Space news

London, UK (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 Physicists at the University of Oxford have contributed to a study showing that iron-rich asteroids can withstand much higher energy inputs than expected without breaking apart, a result that affects assessments of planetary defence strategies against hazardous objects. The work, published in Nature Communications, indicates that under rapid, intense heating these bodies can even become tougher

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 MDA Space Ltd. (TSX: MDA) reports it has received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Missile Defense Agency for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program. The IDIQ award makes MDA Space eligible to bid on future tasks and service orders under SHIELD, a US defense effort aimed at strengthening protection against threats acr

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 08, 2026 The Copernicus Sentinel 1 mission has delivered a 10 year record of how ice flows from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets into the ocean, providing a consistent, high resolution view of a key driver of sea level rise. Starting in 2014, Sentinel 1 observations now form the first continuous map of surface flow velocities across both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets at continental scale

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 A recent study led by Colgate Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Cosmin Ilie, with collaborators Jillian Paulin at the University of Pennsylvania, Andreea Petric of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Katherine Freese of the University of Texas at Austin, argues that dark stars can resolve three key puzzles from the cosmic dawn revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

China has submitted two filings for huge non-geostationary satellite networks to the International Telecommunication Union, indicating moves to secure options for next-generation megaconstellations. The post China files ITU paperwork for megaconstellations totaling nearly 200,000 satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.

A shared solid-fuel booster upgrade that will be used for the first time aboard an Ariane 6 rocket later this year will not be introduced aboard Vega C until 2028. The European Space Agency says the delay reflects the requirements of the smaller rocket’s launch manifest and the need to prioritise early P160C production for […] The post “No Urgency” to Upgrade Vega C Booster, Says ESA appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Washington, United States (AFP) Jan 10, 2026 NASA crewmembers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) could return to Earth as soon as Thursday, the US space agency said, after a medical emergency prompted the crew to return from their mission early. "NASA and SpaceX target undocking Crew-11 from the International Space Station no earlier than 5pm ET on Jan. 14, with splashdown off California targeted for early Jan. 15 depending o

Susan Schuh has dedicated her career to helping humans adapt to life beyond Earth.   As the Flight Crew Integration Operational Habitability (OpsHab) team lead in NASA’s Human Health and Performance Directorate at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Schuh leads efforts to understand what it is really like to live and work in space. She turns […]

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 11-17, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session […]

MILAN — OroraTech has entered a multi-year partnership with Kepler to supply thermal sensors for Kepler’s new optical communications constellation.  The first four SAFIRE Gen4 sensors under the agreement launched Jan. 11 aboard a Falcon 9, flying as part of the constellation’s initial deployment. “With Kepler, we are doing something completely new that will revolutionize […] The post Kepler network to link OroraTech sensors for Earth monitoring appeared first on SpaceNews.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a trio of NASA astrophysics small satellites along with dozens of commercial spacecraft on a rideshare mission Jan. 11. The post NASA astrophysics, commercial satellites launch on SpaceX rideshare mission appeared first on SpaceNews.

Fresh off a record-shattering launch cadence in 2025, SpaceX is planning to fly its first… The post SpaceX’s Twilight rideshare mission set to fly from Vandenberg appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

NASA will provide live coverage of the International Space Station change of command ceremony starting at 2:35 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 12. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. As Crew-11 prepares to depart from the space station, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke will hand command of Expedition 74 aboard the orbital complex to […]

The flight includes 40 deployment events for a variety of payloads, including NASA’s Pandora spacecraft. Liftoff from pad 4E is scheduled for 5:19 a.m. PST (8:19 a.m. EST / 1319 UTC).

