Innovation
Art Meets Tech: Diamond Lotus From Bengaluru Set To Bloom In Space
The lotus is crafted from 32 lab-grown pear-cut diamonds with a total weight of 16.95 carats.
1st-ever X-rays in space offer hope for possible patients headed to the moon
The astronauts on board the private Fram2 Crew Dragon mission in 2025 took the first ever medical X-rays in space.
Technology
Hanwha Accelerates Space Solar Tech, Defense Semiconductor Development
Joint Development of High-Efficiency Solar Cell and Panel Technology for Satellites
Space Force’s New C2 System to Get Key Upgrades in 2027
The Space Force is eyeing three key upgrades next year to its next-generation command-and-control system that will make it easier for allies to share space domain awareness data and improve collaboration and training for operators.
Every SpaceX Starlink satellite has to dodge a collision almost weekly, and experts fear the worst
"I think we're heading towards a situation where there will be a collision involving an operational satellite in the constellation."
Europe
UK Defence Innovation launches £900,000 "Space to Innovate" competition for military space tech
UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), in partnership with the UK Space Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), has launched “Space to Innovate: Delta Drop”
Germany’s space awakening
The country is putting unprecedented funding and attention behind the adversarial threat high above earth
Investment
Polish space tech company Sybilla Technologies secures funds to enter U.S. market
The Polish state-owned bank BGK and European venture capital firm 3TS Capital Partners have unveiled an investment of around 35 million zloty ($10 million) in Poland’s space tech company Sybilla Technologies.
Defense spending lifts Europe’s space economy
European government space spending jumped 12% to 13.5 billion euros ($15.4 billion) in 2025, according to a July 13 European Space Agency report, bucking a 3% global decline on the back of rising national defense budgets.
Launch
Spinifex Space Launches With Australian Test Ranges
Spinifex Space was established Monday to provide end-to-end suborbital launch campaigns, private range access, and test and evaluation (T&E) infrastructure from facilities in southwestern Queensland, Australia.
Spinifex says its team spun out of Black Sky Industries, an Australian developer and supplier of solid rocket propellant and solid rocket motors
Policy
CAPSTONE Validates Orbit for Lunar Gateway
An experimental spacecraft launched in June 2022 set out in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) balanced between the gravities of Earth and the Moon. NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology and Navigational Experiment, known as CAPSTONE, was the first to travel in such an orbit, and it has since “validated a dynamic orbit around the Moon to pave the way for a lunar space station or other orbital operations,” Luke Idziak, spacecraft systems project manager for Astrion, told Design News at Space Tech Expo.
Space Force Finalizes New Acquisition Structure
The Space Force has finalized a major reorganization of its acquisition structure, creating nine mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives with broad authority over the service’s development and procurement programs.