April 10, 2026

Simulated Organs to Sent to Space on Artemis II (Source: Mass Live)
As the Artemis II crew rockets back toward Earth after a record-setting journey around the moon, a small gray box aboard the capsule is quietly making history. Inside is technology built by a Boston startup that has just crossed milestones of its own.

Emulate Bio, a Boston company, worked with the Wyss Institute at Harvard and Space Tango of Kentucky to launch the experiment, dubbed AVATAR, aboard the mission. It’s the first time that “organ on a chip” technology, which aims to mimic the way human tissues and organs function, has flown into deep space.

The goal? To get insights into how microgravity, radiation, and other aspects of long-distance space flight will impact the human body. And what’s interesting about this experiment is that it uses living bone marrow cells from the four astronauts flying on Artemis II, obtained during a pre-launch blood draw. (4/9)

Oxygen Made From Moon Dust for First Time (Source: The Telegraph)
Breathable oxygen has been created from Moon dust in a world first that paves the way for a lunar base. Blue Origin, a company founded by Jeff Bezos, the American billionaire, announced this week that it had developed a reactor that could successfully release oxygen from lunar soil by using an electric current.

Almost half of Moon dust – the thin layer of rock that blankets the lunar surface – is oxygen, but it is bound to metals such as iron and titanium. Scientists and engineers want to extract the oxygen to repurpose it as breathable air or rocket fuel. Transporting oxygen to space from Earth would be too dangerous and expensive, so making it on the Moon is seen as a key step for long-term habitation. (4/9)

Artemis Astronauts to Shed Light on Space Health Risks (Source: AFP)
Earth's magnetosphere offers some protection against radioactive cosmic rays and solar particles to the orbiting ISS, but no such cover on the Moon. Studying the impacts of radiation is essential as NASA hopes to eventually build a Moon base and send astronauts on the long trip to Mars.

The US space agency installed radiation sensors on the Orion capsule and took blood samples of the astronauts before takeoff to compare with samples post-trip. The crew's saliva samples are gathered throughout the journey and their health is monitored via smartwatches. NASA has also placed state-of-the-art computer chips in the capsule that can replicate certain physiological functions, like that of an organ. Mission planners chose to mimic bone marrow. (4/10)

Shooting $100 Billion in Taxpayer Funds to the Moon is Not a Win (Source: Washington Post)
As Americans grapple with stubbornly high prices, stagnant real wages, geopolitical uncertainty and a housing market that has locked out a generation, Washington is throwing a party in orbit. The launch of Artemis II, NASA’s crewed lunar flyby, will cost about $4.1 billion. The entire program is expected to exceed $100 billion by the time astronauts are scheduled to step on the lunar surface once again in 2028. That is enough to send every American a check for roughly $300. Instead, that money is being aimed at the moon.

The mixed track record of government-run space programs makes one thing clear: There are better uses for taxpayer resources. SpaceX has already shown the way, cutting launch costs, capturing the majority of global payload mass and building a satellite network that has proved itself on battlefields. It is time for the market, not Washington, to lead humanity into space. (4/9)

Orion Helium Leak No Threat to Artemis II Reentry but Will Require Redesign (Source: Ars Technica)
Ground controllers revamped the timeline Wednesday as the Artemis II astronauts zoomed toward Earth after a close encounter with the Moon earlier this week. The four astronauts were supposed to take manual control of their Orion spacecraft for a piloting demonstration Wednesday night. Instead, mission managers canceled the demo to make time for an additional test of the ship’s propulsion system.

The goal was to gather data on a “small leak” of helium gas, which Orion uses to push propellant through a series of tanks and pipes to feed the spacecraft’s rocket engines, said Jeff Radigan, NASA’s lead flight director for the Artemis II mission. The spacecraft burns hydrazine fuel mixed with an oxidizer, nitrogen tetroxide, to power its main engine and thrusters for in-space maneuvers. The leak on Artemis II is in the helium pressure supply to the oxidizer side. (4/9)

Space Travel Is Futile, So Let’s Divert the Resources to Saving Earth (Source: Region)
For a confessed sci-fi, space opera nut who grew up watching the Apollo missions and devouring Asimov, Clarke and Bradbury, the realization that the space program is a futile and colossal waste of resources has not come easily. I still watched the launch of the Artemis mission to the Moon and its progress, and I can admire the technical genius of sending a human crew in a tin can around our only satellite.

But the notion of this being part of humanity’s destined march to the stars, the final frontier and all that, rings as hollow as an empty space capsule. It’s so seductive, raised as we are on the great (European) explorers ‘discovering’ new oceans and lands, but at least that was within our own bespoke biosphere.

The Artemis mission is pitched as a return to the Moon, where humans will establish a permanent base, from which to mount the really big voyage to Mars, and back, presumably. Not much is said of the obstacles to achieving this – these are put on the shelf as engineering problems that human ingenuity will eventually solve. For many, thanks to the boundaryless expanse of imagination, they have already been solved. (4/10)

A Different Moon From the One We’ve Known (Source: The Atlantic)
This week, we got a different moon—the Artemis moon. The moon captured by America’s first mission there in generations is not the moon I look for every time I step outside. It is not the moon I grew up with or the one my parents learned about during the Apollo missions.

On Monday—the moon’s day—we were introduced to a brown, battered world. Whole regions of its scarred far side did not appear a brilliant lunar white, but a much more familiar, homey hue. Mushroom, chestnut, hazel, cocoa, coffee, tea-stained, russet, brown: earth tones. Straight lines running over the moon’s surface; concentric rings that look like companion coffee-cup rings. (4/10)

ESA Launches 7 New Missions to Supercharge Space Data Transfer (Source: Universe Today)
On March 30, 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) supported a series of eight CubeSats and one specialized payload on SpaceX’s Transporter-16 rideshare mission with the overarching goals of testing high-throughput laser communication, inter-satellite networking, and in-orbit artificial intelligence processing to make space data transfer faster, more secure, and vastly more efficient.

Five of the CubeSats aboard Transporter-16 were developed under ESA’s Greek Connectivity Programme and focused on building up the country’s space-based optical capabilities. OptiSat, operated by Planetek Hellas, is a cereal-box sized CubeSat flying a SCOT20 laser communication terminal built by German manufacturer TESAT. Its primary mission is to establish secure, high speed laser links with other small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Another satellite, PeakSat, was entirely developed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. It features an ATLAS-1 laser terminal from the Lithuanian company Astrolight, and intends to demonstrate improved space-to-ground laser communications by beaming data down to newly upgraded optical ground stations in Greece. (4/10)

Kongsberg Targets LEO Constellation Market With SpinLaunch (Source: Aviation Week)
Norway’s Kongsberg is looking to enter the increasingly heated market for providing low Earth orbit satellite communications capabilities through a teaming agreement with SpinLaunch. Kongsberg would provide expertise from secure ground stations to spacecraft systems, while SpinLaunch would contribute its Meridian LEO constellation. The agreement follows Kongsberg taking a stake in SpinLaunch in a funding round a year ago.

Kongsberg NanoAvionics is working with SpinLaunch on 280 satellites for the initial Meridian constellation due for launch in October on a SpaceX Falcon 9. SpinLaunch has said it plans to deploy more than 1,000 satellites. SpinLaunch last month unveiled its Meridian Defense concept, adapting its commercially focused concept for the national security market. The company says space-based routing with intersatellite links will enable connectivity without the need for distributed ground stations. (4/8)

Xoople and L3Harris are Co-developing a Space-Borne Measurement System Designed for the AI Era (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Xoople and L3Harris Technologies announced the co-development of a first of its kind satellite constellation designed and optimized for the AI era. The milestone, the result of seven years of design and R&D work, advances the companies’ shared vision to deliver real-world context into every decision for a more sustainable, safer world. The Xoople constellation, with its unprecedented optical and sensor design which maximizes data quality, is a foundational layer of the company’s data infrastructure, designed to improve spatial intelligence by delivering orders-of-magnitude improvements in precision and speed compared to existing commercial Earth observation. (4/10)

Crew of Tiny Worms Readies for April 11 Launch to ISS (Source: Space.com)
British scientists have packed a container full of worms aboard Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo vehicle, to be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday morning (April 11), to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on biological organisms. The researchers hope the results will help mission planners keep human astronauts healthy on future space trips. (4/9)

Russia’s Lunar Program Suffers Delay Setbacks as Rival US’s Artemis II Mission Heads Home (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Russia has postponed its planned Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 missions to the Moon till between 2032 and 2036, marking another major delay in its lunar program as NASA's Artemis II astronauts becomes the first persons to orbit the moon in over 50 years. (4/9)

North Carolina Views Defense Industry as Key Growth Area (Source: Axios)
Much like batteries and semiconductors during the Biden administration, North Carolina economic development officials say they see increased momentum in the defense industry under the Trump administration. Federal policies can have a big impact on which jobs expansions occur throughout the country, and North Carolina landed several large expansions from clean energy and semiconductor firms due to provisions like the Inflation Reduction Act or the CHIPS Act during the Biden days.

One of Trump's policy changes — a move to shore up the production of rare-earth magnets away from China — has already brought jobs to North Carolina. The Trump administration's decision to take a stake in the rare-earth magnet maker Vulcan Elements as well as funding from the Department of War led to a pledge for 1,000 jobs in Johnston County. The state was also in contention for a 4,000-job expansion from Anduril, an autonomous defense tech company that has benefited greatly from defense contracts. (4/9)

Orbital Edge Accelerator 2026 Launches to Unlock Space and Capital for Ambitious Founders (Source: CASIS)
The ISS National Laboratory is launching the 2026 Orbital Edge Accelerator, now in its second year. This program is in partnership with returning global investment partners Cook Inlet Region, Inc., E2MC, and Stellar Ventures and welcomes new partners Context Ventures, Draper Associates, and Draper University, alongside leading industry participants and sponsors.

