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Mitchell Institute Warns Space Force Faces Data Bottleneck Without Laser Comms

Mitchell Institute Warns Space Force Faces Data Bottleneck Without Laser Comms

A new report argues the Space Force risks drowning in sensor data unless it moves faster to pair radio frequency communications with optical, or laser, systems. The 37-page analysis warns that legacy networks cannot handle the data volumes coming from hundreds of planned satellites, potentially slowing future operations. The

NASA Backs $38 Million Effort to Build a 5G Network on the Moon

NASA Backs $38 Million Effort to Build a 5G Network on the Moon

NASA has awarded Modulate Space Corporation an approximately $38 million contract to develop a lunar communications system that combines 5G with built-in Wi-Fi 6. The system is intended to advance the surface infrastructure needed to support future Moon base operations. The firm-fixed-price contract was awarded for

Pentagon Names Musk, Luckey and Gingrich to Lead 120-Day Study on Space Warfare

Pentagon Names Musk, Luckey and Gingrich to Lead 120-Day Study on Space Warfare

The United States has launched a new effort to map the future of warfare with space at its center. Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Project Meridian on September 30, naming Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as co-leaders under Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil

Firefly Signs Starcloud to Test AI Data Center Compute in Lunar Orbit

Firefly Signs Starcloud to Test AI Data Center Compute in Lunar Orbit

Firefly Aerospace has signed Starcloud as a commercial customer to demonstrate advanced AI computing in lunar orbit, flying a compute payload aboard Firefly's Elytra orbital vehicle. The agreement, announced September 30 from Firefly's Cedar Park, Texas headquarters, aims to validate the core capabilities of a future

Avio USA Breaks Ground on 900,000-Square-Foot Solid Rocket Motor Plant in Virginia

Avio USA Breaks Ground on 900,000-Square-Foot Solid Rocket Motor Plant in Virginia

Avio USA has broken ground on its first U.S. solid rocket motor facility in Hurt, Virginia, a 900,000-square-foot plant designed to produce thousands of motors annually for American tactical missile programs. Production is targeted to begin in early 2029, marking a new large-scale domestic entrant

Redwire and Sophia Space Sign MOU to Pursue Orbital Data Center Infrastructure

Redwire and Sophia Space Sign MOU to Pursue Orbital Data Center Infrastructure

Redwire Corporation and Sophia Space have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore collaboration on space-based computing infrastructure, the companies announced September 30 from Las Vegas. The agreement targets deployable structures, spacecraft integration, and scalable architectures for in-orbit artificial intelligence and edge computing. The partnership aligns Sophia Space

Varda Closes $251M Series D at $1.6B Valuation to Expand Orbital Manufacturing

Varda Closes $251M Series D at $1.6B Valuation to Expand Orbital Manufacturing

Varda Space Industries has raised a $251 million Series D round that values the in-space manufacturing company at $1.6 billion. The financing brings Varda's total capital raised to nearly $600 million and positions it as one of the most closely watched players in the reentry and

Astro Digital Sets $587 Million SPAC Merger to Scale Satellite Production

Astro Digital Sets $587 Million SPAC Merger to Scale Satellite Production

Satellite manufacturer Astro Digital plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company merger valued at a $587 million enterprise value. The company and blank check firm Proem Acquisition Corp I announced the deal Monday, with a close expected in the first quarter of 2027. Astro Digital has delivered

Northrop Grumman Delivers 21 Transport Layer Satellites to Vandenberg for Space Force Constellation

Northrop Grumman Delivers 21 Transport Layer Satellites to Vandenberg for Space Force Constellation

Northrop Grumman said on Monday it has delivered 21 satellites to Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, for Tranche 1 of the Space Development Agency's Transport Layer. The delivery moves the batch toward launch staging as the Pentagon builds out its proliferated low Earth orbit constellation for military communications.

Starship Engine Failure Raises Schedule Risk for NASA's 2028 Moon Landing

Starship Engine Failure Raises Schedule Risk for NASA's 2028 Moon Landing

SpaceX suffered an engine failure on Starship, the vehicle it is developing to land NASA astronauts on the Moon. The anomaly could affect NASA's Artemis lunar landing objectives, injecting fresh schedule risk into America's return to the Moon. Starship is one of two vehicles competing to

Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time, Deploys 26 Starlink V3 Satellites

Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time, Deploys 26 Starlink V3 Satellites

SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 reached Earth orbit on Monday, September 28, the vehicle's first orbital mission. After ascent, Starship fired a single Raptor engine to enter an orbit roughly 275 kilometres above Earth and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, with SpaceX confirming contact with all 26.

