Space

tracking

Launch & access

SpaceX22 activeDefunct SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage confirmed crashed into the Moon at ~8,700 km/h; telescope in Chile spots dust plume Starship6 activeSpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, its first test with functioning Starlink satellites China launch5 activeChina launches Uzbekistan's Samarkand-2028 satellite, carrying an AI module built by Uzbek engineers Ariane / Europe5 Ariane / European Launch Launch cadence & costs7 China's Orbital Launch Program

Satellites & constellations

Starlink12 activeRussia is accelerating its Rassvet satellite network toward 924 units, Kyiv intelligence says China megaconstellation5 China's Megaconstellations (Guowang and Qianfan) Amazon Kuiper5 Ariane / European Launch OneWeb / Eutelsat3 OneWeb / Eutelsat

Orbital congestion & debris

Orbital congestion7 activeDefunct SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage confirmed crashed into the Moon at ~8,700 km/h; telescope in Chile spots dust plume Debris & collisions8 activeDefunct SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage confirmed crashed into the Moon at ~8,700 km/h; telescope in Chile spots dust plume Space-traffic management4 Space Debris and Orbital Collision Risk

Navigation & PNT

GPS jamming / spoofing6 BeiDou BeiDou4 BeiDou Galileo6 BeiDou

Military space

ASAT weapons3 worseningCounterspace arms race accelerates as China and Russia stay out of the ASAT moratorium Space Force10 worseningCounterspace arms race accelerates as China and Russia stay out of the ASAT moratorium Missile warning3 activeSpace Force passes $40B as Congress boosts missile-warning and data-transport layers Golden Dome space layer6 activeSpace Force passes $40B as Congress boosts missile-warning and data-transport layers

Exploration & cislunar

Artemis / Moon6 activeBotswana signs Artemis Accords as the 68th nation and sixth from Africa China lunar / Tiangong5 China Lunar Program and Tiangong Station Mars4 transitionChina's Tianwen-3 advances as NASA's Mars Sample Return is cancelled

latest

active China's Long March 7A rocket explodes 85 seconds after launch, destroying ChinaSat-4B satellite

China's Long March 7A Y16 rocket exploded approximately 85 seconds after liftoff from Wenchang on August 10, destroying the ChinaSat-4B geostationary satellite; it was the second failure of a Chinese geostationary launch vehicle this year and threatens to delay the Chang'e 7 Moon mission, which uses the same Long March 7A platform

What Broke ·10 takes ·Aug 11

active Japan's H3 rocket successfully launches Michibiki 7 navigation satellite, ninth H3 mission

Japan's H3 rocket sent the Michibiki 7 quasi-zenith navigation satellite into high Earth orbit on August 10, the ninth successful liftoff for the H3 and the latest addition to Japan's QZSS GPS-augmentation constellation; the launch came the same day as China's Long March 7A exploded 85 seconds after liftoff from Wenchang

The Long Game ·3 takes ·Aug 11

active Russia is accelerating its Rassvet satellite network toward 924 units, Kyiv intelligence says

Russia is deploying its Rassvet satellite communications system significantly faster than planned, with nearly 300 satellites targeted for orbit by 2027 and a full constellation of 924 by 2035, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official cited August 10; Ukraine's military is assessing risks to its Starlink-dependent communications if Russia achieves a comparable system

The Long Game ·3 takes ·Aug 11

active India's Astrobase Space Technologies unveils EVEREST, the country's first privately built 800 kN full-flow staged combustion rocket engine

Bengaluru-based Astrobase Space Technologies unveiled EVEREST, an 800 kN liquid-oxygen-methane engine using full-flow staged combustion, which the company calls India's first privately developed engine in this class; a full hot-fire test is planned in 2026, with a first flight of its reusable launch vehicle targeted for December 2028

The Long Game ·4 takes ·Aug 8

active Defunct SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage confirmed crashed into the Moon at ~8,700 km/h; telescope in Chile spots dust plume

