Astronomy Prints 🌌: Editor's Choice: Big wins ... with an asterisk

05/06/2026

In our May issue: Artemis 2 returned. The next missions are underway. What comes next as the United States races back to the moon? Read the magazine.

SPONSORED BY

By Mike Gruss

In the space industry, there are wins — and then there are wins with asterisks.

This past week offered several examples of progress paired with uncertainty, where major milestones arrived alongside political, regulatory or budgetary caveats.

In many of the week’s biggest stories, the asterisk may be what gets the attention.

The pattern played out in milspace, commercial and civil space.

First, national security space:

Win: Northrop Grumman said it has taken delivery of a missile-warning sensor for a U.S. Space Force satellite program known as Next-Gen OPIR Polar.

Asterisk: The Pentagon is now proposing to cancel that program.

Context: Northrop Grumman said April 30 it accepted delivery of a sensor designed for the polar component of the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program. The effort, launched in 2018, was intended to field two satellites in highly elliptical orbits to monitor missile threats over the Northern hemisphere.

Northrop said the delivery “keeps the missile warning program on track.” But days earlier, the Pentagon’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget disclosed that the Space Force “intends to terminate” the polar program and includes no funding for the program going forward.

Next, commercial space:

Win: A pair of launches in the past week have pushed the number of Amazon Leo satellites deployed to more than 300.

Asterisk: The company is still far short of a looming milestone in its FCC license.

Context: An Ariane 64 lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:57 a.m. Eastern April 30 as part of a mission by launch operator Arianespace. The vehicle successfully deployed 32 Amazon Leo satellites into a 465-kilometer parking orbit nearly two hours later. With the two launches, Amazon has launched 302 satellites for its broadband constellation, previously known as Project Kuiper. That is less than 10% of the 3,232 satellites planned for the network.

The company is facing a July 30 deadline in its FCC license to have half the constellation deployed. In January, Amazon filed a request with the FCC to either extend that deadline by two years or waive it entirely, citing “a near-term shortage in launch capacity.”

And finally, civil space:

Win: A House appropriations subcommittee advanced a spending bill April 30 that would keep overall NASA funding at 2026 levels. (Some in the Office of Management and Budget may not see this as a win.)

Asterisk: By doing so, they rejected a 23% cut proposed by the White House.

Context: The committee’s Republican leadership said the bill provided sufficient funding to keep NASA’s lunar exploration ambitions on track. “With the recent success of Artemis 2, it’s a critical time to invest in human space exploration and ensure that American astronauts are the first to return to the moon,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the CJS subcommittee.

Taken together, it’s a good reminder there are few easy wins.

110 decibels

That’s the peak volume of a Starship launch during an October 2024 mission that researchers recorded. They said structural damage is possible, at distances as far as 35 kilometers from the launch site according to a lawsuit filed by homeowners who said their houses suffered damage from previous Starship launches.

SHIFTING ATTITUDES

SpaceNews hosted an event on orbital data centers last week and one of the takeaways was that opposition to the idea appears to be softening. Yes, the cost could be a detriment, but as Kelley Litzner of the Aerospace Corporation told me on stage, a consideration also needs to be made for the capabilities such technology could provide, especially in the national security realm.

But perhaps more notably was the shift from Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Founders Fund and co-founder at Varda Space Industries. He said he would be wary of competing directly with SpaceX in the emerging market, or in any area the company considers core.

However, he pointed to potential opportunities for companies built around the infrastructure that, for now, is primarily targeting AI computing workloads on Earth. He added that lower launch costs and technology maturity projected over the next decade have made the business case more compelling.

Stay tuned for more takeaways from our orbital data centers programs coming in a report in early June.

Trending This Week

Satellite imagery: easy to manipulate, but also easy to prove that it’s been manipulated.

From Frank Rose, a former State Department official: “There is a general angst amongst allies that the United States at a political level cannot be counted on to back them up and provide critical capabilities that they have come to rely on, so they need a plan B.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to three companies to study concepts for a lunar mission to search for water ice in very low orbits.

Chinese launch startup Cosmoleap announced a $73 million funding round for its reusable rocket plans as it works towards a debut launch in 2027.

FROM SPACENEWS

Register to join us on May 13 for our virtual event: Software Integration and Strategic Missile Defense

Missile defense at machine speed: On May 13, join SpaceNews and Wind River for a discussion that explores the mission assurance challenges behind missile defense initiatives, examining what military organizations must consider to ensure the software backbone connecting these systems remains resilient, interoperable and trusted in high-consequence environments. Register now.

📨 Don't miss what's next. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters:

Europe Report: Tracking the policy landscape, investment climate and regional priorities driving Europe’s space ambitions.

First Up: Every weekday morning, Jeff Foust delivers the day's most important industry headlines.

Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin with weekly news and insights for the military space professional.

China Report: Biweekly news and analysis from correspondent Andrew Jones on business, politics and technology in the Chinese space industry.

SpaceNext AI: Exploring the intersection of space and artificial intelligence.

SpaceNews Mission Brief: Golden Dome: Explaining the Golden Dome initiative and what it means for the space industry.

Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing and advertising trends for industry communications leaders.

Opinions: A weekly digest of the latest commentary and analysis.

SpaceNews This Week: The week’s top headlines and our conference coverage.

Subscribe to SpaceNews

This email has been sent to generalastronomy110.stnirp@blogger.com because you previously opted in to receive newsletters from SpaceNews. Unsubscribe here. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters.