Left out by the state, residents take SpaceX concerns to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
“our politicians have once again sold their souls for corporate welfare,”
the Louisiana Legislature recently passed a slew of laws that shield SpaceX and companies with similar projects from certain legal responsibility and damage claims from residents affected by their facilities.
The Current, by Stephen Marcantel, September 3
State leadership sought no public comment on a massive SpaceX project in Vermilion Parish. Louisiana residents took their concerns to the feds instead.
By the time the public comment period on a proposed Federal Aviation Administration rule change closed Monday night, thousands had shared their thoughts — more than half of them mentioning Louisiana and its rapidly eroding coastline, fragile wetlands and migratory bird populations.
The proposed change would allow the FAA to fast-track approval of launch facilities like SpaceX’s recently announced Starbase Louisiana in Vermilion Parish. In the planning process for that $100 billion project, there was no official public comment process prior to approval, leading over 1,000 people to voice their concerns to the FAA instead.
“We tamed this land, full of mosquitoes, water moccasins, and alligators, to the best of our ability. We’ve become symbiotic [with] all of the nature in south Louisiana,” self-described lifelong Louisiana resident and Vermilion Parish native Tim Meaux writes.
“Apparently my voice, and millions of others, have zero say [in] what becomes of Vermilion Parish because our politicians have once again sold their souls for corporate welfare,” Meaux continues in his comment to the agency, asking them to hold SpaceX accountable. “With our Louisiana government completely failing to hold on to any protection for us, you are our last bastion of hope.”
On the state level, the Louisiana Legislature recently passed a slew of laws that shield SpaceX and companies with similar projects from certain legal responsibility and damage claims from residents affected by their facilities.
The 1,647 public comments specifically mentioning Louisiana, a majority of which were submitted in the week after the SpaceX announcement, criticize the plans for the 125,000-acre Vermilion Parish launch facility, and warn of the possibly irreparable harm that a launch site could cause if federal guardrails were waived.
“Anyone who lives here and knows the area, the marshlands, ecosystem, knows this is the most inappropriate site for such a facility,” writes Nina Guidry, who describes herself as a Vermilion Parish resident. “[The] majority of people in this parish, if asked, would be dead against SpaceX locating here. We were never given that courtesy. It was decided in backroom deals of our state legislators signing NDAs and our governor. It will impact a centuries old way of life & traditions.”
If approved, the new rule would waive the need for compliance with more than a dozen environmental protections, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, in the issuing of permits for launch facilities.
A handful of environmental groups, such as the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation and the Pontchartrain Conservancy, were among the first to publicly criticize the waiver request, which the FAA proposed on July 30.
“We believe a strong permitting review does help with site planning and project construction. Other projects undergo the same review, and these are really important oversight processes to protect our natural resources.” Rebecca Triche, director of the LWF, tells the Current.
Of the more than 3,000 comments on the proposed waiver, more than 600 comments mention Vermilion Parish directly, many coming from current or former parish residents.
Paula Rae Broussard, an American expat living in New Zealand who has roots in Vermilion Parish, says she’s “deeply concerned” about the effect the waiver may have on the protection of the fragile ecosystem around the planned SpaceX site.
“Vermilion Parish should not be treated as a test case for reducing federal environmental oversight simply because the project promises economic development,” she writes in her comment. “My grandparents live on land that has been in our family since my great-great-grandparents. That land isn’t just property. It is our history. It is where our family comes from. It is our place.”………………………………………
“The proposed rule builds on President Trump’s innovative “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry” Executive Order and advances a decades-old Congressional mandate to simplify and expedite commercial space licensing,” an FAA spokesperson told The Current.
……………………………………………………. https://thecurrentla.com/2026/left-out-by-the-state-residents-take-spacex-concerns-to-faa/
Nuclear Liability Beyond Earth: Who Pays for an Incident on the Lunar Surface?

European Journal of International Law by Yunus Emre Bakiler and Güneş Ünüvar, September 2, 2026
Lunar exploration during the 20th century sought to reach, explore and, in some cases, return from the Moon,; rather than to serve as successive stages in the construction of permanent lunar infrastructure. Today, lunar missions are mostly about establishing the long-term infrastructure necessary to remain there. Under the Artemis Programme, NASA is developing phased infrastructure for long-term operations and an enduring human presence near the lunar south pole. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), led by China, is envisaged as an expandable facility capable of long-term robotic operation and shorter periods of human participation. Commercial entities are already involved in lunar delivery and landing services, while prospective activities extend to communications, mobility, power supply, prospecting and the use of lunar resources.
For sustained operational presence anywhere, power is a common dependency. This is certainly the case for the Moon, and nuclear power is one alternative. In January 2026, NASA and the US Department of Energy announced that they would work towards deploying such a fission surface power system by 2030. NASA now describes “Lunar Reactor-1” as a reactor intended to land on the Moon in that year. Nuclear surface power is therefore becoming part of near-term planning for sustained lunar operations.
These developments form part of a broader and increasingly global debate over lunar governance. Among the legal questions raised is the liability regime that would apply if a nuclear incident occurred on the lunar surface, but the interaction between the international space law liability framework and the civil liability regimes developed for nuclear installations has yet to receive any scholarly and policy attention. Can a state be held liable for a nuclear incident occurring on the face of the Moon under international law? The blog post will argue that instruments available under international law, while entirely relevant, fall short of providing a conclusive answer to the question. It will also suggest a tentative model for the way forward…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
The existing UN Principles on Nuclear Power Sources and the 2009 UN–IAEA Safety Framework provide important safety guidance, but they do not create a detailed governance framework or a compensation regime. The development of lunar nuclear power should be accompanied by an equally serious effort to identify the applicable liability architecture embedded within a robust, comprehensive lunar governance framework. Once a reactor is operating on the Moon, uncertainty over fault, compensable damage, competent fora and available financial resources will be immediate realities. The legal framework should be developed alongside the technology and not in response to its first, potentially catastrophic, failure. https://www.ejiltalk.org/nuclear-liability-beyond-earth-who-pays-for-an-incident-on-the-lunar-surface/
Nuclear microreactors move towards operational capability for military, space energy solutions

Robert Dougherty, Space Connect, 04 September 2026
Advanced nuclear microreactors are moving towards operational capability as military and space energy solutions, according to recent comments from Antares Nuclear co-founder and CEO Jordan Bramble.
Bramble, speaking to a US House science committee on 2 September, confirmed that the microreactors are expected to have major implications for military energy resilience, national security, and space power.
Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 reactor reportedly reached criticality on 4 June this year at Idaho National Laboratory, and the company plans to operate its Mark-1 reactor at INL for six months in 2027, followed by military deployments at Fort Bragg and Joint Base San Antonio in 2028.
He also credited the US ADVANCE Act of 2024 and 2025 presidential executive orders with streamlining regulatory processes and establishing a Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program.
“As Antares ramps up production, we are actively exploring commercial applications to provide resilient power to compute capabilities, remote oil and gas hubs, austere mining environments, fulfilment and distribution centres, and more,” Bramble said.
“We are also building nuclear power for space. In December 2025, President Trump signed his Space Superiority executive order 14369, which was followed in April 2026 by the National Science and Technology Memorandum-3, the National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power. We at Antares are responding to this charge.
“The same heat-pipe architecture, passive safety, TRISO fuel, and manufacturability that define our terrestrial microreactor form the design basis for space applications. This dual-use approach aligns directly with NASA’s plans for lunar fission surface power and the Space Reactor-1 Freedom pathfinder. Let me be clear, Antares is eager to build to support NASA’s planned 2028 nuclear electric propulsion demonstration mission as well as lunar surface reactors ready for launch by 2030.”
Bramble speculated around first deployment of an advanced small modular reactor at a military installation by 2028, aligning with an existing executive-order target for an Army-regulated reactor………………………………… https://www.spaceconnectonline.com.au/industry/7263-nuclear-microreactors-move-towards-operational-capability-for-military-space-energy-solutions
Space: the billionaires’ playground




private space companies have relied on government contracts, and particularly military funding, to make themselves both rich and indispensable to state powers. Most recently, private interests have been lining up to slake themselves at a long-dormant tap that they hope will provide a new stream of wealth: the Moon.
According to Musk, humans moving to Mars isn’t just a possibility; it’s a moral imperative. But a closer look suggests Mars is really a distraction meant to dazzle us while Musk accrues ever more money and power here on Earth.
8 July 2026, Lucian Walkowicz, https://newint.org/science-and-technology/2026/space-billionaires-playground?utm_source=ni-email-whatcounts%20&utm_medium=1%20NI%20Main%20List1%20-%20enews%20-%20International%20AND%20North%20America&utm_campaign=YYYY-MM-DD%20enews%20-%207%20August%20enews
As tycoons like Elon Musk attempt to seize space for profit, the Earth is being trashed, writes astronomer Lucian Walkowicz.
For years, the wealthy have been telling us that our salvation lies in space.
‘There is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multiplanetary’, billionaire Elon Musk has said, claiming that getting to Mars will prevent human extinction, and is therefore as crucial as tackling poverty.
Meanwhile, his company’s launches from its ‘Starbase’ have trashed surrounding wildlife areas and displaced longtime residents, while the boss harps on about using its heavy-lift rockets as a high-speed, heavily polluting replacement for commercial air travel, and putting factories on the Moon.
Fellow tycoon Jeff Bezos – founder of Amazon, equally notorious for its own ‘humanitarian’ approach – has enthused about housing populations in orbital cylinders and protecting the Earth by taking polluting industries off planet. Meanwhile emissions from his companies’ own deliveries have soared.
These supposedly futuristic visions for space have been weaponized to justify a wide array of activities (both on our planet and beyond it), including expanding state surveillance and violence, dispossessing people of their homelands, cluttering low Earth orbit with garbage, plundering the Moon and polluting both our environment and the night sky.
While outwardly the likes of Musk and Bezos might advocate for our future in the stars, in reality they are greedily gorging themselves at the trough of profit while simultaneously creating the conditions that may bind humanity to Earth forever.
Bait and switch
Musk in particular has an outsized influence that exemplifies how space narratives have been wielded to justify a vast array of projects on Earth.
Before SpaceX had their rapid rate of rocket launches, before they were sending rafts of Starlink satellites into orbit, their main source of press coverage was Elon Musk’s mouth. Born to a wealthy white family in apartheid South Africa, this tycoon substitutes provocation for charisma by making exaggerated assertions and brushing aside details. Drawing on a long history of colonial rhetoric around space, he has managed to harness public attention with his futuristic plans to populate Mars with human settlements.
According to Musk, humans moving to Mars isn’t just a possibility; it’s a moral imperative. But a closer look suggests Mars is really a distraction meant to dazzle us while Musk accrues ever more money and power here on Earth.
Musk has conjured a litany of planet-killing bogeymen to justify his Mars ambitions – from rogue asteroids to the expansion of the sun several billion years from now – in order to argue that migration to Mars is a must.
As for what happens if people get to this radiation-baked, arid, oxidized hellscape? No problem, Musk will simply nuke the polar ice caps and melt them. No matter that most scientists and engineers cock an eyebrow at these supposed easy fixes, nor even that anyone with common sense knows that nuclear weapons do not make planets more hospitable.
Leveraging this allegedly visionary perspective, SpaceX has been able to harness not only the imaginations of the wider public, but of its workforce as well. The company offers a seductive opportunity for people who want to see a science fiction future come to reality. But few in the sector seem to think carefully about which of the many futures depicted in science fiction are actually on offer. Despite numerous reports over the years of gruelling and dangerous working conditions, as well as rampant racist and sexist harassment, SpaceX continues to attract workers with a glimmer of Mars in their eyes.
Meanwhile, by manufacturing urgency around this goal, Musk has also been able to justify the expansion of SpaceX’s business at breakneck speed. The ‘move fast and break things’ ethos infuses much of the tech industry, but paired with Musk’s pose as global saviour, SpaceX has been able to gain damaging momentum, outpacing regulatory structures around launches, orbital traffic and environmental protections. This drive has allowed Musk to tap a deep vein of wealth via military contracts, stuffing his coffers and elevating him to quasi-statesman status.
Greater good or greater greed
Take the Starlink satellite megaconstellation. Like Musk’s plans for Mars, Starlink – which first entered commercial service in 2021 – was framed as a necessary project, whose merit only the most selfish person could deny. Its purported goal was to provide internet to so-called ‘underserved’ communities.
But as Starlink began pumping hundreds of reflective satellites into orbit, astronomers promptly raised the alarm that they had begun to mar the night sky. Some also pointed out that Starlink’s service was both unneeded and priced out of reach for the places it was supposedly meant to help, pointing out the twisting of the word ‘underserved’ from its usual meaning of underresourced to ‘a place that does not have enough free market choices’.
