May 15, 2026

ULA Confirms Successful Solid Rocket Booster Test as Vulcan Anomaly Investigation Continues (Source: Spaceflight Now)
United Launch Alliance oversaw the completion of a critical milestone in mid-April on the road to resuming flights with its Vulcan rockets. On April 15, the company said Northrop Grumman performed a successful static fire test of a Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM) 63XL Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). The test served to “demonstrate nozzle design enhancements which were already in work and an advanced propellant technology for future solid rocket motors across their portfolio.”

“The information gathered from this test, along with findings from the investigations will provide critical data to validate analytical models and support Vulcan’s return to flight,” the spokesperson said. During the launch a mission for the United States Space Force, dubbed USSF-87, one of the four SRBs attached to the Vulcan booster suffered a nozzle problem prior to SRB separation. The rocket rolled more than intended following the incident. (5/14)

NASA Picks Up X-59 Flight Test Tempo (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA is continuing to speed up the rate of X-59 flight tests as the Quesst low-boom supersonic demonstrator program builds up to its first Mach 1 faster-than-sound milestone flight. The needle nose Lockheed Martin Skunk Works-built aircraft has so far accumulated around 19.6 flight hours on 16 flights, eight of which were completed in April. (5/15)

U.S. Space Force Reorganizes, Pauses Commercial Accelerator Program (Source: Aerospace America)
The Space Force has reorganized its commercial innovation-focused laboratory, moving it under another program office in a change meant to accelerate the acquisition of participants’ software. However, the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications and Processing Lab — dubbed the SDA TAP Lab — said it is now in a “strategic pause” after its latest technology accelerator cohort wrapped up in March. (5/15)

Houston, the Freedom Plane Has Landed (Source: Boeing)
This month, the National Archives Freedom Plane, carrying documents foundational to American history, landed in Houston, Texas. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed", to NASA's mission control center, cementing the place of Apollo 11 in history. But the road to get there was a long one and for over a decade, the aerospace industry worked tirelessly to achieve the impossible. To honor the most recent Freedom Plane stop, we reflect on Boeing’s contributions to an iconic period of American history: the Space Race. Click here. (5/11) 

Antarctic Microbes Head to Space (Source: CASIS)
An international team is sending microbes from Antarctica and Chile to the ISS to study how they withstand radiation and other spaceflight stressors. The investigation will leverage the MISSE Flight Facility, an ISS National Lab asset owned and operated by Aegis Aerospace, mounted externally on the space station, to expose the organisms to space for approximately six months.

The Polar Organisms Launched for Astrobiology Research in Ionizing Space (POLARIS) project will study six extremophiles, microorganisms naturally equipped to endure some of Earth’s most unforgiving environments. Funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the project brings together the Department of Defense Space Test Program, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Aegis Aerospace, Radix‑Lucis, and Biociencia Fundación Científica y Cultural, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Chile and AFOSR’s Southern Office of Aerospace Research and Development. (5/13)

Guetlein: Golden Dome Cost Estimate Inaccurate (Source: Space News)
The general leading development of Golden Dome said a recent $1.2 trillion cost estimate for the system is inaccurate. Speaking at a conference Thursday, Gen. Michael Guetlein said the Congressional Budget Office's estimate released earlier this week is not for "what we're building." The Pentagon has not released details of its Golden Dome architecture. Guetlein argued the report extrapolated from older defense acquisition models rather than the emerging commercial space manufacturing and launch systems his office expects to leverage. He acknowledged, though, that affordability remains the decisive issue for space-based interceptors and defended previous comments that the Pentagon will abandon the concept if it cannot be produced cheaply enough and at sufficient scale. (5/15)

China's MinoSpace Seeks $736 Million Through IPO (Source: Space News)
Chinese satellite manufacturer MinoSpace is seeking to raise $736 million in an IPO. The company's initial public offering application to Shanghai's STAR Market was accepted earlier this week. The company plans to use the IPO as a platform to build phase one of the 112-satellite Taijing constellation, with a mix of optical, multispectral and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites. MinoSpace also plans construction of an R&D center, research and development for satellite platform components, a next-gen communications satellite and a new SAR payload production facility. (5/15)

Cowboy Space Plans 20,000 Orbital Data Satellite 'Stampede' (Source: Space News)
Cowboy Space has filed plans with the FCC to deploy 20,000 orbital data center satellites. The company, previously known as Aetherflux, filed an application with the FCC this week for the Stampede constellation, but provided few details about the system other than that the satellites would be in dusk-dawn sun-synchronous orbits to provide continuous solar power. The company announced earlier this week a $275 million funding round for the system, which includes development of a launch vehicle whose upper stage would serve as the computing platforms. While massive by historical standards, Stampede is smaller than SpaceX's plan for up to one million satellites, Starcloud's 88,000-satellite system and Blue Origin's 51,600-satellite Project Sunrise. (5/15)

China's Kinitica-1 Launches (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese commercial rocket launched five satellites Friday. The Lijian-1, or Kinetica-1, rocket lifted off from Jiuquan, China. The rocket's payloads included Tianyan-27, a satellite to test infrared imaging systems and onboard processing. (5/15)

Virgin Galactic On Track for 2026 Flights (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic said Thursday that it remains on track to begin commercial flights with its new suborbital spaceplane by the end of the year. In an earnings call, the company said its first next-generation SpaceShip vehicle is going through ground tests now and should be complete by its next earnings call in August. The vehicle will then go to Spaceport America in New Mexico for flight tests, with commercial flights beginning by the end of the year. Virgin said it is seeing strong demand for a new tranche of tickets it is selling at $750,000 each, and reiterated it has the funding needed to get the vehicle into commercial service. (5/15)

SpaceX IPO Prospectus Coming Soon (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX could publish the prospectus for its IPO next week. The company is planning an investor roadshow the week of June 8, and regulations require the company to publish its prospectus at least 15 days before those presentations begin. SpaceX previously confidentially filed its prospectus with the SEC to allow it to work with the regulator on any issues before making it public. (5/15)

Wargame to Include Orbital Nuclear Explosion (Source: Ars Technica)
A recent space wargame included a scenario that was until recently considered unlikely: a nuclear explosion in orbit. Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, said at an event this week that it included that "notional worst-case scenario" in a recent tabletop exercise involving military organizations, international partners and companies. Two years ago, officials said they had evidence that Russia was making efforts to deploy a nuclear weapon in orbit that, if detonated, could disable large numbers of satellites. (5/15)

Phyche Probe Passes Mars en Route to Asteroid (Source: Scientific American)
A NASA asteroid mission will fly by Mars today. NASA's Psyche spacecraft will pass about 4,500 kilometers above the surface of Mars at 3:28 p.m. Eastern. The gravity assist maneuver will put the spacecraft on a trajectory to arrive at the metallic main-belt asteroid Psyche in 2029. Psyche will collect images and other data during the flyby, including looking for any rings of dust around the planet. (5/15)

Data Centers in Space: A Pipe Dream, or AI’s Next Big Thing? (Sources: Wall Street Journal, SPACErePORT)
Nvidia recently posted a job straight out of a science-fiction epic: orbital data-center system architect. The chip maker and other technology giants are working to take an idea that has captivated futurists—channeling the sun’s power through spacecraft to support activity on Earth—and make it reality for artificial-intelligence computing. Nvidia's Vera Rubin Space Module is an enterprise GPU designed to process data and train AI models in space.

Meanwhile, Google's Project Suncatcher plans to use specialized, radiation-tolerant Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) aboard solar-powered satellites. SpaceX's Terafab initiative features a massive facility in Texas to manufacture chips, with the majority of this compute intended for space-based applications and orbiting solar data arrays. Companies like Star Catcher and Overview Energy plan to harness solar power in space and use lasers to beam it directly to space-based users, and Earth-based data centers like those developed for Meta.

While the physics are sound, engineers are actively working to solve the "savage" economic and design constraints of the environment. Without air or water, satellites can only dissipate immense computer heat using closed-loop infrared radiation panels. Cosmic rays will cause computational bit-flips and degrade silicon, requiring heavy hardware shielding and redundant error-correcting code. And transmitting raw data back and forth to Earth creates communication bottlenecks, meaning space data centers will likely focus on processing short queries or pre-loaded AI inference models. (5/12)

Casimir Raises $12M for Chips That Generate Power from Quantum Vacuum Fields (Source: Douglas Messier)
Casimir, a quantum energy technology company founded by former NASA advanced propulsion researcher Dr. Sonny White, announced the close of a $12 million seed round to commercialize the world’s first quantum vacuum energy source: semiconductor chips that harvest energy from quantum vacuum fields to produce continuous electrical power with no batteries, cords, or charging required.

The oversubscribed round exceeded its original $8 million target, reflecting strong investor confidence in Casimir’s solution to one of energy technology’s longest-standing challenges, harnessing the Casimir effect. The funding will accelerate chip performance optimization, targeting commercial availability of the company’s first-generation MicroSparc chip by 2028, positioning Casimir to disrupt the ultra-low-power electronics sector. (5/14)

DoD Civilian Workforce Losses Strain Military Installation Operations (Source: FNN)
The Pentagon’s deferred resignation program and other civilian workforce reduction efforts have led to staffing shortages in critical installation support roles, which have caused cost increases, inadequate oversight of installation projects and contributed to delays in project design and execution. Dale Marks, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and the environment, said the Defense Department is tracking personnel losses in key installation support roles that are negatively affecting the military construction enterprise. (5/14)

Sidus Space Reports Revenue Improvement (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, including revenues of $359,000, an increase of 51% compared to $238,000 in Q1 2025, driven by new customer contracts including Lonestar Data Holdings and Teledyne Marine. The company posted a gross loss of $1.1 million, a 36% improvement from a gross loss of $1.6 million in Q1 2025. (5/14)

Amazon Leo to Double Satellite Launches for Broadband (Source: Geekwire)
Amazon Leo plans to double its satellite launches and deployments in the next year to accelerate its satellite broadband service. The company has deployed 304 satellites and aims to increase this number significantly, although it has faced challenges such as a limited availability of launch vehicles, including a temporary grounding of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.  (5/14)

Earth Observation Data is Getting Stuck in Orbit (Source: Space News)
Earth observation infrastructure needs a serious upgrade, so that ground infrastructure and data transfer can accommodate the vast quantities of data being captured and relayed from orbit, according to Cailabs CEO Jean-François Morizur. "Earth observation data is taking so long to be received, processed and distributed that it is degrading, losing its value and, in some cases, becoming unusable," he wrote. Morizur calls on private companies to build more ground stations, governments to provide steady demand for them and policymakers to establish shared standards across borders so that global infrastructure can work together. (5/14)

Staggering Defense Budget Could Weaken Bipartisan NDAA Support (Source: FNN)
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget could weaken the broad bipartisan support for the must-pass defense policy bill as Democrats grow increasingly uneasy with the massive defense spending proposal. "My colleagues and I are overwhelmed at the amount of money that we're being forced to authorize and appropriate," Reed said.

