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, and connected to Vodafone CEO Sabrina Casalta in Dublin. The demonstration proved that satellite links can bypass traditional mobile networks for real‑time video. It showcases a new pathway for extending connectivity to underserved locations.
Norway and Iceland to Join the EU’s GOVSATCOM and IRIS2 Programmes
Norway and Iceland have signed agreements to join the European Union’s GOVSATCOM and IRIS2 secure communications programmes. GOVSATCOM, launched in January, provides interim secure satellite capacity, while the €10.6 billion IRIS2 project will deploy about 290 satellites by 2030. Iceland will...
CMA Technology Picks Rivada to Drive Secure Connectivity
CMA Technology has partnered with Rivada Space Networks to resell its Outernet, a 600‑satellite low‑Earth‑orbit mesh that provides secure, low‑latency connectivity. Rivada reports over $19 billion in global business tied to the network, which routes data entirely in space via laser...
Switzerland’s PAVE Space Closes $40 Million Seed Funding Round
Swiss startup PAVE Space announced a $40 million seed round led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, accelerating its LYOBA heavy‑lift kick stage development. The company, a 2024 spin‑off from the Gruyère Space Programme, targets rapid satellite transport between orbits and plans...
63% Upside For This European Space Play
An investment note spotlights a European space‑focused vehicle that could deliver a 63% upside, tying together the booming space‑data market and rising defence spending. Satellites now underpin global logistics, conflict monitoring, and high‑value analytics, making space a critical economic layer....
Fire Detection as a Proxy for Combat: The Economist
The Economist used NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire detection system combined with a 100‑model machine‑learning filter to identify war‑related heat signatures in Ukraine. By requiring 95 of 100 models to flag an anomaly, the approach isolates artillery, drone and missile strikes...
NASA Space Reactor 1 Freedom for Nuclear Powered Interplanetary to Mars in 2028
NASA plans to launch the Space Reactor‑1 Freedom by late 2028, marking the first nuclear‑electric propulsion spacecraft bound for Mars. The mission will demonstrate high‑power, efficient thrust for deep‑space travel where solar power is insufficient. Upon arrival, SR‑1 Freedom will...
Are Orbital Data Centers Economically Viable? ↦
Ars Technica’s first installment examines whether orbital data centers can be economically viable. It notes that deploying a million satellites would cost over $1 trillion, dwarfing the roughly $10 billion budgets of SpaceX’s Starlink and Starship projects. Engineers argue that owning both...
Press Release: Eutelsat Expands LEO Connectivity for Global Rail Market
Satellite operator Eutelsat announced that its OneWeb low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) connectivity service is expanding across the global rail market. The company now offers broadband to rail operators in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America through distribution partners...
US-Based Katalyst Selects Ariane 6 to Launch Satellite Servicing Spacecraft
Arizona‑based Katalyst Space Technologies has signed a launch contract with Arianespace to send its NEXUS‑1 satellite‑servicing spacecraft to geostationary orbit on an Ariane 6 rocket in the second half of 2027. NEXUS‑1 will dock with GEO satellites to install new hardware,...
Isaacman, Jared Isaacman
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was praised at the Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon for revamping the Artemis lunar program. Rep. Mike Haridopolos called him a “James Bond for America,” noting a dramatic turnaround in NASA’s public sentiment over the past year....
![The Downlink [Mar 23, 25] Space Competition: “March Storm” On Capitol Hill Seeks Equal Tax Treatment For Space Investors](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/articles/7e06263352a37962687b371f6345efc0.webp)
The Downlink [Mar 23, 25] Space Competition: “March Storm” On Capitol Hill Seeks Equal Tax Treatment For Space Investors
The Alliance for Space Development’s 30th “March Storm” advocacy event on Capitol Hill is pressing Congress for equal tax treatment of space startups and venture‑capital investors ahead of the anticipated SpaceX IPO. The campaign, dubbed “March Storm,” aims to level...
What Does “Exclusively Peaceful” Really Mean?
On 30 January ESA appointed Laurent Jaffart to head a new Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity Directorate tasked with developing space‑based security and defence capabilities. The agency says it will honor the Convention by interpreting “exclusively peaceful” to ban only aggressive actions,...
NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) Update
The Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) announced its 35th virtual meeting will occur June 8‑11, 2026, offering the small‑body community a platform for collaboration. NASA has recently ended direct funding for all eight planetary‑science Assessment Groups, prompting SBAG to reassess its role...
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...
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...
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,...