Orbital Edge is a one-of-a-kind accelerator that provides early-stage startups with access to low Earth orbit and $500,000 to $750,000 in private capital funding per startup. In addition to venture investment and access to orbital flight platforms, the program delivers targeted mentorship and programming focused on spaceflight technology development, business building, and product commercialization. (4/7)

China's Next Lunar Lander Arrives at Spaceport (Source: Space News)
China's next robotic lunar lander has arrived at its launch site. Chang'e-7 will be prepared for launch on a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang spaceport, with earlier reports suggesting launch in August. The mission consists of an orbiter, lander, rover and a unique hopping probe to seek out evidence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar south pole. The Chang'e-7 mission, together with Chang'e-8, scheduled for around 2029, will form a basic outline of the China-led International Lunar Research Base. (4/10)

Isar's Andoya Launch Scrubbed for Leak (Source: Space.com)
German launch startup Isar Aerospace scrubbed another attempt to launch its Spectrum rocket Thursday. The company called off the launch from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway after detecting a leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel in the rocket. The company did not disclose a new launch date. This would be the second flight of Spectrum after the first crashed shortly after liftoff in March 2025. (4/10)

Proposed Budget Again Threatens TraCSS (Source: Space News)
A Commerce Department budget proposal has raised new questions about the future of the TraCSS space traffic coordination system. A high-level budget proposal last week included $11 million for the Office of Space Commerce for fiscal year 2027, but did not include any further details about those funds. The 2026 budget proposal included $10 million for the office but nothing for TraCSS, a cut that House and Senate appropriators sought to reverse. Industry sources said the 2027 budget proposal appears to be another attempt to either cancel TraCSS or severely curtail it. (4/10)

Commercial Capabilities Need "Battle Hardening" for DoD Use (Source: Space News)
Commercial space technologies are becoming central to the U.S. military's plans, a shift that brings with it new challenges. One concern raised by the military is the need for "battle hardening" of commercial technology, without stripping away the very attributes that made it valuable in the first place. One proposed solution has been the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, which the Space Force has been studying for years, modeled on a similar air reserve program. However, for commercial firms, participation could mean diverting bandwidth from paying customers. It raises unresolved questions about liability, compensation and exposure, with implications for companies involving insurance, investment and international business relationships. (4/10)

India Tests Gaganyaan Parachute (Source: The Print)
India's space agency ISRO has performed another Gaganyaan spacecraft parachute test. In the second Integrated Air Drop Test on Friday, a simulated Gaganyaan crew module was dropped from a helicopter at an altitude 3,000 meters to test the deployment of its parachutes. The capsule splashed down safely in the sea and was recovered by a ship. ISRO conducted a similar test last August ahead of uncrewed flight tests of the spacecraft later this year. The first crewed Gaganyaan mission is now planned for no earlier than 2027. (4/10)

Amazon Readies Leo Service Kickoff (Source: PC Magazine)
Amazon plans to begin limited commercial services with the broadband constellation this summer. In a letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon Leo services will begin in mid-2026. He claimed the service would provide better uplink and downlink speeds than "what customers have access to now," an apparent reference to Starlink, and be at a lower cost. Amazon currently has less than 10% of its full constellation in orbit, which would limit the availability of those services. (4/10)

FCC Plans Vote on Constellation Signal Strength Rules (Source: FCC)
The FCC plans to vote at its next commission meeting on a rule to adjust limits on signals from broadband constellations like Starlink and Amazon Leo. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said commissioners will take up a report and order to modify rules on equivalent power flux density that date back to the 1990s. Those rules limit the power at which low Earth orbit systems can operate to avoid interference with geostationary satellites. The FCC argues that new spectrum sharing technologies will allow LEO systems to operate at higher power levels, enabling better performance. (4/10)

Italy's Former Space Chief Joins Vast (Source: Vast)
A former president of the Italian space agency ASI is now leading commercial space station Vast's European office. Vast announced Friday it hired Giorgio Saccoccia as president for Europe. In his new role Saccoccia will work with European governments on future human spaceflight and science missions on Vast's commercial space stations. He will also support other international expansion activities by Vast outside Europe. (4/10)

Space: A New Frontier in Medicine (Source: Spectrum)
As the crew of Artemis II has ventured deeper into space than ever before, they’re also gathering data on how radiation affects individual astronauts. It’s part of a study known as “Avatar," which monitors astronauts’ tissue samples in space. The goal, Kris Lehnhardt explained, is to anticipate how an individual astronaut’s body will respond to radiation in space. Then, he said, “we might be then able to make countermeasures that are specific to that astronaut to help them deal with that radiation exposure.” 

But long-term space travel, Lehnhardt believes, will require technology that’s straight out of sci-fi. “We need to really start developing autonomous medical technologies,” he said. It may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. “Those technologies are all within reach with some of the new artificial intelligence work that's been going on,” said Lehnhardt. (4/9)

Space Travel is Futile, so Let's Divert the Resources to Saving Earth (Source: Region)
For a confessed sci-fi, space opera nut who grew up watching the Apollo missions and devouring Asimov, Clarke and Bradbury, the realization that the space program is a futile and colossal waste of resources has not come easily. I still watched the launch of the Artemis mission to the Moon and its progress, and I can admire the technical genius of sending a human crew in a tin can around our only satellite.

But the notion of this being part of humanity’s destined march to the stars, the final frontier and all that, rings as hollow as an empty space capsule. It’s so seductive, raised as we are on the great (European) explorers ‘discovering’ new oceans and lands, but at least that was within our own bespoke biosphere. (4/10)
 
Lockheed Martin Wins $105 Million Contract for GPS Ground Control System as OCX Winds Down (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $105 million contract to support ground control operations for the next generation of GPS satellites, as the Pentagon moves to wind down a long-delayed replacement program led by RTX. (4/10)

April 9, 2026

Vantor to Expand Earth Imaging Fleet with Two More Smallsats (Source: Space News)
Earth imaging company Vantor plans to use smallsats to expand its satellite fleet. The company, formerly known as Maxar, said Wednesday it is making the first major overhaul of its space architecture in nearly a decade by expanding its fleet of 10 imaging satellites. Vantor will add two Vantage high-resolution satellites capable of 20-centimeter imagery and as many as two dozen smaller Pulse satellites producing 40-centimeter imagery designed for more frequent coverage. Together, these assets are intended to provide persistent monitoring without sacrificing image quality, a tradeoff that has long defined the commercial remote-sensing market. The first Pulse satellites are expected to launch in 2027, with the Vantage spacecraft projected for deployment in 2029. (4/9)

Space Force Picks 14 Companies for $1.8 Billion In-Space Satellite Monitoring (Source: Space News)
The Space Force selected 14 companies Wednesday to participate in a $1.8 billion program to monitor activities in geosynchronous orbit. The program known as Andromeda is structured as a $1.8 billion, 10-year contracting vehicle managed by Space Systems Command. It establishes a pool of vendors that will compete for task orders to design and build spacecraft and supporting systems. The selected vendors span a mix of established defense contractors and newer space firms. The program is an effort by the Space Force to broaden its supplier base, pairing large incumbents with venture-backed entrants that have been pushing into national security missions. Andromeda will initially focus on satellites capable of observing activity in geosynchronous orbit, roughly 22,000 miles above Earth, where many of the military's most valuable communications and missile-warning systems operate. (4/9)

Portal Raises $50 Million for Maneuverable Spacecraft Development (Source: Space News)
Portal Space Systems has raised $50 million to accelerate development of its highly maneuverable spacecraft. The company announced the Series A round Thursday, led by Geodesic Capital and Mach33 with participation from several other investors. The funding will allow it to advance development of Starburst, a maneuverable spacecraft bus, and Supernova, a vehicle designed to rapidly move between orbits using a solar thermal propulsion system. The first Starburst spacecraft is scheduled to launch later this year with Supernova to follow in 2027. The company, initially focused on defense customers, is looking to expand into civil and commercial applications along with international customers, particularly in Japan. (4/9)

Apex to Build Larger Satellites (Source: Space News)
Apex is moving to build larger and more powerful spacecraft less than a year after introducing its biggest platform. The company said Thursday it is developing two larger variants of its Comet satellite bus, called Comet Mini and Comet XL. Comet Mini can accommodate payloads from 450 to 1,000 kilograms while the larger Comet XL is optimized for super-heavy lift vehicles such as Starship. The new buses are intended for what the company calls the "most demanding next-generation payloads" that require more power and mass than its existing buses. (4/9)

Albedo Plans Second Satellite, a VLEO Platform for SAR/EW/Comms Missions (Source: Space News)
Albedo, the former Earth-observation startup now focused on satellite manufacturing, plans to fly its second satellite next year. Vicinity, scheduled to launch in 2027, will deploy solar arrays to provide far more power than the solar panels mounted on Precision, the bus that housed Albedo's 2025 Clarity-1 mission. Vicinity is a VLEO spacecraft built for payloads that demand high power like synthetic aperture radar, electromagnetic warfare and communications. The spacecraft, weighing 300 kilograms, is similar in mass to Precision. (4/9)

Lockheed Martin Gets $105 Million From Space Force for GPS Ground Control (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin won a Space Force contract to support ground control operations for the next generation of GPS satellites. The $105 million contract announced Wednesday covers launch and on-orbit test support for GPS 3F satellites through March 2030, using the existing Architecture Evolution Plan, or AEP, ground control system. The move follows recent steps by the Pentagon to end development of the Next Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, a program awarded to Raytheon in 2010 that has faced years of delays and cost growth. (4/9)

China Launches Guowang Constellation Satellites on Long March 6 (Source: Xinhua)
China launched another set of satellites for the Guowang constellation Wednesday. A Long March 6 rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on the 21st flight of spacecraft for Guowang. Official reports did not disclose how many satellites were on the launch but previous Long March 6 launches for Guowang carried five satellites each. (4/9)

Chinese Launches Spacesail Constellation Satellites on Long March 8 (Source: Spacewatch Africa)
China has launched a group of 18 communications satellites from the Hainan spaceport on Tuesday night, deploying the seventh batch of space-based assets of the Spacesail Constellation in orbit. Built by Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites for satellite operator Spacesail, the plate-shaped satellites were carried by a Long March 8 rocket. With this launch, 126 satellites have been lifted into space by six rockets for the Spacesail Constellation. (4/8)

Better SSA Data Needed for Collision Avoidance (Source: Space News)
Improving the accuracy of space situational awareness data and using tighter thresholds can help retire most of the risk of satellite collisions in low Earth orbit. A study by COMSPOC presented at a conference this week found that satellite operators eliminate only 7% of the risk of collisions given the current accuracy of SSA data and use of a threshold of a 1-in-10,000 risk of collision to take action, such as maneuvering. The study found that improving the SSA data accuracy by a factor of 10 and using a 1-in-1,000,000 threshold could reduce more than 90% of the risk. That improved accuracy could come from fusing data from various sources and incorporating spacecraft maneuver plans. (4/9)

ESA Spent ~$96 Million for an Ariane 6 Launch (Source: European Spaceflight)
The European Space Agency has disclosed how much it spent on an Ariane 6 launch. Contracting data released by the agency showed it spent about 82 million euros ($96 million) on the Ariane 62 launch of the Sentinel-1D Earth observation mission last year. ESA used an Ariane 6 for the launch because of delays in the return to flight of the Vega C. (4/9)

