Stoke Space readies Nova rocket for potential 2026 debut
Stoke has mated Nova’s payload module, upper-stage tanks and Andromeda 2 engine for fit checks.
Reusable rockets, Earth observation, constellations: orbit is becoming infrastructure.
Orbit is becoming infrastructure: reusable launchers driving down the cost per kilogram, constellations that connect and observe, Earth observation feeding agriculture, weather forecasting and climate monitoring. The section follows flights, commissionings and order books — SpaceX of course, but also the Chinese, Indian, Japanese and European launchers the general press skims over.
The angle stays the journal’s: what changes concretely, quantified and sourced. A launch is not a feat but a price per kilogram; a constellation is not a project but a number of active satellites and a service rendered. We distinguish the test flight from the commercial cadence, and the announcement from the signed contract.
Stoke has mated Nova’s payload module, upper-stage tanks and Andromeda 2 engine for fit checks.
Zenno Astronautics’ Supertorquer is integrated into Portal’s Starburst-1 spacecraft.
The crater formed on Aug. 5, 2026, when a Falcon 9 upper stage hit the lunar surface.
The booster reached orbit’s edge, landed on four legs and later tipped over after a fire damaged one leg.
Hubble detects evidence of a galaxy collision 11.8 billion years ago.
Starling used onboard cameras to locate itself by tracking objects in orbit.
Hubble identified globular clusters left by the Milky Way’s ancient merger with dwarf galaxy LKH.
Aerospacelab is building 264 of the 368 satellites for the EU’s Iris2 constellation.
Zhuzhou now links satellite assembly, launch, data processing and applications.
Firefly fired a Miranda engine for 226 seconds as Eclipse moves toward its first launch next year.
NASA’s model predicts emerging solar active regions up to 12 hours before they appear.
Avio is building a temporary launch site in Sardinia for its FD1 rocket demonstrator.
NASA is modifying a 737 for parabolic flights that simulate lunar gravity.
Wenchang reached its 50th launch as China expanded AI and in-space computing missions.
Astranis is developing a new Perceptor vehicle based on its MicroGEO satellite platform for security missions in GEO.
Five working lenses on Chile’s unfinished MOTHRA telescope found 22 stellar debris shocks.