The Pentagon is seeking $1.15 trillion for its base budget, while another $350 billion would come through a separate reconciliation package that Republicans could pass along party lines without Democratic support. Republicans would need near-unanimous support to pass another reconciliation package at a time when some Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly wary of deeper cuts to social programs amid rising living costs and looming midterm elections. (5/13)

Federal Employees Sue Agency Chief Over ‘Escalating’ Religious Messaging (Source: FNN)
Department of Agriculture employees are suing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins over a series of emails she sent to staff, arguing that the “increasingly proselytizing” messages crossed a line and violated the First Amendment. The new lawsuit comes in response to an Easter message Rollins sent to USDA employees in April. Plaintiffs called Rollins’ message “unconstitutionally coercive,” as it sought “to impose her brand of Christianity on the agency’s 100,000 employees.” (5/13)

China’s Electronics Industry Could Upend America’s Lead In Space (Source: Aviation Week Network)
America’s lead in space has never been bigger: 3,720 satellites and payloads were launched last year, compared with 371 by runner-up China. Most of that is thanks to SpaceX’s partially reusable rocket, the Falcon 9. But that all could change drastically if China figures out how to stick the landing on its own reusable rocket, a missing technology constraining the nation’s space ambitions. (5/14)

Blue Origin Eyes Austin Suburb for $650M Industrial Megaproject (Source: The Real Deal)
Blue Origin is zeroing in on Hutto for a massive industrial campus that could cement Williamson County as Central Texas’ aerospace hub. The aerospace company is eyeing Hutto for a 1.3 million-square-foot manufacturing, research-and-development, warehouse and logistics project in the fast-growing Austin suburb. The project, publicly referred to only as “Project Blue Hub,” was the subject of a public hearing regarding potential financial incentives.

While Blue Origin was never named during the meeting, multiple sources said the company is behind the proposal. The details align closely with reporting from late last year about Blue Origin’s statewide search for a Texas manufacturing and logistics hub approaching $1 billion in investment. Officials said the proposed Hutto development would bring more than 2,000 jobs over five years with average annual salaries of roughly $88,000. Capital investment was pegged at more than $650 million, though state and regional economic development groups suggested the total project could ultimately cost $1 billion. (5/13)

Could This Be the Moment That Drug Manufacturing Takes Off in Orbit? (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA has enabled scientists to study the impact of microgravity on drug development for decades, beginning with the Space Shuttle. This work accelerated in the 2010s, with the completion of the International Space Station and full-time crew members devoted to scientific research.

There have been some notable successes during this timeframe, such as the ability to grow a more uniform crystalline form of the cancer drug Keytruda in 2019. This opened up the possibility of administering the drug via injection rather than requiring a patient to spend hours in a clinic setting to receive the drug intravenously.

NASA subsidized much of this work, typically paying the considerable costs to transport research to the ISS and for astronaut time to conduct research there. There were, however, trade-offs, such as long lead times to get research into space. Nevertheless, it has become clear that there could be some commercial applications for making drugs in space. (5/13)

May 14, 2026

Meet Blacknight Space Labs In-Orbit Infrastructure Accelerator (Source: Payload)
A new accelerator launched today to help early-stage space startups build the next generation of infrastructure in orbit. Blacknight Space Labs will provide five companies up to $100,000 each. In addition, accelerator companies will get startup 101 education, mentorship, assistance breaking into the defense space market—and help with everything from fundraising, to navigating the government contracting system, to finding customers. (5/14)

Space42 Reports Space Services Revenue Growth Despite Flat Results (Source: Via Satellite)
Space42’s overall revenues were flat in the three months to the end of March. However, while overall revenues remained flat, it did see a strong increase in revenues for the Space Services part of its business for this period. It saw a 15% growth in the quarter in this part of the business compared to the same stage last year. These were two of the highlights of the company’s latest financial results, issued May 13.

However, despite growth in Space Services, Space42’s overall revenues of $116 million in the quarter was virtually the same as last year. The company’s net profit for the quarter was $5 million, significantly down from last year. The growth in Space Services was driven by government business which continued to benefit, year-on-year, from the $700 million, 15-year capacity services contract that commenced on in July last year, following the successful launch of the Thuraya-4 satellite. (5/14)

Eutelsat: Revenue from OneWeb up 65% in Q1; Government Business Grew 11.8% on GEO and LEO Capacity (Source: Space Intel Report)
Satellite fleet operator Eutelsat reported an 11.8% increase in government revenue for the three months ending March 31 as global military demand more than offset the slack in US government business. Eutelsat said the increase included the growth in demand for Eutelsat OneWeb broadband LEO service in Ukraine. Starting later this year, Paris-based Eutelsat will begin to book revenue from its 10-year, billion-euro ($1.56-billion) contract with the French Defense Ministry for OneWeb capacity and the right to place hosted payloads on satellites. (5/13)

SpinLaunch and Aalyria Partner to Advance Next-Generation Satellite Connectivity (Source: SpinLaunch)
SpinLaunch announced a partnership with Aalyria Technologies. The two companies will collaborate on the design and development of infrastructure supporting SpinLaunch's low-cost Meridian low-Earth orbit (LEO) communications constellation. Aalyria will serve as a strategic partner, providing technical and commercial support for the Meridian constellation architecture. Central to the collaboration is the integration of Aalyria's Spacetime platform as a network orchestration layer for Meridian. (5/13)

Northwest Florida School District Partners with Space Florida to Link Students to Aerospace Industry (Source: WEAR)
The Okaloosa County School District and "Space Florida" are teaming up to connect students with careers in the aerospace industry. The school district and Space Florida announced the partnership on Wednesday during the 9th Annual Technology Coast Manufacturing & Engineering Network (TeCMEN) Industry Day.

Starting in the fall, high school students will be able to participate in career tech classes with Space Florida, which is an aerospace finance, development, and spaceport authority that offers an academy program to students. (5/13)

House Appropriators' Bill Would Keep NASA Funding Flat for FY-2027 (Source: Space News)
House appropriators advanced a spending bill Wednesday that keeps overall NASA funding flat for fiscal year 2027. The committee approved the commerce, justice and science spending bill on a 32-28 vote, sending it to the full House. The bill provides $24.438 billion for NASA, the same as the agency received in 2026 and rejecting a proposed 23% cut. The report accompanying the bill provided some additional details, such as calling for continued funding of several science missions slated for cancellation in the proposal. It also requires NASA to continue SLS and Orion until a commercial alternative that meets or exceeds their capabilities is proven. (5/14)

NASA Offers Artemis 3 Details (Source: Space News)
NASA said that the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for next year, will launch into low Earth orbit on an SLS without an upper stage. NASA will instead use an inert "spacer" with the same dimensions as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) flown on the first two SLS launches. That allows NASA to save the final ICPS for Artemis 4 in 2028, giving it more time to adapt the Centaur upper stage that will be used on later SLS missions. The Orion spacecraft will rendezvous with lunar lander prototypes from Blue Origin and SpaceX, although NASA is still working out details such as whether astronauts will enter those landers after docking. Artemis 3 will spend more time in space than Artemis 2, which spanned a little more than nine days. (5/14)

Northrop Grumman JWST Tech Will Support Cislunar Navigation (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman is adapting technologies developed for the James Webb Space Telescope into a smaller navigation system for cislunar operations. Northrop said it developed a spacecraft navigation system called LR-450 that allows a vehicle to calculate its position, movement and orientation without relying on external signals such as GPS. The LR-450 system is based on technology it developed for JWST, which operates at the Earth-sun L2 Lagrange point. The system could also support applications intended to complement or back up traditional positioning, navigation and timing, or PNT, systems. (5/14)

AST SpaceMobile Considers Vulcan to Launch Some Satellites (Source: Space News)
AST SpaceMobile may use ULA's Vulcan rocket for some of its direct-to-device satellites. Company executives said that five of its BlueBird satellites could launch on a single Vulcan, compared to eight on New Glenn and three on Falcon 9. The company had not previously disclosed plans to use Vulcan, and declined during the call to confirm it has a contract, stating only that it has been "developing other heavy launch providers for some time."

New Glenn has been grounded since a failed launch in April carrying a BlueBird satellite, but AST SpaceMobile said it expected the company to resume launches soon. Vulcan launches are also on hold because of a solid rocket booster anomaly in February. ULA said this week it has started stacking the Vulcan rocket for its next mission, carrying Amazon Leo satellites, while the investigation continues. (5/14)

China's Zhuque-2 Launcher Places Test Payload Into Polar Orbit (Source: Space News)
China's Zhuque-2 rocket returned to flight Wednesday night. The Zhuque-2E methane-liquid oxygen rocket, built by Landspace, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, placing a 2,800-kilogram test payload into polar orbit. It was the first launch of the Zhuque-2E since an August 2025 failure blamed on a voltage issue affecting the second stage, triggering a self-destruct. Landspace has incorporated improvements into the Zhuque-2E that allow it to place up to 4,000 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit and 6,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit. (5/14)

OHB and Dassault Partner on VORTEX Spaceplane (Source: European Spaceflight)
OHB is partnering with Dassault Aviation on a spaceplane. The companies announced this week that OHB will provide a service module for Dassault's VORTEX spaceplane. Dassault announced last year it was developing a subscale prototype, VORTEX-D, with some funding from the French military. Dassault and OHB said the VORTEX-S would follow that prototype and is intended to provide cargo transportation to the International Space Station or future commercial space stations as part of an ESA program. (5/14)

Pathy Donates C$15M for Canadian Space Institute (Source: Concordia University)
A Canadian private astronaut is funding the creation of a space institute. Concordia University in Montreal announced that Mark Pathy is donating 15 million Canadian dollars for the Mark Pathy Space Institute at the university. The institute will support research and student training in space engineering. Pathy flew to the ISS in 2022 on Axiom Space'x Ax-1 mission. (5/14)