Today there are nearly 9,500 Starlink satellites in space, meaning that this single project by a US company is now responsible for 65 per cent of satellites in low Earth orbit, a sea-change that has taken less than seven years. The massive increase in overall numbers has raised widespread alarm over the possibility of extremely high speed collisions and the potential for an escalating cascade of further collisions, known as the ‘Kessler syndrome’. The resulting ballistic debris would ultimately make entire regions of space around earth unusable.
Every time we take the extension of capitalism beyond Earth as a foregone conclusion, we disregard the myriad ways all Earth life has related to our skies.
Of course, there are also the impacts here on Earth: before Starlink satellites create light pollution in the night sky, the launches that put them there create pollution in our immediate environment. A single launch of one of SpaceX’s rockets, the Falcon 9, releases an amount of carbon into the atmosphere equivalent to driving a typical car 70 times around the world.
The satellites themselves also have a limited lifespan of a few years, after which they deorbit into our atmosphere, spreading metal pollution (including mercury) across the planet. Meanwhile, organizers in the Rio Grande Valley have raised the alarm for years about the environmental damage and gentrification driven by SpaceX’s presence in the area of its ‘Starbase’.
Regulatory frameworks have struggled to keep up with SpaceX’s impact: while there are US regulations around launches and their environmental impacts, few were really developed with space in mind, and none were equipped to deal with SpaceX’s high volume of launches. Under the most recent Trump administration, already inadequate regulation has become even looser. In February 2026 the FCC fast-tracked a proposal for SpaceX to launch a million new satellites as part of its plan to create orbital data centres to support an expansion of AI. Meanwhile other countries get no say in this company filling the skies.
We’d do well to question whether the profusion of AI into every aspect of human existence is making things better or simply drowning us in brain-rotting slop.
No matter, though: the people best positioned to profit from cramming a million new satellites into space claim orbital data centres will preserve our planet by eliminating their demands on its land, energy and water resources. However, that argument relies on people thinking of space as a realm that is separate from Earth, when it is Earth’s resources and environment that bear the consequences of this huge profusion in the number of launches required to transport satellites off the planet, as well as the vapourized metals from them reentering its atmosphere.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what Starlink’s intended purpose is, or whether anyone can afford it, because individual internet users aren’t SpaceX’s target customer – the military is. Because of wide adoption of the more secure, military-grade version of Starlink, called Starshield, militaries around the world now treat Musk as a de facto statesman who has the capacity to determine which conflicts have access to the internet at which time. For example, in April 2025, SpaceX was awarded $6 billion dollars by the US military for 28 launches that year. This was just one contract.
On top of that, SpaceX is working with the US’s National Reconnaissance Office on the development of ‘Ground Moving Target Indicator’ technology, a space-based panopticon designed to better track people’s movements on Earth.
Even more recently, some have commented that SpaceX’s relatively low launch costs open the possibility of permanent weapons installations in space. ‘Imagine a strike package of thousands of 200-pound bombs, on electric grid sites, government buildings, railway crossings, border stations and road intersections – without putting planes or military personnel at risk’, gushed writer on geopolitics Michael Hochberg in the Wall Street Journal this April.
The ideological capital gained by SpaceX via Musk’s plans ‘for Mars’ has allowed him to hoard massive wealth. Meanwhile these projects pose a grave threat to human futures both in space and on Earth by enabling state surveillance and acts of war, crowding low Earth orbit with potential debris that could one day bar our access to space entirely, and raining pollution into our atmosphere, land and water.
Space is a place
There is a tendency for people to believe that space, in all its wild expansiveness, is beyond the realm of humankind. However, we are literally in and of space. There is no crisp boundary between where Earth’s atmosphere stops and space begins, and like all borders, the ‘boundary’ of space – formally called the von Kármán line – is a collective fiction that has practical utility but not material reality.
While the few humans who have crossed the von Kármán line (whether professional astronauts or celebrities who can afford a ticket) garner the most attention, their number is miniscule compared with people whose lives are enmeshed with space while remaining on Earth. Some of these people are professionals at government agencies or private companies, but most are not space workers at all.
They include anyone who uses tools that rely on space infrastructure, like GPS, but also those who are acutely impacted due to living in the vicinity of launch sites. After all, SpaceX is merely continuing a colonial legacy: near the equator, where the rotation of the Earth provides a slightly bigger boost to launching rockets, launch sites like Brazil’s Alcântara Space Center and the European Space Agency’s Guiana Space Centre, in French Guiana, have dispossessed communities from their lands and battered the surrounding ecosystems since the 1980s and 1960s, respectively.
Moreover, the money lives on Earth. The question of how to squeeze an actual profit out of space, independent of the state, has stymied many a thirsty capitalist.
The rash of asteroid mining ventures that cropped up 15 years ago have now largely shuttered or gone dormant, as no one yet knows how to lasso and plunder an asteroid without the cost outstripping the benefit. Instead, private space companies have relied on government contracts, and particularly military funding, to make themselves both rich and indispensable to state powers. Most recently, private interests have been lining up to slake themselves at a long-dormant tap that they hope will provide a new stream of wealth: the Moon.
Lunar plunder
While many governments and companies around the world have set their sights on the Moon, the US is the driving force in radically reshaping common understandings of space that have been with humanity throughout its existence. Government contracts have been a reliable source of income for private space companies since the first military surveillance satellites. What’s new is the US’s accelerating demolition of publicly funded institutions in favour of private enterprise, enabling a modern crop of companies to act with greater autonomy.
This is particularly concerning in what it might mean for the Moon. Unlike Mars or asteroids, the Moon is essentially in Earth’s backyard: while having a sustained human presence there still presents difficult challenges, getting to its surface is a solved problem. In the past few years, the space agencies of India, China, Japan and the US have all successfully landed robotic spacecraft on the Moon, often with participation from private companies profiting off government contracts. US-based company Intuitive Machines also became the first private company to land there independently.
The combination of the Moon’s proximity and the US’s refusal to embrace international agreements, like the Moon Treaty, that provide stricter lunar protections, has opened up the possibility of private entities being able to independently plunder the Moon for ‘space resources’, ie anything that can be excavated and sold on Earth.
The Moon is a source of helium, and particularly helium-3, an element with widespread industrial applications, of which there is a shortage. The Moon also has potential reserves of water ice, which could be used to create fuel for launching rockets from the lunar surface, or used to support a human presence.
In 2020 the United States and seven other signatories released the Artemis Accords, a set of US-driven international agreements created in anticipation of its own Artemis Program. The Accords circumvent existing international channels for space diplomacy, like the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), allowing the US to essentially bully other nations into accepting a US-centric framework for lunar exploitation.