Star Catcher Readies Protostar for First Spacecraft-to-Spacecraft Power Beam

Star Catcher Readies Protostar for First Spacecraft-to-Spacecraft Power Beam

Star Catcher will attempt to beam power between two untethered spacecraft for the first time when its Protostar prototype launches no earlier than October 1 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission. Success would validate the company's core technology stack on orbit and mark a critical step toward

SpaceX Sets Starship's First Orbital Flight for Sept. 28 With Starlink V3 Deployment

SpaceX Sets Starship's First Orbital Flight for Sept. 28 With Starlink V3 Deployment

SpaceX will attempt the first orbital mission of its Starship vehicle on Sept. 28, aiming to place 26 Starlink V3 satellites into an operational orbit. The flight marks a turning point for the world's largest and most powerful rocket after more than a decade of development and 13

Hubble and Webb Team Up to Probe Solar System's Faintest Icy Relics

Hubble and Webb Team Up to Probe Solar System's Faintest Icy Relics

NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have jointly studied some of the most distant and faintest bodies in our solar system for the first time, directly observing 27 newly discovered Trans-Neptunian Objects. Researchers found fewer small TNOs than expected and discovered that these tiny bodies share

Fusion Propulsion Ventures Report Early Milestones as Space Demo Targeted for 2027

Fusion Propulsion Ventures Report Early Milestones as Space Demo Targeted for 2027

Several companies are now building practical nuclear fusion propulsion engines, and they say recent tests suggest the long-theoretical technology may finally be within reach. U.K.-based Pulsar Fusion hopes to launch a demonstration mission to space in 2027, while separate efforts continue in the United States, potentially opening

Chinese Researchers Signal First In-Orbit Refuelling of a BeiDou Satellite

Chinese Researchers Signal First In-Orbit Refuelling of a BeiDou Satellite

Chinese researchers appear to have disclosed a previously unknown satellite-to-satellite refuelling operation in high Earth orbit, involving a BeiDou navigation satellite. The disclosure, contained in a paper undergoing peer review, points to a demonstration of a technology that could reshape the space race and carries potential military implications.

Space Force Sets 2027 Flights for Two Commercial Satellite Servicing Demonstrations

Space Force Sets 2027 Flights for Two Commercial Satellite Servicing Demonstrations

The U.S. Space Force will execute two commercial satellite servicing demonstration missions in 2027 to evaluate in-orbit refueling and maneuvering for high-value defense payloads. Col. Scott Carstetter, director of servicing, mobility, and logistics at Space Systems Command, outlined the plans during an industry webinar on Sept. 23,

Planet Labs Ships Updated Pelican-12 to Florida for SpaceX Launch

Planet Labs Ships Updated Pelican-12 to Florida for SpaceX Launch

Planet Labs has delivered its updated Pelican-12 satellite to Florida, where it now sits at the launch site ahead of an upcoming SpaceX flight. The arrival marks progress on the company's next-generation high-resolution imaging fleet and its push to move up-market against higher-resolution

Electron Nears 100th Flight With 13th Synspective Satellite Delivery

Electron Nears 100th Flight With 13th Synspective Satellite Delivery

Rocket Lab launched its 97th Electron mission on September 26, delivering the 13th StriX satellite for Earth-monitoring operator Synspective directly into a 559 kilometer low Earth orbit. The flight sustains Electron's position as the world's most frequently launched small-lift orbital rocket and brings the

Space Force Clears Falcon 9 for USSF-385 Launch From Vandenberg

Space Force Clears Falcon 9 for USSF-385 Launch From Vandenberg

The U.S. Space Force has approved a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the USSF-385 mission early Saturday from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The primary launch window opens at 7 a.m. Saturday, September 26, with a backup opportunity Sunday at 5:49

Blue Origin Unveils 20-Metre Power Tower to Supply Electricity at the Lunar South Pole

Blue Origin Unveils 20-Metre Power Tower to Supply Electricity at the Lunar South Pole

Blue Origin has revealed the Power Tower, a vertically deployed solar array designed to stand about 20 metres tall and generate more than 10 kilowatts of power for operations near the lunar South Pole. The system is aimed at supplying reliable electricity for future Moon base operations, one of the

Space Force Missile-Tracking Satellites Clear Design Reviews Across Two Orbits

Space Force Missile-Tracking Satellites Clear Design Reviews Across Two Orbits

Three missile-tracking satellite programs have cleared key design reviews as the U.S. Space Force builds out new sensor constellations in low and medium Earth orbit. The milestone marks progress on an architecture intended to detect and track missile threats from space. The Space Force is developing missile-tracking

Blue Origin Raises $10 Billion in First Outside Funding Round at $140 Billion Valuation

Blue Origin Raises $10 Billion in First Outside Funding Round at $140 Billion Valuation

Blue Origin has raised $10 billion in its first financing round involving outside investors, valuing Jeff Bezos's space company at roughly $140 billion. The round gives the privately held company fresh capital to compete with SpaceX across launches, satellites and government space programs, and offers a rare public

Philadelphia Designer Wins $300,000 in NASA Mars Food System Challenge

Philadelphia Designer Wins $300,000 in NASA Mars Food System Challenge

NASA announced the winners of the Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table on Thursday, awarding a combined $650,000 to five teams. The top $300,000 prize went to Chinyere Ukeje of Philadelphia for the Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure, or ANI, a concept for a complete space food system designed

NASA Chief Says Chang'e 7 Delay May Have Spared US a Race for Shackleton Crater

NASA Chief Says Chang'e 7 Delay May Have Spared US a Race for Shackleton Crater

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the delay of China's Chang'e 7 robotic mission until early next year may have allowed the United States to avoid a direct contest over the most coveted terrain on the Moon. Speaking at the Off World conference in Houston on Wednesday