SpaceX Launches 24 Starlink Satellites, Pushing Constellation Toward 9,000 Units
SpaceX lifted off a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 22, deploying 24 new Starlink satellites and bringing the total fleet close to 9,000. The launch underscores SpaceX’s rapid reuse cadence and comes as investors clash over a £165 million (≈$211 million) stake in the company held by Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust.
April 24, 1990: Hubble Launches
The Hubble Space Telescope lifted off aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990, marking the culmination of nearly two decades of design, engineering, and international collaboration. Initial concepts emerged in the early 1960s, with NASA formalizing the design team...
Astra Targets Golden Dome With Small Rockets, Says CEO Chris Kemp
Astra is pitching its small, single‑use rockets as realistic targets for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑defense tests, arguing that expendable vehicles better simulate actual threats and can lower testing costs. CEO Chris Kemp says the program will drive scale and...
Trump Taps Space Execs For Military Space Roles
President Donald Trump has nominated Raytheon vice president Erich Hernandez‑Baquero as the Air Force assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, and V2X chief growth officer Roger Mason as the next head of the National Reconnaissance Office. Both appointments require...
How We Protected the UK and Space in March 2026
The National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) reported that March 2026 saw a 10% rise in atmospheric re‑entries, with 72 objects – 55 satellites, 12 rocket bodies and five debris pieces – burning up. Collision‑avoidance events for UK‑licensed satellites dropped to...
The Governance Gap: Why Orbital Data Centers Need Certification Before They Scale
Orbital and lunar data centers are reaching a scaling inflection point, but their supply chains lack unified governance and certification. Without industry‑wide standards, each project remains a bespoke, high‑risk venture, inflating capital costs and deterring investors. The article argues that...
Weekly Wrap: Starlink–Amazon Leo Clash Highlights Shortcomings of Satellite Filing Rules
Amazon’s Gen‑1 low‑Earth‑orbit constellation, approved for 3,232 satellites, has placed only 241 in orbit, far short of the FCC‑mandated 50 percent (1,616) operational by 30 July 2026. The company asked the FCC for a 24‑month extension, but Starlink filed a formal objection, urging...
One NZ Commences DoC Sensor Pilot
One NZ is partnering with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation to pilot 50 smart sensors in remote toilets, huts and wastewater systems, using satellite connectivity. The DoC manages about 2,000 toilets and currently relies on costly helicopter and vehicle inspections. Early...
NASA Completes Roman Space Telescope, Prepares for Launch to Map Dark Energy and Exoplanets
NASA has finished building the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center and is ready to ship it to Kennedy Space Center for launch. The 40‑foot infrared observatory will conduct wide‑field surveys to probe dark energy, dark...
Artemis II Validates Orion Heat Shield, Feeds $20 B Moon‑base Plan and Flags Toilet Glitch
NASA’s Artemis II crew returned safely after a 10‑day lunar flyby, proving the Orion heat shield performed as expected and delivering observations that shape a $20 billion moon‑base concept. The mission also exposed a clogged urine‑vent line in the new 3‑D‑printed titanium...
Amazon Leo Enters Live Sport as DP World Tour Rolls Out Satellite Internet Across Events
The DP World Tour has partnered with Amazon to roll out its low‑Earth‑orbit satellite network, Amazon Leo, across more than 40 tournaments starting in 2026. This makes the golf circuit the first professional sport to deploy LEO satellite internet at...
Test Time for These Moon Drills
A South Dakota startup, AeroFly, is developing two auger‑based systems to move lunar regolith and extract water for future Artemis outposts. The LEONA project will demonstrate a 2‑meter horizontal auger that sublimates ice into vapor, while the Rego‑LIFT system will...
Braving the Arctic for Upcoming Polar-Focused Satellites
The European Space Agency is preparing three new Copernicus satellites—CIMR, CRISTAL and ROSE‑L—to improve Arctic sea‑ice monitoring. To validate the instruments, an international team is conducting a six‑week field campaign on the sea ice near Cambridge Bay, collecting coordinated ground‑based...