SaxaVord Spaceport Lost Over $7 Million with Delayed Launches (Source: Times of London)
A UK spaceport lost more than $7 million last year. Filings by the Shetland Space Center, which operates SaxaVord Spaceport, show the company lost £5.4 million ($7.2 million) in 2025 as customers delayed their launch plans there. The spaceport lost £5.1 million in 2024. The spaceport expects to host several launches this year but lost one of its customers when Orbex went bankrupt earlier this year. (4/9)

What if Dark Matter Came in Two States? (Source: Sissa Medialab)
The absence of a signal could itself be a signal. This is the idea behind a new study which aims to redefine how we search for dark matter, showing that it may not be necessary to find the same “clues” everywhere in order to interpret it. In particular, the study suggests that even if we observe a certain type of signal at the center of our galaxy — an excess of gamma radiation that could result from the annihilation of dark matter particles — failing to detect the same signal in other systems, such as dwarf galaxies, is not enough to rule out this explanation. Dark matter, in fact, may not consist of a single particle, but of multiple slightly different components, whose behavior varies depending on the cosmic environment. (4/9)

Satellite Imagery Reveals Increasing Volatility in Human Night-Time Activity (Source: Nature)
Artificial light at night (ALAN) marks the global impact of humanity. Yet, our understanding of its true ebb and flow has been limited, often based on temporally aggregated satellite data that obscure finer dynamics. Here, using daily night-time satellite imagery and a continuous change detection approach, we created global maps of high-frequency ALAN dynamics. Our findings challenge the prevailing perspective that changes in light radiance are largely gradual and unidirectional. Instead, the nightlights of Earth are surprisingly dynamic, characterized by frequent and coexisting brightening and dimming. On average, each location experiencing change underwent 6.6 distinct shifts over the 9 years.

Driven by this volatility, the cumulative area of total ALAN change comprised 2.05 million km2 of abrupt changes and 19.04 million km2 of gradual changes. Brightening contributed a radiance increase equivalent to 34% of the 2014 global baseline, whereas dimming offset this by 18%. Notably, both brightening and dimming have markedly intensified over the past decade. This evidence of increasing volatility in human night-time activity provides an important dynamic dimension for understanding urban evolution, energy transitions, policy impacts and ecological consequences of rapidly changing illuminated nights. (4/8)

Portal Developing "Fighter Jet for Orbit" (Source: Tech Crunch)
Jeff Thornburg helped turn a government research project into SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now, he’s trying to do the same thing at his startup Portal Space Systems, which is taking an idea set aside by NASA and turning it into high-powered propulsion for the next generation of spacecraft. Portal, founded in 2021, announced a $50 million Series A funding round Thursday that values the company at $250 million. The round was led by Geodesic Capital and Mach33, alongside Booz Allen Ventures, ARK Invest, AlleyCorp, and FUSE.

The company is developing a technology called solar thermal propulsion. Today’s standard satellite engines either burn chemical fuel or convert the sun’s energy to electricity, using that to power efficient but low-powered thrusters. Portal’s engines would instead concentrate the heat of the sun, using that to heat propellant and move the spacecraft along at high speed. (4/9)

OneWeb Holdings UK Reports Increased Revenue, Reduced Operating Loss (Source: Space Intel Report)
The OneWeb broadband satellite network reported $186 million in revenue for the year ending June 30, 3025, a 44.5% increase following market traction in all its markets, the company said. As part of a broad reorganization following Eutelsat’s purchase of the company in September 2023, OneWeb reduced staff costs by 33%, to $82.8 million; and operating expenses by 17%, to $121.1 million. The Eutelsat purchase did not transfer OneWeb’s headquarters, which has remained in London. (4/9)

FAA Plans April 18 Changeover to New NOTAM System (Source: NBAA)
The FAA will soon take a significant step forward in modernizing the NOTAM service with the shutdown of the existing US NOTAM System (USNS) and cutover to a new and more robust system in the morning hours of Saturday, April 18. The transition will take place between midnight and 4 a.m. EDT. During that time, NOTAMs active prior to the maintenance window will be available via all normal distribution channels. The FAA also recommends using FNS NOTAM search to ensure operators receive the most timely and accurate information. (4/8)

7 NBAA Tips for Navigating Challenging Florida Airspace (Source: NBAA)
Two years ago, as part of its Collaborative Decision-Making initiative, the FAA formed the Florida Task Force to explore ways to mitigate ongoing issues. Members of the NBAA Air Traffic Services (ATS) – who have been working at the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) since 2001 – participated in the task force along with representatives from major airlines and regional carriers. Click here. (4/7)

California, for All its Flaws, Continues to Lead in Space (Source: New York Post)
The Artemis II mission is a triumph of the American spirit — and a testament to California’s enduring leadership in the US space program. Californians played a key role in every aspect of the voyage around the moon, which took four astronauts further away from Earth than any human being has ever been. There is Ontario’s own Victor Glover, the mission commander, who played football at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before joining the space program.

The engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena managed communications with the Orion capsule through the Deep Space Network (DSN). And local Caltech scientists helped design the scientific projects carried out by the mission. The USS John P. Murtha, based at Naval Base San Diego, is in charge of recovering the Orion once it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

Whether public or private — through NASA, or SpaceX, or one of many other emerging space start-up companies — California’s role in space exploration and innovation is not only prominent, but dominant. We still boast the world’s top institutions of higher education, as well as the leading centers of scientific research and technological innovation. California attracts talent from around the nation and across the globe, drawn by the opportunity to work with each other in an entrepreneurial environment that is second to none. (4/7)

Why Not Start a Rocket Company? (Source: Marketplace)
David Brancaccio spoke with Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of bluShift Aerospace, a rocket startup based in Maine. Sascha Deri: "So, we're making rocket propulsion systems to ultimately support research in space and to, frankly, take over solid rocket motors in the marketplace. Those motors are used for, you think of the space shuttle strap-on boosters, but also for developing new hypersonic capabilities in the United States, as well as ultimately reaching the stars." Click here. (4/7)

Musk Wants to Turn 700 Acres of Texas Wildlife Refuge Into SpaceX Property (Source: The Barbed Wire)
SpaceX is aiming to acquire 712 acres of land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, amid the protests of environmentalists and activist groups. The proposal would exchange the wildlife refuge land for 692 acres of land in Starbase, SpaceX’s headquarters on the southern tip of Texas. Starbase was officially designated a city in May 2025, after workers living near SpaceX’s rocket launch facility there voted in favor of the measure, according to the Texas Tribune.

A draft of the proposed land exchange was published on March 2, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the National Wildlife Refuge in question, asked the public to submit feedback on the proposal. SpaceX has not said how it intends to use the land, but the proposal acknowledged it is likely they will develop on that land after acquisition. (4/7)

War Has Reached Space, and Europe Isn’t Ready (Source: Parliament)
MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew/FR), the episode underscored a growing vulnerability: “It is absolutely strategic to be in space with strong assets.” However, most European capitals often lack not only the means to respond independently to space-related crises but in some cases even the tools to understand them in the first place.

“If you want to fight against something, you need to know what's happening,” said Grudler. “Today, in Europe, we do not have enough [sovereign] space data. We use American data for space [awareness].” With critical infrastructure — from smartphones and financial systems to energy grids and military communications — reliant on space, disruptions such as jamming, spoofing or direct satellites attacks could cascade across entire societies. (4/7)

ULA's Second Rocket Carrier Ship Launches (Source: Shippax)
Bollinger Shipyards has launched the specialized RoRo SPACESHIP, ordered by United Launch Alliance (ULA). SPACESHIP is the most recent rocket carrier designed and built by Bollinger Shipyards. The vessel follows in the footsteps of ROCKETSHIP, which has been transporting Atlas V components since 2011. SPACESHIP will be used to transport Atlas V and Vulcan rocket elements from the ULA factory in Decataur, Alabama. (4/8)

SDA Makes Second HALO Europa Award (Source: SDA)
The Space Development Agency (SDA) today announced it has awarded a prototype agreement under the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit, or HALO, Europa Track 1 solicitation to Capella, an IonQ company, based in San Francisco, to demonstrate advanced tactical waveform performance, adaptive beamforming, and secure tactical communications in low Earth orbit (LEO). (4/7)

Student Experiments Launched on Suborbital Rockets From Sweden (Source: ESA)
After more than a year of design, testing and development, dozens of European university students gathered in March to enact the final stage of their experimental projects in the REXUS 35 and 36 campaign. For two weeks, these students utilised the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden to prepare and launch their various experiments on sounding rockets. (4/7)

April 8, 2026

Space Security Moves to Forefront as Threats to Satellites Spread (Source: Space News)
A new report says space security is shifting from a niche arms-control concern to a central policy issue as reliance on satellites deepens and the tools to disrupt them proliferate. The annual Global Counterspace Capabilities report by the Secure World Foundation, released Wednesday, finds that interference with space systems now carries immediate military, economic and political consequences, while the capabilities to cause that interference grow. While past discussions on counterspace technologies focused largely on the United States, China and Russia, this report says more countries are developing such technologies. (4/8)

Hungary Picks Northrop Grumman to Build CommSat (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman won a contract to build Hungary's first national communications satellite. As part of Vice President JD Vance's visit to Budapest Tuesday, the Hungarian defense and space firm 4iG announced an agreement with Northrop to build a geostationary communications satellite under a program known as HUSAT. The spacecraft, a Ka-band system based on Northrop's GEOStar-3 platform, is scheduled for delivery in 2030 and would provide Hungary with its first domestically controlled satellite communications capability. The HUSAT program combines the geostationary satellite with a planned constellation of eight Earth observation spacecraft that 4iG will develop. Separately, 4iG signed an agreement with Apex to explore establishing a joint venture aimed at building small satellites in Europe and targeting demand for large constellations. (4/8)

Capella Wins $49 Million SDA Contract for SatComm (Source: Space News)
Capella Space won a $49 million contract from the Space Development Agency (SDA) for testing military satellite communications. The firm-fixed-price agreement was issued Tuesday under SDA's Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit, or HALO, an other transaction authority contracting mechanism used to fund rapid, on-orbit experiments. Capella, a California-based operator of a commercial radar imaging constellation and a subsidiary of IonQ, will design and develop two spacecraft equipped with specialized radio frequency payloads to test what SDA called "advanced tactical waveform performance, adaptive beamforming, and secure tactical communications" in LEO. The effort is aimed at showing that satellites in low Earth orbit can support military-grade communications links that remain reliable under interference or jamming. (4/8)

