The Space Race Is Being Rewritten by AI – and Europe Risks Falling Behind
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping satellite operations, enabling real‑time capacity management and on‑orbit data processing. Smaller, agile constellations now require decision speeds that outpace human operators, prompting a shift toward AI‑driven bandwidth allocation and autonomous payload control. By processing imagery and telemetry in space, AI reduces downlink volume and cuts operational costs while enhancing resilience in contested environments. Europe, despite strong AI ethics leadership, risks falling behind the United States and China due to fragmented funding, slow adoption, and cumbersome procurement.
Feb. 20, 1962: John Glenn’s First Trip to Space
On February 20, 1962, NASA launched Mercury‑Atlas 6, sending John Glenn aboard the Friendship 7 capsule into orbit. Glenn completed three Earth orbits in 4 hours 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the planet. The mission faced a sensor fault and required manual piloting for the...
Orbital Data, Niche Markets Give Space Solar a New Shimmer
Space‑based solar power (SBSP) is shifting from grand‑scale grid concepts to niche markets such as orbital data centers, remote military sites, and lunar installations. Startups like Aetherflux and Overview Energy are leveraging laser‑based power‑beaming and large‑satellite designs, backed by DoD...
Boeing Adds Production Line to Boost Space Force’s Missile Warning Push
Boeing has inaugurated a 9,000‑square‑foot electro‑optical infrared (EO/IR) production line at its El Segundo satellite facility to support the Space Force’s Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking (MWT) program. The line will help Millennium Space Systems deliver 12 medium‑Earth‑orbit satellites by 2027,...
Could One of Europe's Most Important Wetlands Really Vanish? Satellites Show It May Happen in Our Lifetime
Doñana National Park, Spain’s flagship wetland, is losing surface water at an accelerating pace, according to ESA Sentinel‑2 satellite analysis. Researchers using machine‑learning classification found a marked decline in wet area, volume and depth since 2005, projecting potential desiccation within...
Boeing to Boost Production of Missile-Tracking Sensors for Military Satellites
Boeing has opened a 9,000‑square‑foot production facility at its El Segundo campus to manufacture electro‑optical infrared (EO/IR) sensors for U.S. military satellites. The plant will support Millennium Space Systems’ near‑$1 billion contract portfolio, including 12 missile‑warning satellites and a $414 million award...
Reach for the Stars to Boost Britain's Space Industry
Orbex, a UK‑based rocket developer once valued at $220 million, entered administration after the government withdrew a planned funding round despite earlier £26 million support. The collapse underscores the repeated failure of state‑led investment in Britain’s nascent space sector. Meanwhile, the global...
NASA Moves Forward with Artemis II Tanking Test that Could Set up Moonshot Mission
NASA will begin a 700,000‑gallon cryogenic propellant load on the Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center as part of a second wet‑dress rehearsal for Artemis II. The test follows a February 2 leak of liquid hydrogen that forced a pause in...
WATCH: Space as the Backbone of Integrated Defense
The U.S. Space Force is accelerating its integrated‑defense agenda across multiple fronts. Boeing opened a dedicated production line for electro‑optical infrared sensors to bolster missile‑warning capabilities, while the service is streamlining the transition of battle‑management tools from labs to operators....
SpaceX Launch to Feature Rare Booster Landing in Bahamas
SpaceX will launch the Falcon 9 Starlink 10‑36 mission from Cape Canaveral on Thursday night, targeting a 95% favorable weather window. The first‑stage booster, on its 26th flight, will attempt a downrange landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed off...
Smile Sets Sail for Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana
The ESA‑China SMILE spacecraft has completed its Atlantic crossing and arrived at Kourou’s Europe’s Spaceport, ready for integration with a Vega‑C launcher. A launch window from 8 April to 7 May 2026 has been set, targeting a comprehensive study of Earth’s response...
A Great Idea for Space? EUSPA CASSINI Challenge Could Help, Jana Kominek Vecerkova
The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has opened the CASSINI Challenge to attract innovative startup ideas for upcoming EU satellite launches. The competition seeks concepts that can transition quickly from prototype to market‑ready solutions, offering participants access...
