Space news

SAN FRANCISCO – Before uploading a large language model to space-grade hardware, Boeing Space Mission Systems engineers sought guidance from the hardware manufacturer. “They told us it wasn’t possible, but we are skilled engineers who were going to figure out a pathway to make it happen,” Arvel Chappell III, Boeing Space Mission Systems AI Lab […] The post Boeing demonstrates large language model for space-grade hardware appeared first on SpaceNews.

Meink: How the future force is designed ‘will be critical as the Space Force expands even faster in the next few years’ The post Meink, Saltzman make case for Space Force expansion  appeared first on SpaceNews.

Seven missions are on this week’s launch manifest, with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 dominating the schedule.… The post Launch Preview: Falcon 9 to launch five Starlink missions, Firefly to launch Alpha appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Expedition 74 was off duty on Monday following a weekend of crew handover activities, cargo packing, and microbiology research. A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will also depart the International Space Station for return to Earth later this week.

For the first time, a much younger version of the Sun has been caught red-handed blowing bubbles in the galaxy, by astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The bubble – called an “astrosphere” – completely surrounds the juvenile star. Winds from the star’s surface are blowing up the bubble and filling it with hot gas […]

The Astronomy Activation Ambassadors (AAA) project, part of the NASA Science Activation program, aims to measurably enhance student STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) engagement via middle school, high school, and community college science teacher professional development.

The second launch rehearsal for Artemis II was a massive success and a showcase of the propellant loading process and systems working as designed.

A new RFI poses questions to industry on future refueling architecture The post Space Force seeks market answers on in-orbit refueling appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA and its international partners will receive scientific research samples and hardware when a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft departs the International Space Station on Thursday, Feb. 26, and returns to Earth. Watch NASA’s live coverage of the undocking and departure of the agency’s 33rd SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services mission starting at 11:45 a.m. EST on NASA+, […]

The Space Development Agency will explore the use of commercial satellites to test direct-to-device connectivity for future warfighting network The post AST SpaceMobile wins $30 million contract for military  broadband demo appeared first on SpaceNews.

Description NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover discovered these bumpy, pea-sized nodules while exploring a region filled with boxwork formations — low ridges standing roughly 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) tall with sandy hollows in-between. This mosaic is made up of 50 individual images taken by Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on […]

Description NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this panorama of boxwork formations — the low ridges seen here with hollows in between them — using its Mastcam on Sept. 26, 2025, the 4,671st Martian day, or sol, of the mission. These boxwork formations were created billions of years ago when water leaked through rock cracks. Minerals […]

Aalyria announced a $100 million funding round Feb. 23 that values the Californian venture at $1.3 billion, supporting deployment of laser terminals and software for dynamically routing data across space, air and ground networks. The post Aalyria hits $1.3 billion valuation after raising funds for satellite mesh network appeared first on SpaceNews.

For about six months, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has been exploring a region full of geologic formations called boxwork, low ridges standing roughly 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) tall with sandy hollows in between. Crisscrossing the surface for miles, the formations suggest ancient groundwater flowed on this part of the Red Planet […]

NASA’s Perseverance Rover approaches Mars in this Feb. 18, 2020, top-down still image captured by a camera on the rover’s descent stage. Perseverance is searching for signs of ancient microbial life, to advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing because scientists believe the area was once […]

Following the successful launch of Ariane 6 in 2025, Europe’s access to space ambitions gain momentum. The launch of the reusable launcher first stage demonstrator Themis T1H under the SALTO […] The post Europe’s progress on future access-to-space gains momentum with upcoming reusable launcher flight test  appeared first on SpaceNews.

