Trendwatch Space & Defense: August 14, 2020

Astronauts return from orbit: “Thanks for flying SpaceX” – Extraordinary demand for Starlink – Launch vehicles for small satellites – Autonomous helicopters on Mars – Space infrastructure as a service 

NASA Astronauts Safely Splash Down After Journey From Orbit - New York Times

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth in the first water landing by an American space crew since 1975.     

SpaceX Now Plans for 5 Million Starlink Customers in US, Up From 1 Million - Ars Technica

SpaceX asks FCC for license expansion after 700,000 people register interest.

Small Launch Startup ABL Secures Over $90 Million In New Funding and Air Force Contracts - Space News

ABL says the funding will accelerate the development of its two-stage launch vehicle and mobile infrastructure.    

NASA Just Sent a Tiny Autonomous Helicopter to the Surface of Mars - Wired

Ingenuity will spin up its rotor blades and become the first spacecraft to go airborne on Mars.

Meet The Scrappy Space Startup Taking Quantum Security Into Space - Forbes   

What do you get when you combine space, lasers, photons, the laws of physics, a Fortune 100 company, the Canadian Space Agency and a scrappy space startup?