Know What's Happening in SpaceTech
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Rocket Lab is being positioned as the primary candidate to supply the satellite bus for Equatys, a joint venture between Viasat and Space42 targeting a 2,800‑satellite LEO constellation that delivers direct‑to‑device connectivity. The venture, backed by a $600 million investment from the UAE‑based AI SpaceTech firm and leveraging over 100 MHz of L‑ and S‑band spectrum, aims to share infrastructure across multiple mobile operators. Rocket Lab’s recent $1 billion capital raise could fund an equity stake and support high‑cadence bus production. A confirmed partnership would shift Rocket Lab from launch‑only services to a full‑scale satellite prime role.
Canada’s Mission Control consortium has selected Quebec‑based robotics firm Kinova to build the robotic manipulator for the nation’s first Lunar Utility Vehicle (LUV). The LUV is a 1,000‑kg heavy‑duty rover designed for a minimum ten‑year lifespan, supporting NASA’s Artemis program...
SpaceX marked a milestone this week by lofting its 10,000th Starlink satellite into low‑Earth orbit, extending the company’s broadband constellation. The added capacity is already delivering reliable high‑speed internet to remote outposts, such as a Norwegian polar expedition across Ellesmere...
Voyager 2’s 1989 flyby captured the closest-ever images of Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, passing within roughly 25,000 miles (40 km). The high‑resolution shot shows dozens of dark plumes up to 100 miles (160 km) long erupting from several‑mile‑wide vents, while a wider view taken from...
Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin company, unveiled a new star tracker product line—M10, H6, and F4—at SATSHOW 2026. The three models are engineered to balance cost, mass, and performance while leveraging the firm’s extensive flight heritage. Each unit features robust...
NASA, ESA, and CSA combined the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared power with Hubble’s visible‑light imaging to deliver the most detailed, layered view of Saturn to date. The paired observations captured a long‑lived jet stream, remnants of the 2011‑12 Great...
KBR’s protest of NASA’s $1.8 billion COSMOS contract was rejected by the Government Accountability Office, leaving the award to the Ascend joint venture of Amentum and Aerodyne. The five‑year contract, with two optional extensions, supports command‑and‑control systems for Orion, the Space...
NASA and Japan’s space agency JAXA have used the XRISM X‑ray telescope to capture the first high‑resolution view of a scorching galactic wind blowing out of the starburst galaxy M82. The Resolve spectrometer measured gas heated to roughly 10 million kelvin...
Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, won the Maritime Mobility Innovation award at the MSUA 2026 Satellite Mobile Innovation Awards for its fully managed bonded connectivity service, NexusWave. The solution aggregates multiple satellite links to deliver up to 340 Mbps downlink and...
Swiss startup Pave Space announced a $40 million private funding round to develop a reusable orbital tug and conduct a demonstration flight. The round was led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, with participation from several European investors. Originating as a student‑led...
The European Space for Sustainability Award, backed by ESA, EISC and ESPI, is now accepting entries from European students and young professionals aged 18‑30. Participants must submit a poster by 3 May 2026 and, if shortlisted, a detailed report by 21 June 2026. Winners...
Intuitive Machines secured its fifth NASA contract, a $180.4 million award to launch the upgraded Nova‑D lunar lander near the Moon’s south pole. The mission, designated IM‑5, will target Mons Malapert, a ridge offering continuous Earth visibility and stable illumination, making...
NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce unveiled a proposal for an opt‑in Space Commerce Certification to streamline approval of novel on‑orbit activities such as satellite servicing, in‑space manufacturing, and lunar stations. The framework would coordinate existing agency approvals, applying a light‑touch...
The British‑made HotSat‑2 satellite is set to launch on March 29 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter‑16 rideshare from Vandenberg. Equipped with a world‑leading infrared camera, it can detect thermal signatures through structures, surpassing the capabilities of NASA’s Landsat thermal sensors. Backed by roughly...
