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An international team led by ESA has commissioned the first European galactic cosmic ray (GCR) simulator at the GSI/FAIR accelerator in Darmstadt. Using a hybrid active‑passive approach that varies iron ion beams and passive modulators, the facility reproduces the mixed radiation environment of deep space, matching dose profiles observed on missions. The system now offers researchers a laboratory platform to study biological effects on human tissue and degradation of spacecraft electronics, complementing the existing U.S. Brookhaven simulator. Future upgrades at FAIR aim to reach 10 GeV per nucleon, further enhancing fidelity.
In this week's Rocket Report: • Artemis II clears flight readiness review • SpaceX activates second Starbase launch pad • Firefly successfully returns to flight • Pentagon orders high-altitude missile interceptors https://t.co/MhSVS4wljv
The US Plans to Break Ground on a Permanent Moon Base by 2030. Here's What It Will Take. https://t.co/iFMEKPvEh5 https://t.co/ba8zh0uL7V
Swedish satellite communications firm Ovzon secured a $1.3 million, three‑month contract from the U.S. Defense Department for sat‑com services and technical support, with work commencing immediately. The agreement builds on a relationship dating back to 2014, during which the Pentagon has...
China’s state‑run media announced that construction of the Tianwen‑3 Mars sample‑return spacecraft will begin this year, with a launch planned for 2028. The mission targets a return of at least 500 grams of Martian material to Earth by around 2031. Tianwen‑3...
NASA’s 6U CubeSat, part of the SPARCS exoplanet mission, has returned its first images of a distant planetary system. Launched in early 2025, the spacecraft captured ultraviolet and visible light data of the star Proxima Centauri and its orbiting exoplanet,...
Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of The Exploration Company, leads a five‑year‑old spacetech startup that builds reusable, refillable cargo vehicles for low‑Earth‑orbit missions. The firm has already demonstrated semi‑successful cargo deliveries to and from space at a fraction of traditional...
British billionaire Alex Gerko is financing MOTHRA, a distributed‑aperture telescope built from 1,140 high‑end Canon telephoto lenses that together provide a 4.7 meter effective aperture. The array is being assembled at the Obstech‑El Sauce Observatory in Chile, with construction started in...
Eutelsat has terminated its capacity contracts on the Russian‑owned Express AT1 and Express AT2 satellites after Express AT1 failed on March 4 and Express AT2 is being relocated from 140° East. The leases had complemented Eutelsat’s own 36° East fleet (Eutelsat 36C/36D). The company estimates the terminations will...
Kazakhstan stands at a crossroads, deciding whether to leverage its Baikonur launch site and AI capabilities to become Eurasia’s trusted broker of space and deep‑tech, or to remain a passive host for rival powers. The global space economy is projected...
NASA’s Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has started building and testing the Dragonfly rotorcraft, a nuclear‑powered drone destined for a 2028 launch to Saturn’s moon Titan. The car‑sized craft will use a radioisotope power system, marking a shift from solar‑driven...
China is rapidly expanding its international space network, now engaging with over 60 countries across Africa, Latin America and beyond. The strategy relies on low‑cost, turnkey packages that bundle satellite design, launch, financing and training, often delivered through state‑owned Great...
Tokyo‑based Astroscale has signed a launch contract with Germany’s Isar Aerospace to fly its ELSA‑M orbital‑debris removal demonstrator no earlier than 2028, pushing the mission back two years from the original 2026 target. The launch will use Isar’s two‑stage Spectrum...
.@Astroscale_UK to launch ELSA-M mission to deorbit @EutelsatGroup OneWeb sat on @isaraerospace Spectrum rocket in Japan's FY ending April 2028 "or later," @astroscale_HQ told investors. Launch to be from @AndoyaSpace Norway or Europe's Guiana Space Center. @esa @spacegovuk https://t.co/JrgZkgjmMZ
Rebecca Evernden, the newly appointed director of the UK Space Agency, outlined a four‑pillar strategy—satellite communications, launch capability, in‑orbit servicing and manufacturing, and space domain awareness—to drive economic growth and national security. She emphasized that the agency’s launch ambitions remain...
