August 24, 2026

Colorado Springs to Become a $4B Space Force Acquisition Hub (Source: Brankica Manevska)
Colorado Springs is set to become home to one of the nine Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) offices created by the Pentagon. The office will relocate to Peterson Space Force Base from Los Angeles and oversee a $4 billion Space Force infrastructure portfolio, with approximately 90% of the contracting and hiring authority for that budget.

The move comes as the Pentagon prepares for a defense budget exceeding $1 trillion in 2027. With a strong aerospace and defense ecosystem, 52,000+ veterans, major contractors, startups, and institutions such as the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs is well positioned to benefit. Bringing acquisition decision-makers closer to industry could help startups and emerging companies compete for contracts and move innovative technologies into operational programs. (8/21)

Celebrate (Another) Space Week in Florida in October (Source: Events At The Cape)
Join us in celebrating what unites us, discover an experience, and be part of a movement that connects our world through space. We use the excitement of space to bring people together, highlight the best in all of us, and inspire what’s ahead. Florida’s Space Coast is proud to host Space Week 2026 and showcase the theme, “Rocket Revolution.” This week-long series of educational programs, exhibits, networking opportunities, festivals, and community events will connect aerospace professionals, industry leaders, students, families, visitors, and space enthusiasts in the heart of America’s premier spaceport. Click here. (8/24)

Class is Back in Session for Florida's Aerospace Workforce (Source: Space Florida)
A high school senior in Florida who has never seen a launch or flown in an airplane can walk out of graduation this spring and into a six-figure aerospace career. Not in a decade, not after multiple years of school and debt. Right now.

Demand for a skilled workforce in aerospace is growing fast. A NASA study predicts a one million-worker shortfall by 2030 (Civil Space Shortfalls), while the CAE Aviation Talent Forecast projects a global need for roughly 416,000 new aviation technicians by 2034. Deloitte reported one leading aerospace manufacturer estimates the U.S. commercial aerospace segment could require 123,000 additional technicians over the next two decades.

Recognizing the need to build the workforce pipeline earlier, we launched the Space Florida Academy Program in 2024. Starting with 23 Florida school districts statewide, the program utilized current CTE (career and technical education) offerings identified directly by Space Florida’s aerospace industry partners. Currently, the program is organized around six career pathways where Florida's aerospace and adjacent sectors are seeing the most acute demand: aerospace, advanced manufacturing, construction, cybersecurity and IT, logistics, and semiconductors. (8/24)

The Man Inside the Missile (Source: Vintage Aviation News)
Few fighter pilots have followed a path as remarkable as Piercarlo Ciacchi's. After flying the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and F-16 in the Italian Air Force, earning a coveted place with Italy's famed Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team, and later returning to the cockpit of the Starfighter with Starfighters Space, Ciacchi has spent a lifetime pushing the boundaries of aviation. In this exclusive interview, he reflects on the aircraft known as "The Missile With a Man In It," the lessons learned from a career at the edge of the flight envelope, and the engineering mindset that continues to shape his work today. Click here. (8/34)

Space Force Integrates AI to Manage Project Budgets (Source: Defense One)
As the Space Force takes on new, multi-billion-dollar national security programs, the service has awarded a new contract to keep those projects on track and on budget. The service’s Space Systems Integration Office awarded Integrate, a Seattle-based firm, a multi-million dollar contract for its AI-enabled project management program. Integrate's software offers visibility and a unified schedule, addressing issues caused by outdated methods such as hand-drawn PowerPoint slides and email chains. (8/24)

Inside NASA Marshall’s Progress on Artemis III Hardware, Plans for New SLS Upper Stage (Source: Aerospace America)
Inside a multistory warehouse-like room, a large metal tube rotates on an oversized turntable. A nearby machine cuts into it, leaving a trail of silver chips and metallic smell. A few feet away, a group of engineers monitors the progress at a bank of computers: roughly 13 centimeters a minute, slower at the joins. Four rounds to complete the cut. Click here. (8/24)

Veoware Demonstrates Mini Control Moment Gyros on Planet Pelican (Source: Space News)
Veoware successfully demonstrated its mini control moment gyroscopes for the first time aboard a Pelican Earth observation satellite from Planet. During tests conducted earlier this month, a Planet Pelican satellite conducted a 30-degree roll maneuver with four reaction wheels and two of Veoware's miniCMGs. The maneuver was completed about 2.5 times faster than was possible with reaction wheels alone. The ability to turn quickly could help Earth observation satellites collect images of multiple targets in a single pass. (8/24)

