Space News for Friday, March 13, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:23) China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission moves into spacecraft construction phase(01:03) Voyager opens defense and space tech hub in Long Beach(01:20) Another Earth raises $4 million to boost AI training with synthetic satellite data(01:55) The new wave of industry coming for the LEO frontier(02:16) Saying Goodbye to the ISS, and Hello to the Orbital Tenancy Trap(03:03) Your Teleport Can’t Dodge a Missile(03:36) Voyager Technologies Executes Strategic Investment in Max Space Expandable Habitat Architecture(04:09) FAA Rescinds Proposed Orbital Debris Rule Amid Industry Pressure and Regulatory Reassessment(04:46) York Space Systems Acquires Orbion Space Technology to Deepen Vertical Integration for SDA Constellations(05:21) Eruption at Mayon(06:10) About Low Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD) Project(06:48) NASA to Cover Upcoming US Spacewalks 94, 95 Outside Space Station(07:28) About Integrated Aviation Systems Program (IASP)(07:56) Tiny NASA Spacecraft Delivers Exoplanet Mission’s First Images(08:36) ICEYE Smashes Its Own Revenue Projections(09:30) Q&A With Laurent Jaffart, ESA’s Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity(10:10) Mantis Space Emerges from Stealth with $10M Seed(10:37) Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Reaches Orbit(11:24) The Investment Theses Behind Vast and Sierra’s $500M+ Mega Rounds(12:08) SpaceX plan for 1 million orbiting AI data centers could ruin astronomy, scientists say(12:47) NASA says its Artemis 2 moon rocket is all fixed up. It could launch astronauts to the moon on April 1(13:29) 'Completely bonkers': Astronomers find evidence of a cataclysmic collision between exoplanets(14:15) ISS astronauts take out the space trash | Space photo of the day for March 11, 2026(14:57) NASA project leader blames next-generation X-ray telescope cancellation on agency mismanagement