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NASA selected three science payload suites to fly to the moon through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative in support of its planned Moon Base. Chosen under NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program, the instruments will study lunar resources, natural shelters and environmental hazards.

Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation or GIMLI, led by Nathaniel Putzig of the Planetary Science Institute with Honeybee Robotics and the Norwegian Space Agency, will travel by lander and rover to the Marius Hills Pit, which Japan’s Kaguya orbiter found in 2009. Using ground-penetrating radar, seismic sensors and a gravimeter, it will determine whether the pit opens into a lava tube that could protect astronauts from extreme temperatures, radiation and micrometeoroids. Confirming one would show how lunar volcanism worked, since lava tubes are common in basaltic volcanism on Earth, said deputy principal investigator Gareth Morgan.

Lunar Environment Monitoring Station – South Pole or LEMS-SP, led by Mehdi Benna of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will monitor micrometeoroids, volatiles and seismic activity at the south pole. Depth Imager with Spectral and Color Optics or DISCO, led by Ariel Deutsch of NASA’s Ames Research Center, will make the first direct surface measurements of ice in micro-cold traps. It will also study how rocket exhaust disturbs the ground and how stable the surface is for mobility, groundwork for turning ice into a usable resource.

NASA did not disclose costs, delivery dates or which landers will carry them.

Water ice at Mars’ north pole holds about 3% dust by mass, not the up to 25% suggested by earlier estimates, according to a University of Washington study published Sept. 8 in npj Space Exploration. Dustier ice is darker, absorbs more sunlight and vaporizes faster whereas cleaner ice reflects more sunlight into space.

Aditya Khuller and Pari Mohan replaced a method developed for lunar soil, which Khuller found inaccurate for ice on Earth, with an approach for snow and ice developed by UW professor emeritus Steve Warren. Using data from NASA’s Phoenix lander and orbiters, they found that a dusty frost of carbon dioxide ice, about 1 meter deep at the north pole, forms each winter and disappears in summer, exposing the cleaner, older North Polar Residual Cap. The cap sits atop layered deposits of alternating dustier and cleaner ice, which Khuller likened to “an ice-cream sandwich,” and the layers record past climate.

At one site, dust content rose from 0.04% on Sol 28 to 0.45% after 58 sols, according to a figure in the study. Mars “oscillates wildly” without a large moon to stabilize it, Khuller said, driving ice ages that left shallow ice on about a third of the planet. A previous Khuller study suggested dusty layers could form nutrient-rich meltwater pockets that might host microbes, as similar pockets do on Earth.

7 October, 2026

Soviet-era weather satellite Meteor 2-7 has fragmented in low Earth orbit, producing an estimated “tens of fragments,” tracking company LeoLabs said Oct. 7, calling it the latest in a series of breakups over six months. Launched in 1981, the satellite first broke apart in March 2004 and fragmented again at about 855 kilometers, where debris density is highest, orbital debris expert Jim Shell said.

The Russian fragmentation comes in the wake of another satellite breakup. On Sept. 13, USA 32, a National Reconnaissance Office signals-intelligence satellite launched in 1988, disintegrated at about 775 kilometers, the U.S. Space Force’s Space-Track said. The cause and number of fragments remain unknown.

Spaceweather.com cited a ruptured battery or fuel tank as one possibility and said there was no evidence of an anti-satellite weapon. That region holds at least 200 satellites and debris from a 2009 U.S.-Russian satellite collision. Launches have continued, and the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong are currently beyond the debris field. LeoLabs also reported a Chinese rocket body breakup in late August.

ESA tracked more than 44,000 debris objects in 2026, up from about 16,000 in 2005. Each Starlink satellite performed more than 40 avoidance maneuvers a year between June 2025 and May 2026, SpaceX told the FCC. University of Birmingham professor Hugh Lewis believes that a collision involving an operational constellation satellite is coming “in spite of all those maneuvers.” With SpaceX wanting to place 1 million data center satellites in orbit, some experts warn of Kessler syndrome, a tipping point at which accumulated debris would prevent launches. In November 2025, debris damaged the return craft for three astronauts aboard Tiangong, leaving them without a lifeboat for about 10 days.

