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Article textJeff Foust 5–6 minutes WASHINGTON — Commercial space station developer Vast has raised $500 million in its first significant outside investment round. Vast announced March 5 it has closed a $300 million Series A equity round along with $200 million in debt. The round was led by Balerion Space Ventures with participation from IQT, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Mitsui & Co., MUFG, Nikon, Stellar Ventures, Space Capital and Earthrise Ventures. The company had been funded until now by Jed McCaleb, the cryptocurrency billionaire who founded the company. McCaleb also participated in the new round. “Vast was founded with a long-term vision of billions of people living and thriving in space. Achieving a goal of this magnitude requires deliberate steppingstones, and our strategy of building, testing and iterating with real hardware is delivering results,” McCaleb said in a statement. “It is exciting to welcome additional investors who recognize Vast’s long-term potential and share our belief in making this vision a reality.” Before the new funding round, Vast had invested more than $1 billion into building up the company and developing a line of commercial space stations. The company, based in Long Beach, California, now has more than 1,000 employees. The company is currently building Haven-1, a single-module space station scheduled to launch in early 2027. It is intended to be a precursor to the multi-module Haven-2 station the company intends to offer NASA through the agency’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations, or CLD, program. “Our key differentiator is that we don’t believe we can start with that,” Max Haot, chief executive of Vast, said of Haven-2 during a panel discussion at the ASCENDxTexas conference Feb. 25. “We believe we need steppingstones to make sure it’s safe and also to make sure that we prove to ourselves and our partners that we can do it.” Vast launched last year Haven Demo, a small satellite to test key subsystems planned for use on Haven-1. Haot said at the conference that the company safely deorbited the spacecraft in recent weeks after completing those on-orbit tests. The company also won Feb. 12 a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for no earlier than mid-2027. It will be similar to those flown by another commercial space station developer, Axiom Space, which has completed four such missions and has an award for a fifth in early 2027. Vast and other commercial space station developers are waiting for NASA to release the final request for proposals (RFP) for the second phase of the CLD program. Delays in the release of that procurement was one reason cited in a NASA authorization bill approved by the Senate Commerce Committee March 4 for extending the life of the ISS by two years, to the end of 2032. “The RFP should come out when [NASA Administrator] Jared Isaacman and potentially the White House and other stakeholders are ready,” Haot said at the conference. “I think there’s some urgency, but I think Jared and them team will get it out as soon as they can.” On that panel, which included representatives of several other space station developers, Haot said that Vast was counting on NASA and other space agencies for much of the initial business for its space stations, rather than emerging markets like microgravity manufacturing or pharmaceutical research. “In the long term, we all want the LEO economy to thrive. We want to be making drugs in space,” he said. “In our internal projections, in our fundraising and our business model, we have close to zero dollars for the LEO economy in the next five years.” “We need to be profitable on the current market,” he said, which he described as NASA and other Western ISS partners, along with a “growth market” of emerging space agencies and a small number of “self-funded” individuals. The Vast round comes less than a month after Axiom Space raised $350 million. That round was co-led by QIA, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, who also participated in the Vast round. As part of the Vast round, A.C. Charania, a Balerion adviser and former NASA chief technologist, will join the board of Vast. “With its impressive hardware and expertise, Vast is the only operational commercial space station company to have designed, built and flown its own spacecraft, Haven Demo,” Charania said in a statement. “Haven stations will play a critical role in sustaining a continuous human presence in orbit and the LEO economy while providing nations around the world the opportunity to strengthen leadership in space,” he added.

