Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: September 28–October 3, 2026: Starship Reaches Orbit on Flight 14, Guetlein Tells the Senate an Early Golden Dome Can Stand Up in 2028 as the CR Freezes 150 New Starts, and SpaceX Flies Three Rockets in 13 Hours
→
Starship makes orbit and deploys 26 V3s before an early deorbit, the Senate hears a $1 trillion gap in Golden Dome cost estimates, FY27 opens under a CR, and SpaceX lands four boosters in a day.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: September 21–26, 2026: The Space Force Buys GEO Inspectors and Flies a Fourth Starshield Batch in 43 Days, Starship's Orbital Debut Slips to September 28, and Italy Pays $5 Billion for Two Seats on the Moon
→
Northrop and True Anomaly win the GHOST-R reconnaissance satellites, USSF-385 caps a six-week Starshield surge, Starship waits on the FAA, and Isaacman says NASA is done building coalitions for their own sake.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: September 14–20, 2026: The U.S. Confirms It Has Weapons in Orbit, Schiess Warns a Funding Lapse Freezes a Tenth of the Space Force, and Starship's First Orbital Flight Slips to September 22
→
SecAF Meink ends the "space sanctuary" era on the record, the CSO puts a number on the October funding cliff, and Starship's orbital debut waits one more week.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 31–September 6, 2026: Roman Reaches Orbit Flawlessly, Continental Europe Gets Its First Orbital Launch, and Reuters Exposes the U.S.–China Hunter-Satellite Race
→
Roman soars to L2, Isar's Spectrum makes European launch history from Norway, hunter satellites go mainstream, and Kyiv absorbs seven nights of bombardment.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 24–29, 2026: SpaceX Unveils the $100 Billion Starbase Louisiana, the White House Orders 1,000 Launches a Year, and Trump Pins the Space Medal of Honor on the Artemis II Crew
→
SpaceX plans Earth's largest spaceport in Louisiana marshland, a new national policy targets 1,000 annual launches, and Artemis II gets its medals.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 17–21, 2026: China's LandSpace Lands a Booster and Breaks the Reusability Duopoly, SpaceX Logs Its 100th Launch by Mid-August, and Kyiv Loses 16 More as Air Defenses Run Dry
→
A Chinese startup sticks its first booster landing, SpaceX hits 100 launches two months early, and Zelenskyy says allied inaction on interceptors is costing lives.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 10–15, 2026: Golden Dome's Chief Warns the Program Stops in October, Space Command Demands Acknowledged Kinetic Fires, and China's Long March 7A Fails on a Four-Launch Monday
→
Guetlein says no FY27 funding means no Golden Dome, Whiting calls for acknowledged space fires, and China's launch surge stumbles at Wenchang.
"Everyone Owns a Piece, But No One Owns the Seam": Former NASA Technology Maturation Director Niki Werkheiser on the First 3D Printer in Space, the Infrastructure That Decides Whether We Stay on the Moon, and Why She Left NASA to Build MAVE[N]
→
NASA's Niki Werkheiser flew the first 3D printer in space. Her next mission: fixing the valley where space ideas go to die. (122)
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 3–8, 2026: Senate Confirms Schiess as Third Chief of Space Operations, Golden Dome Sets Its First Flight-Test Dates, and Russia's Kyiv Barrage Beats Ukraine's Air Defenses Entirely
→
Schiess takes the Space Force's helm, Golden Dome targets 2027 interceptor flight demos, and a Kyiv barrage that stopped zero missiles kills 17.
"Orbit Is a Global Resource, Not a Rich Man's Plaything": Black Arrow Space Technologies Founder Paul Williams on Four Decades in European Propulsion, Demisable Tanks, and the Seaborne Spacefleet Designed to Widen Access to Launch
→
In 1971 Britain reached orbit and walked away. Paul Williams spent 45 years in European propulsion learning why, and what it would take to go back.
Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: July 27–August 1, 2026: Pentagon Awards $135 Billion in Mega-Contracts in a Single Day, USSPACECOM Codifies the 2040 Space Fight, and Washington Tears Down Launch Licensing Barriers
→
A $58.6B Patriot deal and $76.6B in submarines land in one day, SWE 2040 defines the future space war, and launch regulation gets gutted.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sirotin Intelligence Releases "The Space War of 2040, in Plain English" – a Visual Briefing on U.S. Space Command's Space Warfighting Environment 2040 Report
→
Independent analysis translates USSPACECOM's 44-page space warfare outlook into a 19-slide briefing for readers outside the Pentagon.
!["Everyone Owns a Piece, But No One Owns the Seam": Former NASA Technology Maturation Director Niki Werkheiser on the First 3D Printer in Space, the Infrastructure That Decides Whether We Stay on the Moon, and Why She Left NASA to Build MAVE[N]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/88/f9/88f9d38e-dcbd-48ee-ae27-d74c2b4a70fe/content/images/size/w400/2026/08/Niki-Werkheiser-2.png)