Astronomers confirmed on August 5, 2026 that a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket upper stage, drifting in deep space since the previous year, struck the Moon at approximately 8,700 km/h; no instrument recorded the impact directly, but a telescope in Chile detected a dust plume consistent with the predicted crash site, which astronomers say constitutes confirmation of the collision; the crash adds to a growing body of uncontrolled commercial space debris reaching cislunar space

What Broke ·5 takes ·Aug 7

active China launches Uzbekistan's Samarkand-2028 satellite, carrying an AI module built by Uzbek engineers

China's Star Vision Technology launched the Samarkand-2028 hyperspectral Earth observation satellite on August 5 alongside Indonesia's Lampung-1; the Samarkand-2028 carries an artificial intelligence module developed by Uzbekistan's space agency Uzcosmos, marking a shift from Uzbekistan buying Chinese satellites to contributing core software components

The Long Game ·4 takes ·Aug 5

active SpaceX launches Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle, a two-armed spacecraft designed to refuel and extend the lives of geosynchronous satellites

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on July 21 carrying Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle and three Mission Extension Pods, designed to spend a decade servicing satellites owned by Optus and SES that have run out of maneuvering fuel in geosynchronous orbit

The Long Game ·5 takes ·Jul 22

active Russia arrests Roscosmos physicist Maxim Kravchuk on treason charges in the latest prosecution targeting scientists

Moscow's Meshchansky Court ordered the pre-trial detention of Maxim Kravchuk, 35, a physicist at TsNIIMash, a Roscosmos space-research institute, on July 19-20, on treason charges; Meduza and The Moscow Times report the case as the latest in a series of criminal prosecutions targeting Russian scientists

What They're Not Saying ·7 takes ·Jul 20

success India's Skyroot Aerospace puts Vikram-1 into Low Earth Orbit in the country's first private orbital launch

Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched its Vikram-1 rocket on July 17-18, reaching Low Earth Orbit and becoming the first Indian private company to complete an orbital mission, opening the country's launch market to commercial competition

The Quiet Shift ·10 takes ·Jul 19

active SpaceX to launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16, second V3 flight to carry first V3 Starlink satellites

SpaceX is set to launch Starship Flight 13 from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on July 16, the second flight of the Starship V3 configuration and the first to deploy V3 Starlink satellites

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jul 24

active SpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, its first test with functioning Starlink satellites

SpaceX set July 16 as the launch date for Starship's 13th integrated flight test, with a 90-minute window opening at 5:45 pm CT from Starbase in South Texas, seven weeks after the Flight 12 booster crash on May 22; Flight 13 will test fixes applied after the previous launch's problems and will deploy functioning Starlink satellites, described as operational payloads for the first time on a Starship test

The Long Game ·5 takes ·Jul 14

active China's Long March 8A orbits SpaceSail polar batch from Wenchang commercial pad, driving G60 toward 1,300 satellites

The Shanghai-backed Qianfan constellation added a new polar-orbit group on July 5, one day after a Long March 6A placed 18 Qianfan satellites from Taiyuan; China is running two concurrent build-out tracks to challenge SpaceX's Starlink dominance

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jul 5

active China's Long March 6A launches its 25th mission, carrying 18 Qianfan satellites, as space operators watch for another upper-stage breakup

The rocket lifted off from Taiyuan at 09:30 UTC July 4 carrying 18 Qianfan internet-constellation satellites; four previous upper-stage fragmentation events with no disclosed root cause have made this variant the most debris-prone active launch system in service

What Broke ·9 takes ·Jul 5

active China launches Haiyang-2E ocean monitoring satellite, its 45th space mission of 2026

A Long March-4B lifted off from Jiuquan at 23:46 UTC on July 1 (07:46 CST July 2), placing the HY-2E satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit; the spacecraft is the first replacement for China's aging ocean-observation trio and begins a three-satellite renewal

The Long Game ·3 takes ·Jul 4

active ULA's final Atlas V 551 rocket retires after 110th flight, deploying 29 Amazon Leo satellites

The last Atlas V in the 551 heavy-lift configuration launched 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites from Cape Canaveral at 12:30 a.m. EDT on July 2, completing the 110th mission of the 24-year Atlas V programme with a perfect success record

The Quiet Shift ·6 takes ·Jul 5

active South Korea scrubs first full four-stage solid-fuel military rocket launch from Jeju barge over safety concerns

The Agency for Defense Development canceled the debut flight of its classified 'Mir' solid-fuel space launch vehicle on June 30 after issues were detected during final preparations aboard the sea-launch platform off Jeju Island; a successful flight would have made South Korea the sixth country to hold independent solid-fuel orbital launch capability.

