Payload
• Jacqueline Feldscher
Launch capacity and schedule constraints are creating decisive capability gates in 2026. Customers tied to firm deadlines — exemplified by Pentagon programs with Golden Dome‑style milestones — risk losing eligibility if providers cannot meet timing. Launch cadence and assured access are becoming as critical as capability or cost.
SpaceNews.com
• Andrew Jones
By SpaceNews.com: China conducts pair of Long March launches for Thousand Sails and Guowang megaconstellations China carried out separate Long March 8 and Long March 6A launches this week, adding new batches of satellites to the country’s megaconstellation projects.
SpaceNews.com
• Dorit Donoviel
By SpaceNews.com: What returning to lunar space means for human health.
SpaceNews.com
• Sandra Erwin
By SpaceNews.com: Space Force taps 14 firms for $1.8 billion GEO surveillance program Space Force taps 14 firms for $1.8 billion GEO surveillance program.
Universe Today
• Andy Tomaswick
By Universe Today: Reading the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson brings the benefits and pitfalls of efforts to terraform the Red Planet into sharp relief. Since the 1970s, when Carl Sagan first suggested the possibility that we could make Mars more Earth-like, that process has been a staple of science fiction.
SpaceWatch Global
• Joshua Faleti
By SpaceWatch Global: Russia’s Academy of Sciences has postponed Russia's Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 missions to the Moon between 2032 and 2036.
Runway Girl
• Mary Kirby
By Runway Girl: Vertically integrated LEO satellite operators are shaking up business models. But for ST Engineering iDirect, this industry inflection point is “a glass‑half‑full moment” for all markets that rely on satcom.
Payload
• Jacqueline Feldscher
By Payload: Vantor introduced two new satellite classes today that will aim to improve on the company’s imagery resolution and revisit rate.
European Spaceflight
• Andrew Parsonson
SpaceNews.com
• Jason Rainbow
Universe Today
• Matthew Williams