6 October, 2026

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 6 approved SpaceX’s request to deploy 15,000 satellites for Starlink Mobile, its direct-to-device service, despite opposition from rival satellite operators and environmental groups concerned about radio interference and light pollution. The satellites will operate in nine shells between 326 and 335 kilometers, apparently lower than SpaceX’s first-generation cellular satellites. The FCC also waived a rule requiring a leasing arrangement with a terrestrial carrier, letting SpaceX offer service over its own spectrum. It said the system would increase competition in retail wireless services. SpaceX executives have signaled ambitions to compete with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, and the company plans to pair the satellites with small ground-based femtocells to cover suburbs and cities.

SpaceX can deploy satellites and test on spectrum acquired from EchoStar, but full use depends on closing the deal’s second step, expected around Nov. 30, 2027. The FCC deferred some spectrum requests, including bands with heavy federal use. The grant also covers T-Mobile’s PCS G-block spectrum, which the current Starlink Mobile service uses through T-Mobile’s T-Satellite. T-Mobile has downplayed T-Satellite and floated partnering with other satellite providers, and its chief financial officer has dismissed SpaceX’s approach.

SpaceX says the new system will deliver 150 Mbps per user, while its current 650-satellite service is estimated at 4 Mbps. President Gwynne Shotwell told investors the system could be “100 times better” and said second-generation satellites will start flying next year, with service by the end of next year. Days later, SpaceX said it will acquire low-frequency spectrum that could improve indoor coverage.

7 October, 2026

An international heritage committee is developing guidelines for controlled lunar deorbiting to protect heritage sites on the moon. It plans to present them to the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 2027. The ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage met Sept. 14 in Pisa, Italy. Participants discussed the risks highlighted by the August crash of a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage into the moon. Controlled crashes are gaining appeal for disposing of spacecraft at the end of missions as lunar traffic grows, with the U.S. and China aiming to build bases near the south pole. Impact effects have been observed only partially, leaving researchers reliant on simulations, Luca Forassiepi said.

Impacts stir abrasive dust that erodes hardware, said Flinders University archaeologist Alice Gorman. “Imagine the iconic Apollo 11 landing module, the Eagle, being worn away until it crumbles into dust itself,” she said, adding that the dust also threatens habitation and mining installations. Gorman counted 51 hard spacecraft impacts to date, including nine rocket bodies and 19 lunar orbiters. She said spacecraft craters have become “an environmental hazard that may cause irreversible damage.” Nations are liable under the Outer Space Treaty for damage their hardware causes, and a state could demand compensation for a rocket body crash that harms its cultural heritage, she said.

“The moon is part of the cultural landscape of Earth,” said Beth O’Leary, professor emerita at New Mexico State University. She said that in its first three years the committee will have held three conferences, received a World Monuments Fund listing and served as a delegation to the U.N. committee, a role it will continue. It will next consult space agencies, companies and affected communities.

8 October, 2026

Russia is likely to prioritize qualitative improvements and offensive capabilities over expanding its nuclear arsenal, including counterspace weapons to degrade adversary surveillance and missile defenses, according to an October Royal United Services Institute paper by Sidharth Kaushal.

The paper expects Russia to concentrate on silo-based ICBMs such as the RS-28 Sarmat. It projects the missile will carry more warheads than its R-36 predecessor and a 20% heavier payload, with a short boost phase to evade missile defenses. Only 14 Sarmats would need to penetrate U.S. defenses to deliver 200 warheads, the paper says. That matches the Brown criterion, a Cold War U.S. estimate of the warheads needed to prevent the Soviet Union’s recovery as a modern industrial society. Reports from 2018 and 2019 cited fewer than 20 Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle launchers and an initial run of about 60 warheads. Mobile launchers and ballistic missile submarines would mainly serve as a retaliatory reserve. The paper also covers Yasen-class submarines carrying up to 32 cruise missiles, and the Kh-BD cruise missile as a partial hedge for an aging bomber fleet.

