April 3, 2026

As Arms Agreements Fray, China Secretly Expands Its Nuclear Weapons Infrastructure (Source: CNN)
When three villagers from China’s Sichuan province wrote to local officials in 2022 asking why the government was confiscating their land and evicting them from their homes, they received a terse reply: It was a “state secret.” That secret, a CNN investigation has found, centered on China’s covert plans to massively expand its nuclear ambitions. More than three years after the evictions, satellite images show, their village has been flattened and, in its place, new buildings erected to support some of China’s most important nuclear weapons production facilities.

The expansion of the sites in Sichuan province, observed in satellite imagery and a review of dozens of Chinese government documents, supports recent claims by the administration of US President Donald Trump that Beijing has been conducting its most significant nuclear weapon modernization campaign in decades.

Earlier this year, the latest arms reduction agreement between Russia and the United States – known as New START – expired, with Trump wanting to strike a new and improved deal with Moscow that would also include China. But the dramatic changes seen at sites in Sichuan suggest that the nuclear weapons development of China’s military, known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), shows little sign of abating. (4/3)

Sovereignty Run Amok: ‘In 10 Years, 200 Nations Will Have 200 Constellations’ (Sources: Space Intel Report, Via Satellite)
“Autonomy” and “sovereignty” area among the most-used terms in space technology circles today. But what does it mean to have a “sovereign” space capacity? The German government recently decided, after months of internal debate, that Mynaric AG’s optical satellite terminal technology, developed with German government funding, is not too sovereign to prevent Mynaric’s sale to Rocket Lab, so long as a production facility remains in Munich.

Mynaric is part of Rocket Lab's $1.3 billion prime contracts with the Space Development Agency (SDA) to produce 36 satellites across the Transport Layer-Beta Tranche 2 and Tracking Layer Tranche 3 programs. It can also support Rocket Lab ambitions for commercial constellation development.

Space sovereignty has moved far beyond prestige projects or symbolic missions. Nations are designing full-spectrum portfolios: resilient multi-orbit communications, sovereign PNT, persistent intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and space domain awareness (SDA), and in some cases missile-warning and defense architectures built on massive proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) layers. (4/3)

Political Appointments Surging, Career SES Workforce Shrinking Under Trump 2.0 (Source: FNN)
The federal government has reached its highest level of political appointments in decades, while also undergoing a significant loss of career senior leadership — a combination that one organization warns will lead to poor outcomes across agencies. In a new report, the Partnership for Public Service found that the non-confirmed political appointee workforce is at its highest level in 40 years. Coupled with a nearly 30% decline in career Senior Executive Service members, the Partnership said there will be a loss of institutional knowledge, a decline in service quality and increasing political control at agencies. (4/2)

NASA LSP Gets New Acting PM (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected Jennifer Lyons as acting program manager for the agency’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Lyons will lead NASA’s acquisition and management of domestic commercial launch services for science and robotic exploration missions beginning Wednesday, April 1. Lyons will oversee mission planning, launch vehicle selection, spacecraft integration, launch processing, launch campaigns, and postlaunch activities. The program matches spacecraft with the most suitable commercial rockets and ensures mission requirements are met from early planning through launch and mission completion. It supports NASA missions that observe Earth, explore the solar system, and expand understanding of the universe. (4/2)

China's Space Pioneer Fails to Reach Orbit with Debut Tianlong-3 Launch (Source: Space News)
The first launch of the Tianlong-3 rocket by Chinese company Space Pioneer failed on Friday. The rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Eyewitness videos showed apparent problems with the rocket during its ascent, and both the company and Chinese state media later reported the launch had failed, without providing details about the failure. Tianlong-3 is a partially reusable medium-class rocket designed to place up to 22,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit. Tianlong-3 suffered an infamous static-test failure in mid-2024 when the rocket's first stage broke free and ascended several kilometers before crashing and exploding. (4/3)

Artemis 2 Maneuvers Toward Moon (Source: Space News)
Artemis 2 is headed for the moon after a maneuver Thursday evening. The Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for nearly six minutes starting at 7:49 p.m. Eastern on its translunar injection burn. That maneuver put Orion on a free-return trajectory around the moon, with the closest approach occurring April 6. NASA officials said Thursday evening that the spacecraft is working well, with only minor technical issues being worked by the crew. Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission to fly to the vicinity of the moon since Apollo 17 in late 1972. (4/3)

