Nearly a month after the signing of a policy directive calling for commercial space regulatory reforms, Commerce Department officials said this week they’re moving ahead on a number of fronts. SpaceNews.com

The White House has directed NASA to study the possibility of converting one of more of its field centers into federal labs, revisiting a proposal made nearly 15 years ago. SpaceNews.com

The Falcon Heavy beat United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 in a competition under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. SpaceNews.com

To receive FIRST UP Satcom, a weekly SpaceNews newsletter for satellite and telecom professionals, sign up here. TOP STORIES Chinese hackers tried to gain control of U.S. satellites in late 2017, leading a cyber firm to notify the U.S. government. Symantec’s protection software blocked some of the tools used by attackers known as “Thrip” that attacked two […] SpaceNews.com

Blue Origin expects to start flying people on its New Shepard suborbital vehicle “soon” and start selling tickets for commercial flights next year, a company executive said June 19. SpaceNews.com

Canadian satellite antenna manufacturer C-Com said June 21 it successfully tested the building blocks of a phased array antenna it hopes to sell next year. SpaceNews.com

Rogers: Whether you call the new branch a Space Corps or a Space Force is not all that important. SpaceNews.com

A report released by the White House June 20 outlines a set of goals to address the small but “high-consequence” threat posed by near Earth objects (NEOs), but does not commit to spending more money to achieve them. SpaceNews.com

Former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James: "The Air Force and the DoD have to come up with something to back up what the president said.” SpaceNews.com

China has lowered the orbit of its Tiangong-2 space lab, likely in preparation for deorbiting the orbital facility and thus averting a similar scenario to the uncontrolled re-entry of Tiangong-1 earlier this year. SpaceNews.com

Those who loathe or love a Space Force “separate but equal” to the Air Force must think and act decisively and quickly. Regardless of whether the Space Force actually materializes, deliberation alone could finally spring us into action to deal with the looming threat of space Pearl Harbor. SpaceNews.com

An advisory group dubbed the “think tank” for the National Space Council formally kicked off its work June 19 with a broad but vague mandate to study space policy issues. SpaceNews.com

Fleet operators SES and Intelsat asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to extend the deadline for their customers to register C-band dishes before the commission decides on the band’s future use. SpaceNews.com

Trump’s proposal derives from a growing debate inside military and political circles about how to best meet the threat posed to American space assets by potential enemies: Russia and China, to be precise. SpaceNews.com

A former NASA astronaut used an appearance at a National Space Council meeting June 18 to argue that a key element of NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon should be reconsidered. SpaceNews.com

Trump: Creating a Space Force and promoting space exploration by NASA and the private sector will be “important for the nation’s psyche.” SpaceNews.com

President Trump will sign a new space policy directive June 18 addressing space traffic management issues, closely following the proposed policy that Vice President Pence announced in April. SpaceNews.com

A key senator says he’s keeping an open mind regarding who in the federal government should have responsibility for the oversight of “non-traditional” commercial space activities. SpaceNews.com

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee approved $49.5 million to create a new “program of record for commercial satellite communications." SpaceNews.com

As the National Space Council prepares for its third public meeting, its activities to date have won widespread praise in the space community, even as there is some skepticism about the effectiveness of the council’s advisory group that will soon meet for the first time. SpaceNews.com