Space Force Targeting 2027 Launch For Astroscale Refueling Demo (Source: Aviation Week)
A U.S. Space Force-led on-orbit refueling demonstration is now slated for next year, with the refueler spacecraft currently manifested on a Space Force mission planned to launch in 2027. The service’s Space Systems Command (SSC) is coordinating two attempted refueling operations in geostationary orbit. (5/13)

Huntsville City Council to Consider $45 Million Investment for Space Command Headquarters (Source: WAFF)
The Huntsville City Council could soon approve a major investment tied to the future of U.S. Space Command at Redstone Arsenal. Council members will consider a resolution authorizing the mayor to proceed with a $45 million investment plan for the permanent headquarters. $15 million from the state would help build senior military housing. The remaining $30 million would go toward infrastructure improvements and utilities needed for the headquarters project. (5/13)

Crony Capitalism: FCC Angers Small Carriers by Helping AT&T and Starlink buy EchoStar Spectrum (Source: Ars Technica)
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday approved EchoStar’s sales of spectrum licenses to AT&T and Starlink operator SpaceX. The deals are worth $40 billion in total. The orders, issued by the agency’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Space Bureau, aren’t surprising given that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr essentially forced EchoStar to sell the licenses. Last year, Carr threatened to revoke the licenses after SpaceX alleged that EchoStar subsidiary Dish Network “barely uses” the spectrum to provide mobile service to US consumers. (5/13)

The Young Minds Space-Proofing ESA’s Missions (Source: ESA)
Assembling a spacecraft is a complicated process, and one that requires materials that are far from ordinary. To ensure the success of the European Space Agency’s missions, researchers in the Materials, Environments and Contamination Control Section investigate and test materials to ensure they will survive the harsh environment of space. The section is supported by many young researchers, who bring fresh and innovative ideas. (5/13)

SpaceX and the Coming Stock Tsunami (Source: Axios)
Elon Musk's $1 trillion-plus SpaceX isn't a public company yet, but its size and ambitions are already upending the stock market and sparking questions over the power and influence wielded by such behemoths. The IPO, expected next month, would signal the start of a new AI era for the public markets, potentially valuing SpaceX as much as $2 trillion. (5/14)

Varda Deepens Drugs-in-Space Bet After Win With AIDS Medication (Source: Bloomberg)
Varda Space Industries Inc. is expanding plans for orbital pharmaceutical manufacturing beyond its recent success in crystallizing HIV drug Ritonavir in space, Chief Executive Officer Will Bruey said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg because it is such a broad technology that affects so many drugs,” Bruey said Wednesday in an interview. (5/13)

A New US Military Wargame Series Began by Simulating a Nuclear Weapon in Orbit (Source: Ars Technica)
US Space Command is inviting commercial companies to participate in a new series of classified wargames. The first exercise simulated a scenario involving a potential nuclear detonation in orbit. Space Command is responsible for military activities in space and is separate from the Space Force, which provides the people and equipment to support those operations. The new wargames, called Apollo Insight, combine military and commercial expertise to respond to simulated threats in space. Space Command plans to conduct four Apollo Insight “tabletop exercises” this year. (5/13)

Brazilian Technology Helps NASA Assess Health Risks for Astronauts on Mission to the Moon (Source: FAPESP)
NASA's first crewed mission to orbit the Moon in half a century carried a device developed by Rodrigo Okamoto and his team at Condor Instruments, a São Paulo-based startup that received funding from FAPESP's Innovative Research in Small Businesses (PIPE) program. The device, called an actigraph, is shaped like a wristwatch and incorporates accelerometers, as well as light and temperature sensors, to precisely map the user's sleep and wake patterns over the course of days or weeks. (5/13)

Preparations Underway for H3 Rocket Launch on June 10 (Source: NHK)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says preparations are underway to resume the launch of an H3 rocket on June 10 as planned, after addressing the cause of the previous mission's failure. The launch of the eighth H3 rocket last December had failed due to a problem with the payload support structure. The payload support structure has been corrected and tested to confirm it can withstand its load. JAXA says the 6th H3 rocket that will be launched next month is a new "Type 30" test vehicle that does not use boosters. It will be carrying metal structures instead of a satellite. (5/13)

New Technique Could Uncover the Secrets of ‘Ringing’ Black Holes (Source: Cambridge University)
When black holes merge, the collision produces a new, larger black hole that ‘rings’ like a plucked guitar string or a bell while it settles into its final, stable shape. But instead of sound waves, the new black hole rings with gravitational waves. The new black hole vibrates at a specific set of frequencies, depending on its mass and spin, which helps scientists learn about the object formed in the collision.

These vibrations, known as quasinormal modes, are the fingerprint of a black hole. Detecting them is central to testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the most extreme gravitational environments in the universe. Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method to identify and catalogue these modes with greater accuracy than before. (5/13)

Will Starship Launch From Foreign Shores? SpaceX 'Constantly Exploring' Options for Megarocket Liftoff Sites (Source: Space.com)
Starship launches could soon be an international affair. SpaceX revealed on Tuesday (May 12) that it's hunting for additional launch sites for Starship, the giant rocket it's developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other tasks. And some of those sites may be on foreign shores. "We are constantly exploring to find viable sites to expand Starship operations in the future, both domestically and internationally," the company wrote on Tuesday. (5/13)

Intuitive Machines to UK Buy Ground Station Company (Source: Space News)
Intuitive Machines has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd and Goonhilly USA Inc. for roughly $49.6 million to bolster its lunar communication infrastructure. The acquisition merges Goonhilly's UK-based, deep-space antenna network with Intuitive Machines' existing lunar services to support Artemis and commercial missions. (5/14)

Iridium to Acquire Aireon, Fusing Space-Based ADS-B with Satnav and Satcom (Source: Unmanned Airspace)
Iridium Communications announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aireon LLC, operator of the world’s only space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) air traffic surveillance system. “The acquisition of Aireon is a defining step in Iridium’s strategy to provide the foundational architecture for global aviation safety, bringing space-based surveillance, safety communications, PNT, and operational data together on a single network,” said Iridium in a press release. (5/14)

Thales Alenia Space Ship ExoMars Structural Models to France for Testing (Source: European Spaceflight)
Thales Alenia Space has shipped the structural models for ESA’s ExoMars mission to its facility in Cannes for vibration and acoustic testing. In April 2024, ESA awarded a Thales Alenia Space-led consortium a €522 million contract for the revised ExoMars mission. The company is working towards a 2028 launch window, with the mission slated to be carried to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. On 12 May, Thales Alenia Space announced that the ExoMars structural models had been shipped to its Cannes facility after being fully integrated and qualified at the company’s Turin site for initial testing. (5/13)

ispace to Send Leicester Spectrometer to Moon (Source: Spacewatch Global)
ispace and the University of Leicester have signed a payload service agreement to deliver a Raman spectrometer to the lunar surface on a future, unspecified mission. This partnership focuses on analyzing lunar surface composition, enhancing scientific exploration capabilities, and demonstrating advanced technology. The Raman spectrometer will be transported by an ispace lunar lander to analyze lunar materials. This instrument is designed to provide detailed insights into the mineralogy and composition of the Moon's surface. (5/14)

AST SpaceMobile Confirms Target for 45 BlueBirds This Year, Despite Blue Origin Launch Failure (Source: Via Satellite)
AST SpaceMobile still expects to have 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit this year despite the recent failure on a Blue Origin launch. CEO Abel Avellan told investors on Monday that it is preparing to launch with SpaceX in mid-June, in mission that will launch three BlueBird satellites. AST SpaceMobile reported first quarter financials on May 11, reporting $14.7 million in revenue in the first quarter. (5/13)

Army Awards Leidos $2.7 Billion To Accelerate Hypersonic Work (Source: Defense Daily)
Leidos on Tuesday said it received a $2.7 billion Army contract to unify two hypersonic programs it is developing for the Army and Navy in an effort to accelerate acquisition of the programs. The contract will combine the Thermal Protection Shield, which Leidos has been working on for at least five years to develop materials for hypersonic weapons that shield them from extreme environments in flight, and the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB). (5/13)

Uranus and Neptune Could be Full of Rocks, New Study Suggests (Source: Space.com)
Could Uranus and Neptune be full of rocks? One new study thinks so. Uranus and Neptune are two planets that have historically been classified and thought of as "ice giants," orbiting far out in the freezing edges of our solar system. But it's possible that our understanding of these planets' makeup could be totally off, and their atmospheres could be full of rocks, researchers suggest in a new study. (5/13)

NRO's Satellite Network Supports Ground Target Mission (Source: Aviation Week)
The National Reconnaissance Office has confirmed its low-Earth orbit satellite constellation is supporting ground-moving target indication missions, enhancing space-based sensing and targeting capabilities. The NRO has launched hundreds of satellites as part of the effort, and the NROL-172 mission, which was launched Saturday, is part of the initiative. (5/12)

European Space Ventures Raise $715 Million (Source: Space News)
The top-funded European space ventures in 2025 raised a combined 629 million euros (about $715 million). More than 50% of that total was concentrated in five companies: ICEYE (195 million euros, about $222 million), Isar Aerospace (150 million euros, about $171 million), EnduroSat (133 million euros, about $151 million), Aerospacelab (94 million euros, about $107 million) and Cailabs (57 million euros, about $65 million). Several of these companies originate from relatively small industrial ecosystems, including Finland, Bulgaria and Belgium. (5/13)

Starfighters Space Engages Integrated Launch Solutions (ILS) to Advance STARLAUNCH Pathway (Source: Starfighters Space)
Starfighters Space has engaged Integrated Launch Solutions to provide engineering and technical integration support as Starfighters advances the STARLAUNCH pathway from design and analysis toward flight and launch services. Starfighters has engaged ILS to support mission design, systems engineering, regulatory and safety compliance, and range integration. (5/13)

California's Aerospace Valley (Source: PBS)
From the moment Chuck Yeager shattered the sound barrier in 1947, California’s Aerospace Valley has served as one of the world’s most important proving grounds for aviation and space innovation. Today, the Aerospace Valley remains at the forefront of flight technology advancement and continues to be the center for transforming dreams and bold ideas into what will define the future of flight. Click here. (3/31)

America 250: A Portrait of Florida: Cape Canaveral (Source: Visit Florida)
Cape Canaveral, Florida, is where more human space flights have launched than anywhere else on Earth. Here, closer to the equator, the planet is spinning east at nearly 900 miles per hour, giving every launch a head start. More fuel, less payload, bigger ambition. From this stretch of coast, Americans left our planet, touched the moon, and came home again. Here, human courage was tested and the spirit of exploration was exemplified. And Cape Canaveral remains a place where innovation and daring drive American progress beyond the boundaries of the Earth. Click here. (5/12)

May 13, 2026

Firefly Aerospace Subsidiary SciTec Awarded AFRL Contract for Advanced Algorithm R&D and Verification Architecture (Source: Firefly)
SciTec, a Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY) company, has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support development of the Advanced Algorithm R&D and Verification Architecture. The effort focuses on advancing state-of-the-art sensor system research and development across the electromagnetic spectrum to enhance future capabilities in global persistent awareness. (5/11)

CBO Ups Golden Dome Cost Estimate to $1.2 Trillion (Source: Space News)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the Golden Dome missile defense system will cost $1.2 trillion, far higher than the Pentagon's estimates. The CBO said Tuesday its 20-year cost estimate is driven by plans for Golden Dome to have space-based interceptors, which alone would account for about $743 billion. CBO emphasized that the study was not based on a detailed administration blueprint because the Defense Department has not publicly released the architecture it intends to build.

