The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration has awarded a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough contract to Antares, a California nuclear startup, to advance a reactor design meant to power spacecraft. The company describes it as the largest Department of War award to date focused specifically on […]

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded BlueHalo a contract worth up to nearly $100 million for research and development work under a program called Leveraged Orbital Battlespace Optimization. The five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract runs through August 29, 2031, and came out of a competitive process in which BlueHalo was the only company to submit […]

BlackSky Technology said it has been named the exclusive provider of very-high-resolution optical satellites for what organizers call the world’s first AI-enabled satellite constellation, a $1 billion initiative unveiled September 9, 2026, at the first International Space Summit in Paris. The initial constellation will include 50 satellites carrying radar, optical and other sensors, built to […]

Israeli satellite company ImageSat International unveiled a new Earth observation satellite on September 8 designed to capture imagery sharp enough to identify small objects on the ground from orbit, while processing some of that data in space before it ever reaches an analyst. The satellite, called EROS NOVA, will capture imagery at a native resolution […]

Sierra Space has signed contracts with undisclosed national security and commercial customers to fly payloads aboard the first mission of its Dream Chaser spaceplane, the company announced, adding new passengers to a debut flight that has already been delayed for years. Dream Chaser is a reusable, uncrewed spacecraft designed to land on a runway like […]

JP Aerospace, a volunteer-run organization that has spent decades pursuing an unconventional path to orbit using airships instead of rockets, has released still images from an upcoming concept video showing a vehicle it calls Hazel being launched from a high-altitude airship called SuperTandem. The images, shared by JP Aerospace president John Powell, show an animated […]

The U.S. Air Force has given one of its newest contracting vehicles a name that sounds like it belongs in a Hollywood blockbuster: Megatron. The Department of the Air Force posted a notice on September 4 on the government’s public contracting portal, opening a new multi-year purchasing arrangement called the “DAF Battle Network ‘Megatron’ Multiple […]

Manufacturing company Quickparts announced a nearly $6 million investment in its Seattle Aerospace & Defense Center of Excellence, adding 12 Stratasys NEO 3D printing systems across its facilities in the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, the company said Tuesday. The deployment is the company’s second major capacity investment in 18 months, following […]

Leonardo DRS has won an Other Transaction Agreement contract from the U.S. Space Force to further develop sensor technology intended to support space superiority and space control missions, the company said Tuesday. Under the award, Leonardo DRS will continue developing sensor technology designed to detect, identify, track and target fast-moving threats in challenging conditions. The […]

During a visit to Johnson Space Center, President Trump on Friday signed an executive order to establish a new commission with the purpose of creating the first national space academy.

"It's clear that we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators, and everything else to do what we have to do," Trump said. "I will sign an executive order to begin the process of creating a new national academy. It's called the US Space Academy. That's a big deal."

The proposed United States Space Academy would fall under the jurisdiction of NASA, and according to US space officials, is not intended be a traditional service academy in the sense that it educates and trains officers for the armed services, such as the Air Force Academy.

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The disagreement highlights the confusion, both within government and in public, about how one of the Trump administration's highest priorities would work.

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The service has already reached its goal of enlisting 730 new guardians in 2026.

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Another $12.1 billion is contingent upon Congress passing another reconciliation package, which faces a difficult path in the Senate.

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