The Artemis Accords, along with a more recent chaotic splatter of space-related Executive Orders by president Donald Trump claiming to ‘ensure American space superiority’, make explicit a shift away from viewing space as the common heritage of humanity. Rather, the Artemis programme is instead being used to paint a picture of the moon as not only a place humans can go, but one where we can extract and exploit. While until now private companies have mostly benefitted from lucrative contracts to go to space, future prospects have everyone from small space start-ups to Lockheed Martin drooling over the possibility of extended plunder and occupation of the Moon.
In the context of rising fascist tides around the globe, the US’s renewed focus on human spaceflight through Artemis functions as a kind of time machine back to a future that never was.
One of fascism’s defining characteristics is a preoccupation with national decline, paired with a promise of rebirth that can only be actualized through removal of enemies. In the fascist cosmology of today, the Apollo moon landings were the beginning of a future that died on the vine, a future that projected colonial projects and control out into the infinite, with the power to consolidate social hierarchies In the first Trump administration, then-vice president and chair of the National Space Council, Mike Pence, repeatedly said that Artemis would put ‘the first woman and the next man’ on the Moon.
A woman alone on the Moon is unthinkable, so the next man is always mentioned. In this image, the Moon and Artemis astronauts are used as a stand-in for the Garden of Eden: Artemis is literally the virgin sister of Apollo, the Moon an unsullied landscape in which a man-woman pair can be placed to restore the US to a time before the imagined invasion of the administration’s internal and external enemies.
NASA press around the Artemis programme similarly often mentions the diversity of its astronaut corps, but doubling down on American individualism cannot separate Artemis from its utility as propaganda. After all, a handful of people who are not white men leaving Earth’s atmosphere cannot conceivably be a sign of liberatory progress, at least not while squads of paramilitary police kidnap hundreds of thousands of people off the streets of US cities.
Reclaiming space
Space is and has been many things to many people: while the Moon may currently be the stage for US propaganda, it has also been a companion to all life on Earth since our planet’s earliest days. The Moon remains the most visible part of space in light-polluted cities, where most people now live. It has been at the heart of human cultures for our entire existence, not just as a practical tool and biological rhythm, but also a relative, a deity, a reminder and more.
Despite aligned campaigns of both state and capital to radically reshape and control the contours of how people imagine and relate to space, the way that space functions in the fascist imagination is not the only way. Every time we take the extension of capitalism beyond the realm of Earth as a foregone conclusion, we disregard the myriad ways that not only humans but all Earth life has related to our skies. Remember: fascism is relatively new; the cosmos has seen everything.
Space’s wealthy beneficiaries tell us that if we will all just stand aside and let them plunder the heavens, a glossy future awaits humankind. However, we need look no further than the physical realities of space industries to see these stories crack: natural sanctuaries littered with debris from launch sites, an orbit filled with trash and surveillance. The damage done to our own planet in the name of a rush to prospect beyond it is its own evidence that colonialism in space has never been anything but colonialism on Earth.
Whether it’s in the form of Mars colonies, asteroid mining, space tourism, or Moon bases, their visions are nothing but a bankrupt utopia that promises to line their pockets and leave Earth in ruins.
If the most fundamental requirement for liberation is the ability to imagine that the future contains an abundance of possibilities, we must recognize these attempts to seize space for profit and war as attempts to shrink the horizon of potential human flourishing. Can we act to reclaim space for futures that include us all? Only (space)time will tell.
Secret ‘Project Mars’ roils Torrance County residents
By Cormac Dodd cdodd@sfnewmexican.com, Aug 1, 2026, https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/secret-project-mars-roils-torrance-county-residents/article_6e15c500-ce01-4a68-a84e-b51d50769a85.html
MORIARTY — Ernest Ortiz learned in late June from a top Torrance County official the state trust land where he runs cattle is eyed for a massive development known as “Project Mars.”
The project, which would oust him from land he has leased for nearly a decade, remains mostly a mystery a month later.
While rumors circulating in the community have raised fears of a possible data center — with residents pointing to the contentious Project Jupiter in Southern New Mexico’s Doña Ana County — Torrance County commissioners have said the proposal would create a different kind of development: a manufacturing center for a U.S. Department of Defense contractor.
Takeaways
Torrance County residents have raised concerns about the largely secret “Project Mars” proposal, voicing fears of a new data center that would require large amounts of water in the parched Estancia Basin.
County Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach said officials were told a Department of Defense contractor is considering a manufacturing campus on state-owned property near the Moriarty Municipal Airport, a project that would bring 300 “high-paying” jobs and an economic boost.
The county knows little else about Project Mars, he said, though he added the development would be constructed on 2,200 to 2,500 acres and wouldn’t be a major water burden, like a data center might.
County commissioners have pointed to “nondisclosure agreements” they say the contractor urged them to sign. State lawmakers who represent the area — Sen. Ant Thornton and Rep. Stefani Lord, both Sandia Park Republicans — also said they had signed NDAs on the project.
Meanwhile, Project Mars faces a major hurdle: The New Mexico State Land Office said it won’t consider leasing state trust land for the development.
A Ton of Space Junk Is Reentering Earth’s Atmosphere More Often, and It’s Hard to Predict

Uncontrolled reentries of 500-kg-plus objects occur weekly, yet prediction errors span thousands of kilometers and no binding rules exist
Al Landes, Jul 31, 2026, https://www.gadgetreview.com/a-ton-of-space-junk-is-reentering-earths-atmosphere-more-often-and-its-hard-to-predict
Key Takeaways
- Uncontrolled space debris weighing up to 2,000 kilograms reenters Earth’s atmosphere weekly.
- Prediction models carry 20–30 percent error, leaving impact corridors spanning thousands of kilometers unknown.
- NASA’s one-in-10,000 casualty threshold is breached weekly yet holds no international legal force.
·Right now, somewhere above your head, a dead satellite or spent rocket stage is losing altitude. Nobody knows exactly where it will hit. Objects weighing 500 to 2,000 kilograms reenter Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled roughly every week, according to ESA and a 2024 peer-reviewed hazard study. This has been happening for decades. The difference now: it’s accelerating, and the rules meant to manage it remain largely voluntary.
The Numbers Are Bigger Than You Think
The scale of uncontrolled reentries dwarfs what most people assume — and the pace is rising.
ESA’s 2025 Space Environment Report counts more than three intact-object reentries per day, adding up to roughly 100 to 120 metric tons of uncontrolled hardware entering the atmosphere annually, per ESA conference analysis. Between 2019 and 2024, an average of 289 sizable objects reentered each year — five to six per week, according to ESA proceedings. Objects exceeding 500 kilograms fall uncontrolled about every eight days, while anything over five tons comes down approximately three times per year. Earth’s orbit currently holds an estimated 9,000-plus metric tons of tracked debris, per NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, and roughly 75 percent of all larger objects ever launched have already reentered, according to ESA.