Astroscale's UK Formation Flying Hyperspectral Cubesats Complete Review (Source: Space News)
Astroscale has completed the critical design review for two cubesats for the British military. The U.K. subsidiary of the Japanese on-orbit servicing venture announced the milestone Wednesday for the Orpheus mission, which was fully funded last year under a 5.15 million British pound ($7 million) contract from the U.K.'s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. The mission involves flying a pair of near-identical spacecraft from British small satellite specialist Open Cosmos in close formation for a year in LEO. The spacecraft carry hyperspectral imagers for detecting and characterizing objects of interest. The cubesats will also study space weather. (4/8)

Minotaur 4 Converted ICBM Launches DoD Research Payload From California (Source: Edhat)
A Minotaur 4 launched a mission for the Defense Department's Space Test Program Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the STP-S29A mission. The primary payload was STPSat-7, carrying several Space Test Program experiments. Also on board were a pair of U.S. Army cubesats called Rawhide and several other cubesats. (4/8)

China Launches Broadband Constellation Satellites on Long March 8 (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a set of broadband constellation satellites Tuesday. A Long March 8 lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport on the island of Hainan, placing 18 Qianfan satellites into orbit. The Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, satellites are part of a planned broadband constellation ultimately numbering 14,000 satellites. (4/8)

LeoLabs Offers Orbital Threat Notices (Source: Space News)
LeoLabs is expanding beyond tracking satellites and debris into identifying potential threats in orbit. The company announced Wednesday its new Delta system, a software platform designed to detect and characterize unusual satellite behavior. The tool is aimed at military and government operators managing spacecraft in low Earth orbit, where congestion and geopolitical competition are both increasing. Delta is designed to flag behavior such as when a satellite changes its orbit in ways that put it into the same orbital plane as another spacecraft, allowing for repeated approaches. Several allied governments in Europe and Asia are already using Delta. (4/8)

Bulgaria's EnduroSat and UK's Shield Space Team for Inspection Cubesat Development (Source: Space News)
Two European companies are teaming up to develop an inspection cubesat. Bulgarian satellite maker EnduroSat and British defense tech startup Shield Space announced Wednesday plans to deploy a cubesat next year capable of maneuvering near other satellites for inspection. The partnership combines EnduroSat's standardized satellite platform architecture with Shield Space's autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations software, originally developed for drones used in Ukraine.

The first mission under the partnership is slated for the second quarter of 2027 and is dubbed Broadsword, involving an 8U autonomous "chaser" cubesat that would conduct RPO operations with a smaller 3U target satellite launched alongside it. Broadsword is intended as a stepping stone toward a broader architecture centered on a mothership capable of deploying multiple maneuverable spacecraft. (4/8)

Italy Wants Leonardo CEO Replaced (Source: Reuters)
The Italian government is seeking to replace the CEO of space and defense company Leonardo. The government, which owns more than 30% of Leonardo, wants to replace Roberto Cingolani, but has not offered details about why. Leonardo's shares have soared since 2022 and as recently as February Cingolani appeared to be on track to secure a new three-year term as CEO. A potential replacement is Lorenzo Mariani, a former Leonardo executive who is now is now at European missile manufacturer MBDA. Leonardo is in the process of merging its space business with those from Airbus and Thales through a joint venture named Project Bromo. (4/8)

L3Harris Wins $150M Space Force MOSSAIC Contract (Source: GovConWire)
L3Harris Technologies has secured a $150 million contract from the US Space Force to update ground systems under the Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities program. This contract extends L3Harris's ongoing role in supporting military, civil, and commercial applications with advanced space domain awareness solutions. (4/8)
 
Boeing Delivers Satellite for Viasat APAC Expansion (Source: Mobile World)
Boeing has delivered the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite to Viasat, which will enhance the latter's coverage across Asia-Pacific. The satellite, set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, features larger solar arrays and advanced electronics, and will join the F1 and F2 satellites. (4/7)

Stellar Artemis II Photos Taken with Old-Model Nikon Worth About $1,000 (Source: New York Post)
Most of the out-of-this-world photos being beamed home from Artemis II were taken with an old-model Nikon camera that can be bought for about $1,000. NASA traded in the legendary Hasselblad model it used on Apollo missions years ago for the Nikon D5 DSLR — a classic digital single-lens-reflex camera first released in 2016. The Nikon was carefully selected for its proven track record as a workhorse space camera, as well as its extraordinary ability to pick up detail even in extreme darkness, a Nikon official said. (4/7)

ExLabs Pushes Private Sector Role in Planetary Defense as Apophis Asteroid Approaches Earth (Source: ExLabs)
ExLabs will highlight the growing role of private companies in planetary defense ahead of asteroid Apophis’ historic 2029 flyby of Earth, while showcasing its own Apophis EX mission at the upcoming Space Symposium. On April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass approximately 20,000 miles from Earth, closer than many geostationary satellites. The asteroid, which is nearly 1,000 feet wide, will be visible to billions of people around the world and will provide scientists with a rare opportunity to study how a potentially hazardous asteroid responds to Earth’s gravitational forces.

International missions are already being planned. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission is expected to observe Apophis after the flyby, while the European Space Agency’s RAMSES mission aims to rendezvous with the asteroid before its close approach. ExLabs believes commercial missions can significantly expand the amount of data collected and the number of organizations able to participate. (4/7)

Investors Are Already Abuzz About a Tesla-SpaceX Merger (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Elon Musk surprised onlookers with the quick merger between SpaceX and xAI. Now analysts, investors and close Musk observers are debating the merits of what some see as the ultimate combination: SpaceX and Tesla. As SpaceX approaches an initial public offering, some investors are discussing the idea of a mega-Musk merger as a follow-up. Musk has said he thinks his companies are converging, but he hasn’t commented on speculation of a merger. (4/7)

Meet Orpheus - A Hopper Mission Built To Hunt For Life In Martian Volcanoes (Source: Universe Today)
We’ve spent decades scratching the surface of Mars trying to uncover life there. Unlike lava tubes, vents feature sustained heat and circulation that releases volatiles like water vapor and other gases as long as the volcano is active. In other words, they are the most likely spots for internal planetary heat to meet water - just like the vents in Earth’s ocean floor that might have given rise to the first life here.

Orpheus’ team is particularly interested in “Vent #5”, which is about 200 meters across and 50 meters deep. Most notably, it features a diffuse dark streak stretching 400 meters uphill from its rim. Researchers think this streak could be fresh, dark volcanic material that was put there by a recent eruption. Or it could be fresh subsurface material excavated by the wind. Either way, it’s most likely the site of the most recent activity on CT1, and therefore holds the most promise of finding something protected from the surface up until recently. (4/8)

Intel Partners With SpaceX, Tesla to Operate New Chip Plant (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Elon Musk is partnering with Intel INTC on his ambitious Terafab project, which aims to build specially designed chips for SpaceX and xAI as well as for Tesla. In an announcement Tuesday, Intel said it would work with the companies to “design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale.” The company also shared a photo of Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan shaking hands with Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. (4/7)

Planet Details AI-Driven Object Detection Onboard Pelican-4 Satellite (Source: Via Satellite)
Planet recently performed AI-driven object detection directly onboard a Pelican-4 satellite, using the satellite’s onboard Nvidia Jetson Orin module. Planet shared details on Tuesday of the recent tech milestone. On March 25, Planet’s Pelican-4 satellite captured an image of the airport in Alice Springs, Australia, and used the Nvidia Jetson Orin module to run an AI model onboard the satellite, which detected airplanes in the image. (4/7)

As More Nations Seek Counterspace Chops, GPS Jamming Also Rises (Source: Breaking Defense)
As global military interest in obtaining capabilities to neutralize adversary space systems continues to expand, jamming against GPS and other position, navigation and timing satellites as well as communications birds also is on the rise, according to a new report by the Secure World Foundation. The good news for space operators, including the US government, is that so far, “only non-destructive capabilities are actively being used against satellites in current military operations.” The bad news is that a growing number of militaries around the world are seeking counterspace weapons, both non-lethal and lethal, to target space systems. (4/8)

NASA’s Artemis Era May Finally Solve Three Major Moon Mysteries (Source: Scientific American)
Despite the moon being so nearby, we know surprisingly little about it with much certainty. The Apollo astronauts hauled back a bevy of moon rocks and left behind a few short-lived geological experiments, but most of our lunar knowledge today comes from moon-orbiting satellites, telescopic observations from Earth and the handful of sample-return missions undertaken recently by China. Starved of more in situ data, researchers can’t yet scratch a bigger scientific itch; they wish to study the moon as a Rosetta Stone for the origin and evolution of our world and the solar system at large. Click here. (4/7)

Has Artemis II Shown We Can Land on the Moon Again? (Source: BBC)
The mission's first six days have shown that the Orion capsule works as designed with people on board for the first time - something no simulator could prove. Perhaps its greatest achievement, though, is through the actions of the Artemis crew, which have generated hope, agency and optimism for a world appearing to be in desperate need of inspiration. But the bigger question remains - is a Moon landing by 2028, as NASA and President Trump want, now really an achievable goal?

If re-entry goes well, the picture that emerges from Artemis II will be genuinely encouraging. The rocket worked. The spacecraft worked. The crew handled the systems with competence and grace. And Nasa has at last articulated a credible plan to build on this moment rather than wait three years and start again. A Moon landing by 2028 remains a stretch. The question is no longer whether Orion can fly. The question is whether the landers, the cadence, and the political will can keep pace. The spacecraft, at least, has done its part. (4/7)

It’s Unanimous: Space Already Functions as Critical Infrastructure (Source: Via Satellite)
Space may not officially be the United States’ 17th critical infrastructure sector. But in practice, experts across government, academia, and industry say it already functions as one — deeply embedded in the systems that power modern life. From GPS-enabled financial transactions to airline navigation, precision agriculture, emergency response, electric grid synchronization, and military operations, space-based services quietly underpin nearly every other sector formally recognized as critical infrastructure.

