Interlune Wins NASA Contract for
Helium-3 Extraction Payload (Source: Space News)
Interlune has secured a $6.9 million Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) Phase III contract from NASA to develop a payload designed to
extract helium-3 and other gases from lunar regolith. The 18-month,
firm-fixed-price contract with NASA's Space Technology Mission
Directorate's Game Changing Development program aims to test this
technology on the Moon to support future in-situ resource utilization.
(5/4)
Embry‑Riddle Team’s Lunar Energy
Project Advances to NASA Challenge Finals (Source: ERAU)
A team of students from Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University has
designed a system to provide multi-day energy storage on the moon
without needing to transport huge battery systems from Earth. Their
proposal has advanced to the competition finals of NASA’s Revolutionary
Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) program. The
system would collect solar heat during the lunar day, storing it in the
lunar soil, or regolith. During the two-week lunar night, the heat
would be converted into electricity. (4/20)
Lockheed Martin, Firefly and Seagate
Team to Launch Satellites From the Sea (Source: Defense Blog)
Lockheed Martin, Seagate Space, and Firefly Aerospace announced a
three-way strategic collaboration to develop sea-based launch
capabilities for national security missions, a partnership that brings
together a defense prime with decades of missile heritage, an offshore
launch platform operator, and a commercial rocket company whose Alpha
vehicle has been carving out a role in the responsive launch market.
Johnathon Caldwell, vice president and general manager of Strategic and
Missile Defense Systems for Lockheed Martin Space, described it as an
effort to blend Lockheed Martin’s legacy in missile defense, targets,
and countermeasures with what he called the innovative spirit of
Firefly and Seagate. The three companies will work together on
mission-application concepts and flight-demonstration projects that
leverage Seagate’s Gateway offshore launch platform. (5/4)
All Points Inks NASA Lease to Build
200-Foot-Tall Spacecraft Complex at KSC (Source: Florida Today)
After years of behind-the-scenes planning, All Points Logistics has
secured a 64-acre lease from NASA to construct more than a half-million
square feet of spacecraft pre-launch processing facilities at Kennedy
Space Center. The Merritt Island aerospace-logistics company hopes to
break ground for construction in fall.
If all goes smoothly, a logistics facility may open in late 2027,
followed by a 200-foot-tall processing facility in early 2028. CEO Phil
Monkress said demand to assemble, integrate, fuel and test satellites
and spacecraft is now "even more than we even imagined." He cited
NASA's new goal to construct a base on the moon's surface and President
Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile-defense system. (5/4)
Space-BACN Satellite Laser Link
Program Shifts From DARPA to DIU (Source: Breaking Defense)
DARPA is winding down its Space-BACN project, which was developing a
key underpinning technology for the sprawling Golden Dome missile
defense initiative, Breaking Defense has learned. However, the program
will effectively continue under new ownership, as company officials
involved say it is being transitioned away from DARPA and over to the
Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The idea is for DIU to open up a bid
process for on-orbit demonstration of the Space-BACN terminal
configuration, they explained. (5/4)
Spaceflight is Hard on the Heart, Yet
Artificial Ones Grow Better in Space Than on Earth (Source:
Space.com)
The human heart shrivels away in space, but researchers have found that
mini-hearts grown from human stem cells sprout in space significantly
faster than in labs on Earth. Weird things happen to astronauts' hearts
in microgravity. Without the sense of up and down, the flow of blood in
the body changes. More of the fluid gathers in the head, and there is
suddenly less of it not just in the legs but also in the heart itself.
Not having to push the body against the resistance of gravity, the
heart shrinks, weakens and even changes its shape, becoming more
circular.
Even heart muscle cells flown in petri dishes to the International
Space Station (ISS) deteriorate. Their ability to contract declines and
their metabolism changes. Yet, when researchers tried to grow human
mini-hearts from stem cells on board the ISS, they found they could
produce them more easily and in higher quantities, Arun Sharma,
director of the Center for Space Medicine Research at Cedars-Sinai
hospital in Los Angeles, told Space.com. (5/3)
NASA Welcomes Malta as Newest Artemis
Accords Signatory (Source: NASA)
The Republic of Malta became the 65th signatory to the Artemis Accords
on Monday during a ceremony in the town of Kalkara with NASA and U.S.
Department of State officials present. Malta’s Minister for Education,
Youth, Sports, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima signed the Artemis
Accords on behalf of the country. (5/4)
Global Smallsat Deployment
Accelerates, with 16,900 Satellites Projected Through 2035 (Source:
Novaspace)
Novaspace’s Prospects for the Small Satellite Market report forecasts
16,900 small satellites (under 500 kg) to be launched between 2026 and
2035. This equates to an average of 230 tons per year, or approximately
640 kg launched daily, driven by growing sovereign constellation demand.
Smallsats are expected to account for 33% of all satellites launched
over the period, but only 6% of total mass, underscoring the continued
dominance of larger systems in overall launch weight. While large-scale
constellations such as Starlink continue to influence demand, market
expansion is increasingly supported by a broader base of national and
regional programs. (5/4)
Booz Allen Hamilton Wins Contract to
Develop Space-Based Interceptor Prototype (Source: Defense
Industry Europe)
Booz Allen Hamilton has been awarded an agreement by the U.S. Space
Force Space Systems Command to develop a prototype system for the
Space-Based Interceptor program. The award supports the Golden Dome for
America initiative focused on space-based missile defense. (5/4)
Pixxel Pushes Into Orbital Data
Centers for Faster Geospatial Intelligence (Source: Space News)
Indian hyperspectral imaging startup Pixxel has partnered with AI firm
Sarvam AI to develop and launch "Pathfinder," India’s first orbital
data center satellite, with a target launch as early as Q4 2026. The
200 kg-class satellite is designed to test in-orbit AI processing and
high-performance computing to deliver immediate geospatial
intelligence, bypassing the need to first transmit large amounts of raw
data to Earth. (5/4)
OroraTech Deploys Wildfire
Constellation for Greece (Source: Space News)
On May 3, OroraTech successfully deployed four thermal-imaging
satellites for the Hellenic Fire System to provide near real-time,
high-resolution wildfire monitoring for Greece. The satellites,
launched via a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, form
the world’s first national dedicated wildfire surveillance
constellation. (5/4)
SpaceX’s AI Pivot Promises the Stars.
Could it Cost NASA the Moon? (Source: Scientific American)
SpaceX announced a deal in April with Cursor, an AI-code-writing
start-up, signaling the rocket firm’s intention to acquire it for $60
billion. That’s more than twice NASA’s current annual budget—and also
about how much capital SpaceX could raise from its upcoming initial
public offering (IPO) in June. The plan to snap up Cursor is part of a
huge shift at SpaceX toward AI, as it pursues creating a vast network
of data centers in space. Meanwhile Musk’s other trillion-dollar-plus
company, Tesla, is expanding its own investments in AI and robotics.
“Is space going to be the place where AI is used, or is AI going to be
the means for us to do more in space?” Jason Bimm asks. Meanwhile, the
company’s lofty talk of space exploration beyond the moon, especially
of Mars, has notably lessened.
SpaceX’s supporters, partners and critics alike now seek to understand
its AI pivot. “This speaks to the—optimistically, the nimbleness—but
also the idiosyncrasies and fickleness of having a space company led by
a single person, rather than a space program run by and for the
public,” says Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the nonprofit
Planetary Society. (5/4)
Spaceflux Raises £9 Million To Expand
Space Intelligence Globally (Source: Spaceflux)
London-based space intelligence company Spaceflux has raised £3.5
million in an extension to its seed round, bringing total funding to £9
million which will accelerate global expansion. The new capital will
supercharge growth of the company’s AI-powered space intelligence
products including Pattern of Life analytics, on top of Spaceflux’s
Cortex platform, to scale sovereign and operational deployments for
allied governments. (4/27)
Welcome to the Great American
Satellite Age (Source: WIRED)
Basalt Space is part of a generation of startups aiming to broaden
reliable and secure access to satellite imaging, navigation, and
communication services. As they envision it, more of the world will be
continually photographed, more items will be tracked, and customers
won’t have to fear gatekeepers like Starlink cutting off their
transmissions.
Basalt wants to provide any client with their own set of five to 15
satellites in a similar fashion to how cloud computing firms give
companies access to data centers full of sophisticated servers. Faster
satellite data could help farmers stop pests and diseases before they
spread widely. Operating the satellites using AI in place of people is
an essential but unproven part of Basalt’s business plans. But the
startup already has been aided by the rapid decrease in costs of
manufacturing and launching satellites over the past five years.
The Trump administration’s recent decision to relax some regulatory
hurdles has also helped, according to Bhatti. “A lot of the hoops that
you would jump through are gone, and that's welcomed by everyone in the
industry,” he says, declining to get into specifics. The war in Iran
has also provided a golden opportunity to pitch the technology. (5/4)
Astronomers Detect First Pluto Cousin
With Thin Atmosphere (Source: Gizmodo)
Astronomers have confirmed, for the first time, a trans-Neptunian
object with a thin atmosphere—something previously thought exclusive to
Pluto among similar objects. Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are small
icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. (5/4)
Ohio Native John Glenn Was Hero of
American Aeronautics (Source: Columbus Dispatch)
"Zero G and I feel fine," U.S. astronaut John Glenn said during his
historic voyage to the stars in 1962. Glenn, a small-town boy who later
became one of Ohio's longest-serving U.S. senator, is remembered as the
first American to orbit Earth in one of the opening legs of the space
race that spanned the 1950s and '60s. Glenn resigned as an astronaut on
Jan. 16, 1964. He was promoted to colonel in October 1964 and retired
from the Marine Corps on Jan. 1, 1965.
As a US senator, Glenn focused on nuclear non-proliferation and pushed
for more funding for space exploration, education and scientific
research. In 1998, Glenn returned to space, flying on the Discovery
shuttle flight, a 9-day mission where he became the oldest person in
space. (5/4)
US to Bolster Missile Defense with New
Contract for Space-Based, Combat-Proven Interceptors (Source:
Interesting Engineering)
The United States is making efforts to bolster layered missile defense.
The Space Force Systems Command has selected Lockheed Martin to develop
capabilities supporting the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program.
These agreements mark progress toward fielding core elements of an
integrated, layered homeland defense solution. (5/3)
Astronomers Explore the Surface
Composition of a Nearby Super-Earth (Source: Phys.org)
Using MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) on board the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST), a team of researchers analyzed the surface
composition of the rocky exoplanet LHS 3844 b. Beyond characterizing
exoplanetary atmospheres, this kind of deciphering the geological
properties of planets orbiting distant stars is the next step in
unveiling their nature. (5/4)
Small Near-Earth Asteroids Show
Distinct Composition From Larger Objects (Source: Space Daily)
An international team of planetary scientists has found that the
smallest near-Earth asteroids differ markedly in composition from
kilometer-scale objects, a size-dependent trend with direct
implications for meteorite origin studies, asteroid-family evolution,
and planetary defense modeling.
The study, led by Dr. Nick Moskovitz of Lowell Observatory, analyzed
189 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and identified a clear compositional
shift as object size decreases. S-complex asteroids - the type most
closely linked to ordinary chondrites, the most common class of
meteorites - account for roughly 65 percent of kilometer-scale NEAs but
fall to about one-third of objects smaller than 50 meters. (5/4)
NASA’s STORIE Mission to Tell Tale of
Earth’s Ring Current (Source: NASA)
NASA is preparing to launch a mission designed to provide a unique,
inside-out view of the ring current. Called STORIE (Storm Time O+ Ring
current Imaging Evolution), it is scheduled to launch in May aboard the
34th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the International
Space Station for NASA. The mission is flying as part of the Space Test
Program – Houston 11 (STP-H11) payload, a partnership between the U.S.
Space Force and NASA. Once it is robotically installed on the exterior
of the space station (expected a few days after its arrival), STORIE
will look outward at the ring current, helping scientists answer
longstanding questions about how it grows and shrinks and what kind of
particles it’s made of. (5/1)
Space Radiation Doesn’t Sleep: Why Its
Effects on the Human Body Are Never “Almost Zero” (Source:
SpaceInfo Club)
Space radiation does not pause, slow down, or become harmless just
because we are asleep. It interacts continuously with our bodies — with
our cells, our DNA, and our biological systems — regardless of whether
we are active or resting. And here’s the irony: sleep is one of the
most biologically active phases of our day. It’s when the body carries
out critical processes such as tissue repair, immune regulation, and
hormone release — including growth hormone. Suggesting that radiation
effects vanish during this phase is not only incorrect, but it also
reveals a deeper misunderstanding of both physics and human biology.
(4/16)
DAMPE Space Telescope Narrows Field on
Cosmic Ray Origins (Source: Space Daily)
The DAMPE space telescope has identified a universal feature in the
energy spectra of cosmic ray nuclei -- from protons to iron -- that
strongly favors rigidity-dependent models of cosmic ray acceleration
and transport over competing alternatives, according to a new study
published in Nature.
DAMPE, the Dark Matter Particle Explorer, was launched in December 2015
and has been accumulating high-precision measurements of cosmic ray
particle fluxes from orbit. The international mission includes a major
contribution from the astrophysics group at the Department of Nuclear
and Particle Physics at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), which helped
develop one of the instrument's key sub-detectors and led parts of the
data analysis. (5/4)
Loft Orbital to Deploy Six EarthDaily
Satellites in Single Launch as Fleet Expansion Accelerates
(Source: Space Daily)
Loft Orbital and EarthDaily Analytics announced a mission planned for
the current quarter that will deploy six EarthDaily satellites on a
single launch. The mission represents a significant step in completing
the EarthDaily Constellation and will double the size of Loft Orbital's
on-orbit fleet. The six-satellite launch is part of a broader Loft
campaign to deploy more than 20 satellites, including two full
constellations, within an 18-month period. The effort effectively
doubles Loft's on-orbit presence. (5/4)
Vantor Wins $70 Million NGA Contract
for Imagery System (Source: Space News)
Vantor won a $70 million contract to operate and enhance a web-based
imagery system for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
Under the one-year contract option announced Monday, Vantor will
continue to upgrade the latest version of the platform, Global Enhanced
GEOINT Delivery (GEGD) Pro, which provides secure access to commercial
and government-furnished imagery and data for U.S. national security
and civilian agency users. GEGD Pro provides access to Vantor's
extensive archive of high-resolution electro-optical imagery along with
imagery and data from other electro-optical and synthetic aperture
radar satellite operators. While GEGD Pro was built for NGA, the
underlying software platform could serve international customers
seeking sovereign capabilities. (5/4)
NGA Pushes for Access and Innovation
for Satellite Intel (Source: Space News)
NGA is opening more of its programs to commercial vendors to gain
faster access to satellite data and analysis. NGA's deputy director,
Brett Markham, said NGA is looking to expand programs such as Luno, in
which companies deliver AI-enabled geospatial intelligence products
derived from satellite imagery and other sources. Unlike traditional
procurement of raw imagery, Luno is designed to buy finished
intelligence products such as change detection, facility monitoring and
activity analysis produced using AI and other analytics tools. Markham
said NGA established a Rapid Capabilities Office to streamline
acquisition and move emerging technologies from companies into
operational use more quickly.
NGA is also pushing to make greater use of AI tools. Markham said at
the conference that NGA is using AI to reduce latency and narrow
uncertainty for intelligence analysts. Those tools are needed to deal
with a growing amount of geospatial data from satellites and other
sensors. The rapid adoption of AI-driven analytics has raised
expectations that geospatial intelligence can deliver near-constant
awareness, but he cautioned that perception is outpacing reality. (5/4)
Orbital Data Center Skeptic Won Over
(Source: Space News)
A skeptic of orbital data centers is now more bullish about their
prospects. In an interview during a SpaceNews event last week, Delian
Asparouhov, a partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund and
co-founder of Varda Space Industries, said he was initially skeptical
of orbital data centers because of the scale of the infrastructure and
costs involved. However, lower launch costs and technology maturity
projected over the next decade have made the business case more
compelling to him, along with growing challenges facing terrestrial
data centers. (5/4)
Taylor Geospatial Releases Open Source
Agricultural Imagery Dataset (Source: Space News)
Taylor Geospatial has released the first global dataset showing the
boundaries of agricultural fields. The nonprofit organization worked
with the Microsoft AI for Good Lab to develop the open and publicly
available dataset with applications for food security, carbon
accounting, precision agriculture and water-quality analysis. The
Fields of the World project also revealed the challenges of applying
machine learning and computer vision to satellite data. (5/4)
IonQ to Offer Radar Imagery Through
Capella (Source: Space News)
IonQ said it will begin offering a satellite data product based on
radar imagery from its subsidiary, Capella Space. The service detects
subtle changes in the Earth's surface using Interferometric Synthetic
Aperture Radar, or InSAR, with millimeter-level precision. The company
says the service has applications from civil engineering to disaster
preparedness and response. IonQ acquired Capella in May 2025 and
operates eight Capella Acadia radar imaging spacecraft in
mid-inclination and sun-synchronous orbits. (5/4)
ESA Spells Out Satellite Benefits –
and Risks (Source: SatNews)
A major study on April 30 from the European Space Agency (ESA) reminds
us of the aids provided by satellites in zones of interest outside our
individual specialties. And the benefits are not just considerable but
in most cases they are growing in influence and revenues. But so are
the risks associated with the failure of a sector. The ESA study admits
that its risk forecasts are hypothetical – and its numbers are very
much focused on its European members – and Canada. (5/4)
ESA Considers Shifting Harmony from
Vega C to Ariane 6 (Source: European Spaceflight)
The ESA has published a RFI that suggests it is considering shifting
the launch of its Harmony satellites from Vega C to Ariane 6. In
October 2024, ESA awarded OHB a €280 million contract to develop and
build a pair of satellites for its Harmony mission, which will monitor
shifts in the shape of Earth’s land surface caused by earthquakes and
volcanic activity. While neither ESA nor OHB identified a proposed
launch vehicle at the time, a Thales Alenia Space release from the same
day announcing its subcontract for the mission’s Synthetic Aperture
Radar instruments identified Vega C as the planned launch vehicle. (5/4)
The Preference for Fixed-Price
Contracts Receives Accountability Boost (Source: FNN)
President Trump’s latest acquisition-focused executive order, released
April 30, is mandating the use of firm fixed price contracts, with
limited exceptions, or a justification by agency leaders as to why
other contract types, like labor hours or cost reimbursement, are
necessary.
