February 20, 2026

Magdrive’s Plasma Thruster Proves its Mettle in Orbital Test (Source: Aerospace America)
A high-power electric satellite thruster design that uses a sliver of metal as its fuel has completed its first round of firing tests in low-Earth orbit — holding out the prospect that thrusters could one day be refueled using metal scavenged by servicer satellites from space junk or mined on asteroids. This Rogue thruster, designed and built by startup Magdrive of Harwell, U.K., relies on a bank of commercial off-the-shelf supercapacitors to punch electrical energy into a copper or aluminum target, producing bursts of a thrust-producing plasma. (2/19)

Chinese Researchers Propose New Explanation for Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Burst (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese researchers have developed a novel model to explain the origin of an ultra-long gamma-ray burst (GRB), challenging the conventional understanding of these violent cosmic events. Gamma-ray bursts are among the most violent explosive phenomena in the universe, typically lasting from milliseconds to a few minutes. However, the GRB 250702B event, which occurred on July 2, 2025, exhibited extraordinary properties that have sparked intense debate within the astrophysics community. (2/20)

Gaganyaan Launch Could be Delayed: ISRO Adds More Safety Checks Post PSLV Failures (Source: India Today)
India’s ambitious human spaceflight program, Gaganyaan Mission, could face another delay as the Indian Space Research Organization has significantly increased safety checks following two PSLV failures in 2025 and 2026, senior officials said. The first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission, known as G1, had been targeted for launch in March 2026. However, officials indicated that the timeline now appears difficult to achieve. (2/20)

Inside Finland’s Rapid Rise as a Space Powerhouse (Source: Payload)
Finland’s space industry has a lot going for it. Less than 10 years after launching its first satellite, and with a population of less than 6M people, the country has stood up a highly competitive space sector—one that stands to support many of Europe’s ambitious goals for space in the years to come. It’s not luck. Finland has invested strategically in its space sector to build a uniquely powerful set of capabilities that have become ideal candidates to support Europe’s broader push for sovereignty and security from space.

The country benefits from decades of engineering and RF expertise fostered by local telecom Nokia, but its space sector truly kicked off in 2017 with the launch of its first satellites Aalto-1 and Aalto-2. On the team developing these inaugural satellites were future founders of the country’s most prominent space firms: ICEYE and Kuva Space. In the years since, those companies have driven Finland’s targeted approach. While other European nations aim to build end-to-end space industries, Finland has focused on doing a few things well. (2/19)

Orbital Data, Niche Markets Give Space Solar a New Shimmer (Source: Payload)
The face of space-based solar power (SBSP) is changing due to surging interest in in-space industry and data centers. While some companies are racing toward these new opportunities, others are sticking with the technology’s original goal of powering life on Earth. “Using space for power purposes has fundamentally changed, just in the past few years. It went from pie-in-the-sky science fiction…to now, when there’s not only a resurgence of interest in beaming power down to the ground from space, but now putting the actual load up in space,” said Marc Berte.

Industry experts and entrepreneurs say the vision of providing SBSP to support Earth’s baseline needs is still alive and well, though that vision may have hit some roadblocks in the last two years. Hype around government-funded explorations of the technology dimmed slightly, though it didn’t go out. While SBSP’s journey to reality could take some unexpected turns through data centers and lunar colonies, experts said, the business case remains the same: Powering industry on Earth is hard, so let’s get off the planet. (2/20)

Price of Musk’s Starlink Kits in Iran Soars as US Threatens War (Source: Bloomberg)
The biggest US troop deployment in the Middle East since the Iraq War is sending the black market price for Elon Musk’s Starlink terminals soaring in Iran, where people fear a war would trigger another countrywide internet shutdown. Prices for the smuggled kits, banned by the regime for enabling uncensored web access, have soared to as much as $4,000, according to sellers and human rights organizations focused on Iran. Prior to the Iran-Israel war in June last year, the same units sold for $700 to $1,000. (2/20)

GomSpace Sees Revenue and Profit Increase (Source: Space Intel Report)
Small satellite manufacturer GomSpace reported a 72% increase in revenue in 2025 compared to 2024, with a quadrupling of EBITDA and a 9% margin but a negative cash flow because of its largest customer’s nonpayment of bills. The nonpayment totals 145 million Swedish krona ($13.6 million), which is equivalent to a third of GomSpace’s 2025 revenue. Denmark-based GomSpace did not name the customer, but it’s almost certainly France-based Unseenlabs, which operates a fleet of 19 satellites. (2/20)

