| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: NASA revamps its Artemis architecture, Open Cosmos outlines its constellation plans, Space Force seeks more commercial solutions on the ground and in space.
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NASA shook up its Artemis lunar exploration plans Friday, adding a new mission before a lunar landing while canceling upgrades to the Space Launch System. NASA announced that Artemis 3, which was to be the first crewed landing attempt, will instead be a mission in low Earth orbit in 2027, with the Orion spacecraft rendezvousing with lunar landers from Blue Origin and/or SpaceX. The first landing attempt will be Artemis 4 in early 2028, with a potential second attempt at the end of that year on Artemis 5. NASA said it would end planned upgrades to the SLS, sticking with a "near Block 1" configuration after Artemis 3 rather than a Block 1B with the larger Exploration Upper Stage. NASA said the changes are intended to increase the flight rate of the Artemis program. [SpaceNews]
The agency is also on an "aggressive" schedule to complete repairs to the SLS for Artemis 2 to preserve an early April launch. NASA rolled back the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building last week to fix a problem with helium flow in the upper stage. Workers will also replace batteries and retest the flight termination system of the vehicle while in the VAB. At a briefing Friday, NASA officials said they needed roughly 10 days back at the pad before launch, suggesting they have about three weeks to complete those repairs in order to meet a launch window that opens April 1. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency will provide up to 100 million euros ($118 million) for projects promising to accelerate the convergence of satellite and terrestrial communications. The funding, announced Monday, will be distributed in partnership with GSMA Foundry, the mobile industry association's innovation platform. The funding will be available for projects using AI to manage spectrum, advancing standards-based direct-to-device (D2D) communications, developing hybrid 5G/6G networks and supporting early-stage 6G technologies. The expanded collaboration comes amid broader moves in Europe to strengthen its position in the emerging D2D market to better compete with American companies. [SpaceNews]
Open Cosmos has released more details on its proposed sovereign broadband constellation for Europe. The British small satellite specialist announced at Mobile World Congress Monday that the ConnectedCosmos network would combine point-to-point broadband links and direct-to-device connectivity for Internet of Things services. ConnectedCosmos would use optical inter-satellite links to reduce reliance on terrestrial gateways and subsea cables, while directly connecting to Earth observation spacecraft operating under its OpenConstellation shared infrastructure initiative. Open Cosmos is using Ka-band spectrum filings previously assigned to Rivada Space Networks, which require it to have 288 satellites in orbit by September. Open Cosmos has not detailed how many satellites it plans to deploy as it works to secure financing ahead of the deadline. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is making increased use of commercial capabilities to track and analyze foreign satellites. The work falls under what the military calls battle management, command and control, the systems that allow operators to see what is happening in orbit, assess potential threats and decide how to respond. That work has traditionally relied on classified intelligence, but the Space Force is increasingly turning to private companies that specialize in space situational awareness and machine learning. The effort has leveraged the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications and Processing Lab, or SDA TAP Lab, in Colorado Springs. More than 400 companies have participated over the past two years in accelerator programs at the lab, gaining access to defined government problem sets while allowing the Space Force to examine their data, software and algorithms. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is also taking a more commercial approach to ground stations. The service is reopening a $1.4 billion program to build mobile ground stations used to track and command spacecraft, after initially awarding the work to a single contractor, BlueHalo. That company has yet to deliver any ground terminals under that 2022 contract. The Space Force says it is reevaluating its strategy, looking to leverage commercial phased-array technology and walk away from a customized design. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
SpaceX performed two Starlink launches Sunday. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:10 a.m. Eastern, placing 25 Starlink satellites into orbit. A second Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:56 p.m. Eastern, deploying 29 Starlink satellites. SpaceX has conducted 27 launches this year. [Spaceflight Now]
Rocket Lab launched a suborbital version of its Electron rocket Friday night. The HASTE rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 7 p.m. Eastern carrying a hypersonic test vehicle developed by Australian company Hypersonix for the Defense Innovation Unit. This was the seventh launch to date of HASTE, a version of Electron for suborbital missions, and the third Electron launch this year. [Rocket Lab]
Chinese launch firm CAS Space is preparing for the inaugural launch of its reusable Kinetica-2 liquid rocket in late March. Chinese media reported plans for the launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, carrying a prototype of the Qingzhou-1 cargo spacecraft developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. CAS Space is planning three further Kinetica-2 launches across the rest of 2026, including internet megaconstellation launches and other major national missions, according to the report. [SpaceNews]
Intuitive Machines raised $175 million in a stock sale. The company announced last week it was selling the shares to a group led by unnamed "global institutional investors" to support development of a lunar communications and navigation satellite constellation and other initiatives. Investors reacted negatively to the funding announcement, in part because the shares were priced at $15.12, well below the $18.90 closing price of the stock the day before the announcement. Shares in Intuitive Machines closed Friday at $16.48. [SpaceNews]
NASA released details last week about its planned Mars communications orbiter. The agency issued a draft document outlining objectives and requirements for the Mars Telecommunications Network, the new name for the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter that received $700 million in the budget reconciliation bill last year. The document makes clear that the spacecraft will be focused on communications and navigation services, with no requirement to do science. The bill funding the program also limited participation to companies that were part of earlier commercial Mars Sample Return studies. Blue Origin and Rocket Lab have been the most vocal in their interest in the mission, with Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck stating in an earnings call last week that he thinks his company is the "strongest contender" for it. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX could begin the process of going public this month. The company is expected to file confidentially for an IPO this month, allowing it discuss plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission privately before the public IPO filing. That schedule would keep the company on track to go public in June. SpaceX is looking to raise up to $50 billion and value the company at $1.75 trillion. [Bloomberg]
A simple software error doomed a NASA lunar mission. A final report investigating the failure of the Lunar Trailblazer mission found that software intended to point the spacecraft's solar arrays towards the sun after deployment instead pivoted them 180 degrees away from the sun, depriving the spacecraft of power. The report said "many erroneous on-board fault management actions" also contributed to the mission failure. Lunar Trailblazer launched in February 2025 on a mission to orbit the moon and look for water ice, but contact was lost with the spacecraft shortly after launch and never recovered. [NPR]
| | | | | | | FROM SPACENEWS |  | | The Satcom Issue – Out Now: In the March 2026 issue of SpaceNews magazine, Jason Rainbow details how Blue Origin's surprise constellation has jolted the LEO broadband race, Sandra Erwin reports that the Space Force is rethinking its satellite ground station strategy and Debra Werner explores how massive comms constellations may impede weather observations. Subscribe today to download this latest issue and get access to all our reporting and analysis. | | | | | | The Week Ahead
Monday: Monday-Tuesday: Tuesday: Tuesday-Wednesday: Wednesday: -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 1:58 a.m. Eastern. -
Washington: The Senate Commerce Committee marks up a revised version of a NASA authorization bill at 10 a.m. Eastern. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 4 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday-Thursday: Thursday: Friday: Sunday:
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