Kongsberg NanoAvionics More Than Doubles Flagship Satellite Bus Mass (Source: Space News)
Kongsberg NanoAvionics has unveiled a 500-kilogram version of its flagship MP42D satellite bus, more than doubling its previous maximum mass to support more demanding defense and intelligence missions. (8/24)

Launching 10,000 Tiny 'Femtosats' to Saturn? NASA Funds 18 Futuristic Spaceflight Ideas (Source: Space.com)
NASA is giving a financial boost to nearly 20 technology investigations to help fuel the incubation of tomorrow's spaceflight research capabilities. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has selected 18 projects for this year's Phase I awards, which will each split a total of $3.2 million in development funding. NIAC is designed to bolster technology breakthroughs that NASA could use on future space missions.

This year's awards include an array of mission concepts and research proposals NASA views as having "transformative potential," according to a July 29 announcement of winners. Among them are ideas for hardening spacecraft to explore and withstand the harsh conditions of Venus, radioisotope-heated lunar spacesuits and using space dust to partially block out the sun to reduce solar radiation. (8/23)

FAA Seeks Input on Spaceport Development and Airspace Access for Launches (Source: Space News)
The FAA is asking the public and aerospace industry for feedback on identifying viable new spaceport locations and establishing dedicated priority airspace corridors. This action follows the release of the updated National Space Transportation Policy, which aims to support more than 1,000 annual commercial space launches and reentries by 2030. The agency is evaluating what makes a site viable—such as geography, safety, utilities, proximity to open water, and potential for expansion—while investigating why several existing commercial spaceports remain underutilized. (8/23)

Beyond Reach Technologies Developing Deployable Solar Arrays (Source: Space Nws)
A startup has unveiled a line of large deployable solar arrays. Beyond Reach Technologies announced on Monday its Flarewing line of rigid deployable structures. The structures are designed to stow in compact configurations for launch and deploy in space for arrays that can produce from 5 to 200 kilowatts of power. The structures are designed to remain stiff as they deploy, reducing bending modes that can affect spacecraft stability and maneuvers. The Brooklyn-based company has raised more than $11 million and has contracts with two customers for studies of those structures. (8/24)

Commerce Dept. Seeks Mission Authorization System Testers (Source: OSC)
The Office of Space Commerce is seeking applications to test its new mission authorization system. The office published last week a "call for interest" for its new Space Commerce Certification framework, designed to review applications for novel commercial space activities not currently licensed by the office or other agencies. Companies interested in participating in that pilot phase of the certification must submit applications by early October. (8/23)

China May Push Chang'e-7 Lunar Mission to 2027 (Source: Space News)
China has delayed the launch of an ambitious lunar mission, potentially into next year. The Chang'e-7 mission was scheduled to launch as soon as Sunday evening on a Long March 5 rocket, which rolled out to the pad several days ago. However, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced on Sunday that the launch had been postponed and "cannot take place during the planned window this year." The office did not disclose a new launch date, and there was confusion about whether a launch could take place later this year or would be delayed until 2027. China also did not disclose a reason for the delay other than it did not meet the launch requirements. A typhoon near the spaceport on Hainan may have contributed to the decision to postpone the launch. (8/24)

Star Catcher Signs Orbital Data Center for Power Beaming (Source: Space News)
Star Catcher Industries has signed up another orbital data center company as a customer of its power-beaming technologies. Star Catcher said Monday that Aethero signed a power purchase agreement where Aethero will buy power beamed from Star Catcher's future satellites. Aethero is developing computing systems for orbital data centers and related systems, and is partnering with EnduroSat on a spacecraft called Titan to test those technologies later this year. Star Catcher said Aethero is the 10th major commercial customer for its power-beaming system that is in development. (8/24)

What It Will Take to Evolve a US Airshow to Rival Paris and Farnborough (Source: SPACErePORT)
The November Max Power airshow planned at Kennedy Space Center will be a recurring event to rival the Paris and Farnborough expositions in Europe, or at least that's the vision put forth by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. But Max Power won't be the first time this has been tried, as described in this op-ed from Aug. 19.

What prevented the 1988 Air/Space America event in San Diego from achieving Paris/Farnborough status was a failure of government commitment/support and planning. Max Power might plant the seed for a future mega-event, if it leads to firm commitments for: A) the US International Trade Administration to designate and certify a single flagship U.S. event like it already certifies trade missions; B) securing a long-term use agreement at a suitable joint-use or federal airfield; C) guaranteed DoD, NASA and FAA participation for years out rather than negotiating it show by show; D) expedited visas for foreign delegations and exhibitors; and E) pre-cleared export-control guidance for foreign companies bringing hardware onto American soil.

