Space news

The South Dakota State University team took first place at NASA’s fifth annual Gateways to Blue Skies Competition, which challenged student teams to address a critical element of U.S. aviation: aircraft maintenance. This year’s competition, RepAir: Advancing Aircraft Maintenance, asked teams of postsecondary students to develop innovative systems and practices that could  advance commercial aircraft […]

The Expedition 74 crew continued exploring ways to advance cancer treatments and prevent excessive bleeding aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The orbital residents are also unpacking a U.S. cargo spacecraft while preparing spacesuits for an upcoming spacewalk.

Read this news release in English here. La NASA ofrecerá una conferencia de prensa el martes 26 de mayo a las 2 p.m. EDT (hora del este) para compartir los planes para la Base Lunar y destacar los avances hacia una presencia sostenida en la superficie lunar. La sesión informativa para los medios tendrá lugar […]

White House officials say they will go into a major international conference next year better prepared than ever to defend key radio-frequency spectrum priorities. The post U.S. ‘more prepared’ for next WRC appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Robotically Manipulated Payload Challenge — the fifth in the NASA TechLeap Prize series — is a competition to advance persistent infrastructure for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. NASA Flight Opportunities invites applicants to propose a payload that can be manipulated by a robotic arm in low Earth orbit. Up to three winners will each receive up […]

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. During the flyby, it took this image and others. This representative color image, captured by Psyche’s multispectral imager instrument, features the double-ring crater Huygens and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands. This flyby […]

NASA scientists have developed an artificial intelligence tool to take on a longstanding challenge in ocean waters. In a study recently published in AGU Earth and Space Science, researchers reported the tool was able to fuse data from multiple satellites and detect harmful algal blooms that occurred in western Florida and Southern California. Severe blooms […]

NASA will host a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, May 26, to share Moon Base plans and highlight progress toward a sustained presence on the lunar surface. The media briefing will take place at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. Leadership will discuss program progress, including new industry partners and mission plans. Subject matter […]

NASA released the 2026 Civil Space Shortfall Ranking list on Wednesday, which integrates more than 400 responses from stakeholders including industry organizations, government agencies, and academia. Shortfalls refer to technology areas requiring further development to meet future exploration, science, and other mission needs. The goal of this document is to rank the space community’s most pervasive shortfalls to […]

The Starlink 10-31 mission will be the 58th Falcon 9 launch so far in 2026. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled during a window that opens at 5:26 a.m. EDT (0926 UTC).

On 20 May, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot conducted an in-flight call with selected media representatives live aboard the International Space Station. During the discussion, Sophie shared insights into life and research in orbit, including scientific experiments supporting human health, climate science and future space exploration.

From the ESA Blogs.

Listen to this audio excerpt from Tim Goddard, NASA open water lead: At the end of their mission around the Moon, NASA’s Artemis II astronauts were recovered from their Orion spacecraft by a team of U.S. Navy divers and NASA personnel. This included Tim Goddard, NASA open water lead, who helped guide the complex open […]

As orbital data centers move from concept to reality, scalable power generation and efficient thermal management are emerging as critical enabling technologies. A new whitepaper from Redwire examines how power generation and distribution, along with […] The post Orbital Data Centers: Power and Thermal Management for Scalable Architectures appeared first on SpaceNews.

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Starfighters Space, which is developing F-104 supersonic jets for satellite air-launch, is turning its Texas facility into a staging ground for microgravity flight testing in response to NASA’s call for information on commercial parabolic capabilities. The post Starfighters turns Texas facility toward microgravity flight testing appeared first on SpaceNews.

Altana’s report also highlights reliance on Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing alongside upstream Chinese and Russian exposure The post Report finds U.S. space supply chains rely heavily on Chinese manufacturing appeared first on SpaceNews.

The satellite industry is entering an era defined by scale. Thousands of spacecraft are operating simultaneously in low Earth orbit (LEO), powering everything from global broadband networks to national security […] The post The cardinality wall: The hidden data bottleneck for LEO constellations appeared first on SpaceNews.

The European Space Agency is expanding its growing fleet of Earth-observing science Scout missions with the selection of two new satellites: Hibidis and SOVA-S.

An international team studying data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope concludes the mission detected a rare, unusually luminous supernova. The researchers say it likely received its power-up from a supermagnetized neutron star born in the stellar collapse that triggered the explosion. The Fermi mission is part of NASA’s fleet of observatories monitoring the changing […]

The Exploration Company has completed a series of vibration tests on a Nyx Structural Test Model (STM) to assess how the capsule will perform during launch conditions. Nyx is a modular space capsule designed to initially transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit destinations. Planned future iterations of the capsule are expected to be […] The post The Exploration Company Completes Nyx Test Model Vibration Testing appeared first on European Spaceflight.

The head of NASA says he expects China to perform a crewed flight around the moon in 2027, ratcheting up perceptions of a space race between China and the U.S. The post Isaacman expects Chinese crewed mission around the moon in 2027 appeared first on SpaceNews.

The blaze spread across the southern side of the second-largest island in California’s Channel Islands National Park.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman asserted today that next year Chinese taikonauts “likely” will fly around the Moon and the United States no longer will hold the distinction as the only […]

SpaceX’s 45th Starlink mission of the year will see the company add another 24 broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:46 p.m. PDT (10:46 p.m. EDT / 0246 UTC).

