Space news

Week in images: 14-18 Sep 2026

“I can tell you SpaceX has already gone captive."

From the ESA Blogs.

Though the spiral galaxy in this new image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope seems serene, it hides a chaotic secret. This galaxy is NGC 4698, and it lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It’s one of over one thousand galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, the nearest large cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity.

The European Space Agency has awarded 18 contracts worth a combined €20 million to study potential future evolutions of the European Union’s IRIS2 secure communications service. Signed on 17 September, the contracts bring together nearly 80 European companies to study new satellite-based secure connectivity services and associated mission concepts. According to ESA, the solutions will […] The post ESA Awards €20M in Contracts to Study Future IRIS2 Services appeared first on European Spaceflight.

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 18 –… 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. Messier 33: The […]

SpaceX is now targeting Starship Flight 14 no earlier than Monday, September 28, pending regulatory… The post Starship’s upcoming missions: Waiting on Orbit, Building toward the Cape appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission entered quarantine late Thursday at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Mission preparations continue as NASA and SpaceX target an early October launch to the International Space Station. As part of routine prelaunch quarantine, NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, […]

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agency’s StarBurst mission, a small satellite designed to investigate neutron star mergers and the origins of short gamma-ray bursts. StarBurst will launch aboard a Bandwagon rideshare mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida […]

Circuit board soldering, spacesuit maintenance, and cargo mission operations topped the schedule for the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The orbital residents also worked on cardiac research, virtual reality tests, and housekeeping tasks throughout the day.

Media accreditation is open for the next cargo launch that will deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. The 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than October to launch […]

Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans. Nearly 100,000 fans of the Star Trek television series wrote the White House urging that the […]

PARIS — South Korean company Satrec Initiative is working with parent company Hanwha Systems to provide high-resolution Earth imagery for the synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) constellation announced in July. Satrec Initiative, acquires 25-centimeter optical […] The post Satrec Initiative to build 10-centimeter-class optical satellites for Hanwha constellation appeared first on SpaceNews.

LEUVEN, BELGIUM and BILBAO, SPAIN – 17 September 2026—Simera Sense, a leading European provider of optical payload solutions for small satellites, today announced a strategic partnership with IDOM, one of […] The post Simera Sense and IDOM partner to develop and produce xScape350 optical system as demand for high-resolution EO imagery surges appeared first on SpaceNews.

"They should fly their capsule. The government paid a lot of money for that."

In this episode of the podcast, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Josef Aschbacher, the director-general of the European Space Agency, at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris. They discuss […] The post Inside Europe’s push for space autonomy with Josef Aschbacher appeared first on SpaceNews.

PARIS — Icarus Robotics, the New York startup developing dexterous mobile robots for space missions, conducted tests of its free-flying platform ahead of a 2027 demonstration on the International Space […] The post Icarus Robotics tests Joy in Canada ahead of ISS flight appeared first on SpaceNews.

Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation, in partnership with the BMC3I TAP Lab, has selected the Focus Area Cohort Teams (FACTs) participating in Cohort 26.A. The selected teams represent innovative […] The post Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation, in partnership with the BMC3I TAP Lab, Selects Focus Area Cohort Teams for Cohort 26.A appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Meteosat Third Generation-Imager2 (MTG-I2) satellite was launched on an Ariane 6 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, this timelapse video shows the process of getting the satellite ready for liftoff up to its launch into space on 27 August 2026 at 22:11 CEST (17:11 local time).

Bulgarian satellite manufacturer EnduroSat has secured $205 million (€178 million) in new funding, pushing the total raised by European NewSpace companies in September above €1 billion. Announced on 16 September, EnduroSat’s new funding round was co-led by US investment firms Riot Ventures and Atreides Management, with participation from the European Innovation Council, among others. It […] The post EnduroSat Raise Pushes European NewSpace Funding Above €1 Billion for September appeared first on European Spaceflight.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed 18 consolidation contracts bringing together nearly 80 companies to study new secure and resilient connectivity services. The contracts also cover associated mission concepts and aim to shape the future of the EU's secure connectivity constellation – IRIS² – which will provide Europeans with resilient communications, when and where it matters most.

On 16 September at its Industry Space Days 2026 event at ESA–ESTEC in the Netherlands, the European Space Agency (ESA) honoured three space companies with this year’s prestigious awards for excellence and innovation. 

For two hours on the afternoon of Wednesday 16 September, five operational Galileo satellites broadcasting over Europe transmitted a new encrypted signal for testing. On the ground in Andøya, Norway, and at ESA’s navigation laboratory at ESTEC, in the Netherlands, receivers successfully established their location using these encrypted signals, marking the first real-world positioning using Galileo’s upcoming Signal Authentication Service (SAS). 

For two hours on the afternoon of Wednesday 16 September, five operational Galileo satellites broadcasting over Europe transmitted a new encrypted signal for testing. On the ground in Andøya, Norway, and at ESA’s navigation laboratory at ESTEC, in the Netherlands, receivers successfully established their location using these encrypted signals, marking the first real-world positioning using Galileo’s upcoming Signal Authentication Service (SAS). 

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 17 – A… 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. A Treasure […]

Temperature records toppled across the central and southern U.S. as the autumnal equinox approached.

