April 7, 2026

Russia Supplies Iran with Cyber Support, Spy Imagery to Hone Attacks, Ukraine Says (Source: Reuters)
Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike U.S. forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment. The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They ‌represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the U.S. launched their assault on February 28. (4/7)

DoD Strategic Capital Credit Program Could Reach $20B (Source: Defense Scoop)
The Pentagon has requested $20.2 billion for the Defense Strategic Capital Credit Program in fiscal year 2027, a huge increase from the $1.5 billion allotted for fiscal year 2026. The program, overseen by the Office of Strategic Capital, provides loans to companies working on critical technologies, such as microelectronics, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity. (4/6)

FAA Budget Outlines Effort to Hire 2.3K Controllers (Sources: MSN, Reuters)
The Federal Aviation Administration's budget proposal for 2026 includes hiring 2,300 air traffic controller trainees to address a staffing shortage, seeking $95.4 million for this. The FAA is short of 3,500 certified controllers. The FAA is also requesting $39 million to enhance aviation safety oversight and commercial space transportation compliance. (4/6)

AIA Warns of NASA Budget Cut Impacts (Source: Space Daily)
The Aerospace Industries Association is tracking NASA's budget plan with AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning warning the budget cuts threaten US leadership in space. Current plans by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman call into question funding levels for the Space Launch System, a system Fanning defends as the only human-rated launch system currently available. (4/6)

Artemis Mission Achieves Lunar Flyby (Source: Space News)
Artemis 2 is on its way home after swinging around the moon. The Orion spacecraft made its closest approach to the moon at 7 p.m. Eastern Monday, around the same time it set the record for the furthest crewed mission from Earth at 406,771 kilometers. The four astronauts spent several hours during the flyby observing the moon, reporting on their observations while also taking images for later downlinks to Earth. After the flyby, the crew also spoke with President Trump and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The Orion spacecraft is performing well and on track for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening. (4/7)

Starfish Space Raises $100 Million for Servicing Satellite Production (Source: Space News)
Starfish Space has raised more than $100 million to scale up production of satellite servicing vehicles. The company announced a Series B round Tuesday led by Point72 Ventures and co-led by Activate Capital and Shield Capital, with participation from several other new and existing investors. The Seattle-based company plans to use the funding to increase production of its Otter line of spacecraft designed for satellite life extension and deorbiting defunct spacecraft. The company has already signed several customers, such as the U.S. Space Force and satellite operator SES, for Otter missions scheduled to launch starting later this year. (4/7)

Earth Observation Companies Aim For Latency Minimization (Source: Space News)
Earth observation companies are working to rapidly deliver images from their satellites. Data latency, the time between image capture and delivery, has long been a key metric for Earth observation customers, but customers are pushing operators to decrease latency in order to obtain real-time intelligence. Two years ago, government customers called for image delivery in 60-90 minutes, but those same offices are now pushing contractors to provide data in minutes. Companies are scrutinizing every aspect of their businesses from satellite design and construction to launch, commissioning, tasking, ground-station networks and image processing. (4/7)

Spain's FOSSA Aims for Japan's Defense Market (Source: Space News)
Spanish smallsat startup FOSSA Systems is pushing into Japan's defense market after securing a local partner to expand its reach. FOSSA opened a Tokyo office and signed a distribution agreement with Kanematsu, a conglomerate with a significant presence in Japan's aerospace and defense market. FOSSA develops its satellites in-house and was initially focused on spacecraft weighing less than a kilogram to provide Internet of Things services. The company is now building larger 3U and 6U cubesats, some of which carry dedicated customer payloads for signals intelligence. FOSSA also recently joined NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to advance its dual-use commercial and government technologies. (4/7)

SpaceX Launches Monday Starlink Mission From California (Source: Noozhawk)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Monday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:50 p.m. Eastern, putting 25 Starlink satellites into orbit on the first flight of a new booster. The twilight launch created a backlit plume visible throughout much of southern California. (4/7)

SpaceX Broadens IPO Opportunities to Retail Investors (Source: Reuters)
SpaceX plans to give retail investors a bigger role in its upcoming IPO. The company is laying out plans for its initial public offering, including a traditional "roadshow" of presentations to institutional investors scheduled for early June. However, SpaceX also plans to give smaller retail investors an opportunity to participate in the IPO, with up to 30% of the shares available for sale to them. SpaceX will host 1,500 retail investors at an event after the IPO roadshow. (4/7)

