Space news

Commercial launch providers continue to advance propulsion technology with a renewed focus on liquid oxygen and methane propelled rockets and spacecraft. As systems grow in scale, carrying millions of pounds of propellant, so too does the responsibility to fully understand the safety profile. Engineers at NASA, with decades of cryogenic and test operations expertise, are […]

A NASA laser reflecting technology that will aid Global Positioning System (GPS) accuracy is now operational as of March 9. The instrument, known as a laser retroreflector array, or LRA, launched aboard GPS III SV-09, the ninth of U.S. Space Force’s Block III Global Positioning System satellites, on Jan. 27. LRAs are sets of mirrors […]

NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 94 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:59 a.m. EDT (4:59 p.m. Baikonur time) Sunday, March 22, on […]

German space technology company OHB has been awarded a €248 million contract by the European Space Agency to develop and build 20 small satellites for EUMETSAT’s EPS-Sterna weather satellite constellation. The EPS-Sterna constellation is an expansion of the capabilities successfully demonstrated by the Arctic Weather Satellite, which was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in […] The post ESA Awards OHB a €248 Million Contract to Build Weather Satellite Constellation appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Watch the replay of the media information session where ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun outline the key decisions and main outcomes of the Council meeting held in Interlaken, Switzerland, on 18 and 19 March 2026.

A month after an anomaly onboard the Proba-3 mission caused ground control to lose contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft, the mission team shares great news: the spacecraft has phoned home, re-establishing the lost connection.

Ten explorers are currently training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to become flight-eligible astronauts.  Selected in 2025, the astronaut candidates are building the technical and operational skills needed for future missions to the International Space Station, the Moon, and eventually Mars. Now, NASA’s newest astronaut candidates have a class name: the Platypi.  The name was selected […]

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently blasted the observatory with extreme sound, shook it, and listened to its electronic hum. Roman passed all three assessments, which aimed to confirm that the observatory will withstand launch conditions and function as expected in space. The achievement keeps the mission on track for launch as early […]

NASA is proposing a sharp increase in the rate of robotic lunar lander missions, a move that has excited but also puzzled the space community. The post NASA considering sharp increase in robotic lunar landings appeared first on SpaceNews.

Finnish satellite manufacturer ReOrbit has signed a contract with asset-financing company SLI for two small geostationary orbit communications satellites. The post ReOrbit sells two small GEO satellites to SLI appeared first on SpaceNews.

The European Space Agency, ESA, invites the industrial community to a series of events at which ESA directorates will present the follow-up to the Council Meeting at Ministerial Level 2025, CM25, held in November 2025 in Bremen, Germany.

From the ESA Blogs.

Satellite manufacturer Apex has won a contract from a Japanese company to provide a spacecraft bus for a technology demonstration mission. The post Apex sells satellite for Japanese technology demonstration mission appeared first on SpaceNews.

Abundant rainfall in February and March 2026 transformed the desert landscape of Central Australia.

The contract is for 20 hypersonic flight missions over four years The post Rocket Lab wins $190 million Pentagon deal for hypersonic test flights appeared first on SpaceNews.

Maj. Gen. Keener: The exercise will help Space Command ‘better understand commercial challenges, requirements, and how we can better work together’ The post Space Command classified wargame to include 25 commercial players appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Starlink 10-33 mission is the 35th mission so far in 2026 supporting SpaceX’s low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 UTC).

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3:54 p.m. EDT. It was Williams’ first spacewalk and Meir’s fourth.

Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, APXS Strategic Planner and Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead, University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth planning date: Friday, March 13, 2026 We are in our final phase of the boxwork campaign, investigating the contacts between the boxwork unit and the layered sulfate unit. As my colleague Bill reported here, last week we crossed […]

Starship Flight 12 took another step toward launch, with Booster 19 completing an initial test… The post Booster 19 concludes initial test campaign on Pad 2 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Company has previously tested its technology on the International Space Station.

SAN FRANCISCO — TransAstra is performing a study, funded by investors and customers, to explore the technical feasibility of moving a 100-metric-ton asteroid to a stable near-Earth orbit. “We want to bring an asteroid to the Earth-moon system and turn it into a robotic research outpost for materials processing and manufacturing in space,” Joel Sercel, […] The post TransAstra aims to move 100-ton asteroid to stable orbit for processing appeared first on SpaceNews.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this rare, relatively clear image of  Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines, on Feb. 26, 2026. The natural-color scene is overlaid with infrared observations to highlight the lava’s heat signature. On that day, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) reported volcanic earthquakes, rockfalls, and hot clouds of ash […]

For Corey Elmore, the path to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center did not begin in engineering. It began in service. Today he serves as a NASA Pathways engineering intern in the Technical Processes and Tools Branch (KSC-NE-TA) at Kennedy Space Center. Through the Pathways program, he is gaining hands-on experience supporting the engineering environments, technical tools […]

South Korea’s plans for a national security constellation are coming into sharper focus after a March 18 solar array supply deal set the stage for a first demonstrator as early as the second half of 2027. The post Solar array deal sheds more light on South Korea’s defense constellation appeared first on SpaceNews.

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to provide a financial incentive to companies awarded Phase 2 contracts under its LEO Cargo Return Services initiative to use European launch services for their demonstration missions. Initially announced in May 2023, the LEO Cargo Return Service initiative aims to foster the development of a sovereign European space cargo […] The post ESA to Incentivise the Use of European Launchers for LEO Cargo Return Initiative appeared first on European Spaceflight.

