Space digest — Oct 25, 2026
Top line: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have jointly asked the FCC to strip 290 MHz of mid-band spectrum out of the plan that lets satellites serve ordinary phones — the first coordinated carrier counterattack against SpaceX's direct-to-cell build-out, landing days before the commission's planned October 29 vote on a direct-to-device spectrum auction. Separately, new reporting details how NASA plans to fly two rival Moon landers — Starship and Blue Moon — on the same 2028 Artemis IV mission.
1. US carriers ask the FCC to cut 290 MHz from the satellite spectrum plan
What happened: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have asked the FCC to drop 290 MHz of 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz spectrum from its supplemental coverage from space plan, Shattered reports in coverage published in the early hours of October 25, Eastern. That plan is the regulatory framework that lets satellite operators transmit directly to standard phones.
What's genuinely new: The three largest US mobile carriers are now on the docket as coordinated opposition, a material pushback against a spectrum plan that had so far only moved in SpaceX's favor — the FCC cleared the Starlink Mobile application on October 6 (up to 15,000 next-generation satellites, plus a waiver to serve phones without going through a traditional wireless carrier), and SpaceX separately bought roughly $8 billion of low-band spectrum that Musk called the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle. Mid-band 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz holdings are the workhorse frequencies for carrier 5G ground networks. The filing lands four days before the FCC's scheduled October 29 vote on a direct-to-device spectrum auction.
Watch: The October 29 FCC vote; whether the FCC entertains the carve-out or the carriers escalate (litigation-grade filings, congressional letters); and how the outcome reshapes the Starlink Mobile service plan, whose FAA environmental review is already docketed separately.
Sources Shattered
2. NASA's two-lander Artemis IV plan: Starship and Blue Moon work differently on the same mission
What happened: NASA's plan to fly both landers on Artemis IV — the Moon landing mission targeted for 2028 — contains major changes, and SpaceX and Blue Origin will use different operational methods for Starship and Blue Moon during that single mission, Starlust reports on October 25.
What's genuinely new: The operational distinction between the two landers within one mission — not just that both fly, but how their roles differ in the revised profile. It lands against a revised campaign in which NASA has said it will not choose between the SpaceX and Blue Origin landers until Earth-orbit test results are in (reported October 24), with uncrewed lunar landings by both targeted for early 2028, and the broader Apollo-urgency frame of a Moon base and landings "in as little as two years" that the wire coverage carried October 24.
Watch: The specifics of each lander's operational method as NASA details them; whether the 2028 Artemis IV landing target survives its own test schedule; and the uncrewed landing demonstrations that gate the final selection.
Sources Starlust
Brief
- Booster 22 static fire is set. NASASpaceflight reports (in a subscribers-only post) that Starship Flight 15's Booster 22 static fire at Pad 2 is now set, converting the "potential weekend test" into a confirmed scheduled step — Booster 22 arrived at the pad on October 24 and was lifted onto the mount the same day, ahead of Flight 15's targeted November 8 launch from Starbase, which is planned as the first attempt to catch both stages.
- Neutron still slipping in circulation. An MSN-circulated piece says Rocket Lab postponed Neutron's launch again, but it names no new date or cause beyond what is already public — the first flight was officially moved into 2027 on October 14–15 after the carbon-fibre tank-dome faults, with Q1 2027 floated. No original outlet is identified in the syndication, so read it as an echo rather than a report.
- Musk against Bezos, again. Xataka and an MSN relay carry Musk's claim that even rivals' future plans lag Starship, plus figures the relays attribute to SpaceX: Starlink past 10,000 satellites in orbit and a $14.6 billion figure that matches the third-quarter revenue SpaceX reported on October 20 (with AI infrastructure the majority of it). Note the orbit-with-26-satellites milestone the Xataka piece touts is the September Starship flight that reached orbit and deployed all 26 production Starlink V3s — not a new flight. Both items are relay-grade; the spat itself is color, not news.
- Artemis III recapped. A Geo.tv explainer describes Artemis III as a two-week mission planned for summer 2027 in which four astronauts practice docking with experimental lunar landers — a recap of NASA's stated target from the October 23 Kennedy briefing, adding no new schedule fact.
Dropped
- "Should you ignore the SpaceX hype and buy Rocket Lab instead?" (MSN): investing commentary restating Rocket Lab's role as the top SpaceX launch competitor; no new fact, and its subject matter (the Neutron slip, the Iridium deal runway) is already carried in the Rocket Lab storyline.
- NASASpaceflight repost of Max Evans ("He travels the fastest who travels alone"): a Kipling quote repost with no news content.