Weekly Intel: SpaceX Hits 250 Launches, AST SpaceMobile Goes Live, New Lunar Race Heats Up
This week's most important developments across launch, communications, and lunar exploration — and what they signal for the space economy.
Launch
SpaceX surpassed 250 orbital launches in a trailing 12-month window this week with a Starlink mission from Vandenberg. For context, the entire world launched ~250 rockets in 2024. SpaceX alone now matches that. The cost-per-kg implications continue to cascade through the industry — every satellite operator is re-evaluating their constellation economics.
Relativity Space's Terran R completed a full-duration second stage test fire at Stennis Space Center. This is the last major test milestone before their first launch attempt. If Terran R works, it enters a medium-lift market that's currently ULA and Falcon 9 territory.
Communications
AST SpaceMobile activated commercial service in 12 markets this week through partnerships with local carriers. Their direct-to-smartphone approach is the first to achieve commercial scale. The stock moved 40% on the news. Key question: can they maintain connection quality as user count scales?
Lunar
Three lunar landers are now targeting Q3 2026 launch windows:
This is the densest lunar launch calendar since Apollo. The bottleneck is now the lunar delivery infrastructure — whoever proves reliable first will lock in NASA CLPS task orders for the next decade.
Signal We're Watching
Blue Origin filed 23 new FCC experimental licenses this week, all related to Ka-band frequencies. This is consistent with a satellite constellation play that hasn't been publicly announced. More details in our Signals feed.