The Jilin-1 Constellation: China’s Commercial Eye in the Sky
China’s Chang Guang Satellite Technology has expanded the Jilin‑1 constellation from four test satellites in 2015 to more than 117 operational units by early 2026. The fleet delivers sub‑meter optical imagery, hyperspectral, video and a synthetic‑aperture radar, offering 20‑plus daily revisits and a consumer‑grade app with over 130,000 users. While the commercial services target agriculture, disaster response and urban planning, Chinese law obliges the operator to share data with state intelligence, blurring civilian‑military boundaries. The original 300‑satellite target for 2025 remains unmet, highlighting the challenges of rapid scale‑up.
SpaceX Snags GPS III, ULA Must Accelerate Vulcan
SpaceX looks to have picked up this GPS III launch off ULA . It is absolutely critical ULA drastically up the pace of Vulcan otherwise it is hard to see them being able to stay a thing. Add New Glenn...
The Pentagon’s SmallSats Have An Amnesia Problem
The Pentagon’s SmallSat programs rely on commercial volatile memory, which loses data during power interruptions caused by radiation or EMP events. Such “amnesia” forces satellites to reboot, delaying hypersonic tracking and breaking the kill chain. Engineers mitigate the risk with...
Officina Stellare Wins $2 Million Contract for Lasercom Ground Station in Spain
Officina Stellare, an Italian opto‑mechanical specialist, secured a €1.84 million contract with Barcelona’s Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) to build an optical ground station for laser and quantum‑encrypted space‑to‑Earth links. The system will include a telescope, dome, testing platforms and integrated...
The FCC’s Agenda at Its Next Meeting Includes an Item for “Weird Space Stuff”
The FCC’s March 26, 2026 open meeting agenda features an item titled “Spectrum Abundance for Weird Space Stuff,” aimed at addressing a looming shortage of radio spectrum for telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) functions in emerging private space operations. The...
Rocket Lab Launches Eighth Synspective Radar Imaging Satellite
Rocket Lab’s Electron lifted off from New Zealand on March 20, delivering Synspective’s eighth synthetic‑aperture radar (SAR) satellite into a 573‑km, 50.2° orbit. The launch brings Synspective closer to its goal of a 30‑satellite constellation by 2028, supported by a new contract...
Noted Test Pilot of SpaceShipOne, Michael Melvill, Passed on March 19
Mike Melvill, the first commercial astronaut and test pilot of SpaceShipOne, died on March 19. He piloted the historic September 29, 2004 flight and the follow‑up October 4 mission that secured the Ansari X Prize for Burt Rutan’s team. Those flights...
South Korean Rocket Failed 33 Seconds In — Now Engineers Know Why
South Korean startup INNOSPACE’s HANBIT‑Nano rocket broke apart 33 seconds after liftoff from Brazil’s Alcântara Space Center on 22 December 2025. A joint investigation with Brazil’s aerospace accident agency CENIPA identified a mis‑compressed sealing component in the forward chamber plug as the...
Artemis 2 Moon Rocket Reaches Launch Pad as April 1 Launch Window Approaches
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission progressed as the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft were rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on March 20, marking the start of final pre‑launch activities. The crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and...
From Patent Lawyer to Space CEO: Sleeping on Factory Floors
Before Elon Musk famously slept on the Tesla factory floor, Star Catcher CEO @theandrewrush was doing it at his previous company, Made In Space, as they worked to build the first space-ready 3D printer. "I hope that Elon has had better...
Teledyne to Demonstrate Integrated Satcom Capabilities at SATShow Week 2026
Teledyne Technologies will showcase its end‑to‑end satellite communications portfolio at SATShow Week 2026 in Washington, DC, booth 2729. The exhibit features live demos of the EV10AS940 ADC employing non‑uniform sampling and a 16‑core radiation‑tolerant Arm Cortex‑A72 processor running real‑time AI...
SpaceX Still at Odds on Sharing Rules with SES, Viasat
SpaceX is intensifying its fight with incumbent satellite operators over proposed FCC rule changes that would raise power limits for low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) broadband constellations in the 10.7‑12.7 GHz, 17.3‑18.6 GHz and 19.7‑20.2 GHz bands. The company contends that existing equivalent power flux density...
