Space & Time

A Falcon 9 launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft May 15 carrying nearly 3,000 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station.

A planned direct-to-device joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon has divided operators behind the satellites needed to connect ordinary smartphones from space.

A pioneering joint ESA-China science mission to study Earth’s magnetosphere is set to launch May 19, after a decade of preparations.

Video: 00:04:42 Before Smile can begin studying how Earth responds to the streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun, the spacecraft had to complete an extraordinary journey here on Earth.Follow the mission through its final launch preparations at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, from fuelling and encapsulation inside its protective fairing, to meeting the rest of the Vega-C rocket that will take it to space.Smile is flying to space on Vega-C flight VV29. At 35 m tall, Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and the rocket will take Smile to orbit with three solid-propellant-powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over for a precise drop-off around Earth.Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint European-Chinese mission to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic environment from a unique highly elliptical orbit. During the next three years, it will go high above the North Pole every two days to collect X-ray and ultraviolet images of Earth’s magnetic shield and the northern lights.

Week in images: 11-15 May 2026 Discover our week through the lens

After the success of Artemis II, longer space journeys are expected, raising new health and nutritional challenges for astronauts. Current space foods rely on dried, shelf-stable items.

When NASA scientists first observed a particular radio burst from the sun in August 2025, there was nothing unusual about it. But then the radio burst kept going. Typically, solar radio bursts like these last a few hours to days. But this one was different. By the time it was over, the radio burst had lasted 19 days—far exceeding scientists’ expectations and the previous record, which lasted just five days.

On Thursday, NASA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP), seeking industry collaboration for the Mars Telecommunications Network.

Virgin Galactic said May 14 it remains on track, technically and financially, to start commercial flights of its next-generation suborbital spaceplane before the end of the year.

Maps can show more than just where things are—they can also show how things change. New maps of artificial light reveal a planet that has been reshaping its nights through patterns of brightening and dimming.

Researchers have developed a mathematical method that enables more precise calculations of the most economical travel routes between the orbits of celestial bodies. To demonstrate this method, they calculated a more efficient path between Earth’s and the moon’s orbits than any previously described in the scientific literature. The study is published in the journal Astrodynamics.

Chinese satellite maker MinoSpace has seen its initial public offering application accepted, seeking $736 million for constellation and product expansion plans.

NASA is testing a next-generation space computer chip that could give spacecraft the ability to operate far more independently in deep space. The radiation-hardened processor is showing performance levels hundreds of times beyond current spaceflight computers while surviving punishing tests designed to mimic the harsh conditions of space. The technology could enable AI-powered spacecraft, faster scientific discoveries, and smarter missions to the Moon and Mars.

A colossal valley near Mars’s equator is revealing dramatic clues about the Red Planet’s watery and volcanic past. Stretching roughly 1,300 kilometers, Shalbatana Vallis was carved billions of years ago when enormous floods of groundwater burst onto the surface, gouging deep winding channels across the landscape. Today, the region is a striking mix of ancient flood scars, collapsed “chaotic terrain,” lava-smoothed plains, volcanic ash, and battered impact craters — all hinting at a Mars that may once have been far warmer and wetter than it is now.

Image: This image, captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2, gives us a glimpse of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, sprawling for 40 km along this high-altitude valley in the Andes.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could expose a vast hidden population of neutron stars lurking unseen across the Milky Way. By detecting subtle shifts in starlight caused by gravity, the mission may identify and even weigh isolated neutron stars that are otherwise impossible to see. Scientists hope the discoveries will reveal how these extreme objects are born and why they are blasted through space at incredible speeds.

Spain, one of the few places in the world where a total solar eclipse will be visible in August, has begun preparations for an event it hopes will shift tourism away from the beaches and toward the countryside.

Cowboy Space has filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for a 20,000-satellite “Stampede” orbital data center constellation, shortly after raising $275 million to develop rockets whose upper stages would serve as the computing platforms.

We may be more in the dark about dark matter than previously thought, according to a new analysis of distant galaxy clusters. Yale astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan, a leading theorist on the nature of black holes and dark matter, says new observational data conflicts with certain assumptions about cold dark matter (CDM)—unseen, slow-moving particles that are inferred by their effect on gravity—and may prompt a fundamental rethinking of dark matter by scientists.

An international team of researchers has developed new stellar and supernova models to explain the mysterious elemental abundance patterns left by billions of supernova explosions around the Perseus constellation, which have been difficult to explain with conventional theoretical models, reports three recent studies published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Intuitive Machines has agreed to purchase a company that operates ground stations in the United States and United Kingdom to help build out a lunar communications network.