Trump Orders UFO Files Release After Slamming Obama Over Alien Comments (Source: Axios)
President Trump is directing his administration to begin releasing government documents related to aliens and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), he announced Thursday evening. Trump's comments on Truth Social came hours after he accused former President Obama of disclosing classified information for saying aliens are "real" in a podcast last week. (2/20)

SpaceX’s Starbase City is Getting its Own Court (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX’s company town in Texas, Starbase, is less than a year old, but it already has its own volunteer fire department and is working on creating a police department. Now it wants its own court, too. Starbase’s city administrator submitted a proposed ordinance to the city commission during a meeting on Wednesday that would create a municipal court with a part-time judge, prosecutor, and court clerk. Starbase’s mayor will serve as the judge until one is appointed to a two-year term. The administrator wrote that he hopes to have a candidate ready by next month’s meeting. (2/19)

SatVu, GMV Latest Space Firms to Benefit From Europe’s New Milspace Focus (Source: Breaking Defense)
As Europe begins to put real money into developing military space capabilities to reduce dependency on the United States, British thermal imagery startup SatVu and Spanish tech firm GMV are among the latest companies to step into the breach. In its latest financing round, SatVu nabbed first-time funds from the NATO Innovation Fund, as well as from the UK government’s British Investment Bank and other venture capital firms, the company announced Tuesday. The round netted the company £30 million ($40 million) total, bringing its “total equity funding” up to £60 million, SatVu said, although the announcement did not break down the individual contributions making up the new funds. (2/19)

Court's Tariff Strikedown Will Impact Space Industry Imports (Source: SPACErePORT)
The US Supreme Court has decided that President Trump’s broad, global tariffs were unlawful because he exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose import taxes without clear authorization from Congress. The tariffs on imports (including so-called “reciprocal” or broad tariffs on many trading partners) have been invalidated or are at risk of being struck down. There are major questions about refunds, as importers who paid these tariffs could seek billions in refunds. Space sector imports include a range of components — high-precision parts, avionics, advanced materials, satellites, launch vehicle hardware, chips, sensors, and more.

Costs now could fall for space contractors that rely on imported parts or materials. Litigation over refund eligibility could be lengthy and complex. Meanwhile, the Trump administration may attempt to continue or re-establish tariffs based on other authorities not considered in the Supreme Court decision. (2/20)

Starfighters Space and GE Aerospace undergo critical design review of STARLAUNCH I (Source: Starfighters)
Starfighters Space, after successful wind tunnel testing of the STARLAUNCH I rocket design, is moving forward to Critical Design Review with support from GE Aerospace. The CDR is intended to confirm design maturity and support the program’s transition into its next phase of build and test planning. The CDR is planned in the next two weeks to evaluate design documentation and analysis for the vehicle and its interfaces with the carrier aircraft, with a focus on configuration control, manufacturability, and test readiness. The review is also expected to address verification plans, including the sequence from ground validation through drop testing and subsequent flight evaluation. (2/20)

Scientists Measure Air Pollution From Reentering SpaceX Upper Stage (Source: Space.com)
For the first time ever, scientists have observed in near real time a cloud of air pollution created as space debris burned up in Earth's atmosphere. The breakthrough measurement will help atmospheric chemistry researchers untangle the complex chemical reactions triggered by the toxic air pollution created during reentries, which may have devastating effects on Earth's atmosphere and climate. The cloud of lithium was detected on Feb. 20, 2025, after an upper stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket came crashing down over Europe, scattering fragments across Poland. A team of researchers in Germany made the detection using a LIDAR — a pulsed laser instrument that excites particular chemical elements based on the frequency of its light. (2/19)

Flexible Force Fields Can Protect Our Return to the Moon (Source: Universe Today)
Lunar dust remains one of the biggest challenges for a long-term human presence on the Moon. Its jagged, clingy nature makes it naturally stick to everything from solar panels to the inside of human lungs. And while we have some methods of dealing with it, there is still plenty of experimentation to do here on Earth before we use any such system in the lunar environment. A new paper describes two types of flexible Electrodynamic Dust Shields (EDSs) that could one day be used in such an environment. EDSs have been the front-runner for actively dealing with lunar dust for some time. They work based on the electric curtain effect, where charged and neutral particles are forced away from a surface by an electric field surrounding it. (2/19)

