NASA watchdog warns of more spacesuit delays, Latvia signs the Artemis Accords
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: the Pentagon cancels OCX, NASA's inspector general warns of more spacesuit delays, Canada's NordSpace wins a VLEO satellite study contract, and more.
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Top Stories
The Pentagon has officially ended a program to develop a next-generation GPS ground system after extensive overruns. The Defense Department said Monday it has formally terminated the Next Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, ending a 15-year effort to modernize the ground system for GPS. OCX was intended to replace the current GPS ground system, known as the Architecture Evolution Plan, as well as the separate system used for launch, anomaly response and satellite disposal. But officials concluded the system could not deliver the required capabilities on a timeline or at a level of risk acceptable to support the modernization of the GPS constellation. The program, led by RTX, was awarded in 2010 and had accumulated costs of about $6.27 billion as of January 2026, including government testing and program support expenses. The Space Force recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $105 million contract to continue upgrading the existing Architecture Evolution Plan system as an alternative to OCX. [SpaceNews]
The last GPS 3 satellite launched on a Falcon 9 overnight. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:53 a.m. Eastern, sending the GPS 3 SV-10 spacecraft toward medium Earth orbit. The spacecraft is the last of 10 in the original GPS 3 series built by Lockheed Martin as the company shifts to the upgraded GPS 3F. The satellites broadcast the encrypted M-code signal for military users, designed to resist interference and spoofing, along with civil signals. This spacecraft also carries an additional experimental payload: an optical communications terminal that will test high-speed data transmission links in space. SV-10 marks the fourth consecutive GPS mission originally assigned to United Launch Alliance but later transferred to Falcon 9. [SpaceNews]
Spacesuits needed for Artemis lunar missions may not be ready in time, NASA's inspector general warned Monday. The report by the agency's Office of Inspector General noted that work on the Artemis lunar spacesuit by Axiom Space was already more than a year behind schedule. If the suit's development follows average timelines for recent spaceflight programs, the report concluded the suit may not be ready until 2031, three years later than the current schedule for the first crewed Artemis lunar landing. The conclusion contrasts with claims by Axiom and NASA that spacesuit development is going well, with an in-space test planned in 2027. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said after the report's release that he was confident the suit would be ready for the Artemis 4 lunar landing mission in 2028. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force is setting up a dedicated acquisition office focused on cislunar space. The office, announced by the Space Force last week, is expected to mirror earlier Space Force efforts to stand up new mission areas, combining engineering and program management expertise to map existing activity across government and industry and identify where to direct funding. It will support what military officials see as a region of growing importance for national security beyond its role in NASA's exploration activities. The effort will rely heavily on collaboration, particularly with NASA. [SpaceNews]
Latvia is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords. The country's education and science minister signed the Accords at NASA Headquarters on Monday, becoming the third nation to do so this year and the 62nd overall. The Accords outline best practices for safe and sustainable space exploration, but NASA also wants to use the Accords to coordinate cooperation on its exploration activities, such as development of a lunar base. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Canadian startup NordSpace has won funding from the Canadian military to study a very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellite. The company announced a one-year contract Tuesday worth around $183,000 from Canada's Department of National Defence to advance conceptual technologies toward hardware tests. The company said the study will advance technologies that are critical for a proposed VLEO constellation called Kestrel that it aims to begin deploying from 2028 to provide low-latency, 10-centimeter spatial resolution imaging. [SpaceNews]
Japan's H3 rocket could return to flight in June. The Japanese space agency JAXA is considering a launch of the rocket in June with a test payload designed to collect data on the vehicle. The H3 has been grounded since a launch failure in December linked to structural flaws in the rocket's payload adapter. [Kyodo]
A Progress cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station on Monday. The Progress MS-32 spacecraft, called Progress 93 by NASA, undocked from the station's Zvezda module at 6:08 p.m. Eastern for a planned destructive reentry. The spacecraft arrived at the station in September with about three tons of cargo. A new Progress mission, Progress MS-34, is scheduled to launch to the station this weekend. [NASA]
An Oklahoma spaceport yet to host a launch has a new name. State officials announced last week that the Oklahoma Air and Space Port will now be called the Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport. The new name comes from the FAA designation for a space launch corridor using the facility, a former Air Force base in Burns Flat. The spaceport was established two decades ago but has yet to host a space launch. That may change as soon as next year as Dawn Aerospace works with the state to fly its Aurora suborbital spaceplane from the spaceport. [KOCO-TV Oklahoma City]
SpaceX has settled a lawsuit against a California state agency in a dispute about Vandenberg launches. The California Coastal Commission voted in 2024 against an increase in SpaceX launches from Vandenberg, and SpaceX alleged in its suit that the commission's opposition was political retaliation against Elon Musk. Neither SpaceX nor the commission disclosed the terms of the settlement. The Department of the Air Force had already overruled the commission and allowed SpaceX to increase launches from the spaceport. [Reuters]
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But Do They Spell It S-P-A-C?
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"I know as an early-stage entrepreneur, VC's didn't know how to spell 'space' 10 years ago. Now they do."
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– Daniel Faber, founder of space refueling company Orbit Fab, during a panel at the 41st Space Symposium last week.
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