SpaceX Raptor Engine Test Seems to Have an Explosion
SpaceX performed a static‑fire test of its next‑generation Raptor methane engine at the McGregor, Texas test site, and a bright fireball suggested an explosion during the run. The incident was captured on video and appears to be an engine failure, though no personnel were injured and the facility remained functional. This test follows a series of successful Raptor firings that are critical to the Starship launch system. SpaceX is expected to investigate the anomaly before resuming full‑scale testing.
Last Week in ConTech - 6 April 2026
Starcloud announced a $170 million Series A round to develop data centers in orbit, betting on rapidly falling launch costs. SpaceX’s Starship aims to bring payload prices down to $10 per kilogram, making off‑world infrastructure economically viable. The U.S. government simultaneously pledged...
Artemis Moon Mission Sets Record; Trump Sets Tuesday 8PM Deadline For Iran
NASA’s Artemis II crew set a new distance record, reaching roughly 252,760 miles from Earth during a lunar flyby and confirming Orion’s performance ahead of a planned 2028 Moon landing. The astronauts will splash down near San Diego on April 10 after...
On Artemis and Starshot
Artemis’ recent launch reignited the excitement of returning humans to deep space, showcasing NASA’s powerful yet expensive Space Launch System (SLS). The mission underscores the urgency of developing more affordable, reusable launch solutions for a sustained lunar presence and eventual...
Avio Delays SMILE Launch After Component Production Issue Identified
Avio has postponed the European Space Agency’s SMILE mission, originally slated for 9 May, after a supplier flagged a technical issue on a subsystem component during production. The launch would have been the first Vega C flight managed directly by Avio...
Artemis II Crew Shares Easter Messages
NASA’s Artemis II crew recorded Easter greetings while en route to the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar fly‑around mission in decades. The astronauts, aboard the Orion spacecraft, shared personal reflections and hopes for the holiday as they prepared for a...
Blue Origin Launches Planned for 2026
Blue Origin has outlined a busy 2026 launch calendar featuring four New Glenn missions. The lineup includes the NG‑3 flight for AST SpaceMobile, an Amazon low‑Earth‑orbit satellite deployment, a NASA‑backed lunar Artemis mission, and a second AST SpaceMobile flight. Additional entries...
Blue Origin New Glenn Targets April Launch of AST Space Mobile Satellite
AST SpaceMobile is set to launch its Block 2 “BlueBird” satellite on Blue Origin’s New Glenn NG‑3 mission between April 10‑14, 2026. The next‑generation satellite promises up to 120 Mbps peak data rates and 24/7 nationwide cellular broadband coverage across more than 5,600 cells. Block 2...
Isaacman Letter To NASA On FY 2027 Budget
Jared Isaacman’s letter to NASA staff highlights the FY 2027 budget request, praising the recent Ignition alignment and the successful Artemis II launch while warning that implementation will be the real test. He urges employees to stay mission‑focused and avoid politics, emphasizing...
‘Hello, World’ ↦
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman captured a striking photograph of Earth from the Orion spacecraft during Artemis II’s translunar injection burn. The image shows the planet’s night side illuminated by a full moon, with visible aurorae and the Sahara region identifiable. The...
Elon Musk Reveals Date of SpaceX Starship V3’s Maiden Voyage
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the upgraded Starship v3 will attempt its first flight, designated IFT‑12, within the next four to six weeks, targeting early‑mid May 2026. The v3 configuration features a taller Super Heavy booster, higher propellant capacity...
Cool: Spirit Airlines Passengers Capture Video of Artemis Rocket Launch
NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on the Space Launch System, marking a key step toward a sustained lunar presence and future Mars trips. Passengers on Spirit Airlines flight NK 3830 from Atlanta to San Juan were rerouted over Florida, capturing a rare, close‑up...
The Fault
Yesterday, NASA’s Artemis II mission lifted off with four astronauts, marking the first crewed lunar‑orbit flight since the Apollo era. The launch captured worldwide attention, but media coverage quickly shifted to President Trump’s unrelated television appearance and policy remarks. Despite political...
