Launch Vehicles
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NASA JPL Fires Up 120-Kilowatt Lithium-Fed Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster, a 25x Power Leap Over the Psyche Engines
On Feb. 24, a JPL-led team ran a lithium-vapor magnetoplasmadynamic thruster at 120 kilowatts inside the CoMeT vacuum chamber, more than 25 times the power of the electric engines on NASA's Psyche spacecraft.
Rocket Lab Books More Launches in Q1 Than All of 2025, Adds $30M Anduril HASTE Deal, Space Force Interceptor Pick, and Motiv Robotics Buyout
Rocket Lab disclosed 31 new launch contracts plus five Neutron flights in the first quarter, then stacked three same-day announcements: an Anduril hypersonics order, a Raytheon-paired Space Force selection, and a Mars-veteran robotics acquisition.
Skyroot Aerospace Becomes India's First Space-Tech Unicorn With $60 Million Round Ahead of Vikram-1 Maiden Orbital Launch
Hyderabad-based Skyroot raised $60 million co-led by GIC and Sherpalo Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Vikram-1's first orbital flight targeted for June 2026.
Falcon Heavy Returns After 560 Days to Close Out the Troubled ViaSat-3 Constellation
SpaceX targets April 27 to launch ViaSat-3 F3 to the Asia-Pacific, ending Falcon Heavy's longest gap and capping a constellation that lost 90% of its first satellite to an antenna failure.
Blue Origin's New Glenn Nails First Booster Reuse but Loses BlueBird 7 Satellite to Wrong Orbit
New Glenn's third flight landed its reused booster successfully but an upper stage engine failure put AST SpaceMobile's satellite into an unusable orbit, triggering an FAA investigation and grounding.
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.
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.
CAS Space Targets Late March for Kinetica-2 Maiden Flight, China's Latest Bid for a Reusable Medium-Lift Rocket
Chinese Academy of Sciences spinoff CAS Space will attempt the first launch of its Kinetica-2 kerosene-LOX rocket from Jiuquan, carrying a prototype cargo spacecraft for the Tiangong space station.
SpaceX Targets Mid-March for Starship Flight 12, Debut of Block 3 Hardware and Raptor 3 Engines
SpaceX is preparing to launch Starship Flight 12 in mid-March 2026, the first test of upgraded Block 3 vehicles powered by 33 Raptor 3 engines and the debut of Orbital Launch Pad 2.
Ariane 64 Debuts as Europe's Most Powerful Rocket, Lofting 20 Tonnes of Amazon Leo Satellites on Maiden Flight
Europe's Ariane 6 flew its four-booster configuration for the first time, delivering 32 Amazon Leo satellites in the heaviest payload ever launched by a European rocket.