Outer Space Today

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Northrop Grumman will launch the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites mission this June, marking the first U.S. government attempt to extend a satellite's life in orbit by robotic refueling and repositioning. The LINK spacecraft will rendezvous with NASA's

Rocket Lab has secured a $90 million contract to design, build, and operate two geostationary satellites for the U.S. Space Force, marking the company's first venture into high-orbit government satellite production. The award, announced May 21, 2026, positions the smaller launch and space systems provider as a

A Caltech-led analysis of data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that Neptune's enigmatic moon Nereid may be the last remaining witness to a violent planetary upheaval billions of years ago. The research, published May 20, 2026, suggests Nereid originated near Neptune itself rather

The U.S. Defense Department has directed all major domestic commercial satellite operators to cease selling high-resolution aerial imagery over Iran and the broader Middle East, enforcing what amounts to the first large-scale government blackout of the commercial satellite era. The restrictions, which took effect May 20, affect Maxar Technologies,

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Chinese taikonauts will "likely" conduct a crewed lunar flyby in 2027, ending the United States' five-decade monopoly as the only nation to send humans beyond low Earth orbit. The acknowledgment at the AIAA ASCEND conference signals that China is on track to

NASA will unveil its strategy for establishing a sustained human presence on the lunar surface during a May 26 news conference at agency headquarters in Washington, marking the formal transition from Artemis exploration missions to permanent lunar infrastructure. The briefing will introduce new industry partners selected to develop critical systems

New research documents that American space manufacturers depend significantly on Chinese suppliers and Taiwanese semiconductor foundries, exposing the sector to geopolitical risk at a moment when Congress is intensifying scrutiny of industry ties to potential adversaries. The findings arrive as SpaceX prepares for a public offering and lawmakers question NASA&

Intuitive Machines has become the prime contractor for operating NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and a second lunar science instrument, marking the first time the space agency has handed operational control of active lunar science missions to a commercial company. The transfer, announced May 18, represents a significant

The European Space Agency and Chinese Academy of Sciences have opened an entirely new window onto Earth's magnetosphere with the successful launch of the SMILE mission, which lifted off aboard a Vega-C rocket from French Guiana early this morning. The spacecraft will deliver the first global X-ray images

SpaceX has set May 21, 2026, for the maiden flight of Starship V3 from its Starbase facility in Texas. The 124-meter-tall vehicle represents the first operational variant of the megarocket designed to support NASA's Artemis lunar program and eventual crewed missions to Mars. The announcement came with a

York Space Systems is acquiring Solestial, a radiation-hardened solar panel manufacturer, in a move to control one of the satellite industry's most persistent supply chain bottlenecks. The definitive merger agreement, announced May 19, marks York's latest vertical integration push and signals a broader bet that owning

European Earth-observation companies are rapidly capturing commercial satellite imagery contracts in Iran and the Persian Gulf -- a market segment U.S. firms are deliberately abandoning due to government pressure and diplomatic risk. The shift is reshaping the $3 billion commercial imagery sector and creating a two-tier intelligence market based

Cowboy Space closed a $275 million Series B funding round and filed regulatory plans for a 20,000-satellite constellation, marking the first time a space computing company has secured this scale of capital and spectrum authority simultaneously. The funding, led by Index Ventures, signals serious investor confidence that orbital infrastructure

NASA's 100-meter Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia tracked the Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft continuously for five days during its lunar flyby, gathering precise position and velocity data on the four crewed astronauts as they orbited the Moon. The feat marks the first time a ground-based radio telescope

Atmospheric scientists have issued a stark warning that satellite megaconstellations represent an "unregulated geoengineering experiment," introducing unprecedented quantities of metallic pollution into Earth's upper atmosphere without any regulatory framework to assess the consequences. The concern centers on the planned deployment of millions of satellites over the

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile announced this week that they will jointly develop a coordinated response to SpaceX's direct-to-device satellite connectivity service. The unprecedented alliance marks the first time the three largest U.S. wireless carriers have formally partnered, signaling the depth of concern over Starlink'

NASA has pushed rotor blade technology into supersonic flight during ground testing of its next-generation Mars helicopter, clearing a major engineering hurdle for a fleet of aircraft designed to scout terrain and support future crewed missions on the Red Planet. The achievement marks a decisive step beyond Ingenuity, the technology

A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering 6,500 pounds of science experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. The mission marks another routine resupply run under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program -- a cadence that reflects how thoroughly space logistics

A major market assessment by PwC projects that lunar surface activities will generate between $100 billion and $127 billion annually by 2050, marking the first time a leading consulting firm has assigned specific dollar figures to what has long been treated as speculative space exploration. The projection signals a fundamental