Forty million years ago, a star in a nearby galaxy exploded, spewing material across space and generating a brilliant beacon of light. That light traveled across the cosmos, reaching Earth June 29, 2025, where it was detected by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae. Astronomers immediately turned their resources to this new supernova, designated 2025pht, […]

London, UK (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 AAC Clyde Space has started building two additional maritime data satellites, Sedna-3 and Sedna-4, to expand capacity in its established space-based maritime data services. The company has placed orders for key components and assigned the build to its U.S. subsidiary AAC SpaceQuest, aiming to support continuity of service and improve performance as its fleet renews

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 16, 2026 OpenAI has hired the Austrian creator of OpenClaw, an artificial intelligence tool able to execute real-world tasks, the US startup's head Sam Altman said on Sunday. AI agent tool OpenClaw has fascinated - and spooked - the tech world since researcher Peter Steinberger built it in November to help organise his digital life. A Reddit-like pseudo social network for OpenClaw agents called

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 17, 2026 Texas A and M University has developed TAMU SPIRIT, a dedicated orbital research platform that will be deployed on the International Space Station in partnership with Aegis Aerospace. The platform will mount on the station's Express Logistics Carrier 3 and give Texas A and M System faculty, researchers and students sustained access to the conditions of low Earth orbit for a wide range of experim

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 The European Union has begun operational use of its 'Governmental Satellite Communications Programme', known as 'GOVSATCOM', opening secure encrypted satellite communications services to EU member states under European control. The move marks a significant step in the bloc's efforts to secure strategic autonomy in space-based communications for government and security users. At the core of

London, UK (SPX) Feb 16, 2026 New analysis shows that Arctic peatlands have expanded in recent decades as the region has warmed far faster than the global average. Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen by about 4 C over the last forty years, and the study links this rapid warming to the outward growth of peat-forming ecosystems. Led by the University of Exeter, the research team examined peatland cores taken fr

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 Thousands of satellites are launched every year to support navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting and emergency warning services, and most rely on onboard propulsion systems to manoeuvre once in orbit. These propulsion systems are essential to change orbits, perform end of life de-orbiting, carry out collision avoidance with space debris or other satellites, maintain or adjust

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 A research team led by Professor Hexi Wu and Dr Weicheng Li has developed a dynamic three dimensional terrain correction method that significantly improves the quantitative inversion accuracy of airborne gamma ray spectrometer surveys. The approach combines a novel sourceless efficiency calibration technique with a flight path based terrain model to tackle long standing challenges caused by over

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 In 2019, an unusual gravitational wave event labelled GW190521 rippled across the universe and into detectors on Earth, initially interpreted as the merger of two black holes each tens of times more massive than the Sun. A European-led team now argues that some signals of this kind might instead come from exotic dark matter objects that closely mimic black holes while lacking their defining feat

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 At the future departure gate for Chinas crewed lunar journeys at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan, personnel in blue uniforms have been carrying out post launch operations around a newly built tower dedicated to human missions to the Moon. The tower and its associated systems are being checked after the facility handled its first launch. The new

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 A team of 48 astronomers from 14 countries, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has identified a previously unseen population of dusty, star-forming galaxies located at the far reaches of the observable universe and dating to only about one billion years after the Big Bang, which is estimated to have occurred 13.7 billion years ago. These galaxies appear to provide a missing ev

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Feb 18, 2026 For more than sixty years, astronomers have conducted systematic searches for technosignatures, looking for artificial radio emissions, laser flashes, or excess heat that could reveal advanced civilizations in the Milky Way. Despite decades of monitoring across radio, optical, and infrared bands, no technosignature has been confirmed, a result often attributed to the fact that only a small

Broad-area change detection only matters if the measurement behind it is stable. In Earth observation, frequency without calibration creates volatility, and imagery without consistency erodes trust over time. EarthDaily was […] The post Engineering Behind EarthDaily: Solving for Global Daily Coverage, Scientific Quality, and High-Spectral Diversity appeared first on SpaceNews.

Humanity gains insight on how to operate in space with every satellite that we launch. True learning comes from doing; otherwise we lock into lab-born biases that come from asking the wrong questions. I think we are running into that limit with micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) collisions, and we are close to an industry-wide […] The post Re-framing orbital debris: from a statistical to dosage approach appeared first on SpaceNews.

SAN FRANCISCO – Momentus’ Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle is at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California ahead of a 10-month mission to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations, robotic in-space assembly, advanced communications and computing technologies. The Vigoride 7 mission with 10 hosted payloads has been integrated with a launch plate that will be sent into […] The post Momentus prepares to host 10 demonstration payloads on Vigoride 7 flight appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Texas Space Commission has completed awarding $150 million to companies and organizations in the state as it prepares to distribute a second, larger round of funding. The post Texas Space Commission completes $150 million in awards appeared first on SpaceNews.

Born in France in 1982, Sophie Adenot is an engineer, helicopter test pilot and colonel in the French Air and Space Force. Selected as an ESA astronaut in 2022, she completed her basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in 2024 and launched to the International Space Station on 13 February 2026 for her first mission, εpsilon.

There are only a few days left to apply for the 2026 Graduate Trainee positions at the European Space Agency. Applications close on 28 February 2026, so this is your final chance to submit your application before the deadline!

Remondo says its imaging payload could deliver sub-30 centimeter resolution from suitcase-size satellites The post Israeli startup targets the economics of high-resolution Earth observation appeared first on SpaceNews.

Safety and quality management are integral to every program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and across the entire agency. That gives team members like Regina Senegal, acting chief of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate’s (SMA) Quality and Flight Equipment Division, a unique opportunity to collaborate with diverse organizations and personnel. “I’m responsible […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a pair of contracts for studies focused on lunar habitat concepts that could support future operations on the surface of the Moon. In late 2024, ESA issued a request for proposals for its Lunar Remote Camp study initiative. The programme aims to advance the early development of a […] The post ESA Awards Contracts for Lunar Remote Camp Studies appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Using recent data from NASA’s Juno orbiter, scientists have uncovered new details on the thickness… The post Juno data provides insight into thickness of Europa’s surface ice sheet appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 22-28, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is scheduled to be in […]

Rheinmetall’s reported interest in the laser communications firm would complicate Rocket Lab’s planned acquisition The post German defense firm said to be weighing bid for Mynaric appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Starlink 6-104 mission will add another 28 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 10:47 p.m. EST (0347 UTC).

After an issue with the SLS rocket's upper stage, NASA has made the difficult decision to roll the Artemis II stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

NASA is gearing up for a likely rollback of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket… The post NASA prepares for likely rollback of SLS, delaying Artemis II to April appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Engineers ran into problems repressurizing the Artemis 2 moon rocket’s upper stage helium tanks overnight Friday, a problem that will require rolling the huge rocket off the launch pad and back to its processing hangar for troubleshooting. The work will push the already delayed mission from March to at least early April, officials said Saturday.

Just 24 hours after setting a March 6 launch date for the Artemis 2 mission, NASA said a problem with the Space Launch System upper stage could delay the launch. The post NASA preparing for Artemis 2 rollback to fix upper stage problem appeared first on SpaceNews.

Just one day after excitedly sharing the successful results of the second Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal, NASA has a different message this morning. A problem with helium flow to […]

Tory Bruno, former CEO of United Launch Alliance, said he decided to join Blue Origin to work on important national security projects, including applications of the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft. The post Bruno says he joined Blue Origin to work on ‘urgent’ national security projects appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceX is counting down to the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 25 Starlink satellites from California, after days of delay. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 1 a.m. PST (4 a.m. EST / 0900 UTC).

Aalto is turning to Australia as a key operating base to bolster the business case for initial commercial services of its stratospheric pseudo-satellite over Japan, now pushed to 2027 amid regulatory hurdles and ongoing system-integration work. The post Aalto plots Australia base to boost planned high-altitude pseudo satellite service appeared first on SpaceNews.

Following NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s stark assessment of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner program’s troubled history—pinning… The post Boeing insists NASA criticism will reinforce efforts on Starliner appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.