Instead, the CBO used a notional missile defense system derived from the language of Trump's January 2025 executive order directing the Pentagon to pursue what became known as Golden Dome. The Pentagon has offered a cost estimate of $185 billion for Golden Dome. Separately, SpaceNews will host an event about the role software could play in such initiatives this afternoon. (5/13)

FCC Approves EchoStar Spectrum Sale to SpaceX (Source: Space News)
The FCC approved the sale of EchoStar spectrum to SpaceX for direct-to-device services. The commission said Tuesday it would allow the geostationary satellite operator to sell around 115 megahertz of spectrum in separate deals that were announced last year with SpaceX and AT&T. Collectively, the pacts were worth more than $40 billion. However, EchoStar must set up a $2.4 billion escrow account for claims from infrastructure partners involved in the 5G network its Dish subsidiary abandoned following the spectrum sales. SpaceX's deal with EchoStar, valued at $22 billion, covers around 65 megahertz of nationwide spectrum that the FCC says promises "generational upgrades" for direct-to-device services. (5/13)

SES Cancels Two Satellites Ordered From Thales Alenia (Source: Space News)
SES has canceled orders for two GEO satellites being built by Thales Alenia Space. SES said Tuesday it canceled the satellites, ordered by Intelsat before its acquisition by SES, as part of post-merger fleet rationalization efforts. SES will instead extend the lives of existing satellites using on-orbit services ordered from SpaceLogistics, Starfish Space and Infinite Orbits. The IS-41 and IS-44 satellites were ordered by Intelsat in 2022 and planned for launch in 2027 to provide broadband across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The change comes after Eutelsat canceled its Flexsat Americas GEO satellite, also being built by Thales Alenia. (5/13)

SpaceX Sets May 19 for Next Starship Launch From Texas (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is planning a first launch of the latest version of Starship next week. The company said Tuesday it set a May 19 date for the Flight 12 mission from its Starbase facility in South Texas. Flight 12 will be the first launch of version 3 of Starship, with various upgrades to the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage to improve performance. The company has called Starship version 3 the "production" version of the vehicle that will be used for deploying larger Starlink satellites and for Artemis lunar landings. (5/13)

Varda and United Therapeutics Agree on Microgravity Pharma R&D (Source: Space News)
Varda Space Industries has signed a deal with a pharmaceutical company. Varda announced Wednesday it will collaborate with United Therapeutics to develop improved drugs in microgravity, starting with treatments for rare pulmonary disease. Those tests will be performed on Varda's spacecraft, which host pharmaceutical payloads and return the results in reentry capsules. Varda has identified the pharmaceutical industry as a key customer of its vehicles, citing interest in using microgravity to create novel drugs that can't be produced on Earth. (5/13)

China Launches Broadband Constellation Satellites on Long March 6 (Source: CGTN)
China launched a set of broadband constellation satellites Tuesday. A Long March 6 rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 7:59 a.m. Eastern and placed into orbit 18 satellites for the Qianfan or Spacesail Constellation. The satellites join 126 others already in orbit for a constellation intended to ultimately have more than 10,000 spacecraft. (5/13)

Google Considers Launching Orbital Data Centers (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Google is in talks with SpaceX and other companies about launching orbital data center satellites. The discussions Google is having are focused with SpaceX, sources said, but also include other, unnamed launch providers. Google is working to demonstrate orbital data center technology with Planet on an effort called Project Suncatcher. Unlike other companies, including SpaceX as well as Blue Origin and Starcloud, Google has not yet publicly filed plans to deploy its own data center constellation. (5/13)

Blue Origin Considers External Fundraising (Source: Financial Times)
Blue Origin is considering for the first time raising outside capital. The company's CEO, Dave Limp, told employees in an all-hands meeting that it would need to bring in outside funding to significantly increase its launch rate. The company has been funded to date solely by founder Jeff Bezos and revenue from contracts. Limp did not state how much money Blue Origin would need beyond "a lot of capital," and added that while it was unlikely Bezos would sell Blue Origin, the company could go public at some point. (5/13)

TrustPoint to Demo GPS-Independent Navigation (Source: Space News)
TrustPoint won a Space Force contract to demonstrate a GPS-independent positioning, navigation and timing system. The $4 million award announced Tuesday is a Tactical Funding Increase, or TACFI, issued through SpaceWERX, the organization that manages the Space Force's Small Business Innovation Research contracts. Within the next 12 months, TrustPoint plans to manufacture and deploy a four-satellite system supported by four ground stations to test positioning, navigation and timing services independent of GPS. (5/13)

Quantum Space to Build Satellite Factory in Oklahoma (Source: Space News)
Quantum Space announced plans to build its highly maneuverable satellites in Oklahoma. The company said Tuesday it will establish a manufacturing facility in Tulsa for its Ranger spacecraft, creating at least 50 jobs there. The Tulsa facility will be in addition to its headquarters in Maryland and a propulsion integration and test facility in California. The announcement came a week after Quantum Space hired former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who lives in Tulsa, as its new CEO.

Editor's Note: Although not specified here, it would be unusual if this project did not include financial incentives from Oklahoma's manufacturing incentive programs. Oklahoma already offers programs commonly used for aerospace and advanced manufacturing projects, including payroll rebates, aerospace/manufacturing tax credits, sales tax exemptions for manufacturers, and property tax abatements. Because it involves redevelopment of a former Spartan Aircraft manufacturing complex, maybe a Space Park tax exempt bond financing is possible. (5/13)

Who Owns the Most Satellites? (Source: Visual Capitalist)
Satellites are becoming the backbone of the modern space economy. From broadband internet to Earth observation, orbital infrastructure now supports industries far beyond aerospace. SpaceX dominates the global satellite count with 10,262 operational satellites. That’s more than 16 times OneWeb’s 632 satellites, the next-largest named operator. The ranking shows how quickly private networks have scaled since the beginning of the space race. Public organizations like NASA and national militaries now operate a minor portion with just 894 satellites among the named owners in the dataset. (5/12)

Russia is Building Engines for Interstellar Travel While Nearly Two-Thirds of Rural Households Still Have No Indoor Plumbing (Source: Space Daily)
In February 2026, Rosatom announced a prototype plasma rocket engine that its scientists claim could reduce the travel time to Mars from eight months to thirty days. The announcement was widely covered as a propulsion breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service says nearly two-thirds of rural Russian households have no access to indoor toilets. Of those, 48.1 percent use outhouses and 18.4 percent have no sewage system at all. Nationally, roughly 22.6 percent of Russian households lack indoor plumbing. Russia holds the distinction, noted by the WaterAid NGO, of leading the developed world in this measure.

At the same time, Russia’s draft federal budget for 2025 to 2027 allocates 942.3 billion rubles to space activities — an 18 percent increase over the previous budgetary period. In 2025 alone, planned space expenditure stands at approximately 317 billion rubles. These two facts are not presented here as a indictment. They are presented as a structural question worth taking seriously: what does it mean for a state to fund interstellar propulsion research while a significant portion of its rural population uses outhouses? And is this gap unusual, or is it, in fact, how space programs have always worked? (5/12)

Space Force to Overhaul Key Early Warning, Surveillance Radars Around the World (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force plans to overhaul eight legacy missile warning and space surveillance radars located around the world, taking them from analog to digital operations, according to a May 7 notice. Under the Ground Based Radar Digitization project, or GBRD, the service will install new hardware and software on the radars, upgrading everything from front-end antennas to back-end data processors. Editor's Note: Among them is the huge C-6 radar at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. (5/11)

US, Close Allies Creating Joint ‘Orbital Warfare’ Plan (Source: Breaking Defense)
US Space Command (SPACECOM) and its six closest space-savvy allies expect to complete a joint plan for conducting future “orbital warfare” by the end of the year, SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting said. Like the US military, the allied militaries participating in SPACECOM’s Multinational Force Operation Olympic Defender (MF-OOD) have been internally discussing “the need for protect and defend capabilities, orbital warfare capabilities.” Thus, the group decided the time has come to figure out how to work together via a collective concept of operations (CONOPS). (5/12)

Pentagon Tells Satellite Builders: Good Enough Now Beats Perfect Later (Source: Space Daily)
he U.S. military space business is being pushed toward a blunt new standard: deliver useful capability faster, then improve it later. That message is coming most clearly from the Space Force, where senior leaders have been describing speed not as a procurement preference, but as an operational requirement. In a fast-moving threat environment, the old bargain of waiting years for a more complete system is losing ground to a different one: put something workable in orbit, learn from it, and upgrade in increments. (5/7)

Evidence the Universe Isn't Uniform (Source: Live Science)
Astronomers have developed a new way to test one of the central assumptions of modern cosmology — that the universe behaves uniformly on the largest scales. When applying the method to real observational data, the researchers found tentative signs that this assumption may not fully hold, potentially pointing to new physics beyond the standard cosmological model. (5/12)

Companies Are Racing to Put Satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Low-Earth orbit (LEO) is often defined as nearly 100 miles above Earth, but no more than roughly 1,200 miles up. It’s home to well-known spacecraft like the ISS and the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s also increasingly lucrative real estate for tech companies that want to cover the Earth in broadband internet. Investors expect the market for low Earth orbit satellites to grow to about $108 billion by 2035. There's a lot at stake in the corporate fight over LEO, and Amazon and others hope to put a dent in SpaceX's dominance there.