Artemis Spacesuits Technical Overview
NASA’s Artemis program has introduced the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), a next‑generation lunar spacesuit designed for the harsh South Pole environment. The suit adopts a commercial xEVAS procurement model, giving private partner Axiom Space ownership and the ability to...
Houston, We Have a Hub: Why Singapore’s New Space Agency Is a Game-Changer for the Global Space Economy
The episode breaks down Singapore’s launch of its National Space Agency (NSAS) announced at the Space Summit 2026, highlighting the nation’s strategic shift from a regional tech hub to a pivotal player in the global space economy. It explains how...
US Air Force Proves AI Wingmen Can Fly Across Rival Platforms
The U.S. Air Force has taken ownership of the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A‑GRA) and applied it to multiple aircraft, proving AI wingmen can operate on rival platforms such as the YFQ‑42 and YFQ‑44. By decoupling software from any single...
Inside Finland’s Rapid Rise as a Space Powerhouse
Finland has transformed from a modest satellite launcher into a competitive space hub within a decade, leveraging its engineering heritage and strategic government backing. The nation boosted its ESA contribution by 59%, reaching €233 million for 2025, while Finnish firms ICEYE,...
USSF Wants to Get Battle Management Tools From Lab to Operations Faster
The U.S. Space Force is restructuring its advanced battle‑management pipeline by moving the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications, and Processing (SDA TAP) Lab under the Kronos command‑and‑control system. Over the next 18 months, the program aims to transition more lab‑derived tools...
NASA Releases Starliner Investigation Results: Type A Mishap
NASA released the investigation of the Starliner Crew Flight Test, labeling it a Type A mishap. The probe identified five service‑module thruster failures caused by oxidizer‑vapor‑induced two‑phase flow and Teflon poppet extrusion, and widespread helium‑manifold leaks due to seal material incompatibility...
China Lays Out Its Plan To Develop A Space-Based Data Centre
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) unveiled a five‑year roadmap that includes building a space‑based data centre, alongside asteroid mining, debris monitoring and tourism initiatives. The orbital data centre would rely on solar power to deliver computing, storage and...
IFC Market Yet to Reach 50% Connected Figure, Valour Finds
Valour Consultancy’s latest IFEC Market Tracker shows fewer than 12,000 commercial aircraft—under half the global fleet—are equipped with in‑flight connectivity. SpaceX leads with contracts for more than 5,000 aircraft, while Chinese carriers dominate the list of airlines with the most...
The Space Data Layer – Building an Interoperable Internet in Space
The satellite sector is shifting from launch‑centric hardware to data‑centric services, introducing a "space data layer" that fuses edge computing, AI, and optical links in orbit. This layer aims to turn raw sensor streams into sub‑second, actionable insights, effectively extending...
Geopolitical Analysis: China Challenges SpaceX Dominance with Massive LEO Governance Strategy
China has submitted ITU filings for roughly 203,000 low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, marking a strategic shift from technical catch‑up to regulatory flooding. By exploiting Equivalent Power Flux Density limits, Beijing aims to reserve large portions of the interference budget, forcing rivals such...
MDA Space Launches New Subsidiary for Defense Contracting, 49North
MDA Space announced the launch of 49North, a new subsidiary dedicated to defense services such as C4ISR integration, radar, autonomous systems, and secure mission software. Joe Armstrong, a former CAE vice‑president, was named the first president. The unit builds on...
AI Tool Observes Solar Active Regions to Advance Warnings of Space Weather
Southwest Research Institute and NSF‑NCAR have unveiled PINNBARDS, a physics‑informed neural network that translates surface magnetograms of solar active regions into deep‑layer magnetic states. By reconstructing tachocline dynamics from SDO/HMI data, the tool can forecast the emergence of large, flare‑producing...
Tracking the Epidemic – Satellites Watch over the Spread of the Texas Screwworm Outbreak
In early 2026 Texas declared a disaster as the New World screwworm, eradicated in the U.S. since 1966, moved within striking distance of the border, threatening up to $1.8 billion in cattle losses. To counter the risk, satellite‑enabled livestock tags from...