Raytheon Gets $45.3 Million More for Troubled GPS Ground Ops Program (Source: Space News)
Raytheon won a $45.3 million contract modification for GPS satellite ground operations, even as officials weigh scaling back the program. The modification, announced Thursday, is intended to ensure the checkout of the next GPS satellite scheduled for launch later this month. The contract comes amid indications the Defense Department does not plan to continue full development of Raytheon's OCX ground system after years of delays and rising costs. Instead, officials are considering integrating portions of the Raytheon-developed software into the existing GPS ground system, known as the Architecture Evolution Plan, or AEP. To date, the Pentagon has awarded Raytheon nearly $4.6 billion for OCX development over roughly 15 years. (4/3)

SDA Sees Intersatellite Links as Bottleneck for Tracking Layer Constellation (Source: Space News)
Optical terminals for intersatellite links have become a bottleneck in the development of the Space Development Agency's satellite constellation. When 21 Lockheed Martin satellites for the Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer Tranche 1 launched in October, each carried three laser communication terminals instead of the planned four because of the limited supply of the terminals. The supply challenge persists despite the agency placing orders for Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites more than four years ago, highlighting the difficulty of scaling production of a component that has historically been built in small numbers. SDA acting director Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo acknowledged the constraint at a conference this week, describing optical terminals as an ongoing bottleneck in the agency's push to deploy a large constellation. (4/3)

Amazon and SpaceX Argue to FCC Over Constellation Collision Risks (Source: Space News)
Amazon and SpaceX are arguing over whether deployment of Amazon Leo satellites poses a space safety risk. In a letter to the FCC Wednesday, SpaceX alleged that Amazon was inserting its broadband satellites into higher orbits than outlined in its FCC license. A February Ariane 6 launch of 32 Amazon Leo satellites put them into high orbits that SpaceX claimed created "unmitigable collision risks" for other satellites, requiring 30 collision avoidance maneuvers by Starlink spacecraft. Amazon Leo, in a response Thursday, said it is complying with rules and best practices, and noted that SpaceX complained only after it started moving Starlink satellites into lower orbits. Amazon said it is working with its launch providers on revised deployment plans to insert satellites into lower orbits. (4/3)

SpaceX Launches 29 More Starlink Satellites on Thursday From Florida (Source: Spectrum News)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Thursday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and placed 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 15th for this Falcon 9 first stage. (4/3)

SpaceX Seeks $1.75 Trillion Valuation From IPO (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX has raised the valuation it is seeking in its upcoming IPO. The company, which previously targeted a $1.75 trillion valuation, is now seeking a valuation of more than $2 trillion when it goes public, likely in June. A $2 trillion valuation would make SpaceX bigger than all but five publicly traded companies in the S&P 500: Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. (4/3)

Vice to Lead Astrion (Source: Space News)
Former Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice is the new CEO of defense contractor Astrion. The company said Thursday it hired Vice as CEO and executive chair. He succeeds Dave Zolet, who has led Astrion since its formation in 2023. Astrion was created through the merger of engineering firms ERC and Oasis Systems; it later absorbed Axient, a space-focused contractor, in 2024. Astrion is working to grow its space-related business lines, including systems engineering and integration work tied to U.S. military and civil space programs. (4/3)

Swift Reorients to Accommodate Katalyst Reboost (Source: Space News)
A change in operations of NASA's Swift spacecraft has bought more time for a reboost mission. NASA awarded a contract last fall to Katalyst Space for a mission to reboost the Swift spacecraft, a gamma-ray observatory whose low Earth orbit is decaying. That reboost mission is scheduled to launch in June, but analyses earlier this year revealed there was a chance Swift's orbit would fall too low for that mission to work before it could launch. Spacecraft controllers have reoriented the spacecraft in its orbit to reduce drag, slowing its descent and providing a few months of schedule margin for the reboost mission. That reorientation, though, means that most of its instruments cannot operate since the spacecraft cannot reorient itself to observe targets. (4/3)

China’s Aiming for the Moon, and NASA Is Looking Over Its Shoulder (Source: New York Times)
More than half a century after the United States put humans on the moon, it is once again locked in a space race. This one is with China. Both the United States and China want to build outposts around the moon’s south pole and hope to tap frozen water, hydrogen and helium there. Both countries plan to build nuclear reactors to power lunar bases from which they can launch missions into deep space. It is a new frontier, and whoever gets there first will have a big say in setting the rules. (4/3)

Even Artemis II Astronauts Have Microsoft Outlook Problems (Source: WIRED)
About seven hours into the flight of Artemis II, Commander Reid Wiseman experienced something many earthbound Microsoft users know all too well: his Outlook email stopped working. Speaking with mission control in Houston, Commander Wiseman can be heard saying that he had “two Microsoft Outlooks [on his PCD], and neither one of those are working.” PCD stands for “Personal Computing Device”, which are specialized laptops or tablets, used by the Artemis astronauts to manage certain tasks, including accessing email clients, during the 10-day mission to the moon. PCDs are crucial for the four-person crew to interact with mission data and communicate during the historic lunar flyby. (4/2)

