Exclusive: Meet Diamondback, Gravitics’ New Orbital Carrier
Gravitics unveiled Diamondback, a smaller orbital carrier designed to fulfill missions from protecting US national security satellites to deploying space-based missile interceptors.
Military
Stories about military and national security missions in orbit.
ESA Eyes 2028 with European Resilience from Space Program
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher proposed a massive new project this week to bring together European defense capabilities in 2028. The European Resilience from Space program (ERS) would have a budget of €1B and focus on two major capabilities in orbit.
Colorado Sues Trump Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Space Command Move
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Colorado, argues that President Donald Trump’s decision to move the combatant command is “unconstitutional” because it violates the state’s right to carry out elections however it wants.
DoD Space Policy Nominee Fields Questions on Org Structure, Golden Dome, China
The nominee to lead the Pentagon’s space policy wants to streamline collaboration between the Space Force and NRO.
Quantum Space Readies its Ranger Spacecraft to Fly in 2026
The first wave of Golden Dome spacecraft is about to start boot camp.
Vantor Wins New Space Force Contract for In-Space Monitoring
Vantor—the artist formerly known as Maxar Intelligence—is expanding its relationship with the DoD through another in-space awareness contract.
Apex Set to Launch Commercial Interceptor Demo Next Year
“We’re doing this on our own dime,” he said. “We are just trying to do our part, and then if we do a good job here, we hope that great folks who make interceptors will want to work with us and partner with us—and we can help supply their constellations.
Planet Wins $12.8M NGA Contract for Maritime Intelligence from Space
On Friday, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which supports both DoD and the intelligence community with imagery collected in orbit, awarded Planet Labs a $12.8M contract through the Luno B program.
Exclusive: Viridian Wins Air-Breathing DoD SBIR
Air-breathing propulsion works exactly as it sounds. The satellites fly between 150km and 500km in altitude, and use oxygen in the upper atmosphere for fuel.
Payload’s Lunar and Mars Economy Summit: Day 2
To anyone worried about “militarizing” the Moon, Jim Bridenstine has some sage advice: get over it.
SpaceX Wins the Bulk of Space Force’s 2026 Launch Contracts
The Space Force’s reliance on SpaceX remains stronger than ever.
DARPA Awards Safran a Quantum PNT Contract
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced yesterday that it awarded Safran Federal Systems a contract to develop robust and reliable quantum sensors to improve the US military’s PNT architecture in multiple domains, including in space. To effectively manage its troops and personnel across the world, the DoD says it needs extremely—and increasingly—precise ways […]