NASA announced progress on the Moon Base architecture, including commercial cargo lander deliveries targeted for 2028 and technology demonstrations intended to support a sustained lunar presence. The agency's Phase I plan, running through 2029, calls for more than twenty robotic landings that will validate system capabilities and prepare infrastructure for later human operations.

Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK1 lander, named Endurance, completed an environmental test campaign at NASA's Johnson Space Center, verifying performance under thermal‑vacuum conditions simulating the lunar environment. The lander's structure, propulsion elements, and avionics are assembled, and upcoming checks will confirm wiring harness connections for payload integration. Communications have been tested with NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System and the Deep Space Network, and cryogenic propellant loading is scheduled as a final test before integration for launch. Endurance will demonstrate precision landing, lunar environment characterization, and autonomous system operations for future Moon Base missions.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 2 builds on a previous landing with a larger, dual‑spacecraft configuration that includes the Elytra orbital spacecraft, creating a system nearly three times the height of the 2025 flight. The mission, planned as the first American landing on the Moon's far side, will carry three NASA payloads and enable studies of far‑side geology and the cosmic Dark Ages. Reusing subsystems from its earlier mission, Firefly aims to accelerate development while reducing risk for scalable commercial lander capabilities.

Intuitive Machines' IM-3 mission will be its third Nova‑C lunar landing and will deploy Altus‑1, the company's first lunar data‑relay satellite. The Nova‑C lander, named Trinity, is undergoing final assembly, with engine integration and hot‑fire tests scheduled. Thermal vacuum testing at NASA's Marshall Space Center confirmed sensor performance across extreme temperature ranges. IM-3 will deliver five NASA payloads along with six commercial and one civil payload to the surface near Reiner Gamma, a lunar magnetic anomaly, and will be the first mission to explore a lunar swirl region.

Voyager Technologies' Griffin‑1 lander is undergoing testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where mass properties data have been collected to support guidance, navigation, and control. The infrastructure‑class lander, scheduled for launch in late 2026, will carry the largest commercial payload to the lunar surface, including five NASA payloads on the Astrolab FLIP rover to demonstrate surface mobility and long‑duration operations. After environmental testing, Griffin‑1 will be moved to Voyager's Lunar System facility in Pittsburgh for final assembly and launch‑readiness operations before shipment to Cape Canaveral.

NASA is partnering with Northrop Grumman to develop three technology demonstration payloads that will test survive‑the‑night systems, shared surface power infrastructure, and avionics capabilities derived from the Gateway program's HALO module. These demonstrations aim to ensure that surface assets can operate through the Moon's extreme thermal cycles and provide reliable power for future Moon Base operations.

The updates reflect NASA's ongoing effort to establish a resilient lunar supply chain and advance the systems and surface capabilities required for a permanent human and robotic presence on the Moon.

The pilot of SpaceX Crew-13 discussed his career, training, and the scientific objectives for the upcoming flight to the International Space Station. He said he has spent years in training that includes simulations, underwater neutral‑buoyancy exercises, and medical evaluations. The mission, scheduled for 2026, will carry four astronauts to the orbiting laboratory for a six‑month stay. Marsh noted that the scientific program will focus on microgravity research in fluid physics, human physiology, and Earth observation, selected by NASA’s science division and conducted with international partners. The launch date remains subject to schedule changes, and the crew will continue training until liftoff.

Scientists using continuous imagery from NASA’s PUNCH mission predicted the near‑Earth arrival of a solar storm within 30 minutes in the mission’s first proof‑of‑concept test, a ten‑fold improvement over current methods that provide only a five‑hour forecast window.

The PUNCH mission, launched in 2025, employs four low‑Earth‑orbit spacecraft to obtain continuous three‑dimensional observations of the inner solar system. Prior to PUNCH, coronal mass ejections were observable only during the first portion of their journey from the Sun, leaving scientists to extrapolate the remainder of the trajectory.

Researchers analyzed images of a coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on May 31, 2025, and fed the data into a computer model that tracked the ejection’s speed and geometry. Twelve hours after launch, the model forecast an arrival eight hours later, matching the actual arrival within half a minute, which is ten times more precise than the typical five‑hour uncertainty. The model also indicated when the estimate had stabilized, allowing forecasters greater confidence in the prediction, according to Craig DeForest, principal investigator for PUNCH at Southwest Research Institute.