The EO is defining fixed price contracts based on Part 16 of the
Federal Acquisition Regulations: “A firm-fixed-price contract provides
for a price that is not subject to any adjustment on the basis of the
contractor’s cost experience in performing the contract. This contract
type places upon the contractor maximum risk and full responsibility
for all costs and resulting profit or loss.” (5/1)
BlackSky Lands 30 Million Dollar
Assured ISR Contract With International Defense Customer
(Source: Space Daily)
BlackSky Technology Inc. has secured a nearly $30 million, one-year
Assured subscription contract from an international defense customer
seeking guaranteed access to real-time space-based tactical
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
The customer moved from an initial six-figure Early Access pilot
program to the full subscription deal in under six months, a timeline
that BlackSky attributed to incremental validation of mission value and
ease of integration into the customer's existing operations. The award
also follows BlackSky's commissioning of its fourth next-generation
Gen-3 satellite and the general availability opening of Gen-3 very
high-resolution imagery services. (5/4)
RO-21 Expands Unseenlabs’ Satellites
Constellation for Radio Frequency Detection (Source: Unseen Labs)
Unseenlabs announces the successful launch of BRO-21, the latest
satellite in its constellation dedicated to maritime surveillance.
BRO-21 is a GEN 1 satellite that expands Unseenlabs’ radio frequency
(RF) detection for maritime surveillance. (5/4)
GomSpace Joins Innovation Fund
Denmark–Supported SATSOL Project to Strengthen European Space Solar
Supply Chain (Source: GomSpace)
GomSpace has joined SATSOL, a three‑year Grand Solution project
sponsored by Innovation Fund Denmark, with a total funding of MSEK 21.9
from which MSEK 3.3 for GomSpace contribution. The project is led by
the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and includes METR and Nice
Visions as consortium partners. SATSOL aims to address the supply
constraints in space‑qualified solar cells by establishing a
Danish‑centered production of low‑cost, high‑efficiency silicon
photovoltaic modules for space applications. (3/28)
May 3, 2026
SpaceX Admits AI Data Centers in Space
May Be a Really Terrible Idea (Source: Futurism)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been adamant that putting enormous AI data centers in Earth’s orbit is a “no-brainer.” Yet many experts remain unconvinced that sending up to a million satellites, each bigger than the International Space Station, makes any sense, citing concerns over economic feasibility and physical limits. Some warn they could even cause an environmental catastrophe, with aging and failing hardware doomed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere while releasing copious amounts of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Even SpaceX itself isn’t fully sold on the idea its mercurial CEO is pushing hard — and prioritizing over his decades-old wish of sending humans to Mars. In excerpts of the company’s pre-IPO filing, the company admitted that its “initiatives to develop orbital AI compute and in-orbit, lunar, and interplanetary industrialization are in early stages, involve significant technical complexity and unproven technologies, and may not achieve commercial viability.”
It’s a significant tonal shift ahead of the company’s blockbuster IPO. SpaceX acknowledged that sending sensitive AI chips into space may cause them to wear out much faster. Orbital data centers will operate “in the harsh and unpredictable environment of space, exposing them to a wide and unique range of space-related risks that could cause them to malfunction or fail.” (4/22)
Artemis II Exposes Legal Black Hole (Source: Mayer Brown)
As states and commercial enterprises set their sights on exploring and exploiting the moon's resources, Rachael O'Grady offers insight into the legal framework underpinning it all. She explains that International space law rests on five key treaties, with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as its cornerstone, drafted during the Cold War, long before today's commercial space ambitions.
Rachael is clear that these treaties have served their purpose well and remain vital in international space law. Looking ahead. the path forward likely isn't a new treaty but rather nonbinding agreements on debris mitigation, sustainable operations, and satellite end-of-life plans. (4/30)
Blue Origin’s Moon Mission Progresses Despite New Glenn Challenges (Source: WFTV)
The Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander is presently being tested at Cape Canaveral, with a possible test launch scheduled before year’s end. It is designed to deliver cargo to the lunar surface and is anticipated to support upcoming NASA missions. Experts say progress is encouraging, but not without challenges. “I suppose the key is if they can get the New Glenn rocket to work,” said Don Platt. “It’s one step forward, one step back, but it’s encouraging that they’re making progress.”
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is currently grounded after a problem during an April 19 launch involving an AST SpaceMobile satellite. Initial reports indicate that the rocket’s second stage did not produce sufficient thrust to achieve the desired orbit for the satellite. The company is now leading an investigation with the FAA. Meanwhile, NASA continues to rely heavily on commercial partnerships as it works toward returning astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program. (5/2)
SpaceX Sends 45 Satellites to Orbit in Launch From California (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX launched 45 satellites to orbit from California early Sunday morning, including a South Korean spacecraft that was originally supposed to fly in 2022. SpaceX called the mission CAS500-2, after the primary payload going up — the CAS500-2 Earth-observation satellite, which was developed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute. (5/3)
Polish Military Satellite Now in Orbit (Source: TVP World)
Poland’s newest military satellite reached Earth orbit on Sunday morning on board a SpaceX rocket, with officials promising it will boost the country’s defenses. Built by Polish-Finnish company ICEYE for the Polish Armed Forces, the satellite – Poland's fourth such device – is intended to strengthen Warsaw’s ability to observe the ground in both daylight and darkness, as well as in poor weather. It was delivered into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which left the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (5/3)
The Clandestine Network Smuggling Starlink Tech Into Iran (Source: BBC)
The Iranian man is visibly anxious, speaking to the BBC outside Iran, as he carefully explains how he is part of a clandestine network smuggling satellite internet technology - which is illegal in Iran - into the country. Sahand, whose name we have changed, fears for family members and other contacts inside the country. "If I was identified by the Iranian regime, they might make those I'm in touch with in Iran pay the price," he says. (5/2)
York Space Systems to Acquire Terminal Developer All.Space in $355M Deal (Source: Via Satellite)
York Space Systems has moved to acquire terminal developer All.Space in a $355 million deal to make York a “complete communications ecosystem.” All.Space is a leading terminal developer and manufacturer based in the U.K., known for terminals that can connect with multiple satellite networks at once. Once the acquisition closes, All.Space will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of York and will continue to serve other customers. (4/30)
Iridium Prepares to Unleash Certus 100 Safety for Civil Aviation (Source: Runway Girl)
As Iridium Communications works with key partners to secure clearance from the US FAA to support safety services with its next-gen Certus safety satcom, the L-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite operator is fielding strong interest from OEMs for solutions that will utilize its Certus 200 pipe. With speeds of up to 176 Kbps, Certus 200 satcom solutions are lightweight, easy to install, and presently under linefit consideration by Airbus and Boeing to support safety services. (4/30)
How Realistic Are NASA's Moon Goals? (Source: CBC)
Last month's Artemis II mission captured attention around the world. The roughly 10-day mission sent Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, on a trip around the moon. NASA's original 2015 plan was to have the first crewed lunar mission in 2023. But years of delays and cost overruns got in the way.
And that's the thing: NASA has rarely, if ever, met deadlines for lofty goals. The development of the space shuttle and the ISS also faced delays. "I don't know how they can do it. It doesn't mean that they can't do it, I'm just guessing based on past performance," said space launch historian Paul Fjeld. "I don't think at any time in the history of NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, that they have done this level of work that quickly. They've never proven it." (5/3)
India Advances Talks with Russia for Semi-Cryogenic Engines for Next-Gen Rockets (Source: India Today)
India’s space ambitions may receive a significant boost as the Indian Space Research Organization advances discussions with Russia’s Roscosmos for the procurement of semi-cryogenic rocket engines. According to ISRO’s Annual Report, senior officials recently traveled to Moscow for detailed technical deliberations, with a draft contract for engine delivery currently under approval. The semi-cryogenic engine is considered a critical technology for India’s next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicles. (5/3)
Federal Agencies Warn of Conflicts in SpaceX’s Starbase Plan (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
At least two federal agencies balked at SpaceX’s plan to have its city of Starbase manage more than a thousand acres of South Texas land meant to offset the environmental effects of the company’s development. Records obtained by Hearst Newspapers show that in addition to public opposition, officials within the Commerce and Interior departments voiced concern to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during permitting deliberations for the Rockhands Mitigation Bank last year.
With funding from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the city of Starbase annexed a 1,050-acre swath of land northwest of town in August and is responsible for keeping it untouched as the property’s easement holder and long-term steward. The space firm previously has been cited and fined for environmental and worker safety issues at its operations in South Texas and criticized for an approach to expansion and testing that some see as reckless.
The fisheries service said it “does not support” the proposal for Starbase to manage the land and recommended “the sponsor use a non-profit conservation bank holder, such as The (Texas) Land Conservancy or the (Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program).” It called third-party management “a long-term protection” that “prevents harmful activities that could jeopardize the bank’s purpose.” (5/3)
How the Space Community is Rallying to Save NASA From Trump’s Budget Cuts (Source: Guardian)
It should have been a victory lap for Jared Isaacman. Instead, last week began with some difficult questions in Congress about the Trump administration’s unpopular plan to slash the space agency’s budget. It ended at the White House with the president appearing to poke fun at his prominent ears, watched by four bemused Artemis II astronauts waiting in vain for any question about their historic mission.
There could have been no better illustration of how Donald Trump has tarnished the aftermath of NASA’s greatest moment in five decades, and is singularly focused on dismantling the agency’s science programs even as he urges it to plant a Stars and Stripes flag back on the moon before he leaves office in January 2029. At least part of Trump’s hostility to NASA’s science programs appears to stem from his animus towards the agency’s role in climate research.
Yet, even as Trump tries for the second time in two years to slash almost a quarter of the NASA budget, he finds himself opposed by a powerful and united space community determined not to let him dictate the Artemis legacy. On Thursday, in an act of deep disobedience, the Republican-led House commerce, justice, and science subcommittee snubbed Trump’s 2027 $18.8bn budget request for NASA – a 23% cut on 2026 funding – and advanced its own $24.4bn plan that would keep alive the science projects the president is looking to kill. (5/3)
Foxconn Launches Second-Generation Satellites Via SpaceX Falcon 9 (Source: Reuters)
Taiwan’s Foxconn said its second-generation low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites were launched, marking the electronics manufacturer’s latest push into space technology. The company’s PEARL-1A and PEARL-1B satellites entered their intended orbits and will conduct on-orbit missions for five years, it said. Foxconn said the two satellites are primarily designed to verify payload technologies in the fields of communication and space science. (5/3)
Viet Nam and Japan Agree on Space Cooperation (Source: Nhandan)
Leaders of the Viet Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) signed and exchanged the amended agreement on satellite data sharing between the VNSC under the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on May 2. (5/3)
South Korean Earth-Observation Satellite Now in Orbit (Source: Korea Herald)
A South Korean Earth-observation satellite has successfully entered low-Earth orbit following its launch from a US space base in California, authorities said Sunday, in a move expected to help bolster Seoul's satellite development capabilities. The satellite, called Compact Advanced Satellite (CAS) 500-2, was developed for disaster monitoring and agricultural observation. (5/3)
Artemis 3 Plans Remain Uncertain as Schedule Slips (Source: Space News)
More than two months after NASA announced revised plans for the Artemis 3 mission, the agency has provided few details about the mission itself amid signs its schedule may be slipping. Following the February 2026 announcement to revamp the Artemis 3 mission into a low-Earth orbit test flight rather than an immediate lunar landing, signs indicate potential further schedule slippage beyond the newly proposed 2027 timeframe. The mission, now aiming for a, late 2027, date, will test SpaceX/Blue Origin landers, with actual landings pushed to 2028 or later. (5/3)
America Needs a Space Alliance (Source: Space News)
The United States needs a new approach to building space alliances that last, updating foundational agreements like the Outer Space Policy while adding more binding mechanisms for enforcement than the Artemis Accords. TerraSpace co-founder and CEO Eric Sundby believes a new space treaty should "create common standards for interoperability, clearer rules for technology-sharing among trusted partners and coordinated mechanisms for economic development from low Earth orbit to cislunar space and beyond. It could lower legal and political barriers between allies while giving commercial firms more predictable rules of the road."
He recommends avoiding building "NATO in space," arguing that a security alliance would be counterproductive to commercial activity. Rather, Sundby wrote, "the best framework is narrower: formalize cooperation in exploration and economic development, while keeping security cooperation more informal." Retired astronaut and former Navy captain Scott Kelly joked that this could be the start to a Starfleet, in reference to Star Trek’s central spacefaring institution. It’s an inspiring vision. It’s also, at least for now, improbable in the current geopolitical environment. (4/30)
Isaacman on Climate Change: See No Warming, Speak No Warming (Source: Douglas Messier)
Science did a Q&A with Jared Isaacman in which the NASA administrator was asked about the space agency’s support for Earth science and climate change/global warming. Isaacman said “we should probably do everything we possibly can to understand” the planet. He noted bipartisan support for NASA to perform Earth science missions “because it matters to agriculture and floods and wildfires, real humanitarian issues.”
He said NASA will look at commercial options for obtaining Earth science data in order to save money for missions to the moon and planets. Isaacman made it clear that NASA under the Trump Administration would take a see no warming, hear no warming, speak no warming approach to climate change. (5/2)
Viasat Edges Closer to Starlink (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
Viasat announced a successful launch of ViaSat-3 F3 on Wednesday, which will provide better internet service over the Asia-Pacific region. The launch marks the final step in the three-satellite constellation, which aims to compete with Starlink, providing broader internet connection across continents. It’s a consequential launch for the company, as its first satellite mission resulted in a technical failure. (5/1)
ESA Selects Hungarian Firm for Lunar Orbit Mission (Source: Hungarian Conservative)
The European Space Agency has selected REMRED Ltd. to lead a consortium responsible for the MoonRAD research project, a key initiative within Europe’s expanding lunar ambitions. The MoonRAD program aims to develop a satellite of roughly 300 kilograms designed to operate in lunar orbit. As interest in the Moon intensifies, the surrounding space is increasingly viewed as a critical operational and economic zone for the coming decade.
The planned satellite will provide essential services in the lunar environment, including communication, navigation, and space weather monitoring. It will also study the Moon’s surroundings, with a particular focus on radiation conditions—an area considered crucial for the safety and planning of future space missions. (5/2)
SpaceX Settlement Sparks Vandenberg Launch Oversight Fears (Source: KSBY)
A new legal settlement involving SpaceX could reshape how rocket launches move forward on the Central Coast, and residents in Lompoc are already weighing in on what that might mean for their community. The aerospace company sued the California Coastal Commission after the agency opposed a plan to increase the number of launches out of Vandenberg Space Force Base. Court documents also show the commission will no longer require a coastal development permit for SpaceX launches at Vandenberg, a change that could remove a key layer of oversight as launch activity continues to grow.
For some residents, that possibility is raising concerns. Jacquie Tortolani, who has lived in Lompoc since 2020, said launches have already disrupted her daily life. “I still think that there should be regulation,” Tortolani said. “It’s already too much and the risk is already there. They shouldn’t be allowed to just do whatever they want.” Tortolani said nighttime launches often wake her up and frighten her pets. (4/30)
Texas Homeowners Sue Musk’s SpaceX Over Starship Launches (Source: Reuters)
More than 70 Texas residents have sued billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, alleging that noise and vibrations from its Starship rocket launches and landings damaged their homes near the company's Starbase facility.
The lawsuit, opens new tab, filed on Thursday in the federal court in Brownsville, Texas, alleged the homes and other properties were damaged during 11 SpaceX-led test flights conducted between April 2023 and October 2025. (5/1)
JAXA Completes Japan’s 1st Clean Room for Assembling Spacecraft Under Planetary Protection Standards (Source: Japan Times)
A first-of-its-kind clean room in Japan where space probes can be assembled while being sterilized has been completed in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its purpose is planetary protection, the practice of preventing Earth’s microorganisms from contaminating other celestial bodies. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to use the facility to manufacture a probe it hopes to land on Mars around 2030. Operations are scheduled to begin this autumn. (4/28)
San Antonio Contractor Tied to SpaceX Work Files for Bankruptcy (Source: San Antonio Express News)
A San Antonio general contractor embroiled in lawsuits over unpaid work at SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas has filed for bankruptcy. Alpha Building Corp. filed for Chapter 7 liquidation last month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio. The petition lists 46 creditors with claims against the company, including some that had done work under Alpha’s contracts to build 18 homes at Starbase as well as a bathroom and break room at the Starship launch site.
Those deals went sour sometime in 2024 with Alpha and its subcontractors filing at least 27 liens worth more than $2 million against SpaceX related to unpaid work and materials on the projects. They’ve also led to a flurry of lawsuits targeting SpaceX, Alpha and its president, Jonathan Rogero. At least nine civil cases against Alpha remain pending, according to bankruptcy documents. (5/1)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been adamant that putting enormous AI data centers in Earth’s orbit is a “no-brainer.” Yet many experts remain unconvinced that sending up to a million satellites, each bigger than the International Space Station, makes any sense, citing concerns over economic feasibility and physical limits. Some warn they could even cause an environmental catastrophe, with aging and failing hardware doomed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere while releasing copious amounts of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Even SpaceX itself isn’t fully sold on the idea its mercurial CEO is pushing hard — and prioritizing over his decades-old wish of sending humans to Mars. In excerpts of the company’s pre-IPO filing, the company admitted that its “initiatives to develop orbital AI compute and in-orbit, lunar, and interplanetary industrialization are in early stages, involve significant technical complexity and unproven technologies, and may not achieve commercial viability.”
