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NASA announced on March 16 that it still has not re‑established contact with the MAVEN orbiter, which went silent after emerging from Mars’ far side on Dec. 6, 2025. The agency has resumed Deep Space Network attempts following a solar conjunction, but no signal has been received since the blackout ended on Jan. 16. NASA has deployed the Green Bank Observatory and even tasked the Curiosity rover to scan the sky for the spacecraft, while an anomaly review board evaluates recovery options. MAVEN, a decade‑old mission, contributed roughly 20% of Mars relay communications and its loss forces other orbiters to pick up the slack.
The Irregular Warfare Podcast episode “From Orbit to Objective” examines how space has become a contested domain shaping modern conflict. Hosts Ben Jebb and Charlie McGillis interview Dr. James Kiras and U.S. Space Command leader General Stephen Whiting about the...
Kayhan Space unveiled Satcat Terminal, an AI‑driven platform that translates orbital data into business insights for investors and insurers, echoing the functionality of a Bloomberg Terminal for space assets. The service draws on a catalog of more than 36,000 tracked...
NASA announced that SpaceX's Starship will replace Boeing's SLS as the launch vehicle for the Artemis lunar‑orbit segment, cutting Boeing out of a key role. The decision, reported on March 19, 2026, puts a crew of four on a commercial...
The European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will launch the Smile mission on a Vega‑C rocket from French Guiana on Thursday 9 April at 08:29 CEST. The spacecraft will perform the first X‑ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field and monitor...
The European Space Agency announced it will purchase a dedicated SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station, creating the ESA Provided Institutional Crew (EPIC) mission. The EPIC flight is planned as a medium‑duration stay of roughly one month,...
🎱 Peering inside the Apollo Lunar Module 8-Ball There are just two known examples in private hands, and Curious Marc's intrepid crew are trying to revive the remains of a damaged one (left). Mine is on the right, and the image...
Old school GEO satellites were assembled in a facility that housed the product in a "high bay" as if it was a giant religious icon. PhDs in bunny suits assembled the satellite piece by piece. The legacy manufacturers didn't believe...
Globalsat Group announced it will act as an authorized reseller for Amazon Leo, Amazon’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellite broadband network. The deal enables Globalsat to deliver high‑speed, low‑latency connectivity to enterprise customers across North, Central and South America. Amazon Leo now operates more than...
I had missed that @D_Orbit had deployed seven cubesats from the IONs launched Nov 28; deployment dates not given but 2 Lacuna and 2 Lemur were ejected on or before Feb 16 from Stellar Stephanus, and 2...
NASA’s Artemis II crewed lunar flyby is slated for April 2026, marking the first human deep‑space mission in over five decades. The program’s flagship landing mission, Artemis III, has been pushed back, with a crewed touchdown now expected in 2028 under the Artemis IV...
Space Force failed to issue a decay notice for VAST's Haven Demo, which was removed from orbit on Feb 5. It's still in the US satellite catalog as 'in orbit'.
If you don't plan to launch tens of thousands of data centers in space are you even trying? https://t.co/8d1zTwMr7A
China is targeting a crewed lunar landing in 2030 and has identified the volcanic Rimae Bode region as the preferred site after evaluating 106 candidates and narrowing them to 14. The area’s mix of dark pyroclastic deposits, mare basalts, rille...
“Where we are today in space warfare is very similar to where air superiority was in the 1930s.” https://t.co/vdPDSKfwkt
Canada and Japan have signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that merges their space and defence industrial bases. The deal expands the earlier Equipment and Technology Transfer Agreement, targeting joint development of space communications, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. By moving...
Speaking of going insanely hard, I’m obsessed with the name of the rocket that will take the first Chinese astronauts to the moon https://t.co/62ZZ4ZV2lS
NASA has proposed a new Artemis architecture that moves translunar injection and lunar landing responsibilities from the SLS/Orion stack to SpaceX's Starship. Artemis III in 2027 will serve as a low‑risk LEO docking rehearsal that mirrors the new flow. Artemis...