DeForest noted that the result represents an order‑of‑magnitude improvement over state‑of‑the‑art techniques, achieved with a simple process that leverages continuous tracking across the solar system. The high‑resolution data also revealed that coronal mass ejections consist of clumpier material than previously thought and that the plasma within them evolves as it travels outward.

Scientists say that with further refinement of PUNCH observations and modeling, forecast lead times could be extended even farther in advance, offering more time to mitigate impacts on power grids, satellites and astronauts.

SpaceX will launch 24 Starlink broadband satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, marking its 90th Falcon 9 flight of the year. The mission, designated Starlink 17-53, adds to the constellation of more than 10,800 low‑Earth‑orbit satellites and is part of SpaceX’s regular launch cadence, occurring before the company’s first quarterly earnings call after market close.

The booster, tail number B1063, will have completed 34 flights, having supported missions for NASA, the European Space Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Development Agency. Approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster is scheduled to land on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean, a maneuver that would represent the 215th landing on that vessel and the 644th booster landing for SpaceX.

SpaceX will hold its inaugural earnings call roughly 30 minutes after the market close at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 UTC). The company is also preparing for upcoming missions, including the first orbital flight of its Starship vehicle on a yet‑to‑be‑announced date, the NASA‑contracted Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch on a Falcon Heavy no earlier than August 30, and the Crew‑13 crewed mission on a Falcon 9 no earlier than September 12.

The launch proceeds a series of routine Starlink deployments as SpaceX expands its internet constellation and prepares for future Starship flights.

SpaceX says its Crew Dragon fleet has a 'significant' amount of life remaining, but the company has not confirmed how long it will continue operating the spacecraft as it shifts focus to Starship. The Crew-13 mission, scheduled for launch no earlier than September 12, will carry the spacecraft named Grace on its second flight to the International Space Station. Grace first flew on the Ax-4 private mission in summer 2023. Crew-13 will be SpaceX’s 18th human spaceflight to the ISS, according to Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA science and Dragon programs at SpaceX, who spoke at a NASA briefing on August 3. The count includes four Axiom Space private missions and the Demo-2 test flight in 2020, as well as three Crew Dragon flights that did not target the ISS. SpaceX plans to stop building new Crew Dragon vehicles beyond the five currently in service. The company is working with NASA to extend the design’s mission limit from five to up to 15 flights per spacecraft. Scheiman said, "I see a significant amount of life remaining on our Dragon fleet. We do some of that math between NASA and SpaceX and see many more flights available on the hardware itself." He added that NASA anticipates Dragon will support the ISS for years to come. In May, NASA outlined plans to procure up to six additional Dragon missions after the final Crew-14 flight, citing delays in certifying Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. The European Space Agency said in March it is evaluating a dedicated Crew Dragon flight for its astronauts. Private operators, including Axiom Space, Vast and Voyager Technologies, have announced missions to the ISS and to Vast’s Haven-1 commercial station. Scheiman noted that Dragon will continue to support these missions, as well as private astronaut flights. When asked about selling Crew Dragon missions to commercial space station developers, Scheiman declined to confirm explicitly. She said the company has many missions that it is supporting and has contracts for, to include missions to support private astronaut flights, both those that go to the International Space Station and those to Vast, a private space station. NASA has taken a hands‑off approach to the long‑term future of Crew Dragon. Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s low Earth orbit program, said at the briefing that the agency’s plan has always included two commercial crew providers and that it remains committed to that strategy while working with Boeing to certify Starliner for long‑duration ISS missions. Weigel added that as NASA moves toward commercial stations, it expects to purchase end‑to‑end services that combine station use with transportation, rather than acquiring transportation separately. "The ultimate plan with the destinations is to have what we call an end‑to‑end service," she said. "The transportation side and the destination side are tied together, and commercial industry and destination providers are working directly with transportation providers to decide on partnerships." NASA recently received comments on a draft solicitation for the next phase of its Commercial LEO Destinations program and plans to issue a final solicitation "as soon as we can," Weigel said. Companies will submit transportation options based on their architectures and designs, she added, and she looks forward to reviewing the proposals. The transition from Crew Dragon to Starship remains unclear. SpaceX has said it expects to fly both vehicles concurrently while continuing to develop Starship. The larger Starship vehicle could enable hundreds of crewed flights to low Earth orbit and beyond, but its technical implications for future commercial stations are still under evaluation.

