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SpaceNews.com • Jeff Foust

Mars advocates: NASA's lunar return can advance crewed Mars goals

Mars mission proponents say NASA's renewed human-return-to-Moon program can be leveraged as a practical stepping stone toward eventual crewed Mars missions, providing a near-term arena to develop and validate systems, operations and programmatic pathways needed for longer-duration interplanetary exploration.

2026-03-09T21:09:09.942633-07:00

Via Satellite

Swissto12's micro‑GEO push: flexible payloads and the sovereign‑space case

2026-03-09T13:53:00.218450-07:00

SpaceNews.com

GNSS resilience emerges as an economic and national‑security priority

2026-03-09T06:02:22.392525-07:00

SpaceNews.com

Chinese delegate urges prioritizing ambitious Neptune orbiter mission

2026-03-09T04:41:03.259148-07:00

News Timeline

SpaceNews.com

Mars advocates: NASA's lunar return can advance crewed Mars goals Mars mission proponents say NASA's renewed human-return-to-Moon program can be leveraged as a practical stepping stone toward eventual crewed Mars missions, providing a near-term arena to develop and validate systems, operations and programmatic pathways needed for longer-duration interplanetary exploration.

2026-03-09T21:09:09.942633-07:00

Mars advocates: NASA's lunar return can advance crewed Mars goals

Via Satellite

Swissto12's micro‑GEO push: flexible payloads and the sovereign‑space case Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk outlines the company's cutting‑edge payload technology and a micro‑GEO approach that prioritizes smaller, reconfigurable geostationary platforms. He presents flexible, modular satellites as a route to rapid capability delivery and to compete with larger GEO incumbents while meeting sovereign-space needs.

2026-03-09T13:53:00.218450-07:00

Swissto12's micro‑GEO push: flexible payloads and the sovereign‑space case

SpaceNews.com

GNSS resilience emerges as an economic and national‑security priority Dependence on GNSS across critical infrastructure makes navigation and timing resilience an economic imperative and national‑security priority, driving industry and governments to focus on signal integrity, jamming/spoofing mitigation, and development of layered alternative PNT capabilities to protect commerce, aviation and defence operations.

2026-03-09T06:02:22.392525-07:00

GNSS resilience emerges as an economic and national‑security priority

SpaceNews.com

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Chinese delegate urges prioritizing ambitious Neptune orbiter mission A senior Chinese space scientist and delegate to the national congress has called for prioritizing an unprecedented orbiter mission to Neptune, urging Beijing to accelerate planning for an ice‑giant exploration effort. The proposal could mark a shift toward higher‑profile, deep‑space science in China's program.

2026-03-09T04:41:03.259148-07:00

Chinese delegate urges prioritizing ambitious Neptune orbiter mission

Space.com

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Plan B for Space: National‑security risks of concentrating critical space capabilities in private hands Private companies have moved from peripheral actors to operators of critical U.S. space functions — launching and deploying satellites, transporting cargo and astronauts to the ISS, and flying lunar landers. That concentration of essential capabilities in commercial hands creates national‑security vulnerabilities and complicates contingency planning for government missions.

2026-03-08T06:07:19.514301-07:00

Plan B for Space: National‑security risks of concentrating critical space capabilities in private hands

Ars Technica

Planet Labs withholds Gulf satellite imagery for 96 hours after Iranian drone strikes Planet Labs will delay public release of newly captured satellite imagery over Gulf states for 96 hours after Iranian drone attacks, citing risk that adversaries could use near‑real‑time images for "battle‑damage assessment." The pause impacts media, commercial customers and researchers who normally receive images almost immediately.

2026-03-06T15:40:00.851912-08:00

Planet Labs withholds Gulf satellite imagery for 96 hours after Iranian drone strikes

SpaceNews.com

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Eutelsat completes €5bn refinancing, closes €1.5bn bond to fund OneWeb refresh and back EU IRIS2 French satellite operator Eutelsat has closed the final step of a €5 billion refinancing package with a €1.5 billion ($1.7bn) bond issuance. The move refinances debt, improves liquidity for its OneWeb LEO constellation refresh and underpins investment in Europe’s IRIS2 sovereign connectivity programme.

2026-03-06T09:19:10.584702-08:00

Eutelsat completes €5bn refinancing, closes €1.5bn bond to fund OneWeb refresh and back EU IRIS2

NASA Spaceflight

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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

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Space Policy & International Cooperation News

Mars advocates: NASA's lunar return can advance crewed Mars goals

Swissto12's micro‑GEO push: flexible payloads and the sovereign‑space case

GNSS resilience emerges as an economic and national‑security priority

Chinese delegate urges prioritizing ambitious Neptune orbiter mission

News Timeline