A Fireside Chat with Space Force Gen. Shawn Bratton
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 needed by 2040 – and the nearer‑term "program force" that funds a seven‑year horizon. Bratton stressed the importance of commercial‑as‑a‑service models, expanding offensive and defensive space tools, and addressing people, infrastructure, and acquisition reforms to sustain growth.
An Uncontrolled Chinese Rocket Puts Europe On Alert
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...
A Greek Star Catalog From the Dawn of Astronomy, Revealed
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 Partners with In-Orbit Relay Developer Apolink
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...
Why Are Tatooine Planets Rare? General Relativity Explains Why Binary Star Systems Rarely Host Planets
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...
Goldstone’s DSS-15 Antenna and the Milky Way
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...
Artemis II Recovery Training
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...
Russian Official Says Soyuz Launchpad Repair Likely Delayed
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...
Exploration of Exoplanets: A Mathematical Solution for Investigating Their Atmospheres
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 Crucial Choice on a Mars Spacecraft—And It Must Decide Soon
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...
Resurrecting Ancient Enzymes in NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth
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...
Is a MacBook or Windows Laptop Better for Astrophotography?
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...
Webb Reveals Five-Galaxy Merger Just 800 Million Years After the Big Bang
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...
Week in Images: 26-30 January 2026
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...
How Brick-Building Bacteria React to Toxic Chemical in Martian Soil
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...
Making the Unprecedented EU Space Act Effective for All
The European Commission’s proposed EU Space Act, unveiled on June 25, 2025, seeks to embed safety, resilience and sustainability requirements across all space services operating in Europe. It mandates debris tracking, cybersecurity standards and environmental impact reductions for both EU...
NASA-ISRO Radar Mission Peers Through Clouds to See Mississippi River Delta
NASA and ISRO’s NISAR satellite used its L‑band synthetic aperture radar to capture a cloud‑free image of the Mississippi River Delta on Nov. 29, 2025. The radar’s 24‑centimeter wavelength penetrates clouds, revealing land‑cover details from urban structures to wetlands and crops. The...
From Space to the Seabed, Critical Infrastructure Is Becoming More Vulnerable, Experts Warn: 'People Don't Realize How Dependent We Are'
Experts at the World Economic Forum warned that the critical infrastructure linking orbiting satellites and seabed cables is becoming increasingly vulnerable. With more than 15,000 active satellites today and proposals that could swell to half a million by the late...
Laurent Jaffart Appointed Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity
The European Space Agency Council approved Laurent Jaffart’s reassignment to the newly created Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity (D/RNC) role, effective 1 February 2026. The position reinforces ESA’s focus on resilience, navigation and connectivity to meet the security and defence priorities of...
SES to Extend EGNOS GEO 1 Payload Service for Precise Navigation over Europe Through 2030
SES and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme have renewed the EGNOS GEO 1 satellite service agreement through 2030, with an option to extend to 2032. The extension keeps the hosted payload on SES 5 operational, delivering high‑precision navigation corrections...
Lockheed Martin Launches Ninth GPS III Satellite to Boost Secure Navigation
Lockheed Martin placed its ninth GPS III satellite, SV09, into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral on Jan 30 2026. The spacecraft delivers three‑times the accuracy and up to eight‑times better anti‑jamming capability, reinforcing both military and civilian navigation services....
NASA Heat Shield Technology Enables Space Industry Growth
NASA’s C‑PICA heat‑shield material, developed at Ames Research Center, was licensed to Varda Space Industries and manufactured in‑house for the company’s W‑5 capsule. On Jan. 29, 2026 the capsule re‑entered Earth’s atmosphere and landed safely in South Australia, marking the first all‑Varda...
Rocket Lab Conducts Second Electron Mission in Eight Days to Orbit Korean Imaging Satellite
Rocket Lab completed its 81st Electron flight, deploying the NEONSAT‑1A Earth‑observation satellite for South Korea’s KAIST. The "Bridging The Swarm" mission lifted off from New Zealand on Jan 30, placing the payload into a 540 km low‑Earth orbit. This launch marks the company’s...
Earth From Space: Rudong Coast, China
The European Space Agency released a new Sentinel‑2 image of Rudong County’s coastline on China’s eastern seaboard. The high‑resolution optical data showcases the region’s shoreline, wetlands and nearby maritime traffic. ESA highlighted the image as part of its open‑access Copernicus...