In space, the paper judges that the Peresvet laser is closer to temporarily dazzling satellites than destroying them, and that the Kalina and airborne Sokol-Eshelon systems face limits. Roscosmos proposed nuclear-powered jamming satellites in 2014. Russia has tested its Nudol interceptor against a satellite at 480 kilometers, retains the Soviet-era Kontakt and has discussed a kill vehicle called Aerostat. However, the paper expects few Nudols, which must be shared with missile defense, noting that the U.S. is due to receive 55 comparable SM-3 interceptors by 2031. It sees “a strong case” for eventual space-based nuclear weapons, citing a RAND estimate that one 110-kiloton detonation could affect about 20% of satellites in orbit. The paper says the main barrier would be political. It expects Russia to handle the fallout as it did in 2024, when it vetoed a U.S.-Japan Security Council resolution against space-based nuclear weapons in favor of a resolution banning all weapons in space. The council rejected Russia’s draft a month later; the U.S. and its allies said it diverted attention from the nuclear ban. Many counterspace weapons will probably fall under the Russian Aerospace Forces rather than the Strategic Rocket Forces, which operate silo ICBMs, a split the paper says complicates coordinating the two in an early strike.

The paper also says that costs constrain the approach. For example, a Bulava missile costs roughly as much as a Trident D5, and a Topol-M equals about 15 modernized T-72B3 tanks in rubles. Nuclear modernization took about 10% of Russia’s equipment modernization funds in 2012 and an estimated 15% since, compared with about 9% for the U.S. in 2021-2030, though the paper cautions the periods are not directly comparable. Kaushal calls the analysis deductive and says it relies heavily on Strategic Rocket Forces articles, which could bias findings toward that institution’s interests. He says he sought corroboration from other institutions and from resource decisions already made.

U.S. European Command funded the paper.

Overview Energy wins Pentagon power-beaming award, Voyager a $22.4 million satellite dispenser deal, York clears a GEO design review and USAX a $1.49 million SBIR for investment analytics.

Overview Energy won a U.S. Defense Department Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund contract to design, build and test a homing beacon for its space-based solar power system, the company said Sept. 30. Overview’s satellites would convert sunlight into near-infrared light and beam it to existing ground solar arrays. Ground crews install the beacon at receiver sites, and satellites must lock onto an active, authenticated beacon before transmitting, which the company says prevents spoofing and hijacking. Overview will gather requirements at military bases early in the design cycle, then return with beacon hardware for field testing. The hardware will be part of Overview’s first satellite demonstration, which the company says is scheduled for 2028. Overview says an airborne flight test validated the tracking and pointing systems planned for orbit.

The fund, which supports pre-commercial operational energy technology, also tapped Katalyst Space on Sept. 21 to develop a robotic spacecraft that would assemble a microwave power-beaming system in orbit. Neither company disclosed contract values.

5 October, 2026

Voyager Technologies won a $22.4 million other transaction agreement from the U.S. Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office to prototype next-generation satellite deployment systems, the company said. Voyager will deliver prototype, flight-ready small satellite dispensers designed to use excess payload capacity on launches, with the goal of transitioning the technology to the U.S. Space Force. The dispensers are meant to put more capability in orbit faster “without displacing primary mission objectives,” said Matt Magaña, Voyager’s president of space, defense and national security.

The company didn’t provide an award date, the number of dispensers, delivery or flight dates, or which launch vehicles they would fly on.

York Space Systems cleared the delta critical design review for the U.S. Space Force’s Tetra 3 and Tetra 4 missions, the first spacecraft it has integrated for geosynchronous orbit, and will now build them for delivery in the fourth quarter. Tetra, a Space Systems Command series of small GEO satellites and the first, built by Millennium Space Systems and launched in November 2022, was used to train more than 250 Guardians and Airmen in GEO operations.

As prime contractor, York is integrating government-furnished equipment and sensors, including a long-wave infrared camera, a lidar able to range objects at 20 kilometers and a GEO-qualified GPS side-lobe receiver. The missions, which York calls Nemesis, will support space domain awareness through on-orbit threat presentation, independent range data collection, small satellite technology risk reduction and experimental payload hosting.

The review covered a new propulsion system, which York said it added on an accelerated schedule without structural, thermal, power or launch vehicle integration impacts, requiring only minor harness and software updates. The company said that the Defense Department has signaled interest in space domain awareness beyond low Earth orbit and that the work places York among a small number of providers with this capability.

SpaceWERX, the Space Force’s innovation arm, awarded USAX a $1.49 million Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract to advance its Provenance Engine for potential Space Force use, the company said Oct. 5. Work began Aug. 6.

