AST SpaceMobile wants its own rocket to launch phone-service satellites, but can Blacklift meet its 2028 target?
On November 6, AST SpaceMobile announced a $1.3 billion agreement with Firefly Aerospace for engines and support for its proposed Blacklift rocket, targeting a 2028 debut.
Why it matters: BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver internet service directly to cell phones, so AST SpaceMobile's ability to put them in orbit affects deployment of that service. Blacklift would give the co…
AST SpaceMobile announced Blacklift and a $1.3 billion agreement with Firefly Aerospace covering engine licensing, engines and engineering support. [4][8]
Background
AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird satellites provide internet service directly to cell phones; the company wants Blacklift to launch those satellites rather than depend entirely on outside rocket providers. [2][8]
Why
The proposed rocket would carry five BlueBird satellites per flight, giving AST SpaceMobile dedicated capacity to expand its constellation. [4]
Who pays
AST SpaceMobile will provide $800 million upfront in equal parts cash and stock, plus $250 million for engines and $250 million for engineering services. [4]
What's next
The announced first-flight target is 2028; Firefly's initial engine package covers the first three rockets. [4][8]
The space station has finished adding new solar arrays, but how long must the extra electricity keep its aging systems running?
On November 5, 2026, Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed the International Space Station’s eighth and final roll-out solar array during a six-hour, 59-minute spacewalk.
Why it matters: The additional electricity supports station operations as the original solar arrays lose output after exceeding their 15-year design life. The new arrays are intended to help keep the station operati…
Hera can now inspect the asteroids altered by NASA’s DART impact, but what did the collision change beyond the smaller body’s orbit?
On November 5, 2026, ESA published Hera’s first close-up of the Didymos asteroid system, taken from 60 kilometers away.
Why it matters: DART demonstrated that a spacecraft impact could change an asteroid’s orbit; Hera is investigating the result so that the technique can become better understood and potentially repeatable if Earth ev…
Hera obtained its first close-up of the asteroid pair from 60 kilometers away, revealing a different side of Didymos from DART’s approach images. [7]
Background
Dimorphos orbits Didymos; NASA deliberately struck the smaller body with DART on September 26, 2022, to test asteroid deflection. [7]
Why
The impact shortened Dimorphos’s orbit by 33 minutes, give or minus one minute, making it the first Solar System object whose orbit humans measurably changed. [7]
The catch
ESA scientists expect debris to have crossed the roughly one-kilometer gap, but must determine which observed features came from that transport. [7]
What's next
Hera will conduct a close-up investigation and map changes across both bodies to help explain DART’s effects. [7]
A robot was sent to extend Swift’s life, but why did the rescuer return to Earth before the telescope?
On November 4, NASA’s 1,450-kilogram Swift observatory reentered Earth’s atmosphere over northern Sumatra, ending a 22-year mission after an unsuccessful orbital rescue.
Why it matters: Astronomers have lost an observatory that studied gamma-ray bursts for roughly 11 times its original two-year mission. Its attempted rescue also illustrates a practical constraint on extending satell…
The ISS is preparing its final roll-out solar array, but what must astronauts complete before the power upgrade is finished?
On November 3, Joshua Kutryk and Anil Menon prepared for a November 5 spacewalk to install the ISS’s eighth and final roll-out solar array.
Why it matters: The completed upgrade would give the station about 55 additional kilowatts of generating capacity, roughly 34% above its previous 160-kilowatt level. The work supports a station where crews are simul…
Three missions could expose different gaps in Earth's climate system, but which can turn its scientific promise into a workable satellite?
On September 25, 2026, ESA selected ECO, Keystone and CryoRad for the next preparatory phase of its twelfth Earth Explorer mission.
Why it matters: The choice will determine which measurement gap this mission addresses: Earth's energy imbalance, the upper atmosphere or conditions inside polar ice sheets. Each targets a different limitation in un…
NASA wants to keep Hubble doing science, but can commercial servicing beat its declining orbit?
On October 29, 2026, NASA requested industry information on options to boost, service or safely dispose of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Why it matters: Hubble cannot maintain its own orbit because it has no propulsion system; extending its scientific life therefore requires an outside intervention rather than an adjustment by the telescope itself.
A new array is generating power on the space station, but one more installation remains before the upgrade is complete.
On October 29, 2026, Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed a roll-out solar array during a seven-hour, 11-minute International Space Station spacewalk.
Why it matters: The completed upgrade would add about 55 kilowatts, roughly 34% above the stated 160-kilowatt capacity, to an orbital laboratory conducting plant, exercise and materials research.
New panels help power the ISS, but how much can they offset the decline of arrays already beyond their design life?
On October 29, Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed and deployed an upgraded solar array during a seven-hour, 11-minute ISS spacewalk.
Why it matters: The station's eight original arrays have exceeded their 15-year design life and are producing less power. Operating the roll-out arrays alongside the older panels has increased the station's power su…
Hera can now distinguish its asteroid targets, but what did humanity’s impact actually do to the smaller one?
On October 27, ESA released Hera’s first image separating Didymos and Dimorphos, captured on October 18 from 1,280 kilometers away.
Why it matters: Dimorphos is the first Solar System object whose orbit was measurably shifted by human action, but scientists still need its mass, structure and impact damage to explain the deflection and make kinet…
Lumina gives astronomers a larger simulated universe, but will its predictions match what telescopes see?
On October 26, researchers from MIT, Harvard University and elsewhere presented Lumina in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Why it matters: Astronomers can compare Lumina’s predictions with telescope observations to test whether existing theories explain early galaxies and the gas between them; the simulation is a testing ground, not evi…
NASA is giving two landers different routes to the Moon, but which will be ready to carry astronauts in 2028?
On October 23, 2026, NASA outlined revised lander operations and a 2027 Earth-orbit test mission aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon in 2028.
Why it matters: NASA is building an alternative path to the lunar surface if either SpaceX or Blue Origin encounters technical or supply-chain delays, rather than making the first landing depend on one provider’s sc…