New Satellite Constellations Could Ruin the Night Sky, Astronomers Warn
Astronomy groups are alarmed after SpaceX and Reflect Orbital filed FCC applications for massive satellite constellations—up to one million AI‑data satellites and 50,000 reflective mirrors. The proposals would dramatically increase visible objects in low‑Earth orbit, potentially brightening the night sky...
NASA Selects University Finalists for Technology Concepts Competition
NASA announced 14 university teams as finalists in the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The challenge asks students to devise rigorous concepts for lunar and Martian operations across four mission themes, from communications to power...
NASA Asks For Shuttle Relocation Ideas
NASA has issued a Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) to create a Multimodal Transportation Multiple Award IDIQ contract for moving flown space vehicles, ranging from full‑size Shuttle orbiters to small capsules like Orion. The solicitation seeks industry input on engineering...
284: Etched in Crystal: Putting 3,237 Stories Onto a Lunar Rover
In this episode, host Beth Muld talks with Josh Haynes of Uplift Aerospace about the Stories of Space project's milestone of embedding 3,237 student and teacher messages into a 5‑dimensional crystal now attached to Astrolab’s Flip lunar rover. They explain...
Smiles and Spacesuits
NASA astronaut Chris Williams performed a spacesuit fit verification on Jan 2, 2026 inside the ISS Quest airlock, confirming airtight integrity, comfort and mobility. On March 18, 2026 Williams and fellow astronaut Jessica Meir completed a 7‑hour‑2‑minute EVA. The spacewalk focused on preparatory work for installing...
Ursa Major Test Flies a New Liquid-Fueled Missile Engine for Air Force
Ursa Major announced that its Draper liquid‑fueled rocket engine completed a successful flight on the Air Force Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator on Jan. 27, 2026. The sub‑orbital test reached supersonic speeds, providing the first in‑flight validation of propellant stability and throttling performance....
NASA Wants to Know How the Launch Industry's Chic New Rocket Fuel Explodes
NASA and the U.S. Space Force are conducting controlled detonations of methane‑liquid‑oxygen (methalox) propellants to quantify their explosive potential. Tests at Eglin Air Force Base began with C‑4 baselines, progressed to unmixed methane and LOX, and will scale to 20,000‑pound...
India’s Second Spaceport to Be Completed Next Year
India plans to commission its second spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu during the 2026‑27 financial year. The facility, named the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) Launch Complex, will support polar launches of the SSLV and other commercial rockets, targeting...
SpaceX Deploys 10,000th Active Starlink Satellite, Cementing LEO Dominance
SpaceX used a Falcon 9 launch to put its 10,000th operational Starlink satellite into low‑Earth orbit, a milestone that highlights the company's rapid deployment cadence and its growing lead over rivals such as OneWeb and Project Kuiper. The expansion bolsters...
Space Force Switches From ULA to SpaceX Rocket for Upcoming GPS Launch
The U.S. Space Force has shifted an upcoming GPS III satellite launch from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 after a February anomaly halted Vulcan’s military flights. The GPS payload, originally slated for this month, will now launch no...
NASA Seeks SmallSat Mission Concepts Using Adaptive Sensing and Edge AI
NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office announced the Space to Soil Challenge, inviting proposals for SmallSat missions that leverage adaptive sensing and edge AI. The initiative aims to advance onboard processing capabilities that can deliver rapid, high‑resolution data for land‑resilience applications...
Private Company to Land on Asteroid Apophis as It Flies Close to Earth
In 2029, asteroid Apophis will skim Earth at just 32,000 kilometres, a once‑in‑millennia event visible to the naked eye. A private U.S. company plans to deploy two landers as part of an international armada that includes spacecraft from Europe, Japan...
Fertilizer Made From Cyanobacteria Enables Plant Cultivation on Mars (W/Video)
Researchers have demonstrated a cyanobacteria‑based fertilizer that can be produced entirely from Martian resources and used to grow edible duckweed. The study optimized an anaerobic fermentation process at 35 °C, achieving high ammonium yields from simulated regolith. One gram of dry...
