| American military leaders are speaking more openly than ever about fighting in space, not just defending it. Senior officials at last month's Space Symposium focused on "space superiority," a term rooted in military doctrine that means U.S. forces must be able to operate satellites in orbit without interference, and deny that advantage to enemies. The new rhetoric reflects a broader transformation in U.S. space strategy, one that increasingly views space as a dynamic, contested domain in which the ability to maneuver and, if needed, strike is essential. In a document last month, the Space Force outlined how U.S. forces might assert control of the orbital high ground through a range of offensive and defensive operations. [SpaceNews]
A push by the Pentagon to make more use of commercial technology in space systems creates opportunities for "mission integrators." These are engineering firms that specialize in making legacy technologies and newer commercial tech work together, critical for space networks where each company takes a different approach to their systems. SAIC recently won a contract to serve as a mission integrator for Tranche 3 of Space Development Agency's constellation, charged with making sure satellites ordered from several companies are able to work together. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force selected three companies for the next phase of a program for laser communications terminals. CACI, General Atomics and Viasat will move into Phase 2 of the Enterprise Space Terminal program, which seeks to establish standardized optical communications systems for military satellites, with a focus on commercial-off-the-shelf laser terminals adapted for government use. The three companies participated in Phase 1 along with Blue Origin, which did not make the cut. [SpaceNews]
The National Science Foundation is radically changing its structure. The agency is eliminating its 37 existing divisions, such as one that funds research in astronomy, ahead of expected layoffs to NSF staff and termination of some grants that have already been awarded. The changes, yet to be publicly announced, are in reaction to the White House's 2026 budget proposal that would cut NSF's budget by 55%. The changes at NSF could be a model for those at other agencies, including NASA. [Science]
ESA's Proba-3 mission has demonstrated highly precise formation flying. The two spacecraft flew 150 meters apart from one another, maintaining their positions with millimeter precision, ESA said this week. The formation flying technology will be used later in the mission to allow one spacecraft to precisely block the sun as seen from the other, which will then image the solar corona. [ESA]
Keep looking up this weekend, just in case. Cosmos 482, a Soviet-era Venus mission that was stranded in Earth orbit after its launch in 1972, is forecast to reenter at 1:54 a.m. Eastern Saturday, plus or minus nine hours, according to a prediction from the Aerospace Corporation. Other predictions offer similar reentry times and margins of error, which are large enough to prevent pinpointing a reentry location. Cosmos 482 was designed to survive entry into the thick atmosphere of Venus, meaning much of it should survive terrestrial reentry, but the odds of someone being hit are very low: "any one individual on Earth is far likelier to be struck by lightning than to be injured by Cosmos 482," Aerospace noted. [Space.com]
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"I go to speaking arrangements like this with our astronaut, Alper Gezeravcฤฑ, every once in a while. It's very depressing, because everybody's interested in him and nobody's interested in a scientist."
โ Arif Karabeyoฤlu, board member of the Turkish Space Agency, during a panel at the GLEX 2025 conference this week.
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