The Long Game ·5 takes ·Jul 1

active NASA's Swift rescue mission scrubbed twice; next attempt July 2 at 9:09 p.m. UTC+12

Unfavorable weather at Kwajalein Atoll forced NASA to stand down the Pegasus XL on both June 30 and July 1; a third window opens at 9:09 p.m. local time July 2 (05:09 EDT), representing the Pegasus XL's 46th and final flight and the first attempt to autonomously boost a satellite not designed for docking

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jul 1

pending-decision Rocket Lab to buy Iridium for $8 billion in cash-and-stock deal, challenging SpaceX in satellite comms

The June 29 announcement gives Rocket Lab control of Iridium's 66-satellite LEO network, globally licensed L-band spectrum, and 2.55 million subscribers; Iridium shareholders receive $27 cash plus Rocket Lab stock for each share, valuing the deal at roughly $54 per share

Whose Money ·3 takes ·Jun 29

active Pegasus XL launches for the final time, sending Katalyst LINK to rescue NASA's Swift telescope

The last Pegasus XL air-launched from Stargazer at 08:36 UTC on July 3 carrying Katalyst Space's LINK servicing vehicle; the mission must now rendezvous with Swift over two to three weeks before attempting the first-ever capture of an unprepared satellite

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jul 3

active Botswana signs Artemis Accords as the 68th nation and sixth from Africa

Botswana's minister of communications signed in Washington on June 25, bringing a sixth African nation into the US-led framework for civil space exploration amid growing competition between American and Chinese lunar programmes

The Long Game ·4 takes ·Jun 26

active Falcon 9 flies Starlink 17-45 on a 25th-flight booster

SpaceX's 74th launch of the year adds 24 V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg

The Long Game ·3 takes ·Jun 26

worsening Counterspace arms race accelerates as China and Russia stay out of the ASAT moratorium

35+ states pledge no destructive ASAT tests; US fields satellite jammers; Russia's nuclear-ASAT concern persists

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

active Space Force passes $40B as Congress boosts missile-warning and data-transport layers

FY26 adds $1.2B for R&D; reconciliation pours $7.2B into space sensors and $5.6B into interceptors

Whose Money ·8 takes ·Jun 25

transition China's Tianwen-3 advances as NASA's Mars Sample Return is cancelled

With US funding cut in January, China could be first to return Martian samples, by 2031

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jun 25

NASA's Artemis Program

The US-led crewed return to the Moon, pairing the SLS rocket and Orion capsule with commercial landers and a 68-nation governance framework.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

ASAT Weapons

Anti-satellite weapons, fielded by the US, China, Russia, and India, can destroy or disable the orbital infrastructure that modern militaries and economies depend on.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

BeiDou

China's state-owned global satellite navigation system, now embedded in over 2 billion devices and challenging US GPS dominance in positioning, timing, and strategic influence.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

China's Orbital Launch Program

China's Long March rocket program, CASC's state-run orbital fleet, is setting national cadence records and driving Beijing's military, constellation, and deep-space ambitions.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

China Lunar Program and Tiangong Station

China's state-run campaign to land humans on the Moon by 2030 and maintain a crewed orbital station, in direct competition with the US-led Artemis coalition.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

China's Megaconstellations (Guowang and Qianfan)

China's two state-linked low-Earth-orbit broadband programs, Guowang and Qianfan, plan more than 28,000 satellites combined to compete with Starlink for global spectrum and connectivity market share.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Ariane / European Launch

