2025 Orbital Launch Attempts by Country
Around the world, rockets attempted to lift off 329 times—with 321 of these attempts reaching orbit or near orbit—according to data compiled by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
Douglas Gorman
What to Expect in 2026
2025 was a transformative year for the global space industry. 2026 will be the year in which many long-term plans (hopefully) take first flight.
Exolaunch to Deploy 22 Sats on SpaceX Twilight Mission
SpaceX is ready to bring customers on a sunset cruise.
2025 Europe in Review
We built a word cloud based on the 100+ stories Payload ran on the European space industry this year, and one theme jumped out immediately: a lot of forward-looking language.
ICEYE, Rheinmetall Land €1.7B German Defense Contract
The joint venture owned by Finnish EO firm ICEYE and German arms maker Rheinmetall has turned on its money-printing machine.
Reentry: 2025 Wrapped
In a magic trick, making something disappear is only part of the act—bringing it back is what earns the applause.
PLD Space Outlines its Plans for €169M in ELC Funds
The real value of the ELC, according to Raúl Verdú, PLD’s chief business development officer, is the doors the challenge opens for PLD to extract knowledge from ESA.
SatVu Plans to Target Data Center Market with HotSat-2
Even without a satellite in orbit, SatVu is giving investors a behind-the-scenes look at hot spots they’re going to be tracking in the future.
EraDrive Raises $5.3M Seed to Bring Self Driving Tech to Orbit
Orbital traffic is increasing at a rapid clip, and many sats aren’t even looking where they’re going.
Norwegian, German Firms Partner on New Defense Sats
The two companies announced plans this week to build a sovereign ISR and communications constellation with the goal of deploying by 2029.
Exclusive: Fortastra Lands $8M Seed to Develop Orbital Defense Sats
Military capabilities on orbit are ramping up, but aside from a handful of explosive anti-satellite demos in recent decades, the rising tension has yet to get physical.
Wherobots Launches New AI Tool for EO Data
The volume of EO images has grown exponentially the past decade, but cleaning up, deciphering, and extracting value from these datasets remains manual, expensive, and time-consuming, according to Wherobots officials.