A historic rocket retirement, three significant launches across late June and early July 2026, and Austria's procurement of a second military satellite illustrate how commercial and defense satellite infrastructure are expanding in tandem.
A morning Starlink deployment from Vandenberg and a late-night SiriusXM satellite launch from Cape Canaveral gave SpaceX two distinct commercial satcom missions on the same day, both conducted from U.S. Space Force installations.
Two Falcon 9 missions just four days apart—one completed June 24, one scheduled June 28—add roughly 48 broadband satellites to the Starlink constellation, illustrating the sustained launch tempo SpaceX maintains at the California military installation.
With a government subsidy already in place and a selection decision expected this month, Japan is pushing toward an independently operated, direct-to-device LEO communications network.
