space Archives

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 1st Space Brigade on Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colo., conduct a training exercise sweep of their assigned area on May 25, 2021. The training revolved around timely assembly of space related assets in unknown locations and the teams coordination, communication and combat training throughout the process. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Dennis Hoffman)

Army establishes new branch dedicated to space operations

The Space Operations Branch will be “equipped to deliver specialized capabilities to enable successful Army and joint force operations,” the service said in a statement.

6 days ago By Mikayla Easley

U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, U.S. Space Forces – Space commander and Combined Joint Force Space Component Commander, takes part in a panel discussion at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Md. Sept. 23, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Andy Morataya)

Lt. Gen. Doug Schiess nominated as next chief of space operations

"If confirmed, I will focus on sharpening our lethality and accelerating the delivery of space capabilities to the warfighter, keeping the Space Force ahead against any adversary,"…

May 1, 2026 By Mikayla Easley

Rendering of Northrop Grumman’s GAS-T design that will leverage an ESPAStar-D satellite platform to add fuel and extend the life of in-orbit assets. (Northrop Grumman image)

Space Force brings 14 vendors into $1.8B next-gen space domain awareness program

The first delivery under the Andromeda contract vehicle will be for the RG-XX constellation.

Apr 10, 2026 By Mikayla Easley

Chandra Donelson. (U.S. Air Force photo by SSgt. Stuart Bright)

Chandra Donelson departs as Space Force CDAO

Donelson has served as the Space Force's CDAO since 2023, and previously held roles at the Army and U.S. Central Command.

Apr 3, 2026 By Mikayla Easley

A SpaceX Falcon 9 transporter mission launches with three NGA CubeSats onboard (Credit: SpaceX)

NGA launches 3 CubeSats to test improvements in geomagnetic data collection

Each of the CubeSats are equipped with different capabilities that represent new ways to collect geomagnetic data for the World Magnetic Model.

Mar 30, 2026 By Mikayla Easley

Rendering of imaging satellites (Credit: HEO)

NRO awards first 3 vendors to new commercial imagery contract vehicle

The new deals will purchase non-Earth imagery from HEO, medium-wave infrared imagery from SatVu, and radio-frequency sensing capabilities from Sierra Nevada.

Feb 11, 2026 By Mikayla Easley

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on May 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced his plans for the “Golden Dome,” a national missile defense system. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Golden Dome’s cyber protection must be a design choice, not an afterthought

Golden Dome risks becoming a system that works beautifully in theory but collapses when America needs it most.

Jan 28, 2026 By Jack Wilmer Lt. Gen. Charlie Moore

Report: Pentagon must review, better define responsibilities in the space domain

An upcoming report from the Mitchell Institute argues that a comprehensive review of space roles and missions would help other organizations across DOD support U.S. Space Command…

Dec 4, 2025 By Mikayla Easley

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Hubble photographed the comet on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus. Because Hubble was tracking the comet moving along a hyperbolic trajectory, the stationary background stars are streaked in the exposure. [Credit — Image: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)]

US government grapples with questions about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS amid shutdown

NASA experts are set to connect with at least one congressional lawmaker about the mysterious object this week.

Nov 4, 2025 By Brandi Vincent

Visualization of thruster nozzle flow predicted by the Northrop Grumman–Luminary Physics AI Model, powered by NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo (Credit: Luminary Cloud)

Northrop Grumman inks deal with tech startup for accelerated, AI-enabled spacecraft design

“We’re trying to build models that are just as capable as the [large language models] to generate new designs to predict the physical world," said Juan Alonso,…

Oct 28, 2025 By Mikayla Easley