Space Systems Command

US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network

SpaceX has won a lucrative contract to provide the US military with a means of distributing space-based sensing and targeting data, forming the "backbone" of a rearchitected network after separate Pentagon initiatives stalled, officials announced Tuesday. Space Systems Command, the Space Force's primary procurement and acquisition center, announced the $2.29 billion firm-fixed-price agreement, confirming long-simmering reports that the Pentagon was likely to tap SpaceX for a new...

US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network

Ahoy, DECmate II the little PDP-8 that could

Now, that's a lot of word processing. But under the hood it's still at least PDP-8 adjacent, even considering its oddities and incompatibilities, and you can make it do many of the things a full-size Eight can. We'll take this basic unit, convert the floppy drives to solid state, tap the video output, and put it through its paces.

EU eyes developing new joint military capabilities to curb reliance on US

BRUSSELS — EU defense chief Andrius Kubilius is exploring a new initiative for countries to jointly fund military capabilities like air-to-air refueling now provided by the U.S., three European Parliament officials told POLITICO. Under the scheme, governments interested in joining could voluntarily devote a share of the higher defense budgets approved last year by NATO countries to jointly develop battlefield kit that helps sustain military operations, the people said, adding that the EU...

The best new popular science books of June 2026

This is a month to look out for some powerful new books, with authors taking on challenges of all sorts and imagining whole new worlds. There are fresh ways to think about a cancer diagnosis, a book tackling the real inner world of hormones, in which we are all hormonal all the time, plus a major re-envisioning of the natural world where we abandon the shallows of competition for the depth and intricacies of connection and togetherness. Welcome to the symbiocene.

NASA announces astronauts for its Artemis III mission to test new moon landers

NASA on Tuesday named the four astronauts it plans to send on the Artemis III mission, the next major step in its return-to-the-moon program. Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas are expected to launch into Earth orbit next year, with the goal of testing out two commercially built lunar landers being developed to carry NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon in 2028. Bresnik will be the mission’s commander, with Parmitano, an Italian astronaut with the European...

Artemis III crew revealed: NASA announces astronauts for 'one of history's most complex missions'

Artemis III crew revealed: NASA announces astronauts for 'one of history's most complex missions' NASA's Artemis III crew has been revealed. The astronauts will launch into low Earth orbit next year to test docking with commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. NASA has named the crew for its upcoming Artemis III mission, which the space agency says will be one of the most complex missions in history.

Rovers, regolith, robots: The blueprint for the moon

Rovers, regolith, robots: The blueprint for the moon Lisa Lock Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor The "soil" blanketing the moon's surface isn't actually soil. It's a fine, lethal, abrasive powder of shattered rock and jagged glass that shreds gaskets, chews through seals, and hangs in an airless environment blasted by unfiltered radiation and temperature swings that can warp steel. Scientists call it lunar regolith.

Artemis III: Luca Parmitano selected for next stage of NASA's lunar landing mission

NASA has unveiled the Artemis III crew for a proposed 2027 mission to test key Earth-orbit technologies ahead of sending a human crew to the Moon. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will pilot Artemis III**,** NASA confirmed on Tuesday, one of the key missions to prepare a human crew to return to the moon for the first time since 1972. Parmitano's inclusion underlines the central role played by Europe in the new phase of space exploration.

UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

Executive summary This report reveals how retired senior British military figures are frequently presented in the UK media as purely independent experts on defence and security matters without mention of their personal commercial and employment interests in the defence, technology, intelligence, and security sectors in those reports. By analysing media reports between 2015 and May 2026, AOAV identified a repeated pattern where almost 60% of former key military personnel with links to the...