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China’s Wenchang Space Centre abruptly cancelled almost all February launches, leaving only the Long March‑10A test flight scheduled for 11 February. The move follows high‑profile failures of the Long March 3B and Ceres‑2 rockets, fueling speculation about safety reviews and a strategic shift toward lunar exploration. No official explanation has been provided, but industry insiders suggest the cancellations free resources for the next‑generation Long March‑10A, China’s dedicated lunar launch vehicle. The timing coincides with NASA’s Artemis II mission, heightening the global space‑race narrative.
The European Space Agency’s Draco mission will deliberately re‑enter Earth’s atmosphere in 2027, carrying a suite of 200 sensors and four cameras to record the fiery breakup of a satellite‑sized capsule. Over a 20‑minute telemetry window after parachute deployment, the...
China successfully launched Algeria's AlSat‑3B remote‑sensing satellite on a Long March 2C from Jiuquan, following the earlier AlSat‑3A mission. The launch adds to China’s aggressive 2026 schedule, which aims to exceed 100 orbital attempts. Meanwhile, Long March 7A and 8A flights have been postponed...
In this three‑week webinar series launching on February 16, Denis Kalyshkin—a principal at a U.S. venture capital firm and former aerospace engineer—explains how VC funds operate, covering market analysis, deal terms, due diligence, and financial modeling for startups. He breaks...
On 27 January, EUMETSAT and ESA signed a cooperation agreement to move the EPS‑Sterna microsatellite constellation from approval to development. The programme, funded by EUMETSAT and managed by ESA for satellite procurement, will deploy six sun‑synchronous microsatellites equipped with microwave sounders...
The International Space Station has hosted over 3,800 experiments across 80 expeditions, with NASA sponsoring 56% and the other four agencies contributing the remainder. Research spans six categories, led by technology development (28.6%) and biology (27.2%), and has shifted from...
A Continuing Resolution expires at midnight, threatening a partial government shutdown this weekend. The Senate passed an amended six‑bill "minibus" that funds Defense, NASA, NOAA, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation and other agencies, but the text must return...
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has adapted its land‑based plastic‑detection remote‑sensing system to monitor marine debris from orbit. The new algorithm leverages high‑resolution multispectral satellite imagery to identify floating plastic patches and shoreline accumulation. Early tests over the Pacific have successfully...
Leonardo DRS has secured a subcontract to supply advanced infrared mission payloads for the Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 3 (TRKT3). The new payloads will provide persistent, global coverage to detect and track ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons from launch...
NASA has delayed the Artemis 2 lunar flyby to February 8, pushing the earliest launch window back two days because forecasted near‑freezing temperatures at Cape Canaveral would breach launch criteria. The postponement narrows February’s viable launch days to just three, tightening the...
NASA’s Chandra X‑ray Observatory, launched in 1999, has compiled over 1.3 million individual X‑ray detections into the Chandra Source Catalogue (CSC) 2.1. The catalogue, released in 2024, lists more than 400,000 unique compact and extended sources gathered through 2021. Data primarily stem...
Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute and Spain's Centro de Astrobiología have identified thiepine (C₆H₆S), a six‑membered sulfur‑bearing molecule, in the star‑forming cloud G+0.693–0.027 near the Milky Way’s center. The detection, confirmed by laboratory‑generated spectra and observations from the IRAM...
NASA/JPL scientist Al Emran re‑examined Galileo’s near‑infrared spectra and identified faint ammonia absorption bands at 2.2 µm along Europa’s surface cracks. The ammonia, likely delivered by recent cryovolcanic eruptions, indicates that nitrogen‑rich brines are actively reaching the moon’s exterior. Because ammonia lowers...
NASA has awarded Axiom Space its fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, with a launch window opening no earlier than January 2027 from Kennedy Space Center. The 14‑day flight will carry up to four crew members who...
The Pentagon is committing $1 billion to L3Harris’s Missile Solutions unit through a convertible preferred security, paving the way for a spinoff IPO slated for the second half of 2026. Management projects the new entity will generate at least $4 billion in...