Airbus Space Systems, After Annus Horribilis in 2024, Reports 16% Increase in Revenue in 2025 and Return to Profitability (Source: Space Intel Report)
Airbus Space Systems reported a 16.2% increase in revenue in 2025 compared to the previous year on the strength of government and commercial orders and reiterated its confidence that Europe’s new focus on defense would continue the trend. Parent company Airbus SE, in a Feb. 19 investor call on its 2025 results, said Airbus’s Space Systems business, part of the Defence and Space division, reported revenue of 2.95 billion euros, up from 2.54 billion euros a year earlier. (2/19)

Canada Suspends Airspace Transit for US Carriers (Source: Headline Now US)
Canada has suspended preferential overflight rights for U.S. carriers — and the financial fallout is already hitting American airlines, cargo operators, and consumers in real time. This is not a diplomatic dispute. This is a structural intervention with a $4 billion per week price tag. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a Transport Canada airspace notice that effectively ended America's free pass over the polar corridor. This provides a competitive advantage to Asian and European carriers. The consequences reach beyond aviation — into energy, logistics, and the broader architecture of North American economic integration. (2/19)

Escalating Canada Tensions Could Affect Golden Dome (Source: Breaking Defense)
When President Donald Trump formally announced the creation of a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, he made a notable claim: that Canada had already asked to take part in the effort. Trump said Canada would have to pay $61 billion to take part. The issue popped up again just a few weeks ago, with Trump taking shots at Ottawa for, he said, opposing using Greenland as part of Golden Dome. “If it serves Canada’s interests — and I think there are certainly many scenarios where that would be the case — we will be willing participants,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

That raises the question: if Canada is to take part in Golden Dome, what would its role be? And perhaps more dramatically, if the US were to not involve Canada in Golden Dome, could its existing missile defense architecture, anchored around cooperation through NORAD, survive? "We will only participate if it is right for both parties,” a Canadian spokesperson said last week. The US Department of Defense, for its part, did not respond to questions about how it is currently factoring Canada into ongoing Golden Dome planning nor the status of talks between the two neighbors and more. (2/18)

Head of Military's Space Division Warns Russia is Considering Putting Nuclear Weapons in Orbit (Source: CBC)
The head of Canada's military space division says the country "should absolutely be" concerned about Russia's potential capabilities amid global fears the Kremlin is considering putting nuclear weapons in place to target satellites. "That would be cataclysmic," said Brig.-Gen. Christopher Horner. "Everything that we have come to rely on from a communications platform level or from a GPS level — if [Russia] were to deploy a capability like that and then detonate it — would be wiped out," Horner said. (2/14)

US Warns it May Send Fighter Jets Into Canadian Airspace as Tensions Escalate Over the F-35 Dispute (Source: New Business Accounting)
From 30,000 feet, you wouldn’t know where Montana became Alberta, where Vermont gave way to Quebec. Yet on a morning thick with political tension, that invisible line might as well have been drawn in fire. In Washington, an unusually blunt statement rippled through diplomatic channels: the United States warned it may send fighter jets into Canadian airspace if the dispute over F-35 operations and deployment couldn’t be resolved. On the other side of the border, in Ottawa, the words landed like a cold gust: “into Canadian airspace”—not with permission, but as a consequence.

Canada’s long and troubled path toward finally acquiring F-35s, after years of political debate, cost wrangling, and public skepticism, has collided with American impatience over timelines, basing decisions, and the rules governing who gets to control what happens in North American airspace. In Washington, military planners view the Arctic, the Pacific approaches, and the High North as growing arenas of strategic competition. They see the F-35 not as a fancy toy, but as a node in a vast web of sensors, communications systems, and deterrence strategies. For them, delays or restrictions on use feel less like bureaucratic foot-dragging and more like a weak link in a chain that needs to hold under pressure.