Another Early Universe Surprise From The JWST: A Jellyfish Galaxy
Astronomers using JWST have identified COSMOS2020‑635829 as a candidate jellyfish galaxy at redshift z = 1.156, roughly 5 billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy exhibits a unilateral tail of star‑forming knots, indicating ram‑pressure stripping in a proto‑cluster environment. Spectroscopic data reveal extremely...
NASA Releases Report on Starliner Crewed Flight Test Investigation
NASA released the final investigation report on Boeing's CST‑100 Starliner crewed flight test, declaring the mission a Type A mishap. The test, launched on June 5 2024, was extended to 93 days after propulsion anomalies and ultimately returned without the crew, who later flew...
Mystery of Snowman-Shaped Space Objects Cracked
Researchers at Michigan State University have used computer simulations to demonstrate that gravitational collapse can produce double‑lobed, snowman‑shaped Kuiper Belt objects like Arrokoth. By modeling a pebble cloud of 100,000 particles, they showed that low‑velocity collisions (<5 m/s) can fuse two...
SpaceX and Blue Origin Abruptly Shift Priorities Amid US Golden Dome Push
SpaceX and Blue Origin have abruptly redirected their long‑term goals from Mars and sub‑orbital tourism to lunar development. SpaceX announced it will swap its planned Martian city for a moon settlement, while Blue Origin paused New Shepard flights to concentrate...
SpaceX and Blue Origin Abruptly Shift Priorities Amid US Golden Dome Push
SpaceX and Blue Origin have abruptly shifted focus from Mars and sub‑orbital tourism to lunar development, aligning with the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑shield program. SpaceX announced plans for a moon city and is eyeing a potential $2 billion contract to launch...
Magdrive’s Plasma Thruster Proves Its Mettle in First Orbital Test
Magdrive’s Rogue plasma thruster completed its first orbital firing test, demonstrating that a sliver of copper or aluminum can serve as propellant. The 3‑kg unit stores up to 10 kJ in commercial supercapacitors and discharges up to 200 W to create plasma...
NASA to Provide Starliner Crew Flight Test Review Findings Today
NASA will hold a live news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb 19, 2026, to release the investigation findings from Boeing’s 2024 Starliner crewed test flight to the International Space Station. The briefing, streamed on NASA’s YouTube channel, will feature Administrator...
'Moon‑mentous' Moments Await at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center
Visitors to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in February and March 2026 can see NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Launch Complex 39B, the vehicle slated for Artemis II. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight of the SLS and Orion,...
Engine Problems for Japan’s Lunar Lander Company Ispace
Japanese lunar lander firm ispace announced delays in its third mission after encountering development problems with the VoidRunner engine, a joint effort with Agile Space Industries. The engine replacement forced redesigns, pushing the NASA‑backed CLPS mission from 2026 to 2027....
Crystals Grown in Space
NASA released an image of lysozyme protein crystals cultivated aboard the International Space Station using Redwire’s PIL-BOX hardware. The experiment is part of a broader study examining how microgravity influences crystal formation across various compounds. Lysozyme, a common immune protein,...
Setanta Space Launched to Make Next-Generation Spacecraft More Autonomous
Irish start‑up Setanta Space has launched to deliver modular, radiation‑tolerant onboard computing hardware paired with AI software that makes spacecraft more autonomous. The platform processes sensor data, detects anomalies, and makes decisions in orbit, cutting latency and reliance on ground...
The Space Company in the Grey Zone: How TEC’s Network Blurs Europe’s Sanctions Lines
The Exploration Company (TEC) is building the reusable Nyx capsule while its CEO Hélène Huby chairs the Karman Project, a Berlin‑based fellowship that brings together European space actors and Russian‑linked researchers. The network includes participants from sanctioned entities such as...
Ovzon Reports Record 2025 Results Driven by NATO and Defense Breakthroughs
Ovzon AB posted record 2025 results, with EBITDA climbing to over 290 MSEK and a 42% margin in Q4, driven by the full‑scale launch of its Ovzon 3 satellite. The company secured a 240 MSEK NATO contract and a 58 MSEK supplemental order from...