Rocketdyne will operate as an independent company following AE Industrial Partners’ acquisition of L3Harris Technologies’ space propulsion, power and electronics businesses, a transaction completed in August after being announced in January for $845 million. The deal gives AE Industrial a 60 % stake, while L3Harris retains a 40 % non‑controlling interest and will remain a strategic partner.

The acquisition stems from L3Harris’s 2021 purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne, which integrated solid rocket motors, launch engines and spacecraft systems into a single entity. L3Harris is separating the space division to focus on its missile and defense businesses, which it plans to take public.

Kristin Houston, who previously led the combined space businesses at L3Harris and spent more than 16 years at Boeing in engineering and program management, has been appointed chief executive. She said the new structure will let the company make decisions closer to customers and pursue opportunities unavailable within a larger organization.

Rocketdyne will concentrate on launch‑vehicle engines, spacecraft propulsion, space electronics, power systems and nuclear power systems for defense and exploration missions. Its portfolio includes the RL10 upper‑stage engine used on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 and Vulcan rockets and on NASA’s Space Launch System, as well as reaction‑control thrusters, chemical and electric propulsion, avionics, secure communications and flight‑safety systems. The company also supplies propulsion for GPS and Wideband Global Satcom satellites, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, the Roman Space Telescope, the GeoXO weather‑satellite program, and provides datalinks for Maxar’s WorldView Legion satellites and radioisotope power systems for Mars rovers and the Dragonfly mission.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, Rocketdyne operates facilities in Jupiter and Daytona Beach, Florida; Mason, Ohio; Los Angeles; and Redmond, Washington. The company employs about 1,300 people, of whom roughly 430 are engineers and scientists.

Rocketdyne’s heritage includes propulsion for NASA planetary missions, the Voyager and Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, and Hall thrusters that moved the AEHF‑1 communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit after its primary engine failed. Current customers span national security, civil and commercial sectors, including NASA, the U.S. military, and commercial satellite operators.

AE Industrial Partners said the separation will give Rocketdyne greater freedom to invest in propulsion, power and electronics expansion. The private‑equity firm has invested in other space companies such as Firefly Aerospace, Redwire and York Space Systems. The transaction leaves the RS‑25 engine for NASA’s Space Launch System and L3Harris’s missile propulsion business outside the sale.

The Dense Orbital Transfer System (DOTS) prototype, developed by Parabilis Space Technologies, has completed hot‑fire testing of a hybrid solid‑fuel and liquid‑oxidizer engine designed for small satellites. The market for satellite propulsion is expanding as the military seeks greater maneuverability for small spacecraft, a capability traditionally limited to larger platforms. Recent tests, product launches and acquisitions indicate growing private‑sector interest. The Space Force, which funded the DOTS project, plans an orbital demonstration. Other companies are pursuing different approaches: Rocket Lab offers the Gauss Hall‑effect electric propulsion system; MIT researchers are testing chemical and electrospray thrusters that share a low‑toxicity propellant; Quantum Space is developing hybrid propulsion for its Ranger spacecraft. Mergers such as York Space Systems’ acquisition of Orbion Space Technology and Voyager Technologies’ purchase of ExoTerra Resource reflect strategic moves to secure propulsion expertise. Chemical propulsion provides rapid velocity changes but consumes propellant quickly, while electric propulsion offers higher efficiency over longer durations. Hybrid systems aim to balance speed and efficiency. Maneuverable spacecraft could be harder to target and enable dynamic mission adjustments, though the operational impact remains speculative. The Space Force must define requirements and determine which propulsion technologies will be adopted, while industry continues to invest in capabilities before firm procurement plans are established.