Know What's Happening in SpaceTech
Know What's Happening in SpaceTech
SpaceTech Pulse
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
The European Space Agency (ESA) is foregrounding sustainability across its portfolio, from clean‑space initiatives and zero‑debris targets to eco‑design of missions. Recent milestones include a metal 3D printer’s first product on the International Space Station and the upcoming EarthCARE satellite launch preparation. ESA also announced a new Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity to steer long‑term sustainability and operational robustness. These moves signal ESA’s intent to embed environmental stewardship into Europe’s space strategy.
The Very Large Telescope’s MUSE instrument captured Ve 7‑27, revealing it as a newborn star rather than a planetary nebula. Energetic jets and bright knots confirm active star formation, and the object sits within the Vela Junior supernova remnant that also hosts...
Brad King, CEO of Orbion Space Technology, warns that the term “flight heritage” is often misused in space procurement. While a hardware unit that has reached orbit reduces perceived risk, heritage does not automatically transfer to later versions that differ...
On February 3, 1966 the Soviet Luna 9 probe achieved the first soft landing on the Moon after a series of failed attempts. The 100‑kg lander descended from orbit, firing retrorockets at 75 km altitude and touching down in the Oceanus Procellarum. Its petal‑opened capsule...
Falcon 9 often launches with less than its maximum reusable mass capability, a result of deliberate choices rather than wasted capacity. The rocket’s practical “full payload” benchmark is about 17,500 kg to low‑Earth orbit, but customers may purchase far less for schedule,...
Space weather startup Hale SWx has secured a five‑year contract with signal‑intelligence constellation operator HawkEye 360 to provide solar activity and atmospheric density forecasts. Hale’s model, which focuses on electromagnetic forces rather than sunspot tracking, delivers an average skill score...
Astronomers using JWST’s NIRSpec have identified a new dwarf galaxy, CAPERS‑39810, at redshift 3.654. Spectroscopic analysis shows it has an extremely low metallicity of –1.96 dex, placing it among the rare class of extremely metal‑poor galaxies (EMPGs). The galaxy’s stellar mass is...
A new study using a nitrogen‑vacancy diamond sensor on a single lunar dust grain from Chang’e 5 shows that the Moon’s magnetism derives from both an ancient core dynamo and impact‑generated shock magnetization. Basaltic grains display weak, uniformly oriented fields, indicating...
SpaceX announced a pause in Falcon 9 launches following an off‑nominal condition on the rocket’s upper stage during the final deorbit burn preparation of the Feb. 2 Vandenberg mission. The stage successfully deployed 25 Starlink satellites but required passivation after the...
A consortium led by Argonne National Laboratory has unveiled RADAR, an AI‑driven framework that fuses gravitational‑wave alerts with radio afterglow observations. By running on supercomputing facilities, RADAR analyzes data in situ, respects proprietary restrictions, and automates notice parsing with large...
MDA Space and Hanwha Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of MDA's AURORA software‑defined satellite platform for South Korea’s planned K‑LEO defense constellation. The partnership aims to deliver secure, resilient low‑Earth‑orbit communications and data services...
Elon Musk replied “maybe next year” to a revived tweet about SpaceX putting a literal Dogecoin on the moon, reigniting public interest. The meme token remains trading just below $0.11, down roughly 60% year‑over‑year and 90% from its 2021 peak....
February 2026 is a packed month for the space sector, featuring 15 high‑profile conferences across the UK, United States, and globally. Events range from the Space Suppliers Summit in Glasgow to the SmallSat Symposium in Silicon Valley, covering manufacturing, finance,...
NASA terminated the Artemis‑II wet dress rehearsal at T‑5:15 after two separate liquid hydrogen leaks were detected. The first leak forced a hold and a recycle of the countdown, while the second leak prevented the planned run to T‑33 seconds...
NASA has awarded $500,000 to SpaceWorks and $1.2 million to Stratolaunch to study how their X‑60 and Talon A vehicles can be adapted for reusable, high‑cadence hypersonic flight testing. The contracts, part of NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, aim to bridge the gap...
University of Sydney researchers have synthesized carbon‑rich cosmic dust in the lab by subjecting a nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene mixture to a 10 kV glow‑discharge plasma. The resulting CHON‑laden particles form thin films on silicon chips and exhibit infrared fingerprints...
Nanyang Technological University has launched three Space Access Programme projects under Singapore’s Space Technology Development Programme, targeting annual launches from 2026 to 2028. The first project integrates an edge‑computing AI payload and perovskite solar cells into a 3U nanosatellite built...
NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) entered its two‑year primary science mission on Feb 1, 2026, to chart the heliosphere’s outer limits. The spacecraft carries ten instruments that will measure solar‑origin particles, magnetic fields and interstellar dust, delivering the most comprehensive...
India's space agency ISRO successfully performed the first hot test of its high‑thrust LOX‑Methane engine at the thrust‑chamber level, achieving a chamber pressure of 56 bar with a single‑element injector fabricated via additive manufacturing. The sub‑scale test validates the engine design...
The closeout crew arrived at the pad shortly after 7 p.m. EST (0000 UTC) tonight. Per the original timeline of events, the closeout crew was set to arrive at the white room at about L-4 hours, 40 minutes ahead of...
[Reposting bc the time for today's news conf has changed to 1:00 pm ET, not noon.] NASA Will Wait Until March for Artemis II https://t.co/KABsiD8zbg NASA will have a news conference at 1:00 pm today (Tuesday, Feb 3) about the...
The European Space Agency has opened free access to data from its Biomass satellite, which uses P‑band synthetic aperture radar to peer through forest canopies and directly measure woody carbon stores. After a lengthy commissioning phase that calibrated instrument stability...
