporting NASA’s moon to Mars Architecture.

The contract, under the NextSTEP-2 Appendix R for Lunar Logistics and Mobility Studies, positions Sierra Space at the forefront of verticals including logistical carriers; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; trash management; and integrated strategies. This includes everything from the potential use of Sierra Space’s inflatable LIFE^® habitat technology for tunnels around a moon base to tracking and storage of goods on the moon, as well as integration of the entire framework for habitation on the lunar surface.

“We believe our expandable softgoods space station technology can thrive in low-Earth orbit for commercial uses and for deep space exploration with NASA,” said Dr. Tom Marshburn, Chief Astronaut and Vice President of Human Factors Engineering at Sierra Space. “Sierra Space is able to leverage existing technologies to deliver robust and scalable solutions that support both near-term and long-term mission objectives on the moon. We’ve developed a versatile technology with our expandable habitation products that we feel supports NASA’s moon to Mars goals.”

Sierra Space has in-depth insight into NASA’s lunar plans through analysis and design work performed for lunar landers, lunar rovers, lunar habitats and ongoing work supporting providers of human landing systems, lunar terrain vehicles and lunar pressurized rovers. These are all key elements for designing an architecture for sustained habitation on the moon.

Notably in April, Sierra Space announced the completion of successful hypervelocity impact trials conducted at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to optimize the structural integrity of Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat space station technology. This included the use of NASA’s .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to replicate micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impacts to LIFE’s outer shield, to prepare the space station of use in orbit.

• A Nature study warns that necrosis — an unregulated form of cell death — poses a major biological risk for long-duration space missions, with implications for astronaut health and mission success.
• Researchers link necrosis to space-induced stressors like radiation and microgravity, which can damage cell membranes, disrupt calcium balance, and accelerate tissue breakdown.
• The study calls for new countermeasures targeting necrosis directly, highlighting its role in diseases like kidney failure and neurodegeneration, and urging its inclusion in astronaut health monitoring and space mission planning.

As the commercial space sector pushes beyond low Earth orbit, a growing body of research suggests that a biological process — long considered an inevitable consequence of disease and aging — may represent a far greater risk than previously understood.

A study published in Nature Oncogene repositions necrosis, the uncontrolled death of cells, as a central driver of biological failure. The findings have wide-ranging implications, from cancer treatment and chronic disease management to astronaut health on long-duration missions.

The authors argue that necrosis, unlike genetically programmed cell death, is a chaotic, unregulated process that not only accelerates disease but undermines resilience across the body, particularly under the extreme stresses of spaceflight.

A Biological Bottleneck for Deep Space

While most space industry experts worry about launch costs and supply chain issues, Carina Kern, CEO and Founder LinkGevity, and lead author of the paper, said that biology may turn out to be the ultimate bottleneck for long-duration missions.

For commercial and governmental space programs targeting the Moon, Mars and beyond, microgravity, radiation and oxidative stress, which are common conditions in space, can accelerate necrosis. These stressors collectively erode cell membranes, disrupt calcium balances and trigger uncontrolled chain reactions that destroy tissues.

“Spaceflight exacerbates the same stressors that cause necrosis on Earth, due to microgravity and cosmic radiation, but in a much shorter time frame,” Kern said in an email interview with Space Insider. “Without addressing necrosis directly, the risks to biological resilience in space will only grow as missions get longer and farther from Earth.”

The study points to spaceflight-induced analogs of aging: muscle wasting, kidney damage, and impaired immune function, all of which are linked to necrotic processes. Necrosis in space, then, is not just a health risk but a systemic threat to mission viability.

Why Necrosis Matters For Both The Earthbound And Spacebound

Necrosis differs fundamentally from apoptosis and other regulated forms of cell death, which occur through genetic programs and often serve beneficial roles like removing damaged or cancerous cells. Necrosis, by contrast, is not programmed. It is triggered when cells experience stress beyond their capacity to cope, such as from hypoxia, toxic exposure, or mechanical trauma.

In the body, this unprogrammed cell death leads to membrane rupture, inflammation and the release of toxic cellular contents. The study shows that necrosis acts as a “pathological node,” initiating positive feedback loops that exacerbate tissue damage, trigger immune responses, and cause chronic conditions.

