Space news

A weekly European spaceflight update with exclusive infographics, in-depth analysis, and a review of the week's biggest announcements.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is considering potential missions including a Ceres orbiter and a huge telescope to hunt for clues about the nature of dark matter.

A procurement document sheds new light on the formation of a joint venture to which NASA plans to award a long-term contract for producing the Space Launch System rocket.

Thanks in large part to delays suffered by Arianespace’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket, a small fleet of European satellites are simultaneously converging...

Former NASA astronaut James A. McDivitt, who commanded the Gemini IV mission and flew around the Moon as the commander of Apollo 9, died Oct. 13. McDivitt passed away peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family and friends in Tucson, Arizona. He was 93 years old.

With a fully stacked Starship system on the launchpad at Starbase, SpaceX is preparing for the next round of tests for its fully reusable launch system ahead of its debut orbital launch attempt as soon as later this year.

An Airbus-built communications satellite rocketed into orbit early Saturday from Cape Canaveral on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher, bound for a high-altitude perch in geostationary orbit to beam hundreds of TV and radio channels to Eutelsat customers across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

A year after its launch, NASA’s Jupiter Trojan asteroid explorer Lucy has completed its first of multiple Earth gravity assists on its journey to explore nine asteroids. Lucy is a first-of-its-kind mission to visit several Trojan asteroids in Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The mission’s closest approach to Earth occurred on Oct. 16 at 7:04 AM EDT (11:04 UTC).

The Pentagon is looking at options to provide satellite communications services for Ukraine’s military forces following Elon Musk’s warning that SpaceX will suspend Starlink internet services in Ukraine unless the U.S. government agrees to foot the bill.

SpaceX completed its fourth operational commercial crew mission to the International Space Station Oct. 14 with the safe return of a Crew Dragon spacecraft with four American and European astronauts on board.

The first in a new line of Airbus-built communications satellites is stowed for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Friday night from Cape Canaveral, ready for a mission to beam hundreds of TV channels to Eutelsat customers across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down Friday off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency’s fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. The international crew of four spent 170 days in orbit.

"Thank you for an incredible ride up to orbit and an incredible ride home."

In spite of progress, various Earth observation systems are not yet able to exchange information easily.

After living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for close to six months, Crew-4 and its crew of international astronauts have undocked from the orbiting laboratory and made their return to Earth.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper will install DoD-compliant laser communications terminals on its internet satellites so they can transfer data from remote-sensing satellites directly into the military’s mesh network in low Earth orbit.

The Eutelsat Hotbird-13F geostationary communications satellite launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Falcon 9 booster 1069-3, which had flown the CRS-24 and Starlink 4-23 missions, launched the Hotbird satellite to geostationary transfer orbit.

The U.K launched an in-depth probe Oct. 14 that will likely delay Viasat’s plan to buy Inmarsat, following concerns it could harm competition in the fledgling inflight connectivity market.

Three NASA astronauts and a European flier boarded their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Friday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville to close out a 170-day mission.

The future is looking brighter thanks to a proven asteroid deflection technique and an array of visionary ideas for space exploration innovation.

Companies working on commercial space stations intended to succeed the International Space Station say they need more clarity from the federal government on who will regulate them and how.

"We remain confident of achieving our objective of a full vertical orbital launch."

A weekly European spaceflight update with exclusive infographics, in-depth analysis, and a review of the week's biggest announcements.

Media accreditation is now open for the upcoming launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a pathfinder mission about Earth’s water that will use new technology to address climate change and its impact on our environment.

As SpaceX’s Starlink continues to gain military customers, the Pentagon worries that the company’s use of proprietary technology will make it difficult to integrate into a hybrid architecture that DoD hopes to build

Starlink is deepening its foothold in Japan as SpaceX’s satellite broadband service looks to expand elsewhere in Asia, which will be critical for generating much-needed revenues.

NASA has selected TBP & JJ Worldwide Services of Leesburg, Virginia, to provide facilities operations and maintenance service for the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

Propulsion startup Phase Four is expanding its Maxwell plasma propulsion line by offering Max-V, an iodine-fueled engine.

The next launch attempt for the NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is scheduled just after midnight Nov. 14 after a hydrogen leak and Hurricane Ian thwarted tries to launch the unpiloted test flight to the moon in August and September, space agency officials announced this week.

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission and a Japanese lander are set to launch to the moon from Florida within days of each other in November.

China launched a 5-meter-resolution synthetic aperture radar satellite late Wednesday, continuing a period of intense Chinese launch activity.

NASA and a SpaceX customer have announced plans to launch two unrelated Moon missions days apart next month. On October 12th, NASA...

Protecting Mars Sample Return spacecraft from micrometeorites requires high-caliber work.

Dennis Tito, an 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid Russia $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001, is working with SpaceX on plans to take his wife on what amounts to a belated honeymoon voyage to the moon.

NASA has selected two companies – Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) USA of Denver and SpaceLink Corporation of McLean, Virginia – to develop capability studies to explore and demonstrate communications and navigation services in support of Artemis missions to the Moon.

The first two satellites of Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation — Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 — will launch on the maiden flight of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket

Set your alarm for 7 minutes after midnight on November 14.

The White House on Oct. 12 released a long-delayed national security strategy that lays out challenges the United States faces in a tripolar world.

OneWeb is holding a competition for individuals, companies and academic organizations to propose applications for the London-based company’s low-Earth orbit satellite constellation.

A Japanese Epsilon small launch vehicle failed to reach orbit during an Oct. 11 launch, resulting in the loss of all eight smallsats on board.

Four astronauts are preparing to ride a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule from the International Space Station back to Earth this week to close out a nearly six-month expedition, targeting splashdown off the coast of Florida. NASA and SpaceX officials waved off return opportunities Wednesday and Thursday due to unfavorable weather in the splashdown zones.

"We can't force the timeline. It will happen when it happens."

Robert Lightfoot, Lockheed Martin Space executive vice president, discussed the pace of innovation and partnerships at the Satellite Innovation 2022 conference

SpaceX announced the first two crew members of Starship’s second commercial spaceflight around the Moon. Entrepreneur Dennis Tito and his wife, Akiko,...

SpaceNews spoke with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s new director to learn more about the JPL’s future vision.

The first private astronaut to fly to the International Space Station plans to return to space on a trip around the moon on SpaceX’s Starship with his wife and up to 10 other people.