Top Stories

NRO Awards Three Commercial Data Contracts, Floats Airborne Target Tracking Role

The NRO awarded three new contracts for commercial satellite data, and the agency’s commercial programs head, Pete Muend, went further — suggesting the NRO could vet commercial satellite firms for their ability to track airborne targets on behalf of U.S. Space Force. That’s a meaningful expansion of what commercial remote sensing is being asked to do.

The framing matters for anyone tracking the commercial GEOINT market. Companies competing for NRO tasking are now potentially being evaluated against moving, airborne targets — not just ground imagery collection.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Space-BACN Optical ISL Program Moves from DARPA to DIU

DARPA’s Space-BACN program — which developed optical inter-satellite link technology to connect satellites across different orbits and operators — has completed its DARPA phase and is transferring to the Defense Innovation Unit. DIU will take it forward as an on-orbit pathfinder, according to industry executives.

Space-BACN was designed to create a standardized optical communications protocol so military and commercial satellites could interoperate regardless of manufacturer. The DIU handoff suggests the government wants to operationalize that capability, not just prototype it. For satellite trackers, watch for new DIU-contracted demonstration payloads in LEO over the next 12–24 months.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Vantor Gets $70M to Run NGA’s GEGD Pro Data Platform

Vantor won a one-year, $70 million contract option to operate and upgrade the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery platform — specifically the GEGD Pro version, which provides unclassified web-based access to commercial and government imagery.

The contract was announced May 4. GEGD Pro serves as a key distribution layer for NGA’s commercial imagery holdings, meaning Vantor is now responsible for the pipeline that gets satellite-derived intelligence to end users.

Read the full story: Space News

Firefly Alpha Block 2 Targeting Late Summer Debut

Firefly Aerospace is planning the first flight of its upgraded Alpha Block 2 rocket for late summer 2026. The company says demand is strong, with national security customers driving interest.

Alpha Block 2 is an incremental upgrade to the existing vehicle rather than a clean-sheet design. If the launch timeline holds, it would give Firefly a second successful calendar year of Alpha operations after establishing a launch cadence in 2024–2025.

Read the full story: Space News

DARPA Director Winchell Eyes Cislunar Navigation Challenge, Asteroid Resource Concepts

DARPA Director Stephen Winchell said the agency is actively developing a cislunar navigation challenge and exploring concepts around asteroid resource extraction. The comments reflect a broader push to engage commercial space capabilities rather than develop purely in-house.

Cislunar navigation is an unsolved operational problem — GPS coverage ends well before lunar distances, and there’s no agreed-upon reference frame or timing standard for that regime. A DARPA challenge structure could accelerate solutions from non-traditional players.

Read the full story: Space News

AeroVironment Joins Army LASSO Loitering Munition Competition with Switchblade 400

The U.S. Army awarded AeroVironment a contract under the LASSO (Lethal Autonomous Systems and Strike Operations) prototyping competition. AeroVironment will provide its Switchblade 400, a portable anti-armor loitering munition. Textron and Uvision were already in the competition.

This is a ground systems story, but relevant context for anyone tracking the convergence of drone swarm coordination and space-based C2 infrastructure — LASSO-class munitions depend on satellite-linked targeting and GPS navigation for contested environments.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Satellite of the Day

ORBCOMM FM41

ORBCOMM FM41 (also known as Orbcomm Q5) is part of the ORBCOMM constellation, a fleet of low-Earth orbit satellites dedicated to machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Launched on June 19, 2008, from the Kymyrsky Missile Test Range in Russia aboard a Kosmos 11K65M vehicle, this satellite was manufactured by OHB/POLK and designed to operate for 8–10 years. Beyond its primary M2M/IoT mission, FM41 carries an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver, which allows it to track maritime traffic worldwide—a capability that has proven invaluable for ship monitoring and maritime domain awareness.