NASA is getting ready for the launch of Artemis II as early as next month. The launch window for the first flight of astronauts around the Moon since the Apollo […]

NASA plans to return four astronauts from the ISS to Earth early Jan. 15, about a week after one of them experienced a medical issue that prompted the shortened mission. The post Crew-11 to make early return Jan. 15 appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, removed two of its historic test stands – the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility and the Dynamic Test Facility – with carefully coordinated implosions on Jan. 10, 2026. The demolition of these historic structures is part of a larger project at Marshall that began in spring 2022, […]

The FCC approved a second tranche of 7,500 Starlink Gen2 satellites Jan. 9, expanding the size of SpaceX’s authorized next-generation constellation. The post FCC approves 7,500 additional Starlink satellites appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceX sweeps nine national security missions for SDA and NRO under NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 The post Space Force awards $739 million in launch orders to SpaceX appeared first on SpaceNews.

French small launch services provider MaiaSpace has explained that an initial flight of its Maia rocket in 2026 will represent the deployment of a “minimum viable product.” MaiaSpace was founded in 2022 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArianeGroup. The company is developing a partially reusable two-stage rocket called Maia that is designed to be capable […] The post MaiaSpace to Launch “Minimum Viable Product” in 2026 appeared first on European Spaceflight.

NASA has confirmed the upcoming milestones for its historic Artemis II mission—the first crewed flight… The post NASA sets milestones on the path to Artemis II crew launch appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Today NASA announced that Crew-11 will begin its return to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 14. The unexpected early departure is due to a medical condition […]

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Jan. 14, for the undocking of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International Space Station, pending weather conditions.

As NASA moves closer to launch of the Artemis II test flight, the agency soon will roll its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft to the launch pad for the first time at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final integration, testing, and launch rehearsals. NASA is targeting no earlier […]

Pete Hegseth praises U.S.-built satellites and rapid launch as Trump administration escalates pressure on legacy primes The post Pentagon chief takes ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ tour to Rocket Lab appeared first on SpaceNews.

Heated, cooled, shaken, and settled – NASA’s StarBurst instrument is several steps closer to being ready for launch. The small satellite is now awaiting instrument calibration following a successful integration in Canada and rigorous testing by engineers at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. StarBurst is designed to detect the initial emission […]

Four Expedition 74 crew members are preparing for their return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. Amid departure preparations, the International Space Station residents also conducted spacesuit maintenance, space biology research, and an artificial intelligence study.

In sending a car-sized rotorcraft to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly mission will undertake an unprecedented voyage of scientific discovery. And the work to ensure that this first-of-its-kind project can fulfill its ambitious exploration vision is underway in some of the nation’s most advanced space simulation and testing laboratories. Set for launch in in […]

The deal with AE Industrial Partners is expected to close in the second half of 2026. L3Harris will retain full control over the RS-25 engine.

Commercial launch startup Landspace has secured formal contracts to launch satellites for China’s two main megaconstellation projects, helping to address a launch capacity bottleneck. The post Landspace secures launch contracts for China’s megaconstellation projects appeared first on SpaceNews.

As booster manager for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System), Dave Reynolds’ path to NASA is embodied by his childhood poster of the space shuttle’s Return to Flight initiative, which hangs in his office, serving as a constant reminder that his journey to the agency began decades ago. Growing up in Roy, Utah, Reynolds remembers standing […]

"That level of openness and transparency is exactly what should be expected of NASA."

A new NASA spacecraft called Pandora is awaiting launch ahead of its journey to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, and their stars. Along for the ride are two shoebox-sized satellites called BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope) and SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat), as NASA innovates with ambitious science […]

Week in images: 05-09 January 2026

At the beginning of 2026, it’s worth reflecting on the U.S. Space Force’s recent accomplishments. They include the creation of the Commercial Space Office and its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, a working capital fund to provide flexibility in providing MILSATCOM services and new acquisition approaches for Resilient GPS and Protected Tactical SATCOM. The list of […] The post The Space Force will acquire and integrate systems faster in 2026 appeared first on SpaceNews.

