Moss That Thrives Under Radiation Signals New Lifeline For Mars Crews
European researchers have demonstrated that aquatic moss, particularly Taxiphyllum barbieri, not only survives but thrives under ionising radiation levels relevant to deep‑space habitats. In controlled tests the moss filtered heavy metals, enhanced photosynthetic activity, and formed denser mats after low‑dose X‑ray exposure, indicating radiation hormesis. These findings suggest moss could serve as a compact, low‑maintenance biofilter for air and water recycling on future Mars missions. Scaling such modules could reduce resupply mass and increase system resilience.
Singapore Warns That Vulnerabilities Span the Entire Space Value Chain
Singapore has launched its National Space Agency and warned that cyber‑vulnerabilities permeate every stage of the space value chain, from satellites to ground networks. The February 2022 KA‑SAT attack, which knocked out communications and energy services across Europe, underscored the systemic...
Balloons Over Venus…It Really Happened!
In 1985 the Soviet Vega program deployed two helium‑filled balloons that became the first free‑floating probes to operate on another planet. The aerostats floated for roughly 46 hours at about 54 km altitude in Venus’s middle cloud layer, where a global...
Blue Origin’s TeraWave Angle, Economics, and the Starlink / Amazon Leo Comparison
Blue Origin is positioning its TeraWave satellite‑communication system as a cost‑effective alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Leo. The analysis breaks down TeraWave’s technical architecture, launch cadence, and projected unit economics, highlighting lower capital expenditure per gigabit. It also contrasts...
Consolidated Edison Inc (ED) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Iridium Communications reported Q4 2025 results that met guidance, with full‑year service revenue up 3% and OIBDA reaching $495.3 million, a 5% year‑over‑year increase. Pro forma free cash flow hit $296 million, supporting a 3.3% dividend yield and a share‑repurchase program that...
Geopolitical Analysis: U.S. Space Strategy in Africa Facing Chinese Competition
The Atlantic Council’s 2026 strategic analysis warns that the United States must overhaul its commercial partnership model with African nations to counter China’s accelerating foothold in the continent’s space economy. China’s 2025 handover of a telemetry, tracking and command station...
Loft Orbital, SmartSat CRC to Demonstrate Wildfire Detection Technology
Loft Orbital and Australia’s SmartSat Cooperative Research Center have begun a joint mission to test AI‑driven wildfire detection software on Loft’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellites. The system uses hyperspectral imaging to differentiate smoke from ordinary cloud cover and to flag nascent blazes,...
Space Station Research Contributes to Artemis II
NASA leverages the International Space Station as a proving ground for technologies that will fly on Artemis II, the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo. Research on the ISS has shaped Orion’s life‑support, radiation sensors, carbon‑dioxide removal, and emergency systems. Experiments...
Scientists Make a Game-Changing Find in the Bennu Asteroid
NASA’s OSIRIS‑REx mission returned Bennu samples containing the amino acid glycine. Penn State researchers used isotopic mass spectrometry to show the glycine likely formed in icy, radiation‑exposed conditions rather than liquid water. The isotopic signatures differ from those in the...
Marlink Integrates Microsoft ExpressRoute for Managed Cloud Connectivity
Marlink announced that it will deliver direct, secure global access to Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 through the Microsoft ExpressRoute program. The service uses Marlink’s multi‑orbit satellite network and global Points of Presence to provide private, dedicated circuits that bypass...
EDGX CEO Details the Startup’s Push for AI-Enabled Onboard Processing
Belgian AI space startup EDGX secured €2.3 million funding to accelerate its Sterna edge‑AI computer for satellites and has already signed a €1.1 million multi‑unit contract with a satellite operator. CEO Nick Destrycker says the company will focus on European defense and...
Why Insider Threats May Make Satellite Hacking Significantly Easier
The article argues that insider threats could dramatically lower the barriers to satellite hacking, as insiders can bypass air‑gap protections and exploit the growing use of off‑the‑shelf Linux hardware. It highlights how complex supply chains, contractor relationships, and recent geopolitical...
