U.S. Space Force Activates Northern Unit to Advance Space-Based Defense Capabilities
The U.S. Space Force officially activated its Northern component on Jan. 30, placing it under U.S. Northern Command to bolster homeland defence. The new Space Forces Northern unit, the seventh regional field component, will focus on space domain awareness, missile warning, and satellite communications. Its creation follows the earlier launch of a Southern component and aligns with the 2026 National Defense Strategy’s emphasis on protecting U.S. interests across the Western Hemisphere. The unit will coordinate closely with U.S. Space Command to shape future space capability requirements.
Reproduction in Space, an Environment Hostile to Human Biology
A new study in Reproductive Biomedicine Online warns that space’s radiation, microgravity and circadian disruption create a hostile environment for human reproduction. It highlights the absence of industry‑wide standards for managing fertility risks, early pregnancy, and ethical dilemmas as commercial...
One-of-a-Kind 'Plasma Tunnel' Recreates Extreme Conditions Spacecraft Face upon Reentry
University of Colorado Boulder has launched an inductively coupled plasma tunnel that reproduces the extreme heat and velocity of spacecraft re‑entry. The facility can generate plasma flows up to 9,000 °F and accelerate gases at thousands of miles per hour, matching...
Isaacman: SLS Stands on Very Thin Ice
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman reaffirmed support for Artemis‑2’s March launch while warning that the Space Launch System (SLS) is not the most economical solution. He highlighted SLS’s historically low flight rate and the recent wet‑dress rehearsal that was aborted due...
Satlyt to Integrate Edge Computing Into Aerospace Corp DiskSat Platform
Satlyt has signed a commercial license with The Aerospace Corporation to embed its edge‑computing framework into the DiskSat platform, a novel one‑meter‑diameter, 2.5‑centimeter‑thick satellite architecture. The first four DiskSats were launched on a Rocket Lab mission in December 2025, marking...
MasOrange to Trial Starlink Direct-to-Cell in Spain
MasOrange has secured regulator approval to pilot SpaceX’s Starlink Direct‑to‑Cell service in Spain’s Valladolid province. The trial will test satellite‑based supplemental coverage for remote, mountainous and coastal areas, positioning the service as a network complement rather than a full replacement....
Why SpaceX Bought xAI: Data Centers in Space Aren't the only Reason
Elon Musk merged SpaceX with his AI startup xAI, creating a privately‑owned entity valued at roughly $1.25 trillion. Musk argues the deal is driven by the massive electricity demand of AI and a long‑term vision of orbital AI data centers, backed...
Cosmic Radiation Brought to Light: Researchers Measure Ionization in Dark Cloud for the First Time
An international team used the James Webb Space Telescope to directly detect three faint infrared H₂ emission lines in the dark molecular cloud Barnard 68, marking the first observational confirmation of cosmic‑ray‑excited gas. The measurements provide a direct estimate of the...
Telespazio and Italian Space Agency to Upgrade Historic Fucino Antenna
Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency announced the "Response" programme to modernise the 27‑metre FOC‑1A antenna at Italy’s Fucino Space Centre, a facility that has operated since 1967. The upgrade will retrofit the historic dish with hardware capable of near‑Earth...
Did We Just See a Black Hole Explode? Physicists Think So—And It Could Explain (Almost) Everything
Physicists at UMass Amherst propose that a quasi‑extremal primordial black hole (PBH) can undergo a runaway Hawking‑radiation explosion, releasing ultra‑high‑energy particles. Their model explains the PeV‑scale neutrino detected by the KM3NeT collaboration in 2023, an event far beyond any known...
Dumb Science: Researchers Claim Jupiter Is 0.0028% Thinner than Previously Measured
Researchers using NASA's Juno spacecraft have refined Jupiter's dimensions, finding the planet’s equatorial radius is about 4 km smaller and its polar flattening 12 km less than previously reported. The new measurements place Jupiter’s mean radius at 71,484 km, a 0.0028% reduction at...
Artemis 2 Launch Pushed to March Launch Window
NASA concluded its Artemis 2 wet‑dress rehearsal early after encountering multiple technical setbacks, including a liquid hydrogen leak and a valve that required retorquing. The countdown was automatically aborted when leak rates spiked, and cold‑weather conditions further complicated camera operations. As...
NASA Space to Soil Challenge
NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office has opened the Space‑to‑Soil Challenge, inviting teams to design SmallSat missions that embed adaptive sensing and onboard AI. The competition emphasizes real‑time interpretation of land‑surface data to support regenerative agriculture, sustainable forestry, and broader land‑resilience...
ESA's Sustainability Ambition
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...
Neutron Star Photobombs Baby Star | Space Photo of the Day for Feb. 3, 2026
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...
Flight Heritage? It Isn’t What You Think
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...
Feb. 3, 1966: Luna 9 Successfully Lands
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 Flights Without a Full Payload: Economic Drivers and Operational Realities
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,...