Amazon faces a strict FCC deadline to have half its constellation in orbit by July 2026. Amazon is securing deals with telecommunications firms like Vodafone and Verizon, and has partnered for in-flight Wi-Fi with airlines. The industry is moving from proprietary, expensive technology toward mass-market commercial offerings, with Deloitte predicting global LEO subscribers will surpass 15 million by the end of 2026. (5/11)

Starship V3 Sports Various Upgrades (Source: Ars Technica)
For the third time in three years, SpaceX has stacked a new version of its enormous Starship rocket on a launch pad in South Texas, just a few miles north of the US-Mexico border. The newest-generation Starship, known as Starship Version 3, is taller and more powerful than the ones that came before it.

The upgrades on Starship are numerous. Perhaps the most notable changes are higher-thrust, more efficient Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage, a new reusable lattice-like structure at the top of the booster for hot staging, and three—not four—modified grid fins to help bring the first stage back to Earth for recovery and reuse. (5/12)

Space Force Awards TrustPoint $4 Million for LEO Navigation Demonstration (Source: Space News)
TrustPoint, a Virginia startup developing a low-Earth-orbit navigation system intended to complement or back up GPS, said May 12 it received a $4 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to demonstrate a GPS-independent positioning, navigation and timing system. The startup is developing C-band system as alternative to GPS. (5/12)

Fenix Space Flies Tow-Launch Prototype (Source: Payload)
California-based Fenix Space completed a week-long testing campaign of its Fenix alpha prototype launch vehicle, validating the launcher’s ability to take off and land—without the use of a launch pad. Fenix Space is hoping to offer customers an alternative to vertical launch at a time when the nation’s spaceports are becoming increasingly congested. Its launch system is designed to reach orbit by first gliding behind a tow aircraft, then detaching and propelling itself the rest of the way.

Over four flight tests, Fenix demonstrated its ability to separate from its ride in the sky and perform autonomous flight maneuvers using a proprietary GNC software and avionics package that will one-day fly on the full-sized Fenix 1.0 vehicle. The company’s horizontal-lift approach means it can take off and land from standard runways, and the DoD is actively supporting the development and testing effort. (5/12)

NASA Space Act Agreement to Advance Space Based Data Storage for Resilient Space Infrastructure (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Tampa-based Lonestar Data Holdings has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA through Ames Research Center in California. The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration focused on advancing technologies and operational concepts supporting lunar data storage, resilient off-world compute infrastructure, and next-generation space communications architectures.

The collaboration is intended to help accelerate development of secure, independent, and disaster-resilient data capabilities beyond Earth. The initial activities under the agreement are expected to focus on technical collaboration and evaluation of lunar-edge data infrastructure concepts designed to support future commercial, civil, and scientific space missions. (5/12)

SpaceX Expanding at Texas Port (Source: Jorge Gutierrez)
SpaceX is expanding at the Port of Brownsville. They’ve already secured a small site called “Fish Camp” and are negotiating a 50-year lease for an 83-acre terminal to move and assemble Starship components before shipping them to Florida. The big terminal deal is still under review. Port officials want a clear plan with specific construction milestones before giving the final approval. Meanwhile, SpaceX is officially a tenant, and activity at the port is ramping up fast.

Beyond SpaceX, there’s massive investment and thousands of jobs coming. A $3.2 billion high-tech shipyard focused on autonomous defense and commercial vessels, plus the $4 billion America First Refinery, the first new Gulf Coast refinery in 50 years. Brownsville is quickly becoming a key hub for technology, energy, and trade in the years ahead. (5/8)

Akers and Tanner Inducted Into Astronaut Hall of Fame (Source: KSCVC)
The 2026 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on May 16. This year, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is inducting astronauts Tom Akers and Joe Tanner. Both demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in furthering NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery. (5/12)

Cocoa Beach Plans Festival of Spaceflight in May 2027 (Source: City of Cocoa Beach)
The Festival of Spaceflight is scheduled for the weekend of March 19-21, 2027. There are many opportunities to help put it all together. It will be a commitment for several months, but the rewards will be priceless. There will be a lot of moving parts and mostly organization skills are needed. Planned are a parade, a 5K race, a community picnic, and other events. Volunteers are needed. (5/12)

May 12, 2026

SpaceX Will Reuse Cargo Dragon a Sixth Time on Upcoming Launch to ISS (Source: Aerospace America)
A SpaceX Cargo Dragon carrying about 3,000 kilograms of cargo is slated to launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday. The CRS-34 mission will be the sixth flight for this particular capsule, a record for the design and ISS cargo resupply as a whole since the space shuttle days. (5/12)

OHB Joins Dassault Aviation’s VORTEX Spaceplane Initiative (Source: European Spaceflight)
German space technology company OHB has agreed to develop the service module for Dassault Aviation’s VORTEX-S spaceplane, which the companies plan to pitch to the European Space Agency (ESA). During the Paris Air Show in June 2025, Dassault Aviation revealed plans for its VORTEX spaceplane, short for Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’Exploration (Reusable Orbital Transport and Exploration Vehicle). (5/12)

AICRAFT Expands Beyond Edge Computing with Advanced SAR Radar Electronics (Source: SatNews)
Adelaide-based artificial intelligence firm AICRAFT has secured backing through the Manufacturing Growth Accelerator (MGA) Program to develop next-generation electronics for spaceborne radar. In collaboration with Flinders University, the project aims to integrate an advanced front-end electronics system with a low-power analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) designed specifically for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads. (5/11)

China's Tianzhou 10 Freighter Delivers 7 Tons of Cargo to TSS (Source: Space.com)
A freighter carrying nearly seven tons of supplies has made its way to China's Tiangong space station. The robotic Tianzhou 10 cargo ship lifted off atop a Long March 7 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site, on China's Hainan Island. (5/11)

After Gateway: the Case for a Middle Power Lunar Consortium (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s decision to effectively cancel the lunar Gateway has forced international partners who had been working on its components to reconsider their plans. Phil McCrory argues that this presents an opportunity for those countries to work together on their own lunar plans exclusive of NASA. Click here. (5/12)
 
Exquisitely Unnecessary: Very High Resolution Satellite Reconnaissance (Source: Space Review)
There was a push in the 1960s and early 1970s within the US intelligence community for images with increasingly sharper resolution. Dwayne Day examines the debate within the community about the value of very high resolution images versus other requirements for satellite imagery. Click here. (5/12)
 
Flagships on a Budget (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s next astrophysics flagship mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, is under budget and ahead of schedule for a launch later this year. Jeff Foust reports on how, despite that achievement, astronomers are looking at ways to achieve their science goals without relying as heavily on such large missions. Click here. (5/12)
 
Strategy is Easy, But Logistics is Hard. Golden Dome Proves It (Source: Space Review)
The Golden Dome missile defense system will require major space-based capabilities, from sensors to interceptors. Bharath Gopalaswamy and Daniel Dant discuss why it requires the government to reconsider its support for the companies charged with producing those systems. Click here. (5/12)
 
Three Steps Forward But One Step Back (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s revisions to its Artemis lunar exploration architecture have won widespread support in the space industry. Dale Skran, though, notes that the proposed changes to NASA’s support for commercial space stations are a mistake. Click here. (5/12)

Star Catcher Raises $65 Million for Power Beaming (Source: Space News)
Jacksonville-based Star Catcher, a startup developing a space power grid for satellites, has raised $65 million. The funding will allow the Florida company to perform in-space tests of its technology that uses spacecraft to focus sunlight on the solar panels of other satellites, enabling them to generate more power. The company has performed ground tests of the technology and also secured $60 million in commercial and government contracts. Several people are joining the company's board, including retired Space Force Gen. Jay Raymond, the first chief of space operations. (5/12)

NASA to Maintain Six-Month ISS Crew Rotation (Source: Space News)
NASA plans to keep rotating crews on the ISS about every six months after considering longer missions. NASA said earlier this month it moved up the Crew-13 mission, which was to launch in November, to mid-September. At a briefing Monday, agency officials said that schedule adjustment means it plans to exchange crews every six months or so after weighing eight-month rotations last year, enabling it to "get the most out of station as we can" in its final years. Officials also said Monday they had no updates on the status of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which was to make an uncrewed test flight to the station at some point this year. That mission, though, is not on the agency's manifest of ISS missions for 2026. (5/12)

SOCOM Evaluating System for Handheld Imagery Delivery (Source: Space News)
U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is evaluating a mobile software platform to give operators in the field access to commercial satellite imagery on handheld devices. The platform, developed by Austin-based geospatial data company SkyFi, integrates with ATAK devices, ruggedized smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system. The project responds to a growing push by operators who want direct access to satellite data on mobile devices during missions, rather than relying solely on imagery processed and distributed through centralized analysis centers. SkyFi received a contract of undisclosed value to develop the software and an ATAK plugin, as well as conduct exploratory field tests with SOCOM operators. (5/12)

SpaceX Launches NRO Mission From California on Monday (Source: Noozhawk)
SpaceX launched another mission for the National Reconnaissance Office Monday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off on the NROL-172 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The NRO said after liftoff this was the 13th launch for its proliferated constellation of "multi-phenomenology" reconnaissance satellites. (5/12)

Transcelestial Tests Space-to-Ground Laser Comms (Source: Space News)
Transcelestial has taken a step forward in its efforts to develop space-to-ground laser communications technologies. The company said Tuesday it recently performed a test where ground stations in Singapore and Spain were able to detect and track a laser from a satellite in orbit. That test allows the company to proceed with attempts to transmit data through that laser system. Transcelestial says it sees strong demand for both intersatellite optical links as well as space-to-ground systems that can provide far higher bandwidth than traditional radio communications. (5/12)

Scientists Just Discovered How the Universe Builds Monster Black Holes (Source: SciTech Daily)
The largest black holes ever detected through gravitational waves may not have formed directly from collapsing stars, according to new research. Instead, scientists say these enormous objects were likely built through repeated black hole collisions inside extremely crowded star clusters. The findings suggest the most massive black holes seen through gravitational waves belong to a distinct population shaped by repeated mergers rather than ordinary stellar collapse. (5/11)

What's The Plan for Cowboy Space Corporation? (Source: Cowboy Space)
Our constellation of satellites, Stampede, will harness abundant solar power to run on-orbit GPU data centers. With each launch, Stampede grows the power and compute capacity for humanity. Traditional architecture treats the rocket as a workhorse and the satellite as freight. In our system, the rocket's upper stage is the satellite itself.

