Rep. Mike Haridopolos On Cutting Red Tape, Passing NASA Bill
Rep. Mike Haridopolos, chair of the House space subcommittee, is pushing for stronger public‑private partnerships as a cornerstone of the 2026 space agenda. He highlighted the recent bipartisan passage of a NASA authorization bill in the House and expressed optimism that Senate leaders Brian Babin and Ted Cruz will carry it forward. Haridopolos argues that today’s commercial players, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, create a viable business case that demands less bureaucratic friction. He also supports programs that let NASA staff work with private firms and vice‑versa.
Blue Origin Pauses New Shepard, Shoots for the Moon
Blue Origin announced it will pause New Shepard suborbital flights for at least two years to reallocate resources toward its lunar ambitions. The company is advancing the New Glenn heavy‑lift rocket and the $3.4 billion Blue Moon lander, slated for NASA’s...
Non-Venture Space Startup Investment Hits Post-SPAC High
Non‑venture investment in space startups surged to a record $10 billion in 2025, the highest level since the 2021 SPAC boom, driven primarily by traditional IPOs and expanding debt financing. Venture capital also rose to $8.6 billion, up from $7.3 billion the prior...
CubeSats’ Missions Begin
NASA astronaut Chris Williams deployed two student‑built CubeSats from the ISS Kibo laboratory, showcasing a multinational effort involving Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. The 3U nanosatellites, each weighing 1‑10 kg, will conduct Earth‑observation imaging and test new communication hardware. CubeSats have...
Spaceium Tests Robot Gas Attendant Piece in Orbit
Spaceium demonstrated a space‑qualified actuator on SpaceX’s Transporter‑15 mission, achieving 0.003‑degree rotation accuracy in orbit. The precision translates to less than a millimeter of movement at the tip of a full‑size robotic arm, a key requirement for in‑space fuel transfers....
Grants
NASA’s National Space Science Center (NSSC) has moved to a consolidated model for awarding and managing all agency grants and cooperative agreements, aiming to streamline processes, improve data quality, and achieve economies of scale. The agency released updated Terms and...
KSAT Launches Hyperion Demonstration for In-Orbit Data Relay
At the SmallSat Symposium, KSAT unveiled Hyperion, a demonstration mission to transition its HYPER in‑orbit relay concept into operation. The 300 kg LEO satellites will act as “orbiting ground stations,” using S‑band TT&C and Ka‑band high‑throughput links to provide near‑real‑time data...
Naval Group, Astrolight to Test POLARIS Laser on Lithuanian Ships
Naval Group and Lithuanian space‑tech firm Astrolight have signed an MoU to trial Astrolight’s POLARIS laser communication terminal on Naval Group’s new offshore patrol vessel for Lithuania. The partnership was announced at the Lithuanian Maritime Defence Industry Days and follows...
NASA Chief: Artemis Moon Landing Is Litmus Test for ‘American Exceptionalism’
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman warned that the Artemis III moon landing is a litmus test for American exceptionalism, stressing that a U.S. miss before China’s 2030 landing would raise questions about national competence. The White House pushed the Artemis III...
Chang'e-6 Samples Constrain Lunar Impact Flux and Illuminate Early Impact History
Scientists using Chang'e-6 far‑side samples have revised the lunar crater chronology, demonstrating that impact fluxes on the Moon’s near and far sides are statistically indistinguishable. Radiometric ages of 2.8 billion‑year basalts and 4.247 billion‑year norites from the South Pole–Aitken basin provide an independent...
Discovery of a Possible Pulsar in the Milky Way's Center Could Enable Unprecedented Tests of General Relativity
Researchers from Columbia University and the Breakthrough Listen program have identified an 8.19‑millisecond pulsar candidate orbiting close to the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*. The discovery emerged from the deepest radio survey ever conducted of the Galactic Center, published...
IDirect Government Validates Live Over-the-Air (OTA) Point-to-Point Test on DVB-S2X Standard
iDirect Government demonstrated a live over‑the‑air point‑to‑point test that validates the DVB‑S2X standard on its 450 Software‑Defined Modem (SDM). The test used the company’s Virtualized Waveform Core (WCore) to run a 200 Mbps × 200 Mbps Ka‑band link, confirming stability across GEO, MEO, LEO...