Satellite Startup Univity Raises €27m to Throw Its Hat Into the Ring
French satellite startup Univity announced a €27 million ($29 M) Series A round to develop its VLEO‑based 5G constellation, uniSky. The funding, led by Blast and backed by Expansion Capital and Bpifrance’s Deeptech 2030, will finance the uniShape demonstrator – two low‑orbit satellites that...
AI Accelerates Search for Extraterrestrial Life
AI is expanding the search for life beyond Earth. By combining advanced telescopes, modeling and machine learning, scientists can analyze vast amounts of data and detect patterns that would be impossible to spot manually. It marks a new frontier. AI is not...
Telecom News: AST SpaceMobile, Xfinity, AT&T
AST SpaceMobile received FCC commercial authorization to launch a 248‑satellite low‑Earth‑orbit network that will deliver direct‑to‑device cellular broadband across the United States. Xfinity Mobile introduced two new plans—Mobile Plus at $45 per line with lifetime device protection and Mobile Select...
Multi-Tbps Quad Band Starlink Satellite Gateway
SpaceX has filed FCC application SES‑LIC‑20260306‑00745 for a next‑generation quad‑band gateway, dubbed “First of Its Name,” at its Starlink factory in Bastrop, Texas. The earth station will use 40 × 1.99‑meter parabolic antennas covering Ka, V, E, and W bands, vastly expanding...
KDDI Selected for Japan Government Project to Test Satellite-Connected Drones
KDDI has been chosen by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for a fiscal‑2026 digital transformation initiative that will pilot satellite‑direct communication to control drones in regions lacking mobile coverage. The program, part of the government’s regional DX promotion...
India’s Defence Leaders Call for Sovereign Space Capabilities as Warfare Enters New Domain
India’s top defence and space leaders convened at the Indian Defence Space Symposium 2026 in New Delhi, urging the rapid development of sovereign, resilient space capabilities. General Anil Chauhan emphasized distributed, AI‑enabled architectures co‑developed with industry and start‑ups, while DRDO...
People Will Be 'Living and Working' On the Moon in the 2030s, Says Space Tech CEO
Voyager Technologies CEO Dylan Taylor told CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE that an inflatable lunar habitat could be operational by the end of the 2020s, with a permanent human presence on the Moon emerging in the early 2030s. He highlighted a broader...
Kepler Communications Company Profile
Kepler Communications launched ten Aether‑series optical relay satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in January 2026, marking the first commercial LEO constellation built for real‑time, SDA‑compatible laser links. In March 2026 the company commissioned 40 NVIDIA Jetson Orin GPUs across the new fleet, creating...
Astronaut Christina Koch Captures Earthshine on iPhone From Orion 54,500 Km Away
NASA astronaut Christina Koch recorded a striking Earthshine video on an iPhone aboard the Orion capsule during Artemis II’s second flight day, when the spacecraft was about 54,500 km from Earth. The footage, shared by NASA, underscores how consumer smartphones are becoming...
SpaceX Adds 24 Starlink Satellites, Nearing 9,000 in Orbit
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying 24 next‑generation Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 22, 2026. The deployment brings the total constellation close to 9,000 satellites and highlights SpaceX’s high‑cadence, reusable launch model that keeps costs low while expanding...
SpaceX Wins $57 Million U.S. Military Contract to Demo Satellite Crosslink Tech
SpaceX secured a $57 million contract from the Space Systems Command to demonstrate Link-182 satellite‑to‑satellite communications, a key step toward the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑defense architecture. The award, due for completion by April 2027, marks a deepening partnership between the commercial launch...
Soyuz Tower Demolished, Repurposed for Maia Rocket
There are reports about the demolition of the service tower at the Soyuz launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana. It looks like this supposed video was badly squeezed horizontally. In 2024, the mothballed facility was re-assigned for the European Maia...
