Vivienne Machi is the military space editor for Aviation Week. She has written about U.S. and international military and space tech for nearly a decade from Los Angeles, Washington and Stuttgart, Germany. Her byline has appeared in outlets including Defense News, Via Satellite, Foreign Policy, Defense Daily, National Defense Magazine and Business Insider.
U.S. military space leaders spent the better part of last year debating whether the time was ripe to invest further in in-space servicing and refueling. But going into 2026, the messaging has begun to coalesce around a more positive note.