December 25, 2025

Top 5 of 2025: Europe (Source: Payload)
This year, Europe took major steps to break out on its own in space, including investing in sovereign tech, forging new relationships, and gaining an appreciation for dual-use hardware. Click here. (12/25)

60,000 Feet Above Earth, NASA is Hunting for the Minerals That Power Phones, EVs and Clean Energy (Source: Space.com)
NASA has a new high-tech sensor to help the search for critical minerals in the American West. The sensor is called AVIRIS-5 (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-5), and it comes from technology developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) back in the 1970s. About the size of a microwave, AVIRIS-5 fits inside the nose of one of NASA's ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft. The sensor's first iteration was employed in 1986, and JPL has worked to improve it ever since. (12/24)

An Autonomous Lunar Logistics Demo for Canada’s Lunar Utility Rover (Source: Space.com)
Recently MDA Space performed an autonomous lunar logistics demonstration at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) analog site for the Lunar Utility Rover. MDA Space is one of three companies recently awarded contracts to develop initial technology studies for a Lunar Utility Rover. The other two companies are Canadensys Aerospace and Mission Control. (12/24)

Ancient 'Wet Lava Ball' Exoplanet Defies Expectations (Source: Science Alert)
A molten lava world cloaked in a thick envelope of vaporized rock could be the strongest evidence we have yet of a rocky exoplanet with an atmosphere beyond our Solar System. The planet TOI-561 b is an ultra-hot super-Earth with what appears to be a global magma ocean beneath a thick atmosphere of volatile chemicals, according to a new study led by Carnegie Science researchers. TOI-561 b is also an ancient astrophysical enigma that challenges what we thought we knew about searingly hot exoplanets trapped in a dizzingly fast dance around their stars. (12/25)

L3Harris to Produce 60 Hypersonic Motors for Rapid Mach 5+ Missile Testing (Source: Interesting Engineering)
L3Harris Technologies has received a letter of intent for a commercial contract to produce 60 hypersonic rocket motors for Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to expand US industrial capacity for advanced missile and hypersonic testing programs. The agreement calls for the production of 60 Zeus solid rocket motors and would increase the company’s annual output of the motors by more than 50 percent. (12/24)

India’s SBS-3 Program: How 52 Spy Satellites Watch Pakistan (Source: WION)
India’s Space-Based Surveillance-3 program marks a major leap in India’s military intelligence capabilities. With a planned constellation of 52 dedicated surveillance satellites, SBS-3 will provide round-the-clock monitoring of borders, military bases and strategic activity across Pakistan, China and the Indian Ocean. Using electro-optical, radar, infrared and AI-enabled systems, these satellites can see through clouds, darkness and camouflage. As India shifts toward persistent space-based awareness, SBS-3 quietly transforms how modern surveillance and early warning work. (12/23)

Space Force’s Commercial Reserve Fleet Moves Out of Pilot Phase (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force’s work to establish a pool of at-the-ready commercial satellite capacity during a crisis is moving out of the pilot phase as the service prepares to award its next batch of contracts in 2026. The Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, is modeled on the Air Force’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which leases aircraft capacity from commercial airliners for use by the military during a conflict. The CRAF was last activated in 2021 to help evacuate U.S. personnel and refugees from Afghanistan. 

Through CASR, the Space Force is tapping commercial space firms to provide capabilities during peacetime that can be surged on demand. The Space Force first introduced the concept in 2022 and has been working since to develop a contracting strategy and establish an initial vendor pool. Participating companies get access to threat intelligence and will be included in training events and wargames. (12/23)

NASA Tries Curiosity Rover's Mastcam to Work Out Where MAVEN Might Be (Source: The Register)
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is continuing to evade attempts by engineers to make contact as the solar conjunction nears, halting contact with any Mars missions until January 16. The agency last heard from the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter on December 6, and the last fragment of tracking data recovered by engineers indicated that the probe was tumbling and that its orbit trajectory might have changed.

The latter point is highly significant – if any engineers can't work out where the spacecraft is, contacting it is highly challenging, either from Earth or using one of the other Mars orbiters or rovers. According to NASA, on December 16 and 20, the Curiosity trundlebot team used the rover's Mastcam instrument in an attempt to image MAVEN's reference orbit, but the spacecraft was not detected. (12/24)

More Than 100 Moons Were Discovered in Our Solar System in 2025 (Source: New Scientist)
This year, astronomers discovered more than 100 previously unknown moons in our own solar system. There may be many more yet to be discovered, and cataloguing them could help us better understand how planets form. In March, researchers discovered 128 moons around Saturn, bringing the planet’s total to 274. The team gathered hours’ worth of images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii and stacked them on top of each other to spot objects that are otherwise too dim to see. (12/24)

From Rockets to Radar, the Aerospace and Defense Industry Soars in 2025 (Source: Seeking Alpha)
The aerospace and defense industry, a cornerstone of the industrials sector, delivered an exceptional showing in 2025, handily outperforming both its parent sector and the broader equity market. Supported by sustained defense spending, rising commercial aerospace demand, and expanding space-related investment, the group benefited from powerful tailwinds throughout the year.