"A formal critical infrastructure designation for space really does matter,” concludes Fernandez. “It would push us to look for blind spots in how we address space-based capabilities and the threats to them and force a more holistic view of all the assets that depend on space. Most importantly, it creates an official structure with clearly assigned roles and authorities, so the right organizations can actually act and get the results we need when something goes wrong.” (4/7)

Advocates Ready For NASA Science Funding Fight (Source: Payload)
NASA is facing dramatic cuts to its science program next fiscal year—but advocates say they’re ready to fight for NASA’s space science missions. Once again, the Trump administration has proposed a budget that would make large cuts to science and STEM missions. And—once again—advocates and lawmakers are saying they won’t stand idly by while programs are gutted. The Planetary Society—an advocacy group that organized others to lobby against the proposed science cuts for fiscal 2026—said it’s ready to rally the troops again. (4/7)

A Lunar Base or a Lunar Economy? (Source: Space News)
We applaud the lunar base vision laid out by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on March 24. Placing this stake in the lunar regolith is long overdue. What is missing from the mission architecture, however, is a vision for long-term economic development on the moon. It will be a profound missed opportunity if NASA does not equally commit its lunar base efforts to supporting commercial development of the moon. (4/8)

A Moon Base Is Being Planned Without Understanding the Ground (Source: Roberto Moraes)
For the Artemis lunar base, the primary concern is not architecture or hardware, but the absence of a construction-grade understanding of the ground. The program is advancing without quantified boundary conditions. From an engineering standpoint, that introduces first-order risk. There is no clear evidence of a phased geotechnical investigation program preceding infrastructure decisions. Without in situ characterization, timelines are effectively being defined independently of the controlling parameter, which is the ground.

On a Starship landing without a prepared pad, the question is not whether the vehicle can land, but how the ground will respond. The upper regolith layer is a low-confinement, highly disturbed zone. Under high plume loading, this can lead to rapid degradation of bearing conditions, material ejection, and surface instability. In that context, landing without ground preparation is feasible, but not predictable in performance or repeatability. In short, feasibility is currently being evaluated from the vehicle down. For sustained operations, it needs to be evaluated from the ground up. (4/7)

Our Off-World Bases Will Rely on Nuclear Power. Can We Deliver? (Source: SpaceCom Second Stage)
NASA’s growing focus on crewed missions to the Moon, and then Mars, highlights the daunting challenges of power generation. The Cassini probe contained ~33 kilograms of plutonium to generate 850 watts of continuous electricity, or ~8 megawatt-hours (MWh) per Earth year. Next-generation fission microreactors will need only 150 grams of uranium to produce 114 kilowatts of continuous electricity, or one gigawatt-hour (GWh) per year, enough to power a Mars or Moon base camp.

While designed to be transportable, significant engineering work is needed to support a safe lunar landing at a geotechnically suitable site, and for final reactor assembly and activation. The compressed schedule for Artemis necessitates a challenging learn-as-we-go approach to constructing nuclear-capable infrastructure on an airless world with fractional gravity, little-understood geotechnical properties, and a host of unique environmental risks such as micrometeoroids, lunar dust, solar radiation, thermal swings, and near-surface electrically charged plasma.

And back on Earth, years before a microreactor is tucked into a heavy-lift payload fairing, there is a critical shortage of nuclear-ready processing facilities, causing a uranium and plutonium bottleneck at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. This is a problem that must be addressed to keep Artemis on-schedule while also supporting the growing number of non-Artemis RTG-powered payloads and nuclear propulsion systems moving toward launch. Click here. (4/6)

Experiments Refute Dark Matter Claim (Source: Phys.org)
In 1997, the DAMA/NaI experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy observed a signal whose annual variability was suggestive of dark matter. Despite the follow-up DAMA/LIBRA experiment producing similar results, claims of direct dark matter detection drew skepticism from the physics community.

To test the claims independently, sister experiments ANAIS-112 and COSINE-100 were constructed using the same basic design as DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA. COSINE-100, located at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea, began taking data in 2016. ANAIS-112, located at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) in Spain, began taking data in 2017. Maruyama is the Principal Investigator (PI) and scientific co-spokesperson of COSINE-100.

The data sets from both ANAIS-112 and COSINE-100, each working independently, were found to contain no such variability, tentatively ruling out dark matter as the cause of the earlier observations. Hollick's 2025 thesis combined the data from both ANAIS-112 and COSINE-100, and statistical analysis of the combined dataset showed no significant evidence of annual modulation in the relevant energy regions. This result effectively rules out dark matter as the origin for the DAMA/LIBRA signal. (4/6)

Gravitational Waves May be Responsible for Dark Matter in the Universe (Source: Brighter Side)
Dark matter is thought to exist everywhere, wrapping around galaxies and helping to shape the largest things in the universe. But nobody knows what it is made of. Now, a new theoretical study presents a surprisingly unique situation that could provide some of the missing puzzle pieces. Some of the dark matter may have originated from ancient gravitational waves. These waves travelled through the early universe before stars or galaxies had formed. (4/4)

Plan to Control Sunlight by Launching 50,000 Mirrors Could Wreak Havoc on Earth, Experts Warn: ‘Major Adverse Health Consequences’ (Source: New York Post)
It’s keeping scientists up at night. Scientists around the world are sounding the alarm over an ambitious plan to install thousands of mirrors and myriad satellites in space, claiming that it will impact sleep and various ecosystems on a global level. “The proposed scale of orbital deployment would represent a significant alteration of the natural night-time light environment at a planetary scale,” leaders of the European Biological Rhythms Society (EBRS), the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, the Japanese Society for Chronobiology and the Canadian Society for Chronobiology declared in letters to the US Federal Communications Commission. (4/6)

China’s Gravity-Detecting SQUID Gets Closer to Spotting US Nuclear Submarines (Source: SCMP)
Chinese researchers unveiled a gravity detector with world-leading precision last month, potentially expanding the military applications of the technology. It uses a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) to detect objects by measuring tiny changes in gravity. The team that developed the instrument says it can be used for scientific research and finding underground resources. It also brings the country one step closer to being able to spot patrolling nuclear submarines.

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the instrument reduces gravity gradient measurement noise – outside effects that can disrupt a gravity detector’s accuracy, such as vibrations from seismic activity – to a level that is second only to gravitational wave detectors built on the kilometer scale. The instrument built by the CAS team is about the size of an office cubicle. Existing submarine detection methods – sonar, magnetic anomaly detection, and radar – can be evaded. However, gravity cannot be masked. (4/3)

Spain’s Xoople Raises $130 Million to Map the Earth for AI (Source: Tech Crunch)
Space data companies have argued for years that the private sector needs their products, but the real uptake has been from government buyers. Now, with artificial intelligence top of mind for business, one Spanish startup is trying to become the go-to source of ground truth for enterprise. Xoople (said like “zoople’) is developing a satellite constellation to collect precise data aimed at deep learning models. The startup was founded in 2019 and has spent the last seven years developing its tech stack around data collected by government spacecraft, and integrating with cloud providers. (4/6)

Proposed $1.7 Trillion DoD Budget Adds $17.5 Billion to This Year's $25 Nillion for Inneffective Golden Dome (Source: Popular Information)
In September 2025, Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute estimated that a system actually capable of neutralizing threats from all countries would cost $3.6 trillion. Among other limitations, a $185 billion system would not be effective against threats from China or Russia, which have thousands of missiles, Harrison argues. Bloomberg’s independent analysis found that an effective system would cost about $1.1 trillion. Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT), a Trump supporter and the founder of the Golden Dome caucus, acknowledged that “[i]t will likely cost in the trillions if and when Golden Dome is completed.”

Some scientists believe that, no matter how much is spent, a space-based missile defense system will not be effective. A February 2025 paper by the American Physical Society (APS) found that to defend against just one North Korean missile would require “a constellation of at least 1600 interceptors.” To defend against 10 missiles fired simultaneously, the United States would need 40,000 space-based interceptors, about three times the number of active satellites currently in orbit.

Even if a multi-trillion-dollar system with tens of thousands of interceptors could be deployed, it could still be defeated with relatively inexpensive countermeasures, like decoys. The White House seems to acknowledge that the missile defense system it is building will not actually defend the country against a missile attack. “The goal is to not create a ‘perfect’ defense, but to provide an increasingly effective shield,” the White House budget document states. (4/7)

April 7, 2026

Russia Supplies Iran with Cyber Support, Spy Imagery to Hone Attacks, Ukraine Says (Source: Reuters)
Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike U.S. forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment. The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They ‌represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the U.S. launched their assault on February 28. (4/7)

DoD Strategic Capital Credit Program Could Reach $20B (Source: Defense Scoop)
The Pentagon has requested $20.2 billion for the Defense Strategic Capital Credit Program in fiscal year 2027, a huge increase from the $1.5 billion allotted for fiscal year 2026. The program, overseen by the Office of Strategic Capital, provides loans to companies working on critical technologies, such as microelectronics, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity. (4/6)

FAA Budget Outlines Effort to Hire 2.3K Controllers (Sources: MSN, Reuters)
The Federal Aviation Administration's budget proposal for 2026 includes hiring 2,300 air traffic controller trainees to address a staffing shortage, seeking $95.4 million for this. The FAA is short of 3,500 certified controllers. The FAA is also requesting $39 million to enhance aviation safety oversight and commercial space transportation compliance. (4/6)

AIA Warns of NASA Budget Cut Impacts (Source: Space Daily)
The Aerospace Industries Association is tracking NASA's budget plan with AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning warning the budget cuts threaten US leadership in space. Current plans by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman call into question funding levels for the Space Launch System, a system Fanning defends as the only human-rated launch system currently available. (4/6)

Artemis Mission Achieves Lunar Flyby (Source: Space News)
Artemis 2 is on its way home after swinging around the moon. The Orion spacecraft made its closest approach to the moon at 7 p.m. Eastern Monday, around the same time it set the record for the furthest crewed mission from Earth at 406,771 kilometers. The four astronauts spent several hours during the flyby observing the moon, reporting on their observations while also taking images for later downlinks to Earth. After the flyby, the crew also spoke with President Trump and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The Orion spacecraft is performing well and on track for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening. (4/7)

Starfish Space Raises $100 Million for Servicing Satellite Production (Source: Space News)
Starfish Space has raised more than $100 million to scale up production of satellite servicing vehicles. The company announced a Series B round Tuesday led by Point72 Ventures and co-led by Activate Capital and Shield Capital, with participation from several other new and existing investors. The Seattle-based company plans to use the funding to increase production of its Otter line of spacecraft designed for satellite life extension and deorbiting defunct spacecraft. The company has already signed several customers, such as the U.S. Space Force and satellite operator SES, for Otter missions scheduled to launch starting later this year. (4/7)

