People will be living and working on the moon within the next decade, according to the boss of space tech company Voyager Technologies. “We’ll have humans on the moon by the end of the 2020s, and we’ll have some lunar base — it’ll probably be an inflatable habitat with some life support,” said the firm’s chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor. Voyager went public in June and is widely known for its Starlab project that is set to replace the International Space Station, which is slated to be retired in 2030. (4/24)
India's First Private Orbital Rocket Vikram-1 Inches Closer To Launch (Source: The Hindu)
Skyroot Aerospace’s orbital rocket Vikram-I capable of launching satellites, was flagged off from the spacetech startup’s facility in Hyderabad on Saturday by Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to Sriharikota, from where it is likely to be launched, to space, in June. Designed and developed in Hyderabad, the rocket, the first such privately developed in India, is 23-meter tall or the height of a seven storey building. It can carry a payload of 300 kgs though the company plans to have smaller payloads during the initial launches. (4/25)
Sonic Booms in Store Monday Morning with 1st SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Since 2024 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Central Florida could be in store for pair of double sonic booms Monday morning with the planned returned landing of both of the side boosters for the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch since 2024. The company is targeting an 85-minute launch window that opens at 10:21 a.m. for the heavy-lift rocket flying on the ViaSat-3 F3 mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A. A backup window falls to Tuesday opening at 10:17 a.m. (4/26)
China Launches Pakistani Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a Pakistani satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province on Saturday. The satellite, named PRSC-EO3, was lifted off at 8:15 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-6 carrier rocket and successfully entered its planned orbit. This launch marked the 640th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series. (4/26)
China Unveils International Partners for Tianwen-3 Mars Mission (Source: Xinhua)
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday announced the results of its international collaboration selection for Tianwen-3, China's first Mars sample-return mission. Following a call for cooperation proposals in April 2025, in which the CNSA announced it would open up 20 kilograms of payload resources for international collaboration, the agency received 28 applications. Five projects were subsequently selected based on the criteria of high scientific value, effective mission support, solid engineering feasibility and high technological maturity, the CNSA said.
According to the CNSA, three scientific instruments will be carried on the orbiter. The first is a Mars PEX Spectrometer developed by a team from the Committee on Space Research Panel on Exploration. It will search for signs of life and study surface minerals. The second is a Mars Molecular Ion Composition Analyzer led by Macau University of Science and Technology, designed to study the atmospheric escape process of Mars. The third is a Laser Heterodyne Spectrometer led by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which will measure the profile distribution of water isotopes and wind fields in the Martian atmosphere.
The mission's service module will carry a Mars Terrestrial Hyperspectral Imaging Spectrometer developed by the University of Hong Kong. This instrument will look for signs of life, water-containing minerals, and help map Mars' surface resources. The lander will carry a Tianwen Laser Retroreflector Array-3 led by the National Laboratory of Frascati under the National Institute for Nuclear Physics of Italy. This device will create precise reference points on the Martian surface. (4/24)
China Issues its First Commercial Space Standard System (Source: Xinhua)
China released its first commercial space standard system on Friday, aiming to leverage standardization's guiding role in the development of the space industry and promote high-quality development of commercial space activities. The new standard system was issued by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the State Administration for Market Regulation in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, at the launch ceremony of the country's 11th Space Day that fell on Friday. The system focuses on carrier rockets, satellites, launch sites, application services and industry governance.
