The week’s events across North America and Europe underscore the dynamic interplay between government, industry, and scientific communities, as they navigate evolving space policies and technological advancements.
North America
Launches and Missions
SpaceX executed two Starlink missions during the week, maintaining cadence from both Florida and California. After a Saturday scrub, a Falcon 9 lifted off on Sunday with a batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, followed later in the week by another Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying 28 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit. Both flights contributed to ongoing expansion and replenishment of the broadband constellation, according to mission coverage and launch logs. Spaceflight Now, Spaceflight Now, The Independent (Santa Barbara).
Blue Origin stood down from launching NASA’s ESCAPADE Mars mission on New Glenn due to poor weather at Cape Canaveral, a delay that followed a scrub the preceding day. The company and NASA cited conditions that violated safety criteria, and teams indicated they would target a new opportunity after the window. Spaceflight Now.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V experienced a second scrub for the ViaSat-3 F2 mission because of an issue with a liquid oxygen vent valve on the booster. ULA reported that ground teams would address the hardware and coordinate a new attempt with range authorities. Spaceflight Now.
Defense and Security
The U.S. Air Force conducted a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The vehicle, part of a routine test series, flew across the Pacific to the Reagan Test Site, with reporting noting the mission’s role in validating system reliability and command-and-control pathways. Public descriptions identify the event as Glory Trip 254. Space.com, Army Recognition, The Independent (Santa Barbara).
Government and Policy
A range of policy and industry forums took place across the week, including space economy, military space, and exploration-focused gatherings in the United States and Europe. SpacePolicyOnline’s weekly outlook highlighted Global MilSatCom in London, the Joint Space Operations Summit in National Harbor, and the Space Economy Summit in Orlando, along with analysis-group meetings on planetary science. The listing underscored sustained attention to secure communications, resilience, and the commercial space marketplace during the period. SpacePolicyOnline, SpacePolicyOnline Events Calendar.
Europe
Science and Exploration
The European Space Agency spotlighted research explaining “slope streaks” on Mars as dynamic surface features produced primarily by dust activity, updating interpretations of their formation and timescales. The agency’s summary and associated visualization placed the phenomenon in the context of ongoing Mars surface change studies and orbital monitoring campaigns. ESA, ESA.
Space Infrastructure and Technology
ESA reported that its HOBI-WAN cubesat – intended to demonstrate optical inter-satellite links – completed pre-launch activities at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The agency said the mission will test laser communications between a cubesat and a larger satellite platform to help mature in-orbit networking capabilities. ESA.
Government and Policy
SpacePolicyOnline’s schedule included the Space Economy Summit in Orlando and the London Global MilSatCom conference, both of which drew significant European industry and institutional participation. The week also included a virtual HydroGNSS pre-launch briefing on Tuesday, focusing on ESA’s climate-oriented small satellite to measure soil moisture and freeze–thaw using reflected signals. SpacePolicyOnline Events Calendar, ESA (HydroGNSS briefing listing via SpacePolicyOnline).
Asia
Launches and Missions
India’s space agency launched CMS-03 (GSAT-20), a high-throughput communications satellite, aboard a Falcon 9 from Florida in the early hours of November 2 local time in India. ISRO stated that the spacecraft was injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit and will augment capacity for broadband and communications services across the subcontinent following orbit-raising and in-orbit testing. ISRO.
Rocket Lab launched the “Nation God Navigates” mission from New Zealand, deploying a radar Earth-observation satellite for Japanese operator iQPS. The payload, part of iQPS’s SAR constellation build-out, is designed to deliver high-resolution imaging with short revisit times for maritime and land use monitoring. Space.com, iQPS (background via Space.com).
China’s human spaceflight program reported operational impacts from a debris strike to the Tiangong station’s Mengtian module, prompting delay of Shenzhou-20’s return to permit additional analysis and ensure safe conditions. Reporting indicated crew health remained normal and that station systems were stable during the inspection process. Reuters.
Commercial Space and Industry Developments
Chinese small launcher firm Galactic Energy confirmed its Ceres-1 failure from late October and outlined an investigation timeframe while signaling plans to resume flights. The company’s statements during the week, covered by international outlets, emphasized return-to-flight objectives, with Chinese domestic demand continuing to support smallsat launch services. Reuters.