Long before they helped shape NASA’s future aerospace breakthroughs, Derek Abramson, Justin Hall, and Justin Link were in their garages and homes building radio‑controlled aircraft, testing new ideas, and flying their creations at hobby events. That early passion now fuels the work of NASA’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory at the agency’s Armstrong Flight […]

New supplies are on their way to the International Space Station after launching aboard a Progress 96 cargo spacecraft at 9:33 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. Progress 96 will arrive Saturday for an automated docking to the Poisk module at 9:46 a.m. EDT bringing nearly three tons of food, fuel, and cargo to the Expedition 75 crew members.

It started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo caught his eye, as it implied that surface material in that area had been shaken up. “I […]

NASA celebrated the full restoration of its Guam Remote Station with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 10, closing out more than three years of recovery after Super Typhoon Mawar devastated the site in 2023. Engineers from across the agency completed the final and most complex step of the rebuild on July 1, when they returned the […]

Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet’s center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth’s center of mass is a crucial reference point for satellite navigation and elevation measurements. A team, led […]

Anak Krakatau erupts ash and volcanic gases in this Sept. 5, 2026, image acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8. Eruptions are a regular occurrence at Anak Krakatau, a small volcano between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Much of its activity remains relatively mild, but it occasionally puts on more […]

Description While parked at a sand ridge nicknamed “Chocolatal,” NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day. The first was taken on Aug. 30, 2026, at 9:56 a.m. local Mars time; the second was taken on Sep. 2, 2026, at 5:39 p.m. local Mars time. Those […]

NASA recently awarded $10.5 million to seven organizations nationwide through its new State Hubs initiative. Space Florida was selected for Project ORBIT, which aims to expand opportunities for middle and high school students, boost enrollment in key career and technical programs, and create a statewide portal connecting skilled workers with aerospace employers. Elaine Ho, associate […]

As part of NASA’s new Inspiration Tour, Reid Wiseman, NASA astronaut and commander of the agency’s Artemis II mission, will highlight America’s strengths in space exploration and aeronautics innovation at the Baltimore Ravens vs. New Orleans Saints game in Baltimore on Sunday, Sept. 20. A Baltimore native, Wiseman is a 27-year Navy veteran and NASA […]

Planning crewed missions to the Moon and Mars involves preparing for the medical realities of long-duration space travel. Factors like cosmic radiation, microgravity, and distance from Earth create unique health considerations for astronauts. To anticipate these needs ahead of time, NASA developed the Integrated Medical Model (IMM). The IMM is a decision-support tool that uses […]

Astronomers have confirmed a world that’s less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from NASA-funded archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas. “Our planet-formation models already struggled to explain the previous record holders for the youngest known […]

Written by Benjamin Tutolo, Professor, University of Calgary Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 Curiosity has marked several huge milestones (14 years on Mars; 5,000 sols on Mars; 1 kilometer of elevation gain since landing) over the past several weeks, and the team has duly celebrated these remarkable achievements. These celebrations punctuate the rover’s […]

Written by Benjamin Tutolo, Professor, University of Calgary Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 Curiosity has marked several huge milestones (14 years on Mars; 5,000 sols on Mars; 1 kilometer of elevation gain since landing) over the past several weeks, and the team has duly celebrated these remarkable achievements. These celebrations punctuate the rover’s […]

The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 96 spacecraft is safely in orbit and on its way to the International Space Station after launching at 9:33 a.m. EDT (6:33 p.m. Baikonur time) on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

NASA is streaming live coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft launch carrying about three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station. Watch online at:  https://www.nasa.gov/live

Italian launch services provider Avio has seen an influx of customers who were unable to secure launch opportunities with SpaceX, according to CEO Giulio Ranzo. “I can tell you SpaceX has already gone captive because we have a whole bunch of customers coming to us and saying, oh my God, can you fly us?” Ranzo […] The post Avio CEO Reports Influx of Customers Turned Away by SpaceX appeared first on European Spaceflight.

The longest satellite data record of ice-sheet change ever assembled has revealed that Greenland and Antarctica have lost a staggering 11 trillion tonnes of ice since the 1970s, driving global sea level up by more than three centimetres.

This image shows a prominent ice cliff near Mars’s south pole. With striking swirls of purple, pink and red, it’s a far cry from the colour palette we usually associate with the Red Planet.

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 16 –… 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. Hubble + WebbHubble […]

Following the departure of the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station on… The post Progress MS-35 poised to launch cargo to ISS from Kazakhstan appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

SpaceX will attempt to put Starship into orbit for the first time next week pending regulatory approval. If all goes according to plan, Integrated Flight Test-14 or IFT-14 will orbit […]

NASA Ames Science Stars of the Month: September 2026 The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) Steve Ormsby, Aphrodite Kostakis, Alejando Borlaff, Sarah Nickerson, Martina Caussi, Keiko Nomura, and Stephen Broccardo. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the entrepreneurial spirit, technical expertise, and collaborative disposition needed to […]

The rocket will carry an unspecified number of satellites to orbit. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 7:18 p.m. PDT (10:18 p.m. EDT / 0218 UTC).

UK-based satellite maker Open Cosmos announced on 14 September that it had closed a €300 million funding round. The company said it would use the new funding to expand its manufacturing capacity and accelerate the deployment of its Earth observation and communications constellations. The €300 million raise represents the company’s first major publicly announced funding […] The post Open Cosmos Raises €300 Million as Investors Back Europe’s Space Push appeared first on European Spaceflight.