Space & Aerospace
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Blue Origin Targets April 12 for New Glenn's First Booster Reuse, Carrying the Largest Commercial Satellite Ever to Orbit
New Glenn-3 will refly the booster that landed after delivering NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes, deploying AST SpaceMobile's 2,400-square-foot BlueBird 7 direct-to-device satellite.
Blue Origin Files for 51,600 Orbital Data Center Satellites, Joining SpaceX in the Race to Move AI Compute Off Earth
An FCC filing reveals Blue Origin's Project Sunrise constellation, which would place tens of thousands of computing satellites in sun-synchronous orbits to serve AI workloads.
NASA Launches Artemis II, Sending Four Astronauts Around the Moon in First Crewed Lunar Voyage Since 1972
The SLS rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:24 p.m. EDT on April 1, carrying a crew of four on a 10-day lunar flyby mission.
Starcloud Reaches Unicorn Status With $170 Million Series A to Build Data Centers in Orbit as Terrestrial AI Infrastructure Hits Its Limits
The Y Combinator graduate plans an 88,000-satellite constellation for orbital AI compute, backed by Benchmark and EQT Ventures.
Artemis II Crew Arrives at Kennedy Space Center as Countdown Begins for First Crewed Lunar Voyage in 53 Years
Four astronauts reached Florida on March 27 ahead of an April 1 launch that will send humans beyond Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo 17.
SpaceX Rebrands Direct-to-Cell as Starlink Mobile, Unveils V2 Satellites Targeting 150 Mbps and Signs Deutsche Telekom as First European Partner
SpaceX used MWC 2026 to rebrand its satellite phone service, announce next-generation V2 satellites with 100x data density, and sign Deutsche Telekom to bring coverage to 10 European countries by 2028.
Pulsar Fusion Achieves First Plasma in Nuclear Fusion Rocket Engine, Demonstrated Live at Bezos-Hosted MARS Conference
UK startup Pulsar Fusion demonstrated the first-ever plasma ignition inside a nuclear fusion rocket exhaust system, streaming the test live from Bletchley to Amazon's MARS Conference in California.
NASA Pauses Lunar Gateway and Unveils $20 Billion Moon Base Plan as Ignition Initiative Redirects Agency Toward Surface Operations and Nuclear-Powered Mars Probe
NASA's Ignition initiative pauses the Lunar Gateway to redirect $20 billion over seven years toward building a permanent moon base, while repurposing Gateway hardware into SR-1 Freedom, a nuclear-powered spacecraft that will carry Ingenuity-class helicopters to Mars before the end of 2028.
JWST Finds Atmospheres Where None Should Exist, Rewriting the Rules for Rocky Exoplanets
Two March discoveries reveal a 10-billion-year-old lava world with a thick atmosphere and a sulfur-dominated planet unlike anything in existing classification systems.
Mars Exploration Enters a New Phase as NASA Upgrades Perseverance, Launches ESCAPADE, and Cedes Sample Return to China
NASA's Perseverance rover gains autonomous navigation and AI-planned driving while the ESCAPADE twin spacecraft head for Mars orbit, but Congress's cancellation of Mars Sample Return hands the prize of returning Martian rocks to China's Tianwen-3 mission.
LEO Broadband Race Heats Up as Amazon Seeks Deadline Extension and Rivals Scale Military and Enterprise Offerings
Amazon has asked the FCC for a two-year extension on its satellite deployment deadline, citing a rocket shortage, while Eutelsat orders 340 new OneWeb satellites and Telesat adds military Ka-band to Lightspeed as competitors carve out niches against Starlink's 10-million-subscriber lead.
FAA Withdraws Orbital Debris Rule as Startups Race to Build Commercial Cleanup Services
The FAA formally withdrew its proposed 25-year upper stage disposal mandate in January 2026 after industry opposition led by SpaceX, even as startups Astroscale, Portal Space, and Paladin Space announced competing debris removal services targeting operations by 2027.