Top Stories

Astroscale Picks Isar Aerospace to Launch ELSA-M Deorbit Mission

Astroscale’s UK subsidiary has selected Isar Aerospace as the launch provider for ELSA-M, its commercial satellite servicing and deorbit mission. The pairing puts a Japanese-backed debris removal platform on a European small launch vehicle — Isar’s Spectrum rocket, currently in development.

ELSA-M is designed to capture and deorbit multiple client satellites in a single mission, targeting defunct objects in low Earth orbit. As trackable debris counts climb past 20,000 catalogued objects, missions like this are directly relevant to anyone managing conjunction risk. Watch the target orbital shell once launch details are confirmed.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

Blue Origin Proposes NEO Hunter Hybrid Planetary Defense Mission

Blue Origin has formally unveiled NEO Hunter, a mission concept aimed at detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects. The design is described as a hybrid approach, combining survey and potential deflection-relevant capabilities in a single spacecraft architecture.

No launch date or contract vehicle has been announced. Planetary defense proposals have proliferated since DART’s 2022 kinetic impactor test confirmed the concept works at small scale — but NEO Hunter is still a concept, not a funded mission.

Read the full story: NASASpaceFlight

SpaceX Launches Two Starlink Batches in Back-to-Back Days

Falcon 9 flew twice in 24 hours on March 13 and 14, 2026 — one from Vandenberg Space Force Base (Group 17-31, booster B1071) and one from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (Group 10-48, booster B1095). Both boosters landed on their respective drone ships, OCISLY and JRTI.

The Starlink constellation continues to expand across multiple orbital shells. You can track individual Starlink satellites directly in KeepTrack using the satellite catalog.

Read the full story: Space.com

USS Nimitz Service Life Extended to 2027

The Navy has pushed back USS Nimitz’s decommissioning from May 2026 to sometime in 2027. A service official disclosed the change late Friday. The carrier was previously scheduled for mothballing this spring.

This story has no direct satellite tracking angle, but fleet positioning and carrier strike group movements are operationally relevant context for defense users monitoring maritime domains.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Satellite of the Day

Spektr-RG

Spektr-RG is a Russian astrophysics observatory operated by Lavochkin Design Bureau (KHRO) that launched in August 2019 aboard a Proton-M/Briz-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome. This sophisticated space telescope is designed to conduct an all-sky survey in X-ray wavelengths, mapping the universe’s most energetic phenomena including galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei, and supermassive black holes. The mission represents a continuation of Russia’s long tradition of space-based X-ray astronomy and involves international collaboration with German institutions.

The spacecraft’s distinctive torus shape houses advanced X-ray focusing optics and scientific instruments capable of detecting faint sources across the cosmos. Operating from a high-inclination orbit, Spektr-RG conducts systematic surveys that complement observations from other major X-ray missions, contributing valuable data to our understanding of cosmic structure and evolution. With a launch mass of nearly 12 metric tons, this is a substantial scientific platform that has been delivering groundbreaking observations since its deployment.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track Spektr-RG

Upcoming Space Launches

March 15

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 6A: Unknown Payload
  • Unknown Payload from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (13:14 UTC) The Long March 6A is China’s first rocket with solid rocket boosters, developed by CASC and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. Payload details are not yet available for this mission. Launch Preview

March 16

• ExPace Kuaizhou 1A: Unknown Payload
  • Unknown Payload from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (04:04 UTC) The Kuaizhou 1A is a quick-reaction solid-fueled Chinese launch vehicle. Payload details for this mission have not yet been announced. Launch Preview

March 17

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-24

  • Starlink Group 17-24 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:37 UTC) Batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 10-46

  • Starlink Group 10-46 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (10:26 UTC) Batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

March 19

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 10-33

  • Starlink Group 10-33 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (10:35 UTC) Batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

• Rocket Lab Electron: Eight Days A Week (StriX Launch 8)

  • Eight Days A Week from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (17:45 UTC) The eighth Strix synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for Synspective, a Japan-based Earth-observation company. This is the latest in a series of 27 dedicated Electron launches procured by Synspective for its StriX constellation. The satellites are in the 100 kg class with an approximately five-year operational lifespan.

• Isar Aerospace Spectrum: Onward and Upward

  • Onward and Upward from Andøya Spaceport, Norway (20:00 UTC) Spectrum’s second test flight, carrying five CubeSats: CyBEEsat (TU Berlin), TriSat-S (University of Maribor), Platform 6 (EnduroSat), FramSat-1 (NTNU), and SpaceTeamSat1 (TU Wien Space Team), plus a Dcubed experiment called “Let it Go.” Exolaunch is managing payload integration and deployment. Delayed from January 21 due to a pressurization valve issue. Watch Live

March 20

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-15
  • Starlink Group 17-15 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (21:48 UTC) Batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

March 22

• Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Soyuz 2.1a: Progress MS-33 (94P)
  • Progress MS-33 (94P) from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan (11:59 UTC) Uncrewed Progress cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.

March 24

• Rocket Lab Electron: Daughter Of The Stars (LEO-PNT Pathfinder A)
  • LEO-PNT Pathfinder A from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (date TBD) The European Space Agency’s Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing (LEO-PNT) demonstration mission. Two Pathfinder A satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space and GMV, will be placed into a 510 km orbit to assess how a LEO constellation can complement the Galileo and EGNOS systems to enhance Europe’s navigation capabilities.

Schedule Changes

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-48: Status changed from Go for Launch to Launch Successful — removed from the upcoming launch calendar.
• ROSCOSMOS Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-33 (94P): Status upgraded from To Be Confirmed to Go for Launch — mission is now confirmed and included in the launch calendar.

Note: Launch dates and times are subject to change due to technical or weather considerations.