Space news

New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he wants NASA to move faster on programs such as Artemis but acknowledged he needs time to get up to speed on NASA’s activities. The post Isaacman emphasizes accelerating NASA programs as he takes agency’s reins appeared first on SpaceNews.

Rocket Lab successfully launched a Japanese radar imaging satellite Dec. 21 in the final flight of a record-setting year for the company. The post Rocket Lab wraps up record launch year appeared first on SpaceNews.

Year in images 2025

The run-through simulated day-of-launch activities, included suit up, ingress into the Orion spacecraft and a countdown that stopped just shy of T-0.

One day after being sworn in as NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman held a Town Hall meeting with the NASA workforce to introduce himself and answer questions. He praised President Trump’s […]

The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon during NASA’s Artemis II test flight depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a dress rehearsal for launch day on Dec. 20, 2025. From left are CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, […]

Blue Origin flew its final New Shepard suborbital mission of the year Dec. 20, carrying six people, including the first person who uses a wheelchair to travel to space. The post Blue Origin flies first wheelchair user to space appeared first on SpaceNews.

The first wheelchair user flew into space today on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Michi Benthaus, who was injured in a mountain biking accident in 2018, achieved her dream of […]

The Exploration Company has awarded Redwire a contract to provide two International Berthing and Docking Mechanisms (IBDM) for its Nyx cargo spacecraft. Developed by QinetiQ Space under a European Space Agency contract awarded in 2014, the International Berthing and Docking Mechanism was designed as a standardised interface to support docking and berthing for the next […] The post Redwire Tapped to Provide Docking Mechanisms for Nyx Earth Capsule appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Written by Noah Martin, Ph.D. student and Candice Bedford, Research Scientist at Purdue University While much of Perseverance’s work focuses on ancient rocks that record Mars’ long-lost rivers and lakes, megaripples offer a rare opportunity to examine processes that are still shaping the surface today. Megaripples are sand ripples up to 2 meters (about 6.5 […]

This batch of satellites will populate what the SDA calls the Tracking Layer of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) constellation in low Earth orbit. The work will be divided evenly, with each company building 18 spacecraft.

NASA’s safety advisers are recommending that the agency reconsider its Artemis lunar landing architecture as well as how it handles incidents such as the flawed Starliner test flight. The post NASA safety panel recommends review of Artemis plans appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA engineers are laying the foundation for the moonwalks the first woman and next man will conduct when they land on the lunar South Pole in 2024 as part of the Artemis program. At the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, teams are testing the tools and developing training approaches for lunar surface operations. As part of […]

L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab and Northrop Grumman won contracts to build 72 satellites The post Space Development Agency awards $3.5 billion in contracts for missile-tracking satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.

Hungarian communications provider 4iG has agreed to invest $100 million in U.S.-based space station developer Axiom Space, broadening its footprint in the space industry amid a broader push toward vertically integrated capabilities in the industry. The post Hungary’s 4iG commits to $100 million Axiom Space investment appeared first on SpaceNews.

As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, four crew members from three space agencies will launch no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, and will be accompanied by ESA (European […]

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston closed 2025 with major progress across human spaceflight, research, and exploration. From Artemis II mission preparations to science aboard the International Space Station, teams at Johnson helped prepare for future missions to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Orion Stacked for Artemis II, Orion Mission Evaluation Room Unveiled  As NASA […]

Just like your cellphone stays connected by roaming between networks, NASA’s Polylingual Experimental Terminal, or PExT, technology demonstration is proving space missions can do the same by switching seamlessly between government and commercial communications networks.

The Expedition 74 crew explored how living in space affects the brain and blood circulation on Friday to ensure crews stay healthy and ensure long-term mission  success. The International Space Station residents also focused on spacewalking tools and science hardware maintenance wrapping up the week.

The European Space Agency expects to decide in February how to address a 20% funding shortfall in its exploration program. The post ESA weighing options to address exploration funding shortfall appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit demonstrates electrostatic forces using charged water droplets and a knitting needle made of Teflon. This series of overlapping frames from Feb. 19, 2025, displays the unique attraction-repulsion properties of Teflon and charged droplets, similar to how charged particles from the Sun behave when they come in contact with Earth’s magnetic field. […]

On 17 December 2025, two new Galileo satellites lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This was the 14th launch for Europe’s satellite navigation operational satellite programme, reinforcing Europe’s resilience and autonomy. The flight, VA266, was the first launch of Galileo satellites on Europe’s newest heavy-lift launcher Ariane 6.

On 14 January 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) will hold an online post-CM25 industry event for all ESA industrial partners.

"Russia, meanwhile, will be left to carry on the legacy of the ISS, with all its problems."

ESA Impact 2025 - October-December

Paris, December 2025 — The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology of the Sultanate of Oman (MTCIT) and Novaspace announce the second Edition of the Middle East Space Conference […] The post Middle East Space Conference 2026 Returns to Muscat as a Strategic Platform for Regional Growth appeared first on SpaceNews.

"We had to push the envelope a little bit here."