.@AirbusSpace @AirbusDefence CEO makes the case for the space merger w/ @Thales_Alenia_S & @LDO_Space, but inadvertently also makes the case against it. #EuropeanSpaceConf @defis_eu.https://t.co/skIuYdw2mr
Quite a moment. Artemis 2, Long March 10A with Mengzhou, and Starship V3 all undergoing preparations, all with big implications for lunar ambitions. https://t.co/ZA0tV6Nrei
NASA astronaut Chris Williams will field pre‑recorded STEM questions from K‑12 students in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during a live Earth‑to‑space downlink on February 5. The session, streamed on the Learn With NASA YouTube channel, is hosted by the Da Vinci Science Center and open to...
Here's the latest from NASA on why the terminal count stopped at T-5 minutes, 15 seconds: https://t.co/D3mBeV9dAl
NASA terminated the wet dress rehearsal at T-5 minutes, 15 seconds. The plan originally was to take the count down to T-33 seconds. Standing by for further information from NASA as to why the test ended early. Watch live: https://t.co/NhtPQ5dawt https://t.co/oYOBPw51y0
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Blue Origin’s Merritt Island factory on Feb. 2, using the stop to champion the Trump administration’s push for faster, commercially driven defense procurement. He criticized legacy defense contractors for missed schedules and excessive shareholder payouts, urging...
The terminal count is underway with less than five minutes remaining in this launch simulation. NASA will go through just one terminal countdown tonight as part of the wet dress rehearsal tanking test. Watch live: https://t.co/NhtPQ5cCGV
Latest on the Artemis II WDR. Orion hatches are closed. They'll do a single terminal countdown. https://t.co/LY2imrAIdp
OHB Hellas and Parsimoni announced a partnership to create a sovereign in‑orbit software platform, merging OHB's Orbital HPC hardware with Parsimoni's Satellite App Store powered by SpaceOS. The first commercial offering will bundle the ESA‑backed App Store, the OHB Versal...
As of 10:30 p.m. EST (0330 UTC), NASA says the Launch Abort System hatch is closed and the closeout crew is going through its final work before leaving the pad. Also, the decision was made to perform one terminal count,...
Posted the wrong NASA update. This is where the WDR stands as of 9:51 pm ET: https://t.co/rtQdwNxi2D
Paul Bate will leave his role as CEO of the UK Space Agency at the end of March as the agency is merged into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology by April. The agency, founded in 2010, reported catalyzing...
Teams ran into another issue tonight. This time concerning "a valve associated with Orion's hatch pressurization" that was "inadvertently vented." Read the latest statement from the agency below. Watch live: https://t.co/NhtPQ5dawt https://t.co/VGAUhia5fa
Artemis II WDR update. At 8:50 pm ET NASA's YouTube stream says countdown has entered T-10 hold. Rehearsal will extend beyond simulated 9:00 pm ET launch window open. Closeout crew work continues in white room.
UK’s National Space Operations Centre reported that December 2025 saw record orbital congestion, with the US satellite catalogue listing 32,687 resident space objects, a net gain of 383. Re‑entry activity accelerated to 52 objects, a 21 % rise from November, while...
We're continuing our coverage of NASA's wet dress rehearsal of its Space Launch System rocket on a new stream to account for the potential length of the WDR. Join us for live coverage here: https://t.co/NhtPQ5dawt
In its latest update, NASA says core stage LOX and LH2 as well as LOX on the ICPS are all in the replenish phase. Meanwhile, the ICPS LH2 tank is now in fast fill. "Following both stages of the rocket being...
A new study combining lunar‑cratering ejecta models with long‑term orbital simulations estimates that roughly 500,000 lunar‑origin asteroids larger than about 5 m exist today, representing less than 1 % of comparable near‑Earth objects. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space...
NASA shared another snapshot of the fueling progress on its Space Launch System rocket. Since they last showed this graphic, a little more than 30 minutes ago, the core stage LOX increased from 50% to 68% and the LH2 on...
NASA is loading propellants aboard its Space Launch System rocket for a crucial fueling test ahead of the Artemis 2 mission to send a crew of four on a loop around the Moon and back. Watch live coverage: https://youtube.com/live/49suQC9qjH4
NASA’s Artemis 2 wet‑dress rehearsal entered its simulated launch window on Feb 2, with the countdown clock opening at 9 p.m. EST. Technicians completed an inerting purge, replacing ambient air with gaseous nitrogen to eliminate fire risk while personnel cleared the area. Launch director...
NASA has resumed core stage liquid hydrogen fast fill for the Artemis II WDR. https://t.co/i9nMY7JSu0
NASA said in its latest update that its efforts to troubleshoot the leak affecting the core state LH2 loading process "proved unsuccessful." See full statement below. Watch live: https://t.co/UakXJtXzE1 https://t.co/83zcSxPGWq
Artemis II WDR status -- as of 2:25 pm ET, "troubleshooting liquid hydrogen loading into the core stage continues." NASA graphic (which appears periodically on NASA's YouTube stream: https://t.co/5OqAxjZZ1n) https://t.co/ipFvMbh1cO
Here's a look at where things stand with fueling at this point in the count from this NASA-provided graphic. The loading of liquid hydrogen on the core stage is still on hold for the time being as troubleshooting continues. Watch live:...
In an update, NASA says “Core stage liquid hydrogen flow stopped for troubleshooting; liquid oxygen flow continues.” LH2 fast fill began at 12:31 p.m. EST (1731 UTC) and was expected to take about an hour and 20 minutes before getting...
Liquid hydrogen loading on the SLS rocket's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage began ~1:09 p.m. EST (1809 UTC) and should run for ~45 minutes. Hear what Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said about lessons learned from the fueling campaigns of Artemis...
NASA will have a post-WDR news conference tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 3) at noon ET. https://t.co/SK9RVqtJfP