Russian Space Chief Plans Isaacman Meeting This Summer (Source: TASS)
The head of Roscosmos says he is preparing to meet with NASA Administrator Isaacman this summer. Dmitry Bakanov said Monday he expected a face-to-face meeting with Isaacman this summer after a brief video conference earlier this year. Isaacman said in February that he planned to attend the next Soyuz crewed launch to the International Space Station in July, which would be the first time a NASA administrator has gone to a Soyuz launch since 2018. Bakanov said that, at the upcoming meeting, he hopes to discuss "the future prospects of our cooperation." (4/7)

European Investment Bank Signs $34.6M Loan Facility with PLD Space, Bringing PLD Funding to $438M (Source: Space Intel Report)
The European Investment Bank (EIB), continuing to make good on a pledge to European governments to increase its support for startup space ventures, signed a venture-debt commitment of 30 million euros ($34.6 million) with startup launch provider PLD Space of Spain. PLD, which concluded a 180-million-euro Series C financing round in March, said it will use the EIB funds to bring its Miura 5 rocket into final development. The vehicle is scheduled to make its inaugural orbital flight this year from Europe. (4/7)

JAXA Plans To Bring Back Pristine Early Solar System Samples From A Comet (Source: Universe Today)
Japan’s space agency, JAXA, has been knocking it out of the park with small-body exploration missions for decades. They had historic successes with both Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, and they are going to visit the Martian Moons soon with the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. But after that, they are aiming for something much more pristine and arguably more difficult - a comet. The Next Generation Small-Body Return (NGSR) was recently described in a paper at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), and is under assessment as a large-class mission for the 2030s.

Its main target is the comet 289P/Blanpain, a unique comet that has an interesting history. It was originally discovered in 1819, but was then considered “lost” for two centuries, eventually being rediscovered in 2003. Originally it was mis-identified as a near-Earth asteroid due to its relatively low activity, but was confirmed as a comet after it had an unexpected outburst of activity in 2013. It’s extremely small, with an estimated 160 meter radius. But the most important feature is its relatively low rate of gas and dust production - making it a much safer environment for NGSR to perform proximity operations in than an actively erupting larger comet. (4/7)

Nigeria Announces Plans to Launch Two New NIGCOMSAT Communications Satellite by 2029 (Source: Spacewatch Global)
The Nigerian Federal Government has announced plans to launch two new communications satellite in 2028 and 2029, as the country's operational satellite, NIGCOMSAT-1R nears the end of its lifespan. The new satellites, NIGCOMSAT-2A and NIGCOMSAT-2B, will accelerate the country's plans to strengthen security and expand digital connectivity. (4/7)

The Exploration Company Completes Nyx Test Model Pressure Tests (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Exploration Company has completed initial testing of the pressurized structure for its Nyx Structural Test Model (STM). The structure was manufactured by CNIM Systèmes Industriels in France. The Exploration Company is developing a modular space capsule called Nyx that will initially be used to transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Later versions are intended for lunar cargo missions and potential crew transport to and from orbit. (4/7)

Space Force Requests More Than $8 Billion For Space-Based AMTI (Source: Defense Daily)
While the Space Force has said it views the fielding of space-based ground moving target indication (GMTI) as preceding operational air moving target indication (AMTI) satellites, the service's fiscal 2027 budget suggests a possible reversal of roles. The Space Force asks for more than $7 billion in procurement for AMTI in fiscal 2027 versus $1 billion for GMTI. (4/7)

NASA KSC's "Take a Student to Work Day" is on April 23 (Source: NASA)
NASA KSC employees can bring up to five students to the space center on April 23. Students must stay with the employee for the entire duration of the event. They must be registered by April 17 to participate. Click here. (4/7)

What Should Be Jared Isaacman’s Top Priority for NASA? (Source: Aerospace America)
First, NASA must return to the moon by 2028 ahead of China. A sustainable lunar presence is not about landing astronauts once; it is about building the infrastructure, systems and partnerships that will allow humanity to thrive beyond Earth. The moon is where we perfect the technology and establish the operating cadence that makes deep-space exploration possible. This includes life support, surface power, communications, navigation systems and lander vehicles that are robust and resilient enough to withstand the moon’s two-week-long night, craters and other low-lying areas that experience almost permanent darkness. These areas are the proving ground that prepares us for the next big frontiers, including Mars. (3/30)

The Age Of Space Maneuver Warfare Is Imminent (Source: Forbes)
In 1944, Major General James Doolittle was touring a subordinate unit when he saw a sign on a wall: “The first duty of Eighth Air Force fighters is to bring the bombers back alive.” Doolittle ordered the sign to be taken down. A new sign read: “The first duty of Eighth Air Force fighters is to destroy German fighters.” From that small change grew a new strategy. This pivot from bomber support to air superiority — taking the fight to the enemy — led to the destruction of German airpower. Doolittle later assessed, “this was the most important and far-reaching military decision I made during the war.”