Why GPS III, and What Comes After It, Still Falls Short in Modern War
The United States is completing its GPS III constellation, the most extensive PNT upgrade in a decade, delivering higher accuracy, stronger signals and improved anti‑jam features. Analysts argue that while GPS III and the upcoming GPS IIIF add incremental resilience, they do not...
Vantor Partners with Google AI to Automate Intelligence Reports for Government Agencies
Vantor, a commercial Earth‑observation satellite operator, announced a partnership with Google to run Google Earth AI models inside classified, air‑gapped government networks. The AI will automatically generate text‑based intelligence reports from Vantor’s own, third‑party, or sovereign imagery, cutting analysis time...
SpaceX Unveils Space Traffic Management System
SpaceX announced Stargaze, a space‑situational awareness platform that leverages star‑tracker cameras on its nearly 10,000 Starlink satellites to collect about 30 million observations per day. The system generates near‑real‑time conjunction data messages and will be offered free to all satellite operators...
UK Caps Launch Liability in Timely Boost for Nascent Domestic Market
On February 18, the UK enacted a €60 million liability cap for launch operators under the Space Industry (Indemnities) Act 2025, replacing the previous unlimited exposure. The cap, which must be included in launch licences, is intended to make the nascent UK...
Elon Musk Wants to Put a Satellite Catapult on the Moon. It's Not a New Idea
Elon Musk told xAI staff he wants a Moon‑based factory to produce AI‑focused satellites and launch them with a massive electromagnetic catapult. He believes that within two to three years space‑based compute will be the cheapest way to run AI...
Thermal Intelligence Company Raises £30m in NATO-Backed Round
SatVu, a London‑based defence‑tech firm, raised £30 million in a round backed by the NATO Innovation Fund, the British Business Bank and other investors. The funding brings total capital to £60 million and will enable the company to expand from a single‑satellite...
SatVu Raises £30M to Accelerate Its Constellation
UK‑based thermal‑imaging firm SatVu announced a £30 million equity raise, bringing its total financing to £60 million. The funding, sourced from the NATO Innovation Fund, British Business Bank and existing backers, will accelerate the deployment of its HotSat constellation after the on‑orbit...
Demonstrators Are No Longer Optional — They’re How Programs Stay on Track
Aerospace and defense programs are abandoning the old end‑stage validation model in favor of early demonstrators—physical or digital mockups that test designs throughout development. The Department of Defense now mandates rapid prototyping and competitive demonstration to curb cost overruns, schedule...
The Fragility of Interconnectedness: Systemic Risks and Satellite Services
The article warns that modern civilization’s tightly coupled infrastructure—energy, finance, logistics, and information—creates systemic collapse risk when a single node fails. Space assets, especially GNSS timing and Earth‑observation data, are identified as the invisible keystone that keeps these sectors synchronized....
DOD Eyes Commercial Satellites that Can Spy on Other Satellites
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has issued a solicitation for low‑cost commercial satellites capable of high‑resolution space‑to‑space imaging to monitor objects in geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The program, dubbed Ghost Recon, requires launch within two years, government ownership after three,...
Simera Sense to Offer Larger Cameras and Enhanced Autonomy
Simera Sense, a Belgian Earth‑observation camera maker, is moving beyond its cubesat‑focused xScape100 and xScape200 lines to develop higher‑resolution optical payloads for larger satellites. The new standardized payloads aim to deliver sub‑one‑metre ground‑sample distance imagery, with first deliveries slated for...
Space Force Surveys Industry For Refueling Tech
The U.S. Space Force issued a February 13 request for information seeking satellite‑refueling systems that can be operational by 2030. It targets vehicles using the approved Orbit Fab Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) or Northrop Grumman’s Passive Refueling Module,...
USAFA Board Seeks More Cadets, New Facilities
The U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors recommends a 10 percent increase in the cadet corps to 4,400 and the construction of a new tri‑complex housing an Air, Space, and Cyber Education Center. The plan includes a dedicated Space...
