OUTERSPACE TODAYNEWS
← All editionsFriday, September 11, 2026 / Issue 075
[ OST Daily ]

ESA Awards The Exploration Company €760M for Nyx Cargo, Airbus and Unseenlabs Win France's CASSIOPÉE SIGINT Contract, and Tomorrow.io Names York for Its $187M DeepSky Build

Outerspace Today5 min read / 2026-09-11
OST Daily September 11, 2026 — The European Space Agency handed The Exploration Company €760 million to bring its Nyx cargo capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2029, France's DGA picked Airbus and Unseenlabs to build the CASSIOPÉE signals-intelligence satellites succeeding CERES, and Tomorrow.io named York Space Systems as the customer behind a $187 million contract to build its DeepSky weather constellation.
The daily pictureOST editorial illustration · 2026-09-11
[ 01 ]

The briefing

The European Space Agency committed €760 million to The Exploration Company on September 10 for the second phase of its ALADDIN cargo-return programme, funding an initial Nyx demonstration to the International Space Station with options for two follow-on flights. ESA will cover 60% of the €310 million demonstration mission, with private capital covering the balance after the startup's $450 million Series C. Nyx is due to launch on Ariane 6 and dock with the ISS no later than the second quarter of 2029, and ESA is continuing a parallel Phase 2 process with Thales Alenia Space.

In Paris, France's Directorate-General for Armament awarded the CASSIOPÉE contract to Airbus Defence and Space as prime with Unseenlabs as co-contractor. Airbus will integrate the system on its S250 platform and provide the ground segment and control centre; Unseenlabs contributes mission planning, on-board processing and payload work. CASSIOPÉE is scheduled to succeed the CERES constellation by 2032 as the sovereign core of the wider CELESTE electromagnetic-intelligence programme. Also in Paris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said competition policy has been updated to favour consolidations such as the proposed Thales-Airbus-Leonardo space merger, expected to close in mid-2027.

Tomorrow.io identified York Space Systems as the customer behind a disclosed $187 million contract, tapping York's M-Class platform to build the initial phase of its second-generation DeepSky weather constellation. Elsewhere at the Paris summit, Eutelsat awarded Aerospacelab, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus IRIS² low Earth orbit (LEO) contracts worth more than €5.4 billion, and Amazon's six additional Ariane 64 bookings lifted its Arianespace manifest to 24 at a summit SpaceX and Blue Origin reportedly skipped after the Trump administration discouraged attendance. Lockheed Martin secured $114 million in Space Force task orders to modernize the GPS ground segment for GPS IIIF.

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The headlines

01

ESA awards The Exploration Company €760M ALADDIN cargo contract for Nyx ISS demo

The European Space Agency awarded The Exploration Company a €760 million Phase 2 ALADDIN contract on September 10 covering a Nyx demonstration mission to the ISS plus options for two additional service flights. ESA will fund 60% of the €310 million demonstration mission, with the startup's private backers covering the rest after its $450 million Series C. Nyx will fly on Ariane 6 and must dock with the ISS no later than the second quarter of 2029, before the station retires; ESA is continuing a parallel Phase 2 process with Thales Alenia Space.

02

Airbus and Unseenlabs win France's CASSIOPÉE SIGINT satellite contract

AIR

France's Directorate-General for Armament awarded the CASSIOPÉE contract to Airbus Defence and Space as prime with Unseenlabs as co-contractor, launching the renewal of France's space-based signals-intelligence capability. Airbus will act as system integrator and supply satellites based on its latest-generation S250 platform, most recently used for CO3D, plus the ground segment and control centre. Unseenlabs contributes mission planning, on-board and ground processing, and an innovative payload. CASSIOPÉE is scheduled to succeed the CERES constellation by 2032 as the core of the wider CELESTE programme.

03

Tomorrow.io names York Space Systems for $187M DeepSky weather constellation build

YSS

Tomorrow.io identified York Space Systems as the customer behind a $187 million contract York disclosed earlier this year, covering the initial phase of Tomorrow.io's second-generation DeepSky weather constellation. York will build the satellites on its M-Class platform, with the initial phase described as dozens of spacecraft. DeepSky will carry second-generation microwave sounders, GNSS radio occultation and reflectometry, infrared and visible imagers, and precipitation radar, layered on top of Tomorrow.io's existing 11 operational Gen-1 sounders and two Ka-band radar pathfinders.

04

Amazon's six-launch Ariane 64 order lifts its Arianespace bookings to 24 as SpaceX and Blue Origin skip Paris

SpaceX

Amazon ordered six additional Ariane 64 launches from Arianespace for its Amazon Leo broadband constellation, taking its total bookings with the European provider to 24, Arianespace said at the International Space Summit; CEO David Cavaillolès said long-term commitments from companies like Amazon give Europe the capabilities to deploy critical space infrastructure.

05

Aerospacelab, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus share more than €5.4B in IRIS² LEO awards

AIR HO

Eutelsat awarded Aerospacelab and Thales Alenia Space IRIS² contracts expected to total more than €5.4 billion, with Airbus separately selected to build and integrate the first 66 satellites of the constellation's low Earth orbit segment. The contracts cover satellite platforms and communications payloads for all 330 spacecraft of the LEO layer of the European Union's sovereign secure-communications constellation.

06

ESA moves ahead with Envision Venus radar without NASA after budget cuts

The European Space Agency is proceeding "full steam ahead" with its Envision Venus orbiter after concluding NASA is unlikely to deliver the U.S.-built synthetic-aperture radar promised under a 2024 memorandum. ESA has issued contracts to UK and Italian industrial teams to develop a European radar with capabilities similar to the JPL-built payload NASA had planned. Envision, previously targeted for a 2031 Ariane 6 launch, will map the Venusian surface at ten times the resolution of NASA's 1990s Magellan mission.

[ 03 / +15 / -28 ]

Market pulse

Archived snapshot from this edition. Prices and moves are not live.

Gainers+15
Decliners-28
Big mover GLW-12.3%
AssetSnapshotMoveTrend
FLYFirefly Aerospace$22.14+4.8%
SATLSatellogic$4.97+3.8%
SPCEVirgin Galactic$3.025+3.6%
GLWCorning$145.99-12.3%
APHAmphenol$79.36-5.4%
ATROAstronics$70.31-5.0%
[ 04 / 6 tracked ]

Launch watch

Schedule and countdowns as recorded in the 2026-09-11 edition.

Zhuque-2E Block 2

LandSpace · Zhuque-2E Block 2 · Launch Area 96A · Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

Gravity-1

Orienspace Technology · Gravity-1 · Yellow Sea (launch location 5) · Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

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Filings

[ End of Issue 075 ]

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