March 1, 2026

CAS Space to Launch Kinetica-2 in Late March Carrying Prototype Cargo Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch firm CAS Space is preparing for the inaugural launch of its reusable Kinetica-2 liquid rocket in late March, carrying a prototype cargo spacecraft. The Qingzhou-1 cargo spacecraft was developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS) as a low-cost space station resupply spacecraft. (3/1)

SpaceX Launches Sunday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket early Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying another batch of satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service. (3/1)

Blue Origin’s Lander May Get Bigger Role (Source: Geekwire)
NASA is reworking its Artemis moon program to add a test mission for commercial lunar landers in low Earth orbit next year, with a crewed lunar landing to follow in 2028 at the earliest. The revised plan raises the profile of the Blue Moon lander that’s being built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. “We’re all in!” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said. Blue Origin is already accelerating its Blue Moon development program. (2/27)

Rocket Factory Augsburg Installs Umbilical Tower at SaxaVord Spaceport (Source: Shetland Times)
The first test launch from SaxaVord Spaceport is just a few weeks away - with the installation of an umbilical tower having been hailed as a “huge milestone” in the countdown to blast-off. Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) recently installed the tower at its launchpad Fredo at the Lamba Ness site in Unst. (2/28)

The Meticulous Rocket Science of Building Canada's Spaceports (Source: Chronicle Herald)
It’s not exactly a space race between Cold War rivals, but two private spaceports on the East Coast are vying to host the first orbital rocket launch from Canadian soil. Owners of Maritime Launch Service Inc.’s Spaceport Nova Scotia and NordSpace’s Atlantic Spaceport Complex in Newfoundland and Labrador insist it’s not a competition to blast off first. In fact, Stephen Matier, the founder and CEO of Maritime Launch Services (MLS), is not interested in being first. He’s simply thrilled to see the domestic space industry supported.

In the 2025 federal budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged $182.6 million over three years to support sovereign space launch capability. “We’re delighted that the federal government is getting behind spaceports,” said Matier, a former NASA contractor originally from New Mexico who’s now based out of Halifax. (2/27)

White House Stalls Release of Approved US Science Budgets (Source: Nature)
Weeks after the US Congress rejected unprecedented cuts to science budgets that the administration of US President Donald Trump had sought for 2026, funding to several agencies that award research grants is still not freely flowing. One reason is that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow to authorize its release.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has so far not received approval to spend any of the research funding allocated in a budget bill signed into law on 3 February. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) was authorized to spend its funding just last week. And NASA has had its full funding authorized for release, but with an unusual restriction that limits spending on ten specific programs — many of which the Trump team had tried to cancel last year.

At NASA, in a footnote to a 21 February budgetary notice about science funding, the OMB told the agency it could not spend new money on ten specific science programs until it provides more details on how the funds will be used. Normally, NASA has the discretion to begin working on missions once Congress has approved the budget. The projects in question include missions to Venus and to an Earth-threatening asteroid, as well as Earth-science satellites. (2/27)

Mars’ Missing Water Mystery Takes an Unexpected Turn (Source: SciTech Daily)
New research shows that an intense regional dust storm transported unusually high amounts of water vapor into Mars’ upper atmosphere, boosting hydrogen escape. The discovery reshapes understanding of how the planet gradually lost its water. (2/22)

NASA Lost a Lunar Spacecraft One Day After Launch. A New Report Details What Went Wrong (Source: NPR)
In 2025 a NASA probe called Lunar Trailblazer lifted off from Florida. Its mission was to map the water on the moon. But a day after launch, mission managers lost contact with the spacecraft, and it was never heard from again. A report by a review panel convened by NASA to explore what went wrong with the $72 million mission explains why. Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft solar panels toward the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun. (2/26)

Artemis Rearranged – And Why That Might Be a Good Thing (Source: Andreeas Bergweiler)
If you look at the Apollo playbook emotionally, you see momentum. If you look at it technically, you see incremental validation. Apollo 9 was not a Moon landing. Apollo 10 was not a Moon landing. They were rehearsal missions. The problem is: in today’s political environment, rehearsal sounds like weakness. It isn’t. It’s discipline.

A crewed docking test in LEO between Orion and a human landing system is not glamorous. But it is exactly what you do if you want to avoid learning about failure modes 380,000 kilometers from home. And this matters because Artemis is not Apollo. Apollo was a sprint with geopolitical adrenaline. Artemis is supposed to be infrastructure.

Editor's Note: I think this Artemis shift is a step toward increased reliance on Starship/Super-Heavy and New Glenn as heavy-lift carriers for lunar base development. I would also expect Congressional pressure to maintain a 3-4 per-year launch cadence for the SLS Block 1X. (2/28)

Bill Seeks to Reauthorize SBIR/STTR Program for Small Businesses (Source: SBIR.org)
After months of uncertainty, a bipartisan Senate draft bill could restart SBIR and STTR programs, with new restrictions. The government-wide program's authorization was allowed to lapse under the current administration. The bill would reauthorize the programs through 2031, ending the current lapse in funding for what has been widely viewed as a successful program for facilitating small business growth in key technologies, and enabling university-small business partnerships.

The bill would cap how many Phase I and Phase II proposals any one firm can submit each year, a major strategic shift for high-volume applicants. The bill also would tighten rules for corporate ownership, cybersecurity, and foreign ties. Editor's Note: DoD and NASA have used these programs extensively, with DoD leveraging SBIRs to accelerate acquisitions of key commercial space capabilities. (2/28)