With our current knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, we are not able to make very precise predictions. There will always be an uncertainty of a few hours in all predictions.” — Holger Krag, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office
Those few hours matter enormously. A tumbling object covers thousands of kilometers in that window. Prediction models carry 20 to 30 percent mean relative error, per CNR-IRIS technical research. That uncertainty window translates to thousands of kilometers of unknown impact corridor — no app notification, no siren, no advance warning of any kind.
So Should You Actually Worry?
The individual risk is genuinely microscopic, but the structural gaps behind that reassuring number are worth understanding.
ESA estimates individual annual injury risk at under one in 100 billion. There are zero confirmed deaths or serious injuries across 50-plus years of reentries, per NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office. Most material burns up on descent. Earth is mostly ocean. Science Focus calculated that debris would miss humans 99.9998 percent of the time even under worst-case assumptions — odds that make a lightning strike look like a safe bet.
But there is a structural problem worth noting. NASA’s safety standard sets a one-in-10,000 casualty threshold per reentry event — yet that standard carries no international legal force. Hazard analyses suggest uncontrolled reentries likely breach that threshold weekly, often without national authorities even registering it. As mega-constellations like Starlink scale up and launch rates climb at a pace that outstrips current debris-mitigation frameworks, the gap between standard and practice quietly widens.
The individual risk stays microscopic. But with cleanup technology — nets, harpoons, drag-enhancement devices — still experimental, the real question isn’t whether debris falls. It’s whether anyone with authority acts before something lands where the cameras are.
Alert: SpaceX rocket stage will slam into the Moon August 4-5. Can Earth’s people stop it?
A piece of a SpaceX rocket is about to hit the moon –https://abcnews.com/US/piece-spacex-rocket-hit-moon/story?id=135225250
News story
A discarded Falcon 9 rocket will collide with the moon at 5,400 miles per hour.
A 5-ton Falcon 9 upper stage discarded by SpaceX is now headed toward the Moon, traveling at 5400 miles per hour, set to slam into the Moon on Tuesday or Wednesday August 4 – 5 (depending on your time zone) – 2:34 am US Eastern Time.
What these dysfunctional pseudo-scientist hooligans fail to consider is that Earth’s rotation and its seasons and climate are moderated and stabilized by the Moon. Earth’s creatures depend on the Moon. Ocean tides depend on the Moon. Attack and pollute the Moon, and it has a direct impact on the Earth. And that’s just from the purely selfish standpoint.
From a deeper perspective, all things are alive, and we are relatives of one another. The Moon is a sovereign living being and territory with rights. These are attacks on the Moon and life.
NASA, SpaceX, corporations, the aerospace industry, and US government treat space and our Moon as their objects of abuse and exploitation. When did our planet of beings even give them permission to commit these deplorable acts?
Most importantly, can Earth’s people stop this event?
What latent abilities do humans have? Can humans strand this rocket carcass in space, using their collective will and power, until someone can safely retrieve it and recycle it into something useful?
The time to act is now, as collectively as possible. to stop this injury to the Moon.
The aerospace industry claims, “We expect [impact] to vaporize the booster.” This is a lie. The ugly reality: the rocket stage will be crumpled, broken debris spread across the landscape from the deep impact trauma wound they — Elon Musk, SpaceX, NASA, the military-industrial complex — cause, hitting the “the western limb of the moon” (Forbes), “the western lunar limb” (ABC News) — personhood language used in media reports.What latent abilities do humans have? Can humans strand this rocket carcass in space, using their collective will and power, until someone can safely retrieve it and recycle it into something useful?
The time to act is now, as collectively as possible. to stop this injury to the Moon.
The aerospace industry claims, “We expect [impact] to vaporize the booster.” This is a lie. The ugly reality: the rocket stage will be crumpled, broken debris spread across the landscape from the deep impact trauma wound they — Elon Musk, SpaceX, NASA, the military-industrial complex — cause, hitting the “the western limb of the moon” (Forbes), “the western lunar limb” (ABC News) — personhood language used in media reports.What latent abilities do humans have? Can humans strand this rocket carcass in space, using their collective will and power, until someone can safely retrieve it and recycle it into something useful?
The time to act is now, as collectively as possible. to stop this injury to the Moon.
The aerospace industry claims, “We expect [impact] to vaporize the booster.” This is a lie. The ugly reality: the rocket stage will be crumpled, broken debris spread across the landscape from the deep impact trauma wound they — Elon Musk, SpaceX, NASA, the military-industrial complex — cause, hitting the “the western limb of the moon” (Forbes), “the western lunar limb” (ABC News) — personhood language used in media reports.What latent abilities do humans have? Can humans strand this rocket carcass in space, using their collective will and power, until someone can safely retrieve it and recycle it into something useful?
The time to act is now, as collectively as possible. to stop this injury to the Moon.
The aerospace industry claims, “We expect [impact] to vaporize the booster.” This is a lie. The ugly reality: the rocket stage will be crumpled, broken debris spread across the landscape from the deep impact trauma wound they — Elon Musk, SpaceX, NASA, the military-industrial complex — cause, hitting the “the western limb of the moon” (Forbes), “the western lunar limb” (ABC News) — personhood language used in media reports.
Go outside tonight and look at the Moon.
Stand up for the Moon before it’s too late.
– – –
Declaration on the Rights of the Moon
https://www.earthlaws.org.au/moon-declaration/
SMR on the moon – micro lunar nuclear reactor

Harlette Capital Ltd today announced the launch of its ALPHA LUNAR™
Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Request for Information (RFI), inviting leading
nuclear technology organisations to collaborate on the development of an
innovative micro lunar nuclear reactor designed for future sustained
operations on the lunar surface.
The ALPHA LUNAR™ programme seeks to
explore the development of compact nuclear power systems incorporating
innovative hydrogen-based technologies to support long-duration lunar
infrastructure, scientific research, communications, robotics and future
human exploration.
As part of the RFI process, Harlette Capital Ltd has
invited leading SMR developers, including Rolls-Royce SMR and Westinghouse
Electric Company, to participate in technical discussions and provide
information regarding technologies that may support future lunar power
generation.
Pressat 29th July 2026, https://pressat.co.uk/releases/harlette-space-goes-nuclear-527a2ba30e5bb80e0558b3f71de1a41e/
Eight NATO allies to create new satellite mega-constellation

The network will involve Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey.
