Discover the cutting-edge launch systems, orbital infrastructure, and commercial space innovations expanding humanity's footprint and building the new space economy.
Blue Origin's Blue Alchemist turns lunar regolith into solar cells, wiring, and oxygen on the spot. NASA's project page, updated 2026-07-17, shows the eight-technology autonomous line maturing toward TRL 6, with the simulated-lunar-environment demonstration scheduled for 2026.
NASA deorbits the ISS in 2030-2031. Vast, Axiom, Orbital Reef and Starlab all hold funded agreements and hardware in production. One procurement decision, due in late August, will decide which architecture owns the next decade of low Earth orbit.
K2 Space raised a $500 million Series D at a $6.8 billion valuation to scale production of large high-power satellites. Its Gravitas platform is already in orbit with 12 hosted payloads; the open question is whether a 100-satellite-a-year factory can actually work.
The grid has spent a century assuming the Sun's tantrums are rare. That assumption is now a procurement line. DSCOVR's 15-60 minute warning window and commercial services like MagWatch3D are turning space weather intelligence into infrastructure the grid buys.
Most recent commercial lunar landers in 2024-2025 died within their first two-week lunar night — solar power cuts out, batteries drain, and electronics freeze.
Eclipse Space left stealth on June 26, founded by the people who scaled Starlink. The next build is fabless: design the satellite and keep the IP, assemble it in-country with a local partner. First hardware ships before end-2026, the demo satellite flies in 2027.
Xona Space raised a $170M Series C to scale Pulsar, a low-Earth-orbit PNT constellation marketed as a resilient GPS alternative. The piece breaks down the signal argument, the L-band pivot, the AFRL contract, and what a 2027 rollout means for navigation.
Amazon Leo asked for more time; the FCC said no and added a temporary spectral penalty instead. The 10,400-satellite gap between Starlink and Leo is now the entire trade for investors in private space assets.
Get daily updates on the technologies and investment opportunities shaping the next decade — from AI infrastructure and autonomous systems to biotech, space, and defence. Curated analysis, no noise.
