Theresa Cross

At the intersection of biotechnology and space manufacturing, LambdaVision recently closed a $7 million seed funding round to accelerate development and space-based manufacturing of its protein-based artificial retina. This injection of capital, led by Seven Seven Six and Aurelia Foundry Fund, with participation from Seraphim Space, extends the company’s operational runway into 2027 and underpins plans to scale production of next-generation vision-restoring implants in low Earth orbit. 

As Earth’s orbital environment becomes increasingly crowded and contested, the ability to respond rapidly in space is emerging as a critical technological challenge. Gravitics’ newly unveiled Diamondback orbital carrier introduces a novel approach to this problem, one that treats orbit not as a destination, but as an operational domain requiring persistent infrastructure.

While robotic missions like China’s upcoming Chang’e-7 are expected to map resources and test technologies at the Moon’s south pole, NASA’s Artemis 2 mission represents a different but equally critical pillar of the modern lunar race: the return of humans to deep space beyond low Earth orbit. Scheduled for launch no earlier than February 6, 2026, Artemis 2 will be the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and the first human journey beyond Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

A new phrase has been quietly circulating through space-industry discussions over the past year: Orbital data centers. The idea sounds futuristic – server farms in orbit – but it is gaining attention for a very practical reason. Space is producing more data than Earth can efficiently handle.

No spacecraft returns from orbit the way a commercial airplane descends: all spacecraft returning from orbit must endure a fiery atmospheric reentry, where the atmosphere behaves less like air and more like a blazing barrier of compressed plasma. Spacecraft must meet it with blunt shapes, heat-resistant materials, and aerodynamics designed not for elegance, but for survival during their unpowered descent.

As humans prepare to build long-term bases on the Moon and eventually on Mars, most attention naturally focuses on rockets, habitats, and life-support systems. Yet some of the most valuable partners in creating sustainable worlds beyond Earth may be among the smallest creatures we know: insects. Though they cannot play any ecological role aboard the International Space Station, they may become essential to agriculture and recycling in future off-world settlements.

CubeSats began as a simple idea: standardize a tiny satellite so anyone could build one and share a rocket. The basic “1U” block is a 10 -centimeter cube. Larger variants – 2U, 3U, 6U, 12U, even 16U – snap together like Legos. 

For all their power, rockets remain at the mercy of the sky. A launch vehicle can withstand hundreds of tons of thrust, heat that rivals the Sun’s surface, and the vibrations comparable to a small earthquake – but a shift in wind or a charged cloud layer can still stop everything on the pad.

They have come from a fragile blue sphere, wrapped in oceans and clouds. They walk in sealed suits, carrying their air like infants carry blankets. They are aliens – strangers who bend local dust into shelter and harvest light into food. They call themselves human.

Astronomers using the ATLAS telescope in Chile detected a faint, fast-moving object on July 1 that was later confirmed to be traveling on a hyperbolic path through the solar system. The object, now designated 3I/ATLAS, is the third known interstellar body ever discovered, following ‘Oumuamua in 2017 and Borisov in 2019.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 6:11 p.m. EDT September 14 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying the first mission of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft. Designated NG-23, it is the most capable version of Cygnus to date, loaded with over 11,000 pounds of research and supplies bound for the International Space Station. 

The race to return humans to the Moon is not just about planting a flag. At stake is something less visible but far more consequential: who sets the rules, builds the infrastructure, and defines the operating playbook for the next era of space exploration. And the answer could ripple far beyond the Moon, shaping how – and how soon – humans reach Mars. 

With New Shepard back in service, New Glenn preparing for another flight, and lunar systems advancing, Blue Origin heads into late 2025 with progress on multiple fronts. The company is simultaneously running programs in suborbital tourism, orbital launch, propulsion, and lunar vehicle development, together outlining a transportation architecture that spans Earth orbit to cislunar space.

SpinLaunch, the California-based space startup once best known for trying to fling satellites into orbit with a giant centrifuge, has entered a new phase. The company announced in August that it closed a $30 million Series C funding round, bringing its total raised to about $203 million. Investors include ATW Partners and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, which has also committed satellite manufacturing resources to the project. 

NASA is gearing up for a landmark late-September launch featuring three pivotal spacecraft: the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO-L1). The missions are being prepared at Astrotech Space Operations, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary in Titusville that has become one of the nation’s premier spacecraft processing hubs.

When a spacecraft lands on Mars or slams into an asteroid millions of miles away, chances are it came from one of two labs: the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory or the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. NASA may be the face of American space exploration, but behind that iconic logo are world-class research centers shaping how we reach, explore, and understand the cosmos. JPL and APL are two of the most influential.

Austin, Texas’ ICON is quietly transforming how humanity builds – on Earth and beyond. The construction technology company, known for its innovative 3D‑printed homes, has begun applying its expertise to space. Its advanced robotic systems and signature material, Lavacrete, are being adapted to construct off‑world habitats and infrastructure using local planetary materials.

In a world of reusable rockets, lunar habitats, and interplanetary ambitions, it’s easy to focus on what’s next. But every launch, every orbit, and every mission we undertake still begins with the insights of those who came before us – most notably, Sir Isaac Newton.

In the wake of the Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, a wave of headlines has described NASA’s future in stark, often dire terms. Phrases like “extinction-level event” and “gutting science” have circulated widely, creating the impression the agency is on the verge of collapse. The proposed cuts are indeed significant – but from a reporting standpoint, the broader picture appears more layered than many early reactions suggest.

As United Launch Alliance rolled out its second Atlas V mission of the year on June 23, it wasn’t just rockets taking center stage. An ambitious artificial intelligence initiative dubbed “RocketGPT” has quietly lifted off behind the scenes, signaling the company’s broader modernization agenda alongside the final missions of the reliable Atlas fleet.

Jared Isaacman, best known for commanding private astronaut missions such as Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, has pivoted from his sudden departure as NASA’s Administrator nominee to lead a bold new front: mobilizing private capital for space science. At the June 21 International Space Development Conference in Orlando, where he accepted the National Space Society’s Wernher von Braun Award, he shared his vision for privately funded robotic science missions developed in partnership with top-tier universities.