News
Aggregated from the Spaceflight News API. Headlines link to the original outlet.
NASA Awards Contract for Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition
NASA has selected eight new companies and will acquire new data products from six existing Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition contract holders to expand the range of commercial satellite data available to researchers, civil agencies, and decision-makers. Such measurements supplement NASA’s Earth satellites by contributing high-resolution and frequent observations to enhance the agency’s set of data. […]
EQT to acquire Exolaunch
Private equity firm EQT is acquiring Exolaunch, a company that has handled the rideshare launches of hundreds of satellites, to help it meet growing launch demand.
From Suriname to Space: Rohit Goeptar’s Shares his Journey to NASA
Rohit Goeptar was born into a poor family in Suriname, South America, the kind where both parents work three jobs and they still can only provide food and shelter for their family. At around age six, his family moved to California to start a new life. Only two years later, he moved back to South America […]
Desert Field Test With NASA Advanced Rover Prototype
Description A prototype four-wheel rover developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with advanced mobility and robotic autonomy capabilities trundled across the Colorado Desert near Plaster City, California, during a field test in March 2026. Called ERNEST (Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain), the rover served here as a testbed for autonomy software developed for […]
NASA Testing Advanced Capabilities for Moon, Mars Rovers
On a bleak stretch of the Colorado Desert in Southern California, a compact four-wheeled rover recently trundled about 16 miles (26 kilometers) with minimal intervention from the team of engineers trailing it. Called ERNEST (Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain), this prototype is being used by NASA to advance both robotic autonomy and the […]
NASA’s Lucy Reveals Wobbling, Peanut-Shaped Asteroid
Even small asteroids lead complex lives. During its flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson last year, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft revealed the asteroid to be a wobbly, peanut-shaped body that has undergone a lot of activity in its relatively short history. Formed as fragments coalesced after a violent collision 155 million years ago, the asteroid was transformed by the […]
NASA’s Lucy Reveals Wobbling, Peanut-Shaped Asteroid
Even small asteroids lead complex lives. During its flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson last year, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft revealed the asteroid to be a wobbly, peanut-shaped body that has undergone a lot of activity in its relatively short history. Formed as fragments coalesced after a violent collision 155 million years ago, the asteroid was transformed by the […]
Space Force’s rapid acquisition office director moves to Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center
Kelly Hammett’s departure comes as the Space Rapid Capabilities Office is being realigned under the Space Force
Stages of Star Formation
This image, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and released on June 5, 2026, shows just a small portion of one of the Orion Molecular Clouds, a long and massive filament of cold gas and dust beyond the Orion Nebula. Every stage of star formation — from the youngest stellar embryos to protoplanetary discs […]
Sophie Adenot's mid-mission highlights
Sophie is halfway through the εpsilon mission onboard the ISS, and she has already accomplished so much. Between hundreds of hours of scientific research and thousands of photographs taken from space, she has taken the time to share many unforgettable moments with us — inspiring millions along the way on social media.
Chinese startup Spark Space tests engine, raises funds for electric-pump rocket
Chinese startup Spark Space has secured a series of funding rounds for what it claims will be the world's largest electric-pump-fed rocket, following engine tests.
A legacy to help solve the space workforce pipeline
In this episode of Space Minds, David Ariosto talks with Mike Kincaid, president and chief executive of the Challenger Center. They discuss the space workforce pipeline and the center’s role […]
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch intelligence-gathering satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office
The Falcon 9 rocket will launch an undisclosed number of satellites, which are believed to be Starshield satellites, a government variant of Starlink. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled during a 35-minute window that opens on Friday, June 19, at 1:40 a.m. PDT (4:40 a.m. EDT / 0840 UTC).
What the satellite servicing economy can borrow from carbon credits
In January 2026 alone, the Federal Communications Commission authorized 15,000 Starlink Gen2 satellites. Starcloud has filed for 88,000 orbital data center satellites. SpaceX has filed for 1 million. There is […]
Boeing demonstrates quantum protocol in payload set for 2027 launch
PORTLAND, Ore. – Boeing demonstrated a key quantum networking protocol in ground testing of a compact payload ahead of on-orbit experiment in 2027. “High-fidelity entanglement swapping” was demonstrated earlier this […]
Swift reboost mission ready for launch
A high-risk mission to raise the orbit of a NASA astrophysics spacecraft is set to launch later this month after less than a year of development.
Hubble Glimpses Merging Galaxy Clusters
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy cluster, called CL0016+1609 or MACS J0018.5+1626, that is very bright at X-ray wavelengths and is one of the most extensively studied clusters at X-ray and radio wavelengths. The X-ray observations of this cluster revealed that it is two clusters merging along our line of sight. Researchers […]
Sirius Space Selected to Fill Launch Facility Vacancy Left by MaiaSpace
The French space agency CNES has selected Sirius Space Services to fill a vacancy at the Guiana Space Centre’s new multi-user commercial launch facility. The space became available after MaiaSpace shifted its planned launch operations to the spaceport’s former Soyuz launch facility. In 2021, CNES opened a call for interest in a new commercial launch […]
Blue Origin begins rebuilding New Glenn pad
Blue Origin has started rebuilding a launch pad severely damaged in a New Glenn explosion less than three weeks ago as it works to resume launches by year’s end
Quantum Space wins Pentagon contract to develop orbital refueling spacecraft
The company plans to deliver a fuel-transfer vehicle to the U.S. Space Force by 2028