For the last few decades, the “first duty” of military space professionals has been to deliver space effects down to the terrestrial domains in the form of space support. We achieved this with satellites operating in fixed, static orbits (an operational design approach known as positional space operations) relatively close to Earth. This is still a vital and enduring mandate for the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. But as adversary threats in and from space proliferate, the first duty of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command will shift — just as Doolittle’s fighters did, with a primary focus of deterring and defeating adversaries within that domain.

This cannot happen without an equally fundamental paradigm shift from a traditional positional approach to space operations to a more dynamic one best described as space maneuver warfare. (4/7)

Louisiana Creating Incentives to Attract Space Companies (Source: Shreveport Bossier-Advocate)
Lawmakers on Tuesday will begin taking up a wide-ranging package of incentives designed to attract aerospace companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to Louisiana. The legislation, filed by House leadership just hours before last week’s deadline for filing new bills, would make companies that build, launch and service rockets in the state eligible for massive sales and property tax breaks, shield them from lawsuits over injury, environmental damage and loss of property values, and exempt them from public records laws.

The bills, filed by Republican Reps. Jack McFarland of Jonesboro, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and Tony Bacala of Prairieville, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, are generating considerable buzz around the State Capitol, where they took some by surprise. Editor's Note: The incentives include a 20+ year state/local tax rebate on machinery, equipment, materials and services used in aerospace facilities, after a $1 billion capital investment and 200 new full-time jobs; also, an expansion of an ~80% property tax abatement for up to 10 years; and liability protections aimed at limiting lawsuits for various aerospace activities. (4/7)

House Space Subcommittee Chair on Extending ISS, Fostering Commercial LEO Market (Source: Aerospace America)
As chair of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, Haridopolos is in a position to influence future commercial growth and NASA’s long-term priorities. This subset of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, which oversees NASA, is often where discussions about the agency’s budget and broader U.S. space policy begin. Most recently, the subcommittee held a March 25 hearing about NASA’s plan to retire the ISS at the end of the decade and transition to privately owned and operated stations in low-Earth orbit. Click here. (4/6)

Billionaire NASA Chief Who’s Been to Space Twice Says Critics of Billionaire Space Travel are ‘Outright Wrong’ (Source: Fortune)
The billionaire leader of NASA, who has gone to space twice, has a message for critics of billionaire space travel: You’re “outright wrong.” Jared Isaacman defended private space exploration, also calling critics "ill-informed”. He argued that commercial efforts by leaders like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are vital for technological progress, including planetary defense, and that society should not "pause" innovation. (4/7)

America May Be the Greatest in Space Travel — but the Average American Can Barely Afford Milk (Source: New York Post)
We're off to the moon. It’s costing trillions of jillions. Great. Terrific. Hooray to America. We don’t all have bread but we’re getting AI. Another $4 and you could buy milk. I know we must get there before Syria, Venezuela or some rat-infested land zooms into Lunar Lane before us. USA needed to figure how to schlep to the moon before anyone else. I understand that. Forget how about let’s first spruce up what once was San Francisco. Or maybe Chicago.

We are the elderly, the infirm, children’s schools failing, rumbling crumbling apartments, high prices, limited food, huge taxes, Cape Canaveral and a smelly john. I bet had Donald been on board, he’d have had his recently canned lady lawyer book a zeppelin to schlep up there and fix it. (4/6)

Arizona's 'Nursery for Astronauts' Helping Shape NASA's Mission to Return to Moon (Source: Fox 10 Phoenix)
The four Artemis 2 astronauts, along with all who came before them, trained right here in Arizona. The USGS used explosives at Cinder Lake to create a crater field that mimicked the Moon's surface. Now, scientists are back again. "A lot of the vegetation that grew in the last two decades has been removed and NASA is back using that for different things, developing and testing equipment like the rovers for astronaut training and other projects. So it’s great because that legacy is still alive," Kevin Schindler said.