China resumed orbital launches after a month‑long pause, lifting off a Long March 8A carrying the 20th batch of Guowang internet satellites and a Long March 2D launching the Shiyan‑30 technology demonstrators. The Guowang batch adds to a constellation targeting 13,000 satellites,...
China's Satellite Navigation Office announced an in‑orbit, over‑the‑air upgrade program for the 50‑satellite BeiDou constellation. The initiative will optimise satellite performance, strengthen joint debugging, and improve user‑experience across sectors such as transport, agriculture and disaster response. The upgrades are part...
The Senate Commerce Committee voted 23‑5 on March 12 to advance Matt Anderson’s nomination as NASA deputy administrator, sending it to the full Senate for final approval. Anderson, a retired Air Force officer, was first nominated in May and renominated after...
On 14 March 1986 the ESA Giotto spacecraft passed within 600 km of Halley’s comet, delivering the first close‑up images and in‑situ measurements of a comet nucleus. Irish astrophysicist Prof. Susan McKenna‑Lawlor served as Principal Investigator for the Energetic Particle Analyser (EPONA),...
No, Wi-Fi isn’t a simple overnight solution to solve the problem of satellite D2D not working indoors: https://t.co/CuHz7rOGwU
Defra and Innovate UK awarded £560,000 to seven UK businesses to develop space‑based and AI solutions for agriculture. Each company receives £80,000 in Space Commercialisation Credits plus business and technical assistance from the Satellite Applications Catapult. Projects include digital farm...
ICEYE, the Finnish synthetic‑aperture radar (SAR) satellite operator, posted 2025 revenue above €250 million, more than doubling its 2024 sales and beating its own forecast by 25%. EBITDA topped €100 million and cash on hand exceeded €350 million, underscoring strong profitability and liquidity....
The European Space Agency has launched a new Directorate for Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity (RNC) under Laurent Jaffart, following a historic €22.3 billion budget and a €1.2 billion defense allocation. The RNC will oversee the European Resilience from Space (ERS) programme, aiming...
NASA announced that repairs to the helium flow interruption in the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage are now mostly complete, allowing the Space Launch System and Orion stack to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The rocket is scheduled to...
The Cygnus NG-23 cargo ship was released into orbit by Canadarm-2 at 1106 UTC Mar 12; it has been at ISS since Dec 1. [I don't have the unberthing time, anyone have it?]
SpaceX postponed the Starlink 6-61 launch from Friday to Saturday, targeting an 8:30 a.m. EDT liftoff from Cape Canaveral. The mission will carry 29 new Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 booster B1095, which is on its sixth flight. A 75% chance of...
NASA’s Mission Analysis and Design for Cislunar and Planetary (MADCAP) team has been quietly tracking every spacecraft in lunar orbit for the past 15 years. In March 2025 the privately‑run Blue Ghost lander narrowly avoided a collision with another orbiter,...
NASA’s SPARCS cubesat, roughly the size of a cereal box, has achieved first light by capturing both near‑ and far‑ultraviolet false‑color images of a nearby star. The mission is designed to monitor flare and sunspot activity on low‑mass stars that...
LAUNCH at 2233 UTC Mar 12 of a CZ-2D from Xichang with the 试验三十号卫星03、04星 (Shiyan 30-03 and 30-04) satellites
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will do a spacewalk (#94) on March 18. Spacewalk 95 will be soon after, crew TBA. NASA bfg on March 16, 2:00 pm ET These are the EVAs Crew-11 intended to do before...
Mauve, the world’s first commercial space‑science telescope, recorded its first light on Feb. 9, 2026, capturing a UV spectrum of the star Alkaid. Launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter‑15 in November 2025, the 5‑inch CubeSat operates in low‑Earth orbit to study stellar flares...
In May 2024 a massive solar superstorm struck both Earth and Mars, producing spectacular aurorae and intense radiation. ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter used a rare radio‑occultation technique to record the storm’s impact on Mars, finding electron densities...
In this inaugural episode of SSPI’s "Connectivity to Intelligence" series, host Tamara Bond‑Williams talks with Benny Rettnamone, founder and CEO of QVIA, about the challenges of handling massive data streams at the edge—on aircraft, ships, and offshore rigs—where connectivity is...
