March 5, 2026

The UK Will Invest £20 Million to Accelerate Spaceport Development in Scotland (Source: European Spaceflight)
The United Kingdom has announced a new £500 million spending package to support its space sector, including £20 million to support the development of spaceport infrastructure in Scotland. The largest commitments included in the package were £105 million to develop civil capabilities for in-orbit servicing and manufacturing, £85 million to develop the National Space Operations Centre, and £80 million to deliver the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit program. (3/5)

Sierra Space Raises $550 Million for NatSec Space (Source: Space News)
Sierra Space raised $550 million to support its new focus on national security space. The Series C round valued the company at $8 billion. The company says the new funding will allow it to "further focus on its national security space efforts." Sierra Space was spun out of Sierra Nevada Corporation in 2021 and was initially devoted to development of the Dream Chaser spaceplane. In recent years, the company has expanded into the defense market, including winning contracts to build missile-tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency. Sierra Space recently hired longtime industry executive Dan Jablonsky as its CEO. (3/5)

Vast Raises $500 Million for Space Station (Source: Space News)
Commercial space station developer Vast raised $500 million. The company announced Thursday it raised $300 million in a Series A equity round and $200 million in debt. Vast will use the funding to accelerate work on its Haven line of commercial space stations, starting with the single-module Haven-1 launching in 2027 and the Haven-2 multi-module station proposed for NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program. Vast had been funded until now by its founder, cryptocurrency billionaire Jed McCaleb, who also participated in the round. (3/5)

Canada's Telus Takes Stake in AST (Source: Space News)
Canadian telco Telus has agreed to take a stake in AST SpaceMobile to support its direct-to-smartphone network. As part of the deal, Telus will invest in ground infrastructure needed to connect subscribers to AST Space Mobile's constellation. The partnership follows a similar agreement with Bell, another of Canada's three dominant wireless carriers, which first partnered with AST SpaceMobile in 2021 and backs the company through its corporate venture arm. AST announced several other partnerships this week with mobile network operators in Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan. AST SpaceMobile plans to deploy at least 45 BlueBird Block 2 satellites by the end of 2026, with intermittent services expected in some markets following the deployment of its first 25 spacecraft. (3/5)

SPACs Return to Space (Source: Space News)
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are making a comeback in the space industry. Several space companies used SPACs to go public five years ago, but many of those companies set financial targets that they could not meet, causing investor interest in SPACs to sour. However, SPACs have shown signs of life recently with some deals as well as plans to fund new SPACs focused on the space industry. The difference, investors argue, is that the space industry is more mature and there is a greater appreciation among the broader investment community about the importance of space. (3/5)

NASA May Use Vulcan Upper Stage for SLS (Source: Bloomberg)
NASA intends to select United Launch Alliance to provide a critical component for future missions of the agency’s moon rocket, according to people familiar with the matter, replacing planned Boeing-built hardware as costs ballooned to $2.8 billion. Boeing — which manufactures the core of NASA’s massive Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket — also holds a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to create an upgraded version of the vehicle. (3/4)

Senate Bill Would Standardize SLS With Different Upper Stage, Extend ISS (Source: Space News)
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced a NASA authorization bill that would implement some of NASA's proposed changes to Artemis. The committee approved by a voice vote Wednesday a bill allowing NASA to replace the Exploration Upper Stage planned for future versions of the Space Launch System with an alternative. NASA announced last week it planned to do this to "standardize" on an SLS design similar to the current Block 1. The bill would also authorize NASA to develop a lunar base, but with few details on cost and schedule. Other provisions of the bill include a two-year extension of the International Space Station's life to 2032 and a restructuring of the Mars Sample Return program. The bill did not include a rumored provision that would have limited any single launch company to no more than 50% of NASA launch contracts in any year.  (3/5)

Space Force Needs More Personnel and Training (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is seeking more personnel and training resources. Gen. Shawn Bratton, vice chief of space operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the service needs to double its size and increase training facilities in the coming years to deal with growing threats to space assets. The Space Force currently has about 10,000 uniformed guardians and roughly 5,000 civilian employees. Bratton noted that training exercises and war games are increasingly focused on integrating space capabilities with broader military operations. (3/5)

Space One's Third Kairos Launch Fails After Liftoff (Source: Space News)
The third launch of Japan's Kairos small launch vehicle failed Wednesday night. The rocket lifted off from Spaceport Kii in southern Honshu. About 70 seconds after liftoff, though, there appeared to be an explosion, with the rocket breaking up into several fragments. Space One, the company that operates Kairos, said that the flight termination system of the rocket was activated. Officials did not disclose additional details. This was the third launch, and third failure, of Kairos, a solid-fuel rocket designed to place up to 150 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit. (3/5)

