Space.com
• Monisha Ravisetti
NASA says the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch Aug. 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The observatory will travel nearly 1 million miles from Earth to reach the same orbital “sweet spot” as the James Webb Space Telescope, enabling wide-field science aimed at discoveries currently impossible from existing assets.
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NASA says the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch Aug. 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The observatory will travel nearly 1 million miles from Earth to reach the same orbital “sweet spot” as the James Webb Space Telescope, enabling wide-field science aimed at discoveries currently impossible from existing assets.
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Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company is “feeling pretty good” about Starliner’s prospects for a this-year launch, signaling improving confidence in the program’s timeline and readiness posture after ongoing development work.
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ESA has tapped Aalyria for a solar-system network-operations center and commissioned an optical ground station in Luxembourg aimed at ultra-secure, quantum-enabled satellite communications. SES will route station data via its O3b mPOWER network ahead of Starlab. Italy’s PRISMA Second Generation hyperspectral mission is moving toward a 2031 launch with Thales Alenia Space and OHB Italia.
Boeing says it remains in coordination with NASA to determine when the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle can fly its next mission to the International Space Station as a cargo flight. The update centers on scheduling decisions tied to readiness and mission planning.
NASA has secured the fuel supply for its next-generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, positioning the observatory for an August launch. The fueling milestone advances Roman’s final countdown work, building on its recent arrival at Kennedy Space Center for prelaunch servicing.
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The European Space Agency has opened a call to examine the feasibility of repurposing Lunar Link—a communications system originally developed for NASA’s now-paused Gateway space station—into a dedicated lunar communications capability. The effort targets a future-focused architecture for lunar connectivity.
SpaceX’s Starship completed its 13th test flight, described as going “pretty well,” with an accompanying set of highlights from the mission. A separate weekly recap also points to broader momentum around moon-lander/rover concepts, AI-enabled engineering, and large-scale launch and communications funding.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded Sphinx Defense a $287 million Other Transaction Authority agreement to develop and complete prototype mission-planning application software for Phase 3 of the Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) system. Separately, SES Space & Defense announced a connectivity collaboration with Starlab for space-station communications.
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