Breakig Defense, By Theresa Hitchens on July 08,
WASHINGTON ― Eight NATO countries plan to link their military satellites into a “mega-constellation” to enable “high-speed communications, intelligence and missile tracking,” the alliance announced on Tuesday at its Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, in a move that joins a number of other a new initiatives aimed at improving NATO space capabilities.
Connecting multiple national satellites will “overcome the cost, time and coverage limitations of single-nation satellite fleets,” a NATO press release said.
The new network, called the Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space (HALO), initially will involve Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey, a NATO official told Breaking Defense today.
“But we expect more to come,” the official added, explaining that NATO is “in the early stages of the initiative.”………………………………………………………………….
APSS, created in 2023 and formally integrated into NATO in 2024, includes a”virtual” intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation, called Aquila that initially involved 17 allies. Member nations also have pledged to jointly fund commercial imagery and ISR products such as 3D maps.
APSS is supported by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), which provides program management, digital infrastructure, data integration and a user interface for allies. Data collected from the network further is funneled into NATO Headquarters via the NATO Intelligence Enterprise. APSS achieved initial operational capability last December…………………………………
Finally, the NATO press release stated that Canada became the 15th member of NATO’s Starlift multinational initiative, “which explores ways to develop a network of launch capabilities that will help Allies launch assets at short notice from spaceports across the Alliance. This will boost NATO’s ability to react more quickly to threats from space.”
Starlift was launched in October 2024 by 14 allies: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. https://breakingdefense.com/2026/07/eight-nato-allies-to-create-new-satellite-mega-constellation/
We condemn the attempted offshore rocket launch by the military, Hanwha, and the Jeju Provincial Government!
Gangjeong Villagers’ Association Against the Naval Base, Gangjeong Daily Resistance Action, Gangjeong Friends, People Making Jeju a Demilitarized Peace Island, People Opposing Space Militarization and Rocket Launches, Justice Party Jeju Provincial Chapter, Jeju Green Party, Islands’ Solidarity for a Sea of Peace, HotPinkDolphins
On June 30, the military and Hanwha attempted to conduct the fourth test of a solid-propellant space launch vehicle off the coast of Seogwipo, Jeju, but were ultimately forced to cancel it [mainly due to technical reasons]. This occurred less than a month after the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace in Daejeon.
An investigation into the cause of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace in Daejeon has revealed some facts. Hanwha has consistently ignored workers’ requests to improve their working conditions. Furthermore, Building 56—the explosives cleaning facility where the tragedy occurred—was an unlicensed structure.
At Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon plant, at least 13 workers lost their lives in explosions in 2018, 2019, and 2026. The company even went so far as to cover up the 2016 accident. At a time when all efforts should be focused on a thorough investigation of the facts and holding those responsible to account, we are outraged that Hanwha has gone ahead with a sea-based launch off the coast of Jeju.
Hanwha’s anti-human rights and anti-life practices, which disregard workers’ human rights and lives, are clearly evident in the Jeju offshore launch as well. In Gangjeong and Daepo Villages—where the sea launch took place—most residents, with the exception of fishing cooperatives that had to suspend operations, did not receive proper advance notice. The residents were not even aware that the object floating in the sea was a launch pad. In the case of Daepo Village, residents were preparing to operate their yachts and boats even on the very day of the launch. The villagers’ right to know about their own living environment and their right to safety were completely disregarded. The Jeju Provincial Government also bears significant responsibility for aiding and abetting the Jeju offshore launch by collaborating with the military and Hanwha.
For this fourth launch of the military’s solid-propellant space launch vehicle, Hanwha Aerospace is providing the launch vehicle, Hanwha Systems is providing the reconnaissance satellite, and Hanwha Ocean is providing the launch pad platform. In other words, this launch—which brings together all three of Hanwha’s major subsidiaries—is entirely for military purposes. On the one hand, this experiment marks the full-scale beginning of efforts to upgrade the military’s satellite network, a long-standing ambition; on the other hand, it serves to conceal even more lethal missile launch tests. Furthermore, the development of solid propellants—which caused the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace in Daejeon—could lead to the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. This means that Hanwha will continue to generate profits in collaboration with military capabilities, leveraging the military infrastructure provided by the Jeju Naval Base.
On May 6, three major Hanwha subsidiaries met with former Pacific Command Commander Harry Harris and others to emphasize that the ROK-U.S. alliance is the cornerstone of Hanwha’s defense industry. However, the Jeju Space Center, which Hanwha constructed last December in the Jeju mid-mountain Groundwater Special Management Zone, is depleting and polluting the drinking and agricultural water that is the lifeblood of Jeju residents. The planned solid- and liquid-fuel engine test facilities on the site cannot rule out the possibility of explosions similar to those in Daejeon. The adjacent river in the Absolute Conservation Area will no longer serve as a lifeline for the island’s residents. The numerous debris and chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, generated during sea-based launches will affect areas hundreds of kilometers away from the launch site, causing suffering and even death to many non-human beings, including endangered marine species. If sea-based launches continue in this manner, the sea—which sustains the people of Jeju and countless marine beings—will soon become a sea of death. The Jeju Provincial Government deserves to be condemned for turning a blind eye to the violation and exploitation of the groundwater and the sea—which are vital to the lives of Jeju residents—for the sake of the military interest and weapons manufacturers’ profits.
On June 29, civic groups in Daejeon and Jeju who had gathered 306 signatures from individuals and organizations nationwide delivered them respectively to Daejeon Mayor-elect Heo Tae-jeong, and Jeju Governor-elect Wi Seong-gon, urging the central and local governments to conduct a comprehensive review of the space and defense industries that threaten life and peace. Governor-elect Wi Seong-gon, who has pledged to carry on the legacy of Governor Oh Young-hoon’s administration and make the space industry a core industry for Jeju, must heed the anger and warnings of citizens, including the people of Jeju. Stop the offshore launch in Jeju. We condemn the plan for an offshore launch in Jeju. Halt the space industry, which is turning our shared living environment into ruins.
We want life and peace, not warships and rockets! We are absolutely opposed to sea-based rocket launches!
We are absolutely opposed to sea-based rocket launches which threaten the survival of Jeju’s marine life!
Stop the Hawon Techno Campus project, which is polluting Jeju’s groundwater and soil and threatening the survival of the local community!
Stop the Hawon Techno Campus Project, which is procedurally unjust and will further militarize Jeju!
A boon for the military, but poison for the people—Stop the space industry cluster!