These mechanisms are implicated in kidney disease, heart attacks, strokes, neurodegeneration and aggressive cancers. For spaceflight, the concern is that necrosis could be triggered by cumulative stressors unique to off-world environments — such as altered fluid dynamics, increased radiation exposure, and restricted access to countermeasures like exercise or antioxidant therapies.

Already Documented in Short-Term Space Missions

The study, which also includes contributors from NASA’s Space-H program and the European Space Agency’s life sciences advisory group, emphasizes that necrosis is already seen in accelerated form during short-term space missions. In experiments on astronauts, researchers observed early signs of renal dysfunction, muscle atrophy, and blood-brain barrier instability—conditions known to involve necrotic damage.

By framing necrosis as both a driver and a marker of systemic decline, the researchers argue that it could become a key indicator for astronaut readiness and resilience. More importantly, targeting necrosis directly — rather than waiting for downstream diseases to emerge — may offer a novel path to maintaining long-term health in space.

Because Necrosis is chaotic, unregulated and ultimately untreatable, scientists and doctors have long viewed is as a biological dead end, but things are changing, according to Kern.

“Here we demonstrate that necrosis is not merely a consequence of cellular damage but a fundamental driver of aging and age-related diseases,” Kern said. “In biology, identifying the right target is half the challenge. This work proposes necrosis as a powerful and actionable target for therapeutic intervention, thus paving the way for novel intervention into necrosis. Successful intervention into necrosis would represent a breakthrough on the scale of the discovery of antibiotics.”

She added that scientists are — as this study demonstrates — now beginning to understand the molecular mechanisms well enough to intervene.

“Spaceflight provides an amplified model of human aging and degeneration,” Kern said. “If we can learn to control necrosis in space (where it progresses faster and more dramatically), we’ll unlock new treatments not just for astronauts, but for cancer, kidney disease, neurodegeneration, and even aging on Earth.”

Methods and Conceptual Framework

The study synthesizes evidence from molecular biology, oncology, nephrology, and space medicine. It introduces the “Blueprint Theory,” which maps common pathological pathways, such as necrosis, as central failure points in aging and disease progression. The researchers use this framework to argue that targeting upstream triggers — like calcium overload and membrane destabilization — could disrupt the cycle of damage.

The approach includes reviewing experimental data from organ damage models, cancer progression studies, and space analog environments. While the research is primarily conceptual, it presents a roadmap for developing necrosis inhibitors as therapeutic countermeasures for aging, cancer, and space-induced degeneration.

Limitations and Open Questions

Despite the comprehensive framework, the study acknowledges limitations that could serve as targets for future research. For example, no direct inhibitor of necrosis currently exists. Most drug candidates have failed in trials, especially in cases like acute kidney injury or cardiac ischemia. Strategies to mitigate oxidative stress or calcium imbalances have had only modest effects.

Another limitation is the challenge of distinguishing necrosis from genetically programmed cell death forms like necroptosis or ferroptosis, which may share molecular signatures but differ in reversibility and treatment potential.

The paper stops short of presenting a working drug candidate but calls for a paradigm shift in how necrosis is approached in biomedicine.

Future Directions for the Space Industry

For the space sector, the most immediate implication is the need to monitor necrosis-related biomarkers during missions. This could influence crew selection, spacecraft design and the development of pharmaceuticals that mitigate cellular stress in orbit.

Long-term, if necrosis can be controlled, it could open the door to enhanced astronaut performance, extended space missions, and even biological preservation techniques like cryopreservation and organ transport—both critical for future space settlements.

The study also raises the possibility that microgravity research could help accelerate therapeutic development on Earth. Space, with its rapid-aging analogs and extreme stressors, might serve as an ideal environment to test necrosis-targeting strategies that would take decades to evaluate terrestrially.

The researchers involved in the study include Carina Kern, Bill Davis, Halime Karakoy, and Nikodem Grzesiak, all of LinkGevity; Joseph V. Bonventre, Harvard; Alexander W. Justin, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology; Kianoush Kashani, Mayo Clinic; Elizabeth Reynolds, Starburst Aerospace / NASA / Microsoft / Translational Research Institute for Space Health; Keith Siew, University College London; and Damian Miles Bailey, University of South Wales / Bexorg Inc / European Space Agency.

You can learn more about Space Biotech’s key players and emerging trends in Space Insider’s Space Biotech market map.