Earth Observation Companies Aim For Latency Minimization (Source: Space News)
Earth observation companies are working to rapidly deliver images from their satellites. Data latency, the time between image capture and delivery, has long been a key metric for Earth observation customers, but customers are pushing operators to decrease latency in order to obtain real-time intelligence. Two years ago, government customers called for image delivery in 60-90 minutes, but those same offices are now pushing contractors to provide data in minutes. Companies are scrutinizing every aspect of their businesses from satellite design and construction to launch, commissioning, tasking, ground-station networks and image processing. (4/7)

Spain's FOSSA Aims for Japan's Defense Market (Source: Space News)
Spanish smallsat startup FOSSA Systems is pushing into Japan's defense market after securing a local partner to expand its reach. FOSSA opened a Tokyo office and signed a distribution agreement with Kanematsu, a conglomerate with a significant presence in Japan's aerospace and defense market. FOSSA develops its satellites in-house and was initially focused on spacecraft weighing less than a kilogram to provide Internet of Things services. The company is now building larger 3U and 6U cubesats, some of which carry dedicated customer payloads for signals intelligence. FOSSA also recently joined NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to advance its dual-use commercial and government technologies. (4/7)

SpaceX Launches Monday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Noozhawk)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Monday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:50 p.m. Eastern, putting 25 Starlink satellites into orbit on the first flight of a new booster. The twilight launch created a backlit plume visible throughout much of southern California. (4/7)

SpaceX Broadens IPO Opportunities to Retail Investors (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX plans to give retail investors a bigger role in its upcoming IPO. The company is laying out plans for its initial public offering, including a traditional "roadshow" of presentations to institutional investors scheduled for early June. However, SpaceX also plans to give smaller retail investors an opportunity to participate in the IPO, with up to 30% of the shares available for sale to them. SpaceX will host 1,500 retail investors at an event after the IPO roadshow. (4/7)

Russian Space Chief Plans Isaacman Meeting This Summer (Source: TASS)
The head of Roscosmos says he is preparing to meet with NASA Administrator Isaacman this summer. Dmitry Bakanov said Monday he expected a face-to-face meeting with Isaacman this summer after a brief video conference earlier this year. Isaacman said in February that he planned to attend the next Soyuz crewed launch to the International Space Station in July, which would be the first time a NASA administrator has gone to a Soyuz launch since 2018. Bakanov said that, at the upcoming meeting, he hopes to discuss "the future prospects of our cooperation." (4/7)

European Investment Bank Signs $34.6M Loan Facility with PLD Space, Bringing PLD Funding to $438M (Source: Space Intel Report)
The European Investment Bank (EIB), continuing to make good on a pledge to European governments to increase its support for startup space ventures, signed a venture-debt commitment of 30 million euros ($34.6 million) with startup launch provider PLD Space of Spain. PLD, which concluded a 180-million-euro Series C financing round in March, said it will use the EIB funds to bring its Miura 5 rocket into final development. The vehicle is scheduled to make its inaugural orbital flight this year from Europe. (4/7)

JAXA Plans To Bring Back Pristine Early Solar System Samples From A Comet (Source: Universe Today)
Japan’s space agency, JAXA, has been knocking it out of the park with small-body exploration missions for decades. They had historic successes with both Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, and they are going to visit the Martian Moons soon with the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. But after that, they are aiming for something much more pristine and arguably more difficult - a comet. The Next Generation Small-Body Return (NGSR) was recently described in a paper at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), and is under assessment as a large-class mission for the 2030s.

Its main target is the comet 289P/Blanpain, a unique comet that has an interesting history. It was originally discovered in 1819, but was then considered “lost” for two centuries, eventually being rediscovered in 2003. Originally it was mis-identified as a near-Earth asteroid due to its relatively low activity, but was confirmed as a comet after it had an unexpected outburst of activity in 2013. It’s extremely small, with an estimated 160 meter radius. But the most important feature is its relatively low rate of gas and dust production - making it a much safer environment for NGSR to perform proximity operations in than an actively erupting larger comet. (4/7)

Nigeria Announces Plans to Launch Two New NIGCOMSAT Communications Satellite by 2029 (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The Nigerian Federal Government has announced plans to launch two new communications satellite in 2028 and 2029, as the country's operational satellite, NIGCOMSAT-1R nears the end of its lifespan. The new satellites, NIGCOMSAT-2A and NIGCOMSAT-2B, will accelerate the country's plans to strengthen security and expand digital connectivity. (4/7)

The Exploration Company Completes Nyx Test Model Pressure Tests (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Exploration Company has completed initial testing of the pressurized structure for its Nyx Structural Test Model (STM). The structure was manufactured by CNIM Systèmes Industriels in France. The Exploration Company is developing a modular space capsule called Nyx that will initially be used to transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Later versions are intended for lunar cargo missions and potential crew transport to and from orbit. (4/7)

Space Force Requests More Than $8 Billion For Space-Based AMTI (Source: Defense Daily)
While the Space Force has said it views the fielding of space-based ground moving target indication (GMTI) as preceding operational air moving target indication (AMTI) satellites, the service's fiscal 2027 budget suggests a possible reversal of roles. The Space Force asks for more than $7 billion in procurement for AMTI in fiscal 2027 versus $1 billion for GMTI. (4/7)

NASA KSC's "Take a Student to Work Day" is on April 23 (Source: NASA)
NASA KSC employees can bring up to five students to the space center on April 23. Students must stay with the employee for the entire duration of the event. They must be registered by April 17 to participate. Click here. (4/7)

What Should Be Jared Isaacman’s Top Priority for NASA? (Source: Aerospace America)
First, NASA must return to the moon by 2028 ahead of China. A sustainable lunar presence is not about landing astronauts once; it is about building the infrastructure, systems and partnerships that will allow humanity to thrive beyond Earth. The moon is where we perfect the technology and establish the operating cadence that makes deep-space exploration possible. This includes life support, surface power, communications, navigation systems and lander vehicles that are robust and resilient enough to withstand the moon’s two-week-long night, craters and other low-lying areas that experience almost permanent darkness. These areas are the proving ground that prepares us for the next big frontiers, including Mars. (3/30)

The Age Of Space Maneuver Warfare Is Imminent (Source: Forbes)
In 1944, Major General James Doolittle was touring a subordinate unit when he saw a sign on a wall: “The first duty of Eighth Air Force fighters is to bring the bombers back alive.” Doolittle ordered the sign to be taken down. A new sign read: “The first duty of Eighth Air Force fighters is to destroy German fighters.” From that small change grew a new strategy. This pivot from bomber support to air superiority — taking the fight to the enemy — led to the destruction of German airpower. Doolittle later assessed, “this was the most important and far-reaching military decision I made during the war.”

For the last few decades, the “first duty” of military space professionals has been to deliver space effects down to the terrestrial domains in the form of space support. We achieved this with satellites operating in fixed, static orbits (an operational design approach known as positional space operations) relatively close to Earth. This is still a vital and enduring mandate for the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. But as adversary threats in and from space proliferate, the first duty of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command will shift — just as Doolittle’s fighters did, with a primary focus of deterring and defeating adversaries within that domain.

This cannot happen without an equally fundamental paradigm shift from a traditional positional approach to space operations to a more dynamic one best described as space maneuver warfare. (4/7)

Louisiana Creating Incentives to Attract Space Companies (Source: Shreveport Bossier-Advocate)
Lawmakers on Tuesday will begin taking up a wide-ranging package of incentives designed to attract aerospace companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to Louisiana. The legislation, filed by House leadership just hours before last week’s deadline for filing new bills, would make companies that build, launch and service rockets in the state eligible for massive sales and property tax breaks, shield them from lawsuits over injury, environmental damage and loss of property values, and exempt them from public records laws.

The bills, filed by Republican Reps. Jack McFarland of Jonesboro, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and Tony Bacala of Prairieville, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, are generating considerable buzz around the State Capitol, where they took some by surprise. Editor's Note: The incentives include a 20+ year state/local tax rebate on machinery, equipment, materials and services used in aerospace facilities, after a $1 billion capital investment and 200 new full-time jobs; also, an expansion of an ~80% property tax abatement for up to 10 years; and liability protections aimed at limiting lawsuits for various aerospace activities. (4/7)

House Space Subcommittee Chair on Extending ISS, Fostering Commercial LEO Market (Source: Aerospace America)
As chair of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, Haridopolos is in a position to influence future commercial growth and NASA’s long-term priorities. This subset of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, which oversees NASA, is often where discussions about the agency’s budget and broader U.S. space policy begin. Most recently, the subcommittee held a March 25 hearing about NASA’s plan to retire the ISS at the end of the decade and transition to privately owned and operated stations in low-Earth orbit. Click here. (4/6)

Billionaire NASA Chief Who’s Been to Space Twice Says Critics of Billionaire Space Travel are ‘Outright Wrong’ (Source: Fortune)
The billionaire leader of NASA, who has gone to space twice, has a message for critics of billionaire space travel: You’re “outright wrong.” Jared Isaacman defended private space exploration, also calling critics "ill-informed”. He argued that commercial efforts by leaders like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are vital for technological progress, including planetary defense, and that society should not "pause" innovation. (4/7)

America May Be the Greatest in Space Travel — but the Average American Can Barely Afford Milk (Source: New York Post)
We're off to the moon. It’s costing trillions of jillions. Great. Terrific. Hooray to America. We don’t all have bread but we’re getting AI. Another $4 and you could buy milk. I know we must get there before Syria, Venezuela or some rat-infested land zooms into Lunar Lane before us. USA needed to figure how to schlep to the moon before anyone else. I understand that. Forget how about let’s first spruce up what once was San Francisco. Or maybe Chicago.

We are the elderly, the infirm, children’s schools failing, rumbling crumbling apartments, high prices, limited food, huge taxes, Cape Canaveral and a smelly john. I bet had Donald been on board, he’d have had his recently canned lady lawyer book a zeppelin to schlep up there and fix it. (4/6)

Arizona's 'Nursery for Astronauts' Helping Shape NASA's Mission to Return to Moon (Source: Fox 10 Phoenix)
The four Artemis 2 astronauts, along with all who came before them, trained right here in Arizona. The USGS used explosives at Cinder Lake to create a crater field that mimicked the Moon's surface. Now, scientists are back again. "A lot of the vegetation that grew in the last two decades has been removed and NASA is back using that for different things, developing and testing equipment like the rovers for astronaut training and other projects. So it’s great because that legacy is still alive," Kevin Schindler said.