It’s a significant tonal shift ahead of the company’s blockbuster IPO. SpaceX acknowledged that sending sensitive AI chips into space may cause them to wear out much faster. Orbital data centers will operate “in the harsh and unpredictable environment of space, exposing them to a wide and unique range of space-related risks that could cause them to malfunction or fail.” (4/22)
Artemis II Exposes Legal Black Hole (Source: Mayer Brown)
As states and commercial enterprises set their sights on exploring and exploiting the moon's resources, Rachael O'Grady offers insight into the legal framework underpinning it all. She explains that International space law rests on five key treaties, with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as its cornerstone, drafted during the Cold War, long before today's commercial space ambitions.
Rachael is clear that these treaties have served their purpose well and remain vital in international space law. Looking ahead. the path forward likely isn't a new treaty but rather nonbinding agreements on debris mitigation, sustainable operations, and satellite end-of-life plans. (4/30)
Blue Origin’s Moon Mission Progresses Despite New Glenn Challenges (Source: WFTV)
The Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander is presently being tested at Cape Canaveral, with a possible test launch scheduled before year’s end. It is designed to deliver cargo to the lunar surface and is anticipated to support upcoming NASA missions. Experts say progress is encouraging, but not without challenges. “I suppose the key is if they can get the New Glenn rocket to work,” said Don Platt. “It’s one step forward, one step back, but it’s encouraging that they’re making progress.”
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is currently grounded after a problem during an April 19 launch involving an AST SpaceMobile satellite. Initial reports indicate that the rocket’s second stage did not produce sufficient thrust to achieve the desired orbit for the satellite. The company is now leading an investigation with the FAA. Meanwhile, NASA continues to rely heavily on commercial partnerships as it works toward returning astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program. (5/2)
SpaceX Sends 45 Satellites to Orbit in Launch From California (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX launched 45 satellites to orbit from California early Sunday morning, including a South Korean spacecraft that was originally supposed to fly in 2022. SpaceX called the mission CAS500-2, after the primary payload going up — the CAS500-2 Earth-observation satellite, which was developed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute. (5/3)
Polish Military Satellite Now in Orbit (Source: TVP World)
Poland’s newest military satellite reached Earth orbit on Sunday morning on board a SpaceX rocket, with officials promising it will boost the country’s defenses. Built by Polish-Finnish company ICEYE for the Polish Armed Forces, the satellite – Poland's fourth such device – is intended to strengthen Warsaw’s ability to observe the ground in both daylight and darkness, as well as in poor weather. It was delivered into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which left the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (5/3)
The Clandestine Network Smuggling Starlink Tech Into Iran (Source: BBC)
The Iranian man is visibly anxious, speaking to the BBC outside Iran, as he carefully explains how he is part of a clandestine network smuggling satellite internet technology - which is illegal in Iran - into the country. Sahand, whose name we have changed, fears for family members and other contacts inside the country. "If I was identified by the Iranian regime, they might make those I'm in touch with in Iran pay the price," he says. (5/2)
York Space Systems to Acquire Terminal Developer All.Space in $355M Deal (Source: Via Satellite)
York Space Systems has moved to acquire terminal developer All.Space in a $355 million deal to make York a “complete communications ecosystem.” All.Space is a leading terminal developer and manufacturer based in the U.K., known for terminals that can connect with multiple satellite networks at once. Once the acquisition closes, All.Space will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of York and will continue to serve other customers. (4/30)
Iridium Prepares to Unleash Certus 100 Safety for Civil Aviation (Source: Runway Girl)
As Iridium Communications works with key partners to secure clearance from the US FAA to support safety services with its next-gen Certus safety satcom, the L-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite operator is fielding strong interest from OEMs for solutions that will utilize its Certus 200 pipe. With speeds of up to 176 Kbps, Certus 200 satcom solutions are lightweight, easy to install, and presently under linefit consideration by Airbus and Boeing to support safety services. (4/30)
How Realistic Are NASA's Moon Goals? (Source: CBC)
Last month's Artemis II mission captured attention around the world. The roughly 10-day mission sent Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, on a trip around the moon. NASA's original 2015 plan was to have the first crewed lunar mission in 2023. But years of delays and cost overruns got in the way.
And that's the thing: NASA has rarely, if ever, met deadlines for lofty goals. The development of the space shuttle and the ISS also faced delays. "I don't know how they can do it. It doesn't mean that they can't do it, I'm just guessing based on past performance," said space launch historian Paul Fjeld. "I don't think at any time in the history of NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, that they have done this level of work that quickly. They've never proven it." (5/3)
India Advances Talks with Russia for Semi-Cryogenic Engines for Next-Gen Rockets (Source: India Today)
India’s space ambitions may receive a significant boost as the Indian Space Research Organization advances discussions with Russia’s Roscosmos for the procurement of semi-cryogenic rocket engines. According to ISRO’s Annual Report, senior officials recently traveled to Moscow for detailed technical deliberations, with a draft contract for engine delivery currently under approval. The semi-cryogenic engine is considered a critical technology for India’s next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicles. (5/3)
Federal Agencies Warn of Conflicts in SpaceX’s Starbase Plan (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
At least two federal agencies balked at SpaceX’s plan to have its city of Starbase manage more than a thousand acres of South Texas land meant to offset the environmental effects of the company’s development. Records obtained by Hearst Newspapers show that in addition to public opposition, officials within the Commerce and Interior departments voiced concern to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during permitting deliberations for the Rockhands Mitigation Bank last year.
With funding from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the city of Starbase annexed a 1,050-acre swath of land northwest of town in August and is responsible for keeping it untouched as the property’s easement holder and long-term steward. The space firm previously has been cited and fined for environmental and worker safety issues at its operations in South Texas and criticized for an approach to expansion and testing that some see as reckless.
The fisheries service said it “does not support” the proposal for Starbase to manage the land and recommended “the sponsor use a non-profit conservation bank holder, such as The (Texas) Land Conservancy or the (Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program).” It called third-party management “a long-term protection” that “prevents harmful activities that could jeopardize the bank’s purpose.” (5/3)
How the Space Community is Rallying to Save NASA From Trump’s Budget Cuts (Source: Guardian)
It should have been a victory lap for Jared Isaacman. Instead, last week began with some difficult questions in Congress about the Trump administration’s unpopular plan to slash the space agency’s budget. It ended at the White House with the president appearing to poke fun at his prominent ears, watched by four bemused Artemis II astronauts waiting in vain for any question about their historic mission.
There could have been no better illustration of how Donald Trump has tarnished the aftermath of NASA’s greatest moment in five decades, and is singularly focused on dismantling the agency’s science programs even as he urges it to plant a Stars and Stripes flag back on the moon before he leaves office in January 2029. At least part of Trump’s hostility to NASA’s science programs appears to stem from his animus towards the agency’s role in climate research.
Yet, even as Trump tries for the second time in two years to slash almost a quarter of the NASA budget, he finds himself opposed by a powerful and united space community determined not to let him dictate the Artemis legacy. On Thursday, in an act of deep disobedience, the Republican-led House commerce, justice, and science subcommittee snubbed Trump’s 2027 $18.8bn budget request for NASA – a 23% cut on 2026 funding – and advanced its own $24.4bn plan that would keep alive the science projects the president is looking to kill. (5/3)
Foxconn Launches Second-Generation Satellites Via SpaceX Falcon 9 (Source: Reuters)
Taiwan’s Foxconn said its second-generation low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites were launched, marking the electronics manufacturer’s latest push into space technology. The company’s PEARL-1A and PEARL-1B satellites entered their intended orbits and will conduct on-orbit missions for five years, it said. Foxconn said the two satellites are primarily designed to verify payload technologies in the fields of communication and space science. (5/3)
Viet Nam and Japan Agree on Space Cooperation (Source: Nhandan)
Leaders of the Viet Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) signed and exchanged the amended agreement on satellite data sharing between the VNSC under the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on May 2. (5/3)
South Korean Earth-Observation Satellite Now in Orbit (Source: Korea Herald)
A South Korean Earth-observation satellite has successfully entered low-Earth orbit following its launch from a US space base in California, authorities said Sunday, in a move expected to help bolster Seoul's satellite development capabilities. The satellite, called Compact Advanced Satellite (CAS) 500-2, was developed for disaster monitoring and agricultural observation. (5/3)
Artemis 3 Plans Remain Uncertain as Schedule Slips (Source: Space News)
More than two months after NASA announced revised plans for the Artemis 3 mission, the agency has provided few details about the mission itself amid signs its schedule may be slipping. Following the February 2026 announcement to revamp the Artemis 3 mission into a low-Earth orbit test flight rather than an immediate lunar landing, signs indicate potential further schedule slippage beyond the newly proposed 2027 timeframe. The mission, now aiming for a, late 2027, date, will test SpaceX/Blue Origin landers, with actual landings pushed to 2028 or later. (5/3)
America Needs a Space Alliance (Source: Space News)
The United States needs a new approach to building space alliances that last, updating foundational agreements like the Outer Space Policy while adding more binding mechanisms for enforcement than the Artemis Accords. TerraSpace co-founder and CEO Eric Sundby believes a new space treaty should "create common standards for interoperability, clearer rules for technology-sharing among trusted partners and coordinated mechanisms for economic development from low Earth orbit to cislunar space and beyond. It could lower legal and political barriers between allies while giving commercial firms more predictable rules of the road."
He recommends avoiding building "NATO in space," arguing that a security alliance would be counterproductive to commercial activity. Rather, Sundby wrote, "the best framework is narrower: formalize cooperation in exploration and economic development, while keeping security cooperation more informal." Retired astronaut and former Navy captain Scott Kelly joked that this could be the start to a Starfleet, in reference to Star Trek’s central spacefaring institution. It’s an inspiring vision. It’s also, at least for now, improbable in the current geopolitical environment. (4/30)
Isaacman on Climate Change: See No Warming, Speak No Warming (Source: Douglas Messier)
Science did a Q&A with Jared Isaacman in which the NASA administrator was asked about the space agency’s support for Earth science and climate change/global warming. Isaacman said “we should probably do everything we possibly can to understand” the planet. He noted bipartisan support for NASA to perform Earth science missions “because it matters to agriculture and floods and wildfires, real humanitarian issues.”
He said NASA will look at commercial options for obtaining Earth science data in order to save money for missions to the moon and planets. Isaacman made it clear that NASA under the Trump Administration would take a see no warming, hear no warming, speak no warming approach to climate change. (5/2)
Viasat Edges Closer to Starlink (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
Viasat announced a successful launch of ViaSat-3 F3 on Wednesday, which will provide better internet service over the Asia-Pacific region. The launch marks the final step in the three-satellite constellation, which aims to compete with Starlink, providing broader internet connection across continents. It’s a consequential launch for the company, as its first satellite mission resulted in a technical failure. (5/1)
ESA Selects Hungarian Firm for Lunar Orbit Mission (Source: Hungarian Conservative)
The European Space Agency has selected REMRED Ltd. to lead a consortium responsible for the MoonRAD research project, a key initiative within Europe’s expanding lunar ambitions. The MoonRAD program aims to develop a satellite of roughly 300 kilograms designed to operate in lunar orbit. As interest in the Moon intensifies, the surrounding space is increasingly viewed as a critical operational and economic zone for the coming decade.
The planned satellite will provide essential services in the lunar environment, including communication, navigation, and space weather monitoring. It will also study the Moon’s surroundings, with a particular focus on radiation conditions—an area considered crucial for the safety and planning of future space missions. (5/2)
SpaceX Settlement Sparks Vandenberg Launch Oversight Fears (Source: KSBY)
A new legal settlement involving SpaceX could reshape how rocket launches move forward on the Central Coast, and residents in Lompoc are already weighing in on what that might mean for their community. The aerospace company sued the California Coastal Commission after the agency opposed a plan to increase the number of launches out of Vandenberg Space Force Base. Court documents also show the commission will no longer require a coastal development permit for SpaceX launches at Vandenberg, a change that could remove a key layer of oversight as launch activity continues to grow.
For some residents, that possibility is raising concerns. Jacquie Tortolani, who has lived in Lompoc since 2020, said launches have already disrupted her daily life. “I still think that there should be regulation,” Tortolani said. “It’s already too much and the risk is already there. They shouldn’t be allowed to just do whatever they want.” Tortolani said nighttime launches often wake her up and frighten her pets. (4/30)
Texas Homeowners Sue Musk’s SpaceX Over Starship Launches (Source: Reuters)
More than 70 Texas residents have sued billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, alleging that noise and vibrations from its Starship rocket launches and landings damaged their homes near the company's Starbase facility.
The lawsuit, opens new tab, filed on Thursday in the federal court in Brownsville, Texas, alleged the homes and other properties were damaged during 11 SpaceX-led test flights conducted between April 2023 and October 2025. (5/1)
JAXA Completes Japan’s 1st Clean Room for Assembling Spacecraft Under Planetary Protection Standards (Source: Japan Times)
A first-of-its-kind clean room in Japan where space probes can be assembled while being sterilized has been completed in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its purpose is planetary protection, the practice of preventing Earth’s microorganisms from contaminating other celestial bodies. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to use the facility to manufacture a probe it hopes to land on Mars around 2030. Operations are scheduled to begin this autumn. (4/28)
San Antonio Contractor Tied to SpaceX Work Files for Bankruptcy (Source: San Antonio Express News)
A San Antonio general contractor embroiled in lawsuits over unpaid work at SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas has filed for bankruptcy. Alpha Building Corp. filed for Chapter 7 liquidation last month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio. The petition lists 46 creditors with claims against the company, including some that had done work under Alpha’s contracts to build 18 homes at Starbase as well as a bathroom and break room at the Starship launch site.
Those deals went sour sometime in 2024 with Alpha and its subcontractors filing at least 27 liens worth more than $2 million against SpaceX related to unpaid work and materials on the projects. They’ve also led to a flurry of lawsuits targeting SpaceX, Alpha and its president, Jonathan Rogero. At least nine civil cases against Alpha remain pending, according to bankruptcy documents. (5/1)
May 2, 2026
Space Force Wants Space-Based Missile
Interceptors for Golden Dome Ready by 2028 (Source: Space.com)
The United States Space Force has created a new program to develop space-based missile interceptors, with the goal of being able to demonstrate their capability within two years. The U.S. Space Force established the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program in order to develop a constellation of spacecraft that can defend the United States against "a new generation of threats" such as hypersonic weapons, neutralizing them while in flight. The program is part of the planned Golden Dome for America defense system announced by President Trump last year. Estimates of the system's price tag range wildly, from the White House's projected $175 billion to as high as $3.6 trillion. (4/30)
Starfighters Space Announces Availability of Airborne Aerodynamic Test Platform (Source: Starfighters)
Starfighters Space announced the availability of its F-104 Starfighter platform as an airborne aerodynamic test environment for the U.S. defense and aerospace community, capable of replicating aerodynamic conditions that fixed facilities cannot fully reproduce. The F-104’s flight profile allows it to simulate the aerodynamic conditions of the first 30 seconds of a vertical rocket launch, a phase of flight that has historically been among the most difficult to test accurately in a static environment. (4/30)
First Female Space Mission Commander Greets Brevard to Promote ‘Spacewoman’ (Source: Viera Voice)
Retired Air Force Col. Eileen Collins returned to the Space Coast last month to greet hundreds of Brevard residents who viewed “Spacewoman,” a documentary based on her memoir about becoming the first woman to command and pilot a space shuttle mission. Collins’ 2021 memoir “Through the Glass Ceiling for the Stars” led to the 90-minute movie premiered in Brevard County in Melbourne. (5/1)
Artemis II Crew Gives 5-Year-Old Aspiring Astronaut Commander Jack a New Spacesuit: "It Says NASA!" (Source: CBS)
The Artemis II team gained a new member Friday, and the crew made sure their youngest teammate had the right stuff for space. Jack, a 5-year-old aspiring astronaut from Atlanta, told CBS News he's "so obsessed with space" and wore his own spacesuit for the launch. The suit bore the rank of commander, so CBS News' Rob Marciano gave Jack a nickname: Commander Jack.
Commander Jack, dressed in his white spacesuit, joined "CBS Mornings" Friday for a town hall event with the Artemis crew, and the astronauts had a surprise for him. Mission specialist Christina Koch presented Jack with an orange spacesuit matching the ones the astronauts wore during the mission. "It says commander just like yours, so you can still keep your title," Koch said. (5/1)
Janet Petro Is Retiring (Source: NASA Watch)
Janet Petro announced her retirement from NASA after almost two decades of service. From the outset of Janet’s distinguished tenure at NASA, she has served as a profoundly influential leader, guiding both the agency and Kennedy Space Center through some of the most significant transitions in our shared history. In addition to guiding the center through the critical early phases of the Artemis campaign, she played a central part in reshaping KSC entirely from a Shuttle‑era launch complex into the nation’s premier multi‑user spaceport, fundamentally expanding America’s ability to access space.
Her leadership in establishing partnerships with commercial industry and strengthening coordination with federal agencies laid the groundwork for the dynamic launch environment that we are so proud of today. In addition to her work at KSC she served as NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator and Acting Administrator, further demonstrating her unwavering commitment to this agency and the mission. (5/1)
World’s Slowest Rocket Company Suddenly Wants to Churn Out 60 Rockets a Year (Source: Gizmodo)
Blue Origin apparently has big plans for its heavy-lift launch vehicle, hoping to significantly ramp up its production rate within the next few years. The plans were revealed in a job opening posted on the company’s website, detailing the responsibilities of a prospective senior manager to oversee the production of New Glenn’s upper stage. The job posting includes a rather ambitious timeline of increasing production from the current rate of 12 second stages per year to 60 by the third quarter of 2028. By 2029, Blue Origin wants to be able to produce 100 New Glenn upper stages a year. (5/1)
NASA to Increase Value of CLPS Contract to Support Surge of Lunar Lander Missions (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has moved to raise the ceiling on its Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion, a 61% jump that signals the agency intends to buy far more robotic Moon landings than its current cadence supports. The increase, disclosed in a procurement filing on SAM.gov, is the contractual scaffolding for an ambitious new flight rate: nine landings in 2027 and ten in 2028, in service of NASA’s Moon Base initiative.