Another Arizona connection is that an astronaut candidate for those future Artemis missions is former Flagstaff geologist Lauren Edgar. "Here we go again, not only training astronauts, but also a nursery for astronauts in some ways, so we hope down the road in Artemis missions, Lauren follows in those footsteps and makes the journey to the Moon," Schindler said. (4/6)

NASA Just Gave Apple the Best Shot-on-iPhone Ad Ever (Source: MacWorld)
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts used an iPhone 17 Pro to capture stunning Earth photographs from space, marking the first smartphone fully qualified for extended orbital use. The specially configured iPhones lack internet and Bluetooth connectivity, serving exclusively for photography during the mission. These impressive space images could potentially revive Apple’s popular ‘Shot on iPhone’ advertising campaign, showcasing the device’s advanced camera capabilities in extreme conditions. (4/6)

Nutella Capitalizes on Greatest Free Advertising Moment in History on NASA Moon Mission (Source: Fox News)
Nutella is capitalizing on what internet users are calling the greatest free advertising moment in history. A tub of the beloved chocolate-hazelnut spread has achieved liftoff — not just into space, but straight into viral fame. The scene unfolded aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission, where a tub of Nutella casually floated out of the spacecraft’s kitchen like it had a call time and a lighting crew. In zero gravity, the jar drifted, turned, and practically posed — label-forward, perfectly framed — delivering a product shot so pristine it looked storyboarded. (4/6)

Artemis Eclipses (Source: Space Review)
Artemis 2 successfully launched last week, with the Orion spacecraft flying around the Moon on the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century. Jeff Foust reports on the success of the mission so far, one that has been overshadowed to a degree by proposed budget cuts at NASA. Click here. (4/7)
 
Pinning the Tail on the Moskva: POPPY and the Dawn of Satellite Ocean Surveillance (Source: Space Review)
The NRO launched signals intelligence satellites in the 1960s initially to track radars fixed on the ground. Dwayne Day describes insights from a recently declassified interview on how those satellites were then applied to tracking ships. Click here. (4/7)
 
Thirty Years Later, Mars 96 Has Not Been Found (Source: Space Review)
Three decades ago, Russia launched an ambitious Mars mission only for it to crash back to Earth. Dante Sanaei examines the enduring mysteries of Mars 96. Click here. (4/7)
 
Ownership Without Oversight: Australia’s On-Orbit Supervision Gap (Source: Space Review)
The recent sale of an imaging satellite already in orbit to an Australian company has uncovered a gap in how the country regulates space activities. Jeremy Kruckel proposes one solution to ensure the country upholds its treaty obligations. Click here. (4/7)
 
Review: Return to Launch (Source: Space Review)
Florida’s Space Coast has transformed over the last 15 years with the rise of private companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX. Jeff Foust reviews a book that charts the decades-long efforts to build a space industry in the state that was less dependent on the ups and downs of government programs. Click here. (4/7)

Iceye Satellites Track Russian Vessels, Illegal Shipping in the Arctic (Source: Via Satellite)
On a dark, clouded night, a Russian ballistic missile submarine departs a naval base in the Arctic. A small vessel navigates the Mediterranean Sea at 15 miles per hour. A tanker floats beside another to illegally receive a cargo of sanctioned oil. The ocean is a big place covered by clouds and any of these activities are easy to miss. Iceye, a Finland-based Earth Observation firm, has tracked those three use cases from orbit, according to application studies.

Its constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, the largest in the world, is designed to monitor maritime activity in areas invisible to other observation methods. Iceye US CEO Eric Jensen said that in areas with high cloud cover or short daylight, monitoring ships is made possible only by their obligation to transmit their locations. He said Iceye’s constellation is dense enough to provide high-revisit radar data in those areas. (4/6)

NASA’s Moon Ship and Rocket Seem to be Working Well, so What About the Landers? (Source: Ars Technica)
As we have been reporting on Ars, NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission has been going rather well so far. Of course, Orion’s big test is yet to come with the fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Friday. But so far, it’s looking like the rocket and spaceship needed for a lunar landing are getting there for NASA. The biggest remaining piece of the architecture, therefore, is a lunar lander. Known in NASA parlance as the Human Landing System, or HLS, the space agency has contracted with SpaceX for its Starship vehicle and Blue Origin and its Blue Moon lander.

