Air and Space Forces Magazine — Systems Delta 85 aims to get new hardware and software to operations floors, launch facilities, and orbit sooner by consolidating pieces of the acquisition process under one roof. It will be paired with mission deltas, the Space Operations Command units that handle daily operations.

Aviation Week — The launch strategy for the two Escapade satellites, demonstrates how fleets of spacecraft could set off every few weeks from the same launchpad and fly into L2 holding orbits, then continue on to Mars.

ExecutiveGov — NASA is soliciting proposals from student teams to design, build, and test rovers for exploring the Moon and Mars. The final excursion event will be in Huntsville, Alabama, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Payload — Aerospace convened a riskgaming exercise among commercial executives and Space Force officials. “A lesson from this is vastly greater empathy for people in government,” said Sam Ramji, CEO of AI startup Sailplane.

In a column for SpaceNews, former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology Kurt “Spuds” Vogel argues: “It’s time for transformational leadership to reclaim America’s space agency’s mission-first legacy and restore the bold, achievement-oriented culture that once inspired the world.”

SpaceNews — The head of NASA’s science directorate, Nicola Fox, said the agency remains committed to using small satellites to carry out a variety of missions, although those plans face uncertain budgets.

Breaking Defense — ULA Vulcan’s first National Security Space Launch (NSSL) carried an experimental satellite to demonstrate new technologies for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) into geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).

SpaceNews — The Space Force will assume control of all space missions currently handled by Air National Guard units by Oct. 1, a consolidation move that bypasses years of lobbying for a separate Space National Guard.

SpaceNews — The Aerospace Corporation is refining technology to enable cubesats to share data through optical links, after demonstrating the capability early this year. Such a move would allow communication at greater distances and to work more autonomously.

SpaceNews — The Aerospace Corporation is preparing to send the first DiskSats to orbit later this year, to demonstrate the performance and maneuverability of the small satellites.