That target is not primarily a budget story or a policy story. It is an industrial story. Going from two lunar landings a year to ten in thirty-six months is a manufacturing problem, and the contract ceiling raise is meaningful only to the extent that CLPS providers can transform themselves from bespoke spacecraft shops into build-to-print production lines. Everything else — the funding, the politics, the science manifest — is downstream of whether that industrial transition actually happens. (5/2)
Scientists Uncover “Astonishing” Hidden Property of Light (Source: SciTech Daily)
A newly uncovered property of light suggests it may be far more self-sufficient than previously believed. Researchers have identified a previously unknown property of light that allows it to twist, spin, and behave in unusual ways – without the need for mirrors, materials, or specialized lenses. They demonstrated that light can be “programmed” by taking advantage of its inherent geometry. This result challenges long-standing assumptions, showing that light can develop chiral behavior – meaning it can act like a left or right hand – while moving freely through space. (5/1)
Cape Canaveral Snaps Record by Launching 5 Different Rockets in One Month (Source: USSF)
Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45) and the Eastern Range set a new record in April by supporting five different types of launch vehicles with orbital missions. This achievement surpasses the previous mark of four unique space launch vehicles established more than 60 years ago. The feat underscores the rapid evolution of space operations at America’s busiest spaceport and the diversity of the defense industrial base supporting space launch operations.
Teams at SLD 45 managed an intense schedule throughout the month. They coordinated range safety, weather support and mission assurance for launches involving five distinct vehicles. Historical records from the SLD 45 Historical Services Office confirm the prior high-water mark stood at four unique orbital launch vehicles in a single calendar month. That record occurred twice: February 1965 and July 1966.
The Eastern Range already attracts more partners than ever before. SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, Stoke, Relativity, and NASA continue to expand operations. Additional companies are working to establish future pads. Projections show launch demand could reach hundreds per year by the mid-2030s. (4/29)
Space Is Critical Infrastructure—It Needs an Alliance To Guard It (Source: Newsweek)
Picture this. A rescue team moves through whiteout conditions in the mountains, racing to reach a stranded hiker before nightfall. Somewhere ahead, a distress beacon is transmitting a set of coordinates to satellites overhead. Those coordinates guide rescuers through the storm. The same invisible, space-based infrastructure supports emergency calls, financial systems, global logistics and more.
That invisibility is a paradox of space: it underpins modern life so completely that we rarely notice it at all until it is disrupted. But space systems are increasingly vulnerable to collisions and interference that can shut down critical systems such as navigation and communications in an instant. Robust policy and international coordination should support the advancement of space infrastructure and protection of the capabilities that already exist. What is needed is a military-backed alliance in space: an Artemis Alliance. (5/1)
L3Harris Lands Classified Space Program (Source: Aviation Week)
L3Harris Technologies has secured a sole-source classified space program that CEO Chris Kubasik indicated could grow into a multi-billion-dollar business, with a baseline contract value around $600 million. This contract strengthens the firm's position in classified space, with more specialized mission aircraft deals expected to follow. (4/30)
Parts of First Rocket Launched from Unst Expected to Splash Down East of Iceland (Source: ShetNews)
Parts of the first rocket due to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport later this year are expected to splash down into waters to the east of Iceland. However maritime activity in the launch warning zone is said to be “extremely low” compared to its size. Launch operator Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) is hoping to take off from the spaceport in Unst some time after 1 July. It would be the first vertical rocket launch in the UK.
Marine license documents submitted by RFA give an insight into what impact there could be in the seas north of Shetland. Two sections of the rocket are expected to fall back to earth into the sea – the “first stage” and the “fairing”. The first stage is a part of the rocket that will be discarded to shed weight once its fuel has been used up. (4/29)
ISRO Acquires Russian 3D Printer (Source: NDTV)
India's all-weather friend Russia has won a global competitive bid and has supplied a high-end 3D printer that can print everything except currency notes, but India hopes to use it to make quality parts for its upcoming human space flights and moon missions. India's ambitious human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs could soon fly with critical components made using advanced Russian 3D printing technology.
Russian state-owned nuclear and technology giant Rosatom has successfully supplied and commissioned a heavy-duty industrial 3D printer in India, a machine that ISRO says will significantly enhance its ability to rapidly manufacture large and complex metal components for missions such as Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan, and the proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station. (4/30)
SpaceX Aims for Mid-May Starship Flight 12 Launch with Revised Trajectory (Source: NSF)
The return of Starship launches may be just weeks away, with notices for the upcoming Flight 12 launch attempt publishing notification for windows opening as early as May 12. The move signals accelerating preparations for the first orbital test flight of the upgraded Version 3 Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, although engineers will have several milestones to complete with the new vehicle and pad.
According to the notices, launch windows run from May 12 through May 18, with daily opportunities in the afternoon. Each window opens at approximately 5:30 p.m. Central Time and extends for about two hours, including margin. The target vehicle stack—Booster 19 and Ship 39—will lift off from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. (5/1)
Drone Radar Could Help Spacecraft Pinpoint Where to Drill for Water on Mars (Source: Space.com)
A new study suggests the search for usable water on Mars may soon rely on an unexpected tool: drones equipped with radar, flying just above the surface to peer underground in ways orbiters cannot. Researchers led by the University of Arizona have shown that drone-mounted ground-penetrating radar can map buried glaciers on Earth in remarkable detail, offering a blueprint for how similar techniques could be used on Mars. The work focuses on glaciers in Alaska and Wyoming that closely resemble debris-covered ice deposits identified on the Red Planet, according to a statement from the university. (5/1)
The Opportunity Beyond Orbital Data Centers (Source: Space News)
Investor attention is starting to shift toward ventures that could be enabled by orbital data centers, even as the massive computing networks proposed by SpaceX and others remain years from reality. (5/1)
As EU Raises its Military Space Profile, EU Satellite Center Prepares to Move to Center Stage (Source: Space Intel Report)
The European Union Satellite Center (SatCen), which for more than two decades has been producing satellite imagery-based security and military reports for EU nations, is on the threshold of a major increase in responsibility as the EU prepares to manage a constellation of high-revisit, high-resolution spacecraft. The exact form of the future European Observation Governmental Service (EOGS) remains to be decided. The key marker will be the 2028-2034 EU space budget and whether it will fund a full EU government-owned constellation. (5/1)
Loft to Build 10 EO Satellites for French Constellation With Magellium Artal Group (Source: Via Satellite)
Loft is to play a key role in an ambitious next-generation Earth Observation (EO) constellation project in France. It is to partner with Magellium Artal Group after winning a multi-year contract worth up to tens of millions of euros from the French Space Agency (CNES) for the deployment of this constellation. Loft announced the contract award, April 30.
The program’s aim is to deploy a constellation of 10 satellites built around a multi-sensor architecture. Each satellite integrates a range of complementary sensors, including optical, thermal infrared, hyperspectral, and radio frequency for simultaneous observation across multiple data layers. The system will also be designed for advanced onboard computing capabilities with powerful processors and software applications to process data directly in orbit. (5/1)
Thinner Than a Hair and Stretchy Like Rubber: New Material Could Shield Against Radiation in Next-Gen Space Tech (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have developed a new material that could shield humans and critical technology from harmful radiation, and it's thinner than a human hair and stretches like rubber. Researchers have developed a new, stretchy and lightweight material that could shield spacebound tech from electromagnetic and neutron radiation. The researchers aim for this material to be a lighter weight option for protecting equipment and humans involved in spaceflight.
"This material represents a completely new concept in shielding technology — it is as thin as tape and as flexible as rubber, yet simultaneously blocks both electromagnetic waves and radiation," lead author Joo yong-ho at the Extreme Environment Shielding Materials Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology said. (5/1)
The United States Space Force has created a new program to develop space-based missile interceptors, with the goal of being able to demonstrate their capability within two years. The U.S. Space Force established the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program in order to develop a constellation of spacecraft that can defend the United States against "a new generation of threats" such as hypersonic weapons, neutralizing them while in flight. The program is part of the planned Golden Dome for America defense system announced by President Trump last year. Estimates of the system's price tag range wildly, from the White House's projected $175 billion to as high as $3.6 trillion. (4/30)
Starfighters Space Announces Availability of Airborne Aerodynamic Test Platform (Source: Starfighters)
Starfighters Space announced the availability of its F-104 Starfighter platform as an airborne aerodynamic test environment for the U.S. defense and aerospace community, capable of replicating aerodynamic conditions that fixed facilities cannot fully reproduce. The F-104’s flight profile allows it to simulate the aerodynamic conditions of the first 30 seconds of a vertical rocket launch, a phase of flight that has historically been among the most difficult to test accurately in a static environment. (4/30)
First Female Space Mission Commander Greets Brevard to Promote ‘Spacewoman’ (Source: Viera Voice)
Retired Air Force Col. Eileen Collins returned to the Space Coast last month to greet hundreds of Brevard residents who viewed “Spacewoman,” a documentary based on her memoir about becoming the first woman to command and pilot a space shuttle mission. Collins’ 2021 memoir “Through the Glass Ceiling for the Stars” led to the 90-minute movie premiered in Brevard County in Melbourne. (5/1)
Artemis II Crew Gives 5-Year-Old Aspiring Astronaut Commander Jack a New Spacesuit: "It Says NASA!" (Source: CBS)
The Artemis II team gained a new member Friday, and the crew made sure their youngest teammate had the right stuff for space. Jack, a 5-year-old aspiring astronaut from Atlanta, told CBS News he's "so obsessed with space" and wore his own spacesuit for the launch. The suit bore the rank of commander, so CBS News' Rob Marciano gave Jack a nickname: Commander Jack.
Commander Jack, dressed in his white spacesuit, joined "CBS Mornings" Friday for a town hall event with the Artemis crew, and the astronauts had a surprise for him. Mission specialist Christina Koch presented Jack with an orange spacesuit matching the ones the astronauts wore during the mission. "It says commander just like yours, so you can still keep your title," Koch said. (5/1)
Janet Petro Is Retiring (Source: NASA Watch)
Janet Petro announced her retirement from NASA after almost two decades of service. From the outset of Janet’s distinguished tenure at NASA, she has served as a profoundly influential leader, guiding both the agency and Kennedy Space Center through some of the most significant transitions in our shared history. In addition to guiding the center through the critical early phases of the Artemis campaign, she played a central part in reshaping KSC entirely from a Shuttle‑era launch complex into the nation’s premier multi‑user spaceport, fundamentally expanding America’s ability to access space.
Her leadership in establishing partnerships with commercial industry and strengthening coordination with federal agencies laid the groundwork for the dynamic launch environment that we are so proud of today. In addition to her work at KSC she served as NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator and Acting Administrator, further demonstrating her unwavering commitment to this agency and the mission. (5/1)
World’s Slowest Rocket Company Suddenly Wants to Churn Out 60 Rockets a Year (Source: Gizmodo)
Blue Origin apparently has big plans for its heavy-lift launch vehicle, hoping to significantly ramp up its production rate within the next few years. The plans were revealed in a job opening posted on the company’s website, detailing the responsibilities of a prospective senior manager to oversee the production of New Glenn’s upper stage. The job posting includes a rather ambitious timeline of increasing production from the current rate of 12 second stages per year to 60 by the third quarter of 2028. By 2029, Blue Origin wants to be able to produce 100 New Glenn upper stages a year. (5/1)
NASA to Increase Value of CLPS Contract to Support Surge of Lunar Lander Missions (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has moved to raise the ceiling on its Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion, a 61% jump that signals the agency intends to buy far more robotic Moon landings than its current cadence supports. The increase, disclosed in a procurement filing on SAM.gov, is the contractual scaffolding for an ambitious new flight rate: nine landings in 2027 and ten in 2028, in service of NASA’s Moon Base initiative.
That target is not primarily a budget story or a policy story. It is an industrial story. Going from two lunar landings a year to ten in thirty-six months is a manufacturing problem, and the contract ceiling raise is meaningful only to the extent that CLPS providers can transform themselves from bespoke spacecraft shops into build-to-print production lines. Everything else — the funding, the politics, the science manifest — is downstream of whether that industrial transition actually happens. (5/2)
Scientists Uncover “Astonishing” Hidden Property of Light (Source: SciTech Daily)
A newly uncovered property of light suggests it may be far more self-sufficient than previously believed. Researchers have identified a previously unknown property of light that allows it to twist, spin, and behave in unusual ways – without the need for mirrors, materials, or specialized lenses. They demonstrated that light can be “programmed” by taking advantage of its inherent geometry. This result challenges long-standing assumptions, showing that light can develop chiral behavior – meaning it can act like a left or right hand – while moving freely through space. (5/1)
Cape Canaveral Snaps Record by Launching 5 Different Rockets in One Month (Source: USSF)
Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45) and the Eastern Range set a new record in April by supporting five different types of launch vehicles with orbital missions. This achievement surpasses the previous mark of four unique space launch vehicles established more than 60 years ago. The feat underscores the rapid evolution of space operations at America’s busiest spaceport and the diversity of the defense industrial base supporting space launch operations.
Teams at SLD 45 managed an intense schedule throughout the month. They coordinated range safety, weather support and mission assurance for launches involving five distinct vehicles. Historical records from the SLD 45 Historical Services Office confirm the prior high-water mark stood at four unique orbital launch vehicles in a single calendar month. That record occurred twice: February 1965 and July 1966.
The Eastern Range already attracts more partners than ever before. SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, Stoke, Relativity, and NASA continue to expand operations. Additional companies are working to establish future pads. Projections show launch demand could reach hundreds per year by the mid-2030s. (4/29)
Space Is Critical Infrastructure—It Needs an Alliance To Guard It (Source: Newsweek)
Picture this. A rescue team moves through whiteout conditions in the mountains, racing to reach a stranded hiker before nightfall. Somewhere ahead, a distress beacon is transmitting a set of coordinates to satellites overhead. Those coordinates guide rescuers through the storm. The same invisible, space-based infrastructure supports emergency calls, financial systems, global logistics and more.
That invisibility is a paradox of space: it underpins modern life so completely that we rarely notice it at all until it is disrupted. But space systems are increasingly vulnerable to collisions and interference that can shut down critical systems such as navigation and communications in an instant. Robust policy and international coordination should support the advancement of space infrastructure and protection of the capabilities that already exist. What is needed is a military-backed alliance in space: an Artemis Alliance. (5/1)
L3Harris Lands Classified Space Program (Source: Aviation Week)
L3Harris Technologies has secured a sole-source classified space program that CEO Chris Kubasik indicated could grow into a multi-billion-dollar business, with a baseline contract value around $600 million. This contract strengthens the firm's position in classified space, with more specialized mission aircraft deals expected to follow. (4/30)
Parts of First Rocket Launched from Unst Expected to Splash Down East of Iceland (Source: ShetNews)
Parts of the first rocket due to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport later this year are expected to splash down into waters to the east of Iceland. However maritime activity in the launch warning zone is said to be “extremely low” compared to its size. Launch operator Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) is hoping to take off from the spaceport in Unst some time after 1 July. It would be the first vertical rocket launch in the UK.
Marine license documents submitted by RFA give an insight into what impact there could be in the seas north of Shetland. Two sections of the rocket are expected to fall back to earth into the sea – the “first stage” and the “fairing”. The first stage is a part of the rocket that will be discarded to shed weight once its fuel has been used up. (4/29)
ISRO Acquires Russian 3D Printer (Source: NDTV)
India's all-weather friend Russia has won a global competitive bid and has supplied a high-end 3D printer that can print everything except currency notes, but India hopes to use it to make quality parts for its upcoming human space flights and moon missions. India's ambitious human spaceflight and lunar exploration programs could soon fly with critical components made using advanced Russian 3D printing technology.
Russian state-owned nuclear and technology giant Rosatom has successfully supplied and commissioned a heavy-duty industrial 3D printer in India, a machine that ISRO says will significantly enhance its ability to rapidly manufacture large and complex metal components for missions such as Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan, and the proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Space Station. (4/30)
SpaceX Aims for Mid-May Starship Flight 12 Launch with Revised Trajectory (Source: NSF)
The return of Starship launches may be just weeks away, with notices for the upcoming Flight 12 launch attempt publishing notification for windows opening as early as May 12. The move signals accelerating preparations for the first orbital test flight of the upgraded Version 3 Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, although engineers will have several milestones to complete with the new vehicle and pad.
According to the notices, launch windows run from May 12 through May 18, with daily opportunities in the afternoon. Each window opens at approximately 5:30 p.m. Central Time and extends for about two hours, including margin. The target vehicle stack—Booster 19 and Ship 39—will lift off from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. (5/1)
Drone Radar Could Help Spacecraft Pinpoint Where to Drill for Water on Mars (Source: Space.com)
A new study suggests the search for usable water on Mars may soon rely on an unexpected tool: drones equipped with radar, flying just above the surface to peer underground in ways orbiters cannot. Researchers led by the University of Arizona have shown that drone-mounted ground-penetrating radar can map buried glaciers on Earth in remarkable detail, offering a blueprint for how similar techniques could be used on Mars. The work focuses on glaciers in Alaska and Wyoming that closely resemble debris-covered ice deposits identified on the Red Planet, according to a statement from the university. (5/1)
The Opportunity Beyond Orbital Data Centers (Source: Space News)
Investor attention is starting to shift toward ventures that could be enabled by orbital data centers, even as the massive computing networks proposed by SpaceX and others remain years from reality. (5/1)
As EU Raises its Military Space Profile, EU Satellite Center Prepares to Move to Center Stage (Source: Space Intel Report)
The European Union Satellite Center (SatCen), which for more than two decades has been producing satellite imagery-based security and military reports for EU nations, is on the threshold of a major increase in responsibility as the EU prepares to manage a constellation of high-revisit, high-resolution spacecraft. The exact form of the future European Observation Governmental Service (EOGS) remains to be decided. The key marker will be the 2028-2034 EU space budget and whether it will fund a full EU government-owned constellation. (5/1)
Loft to Build 10 EO Satellites for French Constellation With Magellium Artal Group (Source: Via Satellite)
Loft is to play a key role in an ambitious next-generation Earth Observation (EO) constellation project in France. It is to partner with Magellium Artal Group after winning a multi-year contract worth up to tens of millions of euros from the French Space Agency (CNES) for the deployment of this constellation. Loft announced the contract award, April 30.