New Visuals Reveal URM-2 and URM-1 Adapters for Angara‑5
Rollout visuals released after today's Angara-1.2 launch, showed the URM-2 booster (bottom left) and an adapter for the core version of the URM-1 (bottom right) all required for the assembly of the Angara-5 variant: https://t.co/yFPl9kzmTN https://t.co/bTcyhQqEUF
ALMA Finds Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Originated in Ultra‑Cold Milky Way Region
ALMA’s Atacama Compact Array measured a deuterated‑water ratio in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS at least 30 times higher than in Solar System comets, indicating the object formed in an exceptionally cold region of the galaxy. The finding, led by University of...
Synthetic Aperture Radar: Space Radar Reveals Hidden Earth Changes
The same satellite tech can track a convoy through dense cloud cover at night, flag a sinkhole weeks before it opens, catch a village built on a collapsing slope, and even map the inside of a pyramid from orbit. It's called...
Senate Subcommittee Schedules NASA FY27 Budget Hearing April 28
The Senate CJS appropriations subcommittee will hold a hearing on NASA's FY27 budget request Tuesday April 28 at 10 am EDT. https://t.co/CMP5Deon36
Working Towards an 18th Sustainable Development Goal - "Space for All": An Interview with Chiara Moenter
In this episode, Emeline Pat Daltram interviews Chiara Moenter, co‑founder of the SDG 18 "Space for All" initiative and policy advisor at the New Zealand Space Agency. They discuss how the Overview Effect inspired Chiara to view space as a shared global...
FCC Throws Out Satellite Spectrum Challenges as D2D Dealmaking Heats Up
The FCC issued a sweeping order on April 23 that preserves incumbent rights to Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum and dismisses petitions from SpaceX, Iridium, Kepler and others seeking access to the coveted Big LEO and 2 GHz bands. The move comes...
Moon Dust Could Stop Being a Nuisance and Start Reshaping How Humans May Build Beyond Earth
Researchers at Rice University and Iowa State have shown that lunar regolith simulant can be incorporated into fiber‑reinforced polymer composites, delivering strength and toughness gains of up to 40 percent. The breakthrough flips the narrative on moon dust, turning an...
FCC Grants Globalstar Exclusive LEO, Backs Starlink AWS‑4
This new FCC order is super complicated, but basically is telling everyone to stay in their lane: Globalstar gets exclusivity in its Big LEO spectrum, and Starlink gets FCC backing in AWS-4 (2000-20/2180-2200MHz) worldwide, but attempts to access Big LEO...
NASA Moves Crew‑13 Launch to September, Resumes Six‑month Cadence
NASA announces Crew-13: NASA's Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canada's Josh Kutryk, Russia's Sergey Teteryatnikov. Launching in Sept instead of Nov as NASA resumes ~6-month cadence (instead of ~8). 2nd flt for Watkins, 1st for the others. https://t.co/rK0XBeLEjt
SpaceX Wins $57 Million U.S. Military Contract for Satellite Crosslink Demo
Space Systems Command awarded SpaceX a $57 million contract to demonstrate Link‑182 satellite‑to‑satellite communications for the MILNET data‑relay constellation. The two‑year demo must be completed by April 2027 and will validate the RF link that underpins the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑defense concept....
The FCC Announces 2 Big Rule Changes to Make Sure Your Cellphone Always Has A Signal
The FCC announced two pivotal actions to accelerate direct‑to‑device (D2D) satellite services. It granted AST SpaceMobile a permanent license for a 248‑satellite constellation that will operate with AT&T, Verizon and FirstNet, and it upheld existing exclusive spectrum rights to keep...
NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-13 Assignments for Space Station Mission
NASA announced the crew assignments for the upcoming SpaceX Crew-13 mission, slated to launch no earlier than mid-September. The four-person team includes NASA commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney, joined by Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey...
NASA Sets Early September Launch for $4.3 Billion Roman Space Telescope, Ahead of Schedule
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced an early‑September launch window for the $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a flagship observatory that is both ahead of schedule and under budget. The mission will map the cosmos with a field of view...