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Article textJeff Foust 8–10 minutes WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee advanced a revised NASA authorization bill that implements some of the changes to the Artemis lunar exploration effort sought by the agency while also extending the life of the International Space Station. The committee passed on a voice vote March 4 an amended version of S. 933, a NASA authorization act originally introduced nearly a year ago. The committee also approved nearly 20 additional amendments from various committee members with the same vote. The new version of the bill supports changes that NASA is seeking to make to Artemis that NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced at a Feb. 27 briefing. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairman of the committee, referred to those changes to Artemis in his opening remarks. “Today, the Commerce Committee will help guide those changes with the NASA Authorization Act,” he said. “Our bill authorizes critical funding for and gives strategic direction to the agency, in line with the priorities of Administrator Isaacman and the Trump Administration.” At the Feb. 27 briefing, NASA announced it would not proceed with upgrades to the Space Launch System, sticking instead to a “near Block 1” version. In a March 3 statement, NASA confirmed that meant it no longer sought to develop the Exploration Upper Stage for the Block 1B version of SLS. “Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator may seek to identify and fund an alternative technology to replace the Exploration Upper Stage,” the Senate bill states, provided the administrator of NASA determines the stage is “unlikely to achieve the mission goals of the Artemis campaign.” The bill would instead require NASA to provide a briefing on the issues the agency is facing trying to achieve a higher flight rate of the SLS and plans to address this with a “standardization” of the rocket. Another section of the Senate bill authorizes NASA to develop a base on the moon, building on a provision in a White House executive order on space policy in December that called on NASA to establish the “initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost” by 2030. “As soon as practicable, the Administrator shall undertake activities necessary to establish a Lunar Surface Moon Base to develop a permanent crewed United States presence on the Moon capable of long-duration habitation, robotic, and industrial operations to advance science, technology, and strategic interests,” the bill states. The section includes some general goals for the base and guidelines for development, but few specifics such the composition of the base, schedule for its development or cost. The bill does direct NASA to select a lead center for the base’s development with a specific set of requirements that appear to be intended to ensure the program is run by the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Although the bill includes extensive language about a lunar base, it says little about the lunar Gateway intended to operate in lunar orbit. While last year’s budget reconciliation bill provided $2.6 billion for development of the Gateway, a NASA infographic released Feb. 27 about its revised Artemis plans did not feature the Gateway even while including a lunar base. Regarding the Gateway, the bill states only that NASA will provide a briefing “on plans for the Gateway outpost” within 60 days of enactment. ISS extension Another portion of the bill addresses the International Space Station and plans for commercial space stations. Among the biggest changes is a two-year extension of the ISS lifetime, from the end of 2030 to the end of 2032. The extension, the bill argues, is required because of delays in the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations, or CLD, program, including postponing the release of a call for proposals for the next phase of the program. “NASA has repeatedly delayed the release of a request for proposals for sustained commercial low-Earth-orbit services, and such delays, coupled with shifting requirements and inconsistent programmatic direction, have introduced substantial uncertainty into the development planning, financing, workforce scaling, and infrastructure investment decisions of commercial providers,” the bill states. “As a result of such uncertainty and delayed procurement action, commercial providers have been unable to scale development and private investment at a pace aligned with the previously articulated NASA objective of de-orbiting the ISS in or around 2030,” the bill continues. The bill directs NASA to maintain ISS operations at its current level, in terms of number of crew and cargo flights to support it. It instructs NASA not begin a transition from the ISS, and deorbiting of the station, until at least one commercial successor is operational. It also requires NASA to select at least two companies for the next phase of the CLD program. Mars missions and studies The portion of the bill dealing with NASA programs largely endorses ongoing missions. An exception is the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, effectively canceled