Live Coverage: SpaceX to Launch 25 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket From Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX is set to launch its 30th Starlink batch of 2026, deploying 25 V2 Mini Optimized satellites on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The mission, designated Starlink 17‑15, will lift off at 2:51:49 p.m. PDT and follow a southerly trajectory into...
Amazon Leo Vs. SpaceX Starlink: The Race to Own Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX’s Starlink crossed the 10,000‑satellite threshold in March 2026 and now serves over 10 million customers across roughly 160 countries. Amazon’s rebranded Leo constellation, launched in 2025, has about 250 satellites in orbit and began a limited commercial rollout in early...
The Scientific Domains of Space Exploration
The article outlines how space exploration is a sprawling scientific ecosystem rather than a single discipline, linking physics, geology, biology, engineering, law, economics, and more. It traces the evolution from Apollo’s multidisciplinary sample analysis to modern missions like Artemis and...
ESA Grants OHB €248 Million to Build Next‑Gen Weather Satellite Constellation
The European Space Agency awarded OHB a €248 million contract to develop 20 small satellites for EUMETSAT’s EPS‑Sterna weather‑monitoring constellation. The deal expands on the Arctic Weather Satellite prototype and aims to keep Europe’s weather‑forecasting infrastructure independent through 2042.
NASA Won't Give up Hope on Silent MAVEN Mars Probe: 'We're Still Looking for It'
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,...
From Orbit to Objective: Space and the Future of Conflict
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 Targets Investors, Insurers with Expanded Orbital Intelligence Platform
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 Picks SpaceX Starship Over Boeing for Artemis Lunar Orbit Mission
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...
T-20 Days: Smile to Launch on 9 April
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...
ESA to Purchase SpaceX Crew Dragon Mission to ISS
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,...
Reviving Apollo's Rare 8‑Ball Navigation Instrument
🎱 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...
White House Omits Gateway in Trump-Japan Lunar Cooperation Brief
WH fact sheet on Trump’s mtg with Japanese prime minister mentions lunar cooperation on pressurized rover and “the NASA-led Moon base,” but nothing about Gateway.
Globalsat Becomes Amazon Leo Reseller
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...
Rocket Lab Launches Japan's Synspective Radar Satellite
LAUNCH at 1810 UTC Mar 20 of a Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia, New Zealand, with a radar satellite for Japan's Synspective (probably the StriX-6 satellite).
Historic MSFC 4670 Test Stand Revives Space Launches
Awesome to see the historic MSFC 4670 test stand helping to make space happen again https://t.co/WwjjIcnBik
NASA's Artemis Missions Promise a Return to the Moon—But When?
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...
Blue Origin Plans 51,600‑satellite Orbital Data Center
"Blue Origin is the latest company to propose an orbital data center system, filing plans for a constellation of up to 51,600 satellites." via @SpaceNews_Inc https://t.co/yssLQmxsL8
OHB Projects Double‑Digit Growth Across All 2025 Metrics
.@OHB reports double-digit percentage increases in rev, backlog, profit for 2025 and sees four aces in the coming budgets at @esa @defis_eu @bundeswehrInfo and @NATO. Not to mention US and @ArianeGroup launcher component orders, and Digital division.https://t.co/MIRKGHICwc https://t.co/Y5An8jqVWd
China Considers Volcanic Site For Its First Moon Landing
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...
Bezos Invests in Terminator SSO Sunlit Space Gold Rush
Jeff Bezos joins the gold rush to Terminator SSO (and permanent sunlight in space near Earth). https://t.co/QyGifj6ehT
SpaceX Begins 1 Million‑Satellite Orbiting Data Center Initiative
SpaceX To Start “Small” With 1 Million Satellite Plan for Orbiting Data Centers https://t.co/HCh6cfWm1c #SpaceEconomy https://t.co/PNf86RkEJs
Legacy Satellite Makers Idolized Tradition, Ignored Cost Savings
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...
Seven Cubesats Deployed by D_Orbit Since Nov 28
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...
Space Force Still Lists Deorbited Haven Demo as Orbiting
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'.
True Ambition Means Launching Thousands of Space Data Centers
If you don't plan to launch tens of thousands of data centers in space are you even trying? https://t.co/8d1zTwMr7A