In a happy twist of fate, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope just witnessed a comet in the act of breaking apart. The chance of that happening while Hubble watched is extraordinarily minuscule. The findings published Wednesday in the journal Icarus. The comet K1, whose full name is C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)—not to be confused with interstellar comet […]

Comet K1, whose full name is Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), had just passed its closest approach to the Sun and was heading out of the Solar System. Though it had been intact just days before, K1 fragmented into at least four pieces while the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was watching. The odds of that happening while Hubble viewed the comet are extraordinarily miniscule.

At the dawn of the Space Age, then President-elect John F. Kennedy spoke to the American people of “a new frontier” of unknown opportunities and perils, unfulfilled hopes and unfilled threats, uncharted science and unsolved problems. Six years later, Star Trek expanded on President Kennedy’s new frontier premise with tales of the starship Enterprise boldly […] The post Frontier justice: navigating the future legal landscape for private actors in space law appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams began a spacewalk at 8:52 a.m. EDT to prepare the 2A power channel for the future installation of new roll-out solar arrays. Once installed, the arrays will provide additional power for the orbiting laboratory, supporting critical systems and its safe, controlled deorbit.

China has identified a new target near-Earth asteroid for its first planetary defense kinetic test mission, which is scheduled to launch in December 2027.  The post China signals new target for 2027 asteroid deflection test appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s planetary science program, while spared steep cuts proposed last year, is still facing a funding shortfall that requires “strategic choices” about which missions to continue. The post NASA grappling with planetary science funding shortfall appeared first on SpaceNews.

Live coverage is underway as two NASA astronauts prepare for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The spacewalk is scheduled to last about six and a half hours.

ESA Impact: our story so far this year

The Smile mission is set to launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday 9 April at 08:29 CEST/07:29 BST/03:29 local time. Follow along as we communicate on the final preparations for launch. Journalists are invited to join online media briefings in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

Thanks to the success of the Arctic Weather Satellite prototype and Eumetsat’s recent greenlight to develop a full constellation of similar satellites called Sterna, the European Space Agency has awarded OHB Sweden with the contract to build 20 satellites.

An advancing cold front kicked up a sharp line of sand and other small particles that swept over the high plains.

New structure gives ‘Portfolio Acquisition Executives’ authority over funding, requirements and integration across major space missions The post Space Force overhauls buying structure with new mission portfolios appeared first on SpaceNews.

Telesat plans to carve out 25% of its Lightspeed broadband constellation for military Ka-band as the program’s latest delay pushes global service into early 2028, creating more room to align the design with shifting geopolitical priorities. The post Telesat pivots Lightspeed toward defense as delays push global service to 2028 appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft is preparing for its second flight, a step that will set the pace for more flight testing in 2026.  Over the coming months, NASA will take the quiet supersonic jet faster and higher, while validating safety and performance, a process known as envelope expansion.  NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less will be at the X-59’s […]

The Trump administration has not yet decided whether to charge for space safety data despite a change in space policy enabling the government to do so. The post Office of Space Commerce weighing options for TraCSS user fees appeared first on SpaceNews.

Cancer the Crab is a dim constellation, yet it contains one of the most beautiful and easy-to-spot star clusters in our sky: the Beehive Cluster. Cancer also possesses one of the most studied exoplanets: the superhot super-Earth, 55 Cancri e. Find Cancer’s dim stars by looking in between the brighter neighboring constellations of Gemini and […]

The industry’s supply network, built for smaller volumes and slower production cycles, is struggling to keep pace. The post Space boom strains supply chain, industry report warns appeared first on SpaceNews.

Guetlein: ‘We were asked to procure some additional space capabilities’ The post Golden Dome cost estimate rises to $185 billion as Pentagon expands space layer appeared first on SpaceNews.

Stuttgart, Germany – Marc. 17, 2026 – ISPTech, a German space technology company developing propulsion systems for agile in-orbit maneuvering, announced it has raised €5.5 million in seed funding to […] The post ISPTech Raises €5.5M Seed Round to Redefine How Spacecraft Manoeuvre in Orbit appeared first on SpaceNews.

Tuesday brought the final preparations for tomorrow’s spacewalk where two NASA astronauts will exit the International Space Station and enter the vacuum of space for space station solar array upgrade work. The Expedition 74 crew members prepped spacesuits and reviewed procedures while working in some time for maintenance and science activities.

Meteor's fiery passage through the atmosphere was captured by a space-based lightning mapper.

These X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans released on March 17, 2026, give us a glimpse inside asteroid Bennu. They show the most common types of crack networks observed in Bennu samples; these networks solved a mystery that baffled NASA for years. When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft first approached asteroid Bennu in 2018, scientists expected to see smooth, sandy beach-like surfaces. Instead, they […]

French launch startup Sirius Space Services has acquired the high-precision metal-component manufacturer AMM-42. The acquisition is part of the company’s vertical integration efforts to bring key manufacturing capabilities in-house. Sirius Space Services is developing a range of three rockets that all use a modular booster system. Sirius 1 will be a two-stage, single-stick rocket capable […] The post Sirius Space Services Acquires AMM-42 as It Prepares for Inaugural Flight appeared first on European Spaceflight.

In one of the biggest surprises of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, its target asteroid, Bennu, turned out to be a jagged, rugged world covered in large boulders, with few of the smooth patches of sandy or pebbly material scientists had expected based on observations with Earth-based instruments. Bennu’s looks were quite deceiving, and until now, scientists struggled to figure out why.