BlackSky International Customer Orders Gen-3 Satellite for Sovereign Access
BlackSky announced that an unnamed international sovereign client has purchased a dedicated Gen‑3 Earth‑observation satellite along with the company’s imagery and AI‑enabled analytics services. The Gen‑3 platform delivers 35‑centimetre resolution and will operate in tandem with BlackSky’s existing constellation, providing...
ST Engineering iDirect to Integrate G&S SatConnect Into Intuition Platform
ST Engineering iDirect announced a strategic partnership with G&S SatCom to embed the SatConnect service‑management platform into its Intuition ground‑system suite. The integration will add both OSS and BSS capabilities, linking network operations with service definition, delivery, and lifecycle management....
DND Offering $2M for Prototypes to Counter Satellite Communication (SATCOM) Threats
The Department of National Defence (DND) has launched a $2 million procurement challenge to develop prototypes that protect low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite communications from hostile radio‑frequency interference. The initiative, run through Innovative Solutions Canada, targets adaptive beamforming technologies capable of withstanding single‑tone...
Haridopolos Praises Isaacman As ‘Dynamic Leader’ For NASA
Jared Isaacman, barely 60 days into his role as NASA administrator, has earned high praise from Rep. Mike Haridopolos, chair of the House space subcommittee. Haridopolos highlighted Isaacman's ability to rally the agency’s morale, communicate its mission publicly, and position...
Space Identified as a Key Sovereign Capability in New Defence Industrial Strategy
Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIA) has elevated space to a sovereign capability, creating a Build‑Partner‑Buy procurement model that puts domestic firms first. The plan earmarks $6.6 B from the 2025 budget and billions more through 2035 for space‑based intelligence, satellite communications,...
New Survey Highlights Shift From Leisure to Professional Mobile Starlink Use
TRIO Flatmount’s 2026 Mobile Starlink Survey of roughly 600 users reveals a decisive shift from recreational to professional use, with 47% relying on mobile satellite connectivity to generate income. RVs remain the primary deployment platform at 37%, while marine vessels...
When Space Businesses Should Accelerate Cash Burn, When to Improve
Space companies face a strategic choice between speeding up cash burn to capture market share and tightening spending to extend runway. The article outlines criteria such as revenue traction, funding environment, and technology readiness that dictate when aggressive spending is...
NASA Will Fuel up Its Artemis 2 Moon Rocket for the 2nd Time on Feb. 19. Will It Leak Again?
NASA is set to conduct a second wet‑dress rehearsal of the Space Launch System for Artemis 2 on Feb 19, loading over 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The first rehearsal was halted by an LH₂ leak at the tail service...
Revenge of the Bad Businesses: Refining the Space Hardware Investing Thesis During This Year’s Software Rout
The latest software market rout has forced investors to rethink the long‑standing bias toward asset‑light, high‑margin software businesses. In the space sector, capital‑intensive hardware firms—once dismissed as “bad businesses”—are now gaining favor as they offer tangible assets and predictable cash...
JWST Spots Most Distant Jellyfish Galaxy to Date
Astrophysicists at the University of Waterloo used the James Webb Space Telescope to identify the most distant jellyfish galaxy ever observed, at a redshift of z = 1.156, which corresponds to a look‑back time of about 8.5 billion years. Jellyfish galaxies display long,...
Global Leaders Meet at Space-Comm Expo in London to Accelerate Future of European Space Industry
Space‑Comm Expo Europe, the continent’s largest space gathering, will take place on 4‑5 March at ExCeL London, drawing over 5,400 delegates, 250 exhibitors and 200 speakers from 50 nations. The event arrives as Europe seeks to leverage the successful Ariane 6 launch...
EUSPA Selects Thales Alenia Space to Develop EGNSS Service Demonstrator
On 12 February 2026, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) awarded Thales Alenia Space a framework contract to design, develop and deploy the European Global Navigation Satellite System (EGNSS) Service Demonstrator. The demonstrator will serve as a...