True Anomaly, a stealth‑born startup, is building the Jackal satellite platform— a refrigerator‑sized, highly maneuverable spacecraft designed for low‑cost, mass‑produced space‑to‑space engagements. The company has already flown two test missions and plans a third, while securing roughly $400 million in venture...
NASA recently aired two high‑profile advertisements on CNN, featuring Credit One and Old Spice, to promote the upcoming Artemis II mission and the popular novel “Project Hail Mary.” The campaign delivers roughly twelve days of heightened public exposure before the buzz...
.@ESA to shut down Mars Earth Return Orbiter after US budget decision; will meet @NASA next week on Artemis status; ESA-@defis_eu Iris2 negotiations with @SES @Eutelsat @Hispasat to wind up late April; ESA Launcher Challenge adapts to @orbexspace exit.https://t.co/TINqTgL6lQ https://t.co/uSutmbuWTG
The surge in AI and cloud workloads is straining global electricity grids, prompting industry leaders to explore orbital data centers as a potential solution. SpaceNews and StarCatcher, together with the Commercial Space Federation, are hosting a virtual panel on March 31...
The European Space Agency has re‑established communication with the Proba‑3 coronagraph satellite after it lost contact in February. The spacecraft entered survival mode when its solar panels turned away from the Sun, draining its batteries. ESA engineers used a brief...
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded Kratos Technology & Training Solutions a $446.8 million Ground Management and Integration contract to build the command‑and‑control backbone for the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking program in medium‑earth‑orbit. The agreement, structured as an...
Portal Space Systems has teamed with Australian startup Paladin Space to launch a commercial orbital‑debris removal service. The partnership will mount Paladin’s Triton payload on Portal’s highly maneuverable Starburst spacecraft, which can change velocity by one kilometre per second. Scheduled...
Portal Space Systems and Paladin Space have formed a partnership to launch a Debris Removal as a Service (DRAAS) offering that can capture and dispose of 20‑50 pieces of orbital junk per mission. The solution combines Portal’s maneuverable Starburst spacecraft...
Black Moon Energy Corp. has secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Isotope Program to supply lunar Helium‑3, marking a pivotal step toward commercializing the isotope. The company plans to scale production within eight years and will conduct...
The European Space Agency’s Council meeting in Interlaken approved a record €22 billion budget for 2026‑2030, endorsed the EPIC crew‑flight concept to the International Space Station and the ESA‑JAXA RAMSES asteroid‑defence mission. At the same time, Cyprus became an associate member...
At Space‑Comm London, a panel of government and industry leaders warned that space has become a core national security arena, with satellite jamming and anti‑satellite weapons now routine. Speakers stressed the need for the UK to protect its interests by...
Alicia Dwyer Cianciolo, a veteran NASA systems engineer, outlined the Artemis program’s Human Landing Systems (HLS) at the Wichita Engineers Week banquet. She explained that Artemis III will now be uncrewed, while Artemis IV remains on track for a crewed lunar south‑pole landing...
Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and later command a Space Shuttle, appears on SpaceNews’ Space Minds podcast to discuss the habits and leadership principles that propelled her career. Hosted by David Ariosto, the episode blends personal anecdotes with...
In February 2026 the UK National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) logged 66 re‑entries, most of which were satellites, while collision alerts for UK‑licensed assets dropped to 2,117, the lowest figure of the year. The in‑orbit population rose to 33,165 objects,...
NewSpace Systems inaugurated a 5,200 m² manufacturing hub in Somerset West, South Africa, becoming the continent’s largest commercial space hardware facility. The plant features a 1,260 m² ISO‑14644‑1 cleanroom, six LEAN‑certified assembly lines, and dedicated labs for GNC components such as sun...
At the ESA press briefing this morning, DG Aschbacher said NASA is bringing the international community together here in DC next week. He's looking fwd to learning about the new Artemis architecture incl Gateway. "A welcome opportunity" to see what...