The program’s aim is to deploy a constellation of 10 satellites built around a multi-sensor architecture. Each satellite integrates a range of complementary sensors, including optical, thermal infrared, hyperspectral, and radio frequency for simultaneous observation across multiple data layers. The system will also be designed for advanced onboard computing capabilities with powerful processors and software applications to process data directly in orbit. (5/1)
Thinner Than a Hair and Stretchy Like Rubber: New Material Could Shield Against Radiation in Next-Gen Space Tech (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have developed a new material that could shield humans and critical technology from harmful radiation, and it's thinner than a human hair and stretches like rubber. Researchers have developed a new, stretchy and lightweight material that could shield spacebound tech from electromagnetic and neutron radiation. The researchers aim for this material to be a lighter weight option for protecting equipment and humans involved in spaceflight.
"This material represents a completely new concept in shielding technology — it is as thin as tape and as flexible as rubber, yet simultaneously blocks both electromagnetic waves and radiation," lead author Joo yong-ho at the Extreme Environment Shielding Materials Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology said. (5/1)
May 1, 2026
Blue Origin Certainly Has Ambitious
Launch Targets for New Glenn (Source: Ars Technica)
Earlier this week, Blue Origin posted a job opportunity for a “senior manager” to oversee tank fabrication for “Quattro,” and the description contained some intriguing information. “As part of a hardworking team of specialists, technicians, and engineers you will be the Senior Manager of Gen 2.0 Tank Fabrication, and will own the production execution of the most structurally complex and schedule-critical subsystem on the vehicle—the propellant tank,” the job posting states.
Quattro is the company’s nickname for a more powerful upper stage for the New Glenn rocket, which will feature four BE-3U engines instead of the two currently powering the booster. Blue Origin revealed plans for this more powerful variant of New Glenn, 9×4 (nine first stage engines, and four upper stage engines), last November. It is possible this rocket, significantly larger than the 7×2 variant currently flying and necessary for the company’s lunar ambitions as part of NASA’s Artemis program, could make its debut next year. (4/30)
SpaceComputer to Conduct On-Orbit Test of Secure Computing Infrastructure (Source: Space News)
SpaceComputer, a Singapore-based startup developing distributed computing infrastructure, is preparing to test its hardware and software in orbit later this year. The startup’s first product, Space Fabric, is a hardware and software architecture with secure and physically isolated computing elements to link ground stations with satellites and enable satellites to share computing resources. Space Fabric is being integrated with printed circuit boards (PCBs) in preparation for launch in October on an unidentified satellite. (4/30)
France and Spain Want Space Reserved for EU Firms in Satellite Frequencies (Source: Politico)
France and Spain have teamed up in a bid to reserve space for European companies in an upcoming spectrum auction for mobile satellite communications, effectively pushing out U.S. players. The move comes as Brussels and EU capitals are mulling restrictions on non-EU players in a vast array of technologies from cloud computing to software, and grappling with the bloc’s reliance on U.S. and China-made tools. (4/30)
DARPA Selects Three Companies for Lunar Orbiter Studies (Source: Space News)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to three companies to study concepts for a lunar mission to search for water ice in very low orbits. DARPA announced last year the Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO) program. LASSO would demonstrate the ability to operate in a very low orbit around the moon while searching for locations on the moon that contain water ice at concentrations greater than 5%.
The mission, the agency stated, would test “sustained and advanced maneuverability” needed to maintain that low orbit, with applications elsewhere in cislunar space. The scientific data from the mission would support both NASA and commercial efforts to use lunar resources. While there had been no formal announcements of awards, a DARPA spokesperson said April 30 that the agency selected three companies for Phase 1: Benchmark Space Systems, Quantum Space and Revolution Space. (5/1)
NASA, Boeing Advance Truss-Braced Wing Research in Test (Source: NASA)
NASA and Boeing have completed wind tunnel testing to study an innovative advanced aircraft design intended to improve aerodynamic efficiency. A truss-braced wing configuration, involving a long, thin wing with aerodynamically shaped structural supports, has the potential to reduce fuel and operational costs for future airliners, which is why NASA has collaborated with Boeing to advance the design.
But this kind of wing would be much more than a simple tweak to existing designs – for an aircraft the size of a passenger jet, it would be a revolutionary redesign, requiring extensive study from NASA and Boeing. (4/29)
New FCC Rules Could Mean 'Sevenfold' Capacity Increase for Starlink (Source: PC Mag)
SpaceX's Starlink could see a "sevenfold" increase in capacity under new rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission this week to improve satellite internet services. “Americans are now about to see a big upgrade,” said FCC Chair Brendan Carr. The commission introduced the new rules earlier this month before approving them at a Thursday meeting. The revamp targets the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) rules, which were developed in the late 1990s and limited the amount of energy satellite systems could transmit to and from ground equipment. (4/30)
US–Indian space mission maps extreme subsidence in Mexico City (Source: Phys.org)
One of the most powerful radar systems ever launched into space has mapped the ground moving beneath one of the fastest subsiding capitals in the world: Mexico City. The findings show how quickly and reliably the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite can track real-time changes across Earth's surface from orbit, unhindered by clouds or vegetation that impede optical sensors and higher-frequency radars.
Home to some 20 million people, the Mexico City area is built atop an aquifer. Extensive groundwater pumping, combined with the weight of urban development, has resulted in the compaction of the ancient lakebed beneath the city for more than a century. An engineer first documented the issue in 1925, and by the 1990s and 2000s, parts of the metropolitan area were sinking by around 14 inches per year, damaging infrastructure including the Metro, one of the largest rapid transit systems in the Americas.
Several generations of space-based radar have tracked Mexico City on the move. The NISAR mission, launched in July 2025, is now advancing these efforts, analyzing fast-changing areas that are challenging to survey from space. (4/30)
Trump Nominates Schiess as Next Space Force Chief (Source: Space News)
President Trump nominated Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess to be the next commanding general of the Space Force. The White House announced Friday that it nominated Schiess for promotion to general and to be chief of space operations, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Schiess has served as the Space Force's deputy chief of operations since November. His nomination signals continuity in the service's emphasis on operational readiness and integration with joint forces, as the Pentagon looks to strengthen space capabilities in the face of growing threats from China and Russia. Schiess would succeed Gen. Chance Saltzman, who has led the Space Force since 2022 and is expected to retire later this year. (5/1)
House Subcommittee Keeps NASA Budget at 2026 Levels (Source: Space News)
A House appropriations subcommittee advanced a spending bill that would keep NASA funded at 2026 levels, rejecting a proposed 23% cut. The House Appropriations Committee's commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2027 spending bill on an 8-6 party-line vote Thursday, sending it to the full committee. The bill would provide NASA with $24.4 billion in 2027, the same overall funding as in 2026. The administration had proposed $18.8 billion for NASA. The House bill does shift funding among NASA's accounts, putting more money into exploration and less into science than the 2026 bill. The full committee is scheduled to mark up the bill May 13. (5/1)
Northrop Develops Missile Warning Satellite System Despite Pentagon Moves to Cancel It (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman says its development of a missile warning-satellite system is on track despite efforts by the Pentagon to cancel it. Northrop said Thursday it accepted delivery of a sensor designed for the polar component of the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program, known as Next-Gen OPIR Polar. The program, started in 2018, planned to place two satellites in highly elliptical orbits to monitor missile threats over the Northern Hemisphere.
The company said that delivery keeps the program on schedule, but the Pentagon announced in its fiscal year 2027 budget proposal it intended to cancel Next-Gen OPIR Polar, focusing instead on constellations in low and medium Earth orbit. The program's projected cost is $3.4 billion, including $2.1 billion already spent. The budget allocates $436 million in 2026 primarily to close out development activities. (5/1)
Space Force Picks K2 Satellites for Optical Comms Test (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force plans to use satellites built by K2 Space to test optical communications. The company has been selected for the Pentagon's "OPIR Space Modernization Initiative," a research-and-development program aimed at advancing technologies that could eventually underpin operational missile-detection systems. The program will test laser links between satellites in low and medium Earth orbits, as well as with ground stations. Missile-warning systems depend on rapidly moving data from sensors to decision-makers and interceptors, but existing architectures weren't built for large, distributed constellations. The program has a $180 million budget for fiscal 2027, including $7.3 million earmarked for crosslink demonstrations. (5/1)
European Startups Relying on US Investors (Source: Space News)
European space startups are relying heavily on American investors. The amount of venture capital invested in European space ventures in 2025 jumped 13% year-over-year to 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) according to a report by the European Space Policy Institute. Five of nine "scale-up" rounds included in the report were led by European or national governments, but the four remaining deals anchored by private investors were all led by U.S. firms. The report indicates a gap in Europe's ability to finance late-stage space companies without relying on public institutions or foreign capital. (5/1)
Starcloud Seeks $200 Million for Orbital Data Centers (Source: Space News)
Starcloud seeks more orbital data center funding shortly after unicorn status. Starcloud is looking to raise at least $200 million in a deal that would double the two-year-old orbital data center startup’s valuation to about $2.2 billion, a source close to the situation confirmed. The funding talks come roughly a month after the Redmond, Washington-based venture announced a $170 million Series A round that made it the fastest company in accelerator Y Combinator’s history to reach unicorn status. Starcloud has raised about $200 million to date for a proposed constellation of 88,000 satellites to move data center computing beyond terrestrial infrastructure constraints. (5/1)
Singapore's SpaceComputer Developing Shared System to Link Satellites and Ground Stations (Source: Space News)
A distributed computing startup is planning to test its hardware and software in space this year. Singapore-based SpaceComputer is developing Space Fabric, a hardware and software architecture with secure and physically isolated computing elements to link ground stations with satellites, and enable satellites to share computing resources. Space Fabric will be tested on an unidentified satellite scheduled to launch in October. Use cases for Space Fabric range from secure computing and communications to provenance verification for geospatial data. (5/1)
Russia Concerned About Ukraine Attacks at Plesetsk Spaceport (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia is restricting information about launches from a spaceport because of Ukrainian drone attacks. Airspace notices for launches from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome are spanning much longer periods than usual, lasting up to 10 hours a day for 14 days. The move appears to be an effort to hide when a planned launch from there is actually scheduled to protect against drone attacks. Ukrainian drones reportedly attempted attacks at the spaceport during launch attempts in December and again in March. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, told Vladimir Putin in April that the March launch took place despite "serious inbound attempts," an apparent reference to the drone attacks. (5/1)
BlackSky Touts Record $30M Defense Imagery Subscription (Source: Space)
BlackSky Technology has secured its largest annual contract for the Assured intelligence service, a $30 million deal with an international defense client for Gen-3 satellite imagery. The one-year, Assured contract follows the commissioning of BlackSky's fourth next-generation satellite and the client expanded the contract from an Early Access program within six months. (4/30)
Space Force to End $3B Missile Warning Program for Arctic (Source: Defense Daily)
The US Space Force has indicated in its fiscal year 2027 budget request that it plans to terminate the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar satellite program, which covers the Arctic region, in favor of other programs for the same mission in lower orbits. The space-based missile warning program, developed by Northrop Grumman, has cost more than $3 billion and was to include two satellites with planned launches in 2028 and 2030. (4/30)
Africa - Europe Partnership Aims to Build Space Collaboration (Source: Spacehubs Africa)
The Africa–EU Space Partnership Program, backed by the European Commission’s Global Gateway strategy, is actively building bridges between the two continents on the basis of true co-ownership. This was emphasized in discussions hosted by the Digital for Development (D4D) Hub, which brought together leading voices from the African Space Agency and ESA, as well as from EARSC and Centre National d'Études Spatiales to discuss the best way to maximize the partnership and ensure its efficacy and relevance. (4/25)
US Space Force Wants Space-Based Missile Interceptors for Golden Dome Ready by 2028 (Source: Space.com)
The US Space Force has created a new program to develop space-based missile interceptors, with the goal of being able to demonstrate their capability within two years. The U.S. Space Force established the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program in order to develop a constellation of spacecraft that can defend the United States against "a new generation of threats" such as hypersonic weapons, neutralizing them while in flight. The program is part of the planned Golden Dome. (4/30)
SpaceX Spending on Starship Tops $15 Billion in Rush for Airline-Like Rocketry (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing its next-generation Starship rocket, according to the company’s IPO registration reviewed by Reuters, a sum that dwarfs the cost of its workhorse Falcon rocket as Elon Musk’s space company nears a decade trying to perfect a fully reusable launch system.
The future of SpaceX’s most lucrative businesses as it sprints toward public markets at a $1.75 trillion valuation rests largely on Starship, a towering two-stage rocket system central to Musk’s ambitions to launch larger batches of Starlink satellites, carry humans to the moon and Mars, and eventually deploy thousands of artificial intelligence computing satellites as an alternative to power-hungry data centers on Earth. (5/1)
Blue Owl Sold About Half its SpaceX Holding at $1.25 Trillion Valuation (Source: Reuters)
Blue Owl sold about half its investment in SpaceX at a $1.25 trillion valuation, the alternative asset manager's co-CEO Marc Lipschultz said. "Specifically at SpaceX ... we made about 10 (times) our money on that investment," Lipschultz said. SpaceX is expected to go public this year at a possible valuation of $1.75 trillion, raising about $75 billion in what would be the largest public listing on record. The deal could put founder and CEO Elon Musk on track to become the world's first trillionaire. (4/30)
NASA Demonstrates New Prescribed Burn Capability for Spaceport (Source: NASA)
Anyone who has seen a launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida knows the agency’s pursuit of the stars involves some smoke and fire. Sometimes, however, the smoke doesn’t come from the rockets that propel astronauts beyond Earth’s bounds. That was the case during the second weekend of January 2026, when NASA teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and commercial space partners to intentionally ignite around 2,600 acres of scrub habitat at NASA Kennedy during an active launch countdown, a first for the busiest spaceport in the world.
Staff from NASA Kennedy’s Spaceport Integration Directorate oversaw two prescribed burns conducted by the Service. The larger burn affected around 1,400 acres on the northeast corner of the center, known as Happy Creek — a key habitat for the federally protected Florida scrub-jay and other wildlife that rely on periodic wildfires to thrive. (4/29)
Virgin Galactic Reveals New Ship, but it’s Running Out of Time and Cash (Source: Ars Technica)
On Thursday, the publicly traded spaceflight company Virgin Galactic shared on social media a new photo of its next-generation spaceship being towed outside of its factory in Mesa, Arizona. The space tourism company was founded 22 years ago by Sir Richard Branson to bring spaceflight to the masses. Hundreds of people began buying tickets to space nearly two decades ago. And after a long, and at times deadly, development campaign, the company reached outer space (defined, somewhat controversially, as an altitude of 80 km and above) in December 2018.
Since then, the company has been largely quiet, making this week’s revelation of new hardware notable. So Virgin Galactic is still pressing ahead, but the question is where it’s going, and along with it, the entire suborbital space tourism industry. There was a time, about five years ago, when the market appeared poised to break through. During the summer of 2021, both Virgin Galactic and its US-based competitor, Blue Origin, began commercial flights. Famously, Branson and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos both went to space within weeks of one another.
Two years ago, Virgin Galactic’s “cash position” was reported as strong, with $982 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. A year later, this cash position had declined to $567 million, as the company has very low revenues while it’s not flying. To that end, Virgin Galactic said a first spaceflight with the new spaceship carrying research payloads was coming in summer 2026, with private astronaut flights in “fall 2026.” At the end of March, the company reported its most recent quarterly results, with its cash position declining to $338 million. The company was now projecting that its new spaceship would “enter service” between “late Q4 2026 and early Q1 2027.” (5/1)
Space Nuclear Execs Cheer the FY27 Budget Proposal (Source: Payload)
There’s been a lot of criticism of the FY27 NASA budget proposal, but not everyone is unhappy with the proposal as written, and that faint sound of cheering is coming from the budding space nuclear industry, which sees the bill as potentially kick-starting their wildest dreams. It advances many high-level goals that will necessarily require space nuclear power for lunar spacecraft to survive the lunar night, and eventually, to support human efforts on Mars.
Three line items in the FY27 proposal specifically set aside funds for space nuclear efforts: $438.8M for Mars technology, which includes the development of fission reactors as a “major focus;” $135.3M for radioisotope power systems; and $100.9M for space infrastructure and exploration, which includes funding for the Harmonia Radioisotope Power System Tipping Point team to demonstrate a Stirling generator and lander integration system, with the eventual plan to build into a flight-ready system for future missions. (5/1)
New EU-Switzerland Bilateral Agreement to Open up Swiss Participation in EU Space Program Activities (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The EU and Switzerland have signed agreements, including a specific EUSPA activities accessible under new EU–Switzerland agreement pact announced in 2026, enabling full Swiss participation in Galileo and EGNOS. This allows Switzerland to participate in procurement, contribute financially to EU satellite navigation systems, and gain observer status in EUSPA’s Administrative and Security Accreditation Boards. (5/1)
Why the Moon May Matter Before it Pays (Source: Aerospace America)
Market creation beyond Earth-facing space remains deeply challenging. Business cases are fragile, and the most plausible near-term path is still hybrid public-private rather than purely private. That is why lunar gateways should not be framed as engineering projects alone. Infrastructure in space does not endure simply because engineers make it possible. It endures when technical systems and their corresponding superstructures — the social contracts embedded in governance, regulatory and organizational arrangements — are aligned well enough to survive uncertainty, cost, delay and competing interests.
We have seen this before. Early space development was never just about rockets and spacecraft. It was also a story of governments creating institutions, regulations, funding capacities and organizing forms that could absorb uncertainty. The first era laid the foundation, the second matured orbital operations and the current era remains fundamentally hybrid.