A Possible First-Ever Einstein Probe Observation of a Black Hole Tearing Apart a White Dwarf
On July 2 2025 the China‑led Einstein Probe detected a transient X‑ray source, EP250702a, whose brightness surged to ~3 × 10⁴⁹ erg s⁻¹ and displayed a rapid hard‑to‑soft spectral shift. Coordinated follow‑up across the globe confirmed the event’s location in a galaxy’s outskirts and revealed a...
Has Roscosmos Gotten Its Baikonur Soyuz-2 Launchpad Fixed Already?
Roscosmos is said to have finished repairs on Baikonur Site 31, the Soyuz‑2 launchpad, by February 10, 2026. The pad was rendered inoperable after a service platform fell into the flame trench during the November launch, an incident attributed to improper attachment. Earlier...
If Scientists Ever Find Strong Evidence of Alien Life, Communicating It Will Pose Serious Issues
Scientists warn that announcing definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life will be fraught with communication challenges. While missions like NASA’s Pandora telescope and the Confidence of Life Detection scale aim to provide rigorous evidence, public perception will be shaped by cultural...
Apolink and Galaxia Team up to Improve Planned Data Relay Capability
Apolink and Canadian startup Galaxia have announced a collaborative study for a 2027 nanosatellite aimed at enhancing Apolink's in‑orbit data relay services. The partnership will explore mission definition, system design, and RF link development to push downlink speeds from kilobits...
ESA Awards Contracts for Ramses Mission to Apophis
The European Space Agency has signed an €81.2 million contract with OHB Italia to build the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), slated for launch in 2028. The spacecraft will rendezvous with near‑Earth asteroid Apophis ahead of its close Earth...
Starcloud to Launch AWS Outposts Hardware in Space, Aims to Deploy Fleet of 88,000 Satellites
Starcloud announced it will be the first to launch Amazon Web Services Outposts hardware on a satellite scheduled for October 2026. The company also filed an FCC proposal for an ambitious 88,000‑satellite constellation designed to train and run AI models...
Untrusted Satcom: Dangers for Indian Tele-Education
The Observer Research Foundation warned that India’s push to use foreign low‑Earth‑orbit constellations such as Starlink for tele‑education creates strategic and cyber vulnerabilities. Untrusted satellite devices could be denied, jammed, or used to inject false content, especially in remote border...
ELCOME Brings Amazon LEO Satellite Connectivity to Maritime Operations
Maritime technology firm ELCOME has signed an authorized reseller agreement with Amazon’s LEO satellite network, formerly Project Kuiper. The deal adds two Amazon‑Leo terminals – the 400 Mbps Leo Pro and the gigabit‑class Leo Ultra – to ELCOME’s portfolio serving over...
UK to Invest Nearly £1M In In-Orbit Manufacturing
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is allocating nearly £1 million to three start‑ups to develop in‑orbit manufacturing capabilities. Space Forge will receive £300,000 to grow semiconductor crystals, OrbiSky £295,000 for ZBLAN optical‑fiber production, and BioOrbit £250,000 to test space‑grown pharmaceuticals. The...
Abundant Element Alloy Enables Rare Earth Free Cryogenic Cooling
Researchers from Japan's National Institute for Materials Science and KOSEN Oshima College have created a copper‑iron‑aluminum oxide regenerator (CuFe0.98Al0.02O2) that cools to 4 K without rare‑earth metals or liquid helium. The material exploits magnetic frustration to deliver specific‑heat performance comparable to...
Climate Change Speeds up Destruction of Key Greenhouse Gas
Scientists at UC Irvine have found that climate change is speeding up the atmospheric destruction of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a potent greenhouse gas and ozone‑depleting substance. Satellite data from NASA’s Microwave Limb Sounder show the gas’s mean lifetime has fallen...
EUMETSAT Extends Role in DestinE Digital Twin Infrastructure
The EUMETSAT Council confirmed the agency will stay a core partner in the European Commission’s Destination Earth (DestinE) programme as it moves into Phase Three later this year. EUMETSAT delivered the fully operational DestinE Data Lake at the end of Phase Two,...
