China Launches Reusable Spaceplane on Fourth Secretive Orbital Mission
China launched its experimental reusable spaceplane for the fourth time on Feb. 7 using a Long March 2F T rocket from Jiuquan. The mission, shrouded in secrecy, will conduct technological verification and likely repeat satellite releases and rendezvous operations seen in earlier flights. The launch follows a 519‑day gap since the third mission and aligns with Beijing’s push for a fully reusable two‑stage‑to‑orbit system. Observers note similarities to the U.S. X‑37B and anticipate data on future reusable launch architectures.
Live Coverage: SpaceX to Launch Return to Flight Falcon 9 Mission Following Brief Stand Down
SpaceX is slated to launch the Falcon 9 Starlink 17‑33 mission from Vandenberg on Feb 7, marking its first return‑to‑flight after a brief stand‑down caused by a second‑stage anomaly on Feb 2. The launch will deploy 25 additional Starlink satellites, pushing the constellation past...
The Actual Size Of Jupiter Might Shock You
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has refined Jupiter’s dimensions, measuring an equatorial radius of 88,841 miles and a polar radius of 83,057 miles—slightly smaller than the long‑standing textbook values. The new figures come from 32 radio‑occultation data points, far surpassing the six...
Venus Might Experience A Meteor Shower This Summer
Scientists predict Venus will encounter a meteor shower on July 5, 2026, generated by debris from a recently split asteroid. The dust originates from two Atira‑group asteroids, 2021 PH27 and 2025 GN1, which share a common parent body that fractured under solar...
Asteroid Mining Market Assessment
The latest market assessment shows asteroid‑mining valuations are built on optimistic assumptions about metal concentrations, extraction efficiency, and future prices. Detailed analysis reveals that technical hurdles—such as micro‑gravity mining, in‑space processing, and costly return logistics—make realistic mission economics far less...
India’s OrbitAID Aerospace In Talks With ISRO, SpaceX For Twin Satellite Mission
OrbitAID Aerospace Pvt Ltd is in talks with ISRO and SpaceX to launch a pair of 110‑kg satellites that will demonstrate autonomous docking, fuel and power transfer, and on‑orbit life‑extension capabilities. The twin spacecraft – a target and a chaser...
SpaceX's Next Astronaut Launch for NASA Is Officially on for Feb. 11 as FAA Clears Falcon 9 Rocket to Fly...
The FAA has cleared SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to resume flights, ending a four‑day grounding caused by an upper‑stage engine failure during a Feb 2 Starlink launch. With clearance secured, NASA’s Crew‑12 mission is set to lift off on Feb 11 from Cape Canaveral,...
Canadian Researchers Map the Milky Way's Magnetic Field
Canadian astronomers using the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory have completed the Global Magneto‑Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS) of the northern sky, producing the first full‑spectrum map of the Milky Way’s magnetic field. The effort, led by Dr. Jo‑Anne Brown and Dr....
The Collaboration that Brought You the First Image of a Black Hole Just Released Photos of Its Massive Jet
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released new VLBI images that pinpoint the launch point of M87*'s relativistic jet. By exploiting intermediate baselines, researchers identified a compact emission region about 0.09 light‑years from the black‑hole shadow, linking it to the jet’s...
Viasat Expects F2 Satellite to Enter Service in May, Posts 3% Revenue Growth in Q3
Viasat reported a modest 3% year‑over‑year revenue increase to $1.16 billion in Q3 FY2026, driven primarily by its Defense and Advanced Technologies segment, which grew 9%. The company announced that its second ViaSat‑3 satellite (F2) is about 34 days from on‑station...
Strong Solar Flare
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a powerful X4.2 solar flare on February 4, 2026, visualized in extreme ultraviolet light. The flare, one of the strongest recorded this solar cycle, erupted from the Sun’s surface and was highlighted in blue‑red colorization. Such X‑class...
Boreal Forests Are Shifting North
Researchers using the full Landsat archive confirmed that the world’s boreal forest has expanded and migrated northward over the past four decades. Between 1985 and 2020 the forest grew by 0.844 million km², a 12% increase, and its mean latitude shifted...