It's a 1-megawatt data center with active thermal management and integrated compute, designed as one unified vehicle from the ground up. We trim the fat on redundant structure and avionics, dedicating every possible kilogram of compute to Low Earth Orbit. Furthermore, by owning our manufacturing and dedicated launch sites, we vertically integrate core technologies that enable deploying compute at scale.

Later this year, we are scheduled to launch our first satellite into orbit to demonstrate space-to-Earth power beaming. Our second mission, targeted for early 2027, will operate a cluster of GPUs for high-performance compute and demonstrate end-to-end optical data transmission from space to Earth. This will pave the way for the launch of our rocket, scheduled for the end of 2028. (5/11)

Bill Posey, Longtime Congressman for the Space Coast, Dies (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Former U.S. House member Bill Posey, who represented the Space Coast for 16 years in Congress, died Saturday at the age of 78. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1947, Posey’s family moved to Florida where he graduated from Cocoa High School in 1966, according to his congressional biography. He earned an associates degree from what was then Brevard Community College in 1969.

He then was elected as a Republican to the Florida House from 1992-2000, the Florida Senate from 2000-2008 and was elected to the U.S. House to represent the 15th district in 2008, succeeding Dave Weldon. This district included most of Brevard County, including Kennedy Space Center. Posey was reelected to the U.S. House for his final two-year term in 2022, opting to retire ahead of the 2024 election.

Editor's Note: Before going to Congress, Rep. Posey was instrumental in Tallahassee sponsoring and passing state legislation to empower Florida's space agency and fund various space initiatives. He provided political advice to me at the Spaceport Authority and the Florida Space Research Institute, and later added me to his space advisory council during his terms in Congress.  (5/11)

Hughes Posts Decline in Broadband Subscribers and Service Revenue (Source: Via Satellite)
Hughes Network Systems continues to report lower satellite broadband subscribers, citing competition from satellite competitors and other technologies. Hughes reported broadband subscribers on Monday as part of EchoStar’s first quarter financials, reporting 681,000 broadband subscribers at the quarter end. This was a 20% decline year-over-year and a decline of 58 million subscribers sequentially. Hughes enterprise backlog also dipped compared to last year. A year ago, the enterprise backlog was $1.6 billion, and it is now at $1.4 billion. (5/11)

NASA's Artemis 3 Rocket is Taking Shape for 2027 Launch to Test Lunar Landers (Source: Space.com)
It's only been a month since NASA's Artemis 2 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean to wrap up their 10-mission around the moon, and the space agency is already readying the rocket for the next Artemis program test flight. The first stage of the Artemis 3 SLS rocket is now vertical inside NASA's cavernous VAB at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, where it awaits integration with its engine section, NASA announced in an X post on Sunday. (5/11)

Poland's Creotech Plans $118 Million Capital Raise, Investment in New Satellite Factory (Source: Space News)
Polish space technology company Creotech Instruments has announced plans for a $118 million fundraise that will allow the company to open a new satellite production facility in Poland by 2029 as part of a new long term development strategy. Creotech Instruments hopes to quadruple its manufacturing capacities to around 40 satellites annually by then. (5/11)

May 11, 2026

Florida a Hotbed for UFO Sightings (Source: Tropic Press)
Florida politicians have been at the forefront demanding the government open its filing cabinets to the public, notably Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Marco Rubio, back when he was still a senator. Other well-known Sunshine State pols and personalities demanding answers have included Rep. Jared Moskowitz, the late astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (who quite possibly could be a space alien mole).

There have been more than 8,800 sightings since 1995, vaulting the state near the top of the list. But not the very top. That distinction belongs to California with nearly four times the number of reported unidentified flying objects. Why so many? Both Cali and Florida have extensive coastlines, which make for clearer skies. Large populations also mean more eyes looking heavenward.

In Florida’s case, we’re also home to several military bases and the state is a hub for aviation, including aircraft testing, which can be mistaken for what bureaucrats are now calling Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. (5/11)

Online Mob Fuels 6,000% Stock Rally at AST SpaceMobile (Source: Bloomberg)
Every so often, a tribalistic cry goes out to the community of zealots and space geeks who invest in and obsess over an obscure satellite company called AST SpaceMobile. It’s in essence a rally-around-the-stock moment when it’s plunging. In the vernacular of the SpaceMob, as they call themselves, this is a Kook Bottom, and it starts, naturally, with the Kook. An anonymous oddball of a character, the Kook plays the role of rah-rah bull on most days, firing off posts on X, one after the other, to remind the mob that AST will soon grow into a cash-minting powerhouse with a satellite business that can go toe-to-toe with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (5/11)

Virgin Delta-Class Spaceplane Begins Production Acceptance Tests (Source: Aviation Week)
Suborbital space company Virgin Galactic is beginning a series of critical ground tests on the initial Delta-class SpaceShip, a new production-standard vehicle on which its hopes for long-term commercial success depend. Static and fatigue trials are underway. These tests are essential for validating the new design, which is designed to fly up to eight times per month, for commercial operations.

The first Delta-class vehicle finished structural assembly in April 2026, with rigorous ground, structural, and system tests scheduled to continue through July 2026. After the ground tests, the spaceplane will move to Spaceport America in New Mexico for glide tests later in Q3 2026, followed by powered flights. Virgin Galactic remains on track for commercial service to resume in late 2026, with specialized research flights planned for summer 2026 and private astronaut flights later in the fall. (5/11)

UK Ministry of Defence Hands Musk’s Starlink £16m (Source: Telegraph)
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has spent £16.6 million over the past four years on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet to support Ukraine and maintain British military communications. Newly released figures show that,, as of May 2026,, £10.6m has been spent in the last two years alone, with the MoD confirming the technology provides vital connectivity for troops in remote areas and supports Ukraine-donated terminals. (5/10)

Moving Like an Inchworm – a Smarter Robot for Planetary Exploration (Source: ESA)
A robot exploring another planet needs to traverse unpredictable, uneven terrain, withstand extreme temperatures and radiation, and do all of this with minimal power and without maintenance. Conventional rigid robots – like those deployed on Mars – have a fixed number of joints and degrees of freedom, limiting their ability to squeeze through narrow gaps or adapt to irregular surfaces. Soft robots, by contrast, are flexible and compliant, making them far better suited to unstructured terrain. The challenge has always been how to make them move with precision. (5/11)

Italy Completes Air-Launched Rocket Demonstrator Test (Source: European Spaceflight)
An Italian consortium has successfully completed a suborbital demonstration of an air-launched rocket system. The project, which utilized a Dornier Alpha Jet aircraft and T4i’s HAX25 sounding rocket equipped with avionics supplied by GMV, was initiated to support Italy’s push to develop a more responsive launch capability. The Aviolancio program, which translates roughly to “air launch program”, was initiated by Italy’s Interministerial Committee for Space and Aerospace Policies.

Initial testing began in February 2022 with a small, vertically launched rocket from Salto di Quirra in Sardinia, which was used to validate the hybrid propulsion system. After completing a captive-carry test in September 2025, the Dornier Alpha Jet aircraft, carrying the HAX25 rocket under its wing, took off from the Houston Spaceport in Texas on 22 April. Approximately 100 kilometers off the coast, over the Gulf of Mexico, the rocket’s cluster of four hybrid motors was ignited, and the rocket was released. (5/11)

The Mangled Remains of Probes Sent to Venus May Still Be There (Source: Scientific American)
When international space agencies send probes out into the solar system, many are abandoned to expire and deteriorate on extraterrestrial terrain. But if they’re still out there, can we learn something from them? Many researchers had assumed that all robotic missions sent to Venus would so thoroughly succumb to the brutal combo of scorchingly hot surface temperature and crushingly high atmospheric pressure that little would be left behind for subsequent study. And erupting volcanoes and landslides from “Venusquakes” could bury whatever remained in geologically short order.

Last month, however, space archaeologists suggested that the Venusian environment may preserve probes far better than once thought. Out of 20 probes, landers and balloons sent by the U.S. and Soviet Union that have reached the surface of Venus in the past 60 years, the study found that at least seven were probably hardy enough to endure the hostile environment and ended up in places on the planet where they’re not imminently threatened with geological burial or destruction. (5/11)

The UAE Is Betting Big on Space – Can It Take on Starlink and Amazon? (Source: WIRED)
Over the past decade, the UAE has invested more than $5.9 billion (22 billion UAE dirhams) into the space sector, according to the UAE Space Agency, through state-backed programs, international partnerships and institutions such as the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). Projects including the Hope Mission to Mars, astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi’s mission aboard the International Space Station and a growing portfolio of satellite programs helped raise the country’s global profile in the sector.

The newer push is more commercial: building companies that can manufacture, operate and eventually export parts of that infrastructure. Orbitworks is planning a $1 billion Earth observation satellite network, alongside a manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi that can scale production from 10 satellites annually to as many as 50. Its first satellite is scheduled to launch on 1 October.

Operating at a different layer of the same ecosystem is Madari Space. Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2023, the company is developing what it describes as "space data centers offering data storage and data processing in low Earth orbit." Where Orbitworks is building the eyes in orbit, Madari is working on what sits behind them – the infrastructure that stores and processes what those eyes see. Al Romaithi frames the objective simply: "to give the UAE government complete independence from terrestrial systems." (5/11)

India to Upgrade Hope Habitat in Ladakh for Training Gaganyaan Astronauts (Source: India Today)
India’s ambitions for human spaceflight are driving new upgrades deep in the high-altitude cold desert of Ladakh, where a remote analogue habitat designed to simulate the harsh conditions of space is being expanded to support future astronaut training missions linked to ISRO's Gaganyaan program. The Hope Habitat, set up in the Tso Kar valley of Ladakh and developed by space research company Protoplanet, is now being upgraded after completing an earlier analogue isolation mission with help from the Indian space agency. (5/11)

Cowboy Space Raises $275 Million for Orbital Data Center-Topped Rockets (Source: Space News)
Cowboy Space, a startup formerly known as Aetherflux, has raised $275 million to build rockets with upper stages that would serve as data centers once in low Earth orbit. The company is now valued at $2 billion. The deal makes two-year-old Cowboy one of the space industry’s fastest “unicorns” — privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more — just a little more than a month after two-year-old Starcloud crossed the threshold with a $170 million Series A to develop its own orbital data centers. The company was founded as Aetherflux to pursue space-based solar power, but recently pivoted to orbital data centers.  Cowboy Space's long-term plans include the development of a rocket larger than a Falcon 9 whose upper stage would serve as an orbital data center once in low Earth orbit. (5/11)