Fermi Data Help Refine Orbital Parameters of a Gamma-Ray Binary
Using 16 years of Fermi LAT data, Chinese astronomers precisely measured the orbit of the gamma‑ray binary PSR J2032+4127. The orbital period is 19,111.5 days (≈52.3 years) with an extreme eccentricity of 0.98 and a separation of about 25.3 AU. Two small spin‑glitches were identified,...
UK Space Agency Launches Programme to Boost Industry Skills
The UK Space Agency has unveiled the Skills for Space internship programme, offering 50 paid eight‑week placements for undergraduates and further‑education students across the country. The scheme aims to address a widening talent gap, as a recent Space Skills Survey...
Did the Viking Missions Discover Life on Mars 50 Years Ago? These Scientists Think So
In 1976 NASA’s Viking landers returned positive signals from three life‑detection experiments, but the onboard GC‑MS failed to find organic molecules, leading the team to declare Mars lifeless. Recent analysis by Ben Benner and colleagues argues that the GC‑MS actually detected...
Astronomers Celebrate Cancellation of $10bn Chile Project that Threatened Clearest Skies in the World
Chile’s environmental regulator has formally withdrawn the $10 bn INNA green‑hydrogen and ammonia project, averting a major threat to the Atacama Desert’s pristine night skies. The proposed 3,000‑hectare facility, only 11.6 km from the Paranal Observatory, raised concerns about light pollution, seismic...
Intense Rainfall Brings Floods Across Iberian Peninsula
Intense winter storms Kristin, Leonardo and Marta drenched the Iberian Peninsula in early February 2026, delivering over 500 mm of rain in 24 hours in parts of Spain and more than 250 mm across the region in a week. The deluge triggered severe...
Hunting for the Lunar Debris Hiding Near Earth
A new study from Tsinghua University predicts roughly 500,000 lunar‑origin asteroids about 5 m across orbiting near Earth, yet only a handful have been identified. These objects travel at about 12.8 km s⁻¹ and approach from sunward or anti‑sunward directions, distinguishing them from...
Motiv Space Systems and PickNik Robotics Collaborate on Software for NASA’s Fly Foundational Robotics Mission
Motiv Space Systems has signed a contract with PickNik Robotics to develop software for NASA’s Fly Foundational Robotics (FFR) mission, which aims to demonstrate on‑orbit robotic manipulation for the agency’s In‑space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) goals. PickNik will deliver...
A “Low-Level” Space Storm Created High-Risk Conditions for European Satellites
On 4 November 2023 a weak geomagnetic storm sparked a rare super plasma bubble that expanded far beyond its usual equatorial zone, reaching latitudes up to 46°N across Europe. The disturbance persisted for several hours, producing pronounced irregularities in total electron content...
FCC Seeks Comment on SpaceX's Million Orbital Data Center Plan
The Federal Communications Commission has opened a public comment period on SpaceX’s proposal to launch a constellation of one million data‑center satellites. SpaceX argues that, once its reusable Starship is operational, the fleet could deliver 100 gigawatts of AI compute power...
Astroscale Japan to Mature Electric Refueling for Future GEO Servicing
Astroscale Japan, a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings, secured a contract under JAXA’s Space Strategy Fund to develop electric propellant refueling technology for geostationary orbit (GEO) servicing. The program will integrate orbital transfer vehicles with on‑orbit refueling systems, aiming to standardize...
Voyager Wins NASA ISS Mission Management Role Through 2030
Voyager Technologies secured a NASA Johnson Space Center indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $24.5 million over four years, extending mission‑management services for International Space Station payloads through 2030. The agreement uses a task‑order structure that lets NASA add scope...
JWST Study Links Sulfur Rich Gas Giants to Core Growth in Distant HR 8799 System
Using JWST’s high‑resolution spectroscopy, researchers examined the atmospheres of three massive planets in the HR 8799 system. They detected sulfur‑bearing molecules, notably hydrogen sulfide, indicating that solid cores formed before gas accretion. The uniform enrichment of sulfur, carbon and oxygen mirrors...
Amino Acids in Bennu Asteroid Hint at Icy Radioactive Origin
A new Penn State study of NASA’s OSIRIS‑REx Bennu samples reveals that the amino acid glycine likely formed in an icy, radioactive environment rather than warm liquid water. Isotopic analysis shows Bennu’s amino acids have signatures distinct from those in...