UK's Mutable Tactics Gets $2.1M From Seraphim for UAS (Source: Space News)
British startup Mutable Tactics has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to enable drones to operate autonomously even without access to satellite communications and navigation. The funding round was led by Seraphim Space, which sees the technology as strengthening the resilience of space-enabled capabilities that its investments often rely on. Mutable Tactics plans to use the funds to expand its engineering team and accelerate software development for a range of unmanned systems, including aerial, maritime and ground drones. (3/5)

Foushee Wins NC Dem Primary, Virts Loses TX Dem Primary (Sources: New York Times, Texas Tribune)
The ranking member of the House Science Committee's space subcommittee survived a primary challenge. Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) narrowly defeated Nida Allam in a Democratic primary this week, with Allam conceding on Wednesday. Foushee, first elected in 2022, currently serves as the top Democrat on the space subcommittee. In Texas, former astronaut Terry Virts lost his bid to win the Democratic nomination for a House district in the Houston area. Virts finished third in the primary. (3/5)

UAP Info Release Not a Space Command Thing (Source: Ars Technica)
If the truth is out there, the head of Space Command doesn't know about it. President Trump ordered the release last month of government information about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and alien life. Those disclosures have not started yet, and asked about them at a conference recently, Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, said he had never seen any data from military tracking networks of anything other than natural phenomena and human-made objects in space. He added, though, that he was "fascinated" by the topic, "and if something's revealed, I'll be interested as an American citizen." (3/5)

The Promise of Lower Launch Prices is Still Far Off (Source: Payload)
We were promised a world of lower launch prices. Instead, we keep drifting in the opposite direction. SpaceX recently increased launch prices from $70M to $74M for a dedicated Falcon 9 ride and  $6,500/kg to $7,000/kg for a rideshare slot. The company has long signaled a steady pace of price bumps, so the move does not come as a surprise.

Nonetheless, the increase (along with the lack of real alternatives) highlights a tough truth in the industry: Access to orbit has gotten significantly more expensive in recent years despite all the hoopla and hopium of falling launch prices. Rather than the more price-insensitive dedicated missions, rideshare pricing is the far more important number to track here.

Without a price-competitive alternative, the broader space startup community has relied almost exclusively on Falcon 9 Transporter and Bandwagon missions to get to space over the last five years. It's the 40% increase in rideshare prices that is felt far more acutely throughout the industry. Editor's Note: Now that SpaceX has suppressed most of the small launch market with low-cost rideshares, the pricing rises before their financials become public after their IPO. (3/4)

Virgin Galactic Seeks Space Tourism Revival After Bezos Retreat (Source: Bloomberg)
Richard Branson said Virgin Galactic Holdings wants to capitalize on opportunities created by Jeff Bezos-backed rival Blue Origin’s decision to halt trips to space for tourists. Blue Origin’s January announcement that it’s suspending space tourism flights leaves Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson, as the only major company still focused on customers willing to pay big sums to experience weightlessness during short flights to space. (3/5)

MDA Space Hits Record $1.6 Billion Revenue as Defense Business Expands (Source: SpaceQ)
MDA highlighted its backlog of $4 billion at quarter-end, its record quarterly revenues of $499 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $96 million as indications of a strong year. Overall in fiscal 2025, the company posted record revenues of $1.6 billion (up 51% year-over-year), record adjusted EBITDA of $324 million (up 49% year-over-year) and adjusted net income of $190 million (up 71% year-over-year). In fiscal 2026, MDA expects revenues between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. (3/4)

Canada and India Move to Update Decades-Old Space Ties (Source: SpaceQ)
Amid a broad push to normalize diplomatic ties and double bilateral trade, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signaled that space remains a quiet but consistent part of the Canada-India relationship. While the centerpiece of the “Next Level Partnership” focused on high-level security and economic cooperation, the two leaders marked the 30th anniversary of space collaboration by committing to new joint ventures in space exploration and quantum technologies—reaffirming a technical alliance that has persisted even during periods of diplomatic strain. (3/4)

Space is Canada’s Sovereignty Infrastructure (Source: SpaceQ)
For many, the word evokes astronauts, moon landings, and science fiction. It feels distant. Fascinating, even inspiring, but ultimately removed from daily life on the ground. That mental model is now badly out of date. Space has quietly become critical national infrastructure. Canada’s economic resilience, national security, and sovereign decision-making increasingly depend on systems operating hundreds or thousands of kilometers above our heads.

