NASA puts 34-meter deep-space antenna into operation
DSS-23 began operations at Goldstone on Aug. 3 after testing from May through July.
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.
DSS-23 began operations at Goldstone on Aug. 3 after testing from May through July.
ROSALIA will remove stray, thermal, zodiacal and stellar light from Roman’s faint-universe observations.
The crater formed on Aug. 5, 2026, when a Falcon 9 upper stage hit the lunar surface.