Fine, I'll Do A Lunar Land Acknowledgement
NASA launched Artemis II on Wednesday, sending three Americans and one Canadian on the first crewed lunar flyby since 1972. The mission will travel up to 250,000 miles, marking the first step toward a sustainable Moon presence. Simultaneously, the Navajo Nation has...
Artemis Going to the "Moon" -- Again??
NASA launched Artemis II on April 1, a crewed test flight that will circle the Moon rather than land. The mission’s primary goal is to validate Orion’s life‑support, navigation and deep‑space systems ahead of future surface missions. While some observers question the...
Follow Artemis II’s Progress with This Web Dashboard ↦
Accessibility advocate Jakob Rosin launched a web dashboard to monitor Artemis II. The tool pulls live NASA telemetry, showing speed, position, an event timeline, and an audio radar. It offers a cleaner mobile experience than NASA’s official tracker, though it omits...
☕ Morning Briefing — Wednesday, April 2, 2026
NASA launched Artemis II on April 1, sending four astronauts on a ten‑day lunar flyby to test deep‑space systems, marking the first crewed mission beyond low‑Earth orbit since Apollo 17. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to a Trump‑era executive order...
Why NASA Put a First Responder Knife in Every Spacesuit
Artemis II launched on April 1, 2026, marking NASA’s first crewed Moon flight since 1972 and testing systems for future lunar missions. Each Orion spacesuit now carries a Benchmade 916SBK‑ORG Triage, a folding rescue tool originally built for first responders. The knife’s large grip,...
Influences
The author argues that Artemis and other space programs are fundamentally engineering achievements, not merely scientific experiments. He emphasizes that design—leveraging materials, analysis tools, and modeling—is the core discipline that makes such missions possible. By drawing parallels to Old Structures...
Italy Signs Agreement with NASA to Cooperate on Moon Base
Italy and NASA have signed a Statement of Intent to jointly develop the U.S.-led lunar surface base, extending a 2022 cooperation that tasked Italy with designing a multi‑purpose habitation module. The agreement covers habitation, communications and scientific payloads, and guarantees...
Oh. Another Moonshot
NASA is preparing to launch Artemis II, a ten‑day crewed flyby of the Moon, marking the first U.S. astronauts to travel beyond low Earth orbit since 1972. The mission is part of NASA’s “Ignition” roadmap, which earmarks roughly $20 billion over the...
NASAWatch on TV
NASAWatch founder Keith Cowing is appearing on several major television networks today, including CNN International, the BBC, and Deutsche Welle, to discuss NASA’s Artemis III mission and related space initiatives. The segments feature live launch coverage and expert analysis, with additional interviews...
HLRS: Particle Scattering Model Could Improve Low-Orbit Spaceflight
Scientists at the University of Stuttgart’s ATLAS center used HLRS’s Hawk supercomputer to run 225,000 molecular‑dynamics simulations of oxygen atoms striking satellite materials in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The data trained a machine‑learning scattering kernel that can predict particle‑surface...
Ariane 5’s “Reused Code” Catastrophe
On June 4, 1996, the Ariane 5’s maiden flight exploded 37 seconds after liftoff when software inherited from Ariane 4 overflowed a 16‑bit integer. The overflow shut down both inertial reference units, causing the flight computer to misread diagnostic data as valid...
The Anatomy of an Earth Observation Use Case
The Earth observation (EO) industry has overused the term “use case,” often conflating raw satellite capabilities with fully operational products. A new 2026 EO Adoption Hype Cycle shows that government‑anchored verticals—defence, disaster response, maritime monitoring—are the only segments reaching the...
Wednesday: Three Morning Takes
NASA is set to launch Artemis II on Wednesday, marking the first crewed mission to the Moon in over five decades. The launch underscores a shift toward private‑sector partnerships, with SpaceX’s involvement seen as a catalyst for renewed lunar ambitions. Meanwhile,...
