We are cutting through the orbital debris for you. In other words, we’re keeping an eye on space news on the web so you don’t have to.
Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of March that we haven’t covered on our main stories
Space orders can also be found in another post.
Notable missions and events
Progress MS-30 space freighter carrying new space suit and supplies docked with International Space Station (ISS)
Varda proved its W-2 Space Capsule via its fiery re-entry test and successful return to Earth in Australia
Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander completed its mission but not before taking the first solar eclipse photo from lunar surface
Boeing hopes to recover the reputation of CST-100 Starliner with another NASA test flight
Sentinel-1A had its life extended.
Anomalies, delays and failures
Odin asteroid probe is probably lost before it got anywhere close, as is Lunar Trailblazer which flew on same launch
Lucky escape: ULA notes manufacturing defect caused solid rocket booster nozzle failure on otherwise successful second Vulcan flight
Cygnus NG-22 flight to ISS delayed by damage to the cargo module sustained during its delivery
Falcon 9 booster topple after landing was caused by leak caused fire – stage returned to Port Canaveral
New Glenn first stage landing was unsuccessful because of “BE-4 engines not re-igniting properly” after propellant-related issues
Space Exploration
Uncrewed Starship will fly to Mars in 2026 with humanoid robot aboard, according to Elon Musk
NASA will switch off two instruments on the Voyager spacecraft to extend their lives
China has opened its Tianwen-3 sample return mission in 2028 to international collaborators and revealed its exploration plan
Human space
NASA Crew 9 landed safely (returning ‘stranded astronauts’) as Crew 10 went to the ISS
Shenzhou-19 astronauts ventured out of Chinese Space Station Tiangong to fit debris shielding during a spacewalk
Chinese commercial firm AZSpace wants to launch its own astronauts/taikonauts
Space Science
Microbes established an ecosystem on the ISS
An unexpected higher sea level rise was recorded by NASA spacecraft – thermal expansion blamed as well as melting ice
Global warming might actually cool highest atmospheric altitudes, leading to reduced drag on satellites and debris
Space Technology
China’s 100 kW magnetoplasma-dynamic thruster may give it the edge in planetary exploration
Chinese nuclear engineers pointed out the superiority of their lunar reactor over the US version
Miles Space demonstrated its Poseidon M1.5 thruster Miles Space using water as a propellant
Starcatcher to demo intersatellite energy beaming initially in a ground test
Argotec announced its new plug-in module Hawk Plus bus design
Military Space
X-37B (OTV-7) spaceplane mission ended with landing after elliptical/GTO flight including orbital changes via aerobraking
US DoD to test use of Starship for superfast transportation to warzones
SDA criticised for Tranche 0 laser test mission underperformance as SDA admits mistakes
The US restored satellite imagery to Ukraine but Europe has started looking at alternatives to Starlink for Ukraine
Firms demonstrate fast post-launch tracking to US Space Force
Booz Allen has put forward its ‘Brilliant Swarms’ plan for the US ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence shield
Space situational awareness may be affected by staff cuts, US official warns as the US Space Force budget is trimmed
As China launches TJS-16 ‘experimental comsat’ probably used for electronic intelligence, its TJS-15 releases a subsat
Space Companies
Rivada to start its Outernet Ka-band constellation
Geopolitical shifts boost Lightspeed as concerns about political reliability of Starlink makes AST SpaceMobile head towards European destiny
Intuitive Machines wants to diversify offerings beyond Moon Landings
China’s iSpace (or Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology) cinched a fresh Series D round of funding worth “several hundred million yuan”
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt took up the reins of rocket firm Relativity as its CEO
ULA’s chief Tory Bruno lambasted a critical report as out of date
Despite all its woes, Boeing underlined that it remains committed to space business
Direct-to-device is where it’s at, as Viasat and Space42 team up
In a bid to demonstrate the first WiFi hotspot in LEO, Momentus will carry Solstar’s Deke Space Communicator aboard its Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle in 2026
Rocket Lab to buy Mynaric to expand its intersatellite laser communications
Deep Blue Aerospace raised new funds to conduct its first Nebula rocket orbital launch in mid-2025
SES partners with Lynk as it views machine-to-machine market
NASA added SpaceX Starship to NLS Class II ‘medium risk’ contract category
Spaceports
India starts construction of its second spaceport: Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu.
Space Agencies & Politics
Trump Administration’s cuts to NASA staff has led to whole office closures
SpaceNews itemised the US govt staff cuts here
Arianespace sees opportunity in geopolitical instability
Space Tracking
Slingshot Aerospace‘s contract, to provide part of TraCSS space traffic system, is back on after GAO rejects Kayhan Space protest
Sources include Cision, BBC, CNBC, msn.com, NASA, Orbitaltoday, Payload, phys.org, Politico, scmp.com and SpaceNews with links provided to each story.