LAUNCH at 1948 UTC of a Chang Zheng 8A from Hainan Commercial Spaceport of nine Xingwang Digui (SatNet LEO) Group 20 satellites, the first Chinese orbital launch in a month after an unusual stand-down
NASA announced a target launch date of April 1 for Artemis II, the first crewed mission beyond low‑Earth orbit since 1972. The crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—will fly a 10‑day lunar flyby. After a series...
The March 2026 New Space Economy piece separates the hype of daily orbital launches from the emerging reality of responsive space. While on‑demand launch remains a niche tool, true responsiveness is being built through standby assets, modular spacecraft, and flexible licensing,...
The National Reconnaissance Office declassified the JUMPSEAT satellite program, a covert U.S. space‑based intelligence system that operated from 1971 to 2006. Using highly elliptical Molniya orbits, the satellites intercepted signals, emissions, and imagery to monitor Soviet weapon development throughout the...
SpaceX and Elon Musk’s xAI are preparing a massive orbital AI compute network, targeting a million solar‑powered satellites that act as Dyson‑swarm data centers. The plan hinges on a $50‑100 billion IPO slated for mid‑2026, which will fund new launch pads,...
NASA announced that the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket has passed its final flight‑readiness review and is slated for a launch as early as April 1, following repairs that sealed hydrogen leaks and corrected a helium‑flow fault. The 322‑foot vehicle will...
Important new piece of infrastructure for Voyager in response to increasing demand for our technology. Also great to be alongside great partners like @anduriltech and @The_TrueAnomaly $VOYG
“we like the Lynk architecture. It’s a unique design which puts certain functions up in the satellite, certain functions on the ground and this will deliver an overall lower-cost business case,” via @malleven33 https://t.co/QPfqnMP3XF
NASA’s crewed Artemis II mission is slated for a series of launch windows in early April, with the first attempt targeted for 1 April 2024 at 6:24 pm EDT and a backup on 2 April. All launch teams have signaled a GO, but officials highlighted a...
Space-launch, defense propulsion manufacturer @Avio_Group reports record rev, profit, EBITDA for 2025 w/ Vega-C & Ariane 6 rocket successes . Launcher profit to fund buildup of US defense business. @esa @ASI_spazio @ArianeGroup @Arianesace.https://t.co/pdVgkR5CeO https://t.co/xHn1y6vHnp
NASA's SPARCS CubeSat has returned its first ultraviolet images, proving the spacecraft’s camera and detectors work in orbit. The one‑year mission will continuously monitor far‑UV and near‑UV emissions from about 20 low‑mass stars, whose frequent flares influence the habitability of...
The Firefly Alpha launch appears to have been fully successful. The LM-400 test satellite is being tracked in a 401 x 405 km x 123.0 deg orbit, and the Alpha second stage made a perigee lowering burn at about...
Indian spacetech startup GalaxEye announced it has secured about ₹44.2 cr (≈$4.8 m) in an extended Series A round. The round featured existing backers such as Mela Venture, Rainmatter, Mounttech Growth Fund and Speciale Invest, with institutional commitments ranging from ₹8 cr to ₹18 cr....
ALL.SPACE announced a strategic partnership with Viasat, securing Category 4 certification for its Hydra electronically steered terminal on the Viasat Global Xpress (GX) Ka‑band network. The certification enables full‑performance operation across Viasat’s high‑capacity steerable beams for on‑move, on‑pause, and halt scenarios....
This does get to the question of what is a “lunar base”. Is one CLPS lander the first element of a lunar base? Two, near each other? Do they have to survive the lunar night??
D.C. Memo: In an Unusual Move, @FCC Chairman @BrendanCarrFCC Drops the Package at @Amazon’s Front Door; Carr reacted negatively to Amazon’s attack on @SpaceX’s effort to build a massive data center satellite constellation in low Earth orbit https://t.co/HSMxGLeUuw
Vast and Sierra each closed mega‑fundraising rounds exceeding $500 million, marking some of the largest venture capital commitments of the year. The capital will be deployed into deep‑tech sectors where both firms see outsized growth potential, such as AI‑driven data infrastructure...