As the calendar turns toward year-end, aerospace and defense stands out as one of the market’s strongest performers, with the industry being +48.5% year to date. That gain far exceeds the industrials sector’s +18.5% advance and comfortably surpasses the S&P 500’s (SP500) +17% rise, underscoring the group’s relative strength. Within this favorable environment, several companies delivered outsized returns. Click here. (12/24)

Russia Plans a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon Within a Decade (Source: Reuters)
Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space program and a joint Russian-Chinese research station, as major powers rush to explore the earth's only natural satellite. Ever since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space in 1961, Russia has prided itself as a leading power in space exploration, but in recent decades it has fallen behind the United States and, increasingly, China. Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, said in a statement that it planned to build a lunar power plant by 2036 and signed a contract with the Lavochkin Association aerospace company to do it. (12/24)

Supercomputers Just Revealed What Really Happens Near a Black Hole (Source: Science Alert)
The borderlands of black holes ought to be chaotic spaces where the rate at which matter is drawn across into oblivion is held back only by the blinding fury of radiation spilling away from the edge of darkness. This zone is considered to be unstable, prone to flares, jets, and outbursts. Yet, predicting these dynamic events can be complicated, with mathematically accurate descriptions of the warped space and extreme physics surrounding proving a challenge. A new modeling study led by researchers from the Flatiron Institute in the US now provides the most detailed simulations to date of how stellar-mass black holes gobble up and spew out matter at varying rates. (12/24)

Enceladus is An Attractive Target in the Search for Life (Source: Phys.org)
A small, icy moon of Saturn called Enceladus is one of the prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. A new study strengthens the case for Enceladus being a habitable world. The data for those new research findings come from the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. In 2005, Cassini discovered geyser-like plumes of water vapor and ice grains erupting continuously out of cracks in Enceladus' icy shell. (12/24)

Russia Patents Space Station Designed to Generate Artificial Gravity (Source: Space.com)
Russian state-owned Energia rocket company has secured a patent for a novel spacecraft architecture designed to generate artificial gravity, a capability which could provide a huge boost for long-duration crewed missions.

A report from Russian state media outlet TASS, which obtained the patent, states that the rotating system is designed to generate a gravitational force of 0.5g, or 50% of Earth’s gravity. The patent documentation includes illustrations of a notional space station structure with a central axial module with both static and rotating components, with modules and habitats connected by a hermetically sealed, flexible junction. (12/23)

NASA's Apollo 8 Moonshot Saved 1968. Could Artemis 2 Do the Same in 2026? (Source: Space.com)
Fifty-seven years ago, three American astronauts set forth on one of the most audacious and inspiring journeys in human history. In late December 1968, NASA astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders launched to the moon aboard Apollo 8, becoming the first humans to break free of Earth's gravity and travel to another world.

The moon of 1968 was different from the one that shines today. In a year scarred by assassinations, social upheaval, and a grinding war in Vietnam, the moon became something more than a distant celestial body. It emerged as a symbol of hope, national purpose and American resolve. Just as the nation was seemingly spinning out of control and being drained of the last ounces of its spirit, the moon suddenly came within its grasp.

In a bold decision, stunning in both its simplicity and audacity, NASA chose to "bet the farm" to blunt Soviet lunar ambitions in the space race to the moon. Still recovering from 1967's devastating Apollo 1 launch pad fire that killed three astronauts (including Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom), the space agency abandoned its careful, methodical building-block approach of increasingly complex Apollo Earth orbital missions and threw a "Hail Mary pass." (12/24)

Record Launches, Reusable Rockets and a Rescue: China Made Big Strides in Space in 2025 (Source: Space.com)
China is rounding off what has been a year of big progress in space, including major crewed lunar landing tests, new rockets and booster landing attempts, a new deep space mission and even successfully resolving its first human spaceflight emergency.

The country has already smashed its previous record for launches in a calendar year (68, set in 2024), amassing more than 80 orbital launch attempts at time of reporting, with a couple of weeks still to go. Two of these launches ended in failure, both from commercial launch providers, but the venerable Long March rocket series continued a long, failure-free run dating back to 2020.