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Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman released a rare video of Earth setting behind the Moon, captured on an iPhone at 8× zoom during the mission’s lunar flyby. The clip, posted on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, illustrates how the spacecraft’s motion,...
The Smartest Money in the Room Is Looking Up
Private investors have poured roughly $3 billion into commercial low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) station platforms, with Vast raising about $500 million and Redwire $350 million. Industry leaders argue the market already exists, pointing to 166 paying payloads for Axiom and early sovereign research contracts as...
LAVA Simulations Optimize SLS Rocket, Reduce Flight Vibrations
NASA has made its Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) software framework publicly available to the U.S. aerospace sector. The GPU‑accelerated CFD tool, previously used for Mars lander and Artemis missions, can shrink simulation cycles from weeks to hours. Using...
Isaacman Before Congress: Speaking the Truth to Power
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman testified before the House Science Committee, urging the cancellation of the Lunar Gateway and supporting President Trump’s proposed budget reductions. He downplayed concerns about alleged corrosion in two Gateway modules, emphasizing that Congress would not challenge...
Space Force Budget Cuts SDA’s Data Transport Funding
The Space Force’s FY2027 budget request drops future funding for the Space Development Agency’s dedicated data‑transport layer, moving roughly $1.5 billion of procurement and an equal R&D line into a new “Proliferated Low‑Earth‑Orbit” account. The service proposes a hybrid Space Data...
Iridium Continues IoT Subscriber Growth in Q1, Desch Talks NTN Direct Launch and Spectrum
Iridium reported a modest 2% year‑over‑year revenue rise in Q1 2026, reaching $219.1 million, while adding 18,000 new subscribers to total 2.434 million commercial users. IoT data revenue grew 5% to $46 million, now accounting for 83% of its subscriber base, even as...
Chinese Satellites Over Middle East Alarm U.S. Military
Chinese Satellites Over Mideast Battlefield Put U.S. on Edge—Chinese satellite industry grows as a potential threat to U.S. forces in the Middle East @ByChunHan https://t.co/zBXNJ3h7lR https://t.co/zBXNJ3h7lR
'Strong, Undeniable Public Examples of Something Positive': Astronaut Chris Hadfield on Why Artemis II Hit Him Hard, and Why We...
Veteran astronaut Chris Hadfield praised NASA’s Artemis II mission, saying it struck an emotional chord for him and underscored the public’s willingness to embrace high‑risk exploration. He drew parallels to Apollo 8, noting how both missions offered a collective sense of awe...
Iridium Unveils Summer PNT ASIC, Expands D2D Services
.@IridiumComm: PNT ASIC is out this summer & we're assessing new sateliltes to improve Iridium PNT accuracy. NTN Direct service launches this yr too. Surprise: @IridiumBoss includes @AST_SpaceMobile w/@SpaceX & @Amazonleo as among 'the big D2D services.'https://t.co/Ew1vCDCfUT https://t.co/RkfaSTjcu8
Orbiting Space Junk Poses Threat to GPS, Satellites
Space debris now exceeds 45,000 trackable objects, weighing about 9,000 metric tons, and threatens a cascade of collisions known as the Kessler effect. Recent satellite crashes, including two Starlink incidents, have added to the clutter, with Starlink alone accounting for...
SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto, Leaf Space
Leaf Space, an Italian ground‑segment‑as‑a‑service provider, now operates over 40 stations in 19 locations, handling more than 22,000 satellite passes each month. Its proprietary Leaf Line hardware and Leaf Key software platform support 170 low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, with 18 new stations...
CSA Awards $5.4 Million in 2025 FAST Grants, Concentrating Capital on High-Value Projects
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has allocated $5.4 million CAD (≈$4 million USD) to 15 university‑led FAST grants for 2025, concentrating funds in high‑value Category A and B projects while awarding no Category C micro‑grants. Category A caps rose to $450,000 CAD (≈$330,000 USD) and Category B to...