Spain Approves €325 Million ESCA+ Expansion of Atlantic Constellation
Spain’s Council of Ministers approved a €325 million (≈$354 million) investment to add three Earth‑observation satellites to the Atlantic Constellation, expanding the joint Spain‑Portugal network to 19 spacecraft. The funding will flow through the European Space Agency as part of a broader...
Inside the Invite-Only Space Tech Dealmaking Summit Launching This Year
Up/Link: The SpaceTech Business Summit, an invitation‑only event, launches Oct. 20‑21 in New York City. Targeting 200 senior executives, founders, investors and government leaders from the $1 trillion space economy, the summit charges $1,750 for standard tickets and $2,250 for VIP passes...
Doing Something Again For The First Time (Update)
A new analysis highlights that roughly 75 % of the global population has never seen humans walk on another world, making the upcoming Artemis Moon landings the first live experience for most people. NASA’s Artemis program now plans to send astronauts...
Sweden’s 2026 Spring Budget to Include €36.5 Million More for Space
Sweden's government proposes a SEK 400 million ($40 million) addition to its 2026 spring budget to develop sovereign launch capability at the Esrange Space Centre, with a focus on military space operations. SEK 14 million ($1.4 million) will strengthen the Swedish Space Agency’s licensing...
Delta Skips Starlink, Signs with Amazon Leo for Satellite In-Flight Wi-Fi Starting in 2028
Delta Air Lines announced a partnership with Amazon’s Leo satellite network to provide in‑flight Wi‑Fi beginning in 2028. The rollout will initially equip 500 domestic aircraft with Leo Ultra antennas delivering up to 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload speeds, offered...
Thousands of Pico-Satellites May Transform How Phones Connect to Space
Researchers in Japan demonstrated that tens of thousands of pico‑satellites can operate as a single, distributed phased‑array antenna for direct‑to‑smartphone communication. By wirelessly synchronizing each tiny satellite to a reference signal, the system eliminates bulky cabling and costly large‑satellite platforms....
SM Line Ships Get Satellite Systems From SpaceX Subsidiary Starlink Korea
South Korean liner operator SM Line has equipped all 13 vessels in its fleet with satellite communications from Starlink Korea, the local arm of SpaceX. The service leverages more than 8,000 low‑earth‑orbit satellites positioned around 550 km, delivering faster and more...
Exodus Propulsion and the Exodus Force Aka Electrostatic Pressure Force
NASA electrostatics lead Dr. Charles Buhler reports a reproducible thrust that appears without propellant, generated solely by electricity in vacuum chambers. Over 2,000 experiments produced a persistent 5‑10 mN force that continues even after power is removed, and the team has...
![The Downlink [Mar 29, 25] Space Money: Buckle-Up For “Incredibly Dramatic” Changes In The Market](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/thumbnails/7e1d2479fd6fc0f08da013f77c8db2e7.webp)
The Downlink [Mar 29, 25] Space Money: Buckle-Up For “Incredibly Dramatic” Changes In The Market
At SatShow 2026, industry leaders highlighted a wave of "incredibly dramatic" shifts reshaping space finance and investment. In a Downlink interview, Frank Backes—President of Space‑ISAC, former Capella Space CEO, and newly appointed President of IonQ Quantum Infrastructure—outlined the forces driving...
ESA Seeks Commercial Provider to Transport Payload to the Moon
The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a call for a commercial provider to deliver its follow‑on NILS2 instrument to the Moon, building on the original NILS payload that gathered 346 minutes of data aboard China’s Chang’e 6 lander. NILS2 is...
Details of the NASA Moonbase Plans Include a Fifteen Ton Lunar Rover
NASA’s revised lunar architecture repurposes elements of the cancelled Lunar Gateway for the early phases of a permanent moonbase. The agency plans to launch two crewed lunar missions each year, supported by a 15‑ton rover being co‑developed with Japan that...