Europe's sovereign-launch capability, built around ESA, ArianeGroup, and Arianespace, centers on Ariane 6, the continent's sole operational heavy-lift rocket, flying from Kourou, French Guiana.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Galileo (EU)

The EU's global navigation satellite system, built for European autonomy from US GPS, now the world's most accurate civilian GNSS and a pillar of European strategic independence.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

US Golden Dome Space Layer

The US Golden Dome's orbital layer, combining space-based sensors and interceptors to detect and destroy ballistic and hypersonic missiles before they reach US territory.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

GPS Jamming and Spoofing

GPS jamming blinds navigation receivers while spoofing fakes their position; deployed by Russia, Iran, North Korea, and India, the attacks now threaten global aviation, shipping, and weapons guidance.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper)

Amazon's US-based low Earth orbit satellite constellation, authorized for 3,236 satellites in 2020, competing with SpaceX Starlink to deliver global broadband.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Launch cadence & costs

The rate and unit cost of reaching Earth orbit, dominated by US-based SpaceX and China's state launch industry, set the pace for satellite megaconstellations and the global space race.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Mars

The fourth planet from the Sun and primary destination for robotic exploration, Mars anchors an intensifying US-China race to return the first samples to Earth.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Missile warning

The US space-and-radar network that detects missile launches within seconds, giving leaders 25 minutes or less to decide how to respond to a nuclear attack.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

OneWeb / Eutelsat

The only large-scale Western non-Starlink LEO broadband constellation, formed by the 2023 France-UK merger driving Europe's sovereign satellite strategy.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Orbital congestion

The progressive crowding of Earth's orbital shells, primarily low-Earth orbit, by satellites and debris, raising collision risk globally and threatening a shared orbital commons.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Satellite megaconstellations: the race to own low Earth orbit

Four operators plan more than 70,000 satellites in the same narrow orbital band, making LEO broadband the most contested frontier in spectrum politics and connectivity geopolitics.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Space Debris and Orbital Collision Risk

Orbiting debris from US, Chinese, Russian, and European launches crowds low Earth orbit shells, raising collision risk for active satellites and requiring new national and international removal standards.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Space exploration and cislunar: the Moon race, Mars, and the space between

Two crewed Moon programs compete for the same south-pole landing site; Mars sample return is next; together they define the frontier of space geopolitics.

·4 takes ·Jul 4

US Space Force

The US Space Force, established December 2019, is the youngest US military branch, protecting GPS, missile warning, and orbital infrastructure against Chinese and Russian counterspace threats.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Launch & access: who reaches orbit, at what cost, and how often

The race to lower launch costs and raise cadence, led by SpaceX and China, determines who can operate at scale in space and who gets left behind.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Military space: ASAT weapons, missile-warning satellites and the orbital interceptor race

How counterspace weapons, warning constellations and space-based interceptors are turning low Earth orbit into the newest contested military domain.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

GPS, Galileo, BeiDou: the satellite navigation systems that position the world

Four global satellite constellations compete to position phones, ships, and weapons, while jamming and spoofing have made signal integrity a front-line security question.

·5 takes ·Jul 3

Crowded orbit: satellites, debris, and the race to govern low-Earth orbit

LEO is filling faster than debris can clear; this beat tracks the collision risk, the fragmented pile of debris, and the contested rules meant to manage both.

·5 takes ·Jul 3

Space-Traffic Management

The set of rules, tracking systems, and coordination processes governments use to manage orbital objects and prevent collisions, with no binding international regime in place.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Space ventures

Private investment in commercial space globally hit a record US$55.3 billion in 2025, driven by launch-cost collapse, defence demand, and US-China competition for orbital infrastructure.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

SpaceX

SpaceX is a US private aerospace company that controls over 60% of commercial orbital launches globally and operates Starlink, the world's largest satellite internet constellation.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Starlink

SpaceX's US-based low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband constellation, the world's largest with 10,000 active satellites across 160 countries, at the center of LEO spectrum politics and congestion debates.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Starship

SpaceX's fully-reusable US launch vehicle, contracted as NASA's Artemis lunar lander, central to commercial satellite deployment and crewed Moon and Mars ambitions.

