Space news

Week in images: 07-11 Sep 2026

"We felt like now is the time to pour gas on that fire."

Italian rocket builder Avio has completed integration of its FD1 flight demonstrator, marking a major milestone in preparations for the vehicle’s launch from an Italian Ministry of Defence test range in Sardinia. Avio announced the milestone on 10 September as part of its first-half 2026 financial results. The company said its liquid oxygen and methane […] The post Avio Completes Integration of FD1 Rocket Demonstrator appeared first on European Spaceflight.

On 15 September, two spacecraft will leave Earth together aboard the same launcher from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou: FLEX, ESA’s photosynthesis mission, and Sentinel-3C, Copernicus’ newest satellite monitoring Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.

Australian Earth observation satellite company LatConnect 60 (LC60) has strengthened its position in India with two strategic agreements announced at the Bengaluru Space Expo 2026 on September 7th, spanning satellite […] The post LatConnect 60 Expands India Market Presence for SWIRSAT With NSIL Agreement and GeoSyze Partnership appeared first on SpaceNews.

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 11 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. M83: The Southern […]

Mexico’s second-largest metropolitan area borders on folded rock layers of the Sierra Madre Oriental.

NASA issued a Request for Information today inviting governors to indicate interest in hosting and sponsoring the new U.S. Space Academy proposed in President Trump’s recent Executive Order. Responses are […]

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched on Sunday, Aug. 30, atop a SpaceX… The post Roman telescope deploys solar array and communication systems, powers on Coronagraph Instrument appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

The Republic of Djibouti will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 11 a.m. EDT, Monday, Sept. 14, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, becoming the 72nd country signatory. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson will host Ambassador of Djibouti to the United States Mohamed Siad Douale for the ceremony, together with U.S. State Department Assistant […]

Less than two weeks after an Executive Order was signed to create the first United States Space Academy, NASA-led work is in full swing to make the academy a reality and shape the future of America’s aerospace workforce and leadership. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman chaired the first Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy […]

Search and rescue technology developed in part by NASA saved five lives

Science hardware and spacesuit maintenance were the main tasks aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The Expedition 75 crew members also filmed and photographed daily life inside of the station for audiences on Earth.

Through a new collaboration between NASA and the National Football League (NFL), the agency will soon bring America’s strengths in space exploration and aeronautics innovation to the football field. NASA will conduct flyovers, astronaut appearances, and fan engagement at NFL games across the United States as part of its new Inspiration Tour. “This is the […]

A brilliant concentration of stars takes center stage in this Aug. 11, 2026, image taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb observed IRS 3, a star near the end of its life cycle, located within this starfield. Webb’s mid-infrared data revealed the clear signature of oxygen-rich silicate dust, as well as, for the first […]

The European Space Agency’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence has a cartoon dinosaur for its mascot – because dinos were made extinct after an asteroid impact, but while they didn't have a space agency, people do! Now we’re asking you to supply our dino with a name, to win a place at November’s Hera arrival celebration.

The European Space Agency has awarded The Exploration Company a €760 million contract under the second phase of its European cargo return programme, covering an initial demonstration of its Nyx spacecraft and options for two additional flights. ESA announced that it had awarded The Exploration Company (TEC) the Phase 2 contract on 10 September during […] The post ESA Awards The Exploration Company a €760M Space Station Cargo Contract appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Aerospacelab and Thales Alenia Space have secured IRIS2 contracts expected to total more than €5.4 billion, covering satellite platforms and communications payloads for the European Union’s secure communications constellation. While the company didn’t disclose the contract value, Airbus has been selected to build and integrate the first 66 satellites in the constellation’s low Earth orbit […] The post Aerospacelab, Thales Alenia Space Secure €5.4 Billion in IRIS2 Contracts appeared first on European Spaceflight.

NASA is bringing artificial intelligence to the study of the Moon, helping researchers transform how they analyze the Moon’s surface. In an ongoing collaboration with IBM Research and several academic institutions, NASA has launched the NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model, among the first open-source AI models built specifically for lunar science. The model, trained primarily on […]

From the ESA Blogs.

The Exploration Company has signed a contract with Arianespace to launch an initial demonstration mission of its Nyx cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station aboard an Ariane 6 rocket. While neither company has publicly announced the contract, the French Presidency published an official list of agreements alongside the International Space Summit being held in […] The post The Exploration Company Books Ariane 6 Flight for Nyx Demo Mission appeared first on European Spaceflight.

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 10 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. LDN 1295: The […]

At a time of year when dust storm activity winds down, a plume of dust blanketed parts of the West African nation and its neighbors.

The mission, dubbed USSF-153 mission, will launch an undisclosed number of satellites for the U.S. Space Force. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled during a three-hour window that opens at 8:37 a.m. PDT (1137 a.m. EDT / 1537 UTC).