Canadian military leadership has been clear about the stakes. Brigadier-General Christopher Horner, commander of 3 Canadian Space Division, put it plainly: “Access and assured access to space are a requirement of a sovereign, independent nation.” That is not rhetoric. It is strategic reality. (3/5)

UK Space Firms to Scale-Up and Thrive in Britain with Government Backing for Bolder Strategy (Source: Gov.UK)
UK Minister Liz Lloyd set out a clear vision to make Britain a competitive, agile space power. A major package of investment and reform will ensure public funding is focused more sharply on four areas that drive economic growth and national security outcomes: Satellite Communications; In Orbit Servicing, In-Space Assembly and Manufacturing; Space Domain Awareness; and Launch for assured access to space.

A range of practical tools and support schemes for high-potential companies will complement the record levels of public funding available, to improve access to finance, develop the skills and talent pipeline, and ensure space regulation and standards keep pace with innovation. Ministers are also open to using the government’s buying power to help British space firms scale faster – driving growth, boosting revenues and bolstering national security and defense. (3/4)

Boca Chica Beach Could Be Renamed ‘Cyber Beach’ (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
Federal officials are considering a Mississippi man’s bid to rename Boca Chica Beach as Cyber Beach. The 3½-mile-long beach runs north from the mouth of the Rio Grande River adjacent to SpaceX’s city of Starbase. It has been listed as Boca Chica Beach in official records since 1936, but Josh Hazel of Mississippi wants it changed to “Cyber Beach”.

He’s part of a group of SpaceX and Elon Musk fans who meet up at the beach with their Austin-made Tesla pickups in the days leading up to Starship launches. They camp at the beach and have hosted light shows with the stainless-steel trucks. “We are proposing (that Boca Chica Beach) be renamed ‘Cyber Beach’ to commemorate the location where inter-planetary travel was started,” he wrote to the U.S. Geological Survey’s office responsible for naming places. (3/4)

Texas Supreme Court Hearing on SpaceX Beach Closures This Week (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
Elon Musk’s space city in South Texas won’t be closing a nearby public beach any time soon for tests or launches of SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket. The Texas Supreme Court delayed a February hearing about whether the city of Starbase — which is led by SpaceX employees — can periodically close Boca Chica Beach and Texas 4 for its operations. The high court moved oral arguments on the long-running case to March 5.

The authority to temporarily close the 8-mile-long beach east of Brownsville previously sat with Cameron County leaders but state lawmakers  passed House Bill 2623 last year, clearing the way for state’s Space Commission to delegate closure powers to the 9-month-old city. The case landed in Texas Supreme Court in June after a state appeals court sided with the plaintiffs, a coalition of environmental and native groups, early last year. The coalition is arguing that SpaceX’s recurring closures of Boca Chica Beach for Starship testing violates the Open Beaches Amendment to the Texas Constitution. (1/12)

Vandenberg SFB Conducts ICBM Test Launch (Source: Noozhawk)
The military conducted a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III missile equipped with two mock warheads late Tuesday night for Vandenberg Space Force Base’s 14th launch of 2026. The three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile popped out of an underground silo on North Base at the opening of a six-hour launch window for the mission dubbed Glory Trip 255, or GT 255. After leaving Vandenberg, the weapon and its two mock warheads or re-entry vehicles traveled to predetermined targets in the Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,200 miles southwest of the Central Coast. (3/4)

NASA to Borrow Private Sector Workers (Source: NASA)
NASA unveiled a new initiative Wednesday to bring in private-sector employees for short-term assignments. NASA Force, part of the Office of Personnel Management's Tech Force program, will allow the agency to hire "high-impact technical talent" for as long as two years to work on key NASA projects. NASA announced last month its intent to participate in the Tech Force program as part of other workforce initiatives that include reducing reliance on contractors. It comes after 20% of NASA's civil servant workforce left the agency last year. (3/5)

NASA Fired its Economists. It Desperately Needs to Bring Them Back (Source: The Hill)
The Trump administration has talked a big game about ushering in a “new space age” as China threatens to beat us back to the moon and national security risks grow in space. To achieve these goals, the White House said it would “unleash” the innovation and know-how of the commercial space industry. It is a good bipartisan idea — one that took off in earnest under President Barack Obama — to enlist commercial players to modernize our space program.