Blue Origin’s TeraWave Constellation: Analysts Size Up Competitive Positioning
Blue Origin unveiled TeraWave, a planned constellation of 5,280 low‑Earth‑orbit and 128 medium‑Earth‑orbit satellites linked by optical cross‑links and operating in the Q/V‑band. The service is aimed at roughly 100,000 enterprise and data‑center customers seeking fiber‑like throughput and resilient middle‑mile...
How Far Will Elon Musk Take the ‘Everything’ Business as SpaceX and xAI Merge?
Elon Musk announced the merger of SpaceX and his AI startup xAI, creating a unified "everything" conglomerate that could reshape Silicon Valley’s power dynamics. With a personal net worth near $800 billion, Musk positions the combined entity to accelerate innovation across...
Nimoy-Knight Foundation Honors 'Girl Spock' And Her Mission to Become the 1st Openly Autistic Woman in Space
The Nimoy‑Knight Foundation awarded Dr. Jessica Schonhut‑Stasik, known as “Girl Spock,” its Live Long & Prosper Tribute Award. Schonhut‑Stasik, an astrophysicist and neurodiversity advocate, aims to become the first openly autistic woman in space. The award celebrates Leonard Nimoy’s legacy of hope, logic,...
A New American Satellite Constellation Gets FCC Approval
Satellite startup Logos received partial FCC approval for its planned 4,178‑satellite internet constellation, authorizing use of K‑, Q‑ and V‑band frequencies. The network will span seven orbital shells between 870 km and 925 km with inclinations from 28° to 90°. FCC rules...
‘People Knew that They Could Come to Us to Figure Out How to Get Things Done.’
In 2025, the federal space workforce shrank by 13%, with 322,000 civil servants leaving, marking the steepest post‑World‑War II decline. The interview with Shawn Phillips, a 27‑year veteran of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rocket Propulsion Division, illustrates this exodus as he...
Join an Exclusive Webinar About Satellite Imagery and AI
In this episode, host Dr. Oleg Demidov interviews Luke Fischer, CEO of SkyFi, to explore the $3.8 trillion market built around satellite imagery and AI. They discuss how Earth‑observation data has fallen from $20,000 per image to $20 per insight, shifting...
UK Government Proposes 30% Budget Cut to Astronomy and Physics Research: 'It's Pretty Disastrous'
The UK government has announced a 30% reduction in funding for astronomy, particle and nuclear physics through the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The cuts arrive after a previous 15% reduction and follow a decline in the UK’s contribution to...
Russia Launches Classified Nine Satellites
Russia successfully placed nine classified military satellites into orbit using a Soyuz‑2 rocket launched from the Plesetsk spaceport. The Fregat upper stage first released a primary payload at roughly 330 km before maneuvering to about 500 km to deploy the remaining eight...
Voyager Technologies and Max Space Team up to Develop Inflatable Planetary Structures
Voyager Technologies, the lead of the Starlab consortium, and Max Space, developer of the Thunderbird inflatable station, have announced a partnership to co‑develop inflatable planetary habitats for lunar and Martian use. The collaboration will combine Voyager’s single‑module Starlab, slated for...
Michael’s Miscellany: 10 More Cool Things About the Sun
Michael Bakich adds ten fresh solar facts, highlighting the Sun’s differential rotation, elemental makeup, magnetic polarity reversal, historic Carrington flare, and expansive corona. The piece quantifies rotation periods (25.6 days at the equator, 33.5 days at the poles) and details...
Feb. 6, 1971: Teeing Off on the Moon
On Apollo 14 in February 1971, astronaut‑commander Alan Shepard turned a lunar sampling tool into a makeshift 6‑iron and took two historic golf swings on the Moon. The first ball vanished into a crater, while the second was lofted far enough for...
History of the Antares Orbital Launch Vehicle
The Antares launch vehicle has been the workhorse for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services, delivering Cygnus cargo to the ISS since its first flight in 2013. After the 2014 Orb‑3 failure, the aging AJ26 engines were swapped for Russian RD‑181 units,...