Last year, NASA asked both companies for options to accelerate their lunar landers, and both replied that not having to dock with the Lunar Gateway in a highly elliptical orbit, known as near-rectilinear halo orbit, would help a lot. So the space agency has removed that requirement. Beyond this, we don’t know much officially. NASA and the companies have not spoken publicly about their revised plans, but Blue Origin had a plan that did not involve orbital refueling, and SpaceX was looking at docking Starship with Orion in low-Earth orbit. (4/6)

Blue Origin Plans A Pair Of Low-Flying Prospectors Around The Lunar South Pole (Source: Universe Today)
Oasis-1, the newly proposed lunar prospecting mission from Blue Origin, was recently introduced at the 2026 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). It’s designed as a two-SmallSat mission to be deployed from Blue Origin’s uncrewed MK1 lander. The twin spacecraft will enter a highly elliptical 10 x 50 km polar orbit, with its lowest point, known as the periapsis, skimming right over the lunar South Pole.

That proximity is necessary to collect as much detailed data as possible. Each satellite will use a suite of three instruments that are tailored for deep prospecting. First is a Hybrid Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (GRNS). Its main purpose is to find water - neutron spectroscopy is currently the only remote sensing technique that can quantify water down to a depth of about one meter. (4/6)

Commercial Space to FCC on Market Access: Calm Down. EU Proposals are Already Being Improved (Source: Space Intel Report)
Commercial space operators told the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that while some nations with access to the US market continue to throw up barriers to US companies, the problem is not dramatic and can best be handled by the FCC’s current regulatory tools. Any attempt to impose new rules, they said, would risk making the problem much worse by provoking other nations to erect higher barriers. (4/6)

Moog Highlights Growing Satellite Bus Capabilities with METEOR (Source: Space News)
Moog will highlight its satellite bus product line and unveil a full-scale model of its METEOR spacecraft at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The display underscores Moog’s role as a key supplier of scalable components and systems for national security space customers. (4/6)

Seagate Space Signs MOU with Firefly Aerospace to Collaborate on Offshore Launch Infrastructure for Alpha (Source: Space News)
Seagate Space has agreed with Firefly Aerospace to collaborate on the development of an offshore launch platform that enables a sea-based launch capability for Firefly’s Alpha rocket. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in expanding responsive, resilient launch solutions for the rapidly growing space economy. Seagate Space is working closely with Firefly to mature the design of an integrated offshore launch system capable of supporting the unique requirements of liquid-fueled orbital rockets. Central to this development is the integration of Seagate Space’s Gateway Series, the industry’s first purpose-built offshore spaceport designed specifically for launch operations. (4/6)

Avio Delays SMILE Launch After Component Production Issue Identified (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Italian launch services provider Avio has postponed the launch of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) SMILE mission aboard a Vega C rocket after an issue was identified on the production line of a subsystem component.

Avio began preparations for the launch of SMILE in mid-February with the transfer of the P120C first stage from the Booster Storage Building to the ZLV launch pad. The transfer marked the beginning of the first Vega flight managed by Avio itself, after the company’s split from Arianespace-managed flights. In early April, the mission’s payload, encased in the Vega C fairing, was successfully stacked, marking the last major event before the rocket’s launch on 9 May. (4/6)

The Powerful New Rubin Observatory Just Found 11,000 New Asteroids and Measured 'Tens of Thousands More' (Source: Space.com)
Early observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have already revealed more than 11,000 previously unknown asteroids, reshaping our view of the solar system and offering a striking preview of what's to come once full science operations begin. The discovery, made using preliminary data, demonstrates Rubin's ability to scan the sky quickly and deeply. Even during limited early observations, the telescope has detected thousands of moving objects in just days, far outpacing traditional asteroid surveys, according to a statement from the NSF NOIRLab. (4/5)

Space Debris and Mega-Constellations: Is Starlink Reshaping Orbit Too Fast? (Source: New Space Economy)
A generation ago, the idea of one private company placing thousands of operational satellites into orbit while continuously adding more still sounded speculative. Now it describes the ordinary operating reality of Starlink. The system has widened access to broadband and changed expectations about what commercial space services can look like at mass-market scale. It has also altered the traffic environment of low Earth orbit fast enough that governance still feels improvised beside the pace of deployment.

That is the core controversy. Critics often talk as if Starlink’s growth automatically means an imminent debris catastrophe. Supporters often answer as if autonomous avoidance, planned reentries, and active station-keeping settle the matter. Neither view is complete. The real problem is that congestion, conjunction management, reentry load, atmospheric effects, astronomy conflicts, and precedent-setting all accumulate long before the most dramatic failure scenario arrives. A crowded orbital regime can become more brittle even while most satellites keep working as designed. (4/6)