This Week in Spacetime

Issue #4 · Week ending September 6, 2026
Spotlight
Blue Origin · NASA · Kent, Washington

NASA hands Blue Origin a $700 million Mars communications network

NASA selected Blue Origin to design, build, launch and operate the Mars Telecommunications Network, a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to about $700 million. The centerpiece is a high-performance relay orbiter that will carry science data, imagery and navigation information for spacecraft at and around Mars. Blue Origin must deliver the orbiter to NASA by the end of 2028, and the network is expected to be working at Mars by 2030. The award followed a request for proposals issued in May.

Headlines
  1. 01
    Sierra Space · Louisville, Colorado

    Sierra Space signs customers for Dream Chaser's first flight

    Sierra Space says it has booked defense, commercial and civil payloads for the first orbital flight of its Dream Chaser spaceplane. The customers and contract values were not disclosed, and the manifest is still being finalized. The company reports that environmental testing, command and telemetry validation and post-landing recovery rehearsals are done, but it has not announced a launch date. The plan is to launch from Kennedy Space Center and land on a runway at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

  2. 02
    NASA · Axiom Space · Houston

    NASA trades suit requirements for a faster Artemis IV spacesuit

    NASA will work with Axiom Space on a simpler version of its lunar suit and relax certification demands it sees as too heavy for the near term, such as operating in the extreme cold near the Moon's south pole. An April inspector general report found the original schedule unrealistic and said delivery could slip to 2031. Axiom's slimmer Sortie Suit is meant to be ready in late 2027, with more capable versions coming for later missions. Artemis IV, planned for early 2028, is the first crewed landing target.

  3. 03
    U.S. Space Force · Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

    Gen. Douglas Schiess takes over as Space Force chief

    Schiess succeeded Gen. Chance Saltzman as Chief of Space Operations on September 3, becoming the service's third chief. He said adversaries are working to disrupt and destroy US space systems and promised growth "with intention." The Space Force has grown from about 8,000 to 10,000 uniformed Guardians under Saltzman and plans to reach 20,000 in five years. The fiscal 2027 budget request is $71 billion, more than twice the year before.

Also this week
International Spotlight
  1. 01
    Isar Aerospace · ESA · Andøya, Norway

    Isar's Spectrum reaches orbit on its second flight

    Spectrum lifted off from Andøya at 10:12 p.m. local time on September 5. The first stage shut down on schedule, the stages separated and the second stage ignited. The rocket released six small satellites after a circularization burn. Isar says this is the first commercial orbital launch from continental Europe and the first to meet the orbital-flight requirement of ESA's European Launcher Challenge. Vehicles three through seven are already in production.

  2. 02
  3. 03
    ESA · ispace-EUROPE · Luxembourg

    ESA and ispace-EUROPE sign for Europe's first lunar ice rover

    ESA and ispace-EUROPE marked the Phase 2 agreement for MAGPIE, a €65 million mission to put a rover with a drill, a volatile analyzer, ground-penetrating radar and neutron spectrometers into the Moon's south polar region. It is scheduled to fly in 2029 on ispace's Mission 4 lander. A consortium from five European countries is building it.

Summaries are written by From Blue to Black. Headlines and reporting belong to the linked publications.