Space News for Thursday, April 16, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:21) PlanetiQ secures $15 million Air Force STRATFI contract(00:59) Space Force reorg signals end of SDA as standalone agency(01:14) Seraphim forms space advisory council(01:27) Defining acquisition on a wartime footing(02:00) Blue Origin one step closer to launching New Glenn from Vandenberg Space Force Base(02:37) Saltzman Unveils 2040 Blueprint to Scale Space Force for Great Power Competition(03:20) The Rise of Grey Zone Satellites: Ambiguity as a Tactical Advantage(03:48) SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Col. Marcin Mazur, Polish Space Agency(04:24) NASA Shifts Focus to Permanent Lunar Base and Nuclear Propulsion(05:02) Kepler and Astrolight Secure ESA Contract for HydRON Optical Network(05:26) Eyeing the Richat Structure(06:05) I Am Artemis: Rebekah Tolatovicz(06:46) NASA Selects Voyager for Seventh Private Mission to Space Station(07:00) NASA Launches Six CubeSats to International Space Station(07:41) 2026 NSTA Hyperwall Schedule(08:18) Expedition 74 sees vehicle departures and a spacewalk during March(08:40) ORBX ETF Launches Amid Wave of Space Tech IPOs(09:17) A new Earthrise: An Apollo historian experiences Artemis 2(09:52) SpaceX fires up next-gen 'Version 3' Starship ahead of landmark May test flight (photos)(10:18) How do supergiant exoplanets form? James Webb Space Telescope finds a clue(11:07) Space combat was 'critical to mission success' in US war in Iran, Space Force chief says(11:50) NASA astronauts joke around with an optical illusion on the ISS | Space photo of the day for April 15, 2026(12:36) New 3D map of Universe could solve dark energy mystery