Rocket Lab is preparing to launch in late April or early May three U.S. military satellites including the Army Harbinger mission, a test to show whether an inexpensive commercial satellite equipped with a synthetic aperture radar can quickly deliver Earth imagery to soldiers. SpaceNews.com

Virgin Galactic’s chief pilot believes the company will be able to go through the remainder of its SpaceShipTwo test program fairly quickly once test flights of the suborbital spaceplane resume. SpaceNews.com

Fleet operator Intelsat said its first high throughput satellite, Intelsat-29e, is a “total loss” after attempts to save the malfunctioning satellite proved unsuccessful. SpaceNews.com

The European Space Agency’s 22 member states agreed April 17 to a workaround to get Ariane 6 production in full swing despite a dearth of public sector launch contracts. SpaceNews.com

Rajanik Mark, Satixfy’s chief operating officer, said the company has created its own chipsets that it can build in-house to bring down the cost of antenna modules that are built into full user terminals. SpaceNews.com

An independent report concluded that NASA has no chance of sending humans to Mars by 2033, with the earliest such a mission could be flown being the late 2030s. SpaceNews.com

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket successfully launched a Cygnus spacecraft April 17 carrying nearly three and a half tons of cargo bound for the International Space Station. SpaceNews.com

Iridium moved closer to launching an emergency maritime communications service by signing a public services agreement with the International Mobile Satellite Organization. SpaceNews.com

NASA has proposed to build a lunar orbiting space station, called the lunar Gateway, to use as a base for lunar exploration. This plan is severely defective. SpaceNews.com

Two NASA astronauts will get extended stays on the International Space Station, NASA announced April 17, a move intended to support research on long-duration spaceflight and address uncertainties in the availability of commercial crew vehicles. SpaceNews.com

Machine learning and other artificial intelligence techniques could help forecasters get more out of these data by improving accuracy and speed in almost every step of turning satellite observations into actionable forecasts. SpaceNews.com

A letter sent to Shanahan questions DoD's decision to shift missions away from the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. SpaceNews.com

After four years of stealth mode, LyteLoop, a startup planning to store massive amounts of data by moving it continuously between satellites, is coming out of the shadows. SpaceNews.com

For many years, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) and the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) have recognized the importance of developing industry voluntary consensus standards. SpaceNews.com

SAS Global, in an April 15 notice to the Australian Stock Exchange, said it needs to raise 7.2 million Australian dollars ($5.2 million) to prevent further delays with its constellation of low Earth orbit satellites. SpaceNews.com

The next Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station will demonstrate two new capabilities, one before launch and the other after the spacecraft departs the station. SpaceNews.com

Even “responsible” ASAT tests put other space users at risk. SpaceNews.com

Aerojet Rocketdyne says it’s committed to completing development of the AR1 rocket engine and is seeking potential partners for a new medium-class launch vehicle that could use the engine. SpaceNews.com

A major soft drink company says it will not pursue plans to advertise its products in space using a Russian startup, avoiding what likely would have been significant public criticism. SpaceNews.com

The center core of the Falcon Heavy rocket that launched a communications satellite April 11 fell over after landing in rough seas, but SpaceX said the mishap won’t affect upcoming launches. SpaceNews.com