Space

Forecasts, snapshots and launch vehicles to watch.

Jared Isaacman was sworn in Dec. 18 as NASA Administrator.

Digantara, an Indian space surveillance startup that operates in India, the U.S. and Singapore, raised $50 million in a Series B funding round.

The White House issued a new executive order framing its near-term plans and policy ambitions for the space domain on Dec. 18.

Starfighters Space sold shares Dec. 18, raising $22.1 million that the firm says will support its pursuit of its StarLaunch suborbital space launch programs.

SpaceX said one of its Starlink satellites failed on orbit, causing some space debris and now tumbling.

Four DiskSat spacecraft were successfully launched on a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle on Dec. 18.

Redwire says it will furnish docking systems to The Exploration Company for use on its Nyx spacecraft under a multimillion contract.

The European Space Agency by February plans to sort out how to deal with a 20% funding shortfall for Human and Robotic Exploration missions.

Rheinmetall says it has received the order to provide synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites to the German Armed Forces a day after funding was approved.

The French Defense Innovation Agency (AID) says startups ThrustMe and ION-X will provide the on-orbit propulsion systems for its Toutatis demo due in 2027.

This eight-page feature of images, including double-page spreads of the Apollo 15 lunar mission, was part of the Special Report: Communications Satellites feature package in the issue dated August 23, 1971, on page 53.

With an eye on China, the Trump administration and Congress find common ground in space while Europe aims for greater autonomy.

The U.S. Space Force has set domain awareness as its initial—and for now, sole—mission area of focus for its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve program.

The U.S. Senate has completed the confirmation of entrepreneur billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator.

As the Trump Administration plans to gut funding for space science programs, a new idea has launched: scientific-telescope-as-service.

Finland says it plans to make its synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation available to others, with Poland and the Netherlands as its first partners.

Arianespace is gearing up for the first launch of the Ariane 64 as its first mission of 2026 with the main components of the heavy-lift version due at the launch site early next year.

South Korean launch newcomer Innospace is making a last-minute hardware swap on its Hanbit-Nano rocket, delaying the planned inaugural launch by two days.

As NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman will face huge challenges, starting with making sure the U.S. astronauts return to the Moon ahead of Chinese taikonauts.

Northrop is supplying an extra, classified payload to be integrated onto the U.S. Space Force’s next-generation overhead persistent infrared polar-based sats.

Astroscale says it has developed a propulsionless system for docking with tumbling satellites.

The partnership between Viasat and United Arab Emirates-based Space42 to pursue the direct-to-device satellite communication business is in talks to partner with Indonesia’s main telecommunications operator.

South Korea’s launch service newcomer Innospace has signed an agreement with Southern Launch, opening the door for missions from Australia.

Russian space agency Roscosmos says it expects a damaged launchpad critical to International Space Station operations to be fixed by the end of February.