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Analysts say experience, not funding, is hindering European smallsat launchers

Biomass launch

London — Warsaw Increasing tensions with Russia have prompted defense spending boosts throughout Europe that will benefit fledgling smallsat launcher companies across the continent.  But Europe is still years away from meeting its own space access needs, analysts said.  The progress of European smallsat launcher developers has been slower than promised, with companies facing technical […]

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Why the U.S. shouldn’t simply race to Lagrange points 

Vigil

From the first satellite in orbit, to the first human in space, to the first steps on the moon, the United States government has always framed space exploration as a race. As U.S.-China space competition intensifies, so too does our American instinct to reach the next first. The Earth-moon Lagrange points may be next. In […]

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Q&A: The pace is picking up for Astroscale

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J inspector satellite approaching an H-2A upper stage in low Earth orbit. Credit: Astroscale

Through missions currently on the books for the Japan Space Agency JAXA, the U.S. Space Force, European Space Agency, UK Space Agency and Eutelsat OneWeb, the Tokyo-based on-orbit servicing company Astroscale aims to demonstrate inspection and proximity operations, rendezvous and docking, debris removal and refueling. When Astroscale was founded in 2013, the business was focused […]

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For new lunar collaboration, look to India and Japan

Representatives from ISRO and JAXA met in May 2025 for a Technical Interface Meeting about the Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission at ISRO Headquarters in Bengaluru. Credit: ISRO

The renewed interest in the moon can arguably be traced back to the 2009 discovery of water ice on the lunar surface. Much of the narrative in the intervening decade and a half has been set to a background score of a military drumroll slowly gathering pace. The competing visions vis-à-vis lunar exploration and exploitation […]

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Johns Hopkins, SpaceNews launch discussion series focused on the future of space  exploration

A panel of leading space industry executives will explore the trajectory of space technology over the next decade, examining how the long-imagined future depicted in comic books and science fiction […]

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Why the moon is not the South China Sea: reframing lunar space ahead of the next ‘race’

Concept art of a crewed lunar base. Credit: ESA – P. Carril

As the world watches the push for crewed lunar missions, it is tempting to frame the unfolding dynamic between the United States and China as a modern-day space race, with the lunar surface as the stage for a sovereignty contest. But equating the moon with contested maritime zones like the South China Sea, as a […]

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On the eve of the ISS’s 25th anniversary, humanity stares down a gap in its presence in space

Illustration of Axiom Space’s proposed space station. Credit: Axiom

On Nov. 2, 2000, the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft docked with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station. On board were Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev and NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd. They were known as Expedition 1, the first long-term crew to live on the ISS. Since their arrival, there have always been […]

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For clues to the future of military space, look in the air

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Logistics, from satellite life extension to in-space assembly, will become common elements of future military operations, according to speakers at the MilSat Symposium here. “The way the space domain is evolving is increasingly looking like the air domain,” said Momentus CEO John Rood, former U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy. “You’re […]

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Resources, reactors and rivalries will decide the new moon race

Artwork depicting lunar mining operations for Helium-3 involving harvesters, a solar power plant, rovers and return launchers. Credit: Interlune

A new race to the moon is underway; not merely to erect flags, but to prospect for and extract water and helium-3, establish nuclear power plants and capitalize on the economic and strategic advantages that will shape the balance of power in space for decades to come.  Private companies are now making serious bets on […]

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European Commission weighs inviting Ukraine to Europe’s GOVSATCOM platform

Krakow — The European Commission on Oct. 28 proposed that EU member states approve talks with Ukraine on its participation in its government satellite communication program, known as GOVSATCOM. The European Union’s GOVSATCOM platform is designed to provide secure satellite communication capabilities by pooling and sharing existing satellite resources from member states and accredited private […]

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