In Ottawa, the storyline sounds different. There’s the weight of public accountability, of budgets strained by health care, infrastructure, wildfires, and floods. There’s the deep cultural instinct to push back when an ally sounds more like a landlord than a partner. And there’s a quiet but firm insistence that Canadian skies are sovereign, that decisions about aircraft, missions, and basing must answer first to Canadian voters, not American planners. (2/18)

Amid Escalating Tensions, Canada-US Bridge Project Held-Up as Trump Threatens Permit Change (Source: AP)
The White House contends President Donald Trump has the right to amend a permit for a new bridge between Canada and Michigan, a potential new wrinkle in an escalating dispute between the U.S. and its northern neighbor. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which would connect Detroit to Windsor and would be a vital economic artery between the two countries, is scheduled to open in early 2026. But Trump on Monday threatened to block the opening, calling for Canada to agree to a litany of unspecified demands as the two nations prepare to renegotiate a sprawling trade pact later this year. Canada paid for the bridge. (2/10)

ESA to Launch Navigation Satellites on Rocket Lab Electron From New Zealand (Source: ESA)
The European Space Agency will launch a pair of navigation satellites on a Rocket Lab Electron next month. ESA said Thursday the two demonstration satellites will launch on an Electron from New Zealand on March 24. The satellites are part of Celeste, intended to test technologies for a future low Earth orbit navigation satellite constellation. The first two cubesat-class satellites are intended to secure frequencies for use in the program and to test signals. Eight additional, larger spacecraft are under development for launch in 2027. ESA selected Electron to launch the satellites because of a lack of near-term European launch options for the satellites. (2/20)

Ursa Major Gets New CEO (Source: Ursa Major)
Rocket engine manufacturer Ursa Major has a new CEO. The company announced Thursday it named Chris Spagnoletti as CEO. He has been at the company since 2022, most recently as president of its liquid systems unit overseeing development of engines for hypersonic and space applications. He succeeds Dan Jablonsky, who had been CEO since August 2024. The company didn't give a reason for Jablonsky's departure. (2/20)

Canada's MDA Creates Defense Subsidiary (Source: MDA)
Canadian company MDA Space has created a subsidiary to focus on defense applications. The new business, 49North, will focus on providing C4ISR and related capabilities outside of space, including land, sea, air and joint operations. That includes work on advanced sensing and radar technologies, autonomous systems and secure digital mission systems, among other areas. 49North will be led by Joe Armstrong, who was previously an executive at Canadian aerospace and defense company CAE. (2/20)

No Hydrogen Problems with Second Artemis 2 Launch Rehearsal (Source: Space News)
NASA completed a second wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission without the hydrogen leaks seen on the first test. NASA completed the fueling test and practice countdown Thursday night, reporting only minor issues throughout the day. The agency noted that any hydrogen leaks "remained under allowable limits" after workers replaced seals thought to be the source of leaks seen during fueling of the Space Launch System on the first wet dress rehearsal earlier this month. NASA plans to discuss the wet dress rehearsal and launch plans at a briefing later today. The four-person Artemis 2 crew will enter pre-launch quarantine today ahead of the earliest possible launch date of March 6. (2/20)

NASA Finds Organizational Failures Contributed to Ill-Fated Starliner Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA released a report Thursday describing serious technical and organizational failures during the Starliner crewed test flight in 2024. That flight suffered multiple thruster failures during its approach to the International Space Station, and NASA ultimately decided to bring the spacecraft back uncrewed. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the biggest problem with the flight was not any technical failures but "decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight."

That included debates about what to do with Starliner once it docked at the station that "deteriorated into unprofessional conduct" as well as a lack of engagement from agency leadership at the time. NASA said it was formally classifying the flight as a "Type A" mishap, its most serious, and Isaacman vowed to implement "leadership accountability" for the incident. He added that Starliner would not fly again until all the issues with the spacecraft are identified and corrected. (2/20)

Boeing Opens New California Facility for Missile Tracking Sensors (Source: Space News)
Boeing has opened a new facility to increase production of missile-tracking sensors for satellites. The 9,000-square-foot production area in El Segundo, California, will focus on electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) payloads that detect light in the visible spectrum and heat in the infrared spectrum, enabling spacecraft to capture detailed imagery and identify thermal events such as missile launches. Boeing said the added capacity is intended to support satellites currently in production by its subsidiary Millennium Space Systems and projected future demand. (2/20)