Sadly, Kennedy Space Center isn't the ideal location for such an event. Access is limited, and there are no adjacent conference and exhibit halls. What might be required is a national competition to identify a permanent host site. (8/24)

Relativity Space Expansion, Plans to Hire Thousands Could Remake Northern Space Coast (Source: Palm Beach Post)
Relativity Space — a relatively new industry player on Florida's Space Coast run by the former CEO of Google — has announced ambitious plans to construct a manufacturing facility for its hulking 284-foot Terran R rocket and hire thousands of workers by the end of 2034. Few geographic details have been publicly released since last month's high-profile announcement that the company has committed to expand its operations on the Space Coast.

But a North Brevard Relativity Space expansion with high-paying jobs would provide an economic boost for the Titusville area, which historically was hit hard after NASA retired the Apollo and space shuttle programs, said Don Platt, director of the Florida Institute of Technology's Spaceport Education Center. “I think that this is enabling the northern part of the county to be more competitive," said Platt, whose center is based at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville. (8/23)

A Fleet of 17 Spacecraft Discovered Something Surprising About Solar Eruptions (Source: Space.com)
"We used observations from 17 spacecraft to track and characterize this CME," said Adrienn Luspay-Kuti. "This was a record number of spacecraft for tracking and characterizing a single CME, and gave us an exceptionally detailed view of how the CME evolved." They revealed that the CME had two asymmetric lobes, one moving faster than the other. One of those lobes, which headed for Earth and Mars, would have gone unseen, obscured by the larger but slower lobe that left the sun at a tangent, were it not for the wide spread of the spacecraft. (8/23)

Dying Satellites are Introducing Aluminum Oxide Nanoparticles Into the Upper Atmosphere (Source: Space Daily)
Low-Earth orbit is now creating a different source of reactive material. Short-lived satellites vaporize metal as they reenter. Aluminum reacts with oxygen during that destruction, forming particles of aluminum oxide, usually called alumina. The concern is scientifically plausible, but its scale remains unsettled.

Researchers have measured spacecraft metals in stratospheric aerosol, modelled alumina production during reentry and established the relevant surface chemistry. They have not measured a satellite-driven reversal in global ozone recovery.

A 2024 Geophysical Research Letters paper by José Ferreira and colleagues modelled a 250-kilogram satellite containing 30 per cent aluminum. Its atom-scale simulation estimated that about 32 per cent of the aluminum would oxidize during reentry, producing just under 30 kilograms of alumina clusters between one and 100 nanometers across. Reentries in 2022 generated an estimated 17 tonnes of aluminum oxide. In a scenario where planned mega-constellations were fully deployed and regularly replaced, the figure rose above 360 tonnes per year. (8/20)

SpaceX Built Starship Without Landing Legs, Designing it Instead to be Caught by a Pair of Giant Arms (Source: Space Daily)
Extraordinary thrust does not mean the rest of the architecture is finished. Starship still needs to demonstrate major capabilities including orbital propellant transfer and upper-stage reuse. The tower catch belongs to that second category, and it is the upper stage, not the whole 124-metre stack, that would return to the arms after re-entry.

Legs need hinges, actuators, locks, feet, plumbing or wiring, and reinforced load paths through the vehicle. They must absorb landing forces without collapsing, remain protected during launch, and deploy reliably after a flight through vacuum and plasma. Every kilogram of that equipment becomes dry mass that the rocket has to accelerate and decelerate on every mission.

Legs would be especially awkward on Ship. Much of its windward side is covered in ceramic heat-shield tiles, and its base is crowded with engines and plumbing. Adding deployable structures would create more interfaces to seal, shield and inspect. SpaceX’s alternative places much of the recovery mechanism on the ground, where its weight never has to reach space. (8/22)

Balancing Space Flight and Our Environment (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Over the years, NASA accomplished much at KSC while fully complying with federal environmental laws. In addition, NASA reached agreement to establish the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Congress authorized Canaveral National Seashore on NASA lands not needed for space operations. There is a rich six-decade history of NASA and its partners coexisting to protect the rich natural resources of the area. But now, the rise of commercial spaceflight seeks to change all of this.

The FAA published a proposed rule to allow it to waive NEPA and 13 federal environmental laws when considering licenses to launch commercial rockets. NASA and the Space Force still must comply with federal environmental laws, but the FAA wants to exempt commercial rockets. Why does this matter? More rockets mean more closures of Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, already projected for over 50 closures a year. Each currently receives over 2 million visitors every year from all over the world.