The absence of strong lunar business models today is not an argument for delay. It is an argument for pragmatic collective action. Markets emerge when infrastructure, superstructural arrangements, operational experience and strategic commitment reduce uncertainty. If we wait for mature markets to justify lunar presence, we may wait forever. If we invest, build, experiment, fail, learn and coordinate, we improve the odds that real markets eventually follow. (4/30)
Why We Cannot Leave Public Private Partnerships Behind (Source: CASIS)
Space-enabled research is the new alchemy, a risky business with noble intentions to change our world. It may not deliver immediate, dramatic breakthroughs, but like alchemy, it offers something more valuable: transformative knowledge and innovation fueled by public-private partnerships. For nearly 15 years, the ISS National Laboratory, managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), has forged the path for public-private partnerships as the primary drivers of commercial research and technology development (R&D) in space.
Through these partnerships, the ISS National Lab is transforming space into a powerful engine of scientific discovery, economic growth, and human benefit. Under a Cooperative Agreement with NASA, CASIS manages the ISS National Lab’s half of the U.S. research allocation on the ISS. This allocation is reserved for non-NASA entities, including commercial companies, academic institutions, and other U.S. government agencies. But most importantly, the ISS National Lab’s allocation seeks to improve the lives of people back on Earth.
Without the alchemy of public-private partnerships creating a new space ecosystem, none of these successes would have been realized. NASA built the launchpad for these accomplishments by seeking new approaches to fulfill its mission “to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.” NASA’s Commercial Cargo and Crew programs revolutionized space access by partnering with American private industry to deliver supplies and astronauts to the ISS. (4/30)
A Lost Galaxy Called 'Loki' May Be Hiding Inside the Milky Way (Source: Phys.org)
A group of astronomers recently studied a sample of 20 stars they believe formed together in a dwarf galaxy they call "Loki" that merged with the Milky Way during its early evolution. These stars are metal-poor, but distinct from other metal-poor stars found in the halo of the Milky Way. Surveys of stars in the Milky Way have found very metal-poor stars, but most are in the halo, not the galactic plane. Some evidence suggests that retrograde planar stars can only originate from early Milky Way assembly, while prograde orbiting stars were added by later accreted systems. (4/30)
SpaceX’s Starlink Revenue Per User Fell 18% As Customers Quadrupled (Source: The Information)
According to draft IPO documents, SpaceX’s Starlink quadrupled its subscriber base to 8.9 million between 2023 and 2025. However, the average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped 18% to roughly $81 per month, driven by lower-priced plans and global expansion. While the user base grew significantly (quadrupled), the decline in revenue per user indicates a shift toward a volume-driven model. (4/29)
Vast is Building the First Commercial Space Stations (Source: NBC)
Vast hopes to be the first U.S. company to put a commercial space station into orbit, eventually replacing the ISS with it's own, smaller stations. NBC News' Gadi Schwartz gets a tour of their factory in Long Beach, California, where the bulk of their stations are manufactured. Click here. (4/28)
Artemis Astronauts Make Uncomfortable Visit to Trump's Oval Office (Source: TNR)
The crew of NASA’s Artemis II visited the White House Wednesday to celebrate their successful mission around the moon, but they ended up roped into one of the president’s diatribes against NATO. The astronauts were visibly uncomfortable flanking Donald Trump behind the Resolute Desk as he tossed questions their way regarding the country’s participation in the strategic alliance. The astronauts appeared visibly tense and pained,, with some turning away.
During the same event, Trump made a remark about NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's "beautiful ears," and boasted he would have been qualified to be an astronaut. The visit followed a previous viral, 63-second silent video call between the crew and Trump on April 6, 2026, during their mission, which he attributed to communication delays. (4/30)
California Company Plans to Protect Us From Dangerous Asteroids (Source: Space.com)
Southern California-based startup Exploration Labs' (ExLabs) has proposed what it bills as the first commercial deep space ride share mission, known as Apophis EX. ExLabs says the mission aims to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis before and after its 2029 Earth flyby and deliver unparalleled scientific data for planetary defense, resource prospecting and future deep-space exploration. (4/30)
U.S. Air Force, Space Force Make ‘Explicit Shift’ in RDT&E Funding (Source: Aerospace America)
The U.S. Air Force and Space Force would shift their research and development funding away from early-stage work and toward the end of the development pipeline under the fiscal 2027 budget request released this month. The Pentagon groups its research, development, test and evaluation funding into categories based on the type of work involved. New technologies generally move through six stages: basic research, applied research, advanced technology development, advanced component development and prototypes, system development and demonstration and, finally, operational system development. (4/30)
With Dragonfly Mission, NASA Faces Challenges Great and Small (Source: Aerospace America)
The $3.35 billion Dragonfly mission faces a tough set of challenges, as NASA is aiming for the craft to traverse Titan for at least three years, surveying the surface via a series of short flights resembling leapfrog hops. The agency’s interplanetary rotorcraft experience is limited to the Ingenuity helicopter, which completed 72 flights during its nearly three years on Mars, and Dragonfly will experience vastly different conditions. Titan is about eight times farther away than the red planet, and at their lowest, temperatures drop to about minus 180 Celsius — 100 degrees colder than Mars.
After years of testing rotors, instruments and materials for survival in these harsh conditions, NASA and lead contractor Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory are now building Dragonfly, in preparation for a launch in 2028. Integration tests began in early February, the first time all of the spacecraft’s components will be tested as a complete system. It’s impossible to replicate Titan’s atmosphere for testing on Earth, but the Dragonfly team has high confidence in its models, says Michael Wright, NASA’s Dragonfly entry descent and landing lead. Also, past tests have incorporated real data gained from Huygens. (4/30)
Arianespace Launches Another 32 Amazon LEO Satellites Aboard Ariane 6 (Source: European Spaceflight)
European launch services provider Arianespace has successfully launched a second mission for Amazon, deploying 32 satellites for the company’s Amazon LEO constellation aboard an Ariane 6 rocket. The rocket, launched in its Ariane 64 configuration that features four solid-fuel boosters, lifted off from the ELA-4 Launch Complex. The first of the 32 satellites was separated from the rocket’s upper stage just under an hour and a half after liftoff. All 32 satellites were deployed over 12 separation events lasting roughly 25 minutes in total. (4/27)
USSF 2027 Budget Forecasts Two New GPS III Sats Annually (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request shows intent to award the next two GPS III Follow-On satellites—and to procure two more systems—over the next two years, with dual-satellite procurements forecast through 2031. The service has procured and awarded 12 satellites under the next-generation satellite program, with the latest two systems—known as space vehicles 21 and 22—awarded to longtime contractor Lockheed Martin in May 2025. (4/30)
Mining the Solar System to Build a New World (Source: Phys.org)
Building a colony on Mars is not just an engineering problem, it's a logistics one too. The logistics, unglamorous as it sound, may ultimately determine whether humanity becomes a multi-planetary species or stays firmly rooted on Earth. Think about what a Mars colony actually needs. Not just food and oxygen, but metal. Structural steel for habitats, aluminum for equipment, iron for tools and many of the components will wear out, break, and need replacing. Shipping all of that from Earth every time is not a serious long-term strategy.
A new study from researchers in Switzerland posted to the arXiv preprint server has now done the hard math on mining asteroids and delivering the metals directly to Mars. The solar system contains millions of asteroids, and the metallic ones, known as M-type asteroids, are essentially giant lumps of iron, nickel, and other valuable materials floating through space. The question is whether we can actually reach them, extract what we need, and get it to Mars efficiently enough to make it worthwhile. The answer, it turns out, is a careful yes but with conditions.
The results identify specific asteroids that sit within reach of current spacecraft technology, where the energy cost of getting there and back is low enough to make the mission viable. The team soon learned that selecting the right targets is everything. A poorly chosen asteroid could consume more fuel than the value of the metals it delivers. What makes this study significant is not that it solves the problem, because we are still a long way from the first asteroid mining operation. Instead it's that it demonstrates the problem is 100% solvable. (4/27)
Rocket Lab Infrastructure Set to Power Next-Gen Orbital Projects (Source: Simply Wall Street)
Rocket Lab is drawing fresh attention as it moves deeper into commercial orbital infrastructure, with its share price recently trading at $78.59. While Meta Platforms has recently signaled a major move into space-based solar power to fuel its data centers, the development highlights a growing market where Rocket Lab is strategically positioned to provide critical hardware and launch services. These moves into components and power applications broaden the story for Rocket Lab beyond pure launch services, reflecting its massive gains over the past year.
Rocket Lab has introduced a new High-Performance Star Tracker specifically aimed at long-duration missions in high-radiation orbits - the exact environments required for orbital power and data-center-focused satellites. This development points to broader vertical integration for the company, moving into key satellite subsystems that are essential for the ambitious orbital projects currently being explored by Big Tech. (4/29)
Astrobotic's RDRE Makes Big Thrust (Source: The Drive)
The Astrobotic Chakram Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) achieved more than 4,000 pounds of thrust in multiple tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. That’s remarkable considering how compact the engine is. And these tests focused largely on duration, to see how well everything operates for extended periods. Astrobotic says the Chakram could be introduced to its existing product lineup, which includes the Xogdor VTOL reusable rocket and two lunar landers. The company insists that the more efficient combustion could be a boon for taking more payload up higher or faster. (4/29)
Strange Little Red Dots May Really Be 'Black Hole Stars', X-Ray Data Suggests (Source: Space.com)
The discovery of an X-ray signal coinciding with the location of one of the mysterious 'little red dots' found by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has strengthened the theory that the dots are 'black hole stars' — huge, dense clumps of gas energized by the presence of a growing supermassive black hole within them. (4/29)
The Challenge of Celebrating Artemis II as NASA Cuts Loom (Source: Big Think)
With the successful Artemis II mission now complete, humanity has returned to the Moon, breaking the all-time distance record and adding four new astronauts, including the first black man and the first woman, to the list of people who’ve left low-Earth orbit. But contemporaneously with that remarkable achievement, the United States has just released their proposed FY2027 budget, and it’s a bloodbath for NASA science and the NSF: cutting the science budget by 50% in the country. For many astronomers, it’s hard to celebrate success even within your own field when it’s your own neck, and the necks of your projects, students, and collaborators, on the chopping block. (4/28)
Fee Approach Suggested by Trump Administration for FAA Air Traffic (Source: Bloomberg)
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy floated the idea of charging a fee to help the US Federal Aviation Administration modernize its air traffic control system on a more regular basis. “I would welcome an opportunity to think through, how could we have a small fee that went into allowing us to continually upgrade our systems,” Duffy said Wednesday at an event hosted by American Airlines Group Inc. (4/29)
Canada Proposes POET Mission to Hunt Earth-Sized Planets (Source: Universe Today)
Canada proposes a novel micro-satellite mission called POET (Photometric Observations of Exoplanet Transits), which is currently in development and will search for and identify Earth-sized and super-Earth exoplanets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our Sun, which the researchers refer to as “ultracool dwarfs”. These consist of K-type, M-type, and brown dwarf stars, the last of which are designated as “failed stars” whose sizes range between gas giant planets and M-type stars. (4/29)
Space Force Proposes Canceling Polar Missile Warning Program (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force is proposing to cancel a $3.4 billion program intended to provide missile warning and tracking coverage of the northern polar region as part of its 2027 budget request.
Northrop Grumman is under contract to build two satellites for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar program. According to new budget documents released April 27, the service wants to cancel NGP and instead rely on new proliferated constellations it is building in other orbits, which it says will provide needed coverage of northern hemisphere missile threats. (4/28)
NASA Fires Up Powerful Lithium-Fed Thruster for Trips to Mars (Source: NASA)
A technology that could propel crewed missions to Mars and robotic spacecraft throughout the solar system was recently put to the test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On Feb. 24, for the first time in years and at power levels exceeding any previous test in the United States, a team fired up an electromagnetic thruster that runs on lithium metal vapor. This prototype achieved power levels beyond the highest-power electric thrusters on any of the agency’s current spacecraft. Valuable data from the first firing of this thruster will help inform an upcoming series of tests. (4/28)
What is Quantum Gravity? Scientists Think it Could Explain the Beginning of Our Universe (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have redefined gravity to explain the Big Bang and perhaps change our picture of the earliest moments of the cosmos. This new framework of "quantum gravity" may explain aspects of the theory of general relativity fails to account for — maybe even doing away with the challenging concept of a singularity existing prior to the dawn of the universe.
General relativity doesn't just fail at small scales; the theory also collapses when trying to explain the extreme high-energy conditions that existed during the universe's first moments. To get around this issue, a team of researchers explored a theory called Quadratic Quantum Gravity. As it turns out, this theory seems to work even when explaining the high-density, high-temperature birth of the cosmos. (4/29)
Light-Propelled ‘Metajets’ Could Enable 20-Year Journey to Alpha Centauri (Source: Gizmodo)
Using conventional rocket propulsion, traveling to our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, would take thousands of years. Instead, researchers are looking to light as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable form of propulsion that could enable deep space travel. A team of researchers demonstrated the use of laser beams to lift and steer tiny engineered devices without physical contact. The scientists behind the study developed micron-scale devices called metajets—ultrathin materials smaller than the width of a human hair. The devices are etched with tiny patterns that act like a lens, helping scientists control how light behaves as it bounces off them. (4/28)
T-Mobile CEO: Cellular Starlink Usage Lower Than Expected (Source: PC Mag)
T-Mobile has been offering SpaceX’s satellite-to-phone service since last year, but usage hasn’t been as high as the carrier originally expected, CEO Srini Gopalan said. “Our partnership with SpaceX is very strong. We worked closely with them to really invent an entire category. That’s been putting an end to dead zones. We’re pleased with that,” Gopalan said. (4/28)
Only Elon Musk Can Fire Elon Musk From SpaceX, Filing Shows (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX is telling investors that no one can fire Elon Musk from his role as chief executive and chairman of the board without the billionaire founder's consent, according to an excerpt of its IPO filing. The filing states that Musk "can only be removed from our board or these positions by the vote of Class B holders" - super-voting shares with ten votes apiece that he will control after the IPO, making his removal effectively a self-vote. (4/29)
Gravitational Waves May Have Created Dark Matter in the Early Universe (Source: Johannes Gutenberg University)
In the chaotic first moments after the Big Bang, ripples in spacetime may have done more than just echo through the cosmos—they could have helped create dark matter itself. New research suggests that faint, ancient gravitational waves might have transformed into particles that eventually became the invisible substance shaping galaxies today. (4/25)
Starlink to Drop Tech That Helps Beat GPS Spoofing. Maritime Users Are Alarmed (Source: PC Mag)
Starlink is best known for supplying high-speed satellite internet, but it turns out SpaceX’s technology can also counter a persistent problem in the Middle East: GPS spoofing and jamming. “Those [Starlink] satellites are so much closer than the GPS satellites, and so their signal is maybe 100 to 1,000 times stronger,” says Bruce Toal, a Starlink subscriber from Texas who’s been sailing the world. “They can overcome all kinds of jamming.”
But in recent months, the maritime community has found a solution in their Starlink dishes, which can connect to SpaceX’s fleet of over 8,000 active satellites to receive fairly accurate positioning coordinates. The only problem? The company is preparing to shut down the positioning data on May 20, which is alarming boat owners, including Toal, who recently sailed up the Red Sea. (4/28)
Could the Moon Ever Be Blockaded? Experts Predict Cislunar Space Could Be the Next Strait of Hormuz (Source: Space.com)
The ongoing military conflict regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz may well mirror a future situation off-Earth — the use of cislunar space, the region between the moon and our planet. Think blockades, seizing of ships, impacts on the global economy, repercussions in terms of needed resources and markets, from fuel to high-tech semiconductors and production processes. Now turn your attention skyward and note that the U.S. Space Force is establishing a dedicated acquisition office to appraise the importance of the cislunar region for warfighting and national security. (4/28)
The FCC Just Said ‘No’ to SpaceX for Now (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX was dealt a new setback on April 23, 2006 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the U.S. government agency dismissed the company’s petition to access a Mobile Satellite Service spectrum that would allow direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities. The FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, and cable, which also includes regulating D2D technology that lets your existing smartphone connect directly to a satellite orbiting Earth, the same way it would connect to a cell tower. (4/26)
FAA and NASA Sign Annex on Commercial Space Activities at Kennedy Space Center (Source: FAA)
The FAA and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida signed an annex that implements and clarifies safety authorities, responsibilities, and roles for commercial launch and reentry activities at NASA Kennedy. It streamlines the FAA launch license approval process, improves the efficiency of the FAA technical review, reduces duplicative safety reviews, and lessens the amount of launch application material the operator must submit.
This is an annex to a 2025 FAA / NASA agreement that clarifies safety roles and responsibilities, eliminates any duplicative requirements, and resolves any inconsistent requirements between the agencies. A similar annex for FAA-licensed launch operations from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is also being coordinated. (4/30)
FAA and Sweden Sign Commercial Space Licensing Agreement (Source: FAA)
The FAA and the Swedish National Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to establish and maintain a shared understanding of the U.S. commercial space transportation regulations and provide a basis for Sweden's recognition of FAA-issued commercial space launch and reentry licenses.
The agreement enables the global growth of the U.S. commercial space industry by increasing regulatory interoperability and eliminating duplicative safety assessments and approvals for U.S. operators. The FAA has signed similar licensing recognition agreements with The Bahamas and New Zealand, and other agreements supporting consistent safety approaches with Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. (4/30)
FAA Collaborates with U.S. Space Force and NASA on LOX/Methane Testing (Source: FAA)
The launch vehicle industry is interested in expanding the use of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Methane (LOX/Methane) as a mixture for rocket propulsion due to its potential for greater efficiency, storability, and cleaner combustion in reusable rocket engines and deep space missions. Several launch vehicles currently use this new propellant formulation, and others are in advanced stages of development.
