Starcloud Raises $250M for Orbital Data Centers, Trump's Transportation Policy Calls for a New Heavy-Lift Spaceport, China Stands Down Chang'e 7

President Trump signed a new National Space Transportation Policy on Thursday calling for U.S. launch and reentry ranges to support more than 1,000 flights a year by 2030, up from 176 orbital attempts from U.S. soil last year. The memorandum, which replaces the 2013 Obama-era policy, directs the Pentagon and NASA to coordinate infrastructure investments at Cape Canaveral, Kennedy, Vandenberg and Wallops, tells the Interior Department to identify federal land for an additional heavy-lift spaceport, and orders regular publication of range schedules that today stay private until days before flight.

Orbital data-center startup Starcloud put a price on that demand, adding a $250 million extension to its March Series A at a $2.3 billion valuation and is racing to lock in launch capacity before SpaceX phases out Falcon 9 in 2028. CEO Philip Johnston said the company plans to fly two 8 kW Starcloud-2 compute satellites on rideshare in 2027 and is designing its larger Starcloud-3 for Starship, even as Elon Musk pushed the next Starship reflight to late 2026 or early 2027. Starcloud has already filed with the FCC to operate up to 88,000 spacecraft.

On the other side of the Pacific, China stood down its Chang'e 7 lunar south pole mission, saying the flight "does not meet the conditions for launch" during the current window at Wenchang and that another suitable opportunity may not open until February or March 2027. The delay, complicated by Typhoon Narra and by the 90-day lunar orbit reconnaissance built into the mission plan, cedes near-term visibility at Shackleton Crater and the Moon's permanently shadowed cold traps to NASA's Artemis program.