Fellow 1 - Tracking and Discrimination

Artemis II splashes down safely as NASA shifts launch schedule to aggressive eight-month tempo. 18 October 2026, 16:26 published 3min, 13sc The crewed Artemis 2 launch and lunar flyby mission has formally concluded with the safe Pacific Ocean splashdown of the Orion spacecraft, clearing the path for an aggressive operational shift. NASA and its commercial partners are now accelerating the lunar programme from a two-year launch cadence down to a rapid eight-month cycle. High-intensity multi-spacecraft processing is underway to support that compressed timeline, fundamentally reshaping the international race back to the lunar surface. Following Orion's atmospheric entry and recovery, engineering divisions at Kennedy Space Centre and manufacturing facilities across the United States have pivoted immediately to subsequent flights. With Artemis II securing operational validation for deep-space life support and abort architectures, parallel production lines are already active. Spacecraft modules and flight hardware for the subsequent three lunar expeditions are moving through assembly and testing side by side. The successful return of the Artemis II crew module marked the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit in over half a century. Critical post-reentry operations relied heavily on the crew module uprighting system, which deployed five vibrant orange flotation spheres in rolling ocean swells to orient the capsule properly prior to astronaut recovery. "We were just freaking out - everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It felt like hours from the time Orion entered our atmosphere until the astronauts safely emerged from the spacecraft." Ground controllers tracked live telemetry streaming between mission hubs, confirming the full operational functionality of recovery systems. The extreme thermal environment of atmospheric entry scorched Orion's protective outer hull, yet internal crew systems sustained nominal operating parameters throughout the descent sequence. Parallel to the splashdown evaluation, astronaut recognition highlights the scale of industrial collaboration backing the hardware. Crew member Christina Koch presented nine propulsion specialists at Northrop Grumman's Promontory facility with the prestigious NASA Silver Snoopy Award - an honour reserved for fewer than one percent of the aerospace workforce for exceptional contributions to flight safety. The twin solid rocket boosters delivered 7.2 million pounds of thrust during ascent, supplying more than 75% of total vehicle thrust at lift-off alongside critical launch abort systems. To grasp the scale of the upcoming flight schedule, the following operational breakdown details the progression between the completed crewed test flight and the missions currently occupying active cleanrooms: A widespread misconception across space exploration coverage assumes that launch providers assemble and verify one giant rocket at a time, moving sequentially from one mission to the next. In reality, NASA contractor Lockheed Martin is running parallel operations inside the Kennedy Space Centre, running active tests on the flight hardware for Artemis III, IV, and V simultaneously under single-facility roofs. Propulsion engineers support 24-hour testing shifts, rotating day and night teams to keep pace with the revised schedule. Operations involve pressurising Orion service module propellant tanks to hundreds of pounds per square inch to certify structural integrity under deep-space loads. Testing hardware that houses reactive propellants requires extreme physical protocols to preserve ground personnel and spaceflight assets: Workforce scaling directly reflects this ramp-up. Specialized test engineering divisions are expanding from 70 to over 100 dedicated personnel to accommodate round-the-clock shift rotations. With booster stacking already finalised for Artemis III, teams are refining Orion's rendezvous capabilities to dock with commercial lunar landers once crews reach lunar orbit. The shift to an eight-month launch cadence marks the most intensive deep-space flight rate attempted since the Apollo era. Ground tracking and post-flight analyses from Artemis II continue to shape the final assembly checks for upcoming surface missions. Follow its continuous spaceflight coverage as NASA and international partners advance towards scheduled lunar surface landings.

Northrop Grumman missed out on US Air Force hardware awards for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program but remains involved as a software vendor. Work continues on the B-21, Sentinel, and submarines, along with precision weapons and solid rocket boosters for NASA's Artemis missions. Analysts forecast revenue of $51.0 billion and earnings of $4.7 billion by 2029, assuming 5.9% yearly revenue growth. Earnings today are about $4.5 billion. The lowest estimates put 2029 revenue near $49.6 billion and earnings near $4.2 billion, reflecting cost issues on the SiAW and GEM 63XL programs. The main risk is fixed-price contract execution, as the company spends heavily to expand munitions and solid rocket motor capacity.