Another Arizona connection is that an astronaut candidate for those future Artemis missions is former Flagstaff geologist Lauren Edgar. "Here we go again, not only training astronauts, but also a nursery for astronauts in some ways, so we hope down the road in Artemis missions, Lauren follows in those footsteps and makes the journey to the Moon," Schindler said. (4/6)

NASA Just Gave Apple the Best Shot-on-iPhone Ad Ever (Source: MacWorld)
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts used an iPhone 17 Pro to capture stunning Earth photographs from space, marking the first smartphone fully qualified for extended orbital use. The specially configured iPhones lack internet and Bluetooth connectivity, serving exclusively for photography during the mission. These impressive space images could potentially revive Apple’s popular ‘Shot on iPhone’ advertising campaign, showcasing the device’s advanced camera capabilities in extreme conditions. (4/6)

Nutella Capitalizes on Greatest Free Advertising Moment in History on NASA Moon Mission (Source: Fox News)
Nutella is capitalizing on what internet users are calling the greatest free advertising moment in history. A tub of the beloved chocolate-hazelnut spread has achieved liftoff — not just into space, but straight into viral fame. The scene unfolded aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission, where a tub of Nutella casually floated out of the spacecraft’s kitchen like it had a call time and a lighting crew. In zero gravity, the jar drifted, turned, and practically posed — label-forward, perfectly framed — delivering a product shot so pristine it looked storyboarded. (4/6)

Artemis Eclipses (Source: Space Review)
Artemis 2 successfully launched last week, with the Orion spacecraft flying around the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century. Jeff Foust reports on the success of the mission so far, one that has been overshadowed to a degree by proposed budget cuts at NASA. Click here. (4/7)
 
Pinning the Tail on the Moskva: POPPY and the Dawn of Satellite Ocean Surveillance (Source: Space Review)
The NRO launched signals intelligence satellites in the 1960s initially to track radars fixed on the ground. Dwayne Day describes insights from a recently declassified interview on how those satellites were then applied to tracking ships. Click here. (4/7)
 
Thirty Years Later, Mars 96 Has Not Been Found (Source: Space Review)
Three decades ago, Russia launched an ambitious Mars mission only for it to crash back to Earth. Dante Sanaei examines the enduring mysteries of Mars 96. Click here. (4/7)
 
Ownership Without Oversight: Australia’s On-Orbit Supervision Gap (Source: Space Review)
The recent sale of an imaging satellite already in orbit to an Australian company has uncovered a gap in how the country regulates space activities. Jeremy Kruckel proposes one solution to ensure the country upholds its treaty obligations. Click here. (4/7)
 
Review: Return to Launch (Source: Space Review)
Florida’s Space Coast has transformed over the last 15 years with the rise of private companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX. Jeff Foust reviews a book that charts the decades-long efforts to build a space industry in the state that was less dependent on the ups and downs of government programs. Click here. (4/7)

Iceye Satellites Track Russian Vessels, Illegal Shipping in the Arctic (Source: Via Satellite)
On a dark, clouded night, a Russian ballistic missile submarine departs a naval base in the Arctic. A small vessel navigates the Mediterranean Sea at 15 miles per hour. A tanker floats beside another to illegally receive a cargo of sanctioned oil. The ocean is a big place covered by clouds and any of these activities are easy to miss. Iceye, a Finland-based Earth Observation firm, has tracked those three use cases from orbit, according to application studies.

Its constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, the largest in the world, is designed to monitor maritime activity in areas invisible to other observation methods. Iceye US CEO Eric Jensen said that in areas with high cloud cover or short daylight, monitoring ships is made possible only by their obligation to transmit their locations. He said Iceye’s constellation is dense enough to provide high-revisit radar data in those areas. (4/6)

NASA’s Moon Ship and Rocket Seem to be Working Well, so What About the Landers? (Source: Ars Technica)
As we have been reporting on Ars, NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission has been going rather well so far. Of course, Orion’s big test is yet to come with the fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Friday. But so far, it’s looking like the rocket and spaceship needed for a lunar landing are getting there for NASA. The biggest remaining piece of the architecture, therefore, is a lunar lander. Known in NASA parlance as the Human Landing System, or HLS, the space agency has contracted with SpaceX for its Starship vehicle and Blue Origin and its Blue Moon lander.

Last year, NASA asked both companies for options to accelerate their lunar landers, and both replied that not having to dock with the Lunar Gateway in a highly elliptical orbit, known as near-rectilinear halo orbit, would help a lot. So the space agency has removed that requirement. Beyond this, we don’t know much officially. NASA and the companies have not spoken publicly about their revised plans, but Blue Origin had a plan that did not involve orbital refueling, and SpaceX was looking at docking Starship with Orion in low-Earth orbit. (4/6)

Blue Origin Plans A Pair Of Low-Flying Prospectors Around The Lunar South Pole (Source: Universe Today)
Oasis-1, the newly proposed lunar prospecting mission from Blue Origin, was recently introduced at the 2026 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). It’s designed as a two-SmallSat mission to be deployed from Blue Origin’s uncrewed MK1 lander. The twin spacecraft will enter a highly elliptical 10 x 50 km polar orbit, with its lowest point, known as the periapsis, skimming right over the lunar South Pole.

That proximity is necessary to collect as much detailed data as possible. Each satellite will use a suite of three instruments that are tailored for deep prospecting. First is a Hybrid Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (GRNS). Its main purpose is to find water - neutron spectroscopy is currently the only remote sensing technique that can quantify water down to a depth of about one meter. (4/6)

Commercial Space to FCC on Market Access: Calm Down. EU Proposals are Already Being Improved (Source: Space Intel Report)
Commercial space operators told the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that while some nations with access to the US market continue to throw up barriers to US companies, the problem is not dramatic and can best be handled by the FCC’s current regulatory tools. Any attempt to impose new rules, they said, would risk making the problem much worse by provoking other nations to erect higher barriers. (4/6)

Moog Highlights Growing Satellite Bus Capabilities with METEOR (Source: Space News)
Moog will highlight its satellite bus product line and unveil a full-scale model of its METEOR spacecraft at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The display underscores Moog’s role as a key supplier of scalable components and systems for national security space customers. (4/6)

Seagate Space Signs MOU with Firefly Aerospace to Collaborate on Offshore Launch Infrastructure for Alpha (Source: Space News)
Seagate Space has agreed with Firefly Aerospace to collaborate on the development of an offshore launch platform that enables a sea-based launch capability for Firefly’s Alpha rocket. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in expanding responsive, resilient launch solutions for the rapidly growing space economy. Seagate Space is working closely with Firefly to mature the design of an integrated offshore launch system capable of supporting the unique requirements of liquid-fueled orbital rockets. Central to this development is the integration of Seagate Space’s Gateway Series, the industry’s first purpose-built offshore spaceport designed specifically for launch operations. (4/6)

Avio Delays SMILE Launch After Component Production Issue Identified (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Italian launch services provider Avio has postponed the launch of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) SMILE mission aboard a Vega C rocket after an issue was identified on the production line of a subsystem component.

Avio began preparations for the launch of SMILE in mid-February with the transfer of the P120C first stage from the Booster Storage Building to the ZLV launch pad. The transfer marked the beginning of the first Vega flight managed by Avio itself, after the company’s split from Arianespace-managed flights. In early April, the mission’s payload, encased in the Vega C fairing, was successfully stacked, marking the last major event before the rocket’s launch on 9 May. (4/6)

The Powerful New Rubin Observatory Just Found 11,000 New Asteroids and Measured 'Tens of Thousands More' (Source: Space.com)
Early observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have already revealed more than 11,000 previously unknown asteroids, reshaping our view of the solar system and offering a striking preview of what's to come once full science operations begin. The discovery, made using preliminary data, demonstrates Rubin's ability to scan the sky quickly and deeply. Even during limited early observations, the telescope has detected thousands of moving objects in just days, far outpacing traditional asteroid surveys, according to a statement from the NSF NOIRLab. (4/5)

Space Debris and Mega-Constellations: Is Starlink Reshaping Orbit Too Fast? (Source: New Space Economy)
A generation ago, the idea of one private company placing thousands of operational satellites into orbit while continuously adding more still sounded speculative. Now it describes the ordinary operating reality of Starlink. The system has widened access to broadband and changed expectations about what commercial space services can look like at mass-market scale. It has also altered the traffic environment of low Earth orbit fast enough that governance still feels improvised beside the pace of deployment.

That is the core controversy. Critics often talk as if Starlink’s growth automatically means an imminent debris catastrophe. Supporters often answer as if autonomous avoidance, planned reentries, and active station-keeping settle the matter. Neither view is complete. The real problem is that congestion, conjunction management, reentry load, atmospheric effects, astronomy conflicts, and precedent-setting all accumulate long before the most dramatic failure scenario arrives. A crowded orbital regime can become more brittle even while most satellites keep working as designed. (4/6)

April 6, 2026

Moon Astronauts Forced to Do It in Bags as “Burning Odor” Emanates From Toilet (Source: Futurism)
NASA’s historic Artemis 2 mission launched without a hitch but their journey hasn’t been without hiccups. Their space toilet, in particular — the space agency’s newfangled Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) — has turned out to be a considerable pain point. Mere hours into their ten-day trip around the Moon, the toilet jammed, with NASA officials delivering the crew an unfortunate piece of news: it was only accepting solid waste.

While the issue was ultimately corrected when NASA astronaut Christina Koch realized the pump hadn’t been primed with enough liquid, the interplanetary commode broke down once again over the weekend. This time, “it’s an issue with dumping the waste out of the toilet,” as flight director Judd Frieling told reporters on Saturday, as quoted by CNN. “And so it appears to me that we probably have some frozen urine in the vent line.”

And in the midst of it all, yet another issue with the toilet manifested itself in a way that’s particularly alarming in the closed confines of a spacecraft. "When I opened up the hygiene bay, the rest of the crew could smell it pretty much immediately.” Ground control suspects the odor was caused by insulation around the door of the toilet heating up. (4/6)

Cecil Spaceport: How Collaboration Unlocks Regional Excellence (Source: Space Florida)
By 2035, Florida must be ready to support the transport of at least 5,000 metric tons of cargo to space annually. Meeting that demand won't happen at a single launch pad—it will require an integrated network of testing, manufacturing, reentry, and command infrastructure spread across the state. That's not a future vision. It's already being built. And Cecil Airport & Spaceport, quietly generating over $2 billion in annual economic impact from Northeast Florida, is a vital piece of that puzzle. 

Florida's spaceport system is far larger and far more strategic than any single location. From the busiest launch complex in the world to emerging testing and reentry facilities, Florida's spaceports operate as an integrated network, each with distinct capabilities and purposeful roles. Cecil Spaceport exemplifies why this collaborative approach has become our competitive advantage on the national stage.

