2026 04 News

09 Apr 2026

• PLD Space secures $35 million European Investment Bank loan for MIURA 5 launcher
• China conducts pair of Long March launches for Thousand Sails and Guowang megaconstellations
• Portal Space Systems raises $50 million to accelerate spacecraft development
• Space Force taps 14 firms for $1.8 billion GEO surveillance program
• Albedo prepares second VLEO mission for 2027 launch
• Lockheed Martin wins $105 million contract for GPS ground control system as OCX winds down
• Vantor to expand imaging satellite fleet, adding smallsats to increase revisit rates
• Apex to develop larger satellites for missile defense, space-based computing
• Improved thresholds and SSA accuracy can reduce most satellite collision risk
• The gravity of their experience hasn’t quite set in for the Artemis II astronauts

08 Apr 2026

• Improved thresholds and SSA accuracy can reduce most satellite collision risk
• April 30: Opportunities for On-Orbit Computing
• LeoLabs debuts space monitoring tool for military users
• Artemis 2 science gets underway as Orion begins its return trip
• Capella Space wins $49 million contract for military communications satellite demo
• Space security moves to forefront as threats to satellites spread
• Inspection cubesat demo planned as first step toward orbital defense mothership
• Astroscale passes key design milestone for UK military space-tracking cubesats
• With Orion still flying, NASA is nearing key decisions about Artemis III

07 Apr 2026

• Hungary taps Northrop Grumman for first national geostationary communications satellite
• Starfish Space raises more than $100 million
• Nominate space industry leaders for the 2026 SpaceNews Icon Awards
• Finally, Artemis delivers some exceptional, high-quality photos of the Moon

06 Apr 2026

• FOSSA targets Japan’s defense market as larger smallsats expand capabilities
• Military space programs confront hidden supply constraints
• Artemis 2 ready to fly around the moon
• NASA’s Moon ship and rocket seem to be working well, so what about the landers?
• Why will today’s lunar flyby only beam back low-resolution video?

05 Apr 2026

• NASA stops work on SLS Mobile Launcher 2
• NASA finalizes science plans for Artemis 2 lunar flyby

04 Apr 2026

• Atlas 5 launches Amazon Leo satellites
• Space Force budget would more than double in Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense plan

03 Apr 2026

• Italy’s Argotec plans to scale Florida satellite facility to meet rising US demand
• White House again proposes steep NASA budget cuts
• SpaceX and Amazon spar over satellite deployments
• China’s commercial Tianlong-3 rocket fails on debut launch

02 Apr 2026

• Former Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice to lead Astrion
• Optical terminals still a bottleneck in Pentagon’s proliferated constellation
• Pentagon awards Raytheon $45 million for GPS ground system as program future is reassessed
• Phantom Space buys thermal specialist to support orbital data center push
• Relativity, Hermeus, Astrion and Divergent executives join Fortastra C-suite
• Artemis 2 crew blasts off on historic moon mission
• Amazon is trying to buy Globalstar to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink
• SpaceX tries to convince FCC that Amazon put satellites into wrong altitude
• Why is NASA bothering to go back to the Moon if we’ve already been there?

01 Apr 2026

• SpaceX quietly files for big bang IPO
• Teledyne forms dedicated space unit to capture rising demand
• Artemis 2’s (nearly) 10-day flight around the moon
• Saltzman: Space ‘baked into’ modern combat operations
• Aspect Aerospace secures early funding to advance swarm-deployable VLEO satellites
• Artemis 2 fueling underway
• After three years, Artemis 2 astronauts ready to launch
• Vantor wins intelligence agency contract to monitor space objects
• Chinese startup tests flexible robotic arm in space for on-orbit servicing
• Live coverage: NASA to launch Artemis 2, its first Moon-bound mission with astronauts since 1972
• Launch day has arrived for NASA’s Artemis II mission—here’s what to expect
• SpaceX finally files for IPO, targets $1.75 trillion valuation