·5 takes ·Jul 3

active China's space and defence procurement chief under CCDI investigation

Bian Zhigang, deputy head of SASTIND and deputy director of CNSA, is being investigated for "serious violations of discipline and law"

Who Decides ·4 takes ·Jun 26

active China drives toward ~140 orbital launches in 2026, a new national record

Megaconstellation batches and a surprise Long March 12B maiden flight push cadence to one launch every ~2.5 days

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

active Golden Dome's orbital layer races toward an on-orbit interceptor demo

12 firms hold $3.2B in SBI work; a new $4.16B contract and Northrop-Apex push a 2028 integration target

Whose Money ·8 takes ·Jun 25

active Ariane 6 ramps as Europe's only heavy ride to orbit, flying Amazon Leo

Upgraded P160C boosters and an Amazon contract give Europe a working, if thin, sovereign launch base

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

active Amazon Leo passes 350 satellites as FCC waives, then penalises, the half-deploy deadline

Third-largest constellation, beta in five countries late 2026, but spectral priority demoted for slow build

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

active China's Guowang and Qianfan trade the lead past 350 satellites combined

Qianfan jumps back ahead at 182 to Guowang's ~168–190; two constellations planning 28,000+ spacecraft

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

worsening GPS jamming becomes constant over Europe as the EU readies sanctions

~40% of European air traffic hit; Russia's spoofing antennae up from 3 to 36; ministers' jets jammed

What Broke ·9 takes ·Jun 25

active China's Tianwen-2 closes on a quasi-moon for a first-of-its-kind asteroid grab

After a June rendezvous with Kamo'oalewa, the probe lines up an anchor-and-attach sampling no one has tried before

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 28

active Tiangong runs a year-long crew stay after an emergency Shenzhou rotation

Shenzhou 23 takes over with China's first yearlong stay; a Pakistani astronaut due on Shenzhou 24

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jun 25

contested-result Starship V3 splashes down, but Super Heavy crashes and FAA grounds flights

Flight 12 proves the upper stage while the new booster flips and fails, investigation halts the program

The Long Game ·10 takes ·Jun 25

transition After Artemis II's lunar flyby, NASA turns to the harder Artemis III landing

Record-setting crewed flyby flew in April; the moon landing now hinges on Starship and a grounded V3

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jun 25

worsening ESA: LEO collision risk up ~20% in 2026 as tracked objects pass 28,000

Rising avoidance manoeuvres, a $25.8–42.3B decade cost, and a 95% disposal-compliance bar to avert cascade

The Quiet Shift ·7 takes ·Jul 7

active Galileo Gen-2 and BeiDou's refit reshape the navigation race as GPS slips behind

EU starts Galileo Gen-2 launches; China consolidates BeiDou to 37 satellites and eyes global adoption

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jun 25

pending-decision Eutelsat raises cash to fund OneWeb Gen-2 and Europe's IRIS² sovereign constellation

€960M equity raise, €2.3B for 440 OneWeb follow-ons, €10.6B IRIS² concession, but services slip to 2030

Whose Money ·7 takes ·Jun 25

active Starlink Mobile targets 25M users as direct-to-cell becomes a mainstream product

650+ direct-to-cell satellites, 16M reached, voice and data added, SpaceX rebrands DTC as 'Starlink Mobile'

The Long Game ·8 takes ·Jun 25

contested-result US splits on space-traffic rules: FAA pulls back, FCC's 5-year deorbit mandate holds

Commerce expands space situational awareness as active-debris-removal market and ADR insurance emerge

Who Decides ·7 takes ·Jul 7

active China readies Chang'e-7 for the lunar south pole as it builds toward a 2030 landing

Water-ice hunt at Shackleton with a shadow-diving hopper; Long March 10, Mengzhou and Lanyue in testing

The Long Game ·7 takes ·Jun 25

tracking

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