NASA’s Libera instrument, designed to sustain the global Earth radiation budget record, has successfully completed comprehensive environmental testing, including thermal vacuum simulations. The instrument, built by the University of Colorado Boulder’s LASP, will fly aboard the JPSS‑4 satellite—later named NOAA‑22—targeted...
In this episode, Laura Winter and Malcolm Davis discuss Australia’s evolving role in space security and defense amid a shifting global order. Davis outlines how Australia must modernize its national defense strategy, invest in indigenous space capabilities, and deepen collaboration...
Novaspace’s latest Space Economy Report projects the global space market to exceed $1 trillion by 2034, up from roughly $625 billion in 2025. The forecast attributes growth to sector maturation, increased financing, and the softwarization of space infrastructure. Government spending, especially on...
Blue Origin announced it will suspend its New Shepard space tourism flights for a minimum of two years to redirect resources toward lunar missions. The pause comes just weeks before the scheduled third launch of its New Glenn heavy‑lift rocket,...
L3Harris reported that its Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) segment posted flat revenue in 2025, reaching $6.9 billion, as a government shutdown delayed fourth‑quarter contracts. The segment improved its operating margin by 50 basis points to 12.3% thanks to steadier program...
A Russian military geosynchronous satellite launched in 2014 was moved to a graveyard orbit in 2025 after its fuel depleted. On 30 January 2026 the defunct spacecraft spontaneously fragmented, an event captured on video by Swiss tracking firm S2A Systems....
U.S. Space Force Vice Chief Gen. Shawn Bratton outlined the service’s 2040 vision, emphasizing a shift from organization building to war‑fighting capabilities such as space superiority, dynamic operations, and cislunar navigation. He highlighted the "objective force" – the capability set...
An uncontrolled upper stage of China’s Zhuque‑3 launch vehicle, weighing about 11 tonnes and 13 m long, re‑entered Earth’s atmosphere on Jan 30, 2026, ultimately crashing into the southern Pacific Ocean. European space agencies, including the EU’s SST system, monitored the object...
Physicists at SLAC used powerful X‑ray imaging to reveal a hidden star catalog by Hipparchus inside the 6th‑century Codex Climaci Rescriptus, a palimpsest from Saint Catherine’s Monastery. The recovered Greek poem "Phaenomena" and its appended coordinates provide the earliest known...
RBC Signals has teamed up with Apolink to resell the startup’s in‑orbit relay services, aiming to close the connectivity gaps that leave LEO satellites out of range of ground stations for most of each orbit. Apolink will test its receive‑only...
Physicists at UC Berkeley and the American University of Beirut have shown that general‑relativistic precession in tight binary stars can resonantly amplify a circumbinary planet’s eccentricity, leading to tidal disruption or ejection. Kepler and TESS have identified only 14 confirmed...
NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Station 15 (DSS-15) is a 112‑foot antenna that forms part of the Deep Space Network’s global array of communication facilities. The DSN supports interplanetary spacecraft, radar, and radio‑astronomy observations, and is a critical link for the...
NASA’s Artemis Landing and Recovery team, together with the Department of Defense, performed a final just‑in‑time training exercise off California’s coast on Jan. 27, 2026. The drill used a full‑scale Crew Module Test Article to mimic the Orion spacecraft’s splashdown environment for...
Russia’s sole Soyuz launchpad at Baikonur, essential for ISS crew and cargo flights, will likely miss the promised late‑March completion deadline, according to Roscosmos infrastructure chief Barmin. The delay stems from harsh winter conditions and a patchwork of components, including...
During a SpaceX Crew-12 briefing, NASA's Steve Stich lays out a few scenarios for planning the launch of this ISS mission vs Artemis 2. • If Artemis 2 launches on Feb. 8, Crew-12 would push to NET Feb. 19 • If A2...
The Small Bodies Assessment Group released draft findings from its 34th meeting, urging NASA to preserve a regular cadence of planetary missions to sustain the expert workforce and avoid destabilizing the exploration portfolio. It calls for tighter coordination of ground‑based,...
WISeKey International announced proof‑of‑concept testing of post‑quantum cryptography on satellites in late 2025, with a fully operational quantum‑resistant satellite slated for launch in the second quarter of 2026. The initiative combines hybrid Triple Key Encapsulation Mechanisms that blend PQC algorithms with...
