Rocket Lab Wins Another Defense-Related Space Contract
Rocket Lab has been awarded an $816 million contract by the U.S. Space Development Agency to design and build 18 defense‑focused satellites. The deal, the company’s largest ever, adds to an existing $515 million award for the SDA’s Transport Layer‑Beta Tranche 2 program. Combined, Rocket Lab now holds more than $1.3 billion in SDA contracts, expanding its role in low‑Earth‑orbit military communications and tracking. The company also signals intent to pursue larger Department of Defense initiatives such as the Golden Dome program.
An Asteroid Could Hit the Moon in 2032, Scattering Debris Toward Earth
A building‑sized asteroid, 2024 YR4, has a roughly 4 percent chance of striking the Moon in December 2032, with a 1 percent chance that the impact will eject debris into near‑Earth space. The collision could unleash energy comparable to 6 million metric tons of TNT—about...
Two Asteroids Crashed Around a Nearby Star, Solving a Cosmic Mystery
Astronomers using Hubble have captured two fresh dust clouds around the nearby star Fomalhaut, each created by the collision of ~60‑km asteroids. The new source, designated Fomalhaut cs2, replaces the previously debated Fomalhaut b, which likely was an older dust...
New Hubble Images May Solve the Case of a Disappearing Exoplanet
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a bright dust cloud around the nearby star Fomalhaut, indicating a collision between two asteroid‑sized planetesimals about 30 km in diameter. The impact provides the first direct observation of colliding planetesimals outside the Solar System and...
NASA Will Soon Find Out if the Perseverance Rover Can Really Persevere on Mars
NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) program remains in limbo as costs balloon to $11 billion, pushing a likely launch into the 2030s. Meanwhile, the Perseverance rover, five years on Mars, is in excellent health and has traveled 40 km—double its original mobility...
TDK Ventures, Accel Set to Back India’s EtherealX in Reusable Launch Vehicle Push: Sources
EtherealX, an Indian startup developing a fully reusable medium‑lift launch vehicle, is close to closing a $21 million funding round led by TDK Ventures with participation from Accel and BIG Capital. The round, up from an initial $15 million target, follows a...
Jared Isaacman Confirmed as Next Head of NASA
U.S. Senate confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as the next NASA administrator, finalizing a nomination that President Trump withdrew and later reinstated. Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments and a private astronaut, steps into leadership as the agency pivots toward a...
Jared Isaacman, Billionaire Who's Flown with SpaceX, Confirmed to Lead NASA
The Senate confirmed billionaire Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator in a 67‑to‑30 vote. Isaacman, a former SpaceX space‑tourist who has flown on commercial missions and performed a private citizen spacewalk, will lead the agency during a critical period. He pledged...
A New Hunt for an Earth Analog Begins
The Terra Hunting Experiment, launching in the Canary Islands, will deploy the HARPS3 spectrograph to conduct a decade‑long radial‑velocity survey of up to 50 Sun‑like stars. Led by Nobel laureate Didier Queloz, the project aims to detect at least two...
Space Force Wants Advanced Tech for Space-Based Interceptors
The U.S. Space Force has launched an SBIR solicitation to develop compact, high‑performance boost‑phase interceptors that can destroy ballistic missiles within the atmosphere. The program seeks high‑G propulsion, advanced seekers, and low‑SWaP designs capable of intercepting missiles below 120 km in...
India’s Digantara Raises $50M for Space-Based Missile Defense Tech
Digantara, an Indian space‑surveillance startup, secured a $50 million Series B round to broaden its portfolio from debris tracking to missile detection. The funding, led by new investors 360 ONE Asset and SBI Investment of Japan, brings total capital to $64.5 million and will...
Interstellar Comet Is Making Its Closest Approach to Earth
A stray comet from another star, designated 3I/Atlas, will make its closest approach to Earth this week, passing within 167 million miles. Discovered in July by NASA’s Atlas telescope in Chile, the object is estimated to be between 1,444 feet and 3.5 miles...
"Sovereign Capacity" Of Private and Public Space Programs
The article defines “sovereign capacity” as a space program’s economic, legal and political leverage over its supply chain, a concept now driving both state and corporate strategies. Geopolitical tensions are prompting nations to reduce dependencies, while private firms like SpaceX...
"Wet Lava Ball" Exoplanet May Have an Atmosphere, Evidence Shows
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified the ultra‑hot super‑Earth TOI‑561b as a potential "wet lava ball" with a thick, volatile‑rich atmosphere. The planet, 1.4 times Earth’s size and orbiting its Sun‑like star every 11 hours, shows a dayside temperature...
How A New Economic Stack Is Being Built In Space
The episode outlines how the emerging space economy mirrors the early internet by requiring a foundational "economic stack" of infrastructure across four pillars: orbital logistics, robotics and automation, next‑generation energy, and advanced computing and communications. It highlights the dramatic drop...
NASA Just Lost Contact with a Mars Orbiter, and Will Soon Lose Another One
NASA announced loss of contact with the MAVEN orbiter after it emerged from behind Mars, raising concerns about the agency's aging communications fleet. MAVEN, launched in 2014, has been a critical relay for rover data and atmospheric science, but its...
NASA Says Maven Spacecraft that Was Orbiting Mars Has Gone Silent
NASA announced that the MAVEN spacecraft, orbiting Mars since 2014, went silent after emerging from a planetary occultation on Dec 6. The probe, which has been measuring atmospheric loss and serving as a communications relay for the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers,...
Nasa Loses Contact with Spacecraft Orbiting Mars for More than a Decade
NASA announced that its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter went silent after re‑emerging from a Mars occultation, despite telemetry showing all subsystems normal before the event. The spacecraft, launched in 2013 and operating since 2014, has been a...
Overview Energy Wants to Beam Energy From Space to Existing Solar Farms
Overview Energy emerged from stealth with a plan to harvest sunlight in geosynchronous orbit and beam it to existing utility‑scale solar farms using infrared lasers. The startup has raised $20 million and already demonstrated a 5‑kilometre laser power‑transfer flight from an...
OSHA Investigating New Crane Accident at SpaceX’s Starbase Facility
A construction worker at SpaceX's Starbase was crushed by a 1,200‑pound crane support in November, prompting a rapid‑response OSHA investigation. The injured worker, Eduardo Cavazos, has filed a lawsuit against SpaceX and subcontractor CCC Group, alleging negligence and reckless crane...
Chance of a Devastating Asteroid Impact Briefly Spiked in 2025
Astronomers detected asteroid 2024 YR4, a 40‑90 metre object, in late 2024 and initially estimated a 1‑in‑83 chance of striking Earth in 2032. As observations refined its orbit in early 2025, the impact probability rose to a peak of 1‑in‑32 in February. Continued tracking later...
Kongsberg, Helsing Team up for European Satellite-Intel Constellation
Norway’s Kongsberg and Germany’s Helsing have signed a teaming agreement to build a sovereign European satellite constellation for intelligence, surveillance and targeting, targeting operational capability by 2029. The fleet will combine Kongsberg’s satellite platforms with Helsing’s AI‑driven image analysis, while...