China Rolls Out BeiDou Satellite Messaging for Emergency Use
China has launched a BeiDou satellite short‑messaging service that lets users send and receive SMS without cellular coverage. The offering, developed by China Space‑Time Information and integrated by China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, works on compatible smartphones without...
Europa’s Ice Shell May Be Surprisingly Thick, Does It Affect the Odds of Alien Life?
New analysis of Juno’s microwave radiometer data indicates Europa’s ice shell may be as thick as 18 to 24 miles, far thicker than many earlier estimates. Such a massive crust would impede the transfer of oxygen and nutrients from the...
A Road Map to Truly Sustainable Water Systems in Space
Sustaining human life in space hinges on efficient water reclamation, a challenge highlighted in a new review by David Olawade and colleagues. The International Space Station’s Environmental Control and Life Support System demonstrates closed‑loop capability but remains energy‑intensive and costly...
Why Does the Travel Time From Earth to Mars Vary?
Travel time between Earth and Mars is not fixed; it depends on the planets’ relative positions and the orbital path chosen. A Hohmann transfer orbit, the most fuel‑efficient trajectory, typically yields a seven‑to‑nine‑month cruise. Because Earth and Mars align favorably...
Teledyne Advances U.S. National Defense with SDA’s Tranche 3 Tracking Layer Program
Teledyne Technologies announced multiple contract awards from the U.S. Space Development Agency to supply infrared focal‑plane modules for the SDA’s Tranche 3 Tracking Layer. The sensors will augment the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, providing low‑Earth‑orbit coverage against hypersonic glide vehicles and...
Es’hailSat Form LEO Strategic Partnership With Telesat
Telesat and Qatar’s Es’hailSat announced a strategic partnership to bring low‑Earth‑orbit satellite connectivity to Qatar and other key markets. The agreement covers service validation, market development and local infrastructure integration. Telesat will launch two Lightspeed pathfinder satellites in late 2026,...
Amazon Expects to Increase Spending on Amazon Leo by $1B in 2026
Amazon announced it will increase spending on its Leo satellite broadband constellation by roughly $1 billion in 2026, reflecting a surge in launch activity. CFO Brian Olsavsky said more than 20 launches are slated for 2026 and over 30 for 2027,...
Momentus to Demonstrate Multispectral Sensor for Space Force, With NASA Support, in March
Momentus will launch its Vigoride 7 orbital service vehicle on a SpaceX Transporter mission in March, carrying NASA’s R5‑S10 cubesat and additional payloads. The flight will demonstrate a low‑cost multispectral rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) sensor suite under a $1.86 million SpaceWERX...
SpaceX Is Building Its Own Particle Accelerator
SpaceX announced plans to construct a 230 MeV cyclotron at its Florida site to bring radiation testing in‑house. The accelerator will fire high‑energy protons at electronics, simulating solar‑storm particle impacts on Starlink, Starshield and other spacecraft hardware. By characterizing chip and...
Kepler Communications’ Next-Generation Optical Data Relay Constellation Launched
Kepler Communications has launched the first operational tranche of its next‑generation optical data relay constellation, deploying ten 300‑kg satellites into a Sun‑Synchronous orbit via a SpaceX Falcon 9 "Twilight" rideshare. The Aether series carries SDA‑compatible laser terminals, multi‑GPU compute modules and...
Tragedy of the Commons and the Space Economy
The article frames Earth’s orbital environment as a classic tragedy of the commons, where easy access, shared costs, and long‑lived harms drive over‑use of low‑Earth orbit, geostationary slots, radio spectrum, and even the night sky. It details how mega‑constellations, orbital...
Why only a Small Number of Planets Are Suitable for Life
Researchers at ETH Zurich have identified a narrow oxygen range during planetary core formation that preserves phosphorus and nitrogen on the surface, a prerequisite for life. Their models show Earth uniquely fell within this chemical Goldilocks zone, while Mars and...
In Antarctica, Balloon Lands After 23-Day Search for Particles From Outer Space
University of Chicago’s PUEO payload lifted off on a NASA balloon on Dec. 20, 2025, and spent 23 days circling Antarctica at 120,000 feet. The instrument, equipped with 96 ultra‑sensitive radio antennas, scanned the ice for ultra‑high‑energy neutrinos—particles far more energetic than...