Satellite analyst Tim Farrar says SpaceX is close to buying Globalstar for about $10 billion, after a sale process that began in October 2025. The acquisition would cement Starlink’s dominance in the direct‑to‑device (D2D) market and block Amazon’s bid to broaden...
Marlink’s March 25 technical bulletin reports a 50% jump in GNSS interference incidents across its maritime fleet, driven by jamming and spoofing in the Middle East and other high‑traffic corridors. The disruptions threaten vessel navigation, satellite antenna tracking, and broadband connectivity....
Infinity Avionics announced the commercial launch of Aquila, a full‑high‑definition imaging system designed for small satellites. The camera streams 30 FPS video, offers interchangeable lenses, and comes in three price tiers to suit varied mission budgets. Integrated with the company’s BRAIN...
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander has delivered the first private‑sector heat‑flow measurements from the Moon’s nearside, finding subsurface temperatures at Mare Crisium that are nearly identical to those recorded by Apollo 12, 15 and 17. The data contradict the long‑standing hypothesis that the Procellarum...
Nigeria’s sole communications satellite, NigComSat-1R, has been operated from China’s Kashgar ground station since 2018 after a lightning strike crippled Nigeria’s Abuja control facility. The Chinese contractor, CGWIC, claims Nigeria owes $11.44 million for technical support services that have gone unpaid...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to file its IPO prospectus this week, eyeing a June debut that could fetch more than $75 billion in new capital and a valuation between $1 trillion and $1.75 trillion. The deal would involve top Wall Street banks...
Japan's space agency JAXA called off the inaugural flight of its small reusable rocket RV‑X on March 25 after discovering a fault in a connector device. The abort pushes back Japan's timeline for a reusable launch system that could compete...
A Chinese startup reportedly demonstrated a flexible robotic arm prototype for on‑orbit fuel transfer, but the available sources contain no disclosed details, leaving the scope and impact of the test uncertain.
Elon Musk has announced a goal to establish a self‑growing city on the Moon by 2030, shifting focus from Mars to lunar settlement. The chief obstacle is not launch capability but the prohibitive cost of transporting construction materials from Earth....
NXGSAT and ETL Systems demonstrated a fully productised, interoperable 5G non‑terrestrial network (NTN) solution that combines NXGSAT’s software‑defined UE modem with ETL’s GENUS Digital platform via the Digital IF Interoperability (DIFI) standard. The showcase proves that open, virtualised, modular satellite...
Namibia’s Communications Regulatory Authority rejected Starlink’s applications for a telecom service licence and spectrum access, citing failure to meet ownership and compliance criteria. The regulator found Starlink complied with only three of six statutory requirements, notably lacking the mandated 51 %...
Swiss startup Pave Space has secured $40 million in seed funding to build a 20‑metric‑ton orbital transfer vehicle capable of moving up to five metric tons from low‑Earth orbit to medium, geostationary or lunar trajectories in less than a day....
Swiss startup PAVE Space announced a $40 million seed round led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, accelerating its LYOBA heavy‑lift kick stage development. The company, a 2024 spin‑off from the Gruyère Space Programme, targets rapid satellite transport between orbits and plans...
Airbase announced its emergence from stealth with a $5 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, joined by Squadra Ventures and Founders You Should Know. The startup aims to automate the Federal Communications Commission’s outdated, manual spectrum‑allocation workflow that relies on...
An investment note spotlights a European space‑focused vehicle that could deliver a 63% upside, tying together the booming space‑data market and rising defence spending. Satellites now underpin global logistics, conflict monitoring, and high‑value analytics, making space a critical economic layer....
Amazon Leo announced a plan to double its launch cadence, targeting 20 missions in the second year after completing 11 launches in the first year. The company already operates more than 200 satellites and has hundreds of flight‑ready units stored...
