Military
Stories about military and national security missions in orbit.
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…
Germany is Ramping Up Its Military Space Posture
Germany is investing €35B in national security defense assets to counter the “fundamental threat” posed by Russian and Chinese tech.
Quantum Space Acquires Phase Four’s Propulsion Tech
The deal opens the door for Quantum to integrate Phase Four’s unique propulsion capabilities to fuel Quantum’s Golden Dome ambitions.
UK’s Defense Investment is Headed to the Space Sector
Payload chatted with half a dozen UK space leaders to find out just how much of the investment could trickle down to their sector.
SDA Prepares for First Operational Launch of Comms Tech
Troops in the IndoPacific are just a few months away from getting access to better comms tech thanks to the SDA.
Lawmakers Will Debate Space Amendments to NDAA
House lawmakers submitted 1,100+ amendments to the NDAA. The rules committee met yesterday to decide which ones will be considered on the floor this week. Here’s what’s in, and what’s out.
