Month: July 2026

Rocket Lab, the New Zealand / US company, has made a name for itself in the smallsat market – possibly the fastest growing sector of the space industry – both as a launch provider via its Electron rocket (around US $7.5 million per launch). It’s one of the most successful commercial space companies going (although still to consistently earn a profit), and it is growing its reputation both in the commercial sector and in support of US government-related launches.

In this latter regard, in June 2026, the company set a new benchmark for military responsive space operations under the United States Space Force’s (USSF) TacRS – TACtical Responsive Space – programme. This is a programme designed to place satellites into orbit on short notice during a crisis. VICTUS HAZE, the test involving Rocket Lab, tested the concept under demanding timelines and cleared several milestones well ahead of schedule.

In particular, the company was able to take a payload – their Pioneer demonstrator of a satellite they have been specifically developing to meet USSF requirements – from storage through ground check-out, fuelling and integration into a launch vehicle and thence to orbit in under 17 hours, beating the previous TacRS test mission’s record by 10 hours. Key to this was Rocket Lab’s ability to complete all trajectory guidance calculations in order for Pioneer to rendezvous with its intended target in just 4 hours, including coordinating all the required ground tracking stations around the world.

While the launch didn’t shave time off of the satellite’s on-orbit initialisation process, it still meant that within 3 days of launch, the satellite was ready to begin rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) with a target a vehicle in a simulation of chasing down and observing a Chinese satellite which had itself been launched in order to snoop on an orbital asset operated by a western nation.

The success with VICTUS HAZE further enhanced Rocket Lab’s status as a company that delivers on its promises. Whilst specialising in the smallsat market – perhaps the fastest-growing sector of the commercial space industry – using its Electron rocket putting small payloads in orbit for around US $7.5 million a shot, the company is far more than a launch provider.

As well as providing launch vehicles for customers, Rocket Lab has a dedicated satellite development capability enables the company to provide the payloads customers are seeking to fly. Further, and as demonstrated by Victus Haze, Rocket Lab has the ability to manage and co-ordinate satellites in orbit on their client’s behalf – Pioneer remaining under Rocket Lab’s operational control on behalf of US Space Command. Thus, the company is able to provide a full vertical stack of satellite development, launch and operational capabilities to customers.

While Electron, with its current maximum payload capacity of 300 kilos is the most well-known of the company’s rockets, it is not the only vehicle Rocket Lab operates. There is also the Electron-derived HASTE vehicle, specifically designed for flight test opportunities in the hypersonic and suborbital system technology development field.

A HASTE vehicle was most recently used in February 2026 to lift the DART AE hypersonic demonstrator to a release altitude where it could test advanced propulsion, materials, sensors and guidance systems under real hypersonic flight conditions (5x the speed of sound). Built by Australia’s Hypersonix on behalf of the US DoD, a unique part of DART’s design is that the scramjet engine it uses is 3D printed.

In a typical twist of humour reflective of Rocket Lab’s CEO, New Zealander Sir Peter Beck, the rocket used to successfully launch and deploy DART AE for its (also successful) test flight was called That’s Not a Knife – a reference to an iconic scene in the film Crocodile Dundee, thus referencing the Australian heritage of hypersonic vehicle.

As I’ve reported on several times in these pages, Rocket Lab is also developing a new reusable medium-lift launch vehicle (MLLV) called Neutron. This is due to make its maiden flight later in 2026, and has already gained worldwide recognition for it novel approach to payload carrying.

Rather than have the payload and the upper stage of the rocket mounted on top of the first stage, they are mounted inside the rocket’s first stage behind a pair of clamshell doors which will open up to release both – giving them the nickname of the “Hungry Hippo” – before closing to allow the complete booster to return to Earth.

Currently, Neutron is expected to make its maiden flight later in 2026, despite the loss of a propellant tank intended for the first flight-ready vehicle during pressure tests in January, 2026. The company has reported that it is now entering into vehicle integration, ground-testing of both the rocket’s main Archimedes engines and the vacuum-optimised version used in its upper stage is proceeding, and the construction of the new Neutron- capable launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia is complete.