NASA Shifts From Boeing and SLS Towards SpaceX for Moon Missions
NASA has proposed a new Artemis architecture that moves translunar injection and lunar landing responsibilities from the SLS/Orion stack to SpaceX's Starship. Artemis III in 2027 will serve as a low‑risk LEO docking rehearsal that mirrors the new flow. Artemis...
NASA Outreach Sugar Highs
NASA recently aired two high‑profile advertisements on CNN, featuring Credit One and Old Spice, to promote the upcoming Artemis II mission and the popular novel “Project Hail Mary.” The campaign delivers roughly twelve days of heightened public exposure before the buzz...
SpaceX Starship V3 Initiated a Ten Engine Static Fire
SpaceX completed the initial activation campaign for the Super Heavy V3 booster, loading cryogenic propellant and conducting a ten‑engine static fire on Starbase Pad 2. All ten Raptor 3 engines ignited, confirming the new engine design’s start‑up reliability. The test was cut...
SpaceX’s Starship V3 Is Almost Ready and It Will Change Space Travel Forever
SpaceX is gearing up for an April test flight of Starship V3, the next‑generation launch system featuring a taller Super Heavy booster and upgraded Raptor 3 engines. The new vehicle boosts low‑Earth‑orbit payload capacity to roughly 200 tons, a dramatic jump from...
ESA to Incentivise the Use of European Launchers for LEO Cargo Return Initiative
The European Space Agency announced a €50 million incentive to encourage the use of Ariane 6 or other European launchers for its ALADDIN demonstration missions, part of the LEO Cargo Return Services program. Up to €420 million per contract will be awarded, split...
That Time Wernher Von Braun’s Rocket Tried To Kill My Father (Repost)
On March 18, 1945, Germany’s Battery 485 launched a V‑2 missile from The Hague that struck London minutes later, narrowly missing the father of NASA Watch founder Keith Cowing. The V‑2’s groundbreaking propulsion and guidance technology was seized after the war and...
Media Cycle, Transactions and the Space Industry
2026 sees space companies chasing massive IPOs and multi‑billion deals, pulling the sector into mainstream media cycles. The author argues that most coverage of potential IPOs or acquisitions—citing Swissto12, Isar Aerospace, Iceye, HawkEye 360, York Space, and ULA—offers little substantive...
Press Release: National Airlines Selects Viasat IFC for A330s
Viasat Inc. announced that its in‑flight connectivity solution has been selected for National Airlines’ three new Airbus A330 aircraft. The airline equipped the jets with Viasat’s GM‑40 Ka‑band terminal, delivering high‑capacity Wi‑Fi capable of HD video streaming and AI‑driven applications...
New Planet Category Identified
Astronomers have identified a planet 35 light‑years away that does not fit existing small‑planet categories. The world, L 98‑59 d, was first discovered in 2019 and observed by JWST in 2024 and ground facilities in 2025. Researchers used computer models to simulate...
Build Your Own Mars Astrobiology Rover
NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers have demonstrated advanced autonomous capabilities on Mars, prompting interest in hands‑on education. A new DIY kit, the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover by CircuitMess, lets enthusiasts build and program a functional replica of the Perseverance rover. The kit...
European Defence Agency Awards Contract for First VLEO Military Satellite Concept
The European Defence Agency has granted a €15.65 million research contract to a Sener‑led consortium to design the first military satellite optimized for very low Earth orbit (VLEO). VLEO, ranging from 150‑350 km, promises sharper imagery and lower communication latency but requires...
Space Race in the 21st Century: Assessing China’s Challenge to American Leadership
SCSP’s new report highlights China’s transformation from a missile‑focused program into a full‑scale civil, commercial, and military space enterprise. Beijing now runs the Tiangong space station, operates global navigation and Earth‑observation constellations, and has achieved historic lunar and Mars robotic...
Isar Aerospace to Launch Astroscale ELSA-M Orbital Debris Removal Mission
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...
40 Years Since Prof. Susan McKenna-Lawlor Made Contact with a Comet – Guest Post by Emma Whelan
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),...
Ken Kremer Live Interview WESH 2 NBC News Orlando on Artemis II 2nd Rollout and April 1 Launch Target: Video
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...
SpaceX Space AI Ramp
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,...
Artemis II Launch Attempt Set
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...
NASA ESCAPADE Will Study Space Weather From Earth to Mars
NASA’s ESCAPADE mission has activated its twin science instruments to study how the solar wind stripped Mars of its atmosphere, turning a once‑wet world into a barren desert. Launched on 13 Nov 2025, the dual‑orbiter pair is the first to operate together...