India Wants to Dock Capsule at ISS (Source: Times of India)
An Indian Gaganyaan spacecraft could visit the International Space Station. According to a report, India's space agency ISRO proposed sending an uncrewed Gaganyaan spacecraft to the ISS as part of efforts to further cooperation between the United States and India in space. The proposal will be discussed at a working group meeting of Indian and American officials on civil space cooperation in May or June. Gaganyaan is India's crewed spacecraft under development. The first uncrewed orbital flight of the spacecraft was scheduled for March but is likely to be delayed. (2/20)

SpaceX Launches Thursday Starlink Mission From Florida (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Thursday on a mission that featured a booster landing in The Bahamas. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 8:41 p.m. Eastern, placing 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The Falcon 9 booster landed on a droneship in Bahamian waters, the second such landing there. Booster landings in The Bahamas open up new trajectories for Falcon 9 launches. (2/20)

Astrolight Tests Laser Terminal in Orbit (Source: Astrolight)
Astrolight, a space and defence-tech company pioneering laser communication solutions across space, ground, and maritime domains, is set to demonstrate its low-SWaP ATLAS-1 laser communication terminals in space for the first time. The terminals will enable secure, high-bandwidth space-to-ground communication on two satellites, each carrying ATLAS-1, scheduled for launch this March aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-16. The satellites support two separate missions coordinated by Astrolight’s clients: the National Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. (2/18)

USSF Wants to Get Battle Management Tools from Lab to Operations Faster (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force team responsible for developing advanced battle management capabilities wants to create a better pipeline for mature space domain awareness tools to move from the lab into the hands of operators. Lt. Col. Collin Greiser said the service has already started strengthening that connection by moving a key experimentation lab under his portfolio—the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications, and Processing Laboratory, or SDA TAP Lab. The hub was established in 2023 to help hone new C2 tools from industry and academia and quickly deliver them to users. (2/19)

Science Fiction Blinded Us to the Perils of Settling Mars (Source: Big Think)
Despite the heroic successes of Mark Watney in The Martin, we now know a “toxic cocktail” of oxidants, iron oxides, and perchlorates permeate the Martian soil and would make growing plants exceedingly difficult. Watney might have been able to harvest a few stunted potatoes, but they would hardly be nourishing, likely leaving him weakened and emaciated. Moreover, his habitat should have been built below ground rather than above it. With no functional magnetosphere, Mars’ surface radiation is nearly as intense as in deep space, and the paper-thin atmosphere provides little protection from even minuscule meteorites. Watney would have been forced to live like an ant.

Broadly, science fiction has shown that settlement of space will be easier and more glamorous than how it will play out in reality. The immense hardships of space settlement and its potential pitfalls actually become more pressing as the technology advances. Scott Solomon thinks we could have boots on the Martian ground within the next ten years and settlement efforts by the end of the century. But while many technological hurdles of living away from Earth long-term remain to be overcome — food production, health challenges, fuel systems, and so on. (2/19)

Supercomputers Simulated the Orbits of 1 Million Satellites Between Earth and the Moon — and Less than 10% Survived (Source: Live Science)
Researchers used a pair of powerful supercomputers to simulate the potential trajectories of 1 million satellites in a cislunar orbit between Earth and the moon. Less than 10% of these orbits remained stable throughout the simulations, but this is not as disastrous as it may sound. If 1 million satellites were positioned at different points between Earth and the moon, less than 10% would survive long enough to be worth the hassle of sending them up in the first place, new supercomputer simulations suggest. (2/18)

Florida’s Space Industry is Confronting Very Earthly Worries (Source: Politico)
Environmental groups and commercial fishers say ecosystems and fishing businesses are suffering amid the nation’s space ambitions. More rockets launching from Central Florida may also mean more noise, port closures, air and water pollution, ocean acidification, and falling space debris — repercussions space companies and some Florida GOP lawmakers are asking locals to accept as a part of life on the Space Coast.

The environmental stakes are high. The complex sits inside of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and is sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon system. The region is an eco-tourism hot spot and houses some of Florida’s most treasured species, including manatees, dolphins, whales, sea turtles and shorebirds. Stormwater runoff, fertilizer and septic tanks have already polluted areas of the Space Coast, causing massive seagrass die-offs, killing wildlife and fouling water — problems that could worsen as launches increase.