Beaches along the shore are designated critical habitat for endangered sea turtles, while the adjoining lagoon is critical habitat for the threatened manatee. The Merritt Island refuge protects more endangered and threatened species than any other in the country and visitors come to see thousands of birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Earlier this year regulators allowed commercial space provider Blue Origin to dump up to a half million gallons per day of effluent into the lagoon. Imagine what they could do if the provision of the Clean Water Act or hazardous waste laws were simply waived on their behalf? (8/23)

Forget Mars! If We Want To Send Humans To Another Planet, Venus Is The Way To Go (Source: IFL Science)
Many of the people I interact with are in the pocket of Big Mars. The anti-Venus propaganda is rife, and I, too, have unwittingly pushed that agenda in the past. “Venus is a hellish world; Venus is Earth’s evil twin.”

I’m sorry, but is Mars a tropical paradise with an all-inclusive hotel? I don’t think so! We from Team Venus don't sugarcoat the challenges of space settlement, and our goal isn't some “boots on the ground” that is only good for the stock market. We aim higher than that: roughly 35 miles higher. Between 50 and 60 kilometers (31 to 37 miles) from the surface of Venus, you have something of a habitable pocket. The temperature is Earth-normal, the atmospheric pressure is like Earth’s at sea level, and the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere provides natural shielding. (8/22)

Europe's Next-Gen Rocket Concept Could Be Way More Efficient Than SpaceX's Starship (Source: BGR)
Germany's Aerospace Center (DLR) published a paper in May 2025 proposing a more efficient European version of SpaceX's Starship rocket, with the concept called the RLV C5. The team from DLR studied SpaceX's publicly available data and provided a unique assessment of the rocket's ability. The analysis was built on telemetry data obtained via public broadcasts from SpaceX, which was logged by a text recognition algorithm. The aim of the study is to provide a competitive launch platform for Europe. The key improvement that this team aims to deliver is up to 74% of its mass as payload to low earth orbit, compared to Starship which delivers 40% of its mass to orbit. If accomplished, this would represent a significant advantage over Starship.

While the concept from the DLR is certainly thought-provoking and innovative, building and flying a rocket of this scale is an enormous undertaking. The biggest problem with the RLV C5 design is that it is still in a conceptual phase, and a lot would have to happen in a short space of time for the idea to take off. The other problem is that SpaceX has set a new bar for the pace of development, so much so that it treats its rocket launches like software updates, rapidly iterating and improving after every test. (8/22)

China Postpones Launch of Unprecedented Water-Hunting Moon Mission (Source: CNN)
The anticipated launch of China’s robotic Chang’e-7 mission, designed to scour the moon’s south pole for water ice — a highly valuable resource that the US also hopes to use — “cannot take place during the planned window this year,” according to a statement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office shared by Chinese state media.

The mission had been expected to lift off as soon as Sunday evening, or Monday morning Beijing time. It’s not clear how soon China may be able to attempt to get the mission off the ground. The precise reason for the delay was not immediately clear. State media shared only that the “lunar probe does not meet launch conditions,” and the “assessment was conducted following the principle of prudence, reliability and absolute mission success.” (8/23)

Skylab Completists, Clear Shelf Space for 26 DVDs (Source: The Register)
The team behind the Searching for Skylab documentary is releasing almost every surviving piece of video it could find from the mission. The collection will span three volumes and 26 DVDs, including an updated version of Searching for Skylab, which we reviewed in 2019. It gathers almost everything the team could find that was downlinked from the station or returned to Earth aboard the three Apollo spacecraft that visited it. (8/22)

CosmoCube Satellite Will Listen to the Early Universe From the Far Side of the Moon (Source: Universe Today)
For Earth-based telescopes, detecting signals from 13.5 billion years ago is extremely difficult since Earth's upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) blocks the frequencies, while radio towers, satellites, and other telecommunication sources create radio-frequency interference (RFI). But as the CosmoCube team describes in a paper that appeared in Nature Astronomy, the satellite will be shielded from all Earth-based RFI as its orbit takes it behind the far side of the Moon.

The satellite will accomplish this by operating at extremely low frequencies (10 to 50 MHz), far outside the range of ground-based telescopes. During its two-hour orbit, the probe will have roughly 40 minutes to listen for echoes from the early Universe. Over a primary mission lasting two years, the probe will build up 1000 hours of data on what astronomers consider the "final frontier" of astronomy and cosmology. The information this reveals will improve our understanding of how the Universe transitioned from being dark and nearly empty to transparent and filled with bright objects. (8/21)