NASA Rolls Back Artemis II

25 February 2026National

NASA rolled the SLS rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building on 25 February after an upper-stage anomaly, to preserve an April launch date; Artemis II eventually launched on 1 April 2026.

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GSAT-7B, the Indian Army's First Dedicated Communication Satellite, Targeted for a Mid-2028 Launch

ISRO is targeting a mid-2028 launch for GSAT-7B, the Indian Army's first dedicated communication satellite, which will carry secure voice, data and video links for troops in high-altitude and border areas and reduce the Army's dependence on Air Force and civilian capacity. The Ministry of Defence signed a ₹2,963 crore contract with NewSpace India Limited, ISRO's commercial arm, in March 2023 for its indigenous design and manufacture, and it is billed as India's heaviest communication satellite. It follows GSAT-7 Rukmini for the Navy and GSAT-7A for the Air Force, and runs alongside the Navy's GSAT-7C and Varunastra contracts cleared in October 2026.

GK ByteISRO was founded in 1969 and is headquartered at Bengaluru under the Department of Space, with Antrix and NewSpace India Limited as its commercial arms | GSAT-7, nicknamed Rukmini, was launched in 2013 for the Indian Navy and provides maritime communication over the Indian Ocean Region | NewSpace India Limited was incorporated in March 2019 and is headquartered in Bengaluru

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Skyroot Aerospace Signs Two-Launch Contract with US Firm Reflect Orbital for On-Demand Sunlight Satellites

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GK ByteSkyroot Aerospace was founded in 2018 by former ISRO engineers Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka and is headquartered at Hyderabad | Vikram-S, launched on 18 November 2022 from Sriharikota under Mission Prarambh, was India's first privately developed rocket | IN-SPACe, set up in 2020 and headquartered at Ahmedabad, is the single-window regulator and promoter for India's private space sector

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NASA Picks PUFFINS, a USD 20 Million Ultraviolet SmallSat Led by Bengaluru-Born Ramya Anche

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GK ByteNASA's Astrophysics Pioneers programme funds small, low-cost astrophysics missions such as CubeSats, SmallSats and balloon payloads | Polarimetry measures the polarisation of light; interstellar dust grains align with magnetic fields and polarise the starlight passing through them | The Habitable Worlds Observatory is NASA's planned large ultraviolet-optical-infrared space telescope intended to search for signs of life on Earth-like exoplanets

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