Cyprus First to Use EU GOVSATCOM Secure Communications Service
Cyprus has become the first EU member to operationally use the European Union’s GOVSATCOM secure satellite communications service, announced by EUSPA on 10 March. The service, which went live in January 2026, aggregates capacity from eight satellites operated by five countries to...
SpaceX Starbase Will Double in Size
SpaceX is expanding its Boca Chica Starbase to double its current footprint, creating a massive integrated facility for Starship and Super Heavy production. The enlarged site will accommodate the assembly of hundreds, potentially thousands, of Starships and the manufacturing of...
OIG Report: NASA Management Of Human Landing System Contracts
The NASA Office of Inspector General found that the agency’s acquisition strategy kept human landing system (HLS) cost growth modest—SpaceX contracts rose 6 percent and Blue Origin’s less than 1 percent. Both firms, however, are lagging behind schedule, with SpaceX’s...
ESA Calls on European Startups to Design Spaceplane
The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a call for proposals from European small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises to develop a fully reusable spaceplane‑based launch system. The agency seeks at least two distinct concepts and encourages the integration of novel propulsion...
Starbase After Dark: Musk’s Latest Photo Captures a Spaceport on the Brink of History
Elon Musk’s recent night‑time photo of SpaceX’s Starbase reveals two fully erected Starship launch towers, including the 474‑foot OLIT‑3 on Pad B with a water‑cooled flame trench. Pad 2 is nearing hardware completion, featuring upgraded chopstick arms, a chill‑down vent system, and...
The Skylab Program
In the early 1970s NASA turned surplus Apollo hardware into Skylab, the United States’ first space station, launching it on the final Saturn V rocket in May 1973. The initial crew repaired a damaged solar panel and installed a sunshade, demonstrating that...
Rocketry: RFTS Rocket Competition + NM Spaceport Hosts Student Launches + FAR‑OUT Rockets at Mojave
The Rocketry Federation of the Stars (RFTS) is running its 18th National Rocket Competition for students aged 10‑18, while New Mexico State University and the Albuquerque Civil Air Patrol launched eleven rockets from Spaceport America on Feb. 14, 2026. Ten of those...
Avio Lands $65 Million Deal Days After Shareholders Approve New Bylaws
Avio announced a $65 million contract with Defense Systems and Solutions to develop, qualify and initially produce a solid‑rocket motor for air‑defence applications. The three‑year deal leverages Avio’s Italian plant while planning full‑scale production at its new Hurt, Virginia facility from...
Avalanche Technology To Be Deployed in Next-Gen Unmanned Rovers and Deep Space Exploration Platforms
Avalanche Technology announced its Space Grade MRAM will be integrated into Aitech’s unmanned rovers and deep‑space exploration platforms. The memory delivers radiation immunity, permanent data retention, unlimited writes and nanosecond write latency, satisfying all five Space Grade criteria. By removing bulky redundant...
MTN Zambia Partners with Starlink to Offer D2C Services
MTN Zambia has partnered with SpaceX’s Starlink to pilot Direct‑to‑Cell (D2C) service, completing the first data session and fintech transaction over the satellite network. The test proves that 4G handsets can connect directly to Starlink’s LEO constellation, delivering voice, video...
Eric Ingram: The Power and Promise of Lunar Gravity
Eric Ingram released a detailed account of his two lunar‑gravity research flights, highlighting the first moment he could stand unassisted in reduced‑gravity conditions. The Substack post includes previously unseen photos and video from the second flight, illustrating how lunar‑gravity environments...
Honest Real Time Answers From NASA
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman answered a public query on Twitter in real time, rejecting the notion that the agency faces a budget shortfall. He highlighted that NASA receives roughly $25 billion annually, plus an additional $10 billion from the recent bipartisan funding...
The Last Four Years Ch. 21: Astrum Aerospace Launches First Colonists to the Moon Amid Global Uncertainty
Astrum Aerospace successfully launched its first crew of Moon colonists, marking the inaugural step in CEO Sanjay Forrester's plan to create off‑world havens amid an impending comet threat. The mission, featuring botanist Dr. Lena Zhou and habitat engineer Marco Diaz,...
Centaur V Upper Stage Added To Artemis IV and V
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center issued a procurement notice for a next‑generation upper stage, Centaur V, to be used on the Space Launch System’s Artemis IV and V flights. The agency will award the contract solely to United Launch Alliance, citing the...
The Iran Question…
Elon Musk announced on X that Starlink weapon systems are shut down when identified, and the next day SpaceX limited the maximum in‑motion speed for its Roam and Priority plans to 100 mph. The company simultaneously launched higher‑priced Aviation 300 and Aviation 450...