Unfortunately, it’s clear that the administration has already shot itself in the foot by allowing DOGE to eliminate one obscure but important team. That would be NASA’s Office of the Chief Economist, which the agency relied on for an independent understanding of the commercial space market. If NASA wanted to land cargo on the moon, for instance, its economists were the ones who would figure out whether it made sense to lean on the commercial space sector, which would require a market for those services beyond the government, or if it would be prudent to rely on a traditional contractor. (3/4)

NASA Starts Recruiting Drive After Musk’s DOGE Thinned Agency (Source: Bloomberg)
NASA and the Office of Personnel Management have announced a push to recruit engineers and technologists less than a year after the space agency lost thousands of employees as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. The initiative, called NASA Force, will “identify and place high-impact technical talent into mission-critical roles,” according to a NASA statement Wednesday. (3/4)

ENPULSION Secures €22.5 Million Investment to Expand US Market Presence (Source: Spacewatch Global)
ENPULSION has secured €22.5 million in growth funding led by Nordwind Growth, marking a pivotal milestone in the company's strategy to strengthen its global leadership in space mobility and expand its footprint in the US space industry. The new funding will fuel the company's global growth strategy, including scaling production capacity, advancing next-generation space mobility systems, and deepening market penetration in the United States. (3/5)

Mynaric Wins ESA Contract to Develop Optical Communications Technology for HydRON Project (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The European Space Agency has awarded Mynaric with a contract to build a laser communications Demonstration System for its High Throughput Optical Network (HydRON) project. The HydRON project aims to bolster the resilience of European communications infrastructure by deploying a high capacity, secure and interoperable optical data relay network across low and medium Earth orbits. (3/5)

China to Test Capsule Further, Attempt Booster Recoveries on Land and Sea (Source: NSF)
China is set to perform additional testing of its Mengzhou crew capsule following a successful splashdown test last month. Meanwhile, both commercial and state-owned launch providers are moving closer to attempting propulsive landings of first-stage boosters on land and at sea, as the country seeks to secure its first successful recovery of an orbital-class booster. Following the successful in-flight abort test of the Mengzhou capsule on Feb. 11th, the spacecraft will remain in Hainan province to conduct further tests at sea, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). (3/4)

HawkEye 360 Adds $23M to Series E Funding (Source: Via Satellite)
HawkEye 360 has raised a further $23 million. This comes after HawkEye 360 raised a mix of debt and equity financing valued at $150 million to support the acquisition of Innovative Signals Analysis (ISA) in December of 2025. The company said it will use this new capital to strengthen its balance sheet and continue the integration of Innovative Signal Analysis (ISA). (3/4)

Danish Mani Mission to Map Moon in 3D (Source: Space Daily)
The University of Copenhagen will lead Denmark's first lunar mission, an ESAS project that will map the Moon's surface in three dimensions to support future landings and base construction. The Mani satellite will orbit the Moon's north and south polar regions, acquiring high-resolution images that can be combined into detailed elevation models. By imaging the same areas from several viewing angles and tracking the resulting shadows, the mission team will calculate elevation differences, slopes, and small-scale terrain features that are not resolved in current datasets. (3/5)

Lunar Spacecraft Exhaust Could Obscure Clues to Origins of Life (Source: Space Daily)
Over half of the exhaust methane from lunar spacecraft could end up contaminating areas of the moon that might otherwise yield clues about the origins of earthly life, according to a recent study. The pollution could unfold rapidly regardless of a spacecraft's touchdown site; even for a landing at the South Pole, methane molecules may "hop" across the lunar surface to the North Pole in under two lunar days.

As interest in lunar exploration resurges among governments, private companies and NGOs, the study authors wrote, it becomes crucial to understand how exploration may impact research opportunities. This knowledge can help inform the creation of planetary protection strategies for the lunar environment, as well as lunar missions designed to minimize impact on that environment - and the clues about our past it may contain. (3/5)

Korean Origami Style Lunar Rover Wheel Expands to Climb Steep Caves (Source: Space Daily)
A joint team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory UEL has developed a transformable airless wheel designed to help small rovers access steep lunar pits and lava tubes. The wheel targets subsurface sites considered promising for future human habitats because they shield against cosmic radiation and extreme temperature swings.

The study introduces an origami inspired deployable wheel that can change its diameter to overcome obstacles that would halt conventional fixed geometry rover wheels, and the research appears in the December issue of Science Robotics. The concept supports mission architectures that use multiple small rovers instead of a single large vehicle, providing redundancy so exploration can continue even if some units fail. (3/5)

Redwire, Rocket Lab, and Starpath Push New Solar Array Products as Space Power Demand Broadens (Source: Mach 33)
A cluster of announcements highlights a supply chain that is starting to optimize for bigger power-hungry missions. Redwire unveiled a new solar array product positioned around higher performance per stowed volume and lower mass, while Rocket Lab introduced silicon solar arrays explicitly marketed for gigawatt-class “space-based data centers.” Separately, Starpath rolled out its ultra-thin Starlight Air panel line, emphasizing lightweight construction and manufacturability.