The FAA is coordinating with the U.S. Space Force and NASA to conduct a set of explosive tests to explore the after-effects of LOX/Methane-propelled launch vehicles failing shortly after leaving the launch pad and falling back to impact. The test results will provide critical data on the hazards and risk assessments of LOX/Methane rocket propellants to support specific analyses for licensing launch vehicles for public safety. (4/30)
FAA Posts Commercial Human Space Flight Recommendations Report (Source: FAA)
The FAA posted the final recommendations report from the Commercial Human Space Flight Occupant Safety Rulemaking Committee. The FAA will consider the recommendations for possible future revision of the Part 460 regulations. Under federal law, the FAA cannot currently promulgate regulations regarding the safety of space flight participants on board a space launch or reentry vehicle. Congress established a legislative moratorium in 2004 as a learning period for industry and extended it multiple times. It is set to expire Jan. 1, 2028.
While safety remains the priority, FAA regulations require that crew and space flight participants be made aware of the hazards of space travel and space flight participants must provide written informed consent before they launch. Click here. (4/30)
Earlier this week, Blue Origin posted a job opportunity for a “senior manager” to oversee tank fabrication for “Quattro,” and the description contained some intriguing information. “As part of a hardworking team of specialists, technicians, and engineers you will be the Senior Manager of Gen 2.0 Tank Fabrication, and will own the production execution of the most structurally complex and schedule-critical subsystem on the vehicle—the propellant tank,” the job posting states.
Quattro is the company’s nickname for a more powerful upper stage for the New Glenn rocket, which will feature four BE-3U engines instead of the two currently powering the booster. Blue Origin revealed plans for this more powerful variant of New Glenn, 9×4 (nine first stage engines, and four upper stage engines), last November. It is possible this rocket, significantly larger than the 7×2 variant currently flying and necessary for the company’s lunar ambitions as part of NASA’s Artemis program, could make its debut next year. (4/30)
SpaceComputer to Conduct On-Orbit Test of Secure Computing Infrastructure (Source: Space News)
SpaceComputer, a Singapore-based startup developing distributed computing infrastructure, is preparing to test its hardware and software in orbit later this year. The startup’s first product, Space Fabric, is a hardware and software architecture with secure and physically isolated computing elements to link ground stations with satellites and enable satellites to share computing resources. Space Fabric is being integrated with printed circuit boards (PCBs) in preparation for launch in October on an unidentified satellite. (4/30)
France and Spain Want Space Reserved for EU Firms in Satellite Frequencies (Source: Politico)
France and Spain have teamed up in a bid to reserve space for European companies in an upcoming spectrum auction for mobile satellite communications, effectively pushing out U.S. players. The move comes as Brussels and EU capitals are mulling restrictions on non-EU players in a vast array of technologies from cloud computing to software, and grappling with the bloc’s reliance on U.S. and China-made tools. (4/30)
DARPA Selects Three Companies for Lunar Orbiter Studies (Source: Space News)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to three companies to study concepts for a lunar mission to search for water ice in very low orbits. DARPA announced last year the Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO) program. LASSO would demonstrate the ability to operate in a very low orbit around the moon while searching for locations on the moon that contain water ice at concentrations greater than 5%.
The mission, the agency stated, would test “sustained and advanced maneuverability” needed to maintain that low orbit, with applications elsewhere in cislunar space. The scientific data from the mission would support both NASA and commercial efforts to use lunar resources. While there had been no formal announcements of awards, a DARPA spokesperson said April 30 that the agency selected three companies for Phase 1: Benchmark Space Systems, Quantum Space and Revolution Space. (5/1)
NASA, Boeing Advance Truss-Braced Wing Research in Test (Source: NASA)
NASA and Boeing have completed wind tunnel testing to study an innovative advanced aircraft design intended to improve aerodynamic efficiency. A truss-braced wing configuration, involving a long, thin wing with aerodynamically shaped structural supports, has the potential to reduce fuel and operational costs for future airliners, which is why NASA has collaborated with Boeing to advance the design.
But this kind of wing would be much more than a simple tweak to existing designs – for an aircraft the size of a passenger jet, it would be a revolutionary redesign, requiring extensive study from NASA and Boeing. (4/29)
New FCC Rules Could Mean 'Sevenfold' Capacity Increase for Starlink (Source: PC Mag)
SpaceX's Starlink could see a "sevenfold" increase in capacity under new rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission this week to improve satellite internet services. “Americans are now about to see a big upgrade,” said FCC Chair Brendan Carr. The commission introduced the new rules earlier this month before approving them at a Thursday meeting. The revamp targets the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) rules, which were developed in the late 1990s and limited the amount of energy satellite systems could transmit to and from ground equipment. (4/30)
US–Indian space mission maps extreme subsidence in Mexico City (Source: Phys.org)
One of the most powerful radar systems ever launched into space has mapped the ground moving beneath one of the fastest subsiding capitals in the world: Mexico City. The findings show how quickly and reliably the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite can track real-time changes across Earth's surface from orbit, unhindered by clouds or vegetation that impede optical sensors and higher-frequency radars.
Home to some 20 million people, the Mexico City area is built atop an aquifer. Extensive groundwater pumping, combined with the weight of urban development, has resulted in the compaction of the ancient lakebed beneath the city for more than a century. An engineer first documented the issue in 1925, and by the 1990s and 2000s, parts of the metropolitan area were sinking by around 14 inches per year, damaging infrastructure including the Metro, one of the largest rapid transit systems in the Americas.
Several generations of space-based radar have tracked Mexico City on the move. The NISAR mission, launched in July 2025, is now advancing these efforts, analyzing fast-changing areas that are challenging to survey from space. (4/30)
Trump Nominates Schiess as Next Space Force Chief (Source: Space News)
President Trump nominated Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess to be the next commanding general of the Space Force. The White House announced Friday that it nominated Schiess for promotion to general and to be chief of space operations, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Schiess has served as the Space Force's deputy chief of operations since November. His nomination signals continuity in the service's emphasis on operational readiness and integration with joint forces, as the Pentagon looks to strengthen space capabilities in the face of growing threats from China and Russia. Schiess would succeed Gen. Chance Saltzman, who has led the Space Force since 2022 and is expected to retire later this year. (5/1)
House Subcommittee Keeps NASA Budget at 2026 Levels (Source: Space News)
A House appropriations subcommittee advanced a spending bill that would keep NASA funded at 2026 levels, rejecting a proposed 23% cut. The House Appropriations Committee's commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2027 spending bill on an 8-6 party-line vote Thursday, sending it to the full committee. The bill would provide NASA with $24.4 billion in 2027, the same overall funding as in 2026. The administration had proposed $18.8 billion for NASA. The House bill does shift funding among NASA's accounts, putting more money into exploration and less into science than the 2026 bill. The full committee is scheduled to mark up the bill May 13. (5/1)
Northrop Develops Missile Warning Satellite System Despite Pentagon Moves to Cancel It (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman says its development of a missile warning-satellite system is on track despite efforts by the Pentagon to cancel it. Northrop said Thursday it accepted delivery of a sensor designed for the polar component of the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program, known as Next-Gen OPIR Polar. The program, started in 2018, planned to place two satellites in highly elliptical orbits to monitor missile threats over the Northern Hemisphere.
The company said that delivery keeps the program on schedule, but the Pentagon announced in its fiscal year 2027 budget proposal it intended to cancel Next-Gen OPIR Polar, focusing instead on constellations in low and medium Earth orbit. The program's projected cost is $3.4 billion, including $2.1 billion already spent. The budget allocates $436 million in 2026 primarily to close out development activities. (5/1)
Space Force Picks K2 Satellites for Optical Comms Test (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force plans to use satellites built by K2 Space to test optical communications. The company has been selected for the Pentagon's "OPIR Space Modernization Initiative," a research-and-development program aimed at advancing technologies that could eventually underpin operational missile-detection systems. The program will test laser links between satellites in low and medium Earth orbits, as well as with ground stations. Missile-warning systems depend on rapidly moving data from sensors to decision-makers and interceptors, but existing architectures weren't built for large, distributed constellations. The program has a $180 million budget for fiscal 2027, including $7.3 million earmarked for crosslink demonstrations. (5/1)
European Startups Relying on US Investors (Source: Space News)
European space startups are relying heavily on American investors. The amount of venture capital invested in European space ventures in 2025 jumped 13% year-over-year to 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) according to a report by the European Space Policy Institute. Five of nine "scale-up" rounds included in the report were led by European or national governments, but the four remaining deals anchored by private investors were all led by U.S. firms. The report indicates a gap in Europe's ability to finance late-stage space companies without relying on public institutions or foreign capital. (5/1)
Starcloud Seeks $200 Million for Orbital Data Centers (Source: Space News)
Starcloud seeks more orbital data center funding shortly after unicorn status. Starcloud is looking to raise at least $200 million in a deal that would double the two-year-old orbital data center startup’s valuation to about $2.2 billion, a source close to the situation confirmed. The funding talks come roughly a month after the Redmond, Washington-based venture announced a $170 million Series A round that made it the fastest company in accelerator Y Combinator’s history to reach unicorn status. Starcloud has raised about $200 million to date for a proposed constellation of 88,000 satellites to move data center computing beyond terrestrial infrastructure constraints. (5/1)
Singapore's SpaceComputer Developing Shared System to Link Satellites and Ground Stations (Source: Space News)
A distributed computing startup is planning to test its hardware and software in space this year. Singapore-based SpaceComputer is developing Space Fabric, a hardware and software architecture with secure and physically isolated computing elements to link ground stations with satellites, and enable satellites to share computing resources. Space Fabric will be tested on an unidentified satellite scheduled to launch in October. Use cases for Space Fabric range from secure computing and communications to provenance verification for geospatial data. (5/1)
Russia Concerned About Ukraine Attacks at Plesetsk Spaceport (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia is restricting information about launches from a spaceport because of Ukrainian drone attacks. Airspace notices for launches from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome are spanning much longer periods than usual, lasting up to 10 hours a day for 14 days. The move appears to be an effort to hide when a planned launch from there is actually scheduled to protect against drone attacks. Ukrainian drones reportedly attempted attacks at the spaceport during launch attempts in December and again in March. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, told Vladimir Putin in April that the March launch took place despite "serious inbound attempts," an apparent reference to the drone attacks. (5/1)
BlackSky Touts Record $30M Defense Imagery Subscription (Source: Space)
BlackSky Technology has secured its largest annual contract for the Assured intelligence service, a $30 million deal with an international defense client for Gen-3 satellite imagery. The one-year, Assured contract follows the commissioning of BlackSky's fourth next-generation satellite and the client expanded the contract from an Early Access program within six months. (4/30)
Space Force to End $3B Missile Warning Program for Arctic (Source: Defense Daily)
The US Space Force has indicated in its fiscal year 2027 budget request that it plans to terminate the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar satellite program, which covers the Arctic region, in favor of other programs for the same mission in lower orbits. The space-based missile warning program, developed by Northrop Grumman, has cost more than $3 billion and was to include two satellites with planned launches in 2028 and 2030. (4/30)
Africa - Europe Partnership Aims to Build Space Collaboration (Source: Spacehubs Africa)
The Africa–EU Space Partnership Program, backed by the European Commission’s Global Gateway strategy, is actively building bridges between the two continents on the basis of true co-ownership. This was emphasized in discussions hosted by the Digital for Development (D4D) Hub, which brought together leading voices from the African Space Agency and ESA, as well as from EARSC and Centre National d'Études Spatiales to discuss the best way to maximize the partnership and ensure its efficacy and relevance. (4/25)
US Space Force Wants Space-Based Missile Interceptors for Golden Dome Ready by 2028 (Source: Space.com)
The US Space Force has created a new program to develop space-based missile interceptors, with the goal of being able to demonstrate their capability within two years. The U.S. Space Force established the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program in order to develop a constellation of spacecraft that can defend the United States against "a new generation of threats" such as hypersonic weapons, neutralizing them while in flight. The program is part of the planned Golden Dome. (4/30)
SpaceX Spending on Starship Tops $15 Billion in Rush for Airline-Like Rocketry (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing its next-generation Starship rocket, according to the company’s IPO registration reviewed by Reuters, a sum that dwarfs the cost of its workhorse Falcon rocket as Elon Musk’s space company nears a decade trying to perfect a fully reusable launch system.
The future of SpaceX’s most lucrative businesses as it sprints toward public markets at a $1.75 trillion valuation rests largely on Starship, a towering two-stage rocket system central to Musk’s ambitions to launch larger batches of Starlink satellites, carry humans to the moon and Mars, and eventually deploy thousands of artificial intelligence computing satellites as an alternative to power-hungry data centers on Earth. (5/1)
Blue Owl Sold About Half its SpaceX Holding at $1.25 Trillion Valuation (Source: Reuters)
Blue Owl sold about half its investment in SpaceX at a $1.25 trillion valuation, the alternative asset manager's co-CEO Marc Lipschultz said. "Specifically at SpaceX ... we made about 10 (times) our money on that investment," Lipschultz said. SpaceX is expected to go public this year at a possible valuation of $1.75 trillion, raising about $75 billion in what would be the largest public listing on record. The deal could put founder and CEO Elon Musk on track to become the world's first trillionaire. (4/30)
NASA Demonstrates New Prescribed Burn Capability for Spaceport (Source: NASA)
Anyone who has seen a launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida knows the agency’s pursuit of the stars involves some smoke and fire. Sometimes, however, the smoke doesn’t come from the rockets that propel astronauts beyond Earth’s bounds. That was the case during the second weekend of January 2026, when NASA teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and commercial space partners to intentionally ignite around 2,600 acres of scrub habitat at NASA Kennedy during an active launch countdown, a first for the busiest spaceport in the world.
Staff from NASA Kennedy’s Spaceport Integration Directorate oversaw two prescribed burns conducted by the Service. The larger burn affected around 1,400 acres on the northeast corner of the center, known as Happy Creek — a key habitat for the federally protected Florida scrub-jay and other wildlife that rely on periodic wildfires to thrive. (4/29)
Virgin Galactic Reveals New Ship, but it’s Running Out of Time and Cash (Source: Ars Technica)
On Thursday, the publicly traded spaceflight company Virgin Galactic shared on social media a new photo of its next-generation spaceship being towed outside of its factory in Mesa, Arizona. The space tourism company was founded 22 years ago by Sir Richard Branson to bring spaceflight to the masses. Hundreds of people began buying tickets to space nearly two decades ago. And after a long, and at times deadly, development campaign, the company reached outer space (defined, somewhat controversially, as an altitude of 80 km and above) in December 2018.
Since then, the company has been largely quiet, making this week’s revelation of new hardware notable. So Virgin Galactic is still pressing ahead, but the question is where it’s going, and along with it, the entire suborbital space tourism industry. There was a time, about five years ago, when the market appeared poised to break through. During the summer of 2021, both Virgin Galactic and its US-based competitor, Blue Origin, began commercial flights. Famously, Branson and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos both went to space within weeks of one another.
Two years ago, Virgin Galactic’s “cash position” was reported as strong, with $982 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. A year later, this cash position had declined to $567 million, as the company has very low revenues while it’s not flying. To that end, Virgin Galactic said a first spaceflight with the new spaceship carrying research payloads was coming in summer 2026, with private astronaut flights in “fall 2026.” At the end of March, the company reported its most recent quarterly results, with its cash position declining to $338 million. The company was now projecting that its new spaceship would “enter service” between “late Q4 2026 and early Q1 2027.” (5/1)
Space Nuclear Execs Cheer the FY27 Budget Proposal (Source: Payload)
There’s been a lot of criticism of the FY27 NASA budget proposal, but not everyone is unhappy with the proposal as written, and that faint sound of cheering is coming from the budding space nuclear industry, which sees the bill as potentially kick-starting their wildest dreams. It advances many high-level goals that will necessarily require space nuclear power for lunar spacecraft to survive the lunar night, and eventually, to support human efforts on Mars.
Three line items in the FY27 proposal specifically set aside funds for space nuclear efforts: $438.8M for Mars technology, which includes the development of fission reactors as a “major focus;” $135.3M for radioisotope power systems; and $100.9M for space infrastructure and exploration, which includes funding for the Harmonia Radioisotope Power System Tipping Point team to demonstrate a Stirling generator and lander integration system, with the eventual plan to build into a flight-ready system for future missions. (5/1)
New EU-Switzerland Bilateral Agreement to Open up Swiss Participation in EU Space Program Activities (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The EU and Switzerland have signed agreements, including a specific EUSPA activities accessible under new EU–Switzerland agreement pact announced in 2026, enabling full Swiss participation in Galileo and EGNOS. This allows Switzerland to participate in procurement, contribute financially to EU satellite navigation systems, and gain observer status in EUSPA’s Administrative and Security Accreditation Boards. (5/1)
Why the Moon May Matter Before it Pays (Source: Aerospace America)
Market creation beyond Earth-facing space remains deeply challenging. Business cases are fragile, and the most plausible near-term path is still hybrid public-private rather than purely private. That is why lunar gateways should not be framed as engineering projects alone. Infrastructure in space does not endure simply because engineers make it possible. It endures when technical systems and their corresponding superstructures — the social contracts embedded in governance, regulatory and organizational arrangements — are aligned well enough to survive uncertainty, cost, delay and competing interests.
We have seen this before. Early space development was never just about rockets and spacecraft. It was also a story of governments creating institutions, regulations, funding capacities and organizing forms that could absorb uncertainty. The first era laid the foundation, the second matured orbital operations and the current era remains fundamentally hybrid.
The absence of strong lunar business models today is not an argument for delay. It is an argument for pragmatic collective action. Markets emerge when infrastructure, superstructural arrangements, operational experience and strategic commitment reduce uncertainty. If we wait for mature markets to justify lunar presence, we may wait forever. If we invest, build, experiment, fail, learn and coordinate, we improve the odds that real markets eventually follow. (4/30)
Why We Cannot Leave Public Private Partnerships Behind (Source: CASIS)
Space-enabled research is the new alchemy, a risky business with noble intentions to change our world. It may not deliver immediate, dramatic breakthroughs, but like alchemy, it offers something more valuable: transformative knowledge and innovation fueled by public-private partnerships. For nearly 15 years, the ISS National Laboratory, managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), has forged the path for public-private partnerships as the primary drivers of commercial research and technology development (R&D) in space.
