Tuesday, October 13, 2026

A Dragon cargo mission heads to the ISS

10/13/2026

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Top Stories

SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station this morning. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:33 a.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral, Florida, putting the Dragon into orbit on the CRS-35 mission. The Dragon is scheduled to dock with the ISS Thursday morning. It is carrying about 2,870 kilograms of cargo, including the final pair of new solar arrays that will be installed on the ISS on an upcoming spacewalk to augment the station's power supply. Dragon will remain at the ISS for a month before returning to Earth. [SpaceNews]

European officials signaled support last week for ESA's proposals to develop a human spaceflight capability. During a panel session at the International Astronautical Congress, leaders of several national space agencies in Europe said they believed Europe needed to be more autonomous in space, citing in part NASA's decision earlier in the year to stop work on the lunar Gateway, to which ESA had planned to contribute modules. They also said that having greater capabilities would lead to stronger partnerships. ESA member states will meet in Rome in December to discuss the proposal although funding decisions will not come until 2028. [SpaceNews]

The Space Force, with a growing budget, now faces the challenge of increasing the size of the force. The Trump administration's proposed fiscal 2027 budget would increase the service's military end strength from 10,400 to 13,200 in a single year. Space Force leaders say they want roughly 25,000 uniformed guardians within five years. While increased funding will support the infrastructure needed for training new guardians, it can't compress the time required to turn thousands of new recruits into experienced personnel. Space Force officials said there is strong interest in joining the service, but that they can't sacrifice quality of training for quantity of recruits. [SpaceNews]

The Army is expanding the use of tools that combine satellite and drone imagery. Reveal Technology said Monday it has introduced an upgraded geospatial intelligence platform that combines satellite and drone imagery into 3D terrain models. The software allows U.S. Army soldiers to analyze terrain and plan missions even when military communications are disrupted. The company received a $9.5 million Army order to expand deployment of the software, called Farsight 2.0, to additional infantry brigades. The contract reflects growing military interest in making satellite-derived intelligence more accessible to tactical forces. [SpaceNews]

Other News

SpaceX launched Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 Monday in the first such launch in three weeks. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:28 p.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, placing 27 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the first Falcon 9 launch to deploy Starlink satellites since Sept. 19, although advanced V3 Starlink satellites launched on SpaceX's latest Starship launch Sept. 28. SpaceX had, until recently, been launching Starlink satellites two to three times a week on Falcon 9 vehicles, but is starting to shift to using Starship for V3 Starlink satellites that are designed specifically for Starship. [Space.com]

German police have arrested two Turkish men on charges that they started a fire at a Starlink ground station in Poland. Polish government officials said they believe the men started the fire at the ground station near Warsaw in late September in a bid to disrupt Starlink services in the region. The first damaged a power unit and generator at the ground station. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed the fire was "another act of hybrid war" by Russia. [TVP World]

Amazon has passed the milestone of 1,000 satellites produced for its broadband constellation. The company announced last week it reached the milestone at its Kirkland, Washington, factory as it works to deploy the Amazon Leo constellation. The factory currently produces three to four satellites each day, with the capacity to produce five a day. Amazon has just under 400 satellites of the more than 3,200 planned in orbit, a deployment pace slowed by issues with the New Glenn and Vulcan rockets. [425Business]

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover now holds the off-Earth driving record. The rover's odometer reached 45.22 kilometers on Sunday, breaking the record for greatest distance driven on another world that had been held by the Opportunity Mars over at 45.16 kilometers. Perseverance reached the record in five and a half years while it took Opportunity nearly 15 years to reach the previous record. Perseverance benefits from AutoNav, its autonomous driving system that allows the rover to plot the best course between waypoints selected by controller. Perseverance has driven more than 400 meters in a single Martian day using AutoNav. [NASA/JPL]

We're All Excused

"I'm reminded that when we arrived on the station, Gennady Padalka was the commander. I was flying around. As a brand new astronaut, I tended to run into people inside the space station. I was saying, 'Excuse me, excuse me.' Gennady stopped me, he held me, and said, 'Tom, let's just assume that we are all excused.'"

– Former NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn discussing his spaceflight experience during a panel at the International Astronautical Congress on Friday.

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Monday, October 12, 2026

Space Minds: What will it take to build a moon base?

10/12/2026

READ IN BROWSER

Watch and listen to the Space Minds podcast by SpaceNews

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In this episode, a panel of industry experts discuss what’s needed to build a moon base. During a live event at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, leaders from Astrolab, Firefly Space and APL share what a lunar future could look like and what has to happen in the next couple of years to make it a reality.

FROM THE CONVERSATION

Mike Gruss: "The White House and NASA have put all of you, it's fair to say, on a pretty quick timeline here. I want to know what that looks like and what it feels like, because I think it can be easy to say, 'Oh, we're working hard. We're working fast.' But show me what that looks like. So, Jaret, you worked at SpaceX for a little bit. What did you learn about moving fast there, and and how does that apply to what you have to do between now and the next two years?"

Jaret Matthews (Founder & CEO, Astrolab): "One thing I learned at SpaceX is that the direction in which you're going is as important as the speed. You know, it's really about velocity, and running really fast in the wrong direction is not going to get you anywhere. So, I really appreciate the kind of clarity that NASA has provided as of late about their plans into the future with the whole moon base architecture and how the various missions are additive towards the ultimate goal of a sustained presence on the moon. Being very mission focused and understanding the goal clearly is super helpful."