London, UK (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a semi-transparent, flexible perovskite solar cell that generates electricity while allowing control over both light transmission and perceived color for use in windows, building facades, and curved surfaces. The research was led by Prof. Lioz Etgar and Prof. Shlomo Magdassi from the Institute of Chemistry and the Center for

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 08, 2026 A lithium ion battery experiment has been completed aboard China's Tiangong space station, focusing on basic electrochemical processes that govern performance and lifetime. Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the work, which was carried out by the three astronauts of the Shenzhou XXI crew. The experiment is designed to clar

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 06, 2026 China has produced 30 tons of cryogenic jacket material made from its CHSN01 steel in continuous lengths of about 5 km for use in Cable-in-Conduit Conductors for future fusion reactors. The jacket is designed for magnets that must endure strong fields and very low temperatures in advanced fusion devices. Mechanical tests at 4.2 K show the CHSN01 jacket reaches an average yield strength of

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 05, 2026 When quantum particles work together, they can produce signals far stronger than any one particle could generate alone, a cooperative phenomenon known as superradiance that has often caused rapid energy loss in quantum systems and created challenges for quantum technologies. A study published in Nature Physics shows that the same collective effect can instead generate self-sustained, long-lived

Washington, United States (AFP) Jan 8, 2026 NASA crewmembers at the International Space Station will return to Earth within days after an astronaut suffered a health issue, the US space agency said Thursday, the first such medical evacuation in the orbital lab's history. Officials did not provide details of the medical event but said the unidentified crewmember is stable. They said it did not result from any kind of injury onboard or

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026 Trimble has agreed to provide positioning technology that will feed navigation and driver assistance systems in the Lucid Gravity electric vehicle, delivering centimeter-level accuracy in conditions where conventional GPS often loses reliability, such as tunnels, parking structures and dense urban corridors. The system combines Trimble RTX corrections with the ProPoint Go positioning engin

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 Chinese astronauts and ground-based science teams completed 86 new scientific and technological tasks on the Tiangong space station in 2025, underscoring the outpost's expanding role in research, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said that in 2025 a total of 1,179 kilograms of experimental instruments, materials, and other necessities for science and technology mission

St. Louis MO (SPX) Jan 08, 2026 Mars, often depicted as a barren red planet, is far from lifeless. With its thin atmosphere and dusty surface, it is an energetic and electrically charged environment where dust storms and dust devils continually reshape the landscape, creating dynamic processes that have intrigued scientists.

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 China's space sector completed 93 orbital launch missions in 2025, the highest annual total the nation has recorded. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the main State-owned contractor, closed out the year on Dec 31 with a Long March 7A launch from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan that placed two technology demonstration satellites into orbit. The company conducte

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 09, 2026 Research led by Daniel Ivanov, a physics and astronomy graduate student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, has identified a contender for one of the earliest known spiral galaxies containing a stellar bar, a structure that plays a role in how galaxies evolve. The system, designated COSMOS-74706, appears as a barred spiral galaxy from a time wh

America faces a choice in space: lead or follow. There’s no middle ground anymore. China is methodically executing a plan to dominate the moon and cislunar space. The question isn’t whether someone will control humanity’s next economic frontier — it’s whether that someone will be us or them. And if we want it to be […] The post The U.S. will seize space leadership – or China will take it appeared first on SpaceNews.

From the ESA Blogs.

‘Vanguard’ project builds on NASA-developed AutoNav under a $1.9 million SpaceWERX contract The post Rhea Space Activity applies optical navigation to military rendezvous missions appeared first on SpaceNews.

South Korean launch services provider Innospace has signed an agreement with the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC) to conduct flights of its Hanbit rocket family from the Malbusca Spaceport on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria. The Atlantic Spaceport Consortium was founded in 2019 with the aim of establishing a commercial launch facility on the island […] The post South Korea’s Innospace to Launch Hanbit Rockets from Portugal appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Low clouds blanketed the delta while parallel cloud bands rolled over the Bay of Bengal during a January cold wave.