OUTERSPACE TODAYNEWS
← All editionsThursday, October 08, 2026 / Issue 094
[ OST Daily ]

Apollo and Banks Line Up Financing for SpaceX's $40B Nvidia Chip Purchase, Musk Accuses Indian 'Oligarchs' of Blocking Starlink, and L3Harris Puts $100M Into Canoga Park

Outerspace Today5 min read / 2026-10-08
OST Daily October 8, 2026 — Apollo and several banks are in talks to finance SpaceX's $40 billion purchase of Nvidia chips, mostly through the investment-grade bond market; Elon Musk accused unnamed oligarchs of keeping Starlink out of India and the government called the claim baseless; and L3Harris is spending more than $100 million to expand its Canoga Park liquid propulsion plant.
The daily pictureOST editorial illustration · 2026-10-08
[ 01 ]

The briefing

Apollo and several banks are in talks with SpaceX to help finance its purchase of $40 billion of Nvidia graphics processing units, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The deal would rely mainly on the investment-grade bond market, where SpaceX raised $25 billion two weeks after its June initial public offering, and would likely use the chips as collateral. AI-related bonds have sold off since then and credit spreads have widened, and investors are asking for higher yields on new AI debt.

Elon Musk said Starlink is being kept out of India by unnamed oligarchs protecting their hold on consumers, and asked whether Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani is the real boss of India. India's Ministry of Communications called the suggestion of discrimination baseless and misconceived, and said Starlink and two other satellite operators are at broadly the same stage, with security assessments to finish before they can seek spectrum.

L3Harris is spending more than $100 million to add almost 35,000 square feet at its Canoga Park liquid propulsion site in Los Angeles, which builds THAAD propulsion and the RS-25 engines for NASA's Space Launch System. NASA and SpaceX set the 35th Dragon cargo flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for October 13 with the final set of roll-out solar arrays. Gilat booked more than $10 million of SkyEdge IV orders, Xona has six Pulsar navigation satellites ready for a launch this month, and South Korea's Nuri rocket flew for the fifth time with 15 satellites.

[ 02 / 6 items ]

The headlines

01

Apollo and banks are in talks to finance SpaceX's $40B purchase of Nvidia chips

SpaceX

Apollo and several banks are in discussions with SpaceX to help finance the company's purchase of $40 billion of Nvidia graphics processing units, according to a person familiar with the talks. The deal would rely mainly on the investment-grade debt market and would likely use the chips as collateral, with Apollo playing a leading role. SpaceX raised $25 billion in bonds two weeks after its initial public offering in mid-June; since then AI-related bonds have sold off and credit spreads have widened. Apollo declined to comment.

02

Musk accuses Indian 'oligarchs' of blocking Starlink, and New Delhi calls the claim baseless

SpaceX

Elon Musk said on X on Wednesday that Starlink is being blocked in India by unnamed oligarchs protecting what he called a "monopolistic chokehold" on consumers, and on Thursday asked whether Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani is "the real boss of India." India's Ministry of Communications called suggestions that its rules are unfair or discriminatory "baseless and misconceived," and said Starlink and two other satellite operators that hold licenses are at broadly the same regulatory stage, with security assessments to complete before they can seek spectrum. Jio and Airtel together hold more than 80% of India's telecom market.

03

L3Harris commits more than $100M to expand Canoga Park liquid propulsion

LHX

L3Harris is spending more than $100 million of its own money to expand its Canoga Park site in Los Angeles, adding almost 35,000 square feet of manufacturing and assembly space for liquid propulsion, the site's largest expansion in more than a decade. Scott Alexander, president of propulsion systems, said the company is investing across its sites to raise production capacity.

04

NASA and SpaceX target October 13 for the 35th Dragon cargo flight, with the station's final roll-out solar arrays

SpaceX

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 6:33 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 13, for the 35th SpaceX commercial resupply mission, a Dragon launching on a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral with more than 6,300 pounds of cargo. The load includes the final set of the station's Roll-Out Solar Arrays, hardware to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, 3D heart tissue models and brain organoids. Dragon is to dock autonomously at the Harmony module's space-facing port at about 11 a.m. on October 15 and stay until mid-November.

05

Xona readies six Pulsar navigation satellites for Bandwagon-5 and plans the next 250

SpaceX

Xona Space Systems has six Pulsar navigation satellites slated to fly on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 mission this month, with initial operations set to begin in early 2027, and is preparing to build the next 250, said Catalin Cadariu, who oversees manufacturing, supply chain and operations. The batch includes Xona's first satellites designed and built in-house, and the next four in production are about 10% lighter. The company holds FCC approval, is aiming to build multiple satellites a week by the end of 2027 and is adding 35,000 square feet of manufacturing and mission operations space in Montreal.

06

South Korea's Nuri rocket flies for the fifth time with 15 satellites

South Korea launched its three-stage Nuri rocket for the fifth time at 11:25 p.m. EDT on October 6 from the Naro Space Center, carrying 15 satellites to orbit. One of them, SD-1Sat, is the first satellite from Korean startup Space & Bean, a 3U CubeSat testing an enclosure meant to protect commercial off-the-shelf components from radiation, heat and vibration; it also carries ArbaEdge, a module from ArbaLabs that checks whether an onboard AI model performed as expected and signs a record of its output.

[ 03 / +11 / -33 ]

Market pulse

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

Gainers+11
Decliners-33
Big mover SATL-8.5%

PKE: pke20261008_8k.htm false 0000076267 0000076267 2026-10-08 2026-10-08 UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant.

AssetSnapshotMoveTrend
PKEPark Aerospace$27.22+3.2%
RBCRBC Bearings$510.00+1.3%
TDGTransDigm$1,119.94+1.1%
SATLSatellogic$4.71-8.5%
PLPlanet Labs$15.96-7.1%
SIDUSidus Space$1.44-7.1%
[ 04 / 3 tracked ]

Launch watch

Schedule and countdowns as recorded in the 2026-10-08 edition.

Zhuque-2E

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

[ 05 / 3 in window ]

Filings

[ End of Issue 094 ]

Back to the bigger picture.

Explore the archive →