Services Catalog Click here to view the FY25 Services Catalog The catalogs provide service description, chargeback rate, unit of measure, and service level indicators for each NSSC service. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Click here to view the Service Level Agreement The SLA provides information about roles, responsibilities, rates, and service level indicators for all NASA […]

Week in images: 15-19 December 2025

The modern space economy is increasingly powered by dual-use satellites that support both civilian services and national security needs. These assets deliver critical capabilities, from communications to Earth observation, but they also face growing risks. Protecting them, along with the intellectual property they carry, requires an integrated end-to-end approach that connects logistics, compliance and mission […] The post The hidden backbone of space security: how to keep satellites safe through proper logistics appeared first on SpaceNews.

From the ESA Blogs.

Astrobotic said Dec. 19 it has won $17.5 million in NASA and military contracts to develop three new reusable suborbital vehicles for technology demonstrations and other applications. The post Astrobotic secures contracts for suborbital vehicle development appeared first on SpaceNews.

A sideways spiral galaxy shines in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden), NGC 4388 is a resident of the Virgo galaxy cluster. This enormous cluster of galaxies contains more than a thousand members and is the nearest large galaxy cluster to the Milky […]

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Dec 11, 2025 Sidus Space has completed bus-level commissioning of its LizzieSat-3 spacecraft, confirming that the satellite's core systems are operational in orbit and ready to support customer missions. LS-3 is part of the company's LizzieSat multi-mission constellation focused on providing space-based data services, integrated sensors, and autonomous on-orbit computing capabilities to government and commer

Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 14, 2025 NASA has selected Dartmouth College and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, to begin developing a mission that will shed more light on the growing impacts of space weather. The Cross-scale Investigation of Earths Magnetotail and Aurora (CINEMA) mission will unlock the secrets of the energy circulation through Earths magnetotail. The magnetotail is an ext

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 09, 2025 Cradled in the nose of a high-altitude research airplane, a new NASA sensor has taken to the skies to help geoscientists map rocks hosting lithium and other critical minerals on Earth's surface some 60,000 feet below. In collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the flights are part of the largest airborne campaign of its kind in the country's history. But that's just one of ma

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 17, 2025 Researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf have outlined an experiment in which light exchanges discrete packets of energy with gravitational waves, potentially revealing the long-sought quantum properties of gravity. In the proposed scheme, a laser beam interacts with a passing gravitational wave so that the light loses or gains an energy amount corresponding to one or more gravitons,

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 17, 2025 Sentinel-6B has begun returning its first ocean measurements, providing initial maps of sea level across a wide area of the U.S. East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean after its November launch. The U.S.-European mission is designed to survey about 90 percent of Earth's oceans using high-precision radar altimetry to track changes in sea surface height that affect coastal communities and marine operat

Boston MA (SPX) Dec 17, 2025 Computer-aided design (CAD) systems are tried-and-true tools used to design many of the physical objects we use each day. But CAD software requires extensive expertise to master, and many tools incorporate such a high level of detail they don't lend themselves to brainstorming or rapid prototyping. In an effort to make design faster and more accessible for non-experts, researchers from MIT

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025 BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has placed its third Gen-3 imaging satellite into commercial service just three weeks after launch, marking a major reduction in commissioning time compared with the company's first Gen-3 unit. The new spacecraft adds further capacity for 35-centimeter-class very high-resolution imagery and AI-enabled analytics for BlackSky customers worldwide. "Integr

Washington, United States (AFP) Dec 19, 2025 US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed that he wants to send astronauts back to the Moon as soon as possible, putting eventual Mars missions on the back burner. In an executive order on his space policy, Trump said he wanted to get Americans to the Moon by 2028, under NASA's Artemis program launched during his first White House term. Such a lunar landing would "assert American l

What happens when a star dies? In 2019, Betelgeuse dimmed in brightness, sparking speculation that it may soon explode as a supernova. While it likely won’t explode quite yet, we can preview its fate by observing the nearby Crab Nebula. Betelgeuse is easy to find as the red-hued shoulder star of Orion. A variable star, […]

From the ESA Blogs.

From the ESA Blogs.

From the ESA Blogs.

From the ESA Blogs.

The German Armed Forces have awarded a €1.7 billion contract to Rheinmetall and ICEYE for the delivery of space-based reconnaissance data through exclusive access to a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation. On 7 November 2025, German technology group Rheinmetall and Finnish satellite manufacturer and Earth observation data provider ICEYE announced a joint venture called […] The post ICEYE and Rheinmetall Win €1.7 Billion German Armed Forces Contract appeared first on European Spaceflight.

NASA opens the International Space Station for scientists and researchers, inviting them to use the benefits of microgravity for private industry research, technology demonstrations, and more. Today, half of the crew’s time aboard station is devoted to these aims, including medical research that addresses complex health challenges on Earth and prepares astronauts for future deep […]

President Trump issued a new Executive Order today aimed at ensuring U.S. space superiority. The order covers all three sectors — civil, national security, and commercial — and comes on […]

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025 The selection of a web testing framework may at times not be very easy. In fact, with so many tools that claim to speed up your testing process, it often comes down to which tool best fits your team's skill sets, project scope, and long-term testing objectives. Whether you're a QA manager, SDET, tester, or engineer, you want a framework that supports quality and grows with your development process