The Austin, Texas-based, veteran-owned company builds a decision-making platform that it says helps government and institutional leaders visualize capital flows, science and technology investments and research spending, and flag hidden links to adversarial nations or untrusted co-investors. The Provenance Engine, the software behind the platform, is designed to trace the origins of funding, supply chains and institutional relationships, according to the company. USAX said the award makes it eligible for sole-source SBIR Phase III contracts.

8 October, 2026

Space-based intelligence and Earth observation company, BlackSky Technology won a six-figure pilot contract to give an unnamed international intelligence agency on-demand access to its Gen-3 satellite imagery, which has 35-centimeter resolution, the company said Oct. 8.

BlackSky described the customer as a major sovereign partner in a critical strategic region and said the contract has a short period of performance. The agency will be able to task BlackSky’s satellites to monitor multiple locations worldwide, with the resulting intelligence fed into secure cross-domain workflows. BlackSky said its Gen-3 pilots quickly grow into multi-year subscriptions and that it plans to add more Gen-3 satellites by the end of 2026.

5 October, 2026

Shortages of components and materials threaten to delay satellite megaconstellations as AI data centers compete for the same supplies. Amazon wants more than 5,000 satellites, Blue Origin has proposed 5,400 and Elon Musk has floated 1 million. Estimates project 70,000 more joining the roughly 19,000 in low Earth orbit in the next few years.

A March report by the Aerospace Industries Association and PwC identified nine critical bottleneck components, from valves and actuators to switchgear and transformers. AI companies are buying switchgear and transformers at scale, creating years-long backlogs, the report found. One legacy supplier declined to rebid on pressure vessels that would take a third of its engineering time for low single-digit revenue, the report said. Some companies are weighing non-space-qualified parts or yearlong waits for certain valves, AIA’s Steve Jordan Tomaszewski said and many parts have only one or two suppliers. China produces about 98% of gallium nitride and dominates germanium, both used in high-efficiency solar cells, leaving U.S. and European companies vulnerable, Novaspace’s Carla Filotico said.

A single constellation can need 10,000 to 20,000 solar panels, and satellites must be replaced every four to five years. She expects the worst of the squeeze within five years, as launches peak by 2030. RTX and Emirates Global Aluminum agreed in May 2025 to produce gallium in Abu Dhabi. Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions from the U.S.-Iran conflict have also hit aluminum and helium supplies. The U.S. Space Development Agency’s director cited supplier throughput and quality problems. Experts expect consolidation and exits. Satellite Industry Association President Doug Stroup said some recently filed constellations likely won’t proceed, as with FCC filings more than a decade ago. Citing a lack of consistent shortage tracking, Tomaszewski proposed a “skip the line” authority prioritizing space over data centers and said he was encouraged by Office of Space Commerce efforts.

Blue Origin unveiled a “Power Tower,” a 20-meter-tall, vertically deployed solar array it says will provide more than 10 kilowatts for NASA’s Moon Base operations at the lunar south pole. The company posted an animation on X on Sept. 25 showing the tower landing and deploying on the moon. The post links to video of a July 22 test on Earth, in which a pole extends from the base before arms branch out and solar arrays fold down.

Blue Origin said the modular design will support surface networks extending power beyond the lander. Its subsidiary Honeybee Robotics, which works under NASA’s Vertical Solar Array Technology project to develop power for a sustained lunar presence, tested an earlier system, the Lunar Array Mast and Power System (LAMPS), at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2024. NASA’s Moon Base project is in its first phase, which runs through 2029. The agency aims to have the south pole base operating by 2032 under Artemis and Blue Origin expects the system to integrate with the broader lunar infrastructure.

7 October, 2026

Separately, Jeff Bezos said Oct. 7 that Blue Origin will likely go public, though not until “several years from now,” after the company raised $10 billion from outside investors for the first time. Rival SpaceX went public in June. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that the round valued Blue Origin at $140 billion. Bezos has personally invested $28 billion since 2000, he said.