HawkEye 360 Taps Hale for Space Weather Forecasts
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...
JWST Discovers a New Extremely Metal-Poor Dwarf Galaxy
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...
Reading the Moon’s Diary, One Speck of Dust at a Time
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 Pauses Falcon 9 Launches After Upper Stage Anomaly
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...
AI Framework Links Gravitational Waves and Radio Afterglows
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 Target Korean K-LEO Defense Network
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 Says SpaceX May Put DOGE 'on the Moon' Next Year
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....
Your February 2026 Space Calendar: 15 Events & Conferences That Define Q1
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,...
Fuel Leaks Cause Artemis-2 Dress Rehearsal Countdown to Terminate at T-5:15, Several Minutes Early
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 Backs Studies to Boost Hypersonic Flight Testing
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...
Lab Made Cosmic Dust Experiment Reveals Paths to Life Chemistry
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...
NTU Singapore Boosts Agile Space Access with Trio of New Projects
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...
NASAs IMAP Begins Primary Science Mission
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...
ISRO Conducts Hot Test Of LOX-Methane Engine At Thrust Chamber
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...
A New Era For Forest Carbon Tracking Begins As ESA Releases Biomass Data
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...
NASA Astronaut to Answer Questions From Students in Pennsylvania
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...
At Blue Origin, Hegseth Escalates Criticism of Legacy Defense Procurement
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...
OHB Hellas and Parsimoni to Develop Sovereign Software Solution
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...
UK Space Agency CEO Stepping Down as Agency Folds Into Government
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...
December Saw More Satellites Falling Back To Earth, UK Space Data Shows
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...
As Rubin's Survey Gets Underway, Simulations Suggest It Could Find About Six Lunar-Origin Asteroids per Year
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...
Artemis 2 Wet Dress Rehearsal “Go” For Tanking
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...
House NASA Bill Seeks Details on Lunar Lander and Spacesuit Development
The House Science Committee’s NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026 will require NASA to submit detailed reports on the progress, funding, and challenges of the Human Landing System contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX. It also mandates a 180‑day report on...
Long-Period Jupiter-Like Exoplanet Discovered with TESS
Astronomers using NASA's TESS have confirmed a new exoplanet, TOI-6692 b, that rivals Jupiter in size but orbits its Sun‑like star every 130 days on a highly eccentric path. The planet was first flagged by citizen scientists as a single‑transit event and...
Close Encounter: Earth Orbiting Leftovers
On December 25 2025 a defunct French Earth‑observation satellite, SPOT 3, came within roughly 20 meters of a fragment from the Soviet Cosmos 1275, which exploded in 1996. The near‑miss occurred at about 845 km altitude, roughly 525 km above Earth’s surface. Both objects have been orbiting...
Experiments Clear up Confusion over the Form of Solid Methane
Physicists led by Mengnan Wang at the University of Edinburgh used high‑pressure experiments combined with optical spectroscopy to map solid methane’s phase behavior up to 45 GPa and 1,100 K. Their work produced two distinct phase diagrams—one reflecting kinetic transformations and another...
Infrared Running of Gravity Offers a Field-Theoretic Route to Dark Matter Phenomena
A recent paper in Physics Letters B proposes that Newton’s constant may run in the infrared, altering gravity’s strength over galactic distances. The author derives a logarithmic correction to the gravitational potential, producing an effective 1/r force that naturally yields flat...
Mars Rover Drives with the Help of Anthropic AI
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory used Anthropic's Claude AI to map a 450‑meter route for the Perseverance rover on Mars. By feeding Claude years of mission data, the system generated Rover Markup Language commands that covered 10‑meter segments and...
CesiumAstro to Scale Operations with $470 Million in Equity and Debt Financing
CesiumAstro announced a $470 million financing package on Feb. 2, comprising $270 million in equity and $200 million in debt. The round was led by Trousdale Ventures and included investors such as Toyota’s Woven Capital, Airbus Ventures, and the U.S. Export‑Import Bank. The capital...
Starlink and the Unravelling of Digital Sovereignty
In January 2026 Iran shut down landline and mobile networks to suppress protests, but smuggled Starlink terminals gave demonstrators a lifeline to stream video and coordinate actions. SpaceX responded by waiving fees for Iranian users, while Iranian security forces deployed military‑grade...
Normalization of Deviance
The Space Review highlights NASA’s Orion heat‑shield issue as a classic case of normalization of deviance, where repeated acceptance of performance shortfalls erodes safety standards. After a design change post‑EFT‑1, the shield failed to ablate on Artemis 1, prompting a costly...
Dragonship: China Builds a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier While Satellites Watch
China is reportedly constructing its first nuclear‑powered aircraft carrier, dubbed the Type 004, at the Dalian shipyard. Satellite photos captured in 2025 show two large square sections consistent with reactor compartments, suggesting a shift from the conventionally powered Fujian and Shandong...