Scientists Discover Recent Tectonic Activity on the Moon
Scientists at the National Air and Space Museum have produced the first global map of small mare ridges (SMRs) on the Moon, revealing these features are geologically young and abundant across the lunar maria. The study, published in The Planetary...
Kepler Plots European Expansion with NanoAvionics Deal
Kepler Communications has named Kongsberg NanoAvionics its preferred satellite bus provider for Europe, allowing hosted payloads to tap into Kepler’s laser‑based optical communications network. The partnership lets NanoAvionics offer customers sub‑second 2.5 Gbps links capable of moving terabytes of data per...
Feb. 17, 1959: Vanguard 2 Launches
On February 17, 1959 the United States launched Vanguard 2, the world’s first satellite expressly built for meteorological observation. The 10‑kilogram sphere carried two photocells intended to map global cloud cover as it circled the Earth. Although the spacecraft achieved orbit,...
OroraTech’s New Exec Plans to Step on the Gas
OroraTech, which grew its satellite constellation from two to over ten in 2025, has hired industry veteran Ignacio Zuleta as chief technology and product officer. Zuleta plans to abandon the company’s previous sequential deployment model and accelerate satellite launches to reach...
River Deltas Are Sinking Faster than the Sea Is Rising
New research using a decade of Copernicus Sentinel‑1 radar data shows that many of the world’s major river deltas are sinking faster than global sea‑level rise. More than half of the 40 deltas examined are subsiding at rates above 3 mm...
How Mars' Toxic Soil Actually Makes Stronger Bricks
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science and the University of Florida found that adding Martian perchlorates to a regolith simulant, together with the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii and natural guar gum, produces bricks with compressive strength more than double that...
Valen Array Advances Multi-Mission Sensing Tech
Northrop Grumman unveiled Valen, a multifunction active electronically scanned array that merges radar, electronic warfare and communications into a single lightweight aperture. The array is digitally designed and 3‑D printed, reducing size, weight, power and production lead times. Valen’s open‑architecture...
Mars Relay Orbiter Seen as Backbone for Future Exploration
NASA’s roadmap for Mars – hunting ancient life, decoding climate, and prepping for humans – hinges on a reliable data pipeline between the Red Planet and Earth. Rocket Lab proposes a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) to replace the aging relay...
New Axis Grid Links Complex Earth Data in Space and Time
Researchers at Constructor University have introduced an axis‑based grid model that unifies spatial, temporal, and parametric dimensions of earth‑observation data. The framework treats each dimension as an independent but coordinated axis, allowing seamless alignment and interpolation of heterogeneous satellite and...
SatService to Supply Q V Band Satcom Ground Station for Bundeswehr University
SatService GmbH, a Calian Group subsidiary, secured a contract from Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence to deliver a Q V‑band satellite ground station to the Bundeswehr University in Munich. The solution features a 4‑metre high‑performance antenna and full‑service integration, enabling geostationary‑orbit...
Guidance: Allied Joint Doctrine for Air and Space Operations (AJP-3.3)
Allied Joint Publication AJP‑3.3, the NATO doctrine for air and space operations, was refreshed on 17 February 2026 as Edition C Version 1. The document outlines fundamental principles, the air‑operations planning cycle, and how space capabilities support joint forces. It targets NATO commanders, staff,...
Skyeton Upgrades Raybird UAS with Satellite Communications
Skyeton has integrated satellite communications into its Raybird tactical UAV, eliminating data link range constraints and enabling continuous real‑time transmission throughout 28‑plus hour missions. The SATCOM‑enabled Raybird can now operate beyond 2,500 km, supporting deep ISR tasks in contested environments. The...
Leonardo Funding Development of Earth Observation Constellation
Leonardo is investing roughly €500 million to develop a 20‑satellite Earth observation constellation slated for launch in 2027‑28. The system will combine high‑resolution optical, synthetic‑aperture radar and communications payloads, built by Thales Alenia Space using its NIMBUS modular bus. The project...