Space startup K2 Space is set to launch Gravitas, a two‑ton, 40‑meter satellite capable of generating 20 kW of electrical power, on a Falcon 9 before month‑end. Backed by $450 million in funding and a $3 billion valuation, the mission will carry 12 customer...
The European Defence Fund has launched the MYRIAD research project, a 48‑month, €5 million initiative coordinated by GMV to embed AI into satellite imagery analysis for EU defence. Nine European partners will develop multi‑sensor fusion, radiometric calibration and explainable AI to...
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher says at a press briefing that controllers have just managed to restore contact with the Proba-3 coronagraph spacecraft, which had been out of contact since last month. Recovery efforts underway.
Small-GEO sat builder @Swissto12, now w/ 7 sats in production (2 unnamed), uses @ESA investment to expand production capacity. Goal is 8 HummingSats/year. @SES_Satellites @viasat.https://t.co/9uOrjCLVKk https://t.co/bM1pA0m3hY
NASA plans to begin the Artemis II rollout at 8 p.m. EDT on March 19, moving the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B via crawler‑transporter 2. The four‑mile journey may take up to 12 hours, after...
.@NATO to commercial space: We're ready to move quickly on multi-orbit, multi-frequency and other fronts with contracts that spend years in our bureaucracy before closing. @NCIAgency @govsatcom @defis_eu.https://t.co/5dHFzsqHN6 https://t.co/9FZlet5yQq
The United States and Israel jointly bombed the Iranian Space Research Centre on Feb. 28, 2026, as part of Operation Roaring Lion. The hit eliminates a key hub for Iran's satellite design and space science, deepening the third‑week war that...
Guerrilla RF announced an expanded aerospace and defense focus, unveiling a new satellite communications (SatCom) initiative that adds more than 100 commercial‑off‑the‑shelf RFIC and MMIC solutions for both ground and space platforms. The company released a SatCom product selection guide...
Germany’s HyImpulse Technologies signed a launch service agreement to fly its SR75 hybrid suborbital rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, targeting a Q3 2026 lift‑off. SaxaVord, equipped with three pads, telemetry, and a UK Civil Aviation Authority licence...
Nihon University's Tenkoh-2 cubesat, deployed from the HTV-X1 cargo ship on Mar 11, has been cataloged as object 68261, in a 495 x 501 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
Apex Space announced its first Japanese contract, selling an Aries satellite bus to NEC for a 2027 low‑Earth‑orbit optical communications demo. NEC plans to merge its long‑standing payload expertise with Apex’s standardized, rapid‑development platform to accelerate the mission. The deal...
SpaceX completed the initial activation campaign for the Super Heavy V3 booster, loading cryogenic propellant and conducting a ten‑engine static fire on Starbase Pad 2. All ten Raptor 3 engines ignited, confirming the new engine design’s start‑up reliability. The test was cut...
SpaceX is gearing up for an April test flight of Starship V3, the next‑generation launch system featuring a taller Super Heavy booster and upgraded Raptor 3 engines. The new vehicle boosts low‑Earth‑orbit payload capacity to roughly 200 tons, a dramatic jump from...
New Zealand’s Defence Science and Technology agency and the Royal Navy teamed with Dawn Aerospace to conduct the DARTE radar‑tracking experiment, using the Aurora suborbital spaceplane off the Canterbury coast. The trial demonstrated that the frigate HMNZS Te Kaha’s surveillance radar can...
The article explains that splashdown is a complex fluid‑impact problem where capsule shape, parachute timing, sea state, and crew posture determine survivability. It traces splashdown from Mercury through Apollo to modern Orion and SpaceX Dragon missions, highlighting why water remains...
The UK Space Agency and Ukraine’s State Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Ukrainian embassy in London, pledging €100,000 to joint ESA‑Ukrainian activities and establishing a formal framework for civil and commercial space cooperation. The deal marks...
