OUTERSPACE TODAYNEWS
← All editionsMonday, September 14, 2026 / Issue 076
[ OST Daily ]

SpaceX Flies Its 700th Falcon With the Final O3b mPOWER Trio for SES, Space Force Picks Texas for the Last DARC Radar Site, and Elveo Picks Apex for a 320-Satellite D2D Fleet

Outerspace Today6 min read / 2026-09-14
OST Daily September 14, 2026 — SpaceX crossed 700 Falcon launches on Sunday by delivering the last three Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites for SES, the Space Force named Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the preferred site for the third and final Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability station, and direct-to-device operator Elveo Mobile picked Apex Space to manufacture 320 satellites at a US Factory X facility using Lynk IP.
The daily pictureOST editorial illustration · 2026-09-14
[ 01 ]

The briefing

SpaceX crossed its 700th Falcon launch on Sunday by carrying the final three Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites to medium Earth orbit for SES from Cape Canaveral, completing a 13-satellite constellation that anchors SES's mobility, government, cloud, and enterprise business. The mission also marked the 400th orbital flight from Space Launch Complex 40 and reused booster B1080 on its 29th flight. For SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh, closing out mPOWER is the operational milestone the company has been building toward; for Boeing, it validates the 702X software-defined payload architecture it is also selling into Space Force WGS and ESS work.

The Space Force named Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the preferred location for the third and final site of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability network shared with Australia and the UK, with construction expected from 2027, civil works complete in 2029 and operational acceptance planned for 2030; Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess said the pick keeps a global deep-space sensing network on track. On the commercial side, Elveo Mobile, the merged Lynk Global and Omnispace direct-to-device operator, picked Apex Space's Factory X model to build its 320-satellite constellation at a dedicated US facility using Lynk IP.

At AFA, Lockheed Martin said Skunk Works will build four more Vectis stealth-drone prototypes, with the first tracking to fly by the end of 2027. Corning filed a $2 billion at-the-market equity program with Goldman Sachs and its stock fell 12.3% on the delayed tape, and TransDigm launched a $2.5 billion notes offering to refinance its 6.75% 2028 notes through a concurrent tender. Avio said first-half revenue rose 17.5% with two-thirds of new backlog from defense solid rocket motors, and EU Commissioner Andrius Kubilius proposed putting €65 billion, half of Brussels' 2028 to 2034 defence-and-space envelope, into space.

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The headlines

01

SpaceX flies its 700th Falcon, delivering the last O3b mPOWER trio for SES

SpaceX BA

SpaceX launched the O3b mPOWER-F mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral at 2:49 p.m. EDT on September 13, sending Boeing-built satellites F11, F12 and F13 to medium Earth orbit and completing the 13-satellite constellation SES uses for mobility, government, enterprise and cloud customers. The flight was SpaceX's 700th Falcon launch across 687 Falcon 9 and 13 Falcon Heavy missions and the 400th orbital launch from SLC-40, with booster B1080 flying its 29th time. SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh called it a defining milestone for the operator's medium Earth orbit (MEO) strategy.

02

Space Force picks Lake Kickapoo, Texas, for the third and final DARC deep-space radar site

NOC

The Space Force selected Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the preferred location for the third and final site of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) network, with construction expected to begin in 2027 after contract award and required approvals, civil construction complete in 2029 and operational acceptance planned for 2030. Chief of Space Operations Gen.

03

Elveo Mobile picks Apex Space's Factory X to build a 320-satellite D2D constellation

Satellite direct-to-device operator Elveo Mobile, the merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace, has selected Apex Space's Factory X production model to build its 320-satellite constellation at a dedicated US facility using Lynk IP. Apex will apply its Octopus operating system to produce the platforms at scale, and the companies said the first Apex-designed production facility will be in the United States before scaling further.

04

Kubilius proposes €65B for space in the EU's 2028 to 2034 budget, half of its defence-and-space envelope

European Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said in Paris that the Commission wants to allocate one-half of its proposed seven-year military and space budget of €131 billion ($152.3 billion) to space programmes, a €65 billion space budget for 2028 to 2034 that the European Parliament and the European Council of the 27 member states are still debating as part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework.

05

ESA's FLEX and Copernicus Sentinel-3C are encapsulated on Vega-C for a launch set for the night of September 14

ESA's Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) and the third Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite are encapsulated inside the fairing of a Vega-C rocket at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, with launch scheduled for the night of September 14 to 15 local time. Vega-C is to deploy Sentinel-3C first and then FLEX from the Vespa+R adapter; FLEX is designed to map the faint fluorescence of photosynthesising plants from 814 kilometres at 300-metre resolution, while Sentinel-3C is to join the two Sentinel-3 satellites already monitoring oceans, land, ice and atmosphere for Copernicus.

06

Lockheed quadruples Vectis stealth-drone prototype build ahead of 2027 flight

LMT

Lockheed Martin said at AFA that Skunk Works will build four additional Vectis prototypes on top of the one already in production, with the first Vectis still tracking to fly by the end of 2027. Skunk Works division head Ron Fehlen said the extra aircraft will accelerate testing and validate production processes and will be built and flown even faster than the initial vehicle. Lockheed describes Vectis as a Group 5 stealth drone designed to be reconfigured for air-to-air, air-to-ground, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, and is showcasing a full-scale model at the conference.

[ 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%

Corning shares fell 12.3% on the delayed public snapshot as the company disclosed a $2 billion at-the-market equity distribution program with Goldman Sachs.

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 2026-09-14 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 076 ]

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