Scientists have discovered a galaxy as it was 13 billion years ago, 800 million years after the Big Bang. It contains possible evidence of the universe’s first stars and is one of the most chemically primitive galaxies observed to date.

A NASA spacecraft chasing a rare metal asteroid swings past Mars this week for a gravity boost, snapping thousands of pictures as practice for the main encounter in 2029.

Billions of years ago, a young spiral galaxy began to grow in a crowded part of the universe. It pulled in gas and small companion galaxies, slowly building up the bright central region and sweeping spiral arms we see today.

There’s a new space race to the moon, and this time the ambitions are not just to visit but to stay. NASA’s Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface in the 2030s. China, India, Japan and a number of private companies all have lunar mission programs of their own.

Gen. Michael Guetlein defends plan to pursue space-based interceptors but warns affordability remains central challenge

Iridium Communications is buying the rest of the Aireon aircraft-tracking venture its connectivity constellation hosts to push further into aviation safety, surveillance and data services.

In this episode of Space Minds, Mike Gruss talks with Chris Quilty about the launch bottleneck, the new budget proposals and what to expect in the next 12 months. Sponsored The post CEO Series: Chris Quilty looks at the future of the space industry appeared first on SpaceNews.

Scientists studying mysterious ultra-powerful cosmic rays have uncovered a surprising hidden pattern that could finally help explain where these particles come from. Using the DAMPE space telescope, researchers found that cosmic ray particles—from tiny protons to heavy iron nuclei—all begin fading away more sharply at the exact same point, hinting at a universal rule governing their behavior across the galaxy.

AST SpaceMobile may launch some of its direct-to-device satellites on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket to expand the launch options for its constellation.

The House Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill May 13 that rejects many of the cuts to NASA proposed by the administration.

With the proliferation of Earth observation satellites in orbit, the increasing sophistication of sensors and surging demand for imagery and geospatial intelligence across a growing number of sectors, it is no surprise that more data is now collected than ever before. But what is perhaps surprising is that the main obstacle to the smooth operation

China has added a new batch of satellites to the Qianfan megaconstellation, while the commercial Zhuque-2E made a return-to-flight featuring numerous improvements.

Researchers in Japan traced a hidden medieval solar storm using ancient tree rings and centuries-old sky observations. The team linked reports of eerie red auroras with spikes of carbon-14 trapped in buried wood, revealing a powerful solar radiation event around 1200 CE. The findings suggest the Sun was far more active at the time, with unusually short solar cycles.

Just a few hours before the Orion spacecraft crossed the sky en route to the moon on April 1, mechatronics engineer Rodrigo Trevisan Okamoto received confirmation he had been waiting for since the Artemis 2 mission was announced in 2023. The email from NASA stated that the crew of the first crewed mission to orbit the moon in half a century would carry a device developed by Okamoto and his team at Condor Instruments, a São Paulo-based startup.

Earth is quietly collecting radioactive debris from an ancient stellar explosion as our Solar System drifts through a giant cloud of gas and dust between the stars. Scientists analyzing Antarctic ice up to 80,000 years old discovered traces of iron-60 — a rare isotope forged in supernova explosions — and found evidence that this “cosmic ash” has been lingering inside the Local Interstellar Cloud for ages. The discovery suggests the cloud surrounding our Solar System was shaped by a long-ago exploding star, offering researchers a new way to study our galactic neighborhood.

The US Government has released a new trove of documents on cases of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAPs)—many of which would have been described in the past as unidentified flying objects or UFOs—including photos, videos and reports of unexplained events sighted in the sky and in space.

A newly discovered meteor stream may be the smoking gun of an asteroid slowly disintegrating under the Sun’s intense heat. Scientists say these fiery streaks across the night sky could reveal hidden near-Earth asteroids that telescopes struggle to detect.

NASA plans to fly the Space Launch System on Artemis 3 without an upper stage as the agency begins to define revised plans for the mission.

The twinkling stars in the night sky are not just beautiful to look at. Their flickering reveals something about the varying temperatures and densities in the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, which refract the light as it travels toward us. Certain stellar remnants that emit radio waves can exhibit a very similar effect.

Researchers have developed a technique to analyze how black holes “ring” when they collide and merge: one of the universe’s most dramatic events. When black holes merge, the collision produces a new, larger black hole that “rings” like a plucked guitar string or a bell while it settles into its final, stable shape. But instead of sound waves, the new black hole rings with gravitational waves: ripples in spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein.