Swift Reboost Mission Passes Testing at Goddard (Source: Space News)
A mission to reboost a NASA space telescope is a step closer to launch. NASA announced Friday that Link, a spacecraft developed by Katalyst Space to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, passed environmental testing recently at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Link is back at a Katalyst facility for final preparations and will be integrated with its launch vehicle, a Pegasus XL, in early June for launch later that month. Link is designed to attach to Swift and raise its orbit before Swift reenters late this year. (5/11)

Viasat Wins $307 Million Marine Corps Contract for Satcom Services (Source: Space News)
Viasat won a $307 million contract to provide communications services for the U.S Marine Corps. The five-year contract announced Friday is for the Marine Corps Enterprise Commercial Satellite Services, or MECS2. Under the MECS2 program, the Marine Corps is seeking to integrate multi-orbit and multi-band services that leverage newer commercial satellite architectures. The contract was awarded by Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office, which procures commercial satellite communications services on behalf of U.S. military branches. (5/11)

China Launches Cargo to TSS on Long March 7 (Source: Space News)
China launched a cargo spacecraft to its Tiangong space station Sunday night. A Long March 7 rocket lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, placing the Tianzhou-10 spacecraft into orbit. Tianzhou-10 docked with the aft port of the space station's Tianhe core module five hours later. The spacecraft carried a new extravehicular spacesuit, a treadmill, around 700 kilograms of propellant, consumables for the future Shenzhou-23 and Shenzhou-24 crews, and more than 220 spare parts and maintenance components for the station. (5/11)

ESA and JAXA Agree on Asteroid Mission Cooperation (Source: Space News)
ESA and JAXA finalized an agreement to cooperate on an asteroid mission. The heads of the agencies signed a cooperation agreement last week for the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, or Ramses, scheduled to launch in 2028. JAXA will provide the solar panels and an instrument for Ramses, as well as launch it on an H3 rocket. Ramses will rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, two months before the asteroid makes a very close flyby of Earth, studying the asteroid before and after it swings by Earth. (5/11)

Study Planned to Assess Launch Noise at Cape Canaveral (Source: Florida Today)
The city of Cape Canaveral, Florida, is partnering with a college to study noise from launches. Rollins College will place sensors on buildings throughout the city, just south of the Cape Canaveral spaceport, to measure noise from launches. Local residents have raised concerns about the effects of noise and vibrations from launches on their homes, particularly given future launches of SpaceX's Starship from the Cape starting as soon as late this year. (5/11)

India's TakeMe2Space Switches From PSLV to Falcon-9 Transporter for MOI-1A Launch (Source: The Print)
An Indian startup says consecutive PSLV launch failures forced it to go overseas to launch a spacecraft. TakeMe2Space said it now plans to launch its MOI-1a satellite on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission in October rather than a PSLV rocket. MOI-1a is a replacement for MOI-1, which was one of several payloads lost on a PSLV launch failure in January, the second consecutive failure of that rocket. The satellite is intended to test orbital data center technologies. The Indian space agency ISRO has not provided any recent updates on the status of the failure investigation and plans to return the PSLV to flight. (5/11)

Kratos Eyes $67M Orlando Expansion with 100 New Jobs (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Orlando’s defense sector could be in for a sizable jolt. San Diego-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is lining up a roughly $67 million expansion of its local operations that would bring about 100 new jobs to the area. The pitch is big enough that city economic-development staff are now weighing a $150,000 job-creation incentive tied to the plan. (5/7)

SpaceX's Gigabay Facility Rises in Florida Ahead of Starship Launches (Source: Florida Today)
As SpaceX prepares for its next Starship launch from Texas — the version of the rocket expected to launch from Florida — the company’s massive Starship maintenance facility continues to rise on the Kennedy Space Center skyline. Its name is Gigabay.

The building's looming metal structure with black siding is easily visible from across the Indian River in Titusville. Situated at SpaceX’s Robert’s Road facility within KSC, it stands as a new landmark not too far from NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building. At 380 feet tall, the Starship Gigabay is shorter than NASA's 525-foot Vehicle Assembly Building but will still stand out near Cape Canaveral, offering the public a clear view of SpaceX's new operations.

Similar to the SpaceX facility in Texas, the Gigabay is intended for stacking and preparing the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy boosters (lower stages) before launch. When Starship is fully assembled on the launch pad, its height exceeds 400 feet. (5/9)

There Has Been a Sudden Increase in the Rate of Sea Level Rise (Source: New Scientist)
There has been an abrupt change in the rate of sea level rise as measured by satellites. Around 2012, it suddenly accelerated and has remained higher ever since. It is possible that the sudden jump is mainly due to natural variation. However, it could also be a response to the accelerating rate of global warming. The average global sea level has already risen by more than 0.2 meters over the past 15 years as a result of global warming. This has been caused by a number of factors: as well as increasing melting of mountain glaciers and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, the oceans are expanding as they warm. (5/8)

Antarctica Melting Worse Than Expected (Source: Science Daily)
Scientists have uncovered a hidden Antarctic threat that could accelerate global sea level rise far faster than expected. Deep beneath floating ice shelves, long channels carved into the ice appear to trap warmer ocean water, dramatically speeding up melting from below. Even regions of East Antarctica once considered relatively stable may be far more vulnerable than scientists realized. Researchers warn that current climate models may be missing this dangerous process entirely, meaning future sea level rise could be underestimated. (5/10)

U.S.-China Rivalry Reaches South American Skies (Source: New York Times)
In the foothills of the Argentine Andes, the enormous Chinese radio telescope sits in one of the world’s premier stargazing locations, surrounded by vast, undulating mountain ranges and beneath skies untouched by light pollution. It is also on the opposite side of the planet from Beijing, offering China a window on the half of the heavens it would not otherwise see.

But the Chinese telescope at the site, the Cesco observatory in San Juan Province, picks up no signals. After the U.S. government repeatedly pressed them on the issue, the Argentine authorities stopped the project’s completion. Lacking key parts, the telescope now sits dismembered, its gigantic antenna pointing blindly at the sky.

As the United States increasingly views Beijing as a rival in space, the stars above South America have become flash points in a geopolitical struggle, with top American officials trying to halt astronomy projects in the Andean deserts out of fear China could use them for military purposes. (5/10)

India's GalaxyEye Combines SAR and Optical Sensors on Drishti Satellite (Source: Indian Express)
To get clear and intuitive images from space, Indian start-up, GalaxEye, designed the Drishti satellite where both optical and radar imaging sensors are put on the satellite and operate in sync with each other to produce simultaneous imaging of the same place. This eliminates the need for users to manually align datasets from two different satellites. For this reason, the company is describing its innovation as Opto-SAR technology. (5/9)

FAA to Engage AI in Air Traffic Overhaul (Source: Politico)
An artificial intelligence project launched inside America’s aviation safety agency is aimed at easing burdens on the thousands of air traffic controllers who guide planes through the skies. The initiative, being spearheaded by FAA chief Bryan Bedford, envisions a dramatic revamp of how the nation’s increasingly complex airspace functions. But it would not seek to supplant the role of human controllers in making the second-by-second decisions needed to keep air travel safe, two of the project’s three vendors said. (5/9)

Tiny 'Metajets' Could Use Light to Steer Sails for Interstellar Travel (Source: New Scientist)
Interstellar travel propelled by light just got one step closer. Light sails, which are huge sheets pushed along by light that bounces off of them, may be the best way to travel enormous distances through space, and now we may have a way to steer them. “We knew already that any light or laser can impart momentum transfer, but now we can control the direction as well,” says Kaushik Kudtarkar. He and his colleagues created a tiny device called a metajet that uses refraction of light, not just reflection, to move in more than one direction at once. (5/10)

AST SpaceMobile Eyes June Launch of Three BlueBirds After Satellite Loss (Source: PC Mag)
AST SpaceMobile, a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile, will try to make up for last month’s botched satellite deployment by sending up three “BlueBirds” in mid-June. The company will skip using Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which accidentally placed AST’s BlueBird 7 satellite in an orbit too low to sustain operations, causing it to descend and burn up in the atmosphere. (5/6)

Starship Cannot Build a City on Mars Without First Collecting These Materials From Space (Source: IDR)
Mars is, by most industrial measures, a poor planet. It lacks the concentrated mineral deposits that made large-scale construction possible on Earth, and the cost of shipping materials from our planet across tens of millions of miles is, in practical terms, absurd. Instead of sourcing materials from Earth or relying exclusively on Martian soil, future missions should mine the Main Belt asteroids, the ring of space rocks orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. In practice, however, the execution of that idea runs headlong into some of the most unforgiving laws of orbital mechanics.

Mars is notably lacking in elements like boron and molybdenum, both of which are essential for manufacturing high-performance materials. According to the research, the delta-v required to redirect resources from the asteroid belt to Mars is only 2 to 4 km/s, a fraction of what it costs to leave Earth. That single figure is what makes the entire proposal worth taking seriously. The study grounds its logistics in a spacecraft modeled on SpaceX’s Starship: a theoretical vehicle with a dry mass of 120 tons, a payload capacity of 115 tons, and a fuel capacity of 1,100 tons. (5/9)

Blue Origin Prepares to Snatch Away SpaceX's Biggest Project (Source: Extreme Tech)
It may be debatable whether Blue Origin won the race to put a billionaire into space, but the perennial second runner of the private space industry could be on the trail of a much more lasting win. Last week, NASA announced that a Blue Origin-designed Moon lander had completed critical testing in the agency's vacuum chamber, raising hopes that it could be the first to meet NASA's specifications for a crewed lander. This one is only a cargo lander, but many of its design principles apply to both projects.

