Bremont Unveils Supernova Collection, First British Watch to Journey to the Moon
Bremont CEO Davide Cerrato revealed the Supernova collection at the 2026 Watches & Wonders show, embedding a chronograph in Astrolab’s FLIP rover that will land on the moon’s south pole this summer. The move marks the first British‑made luxury watch to travel beyond Earth, expanding Bremont’s product universe into space.
Google's 6.1% SpaceX Stake Could Be Worth $122 Billion in $2 Trillion IPO
Alphabet's Google unit holds about 6.11% of SpaceX, a stake that Bloomberg values at roughly $122 billion on a projected $2 trillion IPO price. The potential listing, slated for June, could raise as much as $75 billion, making it one of the largest...
Kongsberg Satellite Services Licensed to Operate 42 Chinese Military Satellites
Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), owned by NATO contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, secured Norwegian licences to communicate with 42 Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGSTL) satellites, a company linked to China’s military. The move raises questions about dual‑use space services amid...
NASA Reopens Artemis Moon Lander Contract as Starship Delays Prompt Competition
NASA announced it will reopen the U.S. human‑landing system contract, allowing rivals like Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to bid for Artemis 3 after SpaceX’s Starship fell behind schedule. The move, driven by acting administrator Sean Duffy, could reshape the lunar‑landing...
Final Ground Testing Begins of Katalyst’s Swift Rescue Spacecraft
NASA awarded satellite‑repair startup Katalyst a contract to rescue the aging Gehrels‑Swift telescope, and within seven months the company delivered its LINK spacecraft to Goddard Space Flight Center for final ground testing. Swift’s orbit is decaying and, without intervention, the...
Engineers Shut Down Another Instrument on Voyager-1
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory shut down Voyager 1’s Low‑energy Charged Particles (LECP) experiment on 17 April 2026, ending 49 years of continuous operation. The aging probe’s radioisotope thermoelectric generators are losing power, prompting a pre‑planned sequence of instrument turn‑offs. With the LECP now...
NASA’s Mars Rover Comes Across Formation That Looks Like the Scales of a Massive Cosmic Reptile
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a striking polygonal rock formation that resembles the scales of a massive reptile while en route to the 32‑foot Antofagasta crater. The honeycomb‑like textures stretch across meters of terrain, prompting scientists to collect additional images and...
Antitrust Authority Approves Creation of Rheinmetall-OHB Satellite Joint Venture
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has approved a joint venture between Rheinmetall Digital and satellite maker OHB, clearing the path for the new subsidiary to bid on a German armed forces satellite communications contract. The venture is part of a broader...
Blue Origin Sets Sunday New Glenn Launch with AST SpaceMobile Broadband Satellite
Blue Origin will launch its New Glenn heavy‑lift rocket Sunday from Launch Complex 36, carrying AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 broadband satellite. The mission also aims to recover the first‑stage booster, a key step toward routine reusability.
Space‑based Datacenters Will Dwarf Earth GPUs, Boost Security
Tonight I hung out with an entrepreneur who is building https://t.co/1tXBvxF3GP Datacenters in Space. He is putting 42,000 up over next few years. All put in space by @SpaceX And all packets will go through @Starlink. GPU inside made by @nvidia. He said the Vera...
SpaceX to Attempt 600th Falcon Booster Landing Amid West Coast Starlink Mission
SpaceX is set to attempt its 600th Falcon 9 booster landing during the Starlink 17-22 mission scheduled for Sunday, April 19, from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The flight will use booster B1097, now on its seventh flight, to deploy 25...
The Rosalind Franklin Paradox: NASA Signs a Launch Contract for a Mission the White House Wants to Kill
NASA’s Launch Services Program approved the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project and signed a $175.7 million Falcon Heavy contract to launch ESA’s Mars rover in late 2028. The contract provides U.S. braking engines, radioisotope heater units and a mass spectrometer to...