How CFOs at Chevron, ServiceNow and Nasdaq decide which AI bets create value. 2 hours ago 39 Good morning. AI projects must earn their share of corporate budgets. "It doesn't get a free pass just because it's got AI on the front of the opportunity," Eimear Bonner, CFO of Chevron, said during a panel session I moderated at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara on Tuesday. "It's got to compete for capital." Bonner's test: a clear path to value, a transformative target and results that show up on the bottom line. "It can't be a science experiment," she said. Gina Mastantuono, president and CFO of ServiceNow noted that the way CFOs calculate ROI is moving beyond just measuring potential gains in revenue and profitability. Finance chiefs must also weigh the cost of inaction: falling behind competitors that adopt AI, with long-term competitiveness at stake, Mastantuono said. ServiceNow funds projects that strengthen competitive differentiation, solve a customer problem and deliver measurable value on a clear timeline, she explained. "I don't think the winners in AI are going to be the ones that spend the most," she said. Mastantuono urged measuring outcomes, not activity - "not how many AI pilots you have," but whether AI lifts revenue, efficiency and speed. ServiceNow expects $500 million in savings this year, largely from using its own products. Sarah Youngwood, EVP and CFO of Nasdaq, said during the panel session that the company categorizes investments into "horizon zero" - foundational needs like cybersecurity - followed by short-term return initiatives, medium-term bets, and longer-term R&D. Nasdaq's decade-old investments in cloud and algorithmic AI, Youngwood said, position it to serve clients today. "It's all about the gold standard data that we have," she said, citing data from 3,500 institutions representing $12 trillion in assets. Youngwood oversees Nasdaq's AI KPIs, which track inputs such as training and platform engagement, as well as outcomes including coding speed, client retention and token costs. For Bonner, who becomes president of Chevron's oil, products and gas business on Jan. 1, discipline also means regular check-ins with project teams to remove barriers and confirm progress. AI is helping the company find oil and gas faster, recover more from reservoirs and anticipate maintenance needs, Bonner said. Chevron is also on the supply side of the AI boom: It plans to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas through a 2.67-gigawatt natural gas project. Leaderboard. Kenneth Crews was appointed CFO-elect of SAIC, a government technology services company, effective Oct. 30. He will formally become CFO on Dec. 7, succeeding Prabu Natarajan. Natarajan, who will stay on as CFO during the transition, has been named permanent EVP of SAIC's civilian business group after leading it on an interim basis. Crews previously served as corporate VP and CFO of Northrop Grumman, where he held several leadership roles over more than 20 years. Joseph Sesin was appointed CFO of the NFL's Denver Broncos. He most recently served as SVP of finance and accounting at Angel City Football Club of the National Women's Soccer League. Previously, Sesin was SVP of accounting and finance for SoFi Stadium, YouTube Theater and Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. Before that, he spent nearly a decade in investment banking at J.P. Morgan. Big deal. Ransomware attackers are using AI and putting more personal pressure on the people inside the companies they target, according to Semperis' 2026 Ransomware Risk Report, which surveyed only organizations hit by ransomware in the past 12 months. The identity security company found that attackers weaponized AI in 87% of attacks, and nearly 70% of victims were targeted more than once, with 31% paying ransoms multiple times. The report found that bad actors are threatening victims with psychological intimidation in nearly 25% of all attacks in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Canada and Australia. Going deeper. Walmart heir Olivia Walton, CEO of Ingeborg Investments, spoke at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit about her pledge of $100 million over five years to cut the U.S. maternal mortality rate in half. Walton launched the nonprofit Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America in April. Read more here. Overheard. "Success will require more than adopting AI. It means rethinking the customer journey to reduce friction and help travelers move seamlessly from intent to booking." - Emily Weiss, senior managing director and global travel lead at Accenture, writes in a Fortune opinion piece about why travelers are switching from their favorite brands. * Homepage * Fortune Magazine * How CFOs at Chevron, ServiceNow and Nasdaq decide which AI bets create value.