when it was not funded in the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill enacted in January. The Senate bill directs the formal termination of the earlier MSR program and calls for the creation of a new MSR effort. The new plan would have a total cost cap of $8 billion, although it was not clear if that included funds spent on the earlier MSR program. It would also require use of “existing flight-proven technologies” and limit international cooperation to contributions that do not “unduly increase” the cost and risk of the program. The bill directs NASA to submit a plan for carrying out that revised MSR program, including cost and schedule estimates, within 120 days of enactment. It also states that the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, funded in last year’s budget reconciliation bill, should remain separate from this revised MSR effort. A later section of the bill requires NASA to perform studies of concepts for “Mars-focused missions” that could be launched on commercial heavy-lift vehicles. One concept included the bill would send human tissues to Mars “for the purpose of studying biological and environmental effects on human tissue in the Martian environment.” A second concept would be focused on space weather measurements as well as physical and life sciences studies that could support future human Mars missions. Launch briefings, not quotas One provision not found in the bill approved by the committee dealt with limits on commercial launch contracts. According to industry sources who had seen earlier drafts of the bill, it included a provision that would have kept any single company from receiving more than 50% of overall value of launch contracts awarded by the agency in any year. The proposal had the public support of former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, whose work today includes serving as a lobbyist to United Launch Alliance. “By capping any single launch provider at 50 percent of NASA’s total launch contract value, Congress is reinforcing competition and protecting the small and medium-sized manufacturers, propulsion companies, avionics developers, and suppliers that make up the backbone of America’s space enterprise,” he wrote in a social media post. Others, including those commenting on his post, disagreed, arguing it would help companies unable to otherwise compete on a level playing field. The provision would have benefitted ULA as well as Blue Origin and potentially other launch providers at the expense of SpaceX, which has won the lion’s share of NASA launch contracts in recent years. The bill approved by the committee did not include any restrictions on launch contracts. Instead, it endorsed a “competitive United States commercial launch marketplace” and called for a briefing by NASA on its “plans and strategy for continuing to procure commercial launch services.”

Article textJeff Foust 3–4 minutes WASHINGTON — Workers have completed repairs to the helium pressurization system in the upper stage of the Space Launch System, keeping a potential April launch of the Artemis 2 mission on track. In a March 3 statement, NASA said engineers traced a blockage in helium flow in the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, to a seal in a quick-disconnect line feeding helium from ground equipment into the stage. The seal had become dislodged, blocking helium flow. Technicians removed the quick-disconnect fitting, reassembled it with the seal properly positioned and reinstalled it. Tests confirmed that helium was flowing into the stage after the repairs. The quick-disconnect line was one of the leading suspected causes of the blockage, along with a check valve inside the stage. NASA said Feb. 21 that neither issue could be addressed at the launch pad, requiring the agency to roll the vehicle back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. While addressing the helium issue, workers also performed maintenance on other parts of the SLS. That included replacing batteries in the core stage, ICPS and boosters, as well as replacing batteries in the rocket’s flight termination system ahead of end-to-end testing required by the Eastern Range. NASA also said it is replacing a seal in a line that feeds liquid oxygen into the core stage. That seal is separate from those in liquid hydrogen lines that caused leaks during a wet dress rehearsal in early February and were replaced at the pad. NASA did not disclose why it is replacing the liquid oxygen seal, as there were no reports of leaks during the two fueling tests conducted last month. NASA said the repairs and maintenance keep the vehicle on schedule to roll back out to the pad later this month for a launch attempt in early April. Two-hour launch windows are available on the evenings of April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 during the next launch period. The following opportunity opens April 30. The agency did not disclose when it plans to roll the SLS and Orion spacecraft back to the pad. At a Feb. 27 briefing, Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said teams would need “at least a week and a half or so” at the pad after rollout to complete preparations for a launch attempt.