For more photos, see. https://cafe.daum.net/space4peaceK/bs4u/44
Space Force needs to prepare for an ‘in-person’ moon conflict with China, new report argues
Guardians need a human spaceflight program for future lunar missions, Mitchell Institute says.
Defense One, Thomas Novelly, 23 May 26,
The Space Force should prepare to put active-duty troops on the moon and on space stations to counter China’s lunar and military ambitions, a new research paper argues.
The Mitchell Institute’s paper, published Thursday, calls for the Space Force to prioritize the creation of a “human spaceflight” program and redefine federal, active-duty Title 10 orders to compete against China’s military-focused space initiatives—such as the reported goal of putting its Taikonauts on the moon by 2030. Although Chinese officials as recently as last month have said the country believes in the “peaceful use” of space, the paper claims future “competition for control of lunar resources and territory will likely reach a tipping point” and the U.S. military must be prepared.
With a potential ‘in person’ lunar conflict with China as the contextual touchstone, the U.S. must begin a pragmatic multi-decade effort, leveraging its Space Test Course (STC), as well as partnerships with NASA and commercial space companies, to deliver the skills, tools, and concepts needed for future Title 10 activities to enforce U.S. spacepower-enabling norms and standards,” the report said. “These efforts will require additional funding from Congress for both U.S. Space Force human spaceflight opportunities and residencies at commercial space stations.”
The 22-page policy report calls for blurring the long-standing boundaries between space exploration and militarized operations by allowing Title 10 active-duty federal orders to include “space and lunar habitation” and “warfighting authorities and a national defense mindset in the advancement of human spaceflight.” The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. and China are parties to, calls for the governments to use the moon and other planets for “peaceful purposes” and forbids military bases, testing, and maneuvers. Kyle Pumroy, a retired Space Force colonel and the paper’s author, called for pushing back against those norms………………………………………………………………………………….. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2026/05/space-force-needs-prepare-person-moon-conflict-china-new-report-argues/413747/
United Nations Open-ended working group on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in all its aspects (“OEWG on PAROS”)

Pursuant to General Assembly decision 79/512, the General Assembly decided to convene a new open-ended working group for the period 2025–2028, which would replace the two open-ended working groups established by resolutions 78/20 and 78/238.
The General Assembly decided to task the open-ended working group to submit recommendations on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in all its aspects, and that its discussions and recommendations would be informed by all the relevant General Assembly resolutions on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, including: (a) Resolution 78/20; and (b) Resolution 78/238.
Decision 79/512 decided that the Open-ended working group shall hold a two-day organizational session in Geneva in 2025, and shall meet in Geneva for two substantive sessions of five days each in 2025, two substantive sessions of five days each in 2026, two substantive sessions of five days each in 2027 and two substantive sessions of five days each in 2028.
Sessions
The organizational session of the Open-ended working group on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in all its aspects was held in Geneva from 6 to 7 February 2025 in Room XVIII at the Palais des Nations.
The first substantive session was held in Geneva from 7 to 11 April 2025 in Room XVIII of the Palais des Nations.
The second substantive session was held in Geneva from 21 to 25 July 2025 in Room XVII of the Palais des Nations.
The third substantive session will be held in Geneva from 6 to 10 July 2026 in Room XVI of the Palais des Nations.
The fourth substantive session will be held in Geneva from 23 to 27 November 2026 in Room XVI of the Palais des Nations.
Digital recordings of past public meetings are available here. Live audio streaming for public meetings of the open-ended working group may be found here.
Information for Participants…………………………………………………………………………. https://meetings.unoda.org/open-ended-working-group-on-prevention-of-an-arms-race-in-outer-space-2025
Is America ready for a nuclear explosion in space?

by Peter A. Garretson and Richard M. Harrison, – 06/09/26, https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5915315-space-based-nuclear-weapons/
Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of U.S. Space Command, recently made waves when he publicly discussed a major threat that America’s newest military branch recently war-gamed — that of an adversary detonating a nuclear weapon in space.
At first blush, the scenario seems far-fetched. In truth, though, it is a real possibility.
More than a year ago, in February 2024, House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) was already raising the alarm that Russia could place a space-based nuclear device into orbit. That possibility was later confirmed by the Pentagon.
The White House grasps the danger. A December 2025 Executive Order on Space Superiority directs the country’s relevant agencies to create “a space security strategy that accounts for United States interests in, from, and to space” and “a technology plan for detecting, characterizing, and countering potential adversary placement of nuclear weapons in space.” That strategy, moreover, is expected as soon as June 16.
This public call to action is notable. It marks the first time an unclassified document has publicly directed a response to a nuclear weapon in space. It also reflects the gravity of what is an increasingly plausible threat. After spending several months conducting a deep dive into this subject, we at the American Foreign Policy Council have come to the same ominous conclusions. Space-based nuclear weapons are a serious matter, and one that deserves the very highest level of national attention.
Talk of a nuclear detonation generally triggers visions of cities being destroyed and mushroom clouds. The effects differ when a detonation occurs at a high altitude. While explosions near space, or in space, may not have immediate destructive effects here on Earth, they can prove equally devastating. Even a relatively small nuclear device, detonated at the right place in low Earth orbit, would have a catastrophic impact on U.S. and allied interests.
That is because, while space itself is enormous, the vast majority of modern spacecraft (nearly 90 percent) are in low Earth orbit, most of them satellites. Both the American and the global economy rely on these systems for everything from the functioning of the Internet to aircraft navigation and ship tracking, at a cost of billions of dollars daily, and trillions annually.
Moreover, our intelligence agencies and the U.S. military rely extensively on satellites to detect the movement of adversary ships, aircraft and tanks; to track ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles; and to communicate with our overseas forces. And in the near future, advanced capabilities will allow the U.S. Space Force to globally track everything that moves in the skies or on the ground in real time, in addition to all weather across the entire globe.
A space-based nuclear explosion anywhere could be damaging, but one in low Earth orbit would be crippling. If a nuclear weapon were detonated above this range, in a medium, higher Earth or geostationary orbit, the blast effects would basically only destroy satellites within a few kilometers.
But a nuclear weapon detonated in low Earth orbit would be far more devastating, because it would interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. The resulting radiation would be so strong, it would basically destroy everything in low Earth orbit in under a week’s time — leaving more than 10,000 derelict satellites on intersecting orbits with no way to avoid each other. The resulting destruction would be massive. A nuclear detonation there would truly be a weapon of mass destruction.
