Space News for Tuesday, March 31, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:23) Europe’s space sector faces power shift as funding grows(01:10) Artemis 2 countdown underway(01:50) Second Starlink satellite suffers anomaly, generating debris(02:37) Rocket Lab wins German approval for Mynaric deal(03:19) Varda flies navigation payload, heat shield tests on sixth reentry mission(03:41) SpaceX launches 119 payloads on smallsat rideshare mission from California(04:36) SpaceX Loses Contact With Starlink Satellite(05:11) AAC Clyde Space Expands Orbital Presence with Transporter-16 Launch(05:48) Indra Showcases Sovereign Space and Defense Technologies at FIDAE 2026(06:25) WISeSat.Space Expands IoT Constellation with 21st Satellite Launch via SpaceX(07:00) York Space Systems Secures PExT Mission Extension Through 2027 Following BARD Success(07:42) Fires Tear Through Nebraska Grasslands(07:59) Sendoff for Artemis II Crew(08:37) Seeing Blue During Schirmacher’s Summer Melt Season(09:20) Launch Preview: SLS, Falcon 9, Atlas V, and Soyuz launches comprise busy launch manifest(10:03) America’s Rocket Factory comes Full Circle with Artemis(10:22) Transporter-16 Sends 119 Payloads to Orbit(11:17) Starcloud Raises $170M Series A at $1.1B Valuation(12:28) Bellatrix Raises $20M For In-Space Propulsion Tech(13:23) Why won't NASA's Artemis 2 astronauts land on the moon when they get there?(14:08) Huge solar flare no threat to Artemis 2 astronaut launch to the moon, NASA says(14:38) Record-breaking 'space laser' erupts from merging galaxies 8 billion light-years away(15:20) Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS may be nearly 12 billion years old — so ancient its star system may no longer exist(15:41) Heading to Florida for NASA's Artemis 2 moon launch? Here's what to know before you go