GomSpace Achieves Record Q4 Performance and Profitable Full-Year 2025 Growth
GomSpace Group AB reported record fourth‑quarter revenue of 145.6 million SEK, a 75% year‑over‑year jump, and delivered its first full‑year of profitable growth in 2025. Total 2025 revenue rose 72% to 441.8 million SEK, while adjusted EBITDA reached 17.5 million SEK and EBIT turned positive at...
Feb. 19, 1994: Clementine Enters Lunar Orbit
Clementine was launched in January 1994 on a 22‑month, under‑$80 million development cycle and became the United States' first spacecraft to orbit the Moon in over two decades. During its 71‑day lunar phase the probe transmitted 1.6 million images, mapped the entire...
Webb Maps Uranus's Mysterious Upper Atmosphere
An international team led by Paola Tiranti used JWST’s NIRSpec to produce the first three‑dimensional map of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, extending to 5,000 km above the cloud tops. The observations reveal temperature peaks of about 426 K between 3,000 and 4,000 km and...
Small But Mighty Lab Device Could Transform NASA Research
NASA has delivered a cellphone‑sized microplate reader to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX Crew‑12, marking the first use of off‑the‑shelf lab equipment in low‑Earth orbit. The device will perform in‑situ biochemical assays, starting with interleukin‑6 measurements for the MABL‑B...
US Chamber Fighting For Licensing, ITAR Reform in 2026
The US Chamber of Commerce’s Space Leadership Council secured a key win in its first year by helping embed spaceports in the One Big Beautiful Bill, unlocking municipal‑bond financing and contributing to a $10 billion NASA budget increase. The council also...
Hypersonica Completes Milestone Hypersonic Missile Flight Test in Norway
Hypersonica completed its first hypersonic missile flight test at Andoya Space in Norway, propelling the prototype above Mach 6 and covering more than 300 kilometers. All systems performed nominally, delivering sub‑component data at hypersonic speeds. The company achieved this milestone in just...
Russian Era Ends at Abandoned Launchpad in South American Jungle
Russia’s Soyuz launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana, was abandoned overnight in 2022 after European sanctions forced Russian teams to leave. The site, once prized for its equatorial location, has been reclaimed by jungle growth and now sits vacant. French start‑up MaiaSpace,...
ST Engineering iDirect and G&S SatCom Align Network and Service Management on Intuition
ST Engineering iDirect has partnered with G&S SatCom to embed the SatConnect module into its next‑generation ground system, Intuition. The integration creates a unified network and service management layer that spans multi‑vendor satellite infrastructures and offers a single pane‑of‑glass interface....
KSAT Prepares Hyperion in Orbit Relay Test for Satellite Data
KSAT is moving its HYPER concept from design to an on‑orbit demonstration with the Hyperion satellites, which will act as space‑based relays to shorten data latency for customer spacecraft. Announced at the SmallSat Symposium, the mission will validate S‑band telemetry...
Pale Blue Opens Tsukuba Site to Scale Satellite Propulsion Production
Pale Blue has launched its Tsukuba Production Engineering Base, a 1,911‑square‑metre facility that consolidates development, manufacturing, testing and shipping of satellite propulsion systems. The vertically integrated plant features ISO Class 8 cleanrooms, vacuum chambers and vibration‑testing tables to enable mass production...
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4798-4803: Back for More Science
Curiosity revisited the Nevado Sajama drill site to apply a second vial of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) to the powdered sample, preparing it for deeper analysis with the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite. The rover successfully delivered the treated sample to...
Airbus Taps Synspective SAR Radar Network for Expanded Earth Imaging
Airbus Defence and Space has signed a framework agreement with Japan’s SAR specialist Synspective to integrate its satellite constellation into Airbus’s existing radar portfolio. The combined fleet, including TerraSAR‑X, TanDEM‑X and PAZ, will improve revisit times and expand coverage, especially...