Rocket exhaust, a gaseous cocktail that includes nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide, degrades air quality and can return to Earth as acid rain. Metals like arsenic, lithium and iron, commonly used in space technology, can accumulate in waterways and wildlife and have been found in elevated levels on Merritt Island. Environmentalists additionally worry that deafening sonic booms — which are expected to get louder and more frequent — will harm wildlife and bother nearby residents. (2/18)

Exolaunch to Deploy Five Satellites on Spectrum Mission from Norway (Source: Space Daily)
Exolaunch has completed integration of five customer satellites for launch on Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket, scheduled no earlier than March 19, 2026 from Andoya spaceport in Norway. The mission, branded "Onward and Upward," represents the second flight of Spectrum and a key step toward strengthening German and European sovereign access to orbit. The Berlin-based company is providing launch mission management, environmental testing, satellite integration, global shipping, and deployment services for the flight. Exolaunch will use its flight-proven EXOpod Nova deployment system to deliver the payloads to orbit. (2/18)

Microbes Harvest Metals From Meteorites Aboard ISS (Source: Space Daily)
Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can harvest crucial minerals from rocks and could provide a sustainable alternative to transporting much-needed resources from Earth. Researchers collaborated to study how those microbes extract platinum group elements from a meteorite in microgravity, with an experiment conducted aboard the ISS. They found that "biomining" fungi are particularly adept at extracting the valuable metal palladium, while removing the fungus resulted in a negative effect on nonbiological leaching in microgravity. (2/16)

Is It Time to Take Space-Based Solar Power Seriously? (Source: OilPrice)
If you can put up a satellite with solar panels to power AI data centers that take as much electricity as a small city, would it be any more difficult to put up a solar power satellite that beams down enough energy to supply a small city? Would solar power satellites become suppliers to micro-grids and small systems or to a central power network? Previously, we were sure the latter choice was the answer, but not anymore. 

If the space tech bros succeed, what will this do to the on-the-ground electricity demand of AI centers, which have now become the sole growth vehicle of the electric industry, now that the Trump administration has pretty much declared decarbonization (and electric vehicles) un-American? Science fiction writers predicted the advent of submarines, travel to the moon, ray guns, omnipresent surveillance, satellites, and intelligent (and malevolent) computers. They had vision. How many visionary electricity industry executives have you met lately? (2/18)

Vantor Plans AI for Classified Imagery Analysis (Source: Space News)
Earth observation company Vantor plans to use AI models from Google to automate imagery analysis in classified settings. Under the partnership, Vantor will deploy Google Earth AI models within air-gapped government data centers. The models will generate text reports from Vantor's satellite imagery, third-party commercial imagery or customers' sovereign data. While Google Earth AI already works with other commercial Earth observation data providers, such as Planet and Airbus, under partner programs, Vantor would be the first to deploy Google models in sovereign government environments. The agreement with Google brings a new layer of AI capability that reduces the human labor required to generate intelligence reports from satellite imagery, Vantor says, with reports generated in minutes rather than hours. (2/19)

Northrop Grumman Not Interested in Government Investment for Rocket Motors (Source: Breaking Defense)
Northrop Grumman has no plans to follow L3Harris and take government investment to support solid rocket motor production. Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said at an investment conference Wednesday that her company has not talked with the government about any investment into the company or a spinout of its solid rocket motor production line. L3Harris said in January it agreed to accept a $1 billion investment from the Defense Department and spin out its missiles division into a separate publicly held business. Warden said that while Northrop is not interested in accepting government investment, some of its suppliers might be willing to do so. (2/19)

Blue Origin Expects to Resume New Shepard Suborbital Flights (Source: Bloomberg)
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp says he expects the company to resume New Shepard suborbital flights in the future. The company announced last month it was halting New Shepard flights for at least two years to focus company resources on its lunar programs. That led to industry speculation that the decision was effectively a cancellation of the program. At a conference this week, Limp said "we'll likely go back into that business," citing a multi-year customer backlog. He did not set a schedule for doing so, noting it made more sense for the company now to devote resources to lunar programs. (2/18)

Cape Canaveral Proposes "Launch Fund" as Residents Report Damage From Rocket Vibrations (Source: Fox35)
Rocket concerns are rising on the Space Coast as the City of Cape Canaveral looks for funding to repair damage from increasingly frequent and powerful launches. City officials are considering state and federal grants to create an emergency fund for both city infrastructure and affected residents.

