Jason Turpin is the manager of the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at NASA Marshall.

The cold-flow test series gathered critical information for the design of the flight instrumentation and control system for a reactor engineering development unit.

The cold-flow test series simulated operational fluid-dynamic responses for a flight-like space reactor design.

Nuclear propulsion offers benefits including increased speed and endurance for complex deep space missions.

The cold-flow tests at NASA Marshall represent the culmination of a multi-year activity involving NASA and its industry partners.

Test engineers demonstrated that the reactor design is not susceptible to destructive flow-induced oscillations, vibrations, or pressure waves caused by fluid-structure interactions.

Greg Stover is the acting associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The cold-flow test series served as a pathfinder for manufacturing, assembly, and integration of near-term flight-capable nuclear propulsion systems.

More than 150 aerospace, defense, and space (AD&S) deals were announced in Q1 2025.

Executive Order 14335 framed commercial space as a national-competitiveness priority and ordered agencies to streamline licensing, permitting, and environmental review for launches and novel space activities.

Executive Order 14335 elevated the Office of Space Commerce within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

NASA expanded the use of fixed-price, milestone-based Space Act Agreements and Other Transaction Authority structures as part of acquisition reforms.

Global M&A deal value increased meaningfully in 2025 compared with 2024.

NASA’s acquisition reforms applied especially to programs like Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) and shifted more performance and schedule risk to contractors while preserving long-term demand visibility for successful contractors.

The European Commission published a draft EU Space Act in mid-2025 that would apply to both EU and non-EU operators providing space services in Europe.

President Trump issued Executive Order 14335, ‘Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry,’ in 2025.

Average EV/EBITDA multiples held up or ticked higher in favored sectors during the 2025 M&A rebound.

Space-related transactions in 2025 benefited from deregulation headlines, NASA budget signals, and increased willingness among strategic buyers and private equity to pay premiums for orbital infrastructure and supply chain assets.

The draft EU Space Act includes safety, resilience, and environmental provisions and envisions a staged implementation beginning around 2030.

Aerospace, defense, and space (AD&S) experienced a double-digit increase in announced transactions in 2025.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard tourist flights provide roughly ten minutes of microgravity at the edge of space.

Blue Origin is taking a step back from space tourism aboard its New Shepard vehicle.

SpaceX is offering crewed flights to the International Space Station with tickets priced at $55 million.

SpaceX is expected to supply the landing vehicle for NASA’s Artemis III mission.

Employees at Blue Origin learned of the New Shepard shift via an internal company email sent on Friday.

There are doubts that the landing capsule will be ready in time for NASA’s 2028 Artemis deadline.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp directed the company to redirect people and resources toward accelerating human lunar capabilities inclusive of New Glenn.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard program completed 38 launches that included a mix of science payloads and 17 crewed flights.

Blue Origin plans to increase New Glenn flight cadence and to double down on its lunar commitments to NASA.

CesiumAstro received $470 million in funding on February 2, 2026.

CesiumAstro’s latest hardware includes AI-powered processing capabilities for real-time threat detection and secure, jam-resistant communications.

CesiumAstro has a strategic partnership with the Taiwan Space Agency to provide payloads for Taiwan’s upcoming LEO communication constellations.

CesiumAstro provides high-end communication technology to satellite manufacturers ranging from startups to established prime contractors.

CesiumAstro focuses on developing active phased array communication payloads rather than building complete satellite buses.

CesiumAstro is a potential supplier for future tranches of the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The Make More in America initiative is designed to strengthen domestic supply chains and revitalize U.S. manufacturing in space and aerospace.

A $200 million portion of CesiumAstro’s funding was provided by the Export-Import Bank of the United States under the Make More in America initiative.

CesiumAstro’s payload-first satellite architecture uses modular, software-defined hardware to provide flexible connectivity and sensing capabilities.

CesiumAstro positions itself as a domestic alternative to vertically integrated space companies such as SpaceX.

CesiumAstro is accelerating development of a manufacturing facility to mass-produce its payload-first satellite architecture.

The $470 million capital infusion is intended to industrialize production of high-performance active phased array communication payloads for commercial and defense customers.

SpaceX’s FCC filing describes the orbital data center constellation as a high-bandwidth, optically linked network of solar-powered satellites with computing capacity intended to power advanced artificial intelligence models and their applications.

The FCC approved SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional Gen2 Starlink satellites and authorized expanded frequency use and waivers of satellite power limits within the United States.

SpaceX launched 20 Starlink satellites on December 4.

Funding an orbital data center constellation has been cited as part of the rationale for SpaceX to pursue an initial public offering.

SpaceX is reported to be in talks to potentially merge with Elon Musk’s AI company xAI before going public.

SpaceX plans to design different versions of the orbital data center satellites for different orbital shells.

SpaceX’s FCC filing states the orbital data center satellites would operate between 500 kilometers and 2,000 kilometers altitude and at inclinations of 30 degrees and Sun-synchronous orbit.

SpaceX’s FCC filing projects that launching 1 million tonnes per year of satellites at 100 kilowatts of compute power per tonne would result in about 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually.

SpaceX’s FCC filing does not include timeline targets for deployment of the orbital data center constellation.