President Donald Trump highlighted the Space Force’s surveillance of Iran, citing “the greatest cameras in the world” focused on the country. Gen. Douglas Schiess confirmed the Space Force’s close ties to the National Reconnaissance Office, providing capabilities for the president, intelligence community, and combatant commanders. As satellite data volume grows, commercial imagery and AI tools from companies like Danti are increasingly used to contextualize and rapidly analyze space‑based intelligence, shifting the advantage from data access to swift [...]

In 2026, cyberattacks intensified, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) allegedly uploading a live copy of the Social Security database to an unsecured server, sparking lawsuits and fears of the largest U.S. data breach. European utilities faced Russian‑linked hacks that damaged power grids and water dams, while Iranian hackers targeted over a hundred U.S. water providers amid the Israel‑Iran conflict. Market‑research firm Klue suffered a wide‑scale breach by the Icarus gang, exposing data of nearly 200 [...]

The United States confirmed, for the first time, that it has deployed a space-based weapon in Earth’s orbit. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced the deployment at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, citing the need to protect U.S. forces and maintain dominance in space. He did not disclose the weapon’s capabilities or launch date, but suggested it could be kinetic, a jammer, or a directed‑energy system. The announcement follows years of speculation about U.S. [...]

SpaceX will launch its second classified U.S. Space Force mission, USSF‑259, from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sept. 15 using a Falcon 9 booster (1097). The launch window opens at 9 p.m. EDT, with a live webcast beginning about 10 minutes prior. The booster will perform a 13th drone‑ship landing, following its 600th touchdown in April. This flight marks SpaceX’s 110th launch of 2026, with 105 Falcon 9 missions completed so far.

Iceye, the Finnish synthetic‑aperture‑radar satellite maker, has accelerated its global rollout after raising over $1 billion in a Series F round. In the past months the company launched subsidiaries in Germany, Portugal, India, the United Arab Emirates and a technology hub in the Netherlands, and sealed a partnership with South Korean operator KT Sat. It also announced a collaboration with Arianespace to test Ariane 6 launches for European government customers. Global chief operating officer Eric Jensen, who took the post in [...]

Israel’s military deployed the AI‑enabled “Lavender” system to identify and target suspected Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza and Lebanon. The software scans people, vehicles, and objects in real time, assigning risk scores that feed into subsequent attack planning. The system, praised by the Israeli Defense Forces as a “game changer,” has marked tens of thousands of individuals and, alongside the “Gospel” software, guided strikes on buildings and structures. Academics Woodcock and Rehak argue that [...]

In August 2026, U.S. robotics stakeholders traveled to Shenzhen to source servomotors, sensors, and even intact Unitree and Zhiyuan robots, which were disassembled and shipped back in suitcases. Concurrently, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory investigated potential security risks posed by Chinese LiDAR sensors used in American vehicles, with funding from electric‑vehicle firms. These reports underscore the U.S. robotics industry's reliance on Chinese hardware amid growing national security concerns. Meanwhile, Princeton researchers unveiled a motorless, origami‑inspired robot [...]