At 115 kilograms and operating from a 48.4° inclined orbit, ORBCOMM FM41 exemplifies the compact, efficient design philosophy of the ORBCOMM program. The satellite’s “Box + Ant” configuration with deployable solar arrays keeps it lightweight while maximizing power generation. Its AIS receiver payload makes it part of a growing constellation providing real-time vessel tracking to commercial and government users globally. This satellite represents the bridge between dedicated communication infrastructure and Earth observation capabilities—a dual-purpose approach that has become increasingly important in modern space domain awareness.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track ORBCOMM FM41

Upcoming Space Launches

May 6

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-29
  • Routine Starlink batch of 25 V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:00–06:00 UTC). Booster B1081 on its 24th flight, landing on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. Watch Live

May 9–10

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 7: Tianzhou-10
  • Ninth cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station, launching from Wenchang Space Launch Site, People’s Republic of China (22:00–02:00 UTC).

May 10

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-37
  • Routine Starlink batch of 25 V2 Mini Optimized satellites launching to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (14:00–18:00 UTC). Booster B1081 on its 24th flight, landing on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. Watch Live

May 12

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 6A: Unknown Payload

  • Details to be determined. Launching from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (11:49–12:09 UTC). The Long March 6A is China’s first rocket with solid rocket boosters, featuring two YF-100 engines on the first stage augmented by four solid boosters.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: NROL-172 (To Be Confirmed)

  • Thirteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office, providing imaging and other intelligence-gathering capabilities. Launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (22:15–02:15 UTC).

• SpaceX Starship: Flight 12 (To Be Confirmed)

  • Twelfth integrated test flight of the fully reusable two-stage Starship super heavy-lift vehicle and the maiden flight of Starship V3. The vehicle — with a lift capacity of up to 100,000 kg to low Earth orbit and a liftoff mass of 5,250 tonnes — represents SpaceX’s next-generation fully reusable launch system. Launching from Orbital Launch Pad 2, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA (22:30–00:43 UTC).

May 12–13

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Dragon CRS-2 SpX-34
  • NASA’s 34th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft will deliver thousands of pounds of science experiments and crew supplies, arriving at the station within two days of launch. The first stage booster will return to Landing Zone 40. Launching from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA (23:16 UTC).

May 16

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-42
  • Routine batch of 24 Starlink satellites launching to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:11–06:11 UTC). Watch Live

May 19

• Avio S.p.A Vega-C: Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)
  • A joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, SMILE will carry four science instruments into a highly elliptical Earth orbit to study how Earth’s magnetosphere responds to the solar wind, advancing our understanding of space weather and geomagnetic storms. The spacecraft separates 57 minutes after liftoff and deploys its solar arrays within 10 minutes thereafter, with a planned mission life of three years. Vega-C is a 35 m tall, 210-tonne rocket featuring the upgraded P120C solid first stage also used as boosters on Ariane 6. Launching from Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV), Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana (03:52 UTC). Watch Live

May 22

• United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551: Amazon Leo (LA-07) (To Be Determined)

  • A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will deliver a batch of 29 Amazon Kuiper broadband internet satellites to low Earth orbit as part of the Project Kuiper constellation, aimed at providing high-speed connectivity to underserved regions globally. This is the penultimate Atlas V mission booked by Amazon. Launching from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA.

• Rocket Lab Electron: Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)

  • Ninth dedicated Synspective mission on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, carrying a StriX synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite to a 572 km circular orbit at 44.8° inclination. Electron is a small-lift vehicle powered by nine electric-pump-fed Rutherford engines. Launching from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (09:30 UTC).

May 31

• Rocket Lab Electron: The Grain Goddess Provides (iQPS Launch 7) (To Be Determined)
  • Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese imaging company iQPS, launching to low Earth orbit from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand.

Schedule Changes

• New launch added: SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-42 has been added to the manifest, scheduled for 02:11 UTC on May 16, 2026, launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA.

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