Space & Defense
Electric propulsion is how modern satellites hold and change orbit. A June 2026 University of Michigan grant addresses a side effect most coverage never mentions.
Space & Defense
The push to back up GPS with low-orbit satellites runs into a subtle problem: the antenna's electrical center moves as the satellite turns. A June 2026 patent tackles it head-on.
Space & Defense
Rockets get you to a drop-off orbit. A June 2026 patent on a distributed network of space tugs describes the delivery layer that takes payloads the rest of the way.
Space & Defense
Optical satellites go blind at night and through clouds. A June 2026 MDA patent on synthetic-aperture radar imaging is about seeing anyway — the capability behind the SAR boom.
Space & Defense
Launching a few hundred satellites is now routine. Keeping them positioned, replaced, and de-orbited as a fleet is the harder problem — and a Momentus patent treats it as one.
Space & Defense
Two 2026 patents quietly reframe satellite operations: one keeps tasking requests private, the other moves the analysis onboard. Together they redraw where the value sits.
Space & Defense
Servicing a satellite, inspecting a derelict, or building a structure in orbit increasingly means several spacecraft cooperating. An April 2026 iMetalX patent claims how.
Space & Defense
Golden Dome revived a debate that is older than the headlines. The defense primes' own patents lay out the layers — interceptor, kinetic kill, and counter-seeker — in their own words.
Space & Defense
Inspecting and servicing a satellite from a free-flying chaser is hard. A March 2026 USC patent takes a different tack: a soft robot that crawls along the spacecraft itself.
Space & Defense
Blue Origin files almost nothing with the SEC. So to see what it is actually building, you read its patents — and one on control surfaces for high-speed vehicles is unusually telling.
Space & Defense
Imaging satellites can collect data far faster than radio can send it down. An MIT patent on high-burst-rate optical downlinks is about widening the pipe with lasers.
Space & Defense
A communications satellite is useless if its beam misses. The unglamorous discipline of pointing accuracy decides whether a constellation works — and a Space Systems/Loral patent lays it out.