"We will not be relevant without a massive rocket at a massive cadence."

SpaceX has rolled Super Heavy Booster 22 out of Mega Bay 1 to Massey’s for… The post Flight 15 pairing undergo testing at Massey’s appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

A NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract has been awarded by the agency to Relativity Space Inc., and its Terran R launch service in accordance with the contract’s on-ramp provision. The Terran R launch service will be available to NASA’s launch services to use for future missions. The NLS II contracts are multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts […]

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have discovered a new class of objects behaving unlike any they have seen before. Astronomers suggest these newly spotted objects in other galaxies may help solve not one, but two long-standing questions in astrophysics. These mysterious objects give off unusually low-energy X-rays but intense levels of ultraviolet radiation. This […]

Vein scans, ultra-hot physics, and Earth observations were the main research activities aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Expedition 75 crew members rounded out their mid-week shift and swapped out spacesuit components and serviced life support gear.

Last November, NASA and its European partners launched the Sentinel-6B satellite to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure, and benefit commercial industries, including shipping. The satellite now is flying 30 seconds behind its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Both satellites are providing precise sea level height measurements during what oceanographers expect to be a historic El […]

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission – NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – visited Huntsville, Alabama, Sept. 1, 2026, where they met with the NASA workforce at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The event gave the crew an opportunity to share firsthand […]

The UK government published its long-awaited Space Strategy, clarifying what it means by “assured access to space,” nearly a year after the phrase began replacing references to a sovereign British launch capability. The strategy does not, however, answer what the government intends to do with the bulk of its still-unallocated European Launcher Challenge funding, including […] The post UK to Leave Launch to “Germany and Other Allies” appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Following their landmark Artemis II mission earlier this year, distinguished NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman are transitioning in September to emeritus status at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In an emeritus role, individuals with a high degree of technical and professional knowledge can continue to support the agency by donating their […]

From the ESA Blogs.

Witness how over the last eight years, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has been travelling through the inner Solar System and aligning itself with Mercury's orbit. So far, it has travelled 9.9 billion km and completed nine 'planetary flybys' to help steer its way. In the video, you can see the spacecraft fly past Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury six times.

From the ESA Blogs.

From the ESA Blogs.

The European Space Agency’s FLEX satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite are scheduled to launch together aboard a Vega-C rocket on 15 September at 03:21 CEST (14 September at 22:21 local time). Watch the VV30 launch live from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with coverage starting at 02:50 CEST.

Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 28, 2026 The span of sols spanned by this blog post is noteworthy in several ways. First, Curiosity became a world-class (for Mars at least) mountaineer by passing the 1 kilometer mark of elevation from its landing site on the floor […]

Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation Imager 2 (MTG-I2) satellite has reached its designated orbit at 36 000 km from Earth and is ready to begin its commissioning phase, preparing it to provide years of service to improve weather forecasting over Europe and North Africa.

A powerful eruption from the Indonesian volcano lofted ash into the atmosphere, disrupting thousands of flights and degrading air quality.

Jaden Caradine knew he wanted to be an engineer at eight years old. He just took a winding road to get there. Before he enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, before he discovered the field that would become his focus, and before he landed a Pathways internship at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Caradine […]

NASA is seeking proposals to advance the technology and infrastructure needed to explore the Moon and establish a Moon Base in the lunar South Pole region. Announced on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the solicitation targets capability gaps, including power generation, oxygen extraction, and producing materials on the Moon required for construction and operations. These technologies are […]

Exploring astronaut health and photographing the Moon and Earth topped the research schedule for the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The orbital residents also kept up life support maintenance following the departure of cargo spacecraft the day before.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a photogenic nebula, N44, in the Large Magellanic Cloud in this Sept. 3, 2026, image. N44 is dominated by two features: a vast central void and a shell of dense, dusty gas. The central void is a ‘superbubble’ spanning roughly 210 by 140 light-years across. The glittering stars at the […]

European space logistics startup The Exploration Company has raised $450 million (€387 million) in a Series C funding round to support the development of its Nyx capsule and Storm rocket engine. Announced on 8 September, the round was co-led by US venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, London-based venture capital firm Atomico, and the Scaleup […] The post The Exploration Company Raises $450 Million in Series C Funding appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Algorithm NASA first applied to satellite imagery is now used to peer into antiquity

More than 1,000 visitors explored NASA sea level science firsthand during World Ocean Day at the University of Georgia Aquarium on Skidaway Island on June 6, 2026.

For the first time, scientists used the joint power of NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to study some of the most far-flung bodies in our solar system, Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). Some of these are the smallest and faintest ever directly seen. The researchers unexpectedly found fewer small TNOs than they expected, and that […]

The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 94 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 11:18 a.m. EDT Monday, backing away for a deorbit maneuver and a planned destructive re-entry later today into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.