Space & Aerospace
Launch, satellites, astronomy and aviation.
When a Billion-Dollar Satellite Goes Dark in Orbit, Who Decides It's War?
A Mitchell Institute workshop with 50 military and academic experts gamed out scenarios including an unknown craft maneuvering near a Space Force missile-warning satellite, exploring how commanders decide when hostile space activity crosses the threshold for response.
The Man Who Learned to See Light: Dan Roelker’s Quiet War for the Sky
How Dan Roelker, from hacker to SpaceX software lead, built a company that sees space not through radar—but through light, transforming how we track satellites, communicate across the solar system, and finally understand the chaos we’ve created in orbit.
The MANGOS Are Coming: How AI and Space Giants Are Rewriting Big Tech’s Playbook
SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are all preparing record-breaking public debuts that could replace the old FAANG oligopoly with a new MANGOS coalition of AI and space giants — redefining what it means to be a tech superpower.
When Rockets Outpace Cars: The AI-Driven Convergence of Space, Grid, and Road
How SpaceX’s $2.1T valuation, GM’s battery pivot, and Decart’s AI simulation are forcing a radical rethink of mobility as one interconnected system.
Unpacking NASA's Artemis Pivot: The Cost of Stalled Hardware
A brief analysis of how skyrocketing costs and delays in Artemis programs—specifically the Universal Stage Adapter—justified NASA's recent strategic shifts.
Roelof Botha joins SpaceX's board of directors
Former Sequoia Capital leader Roelof Botha joins SpaceX board, filling an existing vacancy days after the company's record-breaking IPO.
After Nearly Breaking, NASA's Deep Space Network Worked Well on Artemis II
NASA's Deep Space Network faced unprecedented challenges during Artemis I but recovered with critical upgrades for Artemis II.
Curiosity Rover at 13: How JPL Engineers Keep the Mars Veteran Doing Science
An exploration of the engineering ingenuity and remote maintenance strategies that have kept NASA's Curiosity rover operational on Mars for over a decade.