Led by Airbus Defense and Space and Surrey Satellite Technology, the Ku-band Eutelsat Quantum satellite will allow coverage areas to be redefined via software uploads in response to shifting service demand.

An uprated engine and other enhancements to the Falcon 9 rocket will give SpaceX the ability to continue lifting commercial satellites to GEO while testing reusability of the launcher’s core stage. But it could require additional efforts to certify the vehicle for government missions.

Truck-stopping laser; Lockheed backs Rocket Lab smallsat booster; quantum radar entangles microwaves and optics; CMCs feel the heat in GE engine tests; Kalashnikov buys into Russian UAV maker, and other unmanned news.

CEOs are often unprepared for their myriad challenges. Pressure to consolidate across borders could ratchet up the pressure.

Three spacecraft, with a fourth to follow, are exploring frozen worlds that may explain the origin of life on Earth.

Kremlin bloviating notwithstanding, both the U.S. and Russia understand that human-spaceflight cooperation is a buffer against hostility.

Watch Mark Carreau interview NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Terry Virts aboard the International Space Station.

"That was an amazing effort," said NASA spacewalker Terry Virts.