China hit a major milestone in 2025 with the country's first launch and landing attempt of a reusable orbital rocket. Commercial company Landspace successfully sent its first Zhuque 3 rocket into orbit, but the first stage landing effort ended in spectacular failure during the landing burn. To end the year, China is looking to launch its new reusable Long March 12A rocket in late December as China closes in on attaining reusable launch capabilities, a decade after SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time. (12/24)

Avio Launch Deal Highlights Uncertainty in Vega Upgrade Roadmap (Source: European Spaceflight)
With the announcement of two new launch contracts for its Vega C rocket, totalling more than €100 million, Italian rocket builder Avio appears to have revealed that the launcher could remain operational until 2031. This, in turn, raises questions about when the company plans to introduce its successor, Vega E, and how long it would remain in service before being replaced by its next-generation Vega Next rocket.

On 19 December, Avio announced that it had signed launch service agreements with two undisclosed customers to deploy multiple satellites into Sun-synchronous orbit using the Vega C launch system. The company added that the launch services outlined in the two agreements would be carried out between 2028 and 2031. This would imply that Vega C could remain in operational use until 2031. (12/24)

The “Delete” Agenda Hits Space (Source: The Hill)
In Washington, modernization is usually a euphemism for forming a committee to study a problem. For FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, it appears to be a euphemism for a demolition crew. Carr summarized his first year at the helm with a metric that matters more than any policy speech: the Space Bureau processed 3,418 applications in 2025, a 21% increase over the previous year, effectively cutting the agency’s notorious backlog in half.

The numbers validate what industry insiders have felt since October’s declared “Space Month”: the regulatory friction that once defined the FCC’s interaction with the commercial space sector is being systematically stripped away. This is no longer an agency acting as a gatekeeper; it is positioning itself as a launchpad. Perhaps the most significant long-term victory mentioned in the report is the formal initiation of the “Part 100” rulemaking. This proposal seeks to replace the decades-old Part 25 framework with a modular, industrialized licensing model. (12/23)

Japan Must Use Lessons from H3 Failure for Future Space Ambitions (Source: The Mainichi)
The launch of the H3 No. 8 rocket, Japan's large core launch vehicle, has ended in failure, unable to place the Michibiki No. 5 satellite into its intended orbit. The satellite was supposed to form part of the country's own GPS system. This marks the second failure since the inaugural launch in March 2023, following five consecutive successful missions.

Japan is planning crucial launches, including the Michibiki No. 7 satellite, the Mars moon exploration spacecraft MMX, and the HTV-X cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station. The H3 is also tasked to launch intelligence-gathering satellites, which are effectively spy satellites. With the expansion of space development, delays in resuming launches could impact disaster prevention and national security sectors. The H3 rocket was developed to maintain the reliability of the H2A while halving launch costs to enhance international competitiveness. (12/24)

SoCal Companies to Work on $1.6 Billion in Space Force Missile Tracking Projects (Source: Daily Breeze)
Satellite builders in Redondo Beach and Long Beach will work on $1.6 billion in projects with the U.S. Space Force to continue developing its missile tracking network. Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach and Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach were awarded the contracts, worth $16 billion, to build missile warning, tracking, and defense satellite sensors for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. (12/24)

The SpaceX Mafia is Here (Source: Business Insider)
Former SpaceX employees have launched startups with over $3 billion in venture funding. The SpaceX Mafia is backed by top venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund. The SpaceX culture of ownership and innovation shaped these leaders and their companies. Here's Business Insider's list of 18 startups helmed by SpaceX-employees-turned-founders, in alphabetical order by company name. (12/25)

Avio to Launch Four Earth Observation Satellites for Taiwan (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) has awarded Italian rocket builder Avio a launch contract for its FORMOSAT-8C and 8D, and FORMOSAT-9A and 9B Earth observation satellites. On 19 December, Avio announced that it had signed two launch contracts with undisclosed customers, with a combined value of over €100 million. While the company left it up to the customers to make the announcement themselves, it did share that one of the customers was European and the other non-European. (12/25)

Roscosmos Plans to Launch 52 Satellites From Vostochny Spaceport (Source: TASS)
Fifty-two satellites will be launched on a Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, including the Aist-2T satellites for stereoscopic imaging of the Earth, Russia’s state-run corporation Roscosmos has reported. "Fifty-two satellites will be launched into orbit from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, including Aist-2T No. 1 and No. 2, developed and manufactured by the Progress Space Rocket Center," the state corporation said in a statement on its official Telegram channel. (12/25)

China's LandSpace Hopes to Complete Rocket Recovery in Mid-2026 (Source: Reuters)
Chinese rocket developer LandSpace plans to successfully recover a reusable booster in mid-2026, a company executive said. The ability to return, recover, and reuse a rocket's engine-packed first stage, or booster, after launch is crucial to reducing costs and making it easier for countries to send satellites into orbit, and to turn space exploration into a commercially viable business similar to civil aviation. (12/24)

Sidus Space Raises $25 Million With Share Sale (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced the closing of its previously announced best-efforts public offering of 19,230,800 shares of its Class A common stock. Each share of Class A common stock was sold at a public offering price of $1.30 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $25 million. (12/24)