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Space technology

Early commercialmomentum 81698 papers in 3 months (+6% yearly)$78B raised in 12 months15 companies

New ways to reach, build in and use space: reusable rockets, factories in orbit, phone links from satellites, Moon landers and nuclear power.

Why early commercial: SpaceX's IPO prospectus reports over 570 Falcon 9 booster landings, while Starship, orbital factories and phone-to-satellite service are still ramping. Jun 12, 2026

Papers per monthOpenAlex journal and conference papers; January includes papers dated by year only; the last two months are still filling in
07391.5kSep 24Mar 25Sep 25Mar 26

Dots under a month: dated events tracked here that month.

44 events

DateEvent
Sep 2026
Sep 24NASA to Study Human Health, Performance During Crew-13 MissionNASA news releases· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 24US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic EruptionNASA news releases· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 24Practicing for Safe Landings on the Moon and BeyondNASA news releases· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 24NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-14 Assignments for Space Station MissionNASA news releases· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 24NASA Welcomes Côte d’Ivoire as Newest Artemis Accords SignatoryNASA news releases· DealUnverified
Sep 24New tests for rendezvous and docking interoperabilityESA space engineering and technology· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 23Rocket Factory Augsburg ‘Boost!’ extension in run-up to first launchESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 22Stoke Space names customers for the first Nova Pathfinder flightstokespace.com· Announcement
Sep 17MTG-I2 timelapse: from arrival at Europe’s Spaceport to launchESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 15FLEX and Sentinel-3C launchedESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 15Relive the launch of FLEX and Sentinel-3CESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 15FLEX and Sentinel-3C launch highlightsESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 14FLEX and Sentinel-3C ready for liftoff on Vega-CESA space transportation· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 10Introducing IBM and NASA's new foundation model for the MoonIBM Research blog· ProductUnverified
Sep 10CubeSat for safer seas and cleaner orbits ready to launchESA space engineering and technology· ProductUnverified
Sep 9How 2 US, European Satellites Are Studying Hurricanes During El NiñoNASA JPL news· AnnouncementUnverified
Sep 9Watch: FLEX and Sentinel-3C launch on Vega-CESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Sep 7Isar Aerospace achieves first launch to orbit from continental EuropeESA space transportation· BreakthroughUnverified
Sep 4Media briefing ahead of FLEX and Sentinel-3C launchESA space transportation· ProductUnverified
Aug 2026
Aug 30NASA’s Dark Universe-Seeking Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope LaunchesNASA JPL news· ProductUnverified
Aug 25New Next-Gen Dish Adds Muscle to NASA’s Deep Space NetworkNASA JPL news· AnnouncementUnverified
Aug 18Phoenix 3: concept study for a reusable European spacecraftESA space engineering and technology· AnnouncementUnverified
Aug 10AST SpaceMobile reports over 60 mobile operator partnerssec.gov· Milestone
Jun 2026
Jun 12SpaceX prices its IPO at $135 a sharesec.gov· Milestone
May 2026
May 28New Glenn rocket explodes during a static fire testarstechnica.com· Milestone
May 22Starship V3 flies its first test flight with mostly positive resultsarstechnica.com· Milestone
May 20SpaceX files its IPO registration statement with the SECsec.gov· Announcement
May 13Varda signs a drug development deal with United Therapeuticsarstechnica.com· Deal
Apr 2026
Apr 19New Glenn reflies a booster but its upper stage strands AST's BlueBird 7arstechnica.com· Milestone
Jan 2026
Jan 20Vast begins assembling Haven-1, the first commercial space stationarstechnica.com· Milestone
Jan 13NASA and DOE commit to a lunar surface fission reactor by 2030nasa.gov· Policy
Nov 2025
Nov 13New Glenn's second flight launches NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probesnasa.gov· Milestone
Oct 2025
Oct 22Lynk and Omnispace announce plans to mergelynk.world· Deal
Sep 2025
Sep 19NASA picks Blue Origin to deliver the VIPER rover to the lunar south polenasa.gov· Deal
Sep 8EchoStar agrees to sell AWS-4 and H-block spectrum to SpaceX for about $17 billionsec.gov· Deal
Jun 2025
Jun 6ispace's second lunar lander crashes on the Moonarstechnica.com· Milestone
Apr 2025
Apr 30FCC grants Lynk a license change for commercial direct-to-device service in the USlynk.world· Policy
Mar 2025
Mar 28NASA adds SpaceX Starship to its launch services contractnasa.gov· Deal
Mar 6Intuitive Machines' IM-2 lands closer to the lunar south pole than any landernasa.gov· Milestone
Mar 2Firefly's Blue Ghost lands upright on the Moonnasa.gov· Milestone
Jan 2025
Jan 16Blue Origin's New Glenn reaches orbit on its first flightarstechnica.com· Milestone
Oct 2024
Oct 13SpaceX catches a Super Heavy booster with the launch tower armsarstechnica.com· Breakthrough
Feb 2024
Feb 22Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lands softly on the Moonnasa.gov· Milestone
Feb 21Varda's W-1 capsule lands in Utah with drug crystals made in orbittechcrunch.com· Milestone
About space technology here
Sub-areas
Reusable launch, In-space manufacturing, Direct-to-device satellites, Lunar landers, Space nuclear power and propulsion, In-space transport and stations
Stage evidence
Early commercial, Jun 12, 2026: SpaceX's IPO prospectus reports over 570 Falcon 9 booster landings, while Starship, orbital factories and phone-to-satellite service are still ramping. sec.gov
Momentum
81 of 100: the mean of its ranks among the tracked fields for paper growth (44), funding in 12 months (100) and events in 90 days (100). Method
Papers
5,599 in the 12 months ending two months ago, +6% against the 12 before (OpenAlex topics, journal and conference papers).
Tracked here since
Sep 25, 2026

Changes to this field

DateChange
Sep 25, 2026Space technologyTechnology: Added

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