A Laser Ruler for Sharper Black Hole Images
KAIST researchers have replaced traditional electronic timing signals in Very Long Baseline Interferometry with optical frequency‑comb lasers, delivering atomic‑clock precision across radio telescopes. The laser comb feeds directly into each dish’s receiver, establishing phase alignment at the fundamental stability of...
Two American Launches This Evening
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from New Zealand, delivering South Korea’s first test smallsat for a planned observation constellation over the Korean peninsula. Later, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, with the booster completing its fifth...
ESA Urges Europe to Keep Up the Momentum in Brussels
The European Space Agency closed 2025 with record funding commitments, yet its overall budget still lags far behind the United States and China. At the European Space Conference in Brussels, Director General Josef Aschbacher warned that past achievements are insufficient...
A New Theory for What Really Powers a Flare
A new study using ESA’s Solar Orbiter data shows solar flares are powered by “magnetic avalanches” rather than the traditional current‑sheet reconnection model. The high‑resolution EUI imager captured 2‑second cadence magnetic strands forming, winding, and repeatedly reconnecting thirty minutes before...
NASA Considering Alternatives for Gateway Logistics
NASA is at a crossroads over how to provide cargo services for the lunar Gateway, reassessing the original SpaceX Dragon XL contract and weighing a potential shift to SpaceX’s Starship. The agency authorized the first logistics mission for 2023 but...
JAXA Taps Warpspace to Develop Open Laser Communications in Space
Japan’s Warpspace Inc. has been selected for JAXA’s Space Strategy Fund to develop open‑laser communication technologies that enable seamless inter‑satellite links across different vendors. The company will create the HOCSAI multi‑protocol optical modem to provide interoperability, and a Digital Twin...
China’s Micius Satellite Operational Status: What Have You Done Lately?
The Chinese Micius satellite, launched in 2016 for the QUESS quantum‑experiments program, was designed for a two‑year mission but remains operational in 2025. It continues to host quantum key distribution and entanglement experiments, proving the durability of space‑based quantum hardware....
Lockheed Martin Space Sales Grew 4% in 2025
Lockheed Martin reported a 4% year‑over‑year increase in its Space segment, delivering $13 billion in revenue for 2025. Growth was driven by $380 million from strategic and missile‑defense programs such as Next Generation Interceptor and Fleet Ballistic Missile, and $255 million from the...
NASA Researchers Probe Tangled Magnetospheres of Merging Neutron Stars
NASA’s Goddard team leveraged the Pleiades supercomputer to run over 100 high‑resolution simulations of two 1.4‑solar‑mass neutron stars merging. The models reveal how tangled magnetospheres reconnect and generate rapidly varying electromagnetic emission in the final 7.7 ms before coalescence. Emission intensity...
New Map of the Milky Way's Magnetism Offers Insights Into Cosmic Evolution
A UBC Okanagan‑led team released the first broadband Faraday‑rotation map of the northern sky, called DRAGONS, using the DRAO 15‑meter telescope. The survey reveals that more than half of the sky exhibits intricate magnetic structures, overturning the notion of a largely...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI in Talks to Merge, Report Says
SpaceX and Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI are reportedly in merger talks ahead of a planned SpaceX IPO later this year, according to Reuters. Two Nevada entities, K2 Merger Sub Inc. and K2 Merger Sub 2 LLC, were filed in January, signaling...
NASA's Juno Spacecraft Spots the Largest Volcanic Eruption Ever Seen on Jupiter's Moon Io
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured the most energetic volcanic eruption ever observed on Io, covering 40,400 sq mi and releasing 140‑260 terawatts of power. The event, recorded on Dec. 27, 2024 during a close fly‑by, involved multiple volcanoes igniting simultaneously, hinting at a hidden network of...
Eutelsat’s Ground Infrastructure Sale Falls Through
Eutelsat announced that its planned €550 million sale of passive ground infrastructure to EQT Partners has been cancelled after regulatory and security approvals were not secured. The deal would have created SatPort Infrastructure, the world’s largest neutral ground‑station‑as‑a‑service platform. The cancellation...
