SpaceNews.com
• Jeff Foust
Rocket Lab has secured its largest-ever contract, a $266 million multi-launch deal with the U.S. Space Force for suborbital missile-defense launches. Separately, Japan’s iQPS signed for three dedicated Electron missions, underscoring Rocket Lab’s push across defense and commercial launch markets.
Space Exploration & Science Missions
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Rocket Lab has secured its largest-ever contract, a $266 million multi-launch deal with the U.S. Space Force for suborbital missile-defense launches. Separately, Japan’s iQPS signed for three dedicated Electron missions, underscoring Rocket Lab’s push across defense and commercial launch markets.
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NASA selected Lunar Outpost’s proposal to advance Starweave, an autonomous robotic swarm software platform, under the agency’s Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity. The effort adds to NASA’s work on coordinated robotic systems for future lunar operations, though the announcement provides no details on funding, schedule or mission assignment.
New research indicates that Jupiter’s moon Europa may contain signs of life or habitability within its buried ocean. The findings could help future missions interpret what they discover and refine where they search for evidence of biological activity beneath the moon’s icy surface.
Engineers are preparing a capture—or attempted capture—of NASA’s Swift satellite in an effort to preserve the mission. The operation would rely on another spacecraft sent specifically to assist Swift, underscoring the technical complexity of extending the life of an established space observatory.
NASA is evaluating whether an engineering model of a Mars rover can be converted into a lunar rover, but a reported cost estimate above $1 billion has drawn a rejection from the agency’s leader. The dispute highlights the financial stakes of reusing existing spacecraft hardware for new planetary missions.
Spain has offered up to €1 billion in financial support to persuade the Thirty Meter Telescope project to relocate from its planned site in Hawaii to La Palma in the Canary Islands. The proposal adds a major financial incentive to the long-running contest over where the observatory will be built.
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NASA and Blue Origin have agreed to test New Glenn engines at NASA’s historic Stennis Space Center stand, giving the company an alternative to capacity constrained by the May static-fire explosion at Launch Complex 36 as it works toward a return to flight before the end of 2026.
NASA says its next flagship space telescope, the Roman Space Telescope, is on track for a late-August launch—about nine months ahead of its previous schedule. The update signals progress on remaining development and readiness milestones for the mission.
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