NASA has revived its next‑generation flagship Earth‑observing program, renaming the Atmosphere Observing System to Falcon and the Surface Biology and Geology study to Eagle. The two‑satellite Eagle mission will include a high‑resolution spectrometer costing up to $310 million and a thermal...
The Economist used NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire detection system combined with a 100‑model machine‑learning filter to identify war‑related heat signatures in Ukraine. By requiring 95 of 100 models to flag an anomaly, the approach isolates artillery, drone and missile strikes...
Artemis II is set to launch around April 1, 2026, using NASA’s new Space Launch System for a ten‑day lunar flyby. The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen—will be the first woman, person of colour and non‑American to...
Russia's private space firm Bureau 1440 placed the first 16 Rassvet broadband satellites into low‑Earth orbit, marking the start of a planned 900‑satellite network intended as a domestic alternative to SpaceX's Starlink. The launch underscores Moscow's push to secure sovereign...
Last week's EVSN took a closer look at the changing Lunar Exploration landscape. That story provides solid context for today's announcements. I've stuck it up on Medium: https://starstryder.medium.com/closer-look-nasa-rewrites-human-exploration-again-9013f90c7622?sk=ec8e6c25ff5bc4db7eeaab9320db7848
Pour one out for NASA's Joel Montalbano. Months ago he is confirmed to appear before the US House to speak about the future of humans in low-Earth orbit. On the day before his appearance NASA basically says there isn't much...
The U.S. Space Force has moved the final GPS III‑8 satellite from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with launch no earlier than late April 2026. The swap follows a solid‑rocket‑motor anomaly on a Vulcan flight and is intended...
As NASA was laying out its new exploration vision yesterday, NOAA's Office of Space Commerce was releasing an update of its Mission Authorization proposal, seeking stakeholder input. https://t.co/zdjJBR62HO https://t.co/7Ly27Fdunk
Japan’s Space Museum Brings Planetary Exploration to Life by @interesting_aIl #SpaceTech #Tech #Technology #EmergingTech #Space https://t.co/zOaWAd6csZ
Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall will track NASA’s Artemis II crewed lunar flyby using its 32‑metre GHY‑6 antenna, marking the first human deep‑space mission since Apollo 17. The commercial facility previously supported the uncrewed Artemis I flight and historically relayed the 1969 Apollo 11...
Roskosmos published first image from the Elektro-L5 weather satellite which was launched in February. Full size version and context: https://t.co/XRGzszjsAK https://t.co/KYrEHQmwWr
Newly released images taken from the ISS of yesterday's docking with the Progress MS-33 cargo ship, with a stuck antenna clearly visible on the right of docking mechanism. More pics and context: https://t.co/GL29AvnJQ5 https://t.co/7idPQ8z9Ix
The first SpaceX orbital launch attempt was 20 years ago today. Ashlee Vance: “the Falcon 1… quite likely changed the course of human history. The imaginations and passions of engineers and dreamers all around the world expanded.” (WTHWOS p.11.) For more Falcon...
Roman Space Telscope is getting ready to launch this year and I can’t believe I get to work on this awesome mission 🛰️ 🚀 ✨
#ThisDayInTechHistory. March 24, 1965. Millions watch for the first time as the Ranger 9 space probe crashed into the moon. (NASA) #Space #Exploration #History https://t.co/PFyzWvwTPV
NVIDIA-Backed Starcloud Tests Orbital #Data Centers with H100 AI GPU in Space by @IntEngineering #SpaceTech #Tech #Technology #EmergingTech #Space https://t.co/huY6Fk3TU4
Note to illustrators: videos of last night's Soyuz launch show that it used a different ("military" style) payload fairing from the Ariane-4-derived 81KS type depicted by the satellite developer. Context: https://t.co/zaum1S7eWh https://t.co/7iPE8xWFls
🇺🇸 Space Force officer shares intelligence on threats to space systems https://t.co/ZC1xETnG71 #SpaceEconomy #SpaceForce  https://t.co/PQPs80ePjS