Musk: “AI in Space Will Be Cheaper Than on Earth”… Umm…
Elon Musk recently suggested that running AI inference in orbit could eventually be cheaper than on Earth, proposing a 1‑gigawatt solar‑powered data center launched by Starship and built around a new semiconductor architecture. The claim hinges on the idea that...
Foremay Unveils InterStellar Radiation-Hardened Space-Grade SSD
Foremay Inc. has launched the InterStellar series, a line of radiation‑hardened SSDs designed for low‑Earth orbit through deep‑space missions. The drives combine Graded‑Z shielding, which lowers a 10,000 krad exposure to a survivable 500 krad, with AI‑driven block management that maps radiation...
Boeing’s Starliner History Shows Safety, Quality Concerns Exist Systemically Across the Company
NASA’s February 19 investigative report blames both Boeing and NASA for the 2024 Starliner failure that left its crew stranded on the International Space Station for nine months before a SpaceX capsule returned them. The 311‑page document details software glitches,...
Rethinking That Space Message
Keith Cowing warns that public awareness of Artemis II remains surprisingly low, despite the mission’s historic importance. He urges NASA to step out of its insular “space bubble” and communicate directly with everyday audiences. The post highlights Jared Isaacman’s claim that...
This Week: Should the U.S. Race to Mars?
The debate over whether the United States should prioritize settling Mars intensifies as NASA prepares Artemis II for an April launch and outlines plans for a permanent lunar base. Competition from China and an accelerating private‑sector push have turned the once‑theoretical...
Starlink Is Taking Revenues Telcos Couldn’t Capture
Starlink has surpassed 10 million active subscribers, adding roughly 19,600 new customers each day since reaching the 9 million mark. The service is rapidly expanding beyond its traditional niche of rural, aviation, and maritime broadband. By contrast, traditional telcos face prohibitive costs—$3,000...
2026 SHTF Comms: Stay Connected With Last Ditch Satellites
The March 29, 2026 Survival Dispatch post outlines emerging satellite communication options for disaster‑ready individuals, focusing on low‑cost, low‑earth‑orbit (LEO) constellations marketed as “last‑ditch” links when terrestrial networks fail. It highlights new handheld terminals, subscription pricing under $15 per month,...
The Economics of Openness: Funding Earth Observation as a Public Good
Earth observation (EO) data are now widely accessible through open archives, cloud platforms and shared tools, yet true public use remains limited. The article argues that openness is more than data availability; it requires institutional capacity, sustained funding, and clear...
ESA Member States Call for Cancellation of Earth Return Orbiter
European Space Agency member states have voted to cancel the Earth Return Orbiter, a €491 million ($535 million) contract awarded to Airbus Defence and Space for NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission. The cancellation follows a US Senate decision in January 2026 to...
Taming the Acid Clouds with a New Blueprint for Making Fuel on Venus
The Chinese Academy of Sciences team unveiled a modular instrument designed to survive Venus’s corrosive, high‑pressure atmosphere while filtering acid aerosols, enriching trace gases, and performing laser‑based spectroscopy. The three‑stage filtration unit achieves over 99.99% removal of sulfuric‑acid droplets as...
Weekly Brief – 27/03/2026
Starlink has introduced a promotional $32/month (≈£25) satellite broadband plan, offering a $13/month discount for new customers who sign up before the end of April 2026. CityFibre is piloting BUKO’s traffic‑management system in Worthing, using sat‑nav data and Meta platforms...
CNES Publishes Call for Drone Swarm to Monitor Launch Operations
CNES has launched a call for proposals to create an autonomous drone swarm that will monitor perimeter security and support launch‑operation activities at the Guiana Space Centre. The initiative is funded under the Flexible, Digital and Sustainable (FDS) programme, a...
Vodafone, Satellite Connect Europe Make Satellite Video Call in Ireland
Vodafone Ireland and Satellite Connect Europe, the joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, completed Ireland’s first mobile video call via satellite using a regular smartphone and the AST Bluebird satellite. The call originated from a dead‑zone on Clare Island, County Mayo,...