Worse still, repopulating those space assets after a detonation would be extremely complicated. We lack a stockpile of military (or civilian) satellites that are radiation-hardened, that could serve as replacements for the dead ones in orbit. Nor do we have proven technology available for deployment in space to reduce the harsh radiation. Finally, we have not yet invested in the technologies that would allow us to build build the satellites needed to replenish low Earth orbit quickly and efficiently.
By next week, the Department of Defense and intelligence community should have an actionable plan to deal with this gargantuan problem — or at least the start of one. Congress needs to stand ready to resource it. Moreover, as we have recommended, it should catalyze investments in space traffic management models, commercial “what if” agreements, radiation remediation technology, radiation-hardened replenishment, and long-term investments in an in-space industrial base above the threat.
Putting such a plan in place is a necessary start. But it will necessitate political will and resolute action on the part of the U.S. government. Otherwise, we risk being left in the dark.
Peter A. Garretson is a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, where Richard M. Harrison is vice president of operations. They are the authors of a new report on Space Nuclear Weapons.
With launches slated to grow a hundredfold, Space Force seeks more sites, money, people, and AI

Even today’s accelerated pace strains decades-old launch facilities.
Thomas Novelly, Defense One, May 7, 2026
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—The guardians manning screens in the mission-ops center here oversaw the launch of five types of rockets in April, a new record that involved NASA’s Artemis II, the first reused New Glenn booster, and a Falcon 9 lofting the final GPS III satellite. But tomorrow’s Space Force may have no time to mark even epochal missions. Within a decade, service leaders say, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will be launching hundreds of rockets a year.
To facilitate the Pentagon’s fast-growing demand for orbital capability, the Space Force is looking for more launch sites, more money, more troops, and more AI.
“In 2025, the Space Force saw a drastic increase in mission requirements across space access, global mission operations, and space control. This trend shows no signs of slowing,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s top uniformed leader, told House lawmakers last week. “The Space Force we have today is not the Space Force we will need in the future.”
Nestled on a thin stretch of land just miles from nature preserves and cruise-ship ports, the historic Cape Canaveral facility launched 36 rockets in 2021, its first year as a Space Force facility. Last year, it sent 110 into the heavens, while its California counterpart, Vandenberg Space Force Base, launched another 65.
This year, Space Force leaders intend to launch more than 200 rockets from their two main launch sites. And by 2036, they project, the pair will launch as many as 3,000 annually, according to a service document released last month.
That’s going to take more launchpads……………………..
even as the Space Force looks to spread its launches around, Lauderdale said, it also needs to expand and improve its two main bases and “pivot to invest in ways we never did before.”
Pushing policy
The Space Force’s top brass has been making that pitch as well.
Last month at the Space Symposium in Colorado, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman unveiled “Objective Force 2040,” an ambitious vision with a section on expanding the service’s launch capabilities.
“As the space domain becomes increasingly linked both to national security and to economic
prosperity, the importance of space access grows commensurately,” the document said. “This is a significant challenge because the Space Force has supported exponential growth in launch cadence over the past few years using the same physical infrastructure first built decades ago. The future operating environment will only exacerbate this strain, with booming government and commercial demand as well as new mission requirements for responsive and scalable space access.”
The document noted that the service will “expand and certify state, commercial, and private launch sites to address routine launches, increase surge capacity, and provide geographic diversity,” but also noted some spaceports won’t be fully suitable for some missions.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. People problems
Increasing the number of launches will require more than money. Top Space Force officers have recently called for doubling the service’s end-strength over the next decade.
But even that won’t be enough, they say. Guardians will need to lean on AI to help.
“Our manpower is going to change,” said Air Force Col. Douglas Oltmer, commander of Cape Canaveral’s 45th Weather Squadron. “It’s going to have to change to be able to flex to that launch cadence, but we will not be able to do the job in the future the way we’re doing it now. We’re going to have to leverage technology, AI tools a lot more than we’re doing now.” ……………………………………………………… https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2026/05/launches-slated-grow-hundredfold-space-force-seeks-more-sites-money-people-and-ai/413403/
With launches slated to grow a hundredfold, Space Force seeks more sites, money, people, and AI

Even today’s accelerated pace strains decades-old launch facilities.
Defense One Thomas Novelly, Senior Reporter, May 7, 2026
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—The guardians manning screens in the mission-ops center here oversaw the launch of five types of rockets in April, a new record that involved NASA’s Artemis II, the first reused New Glenn booster, and a Falcon 9 lofting the final GPS III satellite. But tomorrow’s Space Force may have no time to mark even epochal missions. Within a decade, service leaders say, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will be launching hundreds of rockets a year.
To facilitate the Pentagon’s fast-growing demand for orbital capability, the Space Force is looking for more launch sites, more money, more troops, and more AI.
“In 2025, the Space Force saw a drastic increase in mission requirements across space access, global mission operations, and space control. This trend shows no signs of slowing,” Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s top uniformed leader, told House lawmakers last week. “The Space Force we have today is not the Space Force we will need in the future.”
Nestled on a thin stretch of land just miles from nature preserves and cruise-ship ports, the historic Cape Canaveral facility launched 36 rockets in 2021, its first year as a Space Force facility. Last year, it sent 110 into the heavens, while its California counterpart, Vandenberg Space Force Base, launched another 65.
This year, Space Force leaders intend to launch more than 200 rockets from their two main launch sites. And by 2036, they project, the pair will launch as many as 3,000 annually, according to a service document released last month.
That’s going to take more launchpads…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Pushing policy
The Space Force’s top brass has been making that pitch as well.
Last month at the Space Symposium in Colorado, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman unveiled “Objective Force 2040,” an ambitious vision with a section on expanding the service’s launch capabilities.
“As the space domain becomes increasingly linked both to national security and to economic prosperity, the importance of space access grows commensurately,” the document said. “This is a significant challenge because the Space Force has supported exponential growth in launch cadence over the past few years using the same physical infrastructure first built decades ago. The future operating environment will only exacerbate this strain, with booming government and commercial demand as well as new mission requirements for responsive and scalable space access.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
People problems
Increasing the number of launches will require more than money. Top Space Force officers have recently called for doubling the service’s end-strength over the next decade.
But even that won’t be enough, they say. Guardians will need to lean on AI to help. ………………………….. The Objective Force document calls for a service that can “operate at machine speed, leveraging artificial intelligence and autonomous systems while maintaining the primacy of human judgment for critical decisions.”……………………. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2026/05/launches-slated-grow-hundredfold-space-force-seeks-more-sites-money-people-and-ai/413403/?oref=defense_one_breaking_nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Defense%20One:%20Breaking%20%285/7%29%20launches&utm_term=newsletter_d1_alert
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