Space Force Plans to Establish HQ Staff Group as Surrogate Futures Command (Source: Breaking Defense)
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman has signed off on the creation of a new staff organization at service headquarters that would, in effect, take the place of the Space Force’s previously planned Space Futures Command. The new SF/S9 Force Design and Analysis staff group will be established on April 21 to support the Space Force chief in his “statutory role as Force Design Architect for Space for the Armed Forces,” according to a March 31 memo. (4/2)

Argotec Opens Florida Production Facility to Support Rapid, Scalable Satellite Delivery for U.S. Government and Commercial Missions (Source: Argotec)
Italy's Argotec announced the official opening of its first U.S. production facility, a state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing hub located in Melbourne on Florida's Space Coast. The new site, which is already operational, brings Argotec’s vertically integrated, highly modular production model, proven at its SpacePark facility in Italy, to the United States to support high-priority civil, defense, commercial and scientific missions.

With a planned investment of more than $25 million, the facility is designed for high-volume, rapid-turn production, enabling the assembly and integration of up to 10 HEO satellites simultaneously and with future capacity to produce one HAWK PLUS platform per month. Argotec’s HAWK PLUS combines stocked modules with the flexibility to integrate payloads at the final stage, tailoring the product to specific mission requirements. An innovative architecture for faster, more cost-effective and scalable access to space. (4/2)

The Florida Model for Sustainable Aerospace Growth (Source: Space News)
Twenty years ago, the Florida legislature created Space Florida as a public corporation and innovation connector. The state has since emerged as one of the most robust space and aerospace ecosystems in the world by prioritizing long-term foundational investments over short-term subsidies. We spoke with Robert Long, Space Florida’s president and CEO. Long is an industry veteran and retired United States Space Force colonel who most recently served as commander for Space Launch Delta 30 and Western Launch and Test Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

"Our approach is certainly founded upon really digging into a company, understanding the fundamentals and doing our due diligence. That’s targeted around ensuring that we understand not just the finances of the company, but also the infrastructure requirements. What will they need to grow? And does the state have that infrastructure in place? What are the workforce requirements? And of course, what’s the long term market outlook for the company? We want to make sure we understand all that before public dollars are committed." Click here. (4/1)

Five Times Spaceport America Made History with Space Launches (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
New Mexico isn't alien to space exploration. Southern New Mexico host Spaceport America, the first purpose-built commercial spaceport. The spaceport features a terminal hangar, thousands of feet of runway, vertical launchpads and restricted airspace. The spaceport is also the home of Virgin Galactic, who in recent years has, in competition with other commercial space entities, made strides in space tourism. Click here. (4/1)

FedDev Ontario Injects $7M Into Kepler’s High-Speed Satellite Constellation (Source: SpaceQ)
Toronto-based startup Kepler Communications has secured a $7 million federal investment to continue and commercialize its next-generation optical data relay satellite network in an effort to support Canada’s sovereign defense and space capabilities. The funding, delivered through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), comes at an important time for the company. In January, Kepler successfully launched Tranche 1 of its network, deploying 10 optical communications satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). This latest capital injection is earmarked to advance the company’s Tranche 1 engineering. (4/1)

How Iowa is Playing a Role in NASA's Return to the Moon (Source: KWWL)
The Iowa Space Grant Consortium is helping power NASA's Artemis II mission through education and research programs across the state. The consortium, made up of colleges and universities in Iowa, supports STEM initiatives and works to prepare the next generation of scientists, engineers and space leaders. Program leaders say the impact goes beyond the classroom, bringing Iowans closer to the future of space exploration. (4/1)

New Mexico Tech Firms Aid NASA’s Artemis II Launch and Safety Efforts (Source: KOB4)
While the crew of Artemis II launched from Florida with assistance from mission control in Houston, New Mexico also has a role to play in NASA’s long-awaited journey around the moon. Wednesday’s successful launch from Cape Canaveral took a coordinated effort and years of patience from teams and companies all around the world, including a couple -- Raven Defense and METIS Technology Solutions -- that are based in Albuquerque. (4/2)

White House Again Proposes Steep NASA Budget Cuts (Source: Space News)
For the second consecutive year, the White House is proposing a major budget cut for NASA that would significantly reduce the agency's science programs and the International Space Station. The top-level budget proposal included $18.8 billion for NASA, a 23% reduction from what the agency received in a final fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill in January. (4/3)