Science
Drone warfare in space: Swarms of autonomous, laser-shooting cubesats could defend Western satellites in orbit
Key Points
<p>Mark is an award-winning freelance aviation and space journalist and author of the non-fiction book &quot;N-4 DOWN: The Hunt for the Arctic airship Italia.&quot; He began writing for Space.com in 2026 and writes for a range of publications, from BBC Future to The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Quarterly and others. Mark won awards two years in a row at the Aerospace Media Awards for features he had written on the history of drones and astronaut training.
<p>Mark is an award-winning freelance aviation and space journalist and author of the non-fiction book "N-4 DOWN: The Hunt for the Arctic airship Italia." He began writing for Space.com in 2026 and writes for a range of publications, from BBC Future to The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Quarterly and others. Mark won awards two years in a row at the Aerospace Media Awards for features he had written on the history of drones and astronaut training. Space grabbed hold of Mark’s imagination when, as a child, he saw the opening scene of "Star Wars: A New Hope" for the first time and has never let go. Away from the final frontier, Mark can be found walking his dog along the country lanes of England’s Cotswolds.</p>