Because the frequency of these launches is hitting record highs, the city is exploring uncharted territory. Touchberry noted that the city is "open to all possibilities when it comes to acquiring funding not only that could benefit the city and its infrastructure but to benefit the residents as well." Ultimately, the city wants a plan in place and to know what state and federal grants they could apply for before Starship begins regular operations in Florida.

While many residents love being in the front row of history, the physical toll on their properties is becoming hard to ignore. Cape Canaveral resident Dennis said his daughter often tells him about concerns on her property from launches. "It’s shaking her house and resulted in damages to the foundation," he said.

Richard Beadencup, another local resident, shares the duality of living on the Space Coast. "I can see the launches from my balcony. I love it," Beadencup said. But when asked if he feels the impact and rattle, he didn't hesitate: "Oh my gosh, yes." (2/17)

Agile Equity Round Oversubscribed at $17 Million (Source: Space News)
Agile Space Industries announced an equity financing round to support the company’s rapid expansion as demand for reliable in-space propulsion accelerates across commercial, civil, and national security missions. Strong investor demand drove the Series A beyond its initial $15 million target, resulting in an oversubscribed round. More than 70% of the capital was committed by existing Agile investors, underscoring deep conviction in the company’s execution and long-term market opportunity. (2/19)

Earthbound Moon Resort Would Include Largest Sphere Building (Source: New Atlas)
Some may remember a proposal to recreate the experience of standing on the Moon inside a giant spherical structure here on Earth. That concept never materialized, but now, four years later, the team behind it is back with an even more ambitious vision. The new project, named Moon, is slated for an as-yet undecided location. Though it feels like a natural fit for Saudi Arabia, the press release lists Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Poland, Spain, Thailand, the USA, or the United Arab Emirates as potential candidates.

If realized, its centerpiece would be what's described as the world's largest and tallest true spherical building. At 271 m (889 ft) in diameter and 312 m (1,023 ft) tall, it would dwarf the Sphere in Las Vegas, which measures 157 m (515 ft) in diameter and 112 m (367 ft) in height.

The Moon would host a resort anchored by a large 4,000-room hotel. At ground level, plans include a convention center, event spaces, restaurants, wellbeing facilities, and a smaller boutique hotel. Above all this would sit the project's headline attraction: an "authentic" simulated lunar surface designed to let visitors experience what walking on the Moon might feel like. This seems like a big ask and exactly how this effect would be achieved has not yet been explained. (2/18)

NASA Advances High-Altitude Traffic Management (Source: NASA)
Aircraft at high altitudes – 50,000 feet or higher, or roughly 10,000 to 20,000 feet above most commercial traffic – offer new possibilities for delivering internet connectivity in regions in need of reliable service. And they can deliver unprecedented situational awareness for the ground below, providing early warnings for floods and other disasters. For these types of operations, “station-keeping,” or remaining in the same region for extended periods of time, can be ideal for aircraft including balloons and airships. 

These flights will require a different sort of air traffic management system from the ones that cover most commercial flights – and it needs to be dependable. That’s why NASA is working to produce a system that ensures aircraft can operate safely in high-altitude airspace, with a particular focus on station-keeping. NASA’s expertise and technology, and the agency’s knowledge of the needs of the aviation industry, put it in an ideal position to perform the work. And NASA researchers are collaborating with the companies Aerostar and Sceye, developers and operators of high-altitude aircraft, to evaluate the system. 

This NASA system enables operators to share live flight data, information about their flight plans, and potential conflict alerts. Based on this information, operators can coordinate flight plans in real time. During a 2025 simulation at NASA Ames, researchers tested how efficiently that data sharing would be among operators of lighter-than-air vehicles – both balloons and airships. For this test, NASA, Aerostar, Sceye acted as operators of high-altitude vehicles, sharing information from facilities in California, South Dakota, and New Mexico. They were able to share flight information, as well as telemetry data from an Aerostar stratospheric balloon floating 66,500 feet above Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the time of the testing. (2/17)