For orbital compute, power is the first-order constraint, and solar is the front door. What is changing is not “a new panel,” it is that multiple vendors are now designing for scale economics (cost per watt, mass per watt, stowage, production throughput) instead of bespoke heritage hardware. This is an early sign that the industry is reorganizing around a credible demand thesis for higher-power spacecraft. (3/4)

SpaceX Keeps Widening the Starlink Lead with Bicoastal Launch Cadence (Source: Mach 33)
SpaceX executed two Starlink launches in one day, one from Vandenberg and another from Cape Canaveral, pushing another 54 satellites into orbit. Both boosters landed successfully, with reuse milestones that underline just how operationally mature Falcon 9 has become. This is the moat in plain sight: manufacturing throughput + launch availability + flight-proven reuse. Even if competitors build comparable satellites, they still have to replicate the cadence engine that keeps Starlink’s deployment tempo relentless and its constellation refresh cycle tight. (3/1)

Europe Proposes Starship Alternative With Wings and Mid-Air Recovery (Source: Extreme Tech)
Starship might be running late, but it's still likely to be the most capable heavy-lift launch vehicle when it's ready. Europeans looking to develop an alternative that isn't governed by America or the whims of SpaceX's CEO have suggested a similar design could be made to deliver a new European-centric heavy-lift vehicle with similar reusable properties. The RLV C5 design was proposed by researchers at the German Aerospace Center.

The RLV C5 lift vehicle would use a fully-reusable first-stage booster from the German Aerospace Center's SpaceLiner sub-orbital concept, with an expendable upper stage. This would require less fuel to carry it into orbit, allowing it to maximize payload—potentially carrying as much as 77 US tons into orbit. Recovery would be very different from Starship, though. RLV C5 would instead descend into the atmosphere using wings to slow itself to sub-orbital speeds. At the appropriate speed and altitude, it would then be captured by a large, subsonic craft. (3/4)

Nigeria Releases Funds for Space Asset Maintenance (Source: Business Day)
President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, directed relevant authorities to immediately release funds for the maintenance of Nigeria’s space assets, in line with relevant national space policies. This is just as the President reiterated his Administration’s commitment to the realization of Nigeria’s space policy and program as enshrined in the revised 25-year roadmap for space development. (3/3)

NASA Targets April 1 for Artemis II Launch (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA is not expected to return the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to the launch pad until later this month. Inside the VAB, technicians will complete several other tasks to “refresh” the rocket for the next series of launch opportunities. This work will include activating a new set of flight termination system batteries for the rocket’s range safety destruct system. Workers will also replace flight batteries on the SLS core stage, upper stage, and solid rocket boosters, and recharge the batteries on the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system, NASA said.

At the bottom of the rocket, crews will replace a seal on the core stage liquid oxygen feed line. NASA has not said whether the launch team will conduct another countdown rehearsal after it returns to Launch Complex 39B. The first of five launch opportunities in early April is on April 1, with a two-hour launch window opening at 6:24 pm EDT. (3/3)

Infinite Orbits Goes on Spending Spree After Securing €40 Million (Source: European Spaceflight)
In less than a week, Infinite Orbits announced two acquisitions, agreeing to purchase LMO’s Luxembourg-based operations in late February and UK-based Lúnasa Space in early March. The back-to-back deals come less than four months after the company closed an oversubscribed €40 million financing round in November 2025.

Toulouse-based Infinite Orbits is developing Endurance, a satellite life-extension spacecraft, and Orbit Guard, a small spacecraft used for close-range monitoring of geostationary satellites. In 2025, the company signed agreements with European satellite operator SES to use Endurance to extend the life of one of its satellites from 2027, and with the French Directorate General for Armament to provide Orbit Guard spacecraft to monitor threats to French military assets. According to the company, its current order book totals €150 million. (3/3)

From License to Launch: What a Launch License Really Means for Reusable Infrastructure (Source: Exos)
Reusable launch cadence is not sustained by propulsion alone. It is sustained by regulatory continuity. In the United States, commercial reusable launch vehicle operations require authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

For reusable vehicles, that authority has historically operated under 14 CFR Part 431. Today, it is transitioning to 14 CFR Part 450, the FAA’s consolidated, performance-based licensing framework. Understanding what that shift means is essential for anyone depending on repeatable access to flight. Click here. (3/4)