ULA Offloads First Vulcan Rocket at Vandenberg at It Preps Its Next Cape Launch
United Launch Alliance has offloaded the first Vulcan rocket booster and upper stage at Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking the inaugural West Coast launch of its next‑generation launch vehicle. The hardware arrived via the R/S RocketShip barge after transiting from...
The Dirty Afterlife of a Dead Satellite
Satellite megaconstellations are set to launch tens of thousands of low‑cost satellites, each with a 5‑10‑year lifespan. To avoid the Kessler Syndrome, operators plan to deorbit them by burning up in the atmosphere, potentially as many as 23 satellites per...
Slow Launch Tempo Clouds Long-Term Role of Space Launch System
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) has now been in development for 15 years, accumulating more than $30 billion in taxpayer spending. The program’s launch cadence remains painfully slow, with fewer than one flight per year, undermining its intended role in deep‑space...
Earth From Space: Olympic View
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite has released a high‑resolution view of northern Italy as the 2026 Winter Olympics open. The image spotlights the main competition venues, from alpine slopes to the Olympic village, illustrating the mission’s precise Earth‑observation capabilities. ESA used...
Sophie Adenot Ready for First Space Mission
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot is set to launch on the εpsilon mission, her first flight to the International Space Station. She will travel alongside NASA and Roscosmos colleagues as part of a multinational crew. On the ISS, Adenot will conduct a...
Europe’s New Weather Satellite Delivers Data That Could Change Forecasting
Europe’s new Meteosat Third Generation‑Sounder (MTG‑S) has begun delivering its first infrared temperature and humidity data after 15 years of development. The hyperspectral sounder, operating from geostationary orbit, produces global surface‑heat and cloud‑top temperature maps as well as moisture fields...
Univity Adds Direct-to-Device Service in VLEO Constellation
French satcom startup Univity is pivoting its very‑low‑Earth‑orbit (VLEO) constellation to offer direct‑to‑device (D2D) connectivity, adding a cellular‑compatible antenna and boosting satellite transmit power. The company will launch two demo satellites in 2027, then begin a 1,500‑satellite rollout in 2028...
Astrolight Plans to Demo Space-to-Ground Optical Comms
European optical communications startup Astrolight will demonstrate three laser‑based payloads on SpaceX’s Transporter‑16 rideshare mission. The demos support ESA’s ARTES ScyLight program, which has earmarked nearly €1 billion for optical and quantum communications over the next three years. Astrolight is also...
Upcoming Lunar Rover Missions (2026–2035)
Between 2026 and 2035 a wave of lunar rover missions will transform Moon exploration from static landers to mobile surface operations. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, along with national agencies and private firms, will launch dozens of rovers ranging...
The "Little Red Dots" Observed by Webb Were Direct-Collapse Black Holes
Astronomers using JWST have identified the enigmatic “Little Red Dots” observed in the early universe as accreting direct‑collapse black holes (DCBHs). A Harvard‑led team led by Fabio Pacucci employed radiation‑hydrodynamic simulations that reproduced the dots’ infrared brightness, weak X‑ray emission,...
Tesla Admits Optimus Robots Are Doing No Useful Work & Other Things We Learned From Mag 7 Earnings
Tesla confirmed on its earnings call that Optimus humanoid robots are still in R&D and are not performing useful work in its factories, contradicting earlier claims. The admission resets expectations for the robotics sector, underscoring the gap between prototypes and...
Arabsat Taps Audimatic for IoT Video Analytics
Arabsat has signed a partnership with Audimatic to deploy its IoT‑driven, real‑time television viewership detection platform across the MENA region. The solution delivers second‑by‑second analytics on channel performance, viewing distribution, and satellite reach, giving Arabsat continuous visibility into live satellite...
NASA Selects Two Earth System Explorers Missions
NASA has selected two Earth System Explorers missions—STRIVE and EDGE—for further development, targeting launch no earlier than 2030. STRIVE will provide daily, near‑global, high‑resolution measurements of temperature, atmospheric composition, and aerosols from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere, enhancing long‑range...
