In early 2026, the U.S. Congress rejected plans to slash NASA’s science budget and restored funding to help keep the Artemis roadmap on schedule.

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C achieved a soft lunar landing days after March 2, 2025.

Artemis II will carry four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

The hardware staged at Launch Pad 39B represents the current pinnacle of heavy-lift capability for the Artemis program.

Artemis I launched uncrewed from Space Launch Complex 39B on November 16, 2022.

Data from Artemis I provided the baseline required to certify the SLS and Orion for human occupancy.

Artemis was designed to establish a foothold in cislunar space rather than merely replicate the Apollo landings.

NASA introduced the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to designate NASA as one of many customers for private lunar landers.

The architectural roots of Artemis draw heavily from the cancelled Constellation program, specifically the Orion crew capsule and the Space Launch System (SLS).

In December 2025, NASA awarded Blue Origin a delivery task order for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).

At maximum distance, the Artemis II crew will fly approximately 6,400 miles beyond the Moon’s far side.

Artemis was formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1.

Artemis I sent the Orion spacecraft into a distant retrograde lunar orbit and tested the capsule’s heat shield during a high-velocity re-entry that reached 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Artemis Accords have built a coalition of over 40 signatory nations.

The Artemis II crew will become the first humans to venture beyond Low Earth Orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Project Suncatcher's proposed architecture targets a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 650 kilometers.

Project Suncatcher must avoid millions of orbital fragments traveling at speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour.

The success of the two Project Suncatcher prototypes will determine the feasibility of scaling the constellation to meet global demand for AI training and inference.

Project Suncatcher's 81-satellite cluster will require advanced autonomous flight control to maintain tight formations separated by as little as a few hundred meters.

The targeted sun-synchronous orbital shell at approximately 650 kilometers contains high concentrations of defunct satellites and rocket stages.

Project Suncatcher utilizes a modular satellite design to maximize mass efficiency and compute power per kilogram.

Google partnered with Planet Labs PBC to launch two Project Suncatcher prototype satellites by early 2027.

Google estimates that solar panels in the targeted sun-synchronous orbit can be up to eight times more productive than on Earth.

Project Suncatcher's existence became public in November 2025.

The two Project Suncatcher prototype satellites will assess Tensor Processing Unit performance under orbital conditions including radiation exposure and thermal cycling.

Project Suncatcher is a research moonshot to deploy a constellation of solar-powered satellites equipped with Tensor Processing Units to perform high-scale machine learning compute in Low Earth Orbit.

The density of debris in the targeted sun-synchronous orbital shell raises concerns about Kessler Syndrome, a runaway chain reaction of collisions.

The U.S. Office of Space Commerce is seeking U.S. stakeholder perspectives and feedback regarding the regulation and competitiveness of U.S. space businesses in the Indian market.

The U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group provides a mechanism for structured collaboration to address challenges promptly and pursue mutual goals.

The Office of Space Commerce’s Call for Input takes into account the 2023 India Space Policy and its subsequent implementation with special attention to effects on Earth observation data goods and services.

In late 2023, the Civil Space Joint Working Group formed a Commercial Space Sub-Working Group co-chaired by the U.S. Office of Space Commerce and the India Department of Space (DOS)/Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Interested organizations may submit a response to the Office of Space Commerce’s Call for Input via a Google Form.

The Commercial Space Sub-Working Group’s goal is to strengthen U.S.-India space-related trade and conditions for that trade.

Information collected by the Office of Space Commerce will support U.S. government preparation for the Civil Space Joint Working Group, the Commercial Space Sub-Working Group, and other U.S.-India government engagements aiming to improve U.S. market access and remove barriers to U.S.-India space-related commerce.

The IN-SPACe NGP governs how private companies (Non-Governmental Entities) are authorized for launches, satellite operations including remote sensing, and ground stations in India.

The Commercial Space Sub-Working Group initially focused on market access, export controls, government procurement, and foreign direct investment.

The Office of Space Commerce’s Call for Input will help the U.S. government identify and prioritize issues to work on in the Commercial Space Sub-Working Group and other U.S.-India government engagements in 2026 and beyond.

IN-SPACe published the Norms, Guidelines and Procedures for Implementation of Indian Space Policy 2023 in respect of Authorization of Space Activities (NGP) in 2024.

The 2023 India Space Policy is intended to commercialize and privatize space activities in India.

Implementation of the 2023 India Space Policy is currently managed via executive guidelines rather than a formal law while a Space Activities Bill originally introduced in 2017 is being reworked and updated to provide a permanent legal foundation.

The U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group was established in 2005.

Indian government members of the U.S.-India working groups include the Department of Space, ISRO, IN-SPACe, National Institute of Space Law (NISL), and the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Indian remote sensing industry is regulated by the Guidelines for acquiring and producing Geospatial Data and Geospatial Data Services including Maps published by the Department of Science and Technology.

The Office of Space Commerce is interested in challenges faced by U.S. companies that provide remote sensing-related goods and services to the Indian market, including licensing, data access and restrictions, and downstream service provision.

U.S. government members of the U.S.-India working groups include the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Transportation with support from the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Kyivstar is a Ukrainian subsidiary of VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON).

SpaceX filed with the Federal Communications Commission to orbit future cellular satellites at altitudes as low as 326 kilometers.

Starlink’s Direct to Cell architecture uses a “cell tower in space” design that employs advanced phased array antennas to connect directly to standard LTE handsets without hardware modifications.

The Starlink Direct to Cell service is accessible at no additional cost to all 15.5 million Kyivstar 4G smartphone users through their existing tariff plans.

Kyivstar has reached 3.0 million registered users for its Starlink Direct to Cell satellite connectivity service as of January 15, 2026.