Cecil Spaceport occupies a distinct and essential position within Florida's aerospace ecosystem. It brings substantial assets to that role: the third-longest runway in the state, a robust military and government presence, 320 acres set aside specifically for aerospace development, and critical infrastructure including an 18,200-square-foot hangar and a 60,000-square-foot concrete ramp designed for rocket testing and launch preparation. (4/6)

China and Europe Launch Rare Joint Space Mission (Source: Financial Times)
Europe and China are launching a joint space mission to study how Earth’s magnetic field shields the planet from harmful solar radiation, a rare example of collaboration as space competition intensifies. The ambitious project aims to understand how solar turbulence generates “space weather” and to predict geomagnetic storms that can disrupt terrestrial communications, knock out power grids and damage electronic equipment. A Vega-C rocket is set to launch the 2.3 tonne satellite, called Smile, from French Guiana into a highly elliptical orbit that will take it as far as 121,000km above the North Pole. (4/6)

More Military Concern on Space Supply Chains (Source: Space News)
Military space programs are suffering from supply chain constraints. As the Space Force envisions accelerated satellite production, officials are warning that key parts of the space industrial base may not be mature enough to keep up. The concerns center on highly specialized components, such as optical inter-satellite communication terminals, infrared sensor arrays and radiation-hardened microelectronics. The risks are concentrated among smaller, lower-tier suppliers that can remain mostly invisible until a disruption halts production. Those supply chain challenges have affected programs like the Space Development Agency's constellations of communications and missile-tracking satellites. (4/6)

Russian Soyuz Rocket Launches From Plesetsk (Source: Russian Space Web)
A Soyuz rocket launched a Russian military communications satellite on April 3. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia and placed a Meridian-M satellite into orbit. This was the 11th launch of a Meridian satellite, which provides communications services from highly elliptical orbits. (4/6)

NASA Officially Stops Work on SLS Mobile Launcher (Source: Space News)
NASA has stopped work on a mobile launch tower for a version of the Space Launch System the agency no longer plans to develop. Agency officials said last week they issued a stop-work order for Mobile Launcher 2 (ML-2), which was being built for the SLS Block 1B. NASA announced in late February it would no longer develop the SLS Block 1B, instead retaining the existing Block 1 version. Development of ML-2 has suffered major delays and cost overruns. NASA said it will use some components of ML-2 as spares for the existing mobile launch platform. (4/5)

Avio Delays SMILE Launch After Component Production Issue Identified (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Italian launch services provider Avio has postponed the launch of the ESA's SMILE mission aboard a Vega C rocket after an issue was identified on the production line of a subsystem component. Avio began preparations for the launch of SMILE in mid-February with the transfer of the P120C first stage from the Booster Storage Building to the ZLV launch pad. The transfer marked the beginning of the first Vega flight managed by Avio itself, after the company’s split from Arianespace-managed flights. (4/6)

Fast and Furious: Aerospace Firms Reduce Hypersonic Design to Months, Not Years (Source: AIAA)
Used to be, designing hypersonic aircraft, a complex and lengthy process, presented a choice: One could choose low-fidelity and have it quickly, or high-fidelity and it would take seemingly forever. Those days may be gone if aerospace firms Specter Aerospace and nTop have their way. Now, hypersonic aircraft can be designed quickly, with high fidelity, at scale, reducing time from development requirements to validated design in days instead of weeks or months, said presenters on the HUB stage at AIAA SciTech Forum on 13 January. (4/6)

SDA’s Sandhoo Likely to Lead Space Force Missile Warning & Tracking Portfolio (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force intends to tap the acting director of the Space Development Agency (SDA), Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, to lead its new Missile Warning and Tracking Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) office, multiple sources have told Breaking Defense. In that job, Sandhoo will be responsible for developing the sensor satellites required to enable the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative. (4/6)

Brevard County Company 3D Prints Tools for Orion Capsule (Source: MyNews 13)
The company is 3D printing tools used to assemble the Orion space capsule. Ken Brace is the owner of Rapid Prototyping Services, a company that is 3D printing parts for NASA. "During the assembly process of the capsule, they use these tools to drill holes in the enclosure, to add bracketry, add seats to the capsule," he explained.

Brace has been turning out tools for NASA for 22 years, and he has been 3D printing drill fixtures for the Orion program since 2014. His company’s machines have 3D printed 3,000 parts for NASA and its contractors. “We started 3D printing the tools instead of machining them at 50 percent savings for the tool costs," he said.

Brace is also saving NASA time. He prints some tools overnight and contractors pick them up the next morning to take them into work. That means NASA does not have to wait three weeks for a tool to come in from a machine shop. Lockheed Martin gave Brace’s company an award several years ago for saving NASA money on the tooling and for helping to accelerate parts of the Orion program. (3/31)

Space Command Headquarters to Move 200 Employees to Alabama This Year, Lawsuit Bristles (Source: The Gazette)
Space Command headquarters could have 200 employees working from Alabama this year, as Colorado and the Trump administration exchange barbed letters as part of a pending lawsuit.

Colorado’s lawsuit against the administration alleges the federal government is retaliating against it for its mail-in voting system and has taken numerous steps to punish the state, including moving the command, revoking Department of Energy Funds, planning to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and denying the state federal aid following floods, among other measures.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Justice recently exchanged barbed letters ahead of an anticipated motion by the Trump administration to dismiss the lawsuit. At the same time, Gen. Stephen Whiting recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee that work is underway on interim office space for the command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. (4/6)

As Rocket Launches Increase, They May Be Polluting the Skies (Source: Undark)
Rocket launches used to be a rare occurrence. But with access to space proliferating, partly thanks to an abundance of commercial space companies, global launches have risen exponentially: In the last five years, they’ve nearly tripled. According to an analysis by SpaceNews, in 2025 alone, humans shot about 320 rockets into space.

All those rockets produce a fair amount pollution, from the sooty plumes that catapult them into orbit and beyond to derelict satellites that burn up upon reentry. Regulators have been monitoring and restricting other air pollutants especially since the 1970s, including the exhaust from cars and jet engines. Many researchers believe such regulations are overdue for rocket engines — especially because nobody really knows exactly how much damage those pollutants cause.

“It might be another 10 years until we found how large the influences on the atmosphere actually are,” said Leonard Schulz, a geophysicist at the University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology in Northern Germany. By that time, he added, the pollution could accumulate to the point that, you cannot easily reverse it. (4/6)

Isaacman Says Artemis II Would Not Be Possible 'if it Wasn't for President Trump' (Source: Fox News)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the success of the historic Artemis II mission currently underway would not be possible "if it wasn't for President Trump," as the Orion spacecraft is set to pass beyond the far side of the moon in the next 24 hours.

Isaacman detailed the mission’s progress, how technology has assisted in the success of Artemis II so far, and the role that President Donald Trump has played in the Artemis program during an interview. "I want to be incredibly clear, we would not be at this moment right now with Artemis II if it wasn't for President Trump," Isaacman told Fox. "And we certainly would not have an achievable path now to get back to the lunar surface and build that enduring presence." (4/5)

NASA Families Don’t Go to the Moon, but They’re on the Mission, Too (Source: New York Times)
When the astronaut Reid Wiseman learned that he would be commanding NASA’s Artemis II mission around the moon, his immediate reaction was not excitement. “It was pretty heavy,” Mr. Wiseman said on NASA’s Curious Universe podcast. In part, that is because he is the sole parent of two daughters. “It was not like you just won the lottery and you’re running out and jumping for joy,” he said. “It was not that feeling at all.” (4/5)

China Starts Feasibility Study for Space-Based Intelligent Computing Constellation (Source: Xinhua)
China has launched a comprehensive feasibility study and pre-project assessment for a space-based intelligent computing constellation, a senior official from the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense has said. Yu Guobin, deputy director of the administration's commercial space department, revealed that the administration has taken the lead in organizing the project's kick-off meeting and expert panel sessions. The work is proceeding in an orderly manner, reported the Science and Technology Daily.

Space-based computing refers to the deployment of computational capacity in space, enabling seamless global coverage through satellite networking. Compared with terrestrial data centers, its greatest advantages lie in real-time responsiveness and global coverage. (4/5)

NASA Shoehorns in Human Science on Artemis II Moon Mission (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
While the primary goal of the Artemis II mission is the ensure the Orion spacecraft is safe for humans, NASA did find time to fit some science on board during the 10-day lunar fly-by. “The most complex machine we’re flying is the human, and we have to understand the human as a system in order to be successful,” said Steven Platts, NASA’s chief scientist for its human research program. “That’s our job. That’s what we’re doing.”

The four main human science experiments all involve the four crew on board, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. or Artemis II, the studies delve deeper into immunology, physical measurements like blood pressure, and a sleep and human interaction study using a watch-like tool dubbed ARCHeR, which stands for Artemis Research for Crew Health & Readiness. (4/5)

Roscosmos Chief: Russia Should Not Interrupt Manned Spaceflight Program (Source: TASS)
Russia must not interrupt its manned spaceflight program, so it is important to synchronize the completion dates of the ISS and the deployment of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS), Dmitry Bakanov, CEO of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos, said in an interview with TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov. He also announced that the first ROS module will be deployed in 2028. "It is important for us to synchronize the completion dates of the International Space Station and the deployment of the Russian Orbital Station so that there is no interruption in our manned spaceflight program," Bakanov said. (4/6)

Roscosmos Chief: ISS Coming Down in 2030 (Source: TASS)
The deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to be completed in 2030, CEO of Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation Dmitry Bakanov said. The Russian Orbital Station (ROS) should be launched at exactly this time, becoming a fully-fledged, independent national station in orbit where we will conduct our experiments," Bakanov said. The first ROS module will be deployed in 2028. Bakanov also emphasized the importance of synchronizing the completion of work on the ISS and the deployment of the ROS. (4/6)

Aussie Quantum Clock Innovation Becomes a World-First Capability (Source: Australian Space Agency)
The launch of a novel Australian technology could create a new era of ultra‑precise timekeeping in space. QuantX Labs' optical frequency comb was lifted into orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US — paving the way for a new level of security for the navigation and timing services we rely every day on Earth. The next-generation Aussie technology was aboard Exotrail’s spacevan orbital transfer vehicle that was launched on Transporter-16, SpaceX's latest rideshare mission. Varda Space Industries' W-6 mission was also part of the same SpaceX launch, its W-5 space capsule landed in the outback earlier this year. (3/31)