Meanwhile, On Oct. 8, Blue Origin announced Constellation Park, a 1.3-million-square-foot manufacturing campus in Hutto, Texas, with local projections of adding more than 2,000 jobs over 10 years. The state awarded the company a Texas Enterprise Fund grant of more than $18 million. The campus will produce hardware for TeraWave, a planned satellite network designed to deliver up to 6 terabits per second, and Quartz, a ground communications network, as well as other spacecraft hardware. Bezos said New Glenn will fly again in December after a launch-pad explosion in May.

6 October, 2026

The California (U.S.) government has adopted ICEYE’s synthetic aperture radar data for statewide disaster response ahead of El Niño season. The data give the state’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) near-real-time flood extent and depth and structure-level wildfire damage assessments through clouds, smoke or darkness. Cal OES used ICEYE data supplied through FEMA during the 2025 Los Angeles fires. It began using ICEYE’s flood and wildfire products directly in February and can now share them across state agencies and with local emergency managers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the agreement and reopened the modernized State Operations Center in Mather. U.S. federal forecasters give a greater-than-90% chance of a very strong El Niño, his office said. The office framed the investments as a response to federal retreat from disaster preparedness, noting that President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposes cutting FEMA by $1.3 billion, including state and local preparedness grants.

7 October, 2026

Polish company SpaceForest said Oct. 7 that the fourth test flight of its PERUN suborbital rocket confirmed software fixes to its thrust vector control system, made after anomalies on Flight 3. The Aug. 27 flight from the Central Air Force Training Ground in Ustka, Poland, also tested navigation and autonomy components. The mission ended with activation of the flight termination system, and the rocket was recovered from the sea within the test range. PERUN is developed under ESA’s Boost! program. CEO Robert Magiera said the project is shifting from verifying individual technologies to maturing the dual-use system as a whole. The date and location of Flight 5 are not final, depending on administrative processes and preparations by partners in Portugal and Denmark.

8 October, 2026

Lithuanian laser communications company Astrolight completed its first end‑to‑end space‑to‑ground laser communications link, commissioning an optical link between its ATLAS-1 terminal on ERMIS-3, a University of Athens nanosatellite, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s ground station in Holomondas, Greece, which Astrolight upgraded to its OGS-2.5 model.

The link moved from first light to routine 1 Gbps operations within a week, with both ends running autonomously and operated remotely from Lithuania. The company said link margins indicate up to 10 Gbps is possible. The systems now run two links a day, day and night, with availability above 85% for passes above 15 degrees elevation. Signals were also received below 10 degrees, near the horizon, when clouds, trees or wire fencing intermittently blocked the path. When the link was interrupted, ATLAS-1 reacquired it in under 10 milliseconds without a scanning step to search for the ground station, as the Space Development Agency standard prescribes, shortening recovery time.

The ERMIS and PeakSat missions are funded through Greece’s EU recovery program and the Ministry of Digital Governance, and supported by ESA and the Hellenic Space Center. Astrolight is also building an optical ground station in Greenland with ESA. ATLAS-2 and ATLAS-X-MINI, two of its next-generation terminals designed for up to 2.5 Gbps, with some configurations reaching 100 Gbps, are expected to complete qualification this year. The larger ATLAS-X, planned for up to 400 Gbps under the ESTOL standard, is slated for commissioning in ESA’s HydRON project in 2028-29.

9 October, 2026

NASA on Oct. 9 released its final request for proposals for commercial space stations to succeed the International Space Station, with bids due Dec. 8 and awards expected in spring 2027. The agency plans to select two or more contractors for early development, followed by a competitive order for certification and services. Axiom Space, Voyager’s Starlab and Vast said they will compete.

Crew transportation was among the most closely watched provisions. SpaceX operates the only U.S. crew vehicle in service, plans to retire Crew Dragon and has not offered seats to private station operators. NASA added $359 million for Boeing’s Starliner certification late last month. The solicitation does not require bidders to hold a transportation contract, and NASA offered to furnish transportation for its first four service missions. It estimated 2030 crew flights at $325 million and cargo flights at $300 million.

Satellite builders face a similar constraint. Many have relied on SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare slots, but rising demand and large constellations are creating bottlenecks. Operators are turning to deployable structures that fit smaller fairings, orbital transfer vehicles, mass‑efficient smallsat buses and diversified launch manifests as well as emerging launch providers and providers in Europe and Asia to keep deployments on schedule.

Despatch Out. 👽🛸