Leonardos Gkouvelis of LMU has delivered the first closed‑form analytical theory for transmission spectroscopy that incorporates pressure‑dependent opacity, a problem that has stymied exoplanet atmosphere modeling for decades. The new formula replaces costly numerical simulations with a transparent, fast solution,...
NASA faces a deadline to award a $700 million Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) by the end of fiscal year 2026, aiming for a launch in the 2028 window. The congressional mandate ties the contract to companies that received 2024‑25 design‑study funding...
NASA‑backed researchers have resurrected a 3.2‑billion‑year‑old nitrogenase enzyme, demonstrating that its nitrogen‑isotope signature remains unchanged despite billions of years of molecular evolution. By reverse‑engineering modern nitrogenase, the team recreated ancestral versions and expressed them in microbes, confirming that the isotopic...
Both Windows laptops and MacBooks offer distinct advantages for astrophotography, but the optimal choice depends on the user’s performance needs and budget constraints. Windows machines provide broader hardware customization, including high‑end GPUs that accelerate stacking and noise reduction. MacBooks deliver...
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified a compact five‑galaxy merger, dubbed JWST’s Quintet, at redshift 6.71—only about 800 million years after the Big Bang. The system spans tens of thousands of light‑years yet forms stars at roughly 250 solar masses...
ESA’s weekly image roundup for 26‑30 January 2026 highlights a mix of human spaceflight, launch preparation, and Earth observation. The gallery features Roscosmos, NASA and ESA astronauts, the Ariane 6 VA267 booster on the pad, and Sentinel‑2 coastal imagery over China. Additional visuals...
Why has it taken us so long to go back to The Moon? #space #nasa #artemis #artemis2 #astrokobi
Because of the cold weather anticipated this weekend, NASA decided to delay the start of the SLS rocket's tanking test. The simulated T-0 is now on Feb. 2 and the launch of Artemis 2 is no earlier than Feb. 8. Read...
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science examined how perchlorate, a toxic chemical in Martian regolith, influences biocementation by a robust native strain of Sporosarcina pasteurii. While perchlorate slows bacterial growth, it triggers extracellular matrix formation that creates microbridges, resulting...
House SS&T will markup up a new NASA authorization bill (H.R. 7273) on Wednesday, Feb 4, at 10:00 am ET. Webcast. https://t.co/JD6nB1YtA3
In a statement, @blueorigin announced it is shifting its focus to its lunar human spaceflight program. This means they are stopping flights of their suborbital New Shepard rocket "for no less than two years." Full statement: https://t.co/YIgMXGl99i
The UK government’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) revealed this week that it needs to cut £162M (€187M) in spending by FY2029-30 to align with a new “outcome-focused approach” in the country’s R&D funding. https://t.co/FFMaFZTdNY
If this number is verified, it represents a stunning increase in @Starlink uptake in Brazil in recent months.
The GAO’s watchful eye has fallen upon the SDA. In a report released, the watchdog agency was unimpressed with the SDA’s planning for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). https://t.co/PNHOl00MTv
After closing out 2025 with record funding commitments from its member states, significant progress in the launch industry, and a private sector investing in space ventures, it’d be easy for @esa to take a beat and celebrate. https://t.co/Zo5GGFRRHR
The second stage of the first Zhuque-3 rocket launched in December reentered at 1239 UTC today (±1 min) over the Southern Ocean, according to a US Space Force TIP message. There was a surprising level of interest in the event...
French govt concludes @EutelsatGroup ground segment is 'obviously strategic' & blocks sale to @eqt private equity firm of Sweden. Result means higher leverage but also higher EBITDA margin for Eutelsat. @RolandLescure @defis_eu.https://t.co/tjul9S25ql https://t.co/kiDGUyII8X
China's human spaceflight agency has opened voting for mission logos for 2026 missions. Here are the 10 candidates for the Mengzhou mission, variously showing Mengzhou, the CZ-10A and Tiangong. https://t.co/MwsOHINj42 https://t.co/IfXUOm3G7u
