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Foreign. Today is January 30th, 2026. I'm Maria Varmazes and this is T minus.
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T minus 20 seconds to Los D Dris.
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Space object zq3rb, the second stage of a launch vehicle that could have dummy payload attached, is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere today and has a strong possibility of crashing on land. L3Harris Technologies reported below Wall street estimates for fourth quarter revenue, blaming the decline in part on prolonged US government shutdown, delayed contract awards. SpaceX is reportedly considering a merger with Tesla and artificial intelligence company X AI. Sparta Space has successful completed the RE entry of its W5 capsule. The US army is now accepting applications for a new enlisted career track focused entirely on space operations. Later in today's program, our partners at NSF will be bringing us the latest space traffic report, looking at the space launch news from the last seven days and taking a look at what's ahead this week. Could we be seeing a wet dress rehearsal in the cold cell that is heading to Florida? Well join us later to find out more. Today, my friends is the very last day of spacecom and at the time of publishing us at the T minus team will all be on our planes heading back to our respective corners of the United States. It has been an amazing week and we've met some truly incredible guests and most humbling was meeting you our dear listeners. And so thank you for coming by the booth and telling us your stories. I really mean it because it really means a lot to myself, to Alice, and to Liz. So thank you and staying with you for our intel briefing today. Uncle Sam says he needs you for space operations roles. Well, maybe not all of you because some of us are a little over the age restrictions, to say nothing of citizenship requirements. The U.S. army is now accepting applications for a new enlisted career track that is focused entirely on space operations, and it formalizes a role that has until now relied on soldiers who are temporarily assigned from other branches. The new position aims to meet the rising threats in missile defense and the space domain. The new military occupational specialty, MOS40D tactical space operations specialist, will be officially established Oct. 1 and is open to soldiers in grades E4 through E9 across the active duty Army, National Guard and Army Reserve. The army is planning to open 1,000 slots for the new specialty, which is expected to swell to 1,500 by 2032. Lt. Gen. Sean Ighainey, U.S. army Space and Missile Defense Command Commanding General, said the new MOs will allow the command to build and retain expertise among its space non commissioned officer cohort through a stable career path. The 40D command Ready professionals will support the warfighter and ensure the success of joint and partner forces in multi domain operations by denying, disrupting and degrading adversary operations through the electromagnetic spectrum and countering space domain threats before and during competition, crisis and conflict. If you're interested, more details can be found by following the link in our show Notes Varda Space has successfully completed the reentry of its W5 capsule. It is the first time that Varda has used its own vertically integrated satellite bus to support the full mission life cycle. From orbital operations to atmospheric reentry, the W5 mission carried a payload for the US Navy and landed safely within the designated recovery zone at Kuniba Test Range in South Australia. Operated by Southern Launch, this is the company's first RE entry of this year, and yeah, we're still only in the first month of 2026 technically. And it underscores Varda's transition towards full stack autonomy and its growing role as a critical partner for national security and defense applications. Congratulations to the team. You know, it's been rumored for months, if not years, that SpaceX is going to go public, and now those rumors are extending to a blockbuster deal. Bloomberg is reporting that SpaceX is considering a merger with Tesla and possibly with artificial intelligence company X AI as well as Reuters reports that Elon Musk wants to bring his rockets Starlink satellites, the X social media platform, and Grok AI chatbot under one roof. Any deal could attract sizable interest from infrastructure funds and Middle Eastern sovereign investors, some of the people close to the negotiations told Bloomberg. Tesla said earlier this week that it will invest $2 billion in Musk's artificial intelligence company Xai, and and production plans for its cybercab Robotaxi were on track for this year. L3Harris Technologies reported below estimates for fourth quarter revenue, blaming the decline in part on prolonged US government shutdown, delayed contract awards thank goodness, it looks like we have avoided the same fate again so soon. The shutdown, which started in late September of last year, was the longest in the country's history, and it lasted 43 days, ending in November. It disrupted procurement activity for the military and hurt defense suppliers like L3Harris. The company took a hit in its space systems business, which was also bogged down by lower volumes in its classified intel and cyber program and the sky is falling. I always wanted to get to say that, but I'm not imitating Chicken Little the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking operations centers have been monitoring the reentry into Earth's atmosphere of the space object ZQ3RB. Don't worry, you don't need to remember that it's the second stage of a launch vehicle that could have a dummy payload attached. The EU SST network of contributing sensors is closely following the object to refine the reentry window, which was estimated to be today at 11:20 UTC with an uncertainty of less than an hour. We recorded early today due to our travel plans to get home, so hopefully it's landed without issue. But you never know. Due to its inclination of approximately 56.94 degrees, the object could have re entered within a latitude band of plus or minus 57 degrees, which covers a vast area of Earth's surface. So stay vigilant folks, and here's hoping nobody was harmed. Really. You never know when a piece of space debris could fall out of the.