Through these partnerships, the ISS National Lab is transforming space into a powerful engine of scientific discovery, economic growth, and human benefit. Under a Cooperative Agreement with NASA, CASIS manages the ISS National Lab’s half of the U.S. research allocation on the ISS. This allocation is reserved for non-NASA entities, including commercial companies, academic institutions, and other U.S. government agencies. But most importantly, the ISS National Lab’s allocation seeks to improve the lives of people back on Earth.
Without the alchemy of public-private partnerships creating a new space ecosystem, none of these successes would have been realized. NASA built the launchpad for these accomplishments by seeking new approaches to fulfill its mission “to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.” NASA’s Commercial Cargo and Crew programs revolutionized space access by partnering with American private industry to deliver supplies and astronauts to the ISS. (4/30)
A Lost Galaxy Called 'Loki' May Be Hiding Inside the Milky Way (Source: Phys.org)
A group of astronomers recently studied a sample of 20 stars they believe formed together in a dwarf galaxy they call "Loki" that merged with the Milky Way during its early evolution. These stars are metal-poor, but distinct from other metal-poor stars found in the halo of the Milky Way. Surveys of stars in the Milky Way have found very metal-poor stars, but most are in the halo, not the galactic plane. Some evidence suggests that retrograde planar stars can only originate from early Milky Way assembly, while prograde orbiting stars were added by later accreted systems. (4/30)
SpaceX’s Starlink Revenue Per User Fell 18% As Customers Quadrupled (Source: The Information)
According to draft IPO documents, SpaceX’s Starlink quadrupled its subscriber base to 8.9 million between 2023 and 2025. However, the average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped 18% to roughly $81 per month, driven by lower-priced plans and global expansion. While the user base grew significantly (quadrupled), the decline in revenue per user indicates a shift toward a volume-driven model. (4/29)
Vast is Building the First Commercial Space Stations (Source: NBC)
Vast hopes to be the first U.S. company to put a commercial space station into orbit, eventually replacing the ISS with it's own, smaller stations. NBC News' Gadi Schwartz gets a tour of their factory in Long Beach, California, where the bulk of their stations are manufactured. Click here. (4/28)
Artemis Astronauts Make Uncomfortable Visit to Trump's Oval Office (Source: TNR)
The crew of NASA’s Artemis II visited the White House Wednesday to celebrate their successful mission around the moon, but they ended up roped into one of the president’s diatribes against NATO. The astronauts were visibly uncomfortable flanking Donald Trump behind the Resolute Desk as he tossed questions their way regarding the country’s participation in the strategic alliance. The astronauts appeared visibly tense and pained,, with some turning away.
During the same event, Trump made a remark about NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's "beautiful ears," and boasted he would have been qualified to be an astronaut. The visit followed a previous viral, 63-second silent video call between the crew and Trump on April 6, 2026, during their mission, which he attributed to communication delays. (4/30)
California Company Plans to Protect Us From Dangerous Asteroids (Source: Space.com)
Southern California-based startup Exploration Labs' (ExLabs) has proposed what it bills as the first commercial deep space ride share mission, known as Apophis EX. ExLabs says the mission aims to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis before and after its 2029 Earth flyby and deliver unparalleled scientific data for planetary defense, resource prospecting and future deep-space exploration. (4/30)
U.S. Air Force, Space Force Make ‘Explicit Shift’ in RDT&E Funding (Source: Aerospace America)
The U.S. Air Force and Space Force would shift their research and development funding away from early-stage work and toward the end of the development pipeline under the fiscal 2027 budget request released this month. The Pentagon groups its research, development, test and evaluation funding into categories based on the type of work involved. New technologies generally move through six stages: basic research, applied research, advanced technology development, advanced component development and prototypes, system development and demonstration and, finally, operational system development. (4/30)
With Dragonfly Mission, NASA Faces Challenges Great and Small (Source: Aerospace America)
The $3.35 billion Dragonfly mission faces a tough set of challenges, as NASA is aiming for the craft to traverse Titan for at least three years, surveying the surface via a series of short flights resembling leapfrog hops. The agency’s interplanetary rotorcraft experience is limited to the Ingenuity helicopter, which completed 72 flights during its nearly three years on Mars, and Dragonfly will experience vastly different conditions. Titan is about eight times farther away than the red planet, and at their lowest, temperatures drop to about minus 180 Celsius — 100 degrees colder than Mars.
After years of testing rotors, instruments and materials for survival in these harsh conditions, NASA and lead contractor Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory are now building Dragonfly, in preparation for a launch in 2028. Integration tests began in early February, the first time all of the spacecraft’s components will be tested as a complete system. It’s impossible to replicate Titan’s atmosphere for testing on Earth, but the Dragonfly team has high confidence in its models, says Michael Wright, NASA’s Dragonfly entry descent and landing lead. Also, past tests have incorporated real data gained from Huygens. (4/30)
Arianespace Launches Another 32 Amazon LEO Satellites Aboard Ariane 6 (Source: European Spaceflight)
European launch services provider Arianespace has successfully launched a second mission for Amazon, deploying 32 satellites for the company’s Amazon LEO constellation aboard an Ariane 6 rocket. The rocket, launched in its Ariane 64 configuration that features four solid-fuel boosters, lifted off from the ELA-4 Launch Complex. The first of the 32 satellites was separated from the rocket’s upper stage just under an hour and a half after liftoff. All 32 satellites were deployed over 12 separation events lasting roughly 25 minutes in total. (4/27)
USSF 2027 Budget Forecasts Two New GPS III Sats Annually (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request shows intent to award the next two GPS III Follow-On satellites—and to procure two more systems—over the next two years, with dual-satellite procurements forecast through 2031. The service has procured and awarded 12 satellites under the next-generation satellite program, with the latest two systems—known as space vehicles 21 and 22—awarded to longtime contractor Lockheed Martin in May 2025. (4/30)
Mining the Solar System to Build a New World (Source: Phys.org)
Building a colony on Mars is not just an engineering problem, it's a logistics one too. The logistics, unglamorous as it sound, may ultimately determine whether humanity becomes a multi-planetary species or stays firmly rooted on Earth. Think about what a Mars colony actually needs. Not just food and oxygen, but metal. Structural steel for habitats, aluminum for equipment, iron for tools and many of the components will wear out, break, and need replacing. Shipping all of that from Earth every time is not a serious long-term strategy.
A new study from researchers in Switzerland posted to the arXiv preprint server has now done the hard math on mining asteroids and delivering the metals directly to Mars. The solar system contains millions of asteroids, and the metallic ones, known as M-type asteroids, are essentially giant lumps of iron, nickel, and other valuable materials floating through space. The question is whether we can actually reach them, extract what we need, and get it to Mars efficiently enough to make it worthwhile. The answer, it turns out, is a careful yes but with conditions.
The results identify specific asteroids that sit within reach of current spacecraft technology, where the energy cost of getting there and back is low enough to make the mission viable. The team soon learned that selecting the right targets is everything. A poorly chosen asteroid could consume more fuel than the value of the metals it delivers. What makes this study significant is not that it solves the problem, because we are still a long way from the first asteroid mining operation. Instead it's that it demonstrates the problem is 100% solvable. (4/27)
Rocket Lab Infrastructure Set to Power Next-Gen Orbital Projects (Source: Simply Wall Street)
Rocket Lab is drawing fresh attention as it moves deeper into commercial orbital infrastructure, with its share price recently trading at $78.59. While Meta Platforms has recently signaled a major move into space-based solar power to fuel its data centers, the development highlights a growing market where Rocket Lab is strategically positioned to provide critical hardware and launch services. These moves into components and power applications broaden the story for Rocket Lab beyond pure launch services, reflecting its massive gains over the past year.
Rocket Lab has introduced a new High-Performance Star Tracker specifically aimed at long-duration missions in high-radiation orbits - the exact environments required for orbital power and data-center-focused satellites. This development points to broader vertical integration for the company, moving into key satellite subsystems that are essential for the ambitious orbital projects currently being explored by Big Tech. (4/29)
Astrobotic's RDRE Makes Big Thrust (Source: The Drive)
The Astrobotic Chakram Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) achieved more than 4,000 pounds of thrust in multiple tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. That’s remarkable considering how compact the engine is. And these tests focused largely on duration, to see how well everything operates for extended periods. Astrobotic says the Chakram could be introduced to its existing product lineup, which includes the Xogdor VTOL reusable rocket and two lunar landers. The company insists that the more efficient combustion could be a boon for taking more payload up higher or faster. (4/29)
Strange Little Red Dots May Really Be 'Black Hole Stars', X-Ray Data Suggests (Source: Space.com)
The discovery of an X-ray signal coinciding with the location of one of the mysterious 'little red dots' found by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has strengthened the theory that the dots are 'black hole stars' — huge, dense clumps of gas energized by the presence of a growing supermassive black hole within them. (4/29)
The Challenge of Celebrating Artemis II as NASA Cuts Loom (Source: Big Think)
With the successful Artemis II mission now complete, humanity has returned to the Moon, breaking the all-time distance record and adding four new astronauts, including the first black man and the first woman, to the list of people who’ve left low-Earth orbit. But contemporaneously with that remarkable achievement, the United States has just released their proposed FY2027 budget, and it’s a bloodbath for NASA science and the NSF: cutting the science budget by 50% in the country. For many astronomers, it’s hard to celebrate success even within your own field when it’s your own neck, and the necks of your projects, students, and collaborators, on the chopping block. (4/28)
Fee Approach Suggested by Trump Administration for FAA Air Traffic (Source: Bloomberg)
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy floated the idea of charging a fee to help the US Federal Aviation Administration modernize its air traffic control system on a more regular basis. “I would welcome an opportunity to think through, how could we have a small fee that went into allowing us to continually upgrade our systems,” Duffy said Wednesday at an event hosted by American Airlines Group Inc. (4/29)
Canada Proposes POET Mission to Hunt Earth-Sized Planets (Source: Universe Today)
Canada proposes a novel micro-satellite mission called POET (Photometric Observations of Exoplanet Transits), which is currently in development and will search for and identify Earth-sized and super-Earth exoplanets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our Sun, which the researchers refer to as “ultracool dwarfs”. These consist of K-type, M-type, and brown dwarf stars, the last of which are designated as “failed stars” whose sizes range between gas giant planets and M-type stars. (4/29)
Space Force Proposes Canceling Polar Missile Warning Program (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force is proposing to cancel a $3.4 billion program intended to provide missile warning and tracking coverage of the northern polar region as part of its 2027 budget request.
Northrop Grumman is under contract to build two satellites for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar program. According to new budget documents released April 27, the service wants to cancel NGP and instead rely on new proliferated constellations it is building in other orbits, which it says will provide needed coverage of northern hemisphere missile threats. (4/28)
NASA Fires Up Powerful Lithium-Fed Thruster for Trips to Mars (Source: NASA)
A technology that could propel crewed missions to Mars and robotic spacecraft throughout the solar system was recently put to the test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On Feb. 24, for the first time in years and at power levels exceeding any previous test in the United States, a team fired up an electromagnetic thruster that runs on lithium metal vapor. This prototype achieved power levels beyond the highest-power electric thrusters on any of the agency’s current spacecraft. Valuable data from the first firing of this thruster will help inform an upcoming series of tests. (4/28)
What is Quantum Gravity? Scientists Think it Could Explain the Beginning of Our Universe (Source: Space.com)
Scientists have redefined gravity to explain the Big Bang and perhaps change our picture of the earliest moments of the cosmos. This new framework of "quantum gravity" may explain aspects of the theory of general relativity fails to account for — maybe even doing away with the challenging concept of a singularity existing prior to the dawn of the universe.
General relativity doesn't just fail at small scales; the theory also collapses when trying to explain the extreme high-energy conditions that existed during the universe's first moments. To get around this issue, a team of researchers explored a theory called Quadratic Quantum Gravity. As it turns out, this theory seems to work even when explaining the high-density, high-temperature birth of the cosmos. (4/29)
Light-Propelled ‘Metajets’ Could Enable 20-Year Journey to Alpha Centauri (Source: Gizmodo)
Using conventional rocket propulsion, traveling to our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, would take thousands of years. Instead, researchers are looking to light as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable form of propulsion that could enable deep space travel. A team of researchers demonstrated the use of laser beams to lift and steer tiny engineered devices without physical contact. The scientists behind the study developed micron-scale devices called metajets—ultrathin materials smaller than the width of a human hair. The devices are etched with tiny patterns that act like a lens, helping scientists control how light behaves as it bounces off them. (4/28)
T-Mobile CEO: Cellular Starlink Usage Lower Than Expected (Source: PC Mag)
T-Mobile has been offering SpaceX’s satellite-to-phone service since last year, but usage hasn’t been as high as the carrier originally expected, CEO Srini Gopalan said. “Our partnership with SpaceX is very strong. We worked closely with them to really invent an entire category. That’s been putting an end to dead zones. We’re pleased with that,” Gopalan said. (4/28)
Only Elon Musk Can Fire Elon Musk From SpaceX, Filing Shows (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX is telling investors that no one can fire Elon Musk from his role as chief executive and chairman of the board without the billionaire founder's consent, according to an excerpt of its IPO filing. The filing states that Musk "can only be removed from our board or these positions by the vote of Class B holders" - super-voting shares with ten votes apiece that he will control after the IPO, making his removal effectively a self-vote. (4/29)
Gravitational Waves May Have Created Dark Matter in the Early Universe (Source: Johannes Gutenberg University)
In the chaotic first moments after the Big Bang, ripples in spacetime may have done more than just echo through the cosmos—they could have helped create dark matter itself. New research suggests that faint, ancient gravitational waves might have transformed into particles that eventually became the invisible substance shaping galaxies today. (4/25)
Starlink to Drop Tech That Helps Beat GPS Spoofing. Maritime Users Are Alarmed (Source: PC Mag)
Starlink is best known for supplying high-speed satellite internet, but it turns out SpaceX’s technology can also counter a persistent problem in the Middle East: GPS spoofing and jamming. “Those [Starlink] satellites are so much closer than the GPS satellites, and so their signal is maybe 100 to 1,000 times stronger,” says Bruce Toal, a Starlink subscriber from Texas who’s been sailing the world. “They can overcome all kinds of jamming.”
But in recent months, the maritime community has found a solution in their Starlink dishes, which can connect to SpaceX’s fleet of over 8,000 active satellites to receive fairly accurate positioning coordinates. The only problem? The company is preparing to shut down the positioning data on May 20, which is alarming boat owners, including Toal, who recently sailed up the Red Sea. (4/28)
Could the Moon Ever Be Blockaded? Experts Predict Cislunar Space Could Be the Next Strait of Hormuz (Source: Space.com)
The ongoing military conflict regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz may well mirror a future situation off-Earth — the use of cislunar space, the region between the moon and our planet. Think blockades, seizing of ships, impacts on the global economy, repercussions in terms of needed resources and markets, from fuel to high-tech semiconductors and production processes. Now turn your attention skyward and note that the U.S. Space Force is establishing a dedicated acquisition office to appraise the importance of the cislunar region for warfighting and national security. (4/28)
The FCC Just Said ‘No’ to SpaceX for Now (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX was dealt a new setback on April 23, 2006 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the U.S. government agency dismissed the company’s petition to access a Mobile Satellite Service spectrum that would allow direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities. The FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, and cable, which also includes regulating D2D technology that lets your existing smartphone connect directly to a satellite orbiting Earth, the same way it would connect to a cell tower. (4/26)
FAA and NASA Sign Annex on Commercial Space Activities at Kennedy Space Center (Source: FAA)
The FAA and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida signed an annex that implements and clarifies safety authorities, responsibilities, and roles for commercial launch and reentry activities at NASA Kennedy. It streamlines the FAA launch license approval process, improves the efficiency of the FAA technical review, reduces duplicative safety reviews, and lessens the amount of launch application material the operator must submit.
This is an annex to a 2025 FAA / NASA agreement that clarifies safety roles and responsibilities, eliminates any duplicative requirements, and resolves any inconsistent requirements between the agencies. A similar annex for FAA-licensed launch operations from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is also being coordinated. (4/30)
FAA and Sweden Sign Commercial Space Licensing Agreement (Source: FAA)
The FAA and the Swedish National Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to establish and maintain a shared understanding of the U.S. commercial space transportation regulations and provide a basis for Sweden's recognition of FAA-issued commercial space launch and reentry licenses.
The agreement enables the global growth of the U.S. commercial space industry by increasing regulatory interoperability and eliminating duplicative safety assessments and approvals for U.S. operators. The FAA has signed similar licensing recognition agreements with The Bahamas and New Zealand, and other agreements supporting consistent safety approaches with Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. (4/30)
FAA Collaborates with U.S. Space Force and NASA on LOX/Methane Testing (Source: FAA)
The launch vehicle industry is interested in expanding the use of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Methane (LOX/Methane) as a mixture for rocket propulsion due to its potential for greater efficiency, storability, and cleaner combustion in reusable rocket engines and deep space missions. Several launch vehicles currently use this new propellant formulation, and others are in advanced stages of development.
The FAA is coordinating with the U.S. Space Force and NASA to conduct a set of explosive tests to explore the after-effects of LOX/Methane-propelled launch vehicles failing shortly after leaving the launch pad and falling back to impact. The test results will provide critical data on the hazards and risk assessments of LOX/Methane rocket propellants to support specific analyses for licensing launch vehicles for public safety. (4/30)
FAA Posts Commercial Human Space Flight Recommendations Report (Source: FAA)
The FAA posted the final recommendations report from the Commercial Human Space Flight Occupant Safety Rulemaking Committee. The FAA will consider the recommendations for possible future revision of the Part 460 regulations. Under federal law, the FAA cannot currently promulgate regulations regarding the safety of space flight participants on board a space launch or reentry vehicle. Congress established a legislative moratorium in 2004 as a learning period for industry and extended it multiple times. It is set to expire Jan. 1, 2028.
While safety remains the priority, FAA regulations require that crew and space flight participants be made aware of the hazards of space travel and space flight participants must provide written informed consent before they launch. Click here. (4/30)
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