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Ars Technica • Eric Berger

Orion cleared for Artemis launch as NASA reshuffles rockets; lunar lander question remains

NASA has reorganized its Artemis launch vehicles and confirms Orion is ready to fly on the upcoming Artemis mission, but the agency has not resolved who will provide a crewed lunar lander. The move advances the flight schedule while leaving surface access and contractor selection unsettled.

2026-03-06T07:58:27.800025-08:00

NASA Spaceflight

RFA ONE arrives in Scotland as Rocket Factory Augsburg advances UK orbital launch campaign

2026-03-06T08:47:31.246456-08:00

AeroTime

Portugal issues Europe’s first space‑vehicle re‑entry license for Azores spaceport

2026-03-06T07:29:00.716226-08:00

SpaceNews.com

Hyperscalers Move into LEO — Power Architecture Will Decide the Winners

2026-03-06T06:01:26.043575-08:00

News Timeline

NASA Spaceflight

RFA ONE arrives in Scotland as Rocket Factory Augsburg advances UK orbital launch campaign Rocket Factory Augsburg's RFA ONE has arrived in Scotland for ground integration and launch preparations, a major milestone in progressing a UK-based orbital launch campaign. The arrival accelerates RFA's SaxaVord pad commissioning timeline and supports two RFA One flights secured under ESA's Flight Ticket Initiative.

2026-03-06T08:47:31.246456-08:00

RFA ONE arrives in Scotland as Rocket Factory Augsburg advances UK orbital launch campaign

Ars Technica

❗️

Orion cleared for Artemis launch as NASA reshuffles rockets; lunar lander question remains NASA has reorganized its Artemis launch vehicles and confirms Orion is ready to fly on the upcoming Artemis mission, but the agency has not resolved who will provide a crewed lunar lander. The move advances the flight schedule while leaving surface access and contractor selection unsettled.

2026-03-06T07:58:27.800025-08:00

Orion cleared for Artemis launch as NASA reshuffles rockets; lunar lander question remains

AeroTime

Portugal issues Europe’s first space‑vehicle re‑entry license for Azores spaceport Portugal has issued Europe’s first licence for a space‑vehicle re‑entry at the Azores Spaceport, authorising return and recovery operations for a spacecraft. The permit establishes the first national regulatory approval in Europe for re‑entry activity at a commercial spaceport.

2026-03-06T07:29:00.716226-08:00

Portugal issues Europe’s first space‑vehicle re‑entry license for Azores spaceport

SpaceNews.com

Hyperscalers Move into LEO — Power Architecture Will Decide the Winners Major cloud providers are preparing to host AI compute and cloud services in LEO, shifting competition from bandwidth and latency to orbital power architecture — from large deployable solar arrays to beamed power and in‑orbit energy management. Whoever solves sustained, scalable power will control on‑orbit data centers.

2026-03-06T06:01:26.043575-08:00

Hyperscalers Move into LEO — Power Architecture Will Decide the Winners

Ars Technica

United Launch Alliance to build additional upper stages for NASA's SLS United Launch Alliance will build additional upper stages for NASA's Space Launch System, increasing ULA's production role in SLS sustainment. The decision adds hardware capacity for upcoming Artemis-class missions and shifts near-term workload and supplier demand onto ULA's manufacturing lines.

2026-03-06T04:57:37.101570-08:00

United Launch Alliance to build additional upper stages for NASA's SLS

SpaceWatch Global

GMV wins UKSA award to build algorithmic launch‑monitoring for the UK NSpOC GMV has won a UK Space Agency contract to develop algorithmic launch‑monitoring capabilities that support the analytical requirements of the UK National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC). The programme will deliver automated tools to detect, characterise and track launch events to enhance national space situational awareness.

2026-03-06T02:21:20.435256-08:00

GMV wins UKSA award to build algorithmic launch‑monitoring for the UK NSpOC

rocketlabcorp.com

Rocket Lab launches single 470 km LEO commercial satellite; payload widely reported as BlackSky On March 5–6 Rocket Lab’s Electron successfully inserted a single commercial satellite into a 470 km low‑Earth orbit on a mission named “Insight at Speed is a Friend Indeed” for a confidential customer widely reported to be Earth‑observation operator BlackSky. The flight — Rocket Lab’s 83rd mission and the company’s fourth launch this year — reinforces its high small‑launcher cadence.

2026-03-05T17:21:28.784579-08:00

Rocket Lab launches single 470 km LEO commercial satellite; payload widely reported as BlackSky

Space Intel Report

Globalstar posts record $273M in 2025 revenue; expects two SpaceX launches this year but only one confirmed Globalstar reported record 2025 revenue of $273 million and said it expects two SpaceX launches this year to support its mobile-satellite services, although only one launch is confirmed to date. Management flagged launch timing and capacity as key near-term enablers for growth.

2026-03-05T12:55:31.164233-08:00

Globalstar posts record $273M in 2025 revenue; expects two SpaceX launches this year but only one confirmed

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Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

Orion cleared for Artemis launch as NASA reshuffles rockets; lunar lander question remains

RFA ONE arrives in Scotland as Rocket Factory Augsburg advances UK orbital launch campaign

Portugal issues Europe’s first space‑vehicle re‑entry license for Azores spaceport

Hyperscalers Move into LEO — Power Architecture Will Decide the Winners

News Timeline