SpaceNews is partnering with Johns Hopkins on programming that examines the geopolitical, commercial, scientific and security dimensions of space. Here you can find SpaceNews reporting and analysis that advances these Discovery Series conversations and stay up-to-date as we announce new events.
Jump to an event in this series:
Sept. 9, 2026 – Building the Moon Base
Jan 21. 2026 – Space Force 2040 and the Future Fight
Nov. 3, 2025 – The Future is Now
Keep up with First Up: Sign up to receive Jeff Foust’s daily morning newsletter, covering the latest civil, commercial and military space headlines from SpaceNews and across the industry. Delivered Monday to Friday.
By submitting this form, you agree to the SpaceNews Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions and to receive email and text messages from us. You may opt out at any time.
Sept. 9, 2026 – Building the Moon Base
As humanity moves towards establishing a permanent presence on the moon, the next installment in this series brings together leaders from NASA and the commercial space sector to share an inside look at how they’re approaching the spaceflight, engineering and human challenges that lie ahead. We’ll explore the latest plans for NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture alongside the commercial opportunities, investments, and policies needed to build and support work on the lunar surface for months and eventually years at a time. Join us for a conversation with NASA, Firefly Aerospace, Astrolab, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) about how public and private partners are working together on lunar development, which capabilities and business cases are still needed and how they are preparing for continuous operations on the moon.
Related coverage:
Jan. 21, 2026 – Space Force 2040 and the Future Fight
The United States Space Force of 2040 will operate in a far more contested, congested, and fast-moving domain than the Guardians of today — one where space control, speed and resiliency will define U.S. military advantage. The second installment in our Discovery Series examined what the Space Force must become to succeed against growing threats. U.S. Space Force Gen. Shawn N. Bratton discussed the future operating environment, the capabilities required for space superiority and the transformations needed across acquisition, training, doctrine and partnership protocols with SpaceNews‘ Sandra Erwin. With leaders from Vantor, K2 Space and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, we discussed the technologies that will shape the next 15 years, the policies and alliances that must evolve and the industrial base required to sustain advantage.
Watch the conversations from the event:
Related coverage:
Nov. 3, 2025 – The Future is Now
Space stations, reusable rockets, lunar rovers and constellations of thousands of satellites once existed exclusively in comic books and sci-fi blockbusters. But those futuristic solutions are increasingly finding a market in the modern space economy and could soon form the backbone of today’s space age. SpaceNews‘ Mike Gruss and Jeff Foust kicked off Johns Hopkins’ next Discovery Series with conversations with leaders from Starlab Space, Astrobotic, Stoke Space, Apex and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory about the collaboration powering present and future breakthroughs to advance humanity further into space.