Expandable Structures in Space: New Strategic Partnership
Voyager Technologies and Max Space have formed a strategic partnership to develop expandable space habitats that can launch compactly and inflate up to twenty times their stowed size. The habitats are designed to fit on a single Falcon 9 launch, dramatically...
NASA Astronauts Can Now Bring Their Phones with Them on Their Mission to the Moon
NASA announced that astronauts on upcoming Crew‑12 and Artemis II missions will be permitted to bring personal smartphones into space for the first time. The policy shift follows an accelerated qualification process that cleared modern iPhone and Android devices for flight...
Hidden Threats in the Sun’s Glare: Celestial Dangers Earth Can’t See
The Sun’s intense glare creates a permanent blind spot that hides asteroids and comets approaching from the Sun‑ward direction, rendering both ground‑based and most space‑based telescopes ineffective. The 2013 Chelyabinsk event proved that even modest‑sized objects can strike with little...
The Amaterasu Particle: Cosmic Investigation Traces Its Origin
The Amaterasu particle, detected in 2021 by the Telescope Array, is the second‑highest‑energy cosmic ray ever recorded, packing roughly 40 million times the energy of LHC particles. A new study in The Astrophysical Journal argues that its origin is more likely...
Understanding Satellite Data Analytics
Satellite data analytics converts massive streams of orbital imagery into actionable intelligence, leveraging machine learning, cloud computing, and advanced sensor suites. The sector now processes petabytes of Earth‑observation data daily, delivering near‑real‑time products for agriculture, insurance, climate monitoring, and defense....
Hubble Spots Lens-Shaped Galaxy
NASA and ESA released the sharpest Hubble image of NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy 187 million light‑years distant in Pegasus. The photo reveals striking concentric rings of dust and gas spiraling around a luminous nucleus. Lenticular galaxies occupy an intermediate classification between...
Canada Ranks as the 5th Largest Starlink Market
Ookla’s 2025 Global Satellite Broadband Performance Report confirms Starlink’s dominance, placing Canada as the fifth‑largest market after the United States, Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil. By mid‑2025 more than 500,000 Canadians had subscribed to the service, reflecting rapid consumer uptake. After...
ReOrbit Partners With Google Cloud for Space Data Network
Helsinki‑based ReOrbit is teaming with Google Cloud to build Space Cloud, an orbital data network that links satellites with optical interconnects and on‑board AI compute. The system will be split into a sovereign cloud for national‑security workloads and a commercial...
French Startup The Exploration Company Completes First Splashdown Tests of Nyx Capsule Prototype
The Exploration Company, a French cargo‑capsule startup, completed its first splashdown tests of a 1:4‑scale Nyx prototype on 13‑28 January at the CNR‑INM towing tank in Rome. The 135‑kg mockup underwent 20 drops at varying heights and speeds, equipped with pressure...
Israeli Weather Satellite Startup Raises $175 Million in Investment Capital
Israeli weather‑data startup Tomorrow.io announced a $175 million financing round to launch DeepSky, an AI‑native satellite constellation. The company has already deployed 13 smallsats that deliver a 60‑minute global revisit, feeding its AI‑driven analytics platform used across critical industries. DeepSky will...
New £3.8m DEEP Lab Opens in Oxfordshire to Test Satellite Propulsion Systems
A new £3.8 million Disruptive Experimental Electric Propulsion (DEEP) lab opened at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, with £1.8 million contributed by the UK Space Agency. Built by Magdrive, the facility features a two‑metre vacuum chamber for testing electric thrusters and is open...
Astronomers Use SphereX Infrared Space Telescope to Study Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas
NASA’s SphereX infrared space telescope has detected a suite of organic molecules—including methanol, cyanide and methane—in the coma of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas as it brightened in December 2025. The comet’s activity surged two months after perihelion, driven by the release of...
Deep Space, Dim Objects: Why Asteroid Mining Caught the Space Force’s Eye
U.S. Space Force is closely evaluating asteroid‑mining firms as sources of deep‑space navigation and sensing technology. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy highlighted that these companies solve “dim object” detection challenges critical for cislunar operations. AstroForge, a leading startup, has demonstrated both...