The system comprises six categories: industry governance, R&D and manufacturing, launch and TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking and Command), space application services, basic and common items, and facilities and equipment. It plans for over 1,000 standard items, covering international and national standards at various levels. (4/24)
Trump Ousts National Science Board Members (Source: Washington Post)
President Donald Trump terminated multiple scientists from the National Science Board, which guides the National Science Foundation. The board, established in 1950, helps govern the NSF’s $9 billion budget. The White House did not explain the dismissals. The board’s role includes advising Congress on science investments. This move follows similar changes in other federal science advisory boards since Trump’s second term began. (4/25)
The second Russian cargo mission to the ISS in 2026 lifted off from Baikonur on April 26, just 35 days after Progress MS-33 headed to the station from a repaired launch pad at Site 31. The tight schedule was designed to restore the flow of supplies to the outpost after the interruption by the launch pad accident in November 2025. (4/25)
Space Force Faces Surge in Demand for Heavy-Lift Launches (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is significantly increasing its demand for heavy-lift rocket launches, projecting a surge in national security missions through 2029, which puts immense pressure on a limited, two-provider market. With only SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) currently certified for high-priority payloads, the Space Force faces surge in demand for heavy-lift launches. (4/25)
Creotech Instruments Secures €52 Million ESA Contract to Build Polish Satellite Constellation CAMILA (Source: Creotech)
Creotech Instruments has signed the largest contract with ESA to date — a landmark €52 million agreement for the CAMILA (Country Awareness Mission in Land Analysis) satellite constellation. Under the contract, Creotech will provide a national constellation of at least three Earth observation satellites along with dedicated ground infrastructure. The contract also includes satellite launch services and the conduct of full-scale missions. This is a significant milestone not only for Poland’s rapidly growing space sector, but also for Europe’s strategic autonomy in satellite technology. (4/24)
Could Space-Based Data Centers Help Power U.S. Military Missions in the Future? (Source: Washington Times)
Data centers in space, and perhaps even on the moon, could become crucial to U.S. national security. That statement may have sounded like borderline science fiction just a few years ago. But military insiders and defense industry leaders say they believe a convergence of factors on Earth, including grass-roots political opposition, could dramatically slow the construction of the massive new data complexes needed to power today’s artificial intelligence models and other advanced technology. (4/24)
UCF, Industry Experts Share Insight on Evolution of Space Medicine (Source: UCF)
Hours before Artemis II splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean on April 10, UCF researchers, university partners, an astronaut, and the former head of NASA gathered to start developing new technologies to keep space travelers healthy. They proclaimed there is no better place than UCF, the closest medical school to Kennedy Space Center, to create a new frontier in healthcare as humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.
“You are in a global destination for medical innovation,” Michal Masternak told participants in the Star Nona 2026 event in Lake Nona’s Medical City. An anti-aging and cancer researcher at the UCF College of Medicine, Masternak organized the event as part of the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.
Space medicine is one of the council’s priorities. Deep space travel and the commercialization of space bring unique health challenges that science is just beginning to explore. The College of Medicine’s aerospace medicine program focuses on how factors such as microgravity, radiation and isolation impact the human body in space and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention for patients on Earth. (4/24)
Europe Blows Up Russian Soyuz Rocket Launch Site in French Guiana (Source: United 24)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has dismantled key elements of the launch complex used for Russian Soyuz-ST rockets at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, effectively ending the site’s operational role in joint missions with Russia. The demolition included a controlled explosion of a 52-meter mobile service tower that had been part of the Soyuz launch infrastructure. (4/25)
Chinese Satellites Over Mideast Battlefield Put U.S. on Edge (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran in late February, Chinese satellite imagery of the conflict zone has proliferated—potentially offering battlefield guidance to Tehran and other U.S. adversaries. U.S. concerns about the use of such data in the Middle East grew after the Chinese artificial-intelligence company MizarVision claimed on social media to have tracked the movements of American aircraft carriers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers by using AI to analyze satellite data. (4/23)
US Space Command: Russia is Now Operationalizing Co-Orbital ASAT Weapons (Source: Ars Technica)
After several tests of unusual “nesting doll” satellites in low-Earth orbit, Russia is now fielding operational anti-satellite weapons with valuable US government satellites in their crosshairs, the four-star general leading US Space Command said this week. Gen. Stephen Whiting didn’t name the system, but he was almost certainly referring to a Russian military program named Nivelir, which has launched four satellites shadowing US spy satellites owned by the National Reconnaissance Office in low-Earth orbit. After reaching orbit, the Nivelir satellites have released smaller ships to start their own maneuvers, and at least one of those lobbed a mystery object at high velocity during a test in 2020. (4/23)
Clouds of Water Ice Thread Stellar Nurseries in the Milky Way (Source: Science News)
A vast, frozen fog of interstellar ice has been charted across expanses of the Milky Way, poised to supply water to newborn worlds. Reaching hundreds of light-years in length, the icy clouds drape two of the galaxy’s active star-forming regions, astronomer Gary Melnick and colleagues report in the April 20 Astrophysical Journal. The findings paint the broadest picture thus far of interstellar ice’s distribution, and seem to confirm predictions that water, a key ingredient for life on Earth, occurs across huge areas of interstellar space, says Melnick, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. (4/23)
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