Iran Issues NOTAM Over Planned Rocket Launches on Thursday, US FAA Says (Source: Jerusalem Post)
Iran issued on Wednesday a notice to airmen that it plans rocket launches in areas across its south on Thursday from 3:30 GMT to 13:30 GMT, the US Federal Aviation Administration website showed on Wednesday. Iran held naval drills this week in the Strait of Hormuz and plans to hold a joint naval exercise with Russia on Thursday. (2/18)

Chinese Satellite Obliterates Starlink Throughput With 2-Watt Laser From 36,000 KM Above Earth (Source: Indian Defense Review)
A beam of light weaker than the bulb inside a refrigerator has delivered internet speed data from a satellite more than twenty times farther away than the International Space Station. The 2 watt laser, fired from geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above Earth, reached a ground telescope in southwestern China at 1 gigabit per second. Researchers affiliated with Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences designed the experiment to solve a problem that has limited optical communications for decades: holding a signal together through the planet’s churning atmosphere. (2/19)

Boeing to Relocate Defense/Space Unit HQ to St. Louis (Source: First Alert 4)
Boeing’s decision to move its defense headquarters back to St. Louis comes months after the federal government opened its new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency facility in the region, marking continued efforts to establish St. Louis as a defense and national security hub. Boeing employs around 18,000 people in the St. Louis region, and indirectly impacts more than 30,000 jobs, creating a ripple effect throughout the aviation and aerospace industry. Boeing’s defense headquarters was previously located in St. Louis from 1997 to 2017. The company has not laid out its timeline for the move back to Missouri. (2/18)

There’s a Lot of Big Talk About Sovereign Launch—Who is Doing Something About It? (Source: Ars Technica)
No one will supplant American and Chinese dominance in the space launch arena anytime soon, but several longtime US allies now see sovereign access to space as a national security imperative.

Taking advantage of private launch initiatives already underway within their own borders, several middle and regional powers have approved substantial government funding for commercial startups to help them reach the launch pad. Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain are among the nations that currently lack the ability to independently put their own satellites into orbit but which are now spending money to establish a domestic launch industry. Others talk a big game but haven’t committed the cash to back up their ambitions. Click here. (2/17)

NASA Samples Antarctic Water to Inform Search for Life on Icy Worlds (Source: NASA)
NASA-sponsored researchers welcomed the new year from a ship at the very tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Their goal? Collect samples of seawater most closely comparable to that in oceans beyond Earth. Many icy worlds in our solar system — such as Jupiter’s moon Europa or the dwarf planet Pluto — are believed to contain vast oceans of liquid water beneath thick layers of ice.

Some of these “ocean worlds” contain key ingredients for life, including carbon, nitrogen, and chemical energy, leading scientists to ask a fundamental question: could these hidden oceans support microorganisms? On Saturn’s moon Enceladus, subsurface water can erupt into space through a process called “cryovolcanism.” Cryovolcanism offers unique opportunities for robotic spacecraft to sample ocean material without drilling through miles of ice. (2/18)

Mutant Organisms Called 'Space Phages' Could Solve the Global Antibiotic Crisis (Source: Earth.com)
Viruses that infect bacteria can still do their job in near-weightlessness on the ISS. However, the pace of infection shifts, and both the virus and the bacterium start evolving along different paths than they do on Earth. A team tracked what happened when the bacteriophage T7 (a classic virus used in labs) met its usual host, E. coli, in microgravity. The experts compared matched samples incubated in orbit versus on Earth, then looked at how infection unfolded and what genetic changes piled up over time.

Under typical lab conditions, T7 can infect and burst open E. coli quickly. In this experiment, even the Earth-based samples showed a noticeable slowdown, with infection effectively happening between 2 and 4 hours. In microgravity, the slowdown was much stronger. The phage didn’t show the same clear signs of replication during the first few hours. But the key point is that it wasn’t a dead end. By the 23-day mark, the space-grown phage had clearly managed to replicate and persist, meaning productive infection still happened – only on a dramatically stretched timeline. (2/18)

NASA Blasts Heat Shield to Prepare for Atmospheric Re-Entry (Source: New Scientist)
When a spacecraft re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, it must withstand temperatures of up to 3870°C. Here, inside NASA’s Arc Jet Complex at the Ames Research Center in California, a heat-shield design is being exposed to these scorching conditions at ground level. NASA uses data from these tests to ensure that its spacecraft can handle the heat – so astronauts don’t have to. (2/18)