• A joint NASA-KAUST study has identified 26 previously unknown bacterial species in NASA cleanrooms, revealing microbes with genetic traits suited to survive extreme space-like conditions.
• The newly discovered bacteria exhibit genes for radiation resistance, DNA repair, and metabolic adaptability, posing both planetary protection risks and opportunities for biotechnology innovation.
• The findings help inform contamination control for future space missions and suggest potential applications in medicine and food preservation using stress-resistant microbial genes.

PRESS RELEASE — A new study by scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several institutes across India and Saudi Arabia has reported 26 novel bacterial species growing inside cleanrooms associated with NASA space missions. These unknown and newly described species carry genetic traits associated with resilience to extreme environments such as those found in space, highlighting the importance of rigorous contamination control to prevent unintentional microbial transfer during space missions. The study can be read in Microbiome.

Spacecraft are assembled in cleanrooms, which are highly specialized facilities engineered to maintain exceptionally low levels of dust and microorganisms. These controlled environments are extreme in their own right, with tightly regulated airflow, temperature, and humidity that inhibit microbial survival. However, some microorganisms – extremophiles – thrive in such environments. 

“Our study aimed to understand the risk of extremophiles being transferred in space missions and to identify which microorganisms might survive the harsh conditions of space. This effort is pivotal for monitoring the risk of microbial contamination and safeguarding against unintentional colonization of exploring planets,” explained King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Professor Alexandre Rosado, the lead KAUST researcher on the project and a contributor to several NASA working groups on planetary protection and space microbiology.  

The scientists did a comprehensive analysis of the microorganisms growing in the NASA cleanrooms, finding that many of the new species possessed genes that made them resilient to decontamination and radiation. Some of the discovered genes were associated with DNA repair, the detoxification of harmful molecules, and improved metabolism, all of which increased the species’ survivability. 

Moreover, these genes could lead to new biotechnologies that benefit food preservation and medicine. 

“These findings not only raise important consideration for planetary protection but also open the door for biotechnological innovation,” said Junia Schultz, a postdoctoral fellow at KAUST who was the first author of the study. “Space travel provides an opportunity to study microorganisms that possess relevant stress-resistance genes. The genes identified in these newly discovered bacterial species could be engineered for applications in medicine, food preservation, and other industries.”   

In addition, the study assists NASA with anticipating the type of bacteria astronauts will encounter in their space missions and in developing strategies to mitigate microbial contamination in cleanrooms.  

“KAUST’s collaboration with NASA represents a groundbreaking alliance driving the frontiers of space science and astrobiology,” said Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran, retired Senior Research Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a lead author of the study. “Together, we are unraveling the mysteries of microbes that withstand the extreme conditions of space —organisms with the potential to revolutionize the life sciences, bioengineering, and interplanetary exploration. This partnership not only supports Saudi Arabia’s ambitious vision through the Saudi Space Agency but also reinforces KAUST’s emergence as a global leader in microbial and space biology research.” 

• Florida Today is reporting a confidential aerospace company, identified as Project Beep, plans to invest $247 million to develop facilities near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, potentially creating 1,000 high-wage jobs.
• The venture proposes developing manufacturing, research, warehousing, and administrative infrastructure on a 25-acre parcel in Exploration Park, a space industry hub managed by NASA and Space Florida.
• Under a proposed 30-year lease, the company would fund construction and assume all operational costs, while improvements would become Space Florida property and be leased back to the company; the board is set to discuss the project on May 28.

Florida Today is reporting a confidential aerospace venture is proposing a $247 million investment near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center that could add 1,000 jobs to Florida’s expanding space economy.

Citing a Space Florida memo, Florida Today reports the venture is referred to as Project Beep and the undisclosed company plans develop manufacturing, R&D, warehousing, and administrative facilities on a leased 25-acre site within Exploration Park, a NASA and Space Florida-run campus on Merritt Island. The site is already home to major tenants like Blue Origin and Airbus U.S. Space & Defense.

The deal involves a 30-year lease in which the company will fund the construction and handle all repair, operational, and maintenance costs, according to Florida Today. Infrastructure improvements would become property of Space Florida and leased back to the company.

If approved, the development would continue a significant trend of aerospace growth in Brevard County. From 2017 to 2023, employment in the region’s aerospace and aviation sectors nearly doubled, increasing from 7,847 to 14,828 workers, according to Florida Today, citing Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast. Project Beep could add another 1,000 high-wage jobs.

Space Florida’s board is scheduled to discuss the lease agreement during a teleconference on May 28.