Six launches are scheduled worldwide during the next week, with the 12th flight of SpaceX’s… The post Launch Preview: Falcon 9, Electron, and Vega C launch missions alongside Starship Flight 12 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Description Captured by the multispectral imager instrument on NASA’s Psyche mission, this is an enhanced-color view of the large double-ring crater Huygens (upper left; about 290 miles, or 470 kilometers, in diameter) and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands near 15 degrees south latitude. The various colors in this dramatic scene are likely due to […]

Description This view of the Martian surface, captured by NASA’s Psyche spacecraft on May 15, 2026, shows streaks that have formed due to wind blowing over impact craters in the Syrtis Major region. The image scale is nearly 1,200 feet (360 meters) per pixel. The wind streaks extend to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) long, […]

Description This is the highest-resolution view of the water ice-rich south polar cap of Mars captured by NASA’s Psyche mission after it made its close approach with the planet for a gravity assist. The image scale is around 0.7 miles per pixel (1.14 kilometers per pixel). The cap itself extends across more than 430 miles […]

The Pentagon is realigning the Space Development Agency’s satellite programs under new acquisition structure The post SDA director Sandhoo takes on broader Space Force missile warning portfolio appeared first on SpaceNews.

Description This is Psyche’s first view of a nearly “full Mars” seen shortly after the spacecraft’s closest approach to the planet on May 15, 2026. The view extends from the south polar cap northwards to the Valles Marineris canyon system and beyond. With Mars in the rearview mirror, the spacecraft will soon resume use of […]

Description This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA’s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. Captured by the spacecraft’s multispectral imager instrument, this was the last view of the whole planet before it began to overfill the field of […]

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used a gravity assist from Mars to provide a critical boost in speed and to adjust the spacecraft’s orbital plane without using any onboard propellant, sending it on its way toward […]

The Expedition 74 crew explored advanced treatments for cancer and cartilage injuries on Tuesday using the weightless environment to gain new biomedical insights. The orbital residents also continued gearing up for a spacewalk planned at the end of the month outside the International Space Station.

The Moon and Venus, center, are seen in conjunction above the Washington Monument, Monday, May 18, 2026, as viewed from the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. The Moon and Venus look close together because they line up from our point of view on Earth. In reality, they are separated by millions of […]

Contrivian argues that stitching together GEO, MEO and LEO satellites creates networking problems, and that LEO constellations alone can provide both resilience and speed The post Startup challenging satellite industry’s multi-orbit playbook appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s Artemis II crew had many technical and operational responsibilities during their historic mission to the Moon, but they also served an important role as scientific ambassadors to Earth’s nearest neighbor. On their 10-day journey, the crew flew by the far side of the Moon, analyzing and photographing geologic features such as impact craters and […]

In an 18 May opinion piece, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher argued that Europe must develop an independent human spaceflight capability. Prior to 2022, ESA astronauts were transported to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Russian Soyuz and US Dragon spacecraft. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ESA suspended its cooperation with Russia. […] The post “Autonomous Human Spaceflight is Not a Luxury,” Says ESA Chief appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Portal is preparing to launch maneuverable spacecraft aimed at the military market The post Portal Space taps Quindar for ground mission support of its maneuvering spacecraft appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has collected more than ten years of data from this zone – more than scientists can analyze alone. As Shock Detectives, you’ll help sort the chaotic from peaceful regions of the data, giving researchers a crucial set of clues.

"Every single successful space company is diversified in its products."

Commercial space station developer Vast is moving into satellite manufacturing with a line of high-power satellite buses. The post Vast announces line of high-power satellite buses appeared first on SpaceNews.

Lynk Global has secured regulatory approval to test how its direct-to-device satellites could extend private utility networks using terrestrial spectrum from Anterix in the United States. The post Lynk and Anterix get FCC nod to test satellite D2D for private utility networks appeared first on SpaceNews.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Matt Anderson on May 18 as NASA’s deputy administrator, the second-in-command of the space agency. The post Anderson confirmed as NASA deputy administrator appeared first on SpaceNews.

ESA’s Smile satellite launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on at 04:52 BST / 05:52 CEST (00:52 local time) on 19 May 2026.

The SMILE mission developed jointly by the European Space Agency and China has reached orbit after more than a decade of preparations and cooperation. The post ESA-China SMILE mission lifts off to deliver first global images of Earth’s magnetosphere appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Smile spacecraft lifted off on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 04:52 BST / 05:52 CEST (00:52 local time) on 19 May 2026. The launch marks the beginning of an ambitious mission to better understand solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and the science of space weather.

The glacial lake left a layer of silt and clay in southeastern Manitoba, creating fertile farmland that was divided during 19th-century land surveys and is still farmed today.

This evening the Senate confirmed Matthew “Matt” Anderson to be NASA Deputy Administrator. His nomination was one of 49 considered together under Senate rules that were revised last year to […]

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth planning date: Friday, May 15, 2026 After freeing the rover’s arm from the “Atacama” block, we are ready to drill again! The new drill target will represent the same geologic stratum as Atacama, which is the layered sulfate unit above the boxwork […]