Article textJeff Foust 4–5 minutes WASHINGTON — The third launch of a small launch vehicle developed by a Japanese company failed shortly after liftoff March 4, raising questions about the rocket’s future. A Kairos rocket lifted off from Spaceport Kii in southern Honshu at 9:10 p.m. Eastern. This was the third launch attempt after weather postponed a Feb. 28 effort and an issue with a safety system scrubbed a second attempt March 3. The solid-fuel rocket ascended from the pad and initially appeared to be flying normally. However, about 70 seconds after liftoff, an energetic event became visible in the rocket’s plume. Several fragments appeared, including one large piece that was clearly tumbling. In a social media post, Space One, the company that operates Kairos, said it activated the rocket’s flight termination system after it “determined that mission success was difficult,” according to a machine translation. The company did not immediately disclose additional details about the problem that triggered the termination of the launch. This is the third failure in as many attempts for Kairos, a rocket designed to place up to 150 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit. The first Kairos launch, in March 2024, failed seconds after liftoff in a spectacular explosion. Space One later said underperformance of the rocket’s first-stage motor triggered the flight termination system. The second Kairos launch took place in December 2024. On that flight, the rocket appeared to lose attitude control about a minute and a half after liftoff. Space One determined that a failure in the thrust vector control system, which adjusts the position of the nozzle, caused the rocket to tumble. This launch was carrying five small satellites from Japanese companies and organizations as well as the Taiwanese space agency. The failure raises questions about the future of Kairos and Space One, whose investors include Canon and IHI Aerospace. Despite failures on the first two Kairos launches, Space One, working with Space BD, won a contract from the Japan Ministry of Defense in May 2025 for the dedicated launch of a small optical imaging satellite. The failure is the latest in a series of setbacks for Japan’s launch industry. The country’s flagship launch vehicle, the H3, suffered a launch failure in December that an initial investigation linked to an issue during separation of the rocket’s payload fairing. The shock of the fairing separation may have damaged both the upper stage and the satellite payload, causing the satellite to prematurely separate from the upper stage. The smaller Epsilon rocket has been grounded since an October 2022 launch failure. The Epsilon program has also suffered failures of upgraded solid rocket motors in two static-fire tests in July 2023 and November 2024. Those setbacks led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in October 2025 to purchase two launches of Rocket Lab’s Electron for satellites originally slated to fly on Epsilon.

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Article textAndrew Jones 4–5 minutes HELSINKI — Chinese launch firm CAS Space is preparing for the inaugural launch of its reusable Kinetica-2 liquid rocket in late March, carrying a prototype cargo spacecraft. Launch of the Kinetica-2 is now scheduled for late March from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, according to Chinese outlet Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily. The flight will carry a prototype of the Qingzhou-1 cargo spacecraft developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS). Qingzhou-1 is one of two low-cost space station resupply spacecraft being developed under a program initiated by China’s human spaceflight agency, CMSEO, to support the Tiangong space station. A full version of the spacecraft is currently also being produced. CAS Space itself is a commercial spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Kinetica-2 is a 53-meter-long launcher with three 3.35m-diameter core stages. Its core stages each use three YF‑102 kerosene-liquid oxygen engines developed by state-owned space giant CASC. It is designed to carry up to 12,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit or around 7,800 kg to a 500-kilometer-altitude sun-synchronous orbit, with plans for reusability. The entire CAS Space team wishes you a healthy and prosperous Year of the Horse – Galloping Through the Stars, Soaring Across the Heavens 🐎🚀 马载星途 箭啸九天 金驹辞岁，载星途荣光归航 福马迎春，赴天穹新程再启 航天事业从无停歇 正如新春灯火长明不熄 探索脚步永不止步… pic.twitter.com/SxuegTWSko — CAS Space (@cas_space) February 16, 2026 CAS Space performed a hot fire test of the Kinetica-1 first stage in June 2025, targeting an inaugural launch that fall, before the launch was apparently pushed back. It plans three further Kinetica-2 launches across the rest of 2026, including internet megaconstellation launches and other major national missions, according to the report. The company is already regularly flying its smaller Kinetica-1 solid rocket. CAS Space aims to launch the Kinetica-1 no fewer than eight times across 2026, including two sea launches. The rocket has flown 11 times with one failure. CAS Space conducted its first suborbital launch and capsule landing test in January, in a step towards establishing a space tourism service. Chinese launch activities have paused in recent weeks due to Chinese New Year celebrations and holidays. The most recent activity saw an in-flight abort test for the new–generanation Mengzhou spacecraft, which doubled as a simulated first stage orbital flight test for the Long March 10A, which ended with a successful powered descent and splashdown landing test for reusability. This was followed by a Jielong-3 launch of a remote sensing satellite for Pakistan Feb. 12. Kinetica-2 is one of a number of new, potentially reusable Chinese rockets set to debut in 2026, bringing new capabilities and signaling a further increase in launch cadence.