Polish startup Ares Shield hired to protect data center satellites with high-power microwave weapons

Florida-based Lonestar Data Holdings has contracted Polish startup Ares Shield to provide protection for its off-Earth data centers, in a deal worth up to $6 million.

NASA satellites ace world’s 1st ‘lost-in-space’ GPS-free navigation experiment
NASA satellites ace world’s 1st ‘lost-in-space’ GPS-free navigation experiment

No GPS? No problem. A team of NASA satellites are extending their stay in space after successfully proving out navigation by other means.

US Space Force gives Rocket Lab $397 million to build threat-tracking ‘Flatellites’
US Space Force gives Rocket Lab $397 million to build threat-tracking ‘Flatellites’

The U.S. Space Force has awarded Rocket Lab $397 million to manufacture a new fleet of “Flatellites” designed to detect and track airborne threats from space.

New private ‘Perceptor’ probes will keep an eye on satellites high above Earth
New private ‘Perceptor’ probes will keep an eye on satellites high above Earth

Astranis’ newly announced Perceptor spacecraft will monitor satellite activity in geostationary orbit, a distant and increasingly contested domain.

Exploring ‘very low Earth orbit’: The world’s 1st air-breathing satellite thruster could soon get a test run
Exploring ‘very low Earth orbit’: The world’s 1st air-breathing satellite thruster could soon get a test run

Air-breathing electric propulsion could help satellites explore a new frontier, one that lies quite close to our planet.

AI is ready to run spacecraft. Is the space industry ready for it? (op-ed)
AI is ready to run spacecraft. Is the space industry ready for it? (op-ed)

Satellite constellations are getting bigger and increasingly difficult for human operators to manage. Artificial intelligence will soon be able to help, but will the space industry let it happen?

Private companies could ruin the night sky for the entire world, and international law can’t stop them
Private companies could ruin the night sky for the entire world, and international law can’t stop them

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can single-handedly approve space projects that will change the night sky around the world. The international community can do very little against it.

If space war erupts, ‘none of us will be able to avoid the war zone,’ warns outgoing Space Force chief in final public speech

The outgoing head of the U.S. Space Force had some stark words in his last public speech, stating that “none of us will be able to avoid the war zone” should conflict extend to space.

Space Force orders 36 more Golden Dome missile-tracking satellites, for $1.75 billion
Space Force orders 36 more Golden Dome missile-tracking satellites, for $1.75 billion

The Space Development Agency announced partnerships with two companies worth up to $1.75 billion total, to develop 36 satellites for the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile-defense initiative.

An artificial ‘Saturn’s ring’ of satellites could soon fill the sky, astronomers warn
An artificial ‘Saturn’s ring’ of satellites could soon fill the sky, astronomers warn

A bright Saturn’s ring of satellites will encircle Earth if plans to launch a million orbiting data centers and tens of thousands of space mirrors will come to pass.