Through its unique design and the reusability of its first stage, Neutron will be able to deliver up to 13 tonnes to low-Earth orbit with the first stage reused. This might not sound much compared to Blue Origin’s New Glenn or SpaceX Falcon Heavy, but it actually places Neutron right in the sweet spot of launch capabilities: able to meet requirements of 98% of all commercial payloads through until the end of 2029 (were all those contracts up for grabs). Thus, it is well-placed to compete not only with the behemoths in the market (which have to wait around until they have sufficient payload to make launches reasonably cost-effective), but very much directly against SpaceX Falcon 9.

At the time of writing, Rocket Lab is attempting to acquire Iridium Communications for some US $8 billion. Iridium operates a network of 80 satellites in near-polar orbits (66 operational, 14 in-orbit back-ups). This constellation provides a globe-spanning network for voice and data communication from handheld satellite phones, satellite messenger communication devices and integrated transceivers, as well as for two-way satellite messaging service from supported mobile phones.

If the deal goes through, it will mean Rocket lab has entered another area of competition with SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb – one which comes with an already established satellite network and 2.54 million billable subscribers (which is well short of Starlink’s 10 million). In addition, Iridium provides services for the US government, airlines, cruise ship and shipping operators. Perhaps most significantly, the Iridium system is certified for use in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and for Future Air Navigation System (FANS) data links, neither of which is supported by the other providers, thus putting Rocket Lab in a unique position to harness new customers.

All of which speaks to a lot for a little rocket company that decided it can.

1 Launch, 1 Billion Kilometres and a Rendezvous

In May 2025, China launched one of its most ambitious missions so far: sending a robotic vehicle to rendezvous, land on and gather samples from a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) and then return those samples to Earth.

It’s not the first time there has been such a mission, both NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and Japan’s Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, have all gathered samples from near-Earth objects; however for China, Tianwen-2 (“’Heavenly Questions-2”) is an ambitious step considering the relative age of their space programme.

The target of the mission is 469219 Kamoʻoalewaa (also known as 2016 HO₃), what is called a quasi-satellite because there are periods in its orbit around the Sun where it passes close enough to Earth to become temporarily caught by Earth’s gravity, orbits the planet numerous times whilst continuing along its orbit around the Sun before moving off once more until the next time its orbit and that of Earth intersect. What makes 469219 Kamoʻoalewaa particularly interesting for study is that it is believed to be a piece of our Moon ejected into space when an impact created the crater Giordano Bruno on the lunar far side.

Rendezvousing with such an object might sound relatively simple compared to sending a probe to somewhere like Mars. However, orbital mechanics mean that doing either is a complex task – particularly in the case of 469219 Kamoʻoalewaa, about which relatively little was known in terms of trajectory when the mission launched. In all, it took over a year for Tianwen-2 to close on the asteroid with frequent course corrections guided using observations from Earth, travelling 1 billion kilometres in the process.

In early June, the probe was able to detect the tiny asteroid – just 27.4 metres across – directly, rather than relying on guidance from Earth. This allowed it to initiate a capture control manoeuvre, settling into trajectory alongside that of the asteroid, matching its orbital path rather than simply crossing it. Through the first part of June, the probe gently closed the distance between itself and the asteroid to just 2,000 kilometres.

By July 2nd, 2026, Tianwen 2 had reached an altitude of 20 km above the asteroid, allowing it to commence its primary science mission. The vehicle will now carry out an intensive survey of the asteroid as it gradually decreases the separation between them until at 300m, with a sampling site determined, Tianwen-2 will attempt to touch-down briefly on the asteroid’s surface and gather around 100 grams of material.

