Vol 45, Week 37

NASA & NEWSPACE

• NASA has requested proposals to develop surface technologies, including power, oxygen extraction and manufacturing needed to build a sustainable lunar South Pole base.
• Founded in 2019, Stoke Space has raised $2.3 billion in total capital, following a recent $1 billion Series E financing round to accelerate its fully reusable Nova launch vehicle.
• Venturi Space unveiled ALTA LUNA, a 300-kg tracked lunar utility rover utilizing battery technologies developed for Astrolab’s CLV-1 vehicle.

GLOBAL REPORTS

• ESA and ISRO are discussing expanded cooperation in human space flight, lunar exploration, and Venus missions.
• SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, Scotland will receive £30M from the UK government—and a matching £30M in private funding—to complete launch infrastructure.
• Korea AeroSpace Administration announced its 2027 budget proposal at ₩1.6491 trillion (a 47% increase from 2026). 

BEYOND EARTH

• A new study shows that Mercury is shrinking up to 30% more than previously estimated, contracting at a rate of more than 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) per billion years.
• Researchers have developed a new method tracking beryllium variations to identify stars that have engulfed planets.
• Combining data from JWST with Hubble revealed that tiny trans-Neptunian objects share uniform sizes and colors, proving early planet-building blocks weren’t dictated by their origin location.