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In today's signal, we start with GPS Jamming Worse Than Expected and also look at JWST maps WASP-121 b live. Plus the latest in Missions & Launches, Business, Policy & Defense, and Global Roundup.

A GPS receiver aboard Xona Space Systems' Pulsar-0 satellite has produced the first space-based map of signal jamming across Europe and the Middle East, and the scale surprised the team. In the worst-affected areas, GPS signal strength at 500 km altitude dropped from a typical 40 decibels to as little as 10, with disruption stretching continuously from France to the Pakistani border. That finding matters beyond navigation: satellites in low Earth orbit rely on GPS to determine their position, point antennas, and avoid collisions, meaning jamming concentrated over conflict zones can degrade operations for imaging, communications, and constellation satellites passing overhead. Xona is developing a 300-satellite Pulsar constellation designed to broadcast positioning signals 100 times stronger than GPS, with deployment planned for later this year.

Source: Space.com

Astronomers have identified BE Lyncis, a pulsating variable star about 330 light-years away, as likely orbiting an unseen compact object with a mass of at least 2.5 times the Sun's, making it a strong black hole candidate and potentially the closest one to Earth. The orbit is extraordinarily elongated, with an eccentricity of 0.9989, the most extreme reliably measured for any binary system. The researchers detected the companion not through X-rays or direct observation but by tracking tiny shifts in the star's pulsation timing caused by its changing distance from Earth as it orbits, a technique called the light-travel time effect. That method could become a practical tool for finding dormant black holes that don't actively pull material from a companion and therefore produce no obvious radiation signature. The paper, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters, is based on 39 years of brightness measurements combined with TESS photometry.

Source: arXiv astro-ph

EQT, a private equity firm making its first space-sector investment, is buying Berlin-based Exolaunch from its founder for an undisclosed sum, with the deal expected to close in Q4 2026. Exolaunch has arranged rideshare launches for more than 790 satellites across 47 missions, including every SpaceX Transporter and Bandwagon flight. The acquisition gives Exolaunch capital to secure its own dedicated launch capacity rather than relying on slots in other providers' manifests. The company has already purchased two Falcon 9 launches for its own rideshare missions in 2027 and 2028, and is in talks with additional providers. The move reflects broader industry anxiety about SpaceX potentially winding down or transitioning its Falcon 9 rideshare program toward Starship, leaving mid-sized constellation operators with limited options.

Source: SpaceNews

True Anomaly has declared Mission X-3 a success, confirming its Jackal spacecraft completed all objectives for uncooperative rendezvous and proximity operations, the most demanding flight test the company has run. The campaign validated closed-loop tracking of maneuvering targets during simultaneous vehicle maneuvers, propulsion commissioning, and GPS robustness against interference. Jackal is now fully commissioned, arriving at a useful moment: True Anomaly closed a $650M Series D in April and faces major Space Force contract deliveries over the next 12 to 18 months, including the VICTUS HAZE tactically responsive space mission alongside Rocket Lab and a role in the Golden Dome space-based missile defense layer. The company plans future demonstrations in GEO and cislunar orbits.

Source: Payload Space

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been field-testing ERNEST, a four-wheeled prototype rover designed to cover far greater distances than Curiosity or Perseverance. In a recent California desert campaign, the 4-foot rover drove 16 miles over 37 hours at speeds up to 0.6 mph, roughly ten times faster than current Mars rovers can safely navigate autonomously. Unlike the passive rocker-bogie suspension on every Mars rover since Sojourner, ERNEST uses active suspension with powered joints that let it wheel-walk, squirm, and climb obstacles. The JPL team trained its onboard decision-making using reinforcement learning in a high-fidelity simulator, and is now working toward a full-scale version twice ERNEST's size for a potential long-range lunar rover mission.

Source: NASA Press Releases

Upcoming Launches

Quantum Space has secured a Defense Department contract to build a propellant-transfer spacecraft for satellites in geostationary orbit, with delivery targeted for 2028. The contract is funded through the Pentagon's Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund, which backs technologies that reduce logistical burdens on military operations. Quantum's Ranger-based tanker will carry two fuel interfaces, one from Orbit Fab and one from Northrop Grumman, both adopted as Space Force standards, giving the vehicle a wider range of potential client satellites. The company has not yet flown the Ranger platform; its first demonstration mission has slipped from mid-2026 to the second quarter of 2027.

Source: SpaceNews

NASA has expanded its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program by selecting eight new vendors and extending data purchases from six existing holders, bringing the total roster to 14 companies. The program, structured as an indefinite-delivery contract with a $476 million ceiling running through November 2028, pulls in commercial imagery and sensor data to fill gaps between NASA's own Earth-observing satellites. New awardees include GHGSat, ICEYE US, Muon Space, Orbital Sidekick, OroraTech, Tomorrow.io, Wyvern, and Kuva US, covering capabilities from greenhouse gas monitoring to thermal and hyperspectral imaging. The expansion gives NASA denser, more frequent coverage of Earth without building additional government satellites.

Source: NASA Breaking News

Astronomers have detected a predicted but never-before-observed effect in exoplanet atmospheres: as the tidally locked ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121 b rotates during transit, its changing atmospheric chemistry becomes measurable. Using JWST's NIRSpec and NIRISS instruments, researchers watched CO absorption increase while water vapor absorption faded, a pattern consistent with the planet's eastern dayside running hotter than its western half. The temperature difference is high enough to thermally break apart water molecules on the hotter side while leaving CO intact. Beyond confirming the temperature asymmetry, the technique gives atmospheric scientists a new way to map chemical gradients across a planet's disk, going further than the morning-versus-evening comparisons that previous transit observations allowed.

Source: arXiv astro-ph

A study published in Nature Astronomy has detected gamma rays from a population of young protostars, establishing them as a previously unrecognized class of high-energy sources in the galaxy. The emission appears to come from protons accelerated inside protostellar jets colliding with surrounding molecular clouds, a process called pion decay. Earlier radio observations had suggested relativistic electrons were present, but direct evidence for proton acceleration had been missing. The researchers also found that cosmic-ray output scales with a protostar's total luminosity, linking particle acceleration to the mechanical power of the system. That connection gives astronomers a new way to study how young stars feed energy back into the gas and dust around them, which influences whether nearby material eventually forms new stars or planets.

Source: arXiv astro-ph

NASA has told Northrop Grumman subcontractor Paragon Space Development to stop work on the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, the pressurized crew module at the center of the Lunar Gateway program. Paragon held a contract worth more than $100 million to build HALO's life-support system. NASA paused Gateway development in March when it pivoted toward a lunar surface base rather than an orbital station. Northrop Grumman had lobbied to incorporate HALO into the new surface plans, but two sources told Ars Technica that outcome is now unlikely. NASA has awarded Northrop Grumman $1.1 billion total for HALO design, build, and integration.

Source: Ars Technica – Space

A study published on arXiv finds that adding a radio telescope on the Moon would extend the Event Horizon Telescope's baseline to roughly 380,000 km, reaching about 0.7 microarcsecond resolution at 230 GHz. The EHT is currently limited to imaging black hole shadows in M87 and Sgr A by Earth's diameter. With a 5-meter lunar antenna, three galaxies including M104 and NGC 1052 become detectable, with three more requiring dishes up to 40 meters. China's QueQiao-2 relay satellite already carries a prototype space VLBI instrument relevant to this concept.

Source: arXiv astro-ph

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