This month, ESA’s Mars Express takes us to Shalbatana Vallis: a fascinating Martian valley surrounded by signs of water, lava, craters and chaos. Shalbatana Vallis is an impressive channel near Mars’s equator. This image, taken by Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), captures the northern part of the channel, which weaves its way across Mars’s surface for some 1,300 km—around the length of Italy.

Astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have made the first direct detection of turbulence distorting light in the interstellar medium. The findings will help scientists achieve clearer imaging of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has released its most complete view of the starry sky to date, filling in gaps from previous observations. Nearly 6,000 colored dots scattered across the image show the locations of either confirmed or candidate exoplanets—worlds beyond our solar system—identified by the mission as of September 2025 at the end of TESS’s second extended mission.

The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper made unique observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in late 2025. SwRI leads the UVS instruments on both spacecraft, simultaneously imaging both hemispheres of the comet and detecting the comet’s ultraviolet emissions.

Silicon carbide (SiC) dust is one of the most important ingredients in cosmic dust, the tiny particles floating throughout the cosmos that eventually give rise to new planets and stars. This compound of silicon and carbon is forged in the atmospheres of dying stars, especially carbon-rich ones, but exactly how has long remained a mystery.

Nasa is developing ways to use nuclear power to send spacecraft to their destinations. Nuclear propulsion could greatly reduce the journey time to Mars, perhaps cutting a voyage of more than six months to three or four months.

You’re an anaerobic microbe sunbathing on a Martian beach billions of years ago listening to the small waves hit the shoreline as you take in the perchlorates in the Martian regolith. This is because while Mars is warm and wet, it still lacks sufficient oxygen, so anaerobic life like yourself doesn’t need oxygen to survive. You’re chilling for several hours and eventually notice the water hasn’t touched you. You remember overhearing some otherworldly fellows who briefly landed and discussed the landscape didn’t look well formed, so they left.

The 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) is rapidly approaching.  Thousands of engineering students, representing 150 teams from 20+ countries, will converge at the Midland Spaceport (aka, the West Texas The post Rocketeers are Competing at the IREC for Your Attention appeared first on SpaceNews.

When you think of outer space, you’re likely picturing stars, planets and moons. But much of space is filled with clouds of gas, plasma and stardust—known as interstellar clouds.

The LR-450 is designed for spacecraft operating in the absence of GPS signals

A medieval monk may have beaten Edmond Halley to one of astronomy’s greatest discoveries by nearly 700 years. Researchers say Eilmer of Malmesbury recognized that the blazing comet seen in 1066 was the same one he had witnessed in 989. At the time, comets were viewed as terrifying omens tied to war and royal deaths, adding even more drama to the famous celestial event shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. The discovery is sparking debate over whether Halley’s Comet deserves a different name.

SES has canceled two satellites Intelsat ordered before being acquired by the Luxembourg-based multi-orbit operator, joining France’s Eutelsat in pulling back from GEO expansion plans drawn up just a few years ago.

SpaceX has set a date for the long-delayed first launch of its next-generation Starship vehicle, which is critical to the company’s ambitions as well as NASA’s lunar plans.

Varda Space Industries has signed its first major agreement with a pharmaceutical company to develop improved drugs in microgravity.

This month, ESA’s Mars Express takes us to Shalbatana Vallis: a fascinating martian valley surrounded by signs of water, lava, craters and chaos.

Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, is also the solar system’s largest satellite, even larger than the planet Mercury. It is also the only celestial body aside from Earth (and the gas giants) to have an intrinsic magnetic field. As if this didn’t make the icy body interesting enough, scientists also predict that it has a massive interior ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. At present, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is in transit to Ganymede to explore it for signs of habitability.

Gravitational wave researchers working on the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production.

If you’ve ever taken an introductory astronomy class, you’ve probably seen the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. This graph maps out the life cycle of stars by plotting their temperature against their luminosity, and has been a “cheat sheet” for stellar astrophysics for over a century. But the universe is full of more than just stars, and a new paper in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific by Gabriel Steward and Matthew Hedman of the University of Idaho, attempts to do for the density and mass of all objects what the HR diagram did for the lifecycle of stars—provide a coherent, visual map to represent them.

SpaceX has the FCC’s blessing to buy EchoStar spectrum to improve direct-to-device services in the United States, subject to a $2.4 billion escrow tied to disputes over the seller’s abandoned terrestrial 5G network buildout.