These most recent tests of the Blue Origin cargo lander, dubbed Endurance Mk1, are meant to validate the crewed lander project, dubbed Blue Moon Mk2. The tests proved that the vehicle can withstand the vacuum of space and the extreme temperature swings caused by solar radiation spikes. The tests help to prove that the lander is ready for the rigors of space and of the approach to the Moon. The official report didn't specify the exact tolerances tested, but in the past, such tests have also examined shielding against radiation and even surface dust resistance on the Moon. (5/8)

May 10, 2026

NASA’s Twin Voyager Spacecraft Are Very Low on Power After Nearly 50 Years. How Long Can They Keep Going? (Source: Space.com)
The pioneering Voyager probes might only have a few years left to explore interstellar space, and that's assuming a planned, risky maneuver in 2026 goes well. NASA's twin Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, both running on nuclear power, now have access to just a portion of the 470 watts of energy that they generated immediately after their 1977 launches. Originally tasked with exploring the giant planets in our solar system, the pair have long passed their expected lifespans and are still transmitting data, far from home. (5/9)

NASA Welcomes Paraguay as 67th Artemis Accords Signatory (Source: NASA)
The Republic of Paraguay signed the Artemis Accords on Thursday during a ceremony in Asunción, becoming the latest nation to commit to the shared principles guiding civil space exploration. The Paraguayan Space Agency was established in 2014 and has worked to develop capabilities in satellite technology and Earth observation, including with international partners. Its first satellite, GuaraníSat‑1, launched from the International Space Station in 2021. The agency now is preparing to launch its second satellite, GuaraníSat‑2, in October aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (5/7)

FCC Chair: Starlink Isn't Enough. We Need at Least 3 Satellite-to-Phone Services (Source: PC Mag)
The FCC chair, who has gone out of his way to laud SpaceX’s connectivity from space and sometimes critique its rivals, said Wednesday that the market for direct-to-phone service needs more than one competitor to Starlink. “We think the market wants to be, should be, at least three facilities-based providers,” Brendan Carr opined. Today, US options for more-than-messaging cellular satellite service stop at SpaceX’s Starlink roaming. It's limited to a select set of apps and has seen less uptake among T-Mobile subscribers than the carrier expected after inking its deal with SpaceX in 2022. (5/7)

Meet Rassvet, Russia’s Answer to Starlink (Sources: WIRED, DCD)
In late March, Russian company Bureau 1440 brought into low orbit the first 16 broadband internet satellites of the new Rassvet constellation, already dubbed by observers and local media the Russian answer to SpaceX's Starlink. It's an ambitious global internet project that experts say could conceal much broader strategic goals, with functions including military and communications control.

The constellation’s current satellite generation, the 370kg Rassvet-3, built by Bureau-1440, features optical intersatellite links, designed to enable 1Gbps speeds, but is not thought to match the hardware of industry-standard NewSpace LEO satellites in the West.

The Russian satellite Internet service is expected to begin operation in 2027 once its minimum fleet of 250 is established. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov has told Russian newspaper Kommersant that Rassvet’s next stage involves “dozens more launches.” Only 15 additional launches are required, so long as 16 satellites are launched apiece. (5/8)

Can Pakistan Make Its Space Program Great Again? (Source: The Diplomat)
Pakistan is quietly picking up the pace in its spacefaring ambitions. On April 22, two Pakistani men – Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, both pilots with the Pakistan Air Force – were selected to undergo training in Beijing in a milestone in their country’s scientific history. Both aspiring astronauts are in deep training at China’s Astronaut Center; one of them will be the first Pakistani astronaut in space on an official mission, and the first foreign national to board China’s Tiangong Space Station. The Tiangong is China’s answer to the International Space Station after the United States blocked China from becoming a part of the ISS.

The Pakistani astronaut will not be a symbolic stowaway, but rather an integral part of the team on the Tiangong as a working scientist expected to work on microgravity experiments, use specialized equipment, and respond to emergencies in orbit. Departure for the mission is scheduled to take place in late 2026.

Back home, Pakistan is facing skyrocketing inflation, soaring energy prices and bills, insurgencies in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and border clashes with India and Afghanistan. Back in 2023, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index downgraded Pakistan to the status of an authoritarian regime due to the encroaching powers of the Pakistan Army in politics. (5/8)

Applied Aerospace Files for IPO, Joining Pre-SpaceX Rush (Source: Bloomberg)
Applied Aerospace & Defense Inc. filed for a US initial public offering, joining a recent rush of space and defense firms to public markets ahead of the potential listing of SpaceX later this year. The Huntsville-based space and defense engineering firm made a net loss of $15.1 million on revenue of $134.4 million for the first three months of this year, compared with a net loss of $7.3 million on revenue of $111 million in the same period a year earlier, according to a filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (5/8)

MDA Space Proceeds With Canadarm3 Work Amid Reset Talks (Source: Aviation Week)
MDA Space is proceeding "full steam ahead" with Canadarm3 development, confirming that its contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) remains unaffected despite NASA's decision to pause the Lunar Gateway project. The company is actively working with the CSA to assess the project's future, as the AI-driven robotic system was originally destined for the now-halted space station. While designed for the Gateway, MDA is evaluating other uses for the technology, including commercial space station applications. (5/8)

SaxaVord Spaceport Appoints Conservative Peer and UK Space Agency Chairman Lord David Willetts as Director (Source: Shetland Times)
The Conservative lord who chairs the UK Space Agency has been appointed as a director of SaxaVord Spaceport. Documents lodged with Companies House show that Lord David Willets was appointed on 1st May. (5/9)

Space Force Releases Officer Career Development Path (Source: AFNS)
The U.S. Space Force released a new officer career development path and accompanying narrative document to provide officers, supervisors and mentors with clearer expectations for career progression, leadership development and assignment planning. The framework is designed to develop combat-credible Guardians through deliberate career progression and mentorship. Built on the “Guardian First, Specialist Second” philosophy, the framework ensures officers develop a multidisciplinary foundation across space operations, intelligence, cyber and force modernization before advancing into more specialized tracks. (5/8)

Chinese Team Makes Breakthrough in Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detection (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese research team has announced a key breakthrough in the space-based gravitational wave detection program named Taiji, according to the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The team designed a full-function interferometer optical bench (OB) for the Taiji program, constructed a first-generation Taiji interferometer OB and ground test system, and conducted preliminary testing and calibration.

The research program Taiji aims to study gravitational waves from the merging of binary black holes and other celestial bodies, according to the institute. The full-function interferometer OB can effectively mitigate interference from temperature fluctuations in the measurement. Boasting picometer-level measurement accuracy, it can detect tiny variations equivalent to one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, the research team said. (5/9)

Chinese Scientists Discover New Extreme Particle Accelerator in Cosmos (Source: Xinhua)
For decades, scientists have been trying to solve a mystery: Where do high-energy cosmic rays come from? These charged particles travel from outer space to Earth, but their origins remain unknown. Now, a major discovery by Chinese scientists is bringing them closer to the answer.

Based on observations from China's Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), researchers have detected ultra-high-energy gamma rays from a special type of object in the Milky Way. This object is a gamma-ray binary system, meaning it consists of two stars: one massive star and one compact object. The compact object could be either a neutron star or a black hole. (5/9)

MDA Space: High-Volume Canadian Satellite Factory On Schedule for Telesat and Globalstar, Should Appeal to Military Demand Too (Source: Space Intel Report)
MDA Space said it remains on schedule to open the high-volume production facility that will be producing Telesat’s Lightspeed broadband and Globalstar’s direct-to-device (D2D) satellites, an event the company hopes will draw new customers, including defense ministries interested in satellites for space defense applications. The 185,000-square-foot plant, located 34 kilometers west of Montreal, is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 8. (5/7)

Venture Capital, Regulations, and Medium-Lift: What Canada’s 'Launch the North' Startups Need Next (Source: SpaceQ)
As everyone in Canadian space knows these days, sovereign launch is having a moment. Just a few weeks ago, the Canadian government announced it would commit on the order of $300 million for sovereign launch, including a 10-year, $200-million pledge for Maritime Launch Services launch pad access and money for the Launch the North effort for homegrown rockets.

The three companies selected for the first stage of Launch the North were NordSpace, Reaction Dynamics and Canada Rocket Company, each receiving $8.3 million for early-stage funding. The three companies came together on stage on Tuesday (May 5) at NordSpace’s Canadian Space Launch Conference, held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, to provide an update on how things are going so far.

They also pointed to a few gaps that they would love to see the federal government fill: more access to venture capital (which is more limited in Canada than the U.S.), more clarity on launch regulations (which may come through the new Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act), and some help on having the companies develop medium-lift opportunities to expand their customer base. Click here. (5/8)

Astrophotographer Teamed with Artemis 2 Crew for Farside Shots (Source: Space.com)
Just weeks before the first Artemis 2 launch window, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy had a last-minute idea: What if he could get the Artemis 2 astronauts to shoot the moon the same way he shoots the moon? Artemis 2 commander and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman "was immediately onboard," McCarthy said. "It was a dream come true, obviously, for me, but I saw it as this very unique opportunity."

The astronauts snapped breathtaking photos of the moon, which showed beautifully haunting views of the lunar far side that Artemis 2 crew member Christina Koch of NASA described as "the most ominous thing I've ever loved." On Earth, McCarthy combines hundreds to thousands of photos of the moon to bring out details you can't see in a single image. The results are colorful landscapes that look more like paintings than the gray orb we're used to seeing hang in the night sky, but the diversity he presents in his images come down to lunar spectroscopy rather than artistic interpretation. (5/8)

Are Trump and Musk Giving Up on Mars? (Source: NBC)
The Trump administration is pushing a pivot to the Moon over Mars, with budget proposals seeking to cut science spending. While SpaceX continues developing Starship, official focus has shifted toward building lunar infrastructure, challenging the immediate, exclusive focus on Mars exploration. The White House's proposed budget seeks to prioritize lunar surface missions (Artemis 3/4) and commercial partnerships, rather than a direct, near-term mission to Mars.

While Elon Musk continues to push for Mars in the long term, SpaceX is currently focusing on landing Starship on the Moon and developing orbital refueling, which are necessary for both lunar and Martian missions. The Mars Society and other experts have expressed concern that budget cuts to science divisions (like Mars Curiosity) could threaten the foundational research needed for eventual human exploration of Mars. (5/9)

Watch Out, SpaceX—NASA Is Already Training on Blue Origin’s Moon Lander Prototype (Source: Gizmodo)
On Thursday, NASA shared a photo of a full-scale prototype of the MK2 crew cabin, which has arrived at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to support training and testing. In a statement, the agency said it and its industry partners will use this prototype for Artemis 3 and 4 mission simulations.

“Blue Origin’s lander, launching uncrewed on top of the company’s New Glenn rocket, will meet astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit,” the statement reads. “Two astronauts will board the Blue Moon crew lander, which will ferry them to the surface and back to other crew members aboard Orion in lunar orbit following the conclusion of their surface stay.”

Meanwhile, Starship HLS development has been more of a black box. At the end of October 2025, SpaceX said its HLS team had completed “49 milestones tied to developing its subsystems, infrastructure, and operations needed to land astronauts on the Moon,” but the company has not provided a detailed update since then. (5/8)