Browse the complete archive of aerospace journalism with contextual analysis
Jeremy Hansen will become the first Canadian astronaut to fly around the moon as part of the Artemis 2 mission, launching on April 1 alongside three NASA astronauts. This milestone marks a significant step in the Artemis program, paving the way for future lunar missions.
Christina Koch is set to become the first woman to fly around the moon as part of NASA"s Artemis 2 mission, a 10-day journey that will test the Orion spacecraft and pave the way for future lunar missions. The mission, scheduled for April 1, will also see Victor Glover become the first Black person to leave low Earth orbit and Jeremy Hansen become the first non-American to do so.
A recent study has pinpointed 45 exoplanets that could potentially harbor life, using techniques such as the transit method to detect these worlds. The findings highlight the importance of targeting smaller, cooler stars in the search for habitable planets.
China"s rapidly advancing space program is putting pressure on NASA"s lunar timeline, as the country designates its space sector as an "emerging pillar industry" and sets deep space ambitions in its new economic blueprint. This development has significant implications for the broader aerospace industry and US leadership in space exploration.
Despite growing demand for space-based services, companies in the industry are struggling to turn this growth into profits, with challenges persisting in areas such as remote sensing and satellite communications. The development of new technologies and markets, including lunar exploration and direct-to-device services, holds potential for future profitability.
The Artemis 2 mission, scheduled to launch on April 1, will mark a significant milestone in space exploration as it sends four astronauts on a journey around the moon, aboard the Orion capsule and launched by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. This mission is the first crewed flight around the moon in over half a century and paves the way for future lunar missions.
The Artemis 2 mission is set to launch on April 1, 2026, marking the first time humans will venture beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17, with a crew of four astronauts embarking on a ten-day journey around the Moon and back. The mission will pave the way for future lunar exploration and development of a sustainable presence on the lunar surface.
New research suggests that Saturn's iconic rings may be the remnants of a moon called Chrysalis, which was destroyed by tidal forces approximately 100 million years ago. This discovery could provide insight into the planet's unique features, such as its tilt and young ring system.
NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has captured a high-resolution image of the supernova remnant RCW 86, providing new insights into the explosion that occurred approximately 8,000 light-years away from Earth around AD 185. The image reveals unseen features of the exploded star, including a large low-density cavity in the center of the supernova.
NASA is developing a nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft, the Space Reactor-1 (SR1) Freedom, which will utilize a nuclear electric propulsion system to travel to Mars in 2028. This mission has the potential to transform interplanetary space travel by providing an efficient and reliable means of transporting crews and cargo over long distances.
The Hubble Space Telescope has made a groundbreaking observation of a comet changing its rotation direction, with Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak slowing its spin and then reversing its direction. This phenomenon is the first of its kind to be observed and provides valuable insights into the behavior of comets.
Government agencies, including NASA and the Space Force, are facing limitations in using commercial procurement models for advanced space technologies due to specialized capabilities with little commercial demand. This approach has significant implications for the development of cutting-edge space systems.
The combination of NASA"s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope has resulted in the most comprehensive view of Saturn to date, revealing a layered and dynamic world. This collaborative effort provides unprecedented insights into the planet"s atmosphere and structure.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are jointly launching the Smile mission to investigate the interaction between the solar wind and Earth"s magnetic field, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of our planet"s magnetic environment. The mission is set to launch aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe"s Spaceport in French Guiana.
On March 26, 2026, SpaceX is set to launch a batch of satellites for its Starlink internet service from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, marking another milestone in the company"s efforts to expand its constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites. The mission, designated Starlink 17-17, will utilize a Falcon 9 rocket with a first stage booster that has flown 22 times before.
The Artemis program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon and wilderness, is NASA"s most ambitious human exploration campaign since the Apollo program, aiming to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon. The program includes several missions, including Artemis 2, which will send four astronauts on a lunar flyby, and Artemis 3, which will land the first woman on the moon.
A recent study has revealed that lightning on Jupiter can be up to 1 million times stronger than on Earth, with the Juno spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope playing crucial roles in this discovery. This finding provides new insights into the planet"s atmosphere and storm patterns.
NASA"s Artemis 2 mission is set to launch on April 1, marking the first time humans will travel around the moon in over 50 years. The 10-day journey will test critical systems and pave the way for future lunar missions.
On March 25, 2026, Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway, carrying five cubesats and one scientific experiment, with the potential to be the first rocket to reach orbit from European soil. The successful launch would mark a significant milestone for the European aerospace industry.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is planning a dedicated mission, dubbed EPIC, to send four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in early 2028. This mission marks a significant collaboration between the ESA, NASA, and SpaceX, with the crew set to conduct research and utilization activities during their approximately one-month stay in orbit.
Sift, a Southern California-based startup, has raised $42 million in a Series B funding round to expand its team and develop tools for engineers to interpret hardware sensor data using AI algorithms. This investment will enable the company to further enhance its software observability capabilities, transforming raw sensor data into structured and queryable information.
The European Space Agency"s Hera spacecraft has completed a major deep-space maneuver, setting it on course to rendezvous with the Didymos binary asteroid system in November 2026. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the mission, which aims to study the effects of NASA"s DART spacecraft impact on the asteroid system.
On April 1, NASA is set to launch the Artemis 2 mission, marking the first crewed moon mission since the Apollo era, with four astronauts embarking on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth. This mission represents a significant milestone in NASA's Artemis program, aiming to establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
Researchers have discovered that the composition of a planet's atmosphere significantly affects the performance of heat shields during entry, with implications for future missions to Titan and other celestial bodies. This finding highlights the importance of considering atmospheric conditions when designing heat shields for planetary landers.