Rogers Expands Satellite-to-Mobile Coverage to the US
Rogers announced that its satellite‑to‑mobile service now extends an additional 1.3 million square kilometres into the United States, thanks to a partnership with T‑Mobile’s T‑Satellite network. The expansion lets Canadian subscribers roaming in the U.S. stay connected in areas without traditional...
Kansas Amateur Astronomer Gary Hug Discovers and Names Asteroid 6969 Krypto After Superman’s Legendary Super-Dog
Gary Hug, a Kansas‑based amateur astronomer, discovered and secured the permanent designation for main‑belt asteroid (6969) Krypto, a 3‑5 km rock. Using his 22‑inch reflector at the Sandlot Observatory, he submitted precise astrometry to the IAU’s Minor Planet Center, which approved the...
Science Fiction Books That Imagine the Future Space Economy
A new roundup highlights science‑fiction titles that anticipate the economics of a burgeoning space economy. The list spans classics like *The Expanse* and *The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress* to recent works such as *Delta‑v*, each illustrating how resource scarcity,...
Trump Pushes Lunar Nuclear Reactor Despite Past Mishaps
Trump wants a nuclear fisson reactor orbiting the moon by 2028. This is not a joke either. The U.S. launched a nuclear reactor into orbit in 1965, but space-based nuclear programs were abandoned after radioactive releases. 🤦♂️ Given the supreme dedication...
Starlink Unable to Get Signal for India Liftoff; Faces FDI Hurdles Amid Security Concerns
Starlink’s plan to launch satellite broadband in India has hit a regulatory roadblock as the government holds its foreign direct investment (FDI) application and awaits security clearance. Concerns focus on cross‑holding ties with parent SpaceX and the risk of misuse...
U.S. Space Force Grants Initial AMTI Contracts to Nine Firms, Expanding Orbital Services Base
The U.S. Space Force announced that nine companies have received initial Other Transaction Agreements to develop a satellite constellation for airborne moving target indication (AMTI). While contract values remain undisclosed, the awards mark the first step in a multi‑vendor “system‑of‑systems”...
SpaceX Schedules Vandenberg Starlink Launch, Residents Brace for Sonic Booms
SpaceX will lift off 25 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 18, 2026, using a Falcon 9 with a four‑hour launch window beginning at 7 a.m. PT. The company warned residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura...
Editorial: One Giant, Complex Leap for Insurance
The editorial likens the insurance industry's evolution to a space‑age leap, noting that artificial intelligence, data analytics and automation are now embedded in underwriting, claims and risk assessment. While policy forms appear unchanged, back‑office models process massive data sets in...
STScI Launches Roman Research Nexus Cloud Platform for Upcoming Telescope
The Space Telescope Science Institute, in partnership with NASA and Caltech/IPAC, has released the Roman Research Nexus, a cloud‑hosted science platform that streams simulated data from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The service is live now, preparing researchers for...
Spacemobile’s 2,731% Revenue Surge Narrows Gap with Iridium’s Stable Earnings
Ast Spacemobile posted a 2,731% year‑over‑year revenue increase for Q4 2025, while Iridium Communications recorded flat revenue and $25 million net income for the same period. The contrast underscores Spacemobile’s rapid scaling against Iridium’s steady earnings, a dynamic that is reshaping...
NASA Launches Six CubeSats on SpaceX Rideshare to Boost Space‑weather Forecasting and Tech Demos
NASA lifted six CubeSats aboard SpaceX’s Transporter‑16 rideshare on March 30, targeting better space‑weather prediction, magnetic field mapping and rapid‑deorbit technology. The payloads, launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, showcase the agency’s push for low‑cost, student‑driven research and next‑generation spacecraft capabilities.
Blue Origin Unveils Project Quartz Global Ground Station Network
Blue Origin announced Project Quartz, a global network of proprietary ground stations and operation centers to support its New Glenn heavy‑lift rocket and Blue Ring orbital‑logistics vehicle. The infrastructure, now under construction, aims to replace third‑party ground‑as‑a‑service providers, giving the company tighter control...