If successful, this will be the first time a spacecraft from Earth has used an anchor-and-attach approach method to physically fix itself on an asteroid to gather samples. Both of the Hayabusa missions and OSIRIS-REx used touch-and-go, essentially closing to a point were a sampler gathering device could make contact with the target for long enough – a couple of seconds – to gather a sample before springs in the device compressed by the mass of the spacecraft released to push it away. However, in case Tianwen 2’s anchor and attach mechanism proves unsuitable, the craft also has a touch-and-go capability for sample acquisition.

Following sample gathering, Tianwen-2 will return to Earth, ejecting its payload before heading back out into space for a rendezvous comet 311P/PanSTARRS, which it will reach in 2035.

Astronomers Discover 1st Atmosphere around an Earth-sized Planet in a Star’s Habitable Zone

LHS 1140 is a red dwarf star appearing in the constellation of Cetus (the Whale), approximately 48.8 light-years from our own star. It has 18.4% the mass of the Sun and is 21% of its radius. It is also the parent to two exoplanets – LHS 1140 b and LHS 1140 c.

Of these, LHS 1140 b, is classified a “super Earth”, being roughly 70% larger in radius than Earth and with a mass 5.6 times greater. It orbits very close to its parent star – some 0.095 AU – taking just 24.74 terrestrial days to complete an orbit. Despite this, the planet sits within the habitable zone for 1140, and because of the star’s small size, it receives around 0.43 times the incident flux – the amount of radiant energy received by a surface per unit area, typically expressed in watts per square meter (W/m²) as Earth does.

For some time since its discovery in 2017, observations of LHS 1140 b during its transits in front of its parent star have suggested one of two things: either it is a large rocky world with an atmosphere and perhaps 19% of its surface being water; or it might be a mini-Neptune with a really dense, hydrogen-rich atmosphere. To try to determine which of these might be true, in September 2024 a team of astronomers carried out a 6.5 hour observation of the planet’s transit in front of its star using the Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. During this period, the team measured an excess absorption feature consistent with helium, which they interpreted as a hydrodynamic atmospheric outflow driven by stellar X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet heating.

In other words they detected both an outflow of helium from the planet, indicating it has a potentially helium-rich atmospheric envelope consistent with a world. A further study in 2025 further resulted in measurements consistent with the September 2024 study, minus no excess helium absorption, suggesting the planet’s atmosphere is relatively stable atmosphere which is not constantly outgassing under the influence of a solar wind from its parent star. That the atmosphere appears to be predominantly helium also means the indications that water could exist on the planet’s surface are likely accurate.

Of course, being classified “Earth like” and having an atmosphere does not mean there is life on LHS 1140 b – nor does the fact it sits within its star’s habitable zone. However, all of the data gathered suggests that LHS-1140 b has a temperature at least equitable to Earth’s Polar Regions so the water on its surface could well be in part liquid, rather than totally frozen; and if the atmosphere is sufficiently dense, then surface conditions could be a lot warmer, and so more liquid water might be present.

Two of the key determinants in assessing whether a planet like LHS 1140 might be capable of supporting life once it has found to have an atmosphere and the potential for liquid water are: how active is the parent star, and whether the planet is tidally locked.

Most red dwarf stars tend to be violent places; their small size means they suffer powerful convection currents which can led to violent flaring and other outbursts fully capable of ripping the atmosphere away from a planet as close to it as LHS 1140 b is to its parent. However, at an age close to that of our own Sun, LHS1140 is surprisingly clam for its size, meaning there is a good chance of LHS-1140 b retaining its atmosphere for long enough for life to potentially take hold.

Tidally locked refers to a planet being so close to its star that it ceases rotating about its own axis and instead keeps the same side facing the star (like the Moon keeps its same face towards Earth). In these situations, it means that one side of the planet is in perpetual sunlight whilst the other is constantly exposed to space and thus to freezing. This can lead to the planet have extreme weather, particularly along the terminator between the day and night sides of the planet. However, such conditions don’t necessary rule out such a place supporting life – but it does make it harder.

As such, there is still a lot more that needs to be understood about LHS 1140 b, but the fact we now have what appears to be the first direct evidence of an atmosphere around another world means we will likely be able to find others.