UK Astronomy Faces Catastrophe Under Funding Cuts
The Royal Astronomical Society warns that proposed cuts from the Science and Technology Facilities Council could slash the combined budget for astronomy, particle physics and nuclear physics by roughly 30%, with some projects facing up to 60% reductions. The society...
Oxford Space Systems Wrapped Rib Antenna Successfully Deployed In-Orbit on CarbSAR Mission
Oxford Space Systems and SSTL announced the successful in‑orbit deployment of the Wrapped Rib Antenna on the CarbSAR demonstration mission launched by SpaceX on 11 January 2026. The antenna, a large deployable X‑band SAR reflector, unfolded in two stages, confirming its dual‑deployment...
Did Earth’s Water Really Come From Meteorites?
A new study using triple oxygen isotopes in Apollo lunar‑regolith samples shows that only about 1 percent of the Moon’s soil is derived from carbon‑rich meteorites, implying a similarly modest contribution to Earth’s water. Even assuming Earth captured roughly twenty times...
Do You Have Ideas About How to Improve America's Space Program?
The Space Ideation Challenge, launched by U.S. academic and defense leaders, offers a $125,000 prize pool to surface fresh concepts for America’s space program. It arrives as China’s capabilities close the gap with the United States and commercial firms like...
How Tree Rings Help Scientists Understand Disruptive Extreme Solar Storms
A new study in New Phytologist reveals that tree species record radiocarbon spikes from extreme solar storms—known as Miyake events—differently due to variations in carbon uptake, storage, and allocation. These biological nuances can shift the timing and intensity of the...
Tomorrow.io Announces DeepSky a New AI Satellite Constellation Privatizing Precision Weather
Tomorrow.io unveiled DeepSky, an AI‑native satellite constellation designed to deliver high‑frequency, customized weather and ocean data for enterprise and government users. The company received operational‑grade validation from NOAA, which praised the microwave sounders’ radiometric accuracy and cross‑satellite consistency. DeepSky builds...
Polish Satellites Are Working Properly in Orbit
Creotech Instruments announced that the HyperSat platform on Poland’s PIAST constellation is fully operational after successful commissioning of the PIAST‑S1 and PIAST‑S2 satellites. The three‑satellite fleet, launched on SpaceX’s Transporter‑15 mission on 28 November 2025, has received NORAD identifiers and has already...
Behind-the-Scenes Look at Artemis II Astronauts' Training for Flight Around the Moon
NASA is gearing up for Artemis II, its first crewed lunar flyby in over half a century. The four‑person crew—three Americans and a Canadian—will spend about ten days orbiting the Moon aboard the Orion capsule. Astronauts are undergoing intensive training that...
A Massive Clump of Dark Matter May Lurk in the Milky Way
Scientists have identified a massive dark‑matter clump roughly ten million times the Sun’s mass located about a kiloparsec (3,260 light‑years) from Earth. The discovery emerged from precise timing measurements of a pair of nearby pulsars, whose pulse‑rate shifts indicated an...
US Army Puts Out the Call for Space Soldiers
The U.S. Army announced a new Military Occupational Specialty, Tactical Space Operations Specialist, opening applications for enlisted personnel from specialist to sergeant major. The initial cohort will consist of 1,000 soldiers, with plans to grow to 1,500 by 2032, and...
A New Method to Search for Ultralight Dark Matter with Advanced Optical Cavities
Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated a novel laboratory search for ultralight dark‑matter particles using two Fabry‑Perot optical cavities of different lengths. By exploiting the pendulum‑like response of rigid cavities in the 34‑64 kHz band, the experiment can detect minute length oscillations...
Gaia Data Reveal Three Galactic Open Clusters in Detail
Astronomers used ESA’s Gaia Data Release 3 to conduct a detailed analysis of three Milky Way open clusters—Berkeley 17, 18 and 39—identifying 600, 1,042 and 907 probable members respectively. The study reports ages ranging from 3.4 billion to 9.1 billion years, stellar masses from 536 M☉ to...
WEF’s Space Debris Report Projects Significant Costs
The World Economic Forum’s "Clear Orbit, Secure Future" report warns that space‑debris congestion could cost the satellite industry between $25.8 billion and $42.3 billion over the next decade, even without a single catastrophic collision. It breaks the projected losses into $14.2‑$30.7 billion from...