SWF 2026 Counterspace Report Highlights Electronic Warfare Threat and Canadian Defence Implications
The Secure World Foundation’s 2026 Global Counterspace Capabilities report finds that electronic warfare and cyber operations are now the sole active counter‑space tools, as nations avoid kinetic anti‑satellite tests. For Canada, the findings intersect with its new Defence Industrial Strategy...
China Plans Intensive Space Missions in 2026 as Exploration and Commercial Space Efforts Expand
China’s space agency unveiled an aggressive 2026 schedule that includes the Tianwen‑2 asteroid observation and sample‑return mission, additional crewed flights such as Shenzhou‑23, and further tests of reusable launch vehicles. The plan follows a record‑setting 2025 with 92 launches, a...
NASA Selects Falcon Heavy to Launch ESA Mars Rover Mission Despite Budget Threat
NASA has chosen SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, slated for a late‑2028 launch. The agency will also supply the rover’s descent‑stage braking engines, radioisotope heater units, electronics and a mass‑spectrometer instrument under...
April 17, 2026 Quick Space Links
NASA announced it will procure a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, landing engines, and radioisotope heater units for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover slated for a 2028 launch. Airbus and Sener have been awarded contracts to build the rover’s lander after Russia...
!['We Can Lose Three [Computers] and Still Ride Through’: Inside the 8-CPU Brain of NASA’s Artemis II that ‘Votes’ on...](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3sMmsgSFFZtnv3EyJycGbC-1280-80.png)
'We Can Lose Three [Computers] and Still Ride Through’: Inside the 8-CPU Brain of NASA’s Artemis II that ‘Votes’ on...
NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission relies on an eight‑CPU architecture that runs identical flight software in parallel. The design employs a voting‑style fault‑tolerance system that can silently drop a faulty processor and even survive the loss of three...
NASA Denies Non‑Polar Artemis IV Landing Rumors
FYI I've been hearing murmurings that NASA is seriously considering a non-polar landing for Artemis IV. @SpcPlcyOnline also had an intriguing story about a month ago (linked below). Anyway, I asked NASA about it this week and got a firm...
Turning Plant Waste Into Nanocellulose and Biocomposites for Sustainable Space Missions
The European Space Agency‑funded BioSTEP project demonstrated that plant biomass and discarded packaging can be transformed into nanocellulose and high‑performance biocomposites suitable for Moon and Mars missions. Conducted by NTNU’s CIRiS and RISE PFI during 2024‑25, the study identified crops with...
The PBS Artemis II Documentary Is Streaming on YouTube
PBS’s NOVA series has released an hour‑long documentary, “Return to the Moon,” that chronicles NASA’s Artemis II mission. The film follows the four‑astronaut crew on their 10‑day lunar‑orbit flight, the first human deep‑space journey since Apollo. It aired on April 15 and...
One Week Later: Artemis II’s Purpose and Legacy
A week since splashdown and I’m thinking a lot about the motivations and legacy of Artemis II…
China's Geosynchronous Satellites Threaten Naval Stealth Worldwide
China demonstrates geosynchronous satellite ship tracking, raising concerns about persistent global surveillance and reduced concealment for naval operations in contested waters. https://t.co/3nDuLjY9kC
HEO Space Reportedly Sights Starlink Satellite 34343 Spinning In Orbit
Starlink satellite 34343, which lost contact after a suspected fragmentation event, was recently imaged by HEO Space. The company posted a video confirming the satellite remains structurally intact but is tumbling at least 16 degrees per second. LeoLabs, which first...
