Space & Satellites News The Robotics Media's Space & Satellites category covers robotics and AI in orbit and beyond, including satellite servicing missions, planetary rovers, robotic arms on spacecraft, autonomous docking systems, and lunar and Mars exploration hardware. Coverage spans agency programs from NASA, ESA, and JAXA as well as commercial players in launch, in-orbit servicing, debris removal, and Earth observation. Readers will find mission updates, technology deep dives, funding news, and analysis of the space robotics industry.
IonQ says quantum generative model beats classical baselines on satellite SAR change detection — Sep 27, 2026 — IonQ ran a Quantum Circuit Born Machine on live trapped-ion hardware against real Capella Space SAR imagery of MCAS Miramar and Réunion Island, showin...NASA Picks $1.2B PRIMA Far-Infrared Telescope As First Probe Explorer — Sep 26, 2026 — NASA has selected the PRIMA far-infrared space observatory, led by JPL and Caltech, as the first mission in its new Probe Explorers class, with a 2033...SpaceX Falcon 9 Set For Classified USSF-385 Launch From Vandenberg — Sep 26, 2026 — USSF-385 will fly a classified Space Force payload from Vandenberg on Saturday, with Falcon 9 booster B1100 targeting its 10th flight and a droneship...Google Launches First TPU Satellites To Orbit On SpaceX Transporter-18 — Sep 24, 2026 — Google's Project Suncatcher will loft four Trillium TPUs aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare on Oct 1, testing the case for orbital AI data cente...SpaceX Hits 700th Falcon Flight, Completes SES O3b mPOWER Constellation — Sep 21, 2026 — Falcon 9 launched the final three O3b mPOWER satellites for SES from Cape Canaveral, closing out the 13-spacecraft MEO broadband constellation on Spac...China Launches Four More PIESAT-2 SAR Satellites On Long March 2D — Sep 21, 2026 — A Long March 2D lifted PIESAT-2 satellites 13-16 to a 700-km sun-synchronous orbit on Sept 19, growing the GalaxySpace-built, PIESAT-operated commerci...SpaceX Falcon 9 Lofts 27 Starlink V2 Mini Satellites From Vandenberg — Sep 20, 2026 — SpaceX's Falcon 9 boosts 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites from SLC-4E on booster B1093's 17th flight; landing marks the 662nd overall recovery...Voyager Wins Space Force Contract To Develop Satellite-To-Satellite Comms Waveform — Sep 20, 2026 — Space Systems Command has tapped Voyager Technologies to develop a flight-ready waveform for direct satellite-to-satellite communications across milit...SpaceX Pushes Starship Flight 14 To Sept 28 For First Orbital Attempt With 26 Starlink V3s — Sep 19, 2026 — SpaceX moved Starship Flight 14 to no earlier than September 28, 2026, aiming for the vehicle's first true orbital attempt and the deployment of 26 ne...Icarus Robotics Flies ISS-Bound JOY In Weightlessness, Locks In May 2027 Launch — Sep 19, 2026 — Brooklyn startup Icarus Robotics flew its JOY free-flying robot through 66 parabolas of microgravity, clearing the last major hurdle before handing ha...Space Force Names GMTI Program 'RRS-G' With Northrop As Prime, SpaceX AMTI Launches This Month — Sep 19, 2026 — The US Space Force has designated its ground moving-target radar program RRS-G with Northrop Grumman as prime, and Secretary Troy Meink confirmed SB-A...Rocket Lab Notches 16th Electron Of 2026 With Earth-Observation 'Happily Ever Faster' — Sep 17, 2026 — Rocket Lab has flown its 16th Electron mission of 2026 from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, delivering a confidential Earth-observation satellite to...Circuits Integrated Hellas Bags Pre-Seed From Evercurious For CI-ONE Ka-Band Satcom Chip — Sep 16, 2026 — Athens-based semiconductor startup Circuits Integrated Hellas has closed a pre-seed round from Evercurious VC to commercialise CI-ONE, a Ka-band integ...Open Cosmos Bags €300M To Turn Europe Into A Space Data Superpower — Sep 16, 2026 — British-Spanish smallsat maker Open Cosmos raises €300M in a Lightrock-led round to expand four European satellite factories and scale its ConnectedCo...Space Epoch Tops Up Series B To ~$320M For Reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 Rocket — Sep 16, 2026 — Chinese launch startup Space Epoch has topped up its Series B round to roughly RMB 2.3B (~$320M) as it races toward the first orbital flight and sea-b...Vega-C lofts Sentinel-3C and FLEX to watch Earth's climate — Sep 16, 2026 — Avio's Vega-C rocket launched EUMETSAT's Sentinel-3C and ESA's FLEX satellites from Kourou in a double-header for Europe's climate-monitoring programm...SpaceX Flies USSF-153 Classified Payload For US Space Force From Vandenberg — Sep 11, 2026 — SpaceX launched the classified USSF-153 payload for the US Space Force on September 10, 2026 from Vandenberg — its 5th national-security mission of th...IBM And NASA Ship Open-Source Lunar Foundation Model For Ice, Craters And Landing Sites — Sep 10, 2026 — NASA and IBM open-source the Lunar Foundation Model, joining the Prithvi family on Hugging Face and outperforming baselines by up to 23% on ice, crate...GalaxySpace Completes China's First Turnkey Satellite Export To Southeast Asia — Sep 8, 2026 — Beijing-based GalaxySpace launched the Lingzhi-09 CubeSat plus ground system and training package for Thailand's GISTDA, marking the first end-to-end...Isar Aerospace Reaches Orbit From Norway, Delivering Western Europe Its First Homegrown Launch — Sep 7, 2026 — Isar Aerospace's second Spectrum rocket flew 'Onward and Upward' from Andoya on September 5 2026, deploying five CubeSats and giving Western Europe it...