Top Stories

Pentagon Wants a Power-Beaming Satellite Demo by 2030

The Defense Innovation Unit issued a call to industry for a near-term demonstration of power beaming, both space-to-space and space-to-ground. DIU wants a fielded operational capability by 2030.

Power beaming would let satellites transfer energy without physical refueling or new launches. That matters for anyone tracking persistent ISR constellations or proliferated LEO architectures - a workable beaming link changes how long assets stay useful on orbit.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Skyroot’s Vikram-1 Becomes First Indian Commercial Rocket to Orbit

Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off July 18 on its first flight and reached orbit. It’s the first Indian commercial rocket to do so, breaking ISRO’s monopoly on Indian orbital launch.

Expect a new object in the catalog soon. Skyroot joins a small club of private launch providers - Rocket Lab, Firefly, Relativity - that have gone from founding to orbit. India’s commercial space sector now has its proof point.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

Hanwha Philly Shipyard to Build Golden Defender Missile-Monitor Ship

A new vessel called Golden Defender will be built at Hanwha’s Philadelphia shipyard to support the Golden Dome missile defense effort. The design is based on the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels Hanwha already builds for the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Golden Dome leans heavily on space-based sensing layers for missile warning and tracking. A dedicated sea-based monitor ship adds another node to that detection chain, complementing the satellite constellations doing the actual tracking work.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

NASA Terminates Draper Lunar Lander Mission

NASA and Draper Laboratory have ended plans for a lunar lander mission. The spacecraft ran into development delays significant enough that NASA pulled the plug rather than keep funding the slip.

This trims the roster of Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions still in the pipeline. Fewer landers means fewer new objects to track around the Moon in the near term, and it raises questions about which CLPS contractors NASA leans on next.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

GAO: Navy and Army Lack a Unified Hypersonic Missile Strategy

A GAO report found the Navy is roughly two years behind schedule modernizing Zumwalt-class destroyers for hypersonic weapons, part of a hypersonic effort now topping $50 billion. GAO says the Navy and Army are duplicating work without a shared strategy across services.

Hypersonic glide vehicles are notoriously hard to track with legacy missile-warning satellites because of their flight profile. Program delays on the launcher side don’t fix that sensor gap - Golden Dome’s space layer still has to solve it independently.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Satellite of the Day

COSMOS 2538

COSMOS 2538, also known as Kosmos-2536, is a Russian radar calibration satellite launched on July 10, 2019, from the Plastun Launch Site (PLMSC) via Soyuz-2-1V. Operated by TSKHM, this compact 100-kilogram spacecraft carries the Nivelir No. 5 payload, designed to support radar system validation and calibration across Russian military and civilian networks. Its relatively small size - just 1 meter long with a 0.4-meter diameter - makes it an efficient platform for this specialized mission.

Radar calibration satellites like COSMOS 2538 serve as reliable reference points in space, allowing ground-based radar systems to verify their accuracy and performance. Flying in a sun-synchronous orbit, this satellite provides consistent passes over target regions, enabling operators to cross-check radar measurements against a known celestial reference. While not as high-profile as communications or Earth observation satellites, calibration missions are critical infrastructure for maintaining the precision of space situational awareness and defense radar networks worldwide.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track COSMOS 2538

Upcoming Space Launches

July 18

• Skyroot Aerospace Vikram-I:
  • Demo Flight from Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad (05:00 UTC) A test flight of the Vikram-I, a 4-stage orbital launch vehicle developed by Indian private company Skyroot Aerospace, capable of delivering up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit. The first three stages use solid fuel motors, topped by a hypergolic upper stage. Watch Live Launch Preview

July 20

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 17-39 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base (14:00 UTC) Deployment of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit; first-stage booster B1082 will attempt its 23rd landing on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean. Watch Live

• SpaceX Starship:

  • Flight 13 from Orbital Launch Pad 2, SpaceX Starbase (22:45 UTC) A suborbital test flight of the third development version of the fully reusable Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle. Booster 20 and Ship 40 will attempt controlled splashdowns in the Gulf of Mexico and Indian Ocean, respectively, while deploying 20 V3 Starlink satellites. Watch Live Launch Preview

July 21

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • MRV-1 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (21:15 UTC) Launch of another batch of satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL-E) mission extension. The Falcon 9 first stage will land on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean. Watch Live

July 22

• Orienspace Technology Gravity-1:
  • Unknown Payload from Yellow Sea (Launch Location 5), Haiyang Oriental Spaceport (02:44 UTC) Details TBD. Gravity-1 is a 4-stage solid-fueled launch vehicle developed by Chinese private company OrienSpace, capable of delivering up to 6,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit. Launch Preview

July 23

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 3B/E:
  • Unknown Payload from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2), Xichang Satellite Launch Center (11:52 UTC) Details TBD. The Long March 3B/E is a medium-range launcher specially developed for transporting heavy communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. Launch Preview

July 24

• CAS Space Kinetica 1:

  • Unknown Payload from Launch Area 130, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (02:00 UTC) Details TBD. Kinetica 1 is a solid-propellant light launch vehicle developed by CAS Space, capable of placing about 2,000 kg into Low Earth Orbit. Launch Preview

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 8A:

  • Unknown Payload from Commercial LC-1, Wenchang Space Launch Site (11:00 UTC) Details TBD. The Long March 8A features an increased capability of up to 9,800 kg to a 700 km altitude sun-synchronous orbit, using upgraded YF-75H engines.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 17-51 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base (14:00 UTC) Deployment of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit; first-stage booster B1082 will attempt its 23rd landing on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean. Watch Live

July 28

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 17-52 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base (02:00 UTC) Deployment of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit; first-stage booster B1082 will attempt its 23rd landing on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean. Watch Live

Schedule Changes

• The Skyroot Aerospace Vikram-I Demo Flight status has been updated from “Go for Launch” to “Launch in Flight,” indicating the mission is currently underway.

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