Government and Policy
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the wider Japanese space community featured prominently at scientific events during the period, including “Hayabusa 2025” preparatory communications and ISAS updates spanning sample science and international cooperation. Public materials published during the week included outreach on sample science, institutional collaborations, and cross-regional partnerships. ISAS/JAXA (Pick Up page), ISAS/JAXA Events.
Middle East
Space Infrastructure and Technology
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre reported integration progress on the Rashid 2 lunar rover, noting assembly milestones and verification activities in the United Arab Emirates. The update, carried by the Emirates News Agency, outlined readiness steps ahead of environmental testing and mission assignment. WAM (Emirates News Agency).
Government and Policy
Regional coverage during the week highlighted ongoing investments in lunar and planetary exploration infrastructure and public-private collaboration. The Emirates News Agency’s update on Rashid 2 underscored the national program’s continuity and the role of domestic integration and test facilities for small robotic exploration payloads. WAM (Emirates News Agency).
Africa
Science and Exploration
South Africa’s space agency reported strong geomagnetic storm conditions affecting satellite navigation performance and related technologies during the week. SANSA’s notice emphasized monitoring and public communication for GNSS users while encouraging operational mitigations during elevated space weather activity. South African National Space Agency.
Government and Policy
SANSA also publicized interagency coordination activities, including a webinar on human settlement and spatial planning linked to national earth observation initiatives, signaling steady engagement between space applications and urban policy communities. South African National Space Agency.
Latin America
Government and Policy
There were no agency-level launch or mission milestones publicly announced by leading Latin American space organizations during the period. Institutional channels reflected ongoing outreach and program planning, but verifiable in-week decisions or flights were not reported by primary sources. Where activities did occur, they fell outside the week’s Sunday–Saturday window or lacked official confirmation appropriate for inclusion.
Russia / CIS
Government and Policy
No executed launches or new federal program milestones were confirmed by Russian sources within the week’s window. Several calendars and news briefs referenced later-November crewed operations from Baikonur and broader end-of-year scheduling, but these were prospective rather than reported outcomes. Given the requirement to include only dated events from November 2–8, this section remains focused on schedule context. Kazinform (Baikonur scheduling context), SpacePolicyOnline Events Calendar.
Summary
The seven-day period showed steady launch activity centered on commercial broadband deployments and smallsat rideshare, with SpaceX executing Starlink missions from both U.S. coasts and Rocket Lab continuing third-party constellation build-out from New Zealand. These flights, though routine, signaled that global launch operations maintain resilience despite weather interruptions and discrete technical holds. The Blue Origin scrub for NASA’s ESCAPADE Mars mission and ULA’s hardware-related stand-down framed the operational reality that cadence depends on range, meteorology, and system health as much as on manifest ambition. Spaceflight Now, Spaceflight Now, Spaceflight Now, Spaceflight Now, Space.com.
Agency updates underscored the breadth of scientific and application-focused work underway. ESA’s new analysis on Martian slope streaks reflected ongoing investment in comparative planetology and surface-change processes, while SANSA’s storm advisories and event listings exemplified space-weather-to-applications communications on a regional scale. The UAE’s rover integration status showed tangible progress in Middle East lunar robotics. In Asia, ISRO’s CMS-03 launch added capacity to national communications infrastructure, and China’s Tiangong operations highlighted the importance of debris awareness and response procedures in crewed low Earth orbit. ESA, SANSA, WAM, ISRO, Reuters.
Defense-space coordination remained visible through the Minuteman III test, which served both technical validation and public transparency roles for strategic systems. Policy and industry forums continued across the U.S. and Europe, sustaining momentum on topics such as resilient communications, civil–commercial integration, and the economic underpinnings of space infrastructure. Events listings captured where stakeholders concentrated attention during the week, even as government shutdown effects influenced certain calendars. Space.com, SpacePolicyOnline, SpacePolicyOnline Events Calendar.
The composite picture is one of operational continuity amid routine setbacks, with commercial constellations driving much of the flight tempo; agencies sustaining science output and data-to-applications pathways; and defense-space testing and policy debates shaping the environment in which industry plans. The week’s verifiable developments collectively point to increasing maturity across launch services, constellation operations, and regional exploration programs, even as scheduling, weather, and safety procedures remain decisive in day-to-day outcomes.
