space exploration

Google’s AI chip satellite reaches orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 11:32 a.m. PT. It was carrying the Transporter-18 rideshare mission and its 130 payloads, among them the first prototype satellite for…

Musk says Starship will launch giant space telescopes

Elon Musk said Wednesday, Sept. 30, that SpaceX's Starship could change astronomy by launching much larger telescopes into orbit and giant observatories to the Moon. He made the claim two days after the rocket reached orbit for the first time.

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Carney and Macron pledge joint space, defense work at symbolic island summit

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron met Sunday on the tiny North Atlantic archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, pledging to deepen cooperation in defense, space and advanced technologies as both nations navigate strained relations with the United States.

NASA activates Roman telescope’s main camera as fuel reserves double expectations

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could operate for more than twice its original lifespan after a precise launch and an exceptionally efficient first course correction left the observatory with far more fuel than planned, the agency announced on September…

Europe accelerates space self-reliance as US allies pull away from NASA

For the second consecutive week, Paris has positioned itself as the center of the global space industry. Europe's premier space business conference opened on Monday, days after the International Space Summit on Sept. 9-10 drew nearly 120 foreign delegations to…

Moon’s water can’t sustain a large city beyond a century, study finds

Dreams of sprawling cities on the Moon face a fundamental constraint: there simply isn't enough water. A study published this week in Frontiers in Space Technologies by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics concludes that even the most generous…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope deploys key systems on million-mile voyage

NASA's $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched successfully on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, embarking on a three-month voyage to its orbital perch roughly one million miles from Earth. Now nearly two weeks into its…

ESA awards startup a record €760M space cargo contract

The European Space Agency on Thursday awarded The Exploration Company a contract worth up to €760 million to develop and demonstrate autonomous cargo return capabilities using the startup's Nyx capsule, marking the largest capsule transportation service contract ESA has ever…

Mars samples may hold signs of life, but NASA has no plan to retrieve them

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected what scientists describe as the most compelling evidence to date that ancient microbial life may have once existed on Mars — but the rock samples sit millions of miles from any laboratory capable of confirming…

Isar Aerospace confirms all satellites operational after historic European launch

German rocket startup Isar Aerospace made European space history on Saturday, successfully launching its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway — the first time a commercial launch vehicle developed in Europe has reached orbit and deployed…

New study reveals interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS formed in extreme cold of a distant star system

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third object from beyond our solar system ever detected, has been confirmed as unusually rich in carbon dioxide compared to comets born around our Sun, according to observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope…

Isar Aerospace reaches orbit in first commercial launch from European soil

German startup Isar Aerospace on Saturday became the first commercial space company from Europe to deliver satellites into orbit, launching its Spectrum rocket from Norway's Arctic Andøya Spaceport at 10:12 p.m. local time. The flight marks the first time an…

BepiColombo begins Mercury arrival after 8-year journey

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft reached a defining milestone on Thursday, successfully separating its propulsion module and beginning its arrival phase at Mercury after nearly eight years of travel through the inner solar system.

BepiColombo to begin Mercury arrival with key module separation Thursday

After an eight-year journey through the inner solar system, the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission is set to reach a critical milestone on Thursday, September 3, when the spacecraft's Mercury Transfer Module will separate from its two science orbiters — the…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope fires engines on path to deep-space orbit

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope fired its thrusters for the first time on Monday, August 31, beginning a series of trajectory adjustments as it cruises toward its operational orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth. The maneuver came just…

Webb telescope reveals black hole pairs heading toward mergers in early universe

Astronomers have uncovered four pairs of rapidly growing black holes in the early universe that appear to be on a collision course, offering the first direct evidence that black hole mergers may have fueled the mysterious rise of supermassive black…

Spanish-led team confirms new planet in habitable zone

An international team led by Spain's Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) has confirmed the existence of a two-planet system 337 light-years from Earth, one of whose worlds sits in a zone where liquid water could persist on its surface.…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope set to launch Sunday

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the agency's next flagship observatory, is set to launch Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, at 7:26 a.m. ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The…

NASA’s $4 billion Roman Space Telescope to launch Sunday from Florida

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch at 7:26 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A in Florida. The $4 billion flagship observatory will be…

SpaceX to launch Nvidia-powered AI satellite by late 2027, Musk says

Nvidia announced Monday that SpaceX's AI division will deploy the chipmaker's Vera CPUs and Vera Rubin platform to power next-generation agentic AI workloads, with plans to extend that computing architecture into orbit aboard a satellite called Starmind AI1. SpaceX CEO…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope set to launch Aug. 30

NASA is preparing to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 30, sending its next flagship observatory on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to a position 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Liftoff…

China postpones ambitious lunar water-hunting mission

China announced Sunday that it has postponed the launch of its Chang'e-7 lunar mission, an ambitious robotic spacecraft designed to search for water ice near the moon's south pole. The China Manned Space Engineering Office said the mission "does not…

Japan sets Oct. 20 launch for first Mars moon sample mission

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Wednesday that its Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) spacecraft will launch on October 20 aboard an H3 rocket, setting the stage for what would be the first mission to collect and return samples…

China to launch historic five-spacecraft lunar mission Sunday

China is poised to launch its Chang'e 7 lunar probe on Monday, August 24, in what scientists are calling the most ambitious robotic moon mission ever attempted. The spacecraft, mounted atop a Long March 5 rocket, was rolled out to…

Webb telescope finds best evidence yet of ‘black hole star,’ a new type of cosmic object

Astronomers have identified what may be an entirely new class of cosmic object — a "black hole star" — lurking in the early universe, a discovery that could help solve one of modern astronomy's most persistent puzzles.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope nears Aug. 30 launch

NASA's $4 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is days away from joining the ranks of Hubble and Webb as the agency's newest flagship observatory, with a launch scheduled for August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy…

Webb telescope captures sharpest images yet of Lion Nebula

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the sharpest images ever taken of NGC 2392, a planetary nebula known as the Lion Nebula, revealing the intricate aftermath of a dying star in unprecedented infrared detail.

China launches satellites days after rare rocket failure

China sent a new batch of internet satellites into orbit on Sunday from its commercial spacecraft launch site in Hainan province, continuing the rapid expansion of its satellite constellation just six days after a separate rocket failure rattled the country's…

JWST reveals closest pair of black holes in early universe

Astronomers have discovered the closest-together pair of actively feeding supermassive black holes ever confirmed in the early universe, separated by just 4,900 light-years inside a merging galaxy system observed as it existed only 1.3 billion years after the Big Bang.…

NASA’s Meir captures solar eclipse from space station

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir photographed the August 12 total solar eclipse from aboard the International Space Station, offering a rare orbital perspective of the Moon's shadow sweeping across Earth's surface. The images, credited to NASA, show a partial solar eclipse…