Chinese Astronauts Conduct 5‑hour Spacewalk on April 16
Astronauts Zhang L. and Wu F. made a spacewalk from the Chinese Space Station on Apr 16 from about 1206 UTC to 1736 UTC
Orion’s Eight‑Processor Redundancy Ensures Deep‑Space Reliability
NASA’s Orion spacecraft uses eight synchronized processors and layered redundancy to maintain operations in deep space, where hardware failures cannot be repaired. https://t.co/QIO7Hkg8qA
Geographic Hotspots: Where Demand Is Accelerating
The satellite industry is moving from blanket global coverage to high‑density regional constellations, concentrating demand in three hotspots: Asia‑Pacific, Sub‑Saharan Africa, and the Arctic corridor. By mid‑2026, Asia‑Pacific is projected to capture 26.5% of the direct‑to‑satellite market, driven by China...
CZ-4C Launches Daqi-2 Atmospheric Satellite From Jiuquan
LAUNCH at 0410 UTC Apr 17 of a CZ-4C from Jiuquan with the Daqi-2 atmospheric research satellite
Team Pauses Swift BAT Observations to Save Power
Noteworthy: “On April 7, the team also halted observations by Swift’s Burst Alert Telescope to reduce power consumption.”
IFC News Roundup From AIX
At the Aircraft Interiors Expo, satellite operators announced a wave of in‑flight connectivity contracts targeting major airlines. SES won a multi‑orbit antenna deal with Japan Airlines for 41 long‑haul Airbus and Boeing jets, while Hughes was chosen by Air India...
Artemis II Crew Discusses NASA Moon Mission and Next Steps
Six days after the Artemis II crew splashed down, NASA astronauts discussed their experience and turned their focus to the next milestone: a crewed lunar landing. Commander Reid Wiseman emphasized that adding a lander to the next flight would be a...
Airlines See IFC as Way to Build Relationships With Customers
Airlines are treating in‑flight connectivity (IFC) as a hospitality tool to forge emotional bonds with passengers. flydubai, after a lackluster Ku‑band rollout in 2016, is now installing SpaceX’s Starlink LEO satellites to deliver reliable broadband and curated brand‑aligned content. Ethiopian...
NASA Signs $175.7 M Falcon Heavy Launch for Rosalind Franklin
NASA confirms the launch contract for Rosalind Franklin on Falcon Heavy is valued at $175.7 million.
Canada, South Korea Deepen Ties with Space Cooperation Agreement
The Canadian Space Agency and South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Administration have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a strategic industrial alliance covering low‑Earth‑orbit communications, Earth observation, space science, positioning and navigation, and space‑traffic management. The deal, announced at the...
GSA: 5G Non Terrestrial Networks, 5G SA and 5G Advanced Gain Momentum
GSA data shows rapid growth in non‑terrestrial 5G networks, with 97 operators across 70 countries announcing investments in LEO satellite device‑to‑device (D2D) solutions and aligning with 3GPP Release 17 standards. Major players such as Skylo, Orange, Verizon, Vodafone IoT and Sateliot,...
Global Rocket Race Accelerates with New Tests and Launches
In this week's rocket report: • Starship V3 test-fired in Texas • Blue Origin gets new launch pad at Vandenberg • Third New Glenn launch on tap this weekend • Europe's tentative step toward crew launch • China nears debut of another reusable rocket https://t.co/mGrHsnxzOC
SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Martin Langer, OroraTech
OroraTech secured a €20 million ($22 million) contract with Greece in 2025 to launch the first national wildfire early‑warning system, followed by a Can$72 million ($53 million) deal with the Canadian Space Agency for the 2029 WildFireSat mission. The Munich‑based startup designs its own...
Volunteers Discover Rare Space Weather Events Using Their Ears
NASA’s Heliophysics Audified: Resonances in Plasmas (HARP) citizen‑science project turned magnetic‑field measurements into sound, letting volunteers listen to space‑weather plasma waves. While testing data from the THEMIS satellite, volunteers detected an unexpected inverted pitch pattern—lower tones close to Earth and...
Orion Reentry Hints at Unreleased Public Disclosure
On Orion’s reentry: “And then there was a point—there’s something that I feel that I am not ready to say to the public yet.” https://t.co/HGK65yHVNJ