Breaking Defense
• Theresa Hitchens
The Defense Department is expanding research intended to remove obsolete satellites from orbit, while acknowledging that the same capabilities could disable, reposition or destroy functioning spacecraft. The effort highlights the close technical relationship between space sustainability missions and counterspace applications.
Space Debris & Traffic Management
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The Defense Department is expanding research intended to remove obsolete satellites from orbit, while acknowledging that the same capabilities could disable, reposition or destroy functioning spacecraft. The effort highlights the close technical relationship between space sustainability missions and counterspace applications.
Slingshot Aerospace is adding AI-powered space traffic monitoring capabilities to its Portal platform, aimed at helping satellite and other space operators better monitor an increasingly crowded orbital environment. The announcement expands Portal’s role in tracking and managing space traffic for commercial and government users.
Katalyst Space has secured a new contract from the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit as the government seeks to harness emerging technologies for deorbiting space objects. The award highlights growing defense interest in commercial capabilities that can support orbital sustainability and space-domain operations.
The Space Development Agency and Defense Innovation Unit selected three companies to develop designs for scalable satellite capabilities covering rendezvous, capture and deorbit operations. The effort points to a defense-led approach for building commercially enabled on-orbit servicing and debris-removal capacity.
A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface earlier this month at roughly 8,700 kilometers per hour. While the impact was harmless, the event underscores the growing challenge of tracking and managing rocket hardware and other objects beyond Earth orbit.
The Pentagon has chosen three companies to examine options for providing satellite disposal services to the U.S. government. The study will assess whether aging spacecraft can be deorbited by commercial operators, potentially replacing a dedicated government capability with an externally procured service.
As commercial and national missions accelerate, experts warn that discarded rocket stages and other hardware could accumulate on the lunar surface without clearer rules. The debate highlights an emerging governance gap around lunar preservation, mission planning and responsibility for objects left behind.
Novaspace projects that emerging in-orbit services will generate approximately $3 billion in cumulative service revenue over the next 10 years. The forecast points to an early-stage market focused on making space operations more flexible, resilient and sustainable, while the sector continues to develop commercial applications and capabilities.
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