Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
BAE Systems has completed the delivery of two advanced satellites from its Boulder, Colorado facility to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft-NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA's Space Weather Follow On - L1 (SWFO-L1)-are slated for joint launch this fall. Developed to enhance scientific and forecasting capabilities, both missions will operate from Lagrange

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has detected 17 complex organic molecules in the protoplanetary disc of the protostar V883 Orionis. Among them are ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile-molecules regarded as precursors to amino acids and nucleobases-marking their first tentative detection i

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
China is preparing to push deeper into the solar system with an ambitious new phase in its deep space exploration program, including a Mars sample-return mission and a journey to Jupiter. Now, Chinese scientists are setting their sights even farther-toward the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. These remote, largely unexplored planets contain clues to the solar system's origins, according to Y

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
The Moon's fragile exosphere, a sparse envelope of gas surrounding the lunar body, is mainly generated by interactions between the Moon's surface and external forces. Until now, scientists believed the solar wind played a major role in this process. But new research led by Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) challenges that assumption. Using original lunar rock from NASA's Apollo 16

Merritt Island FL (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Sidus Space has introduced LunarLizzie, its most advanced 800kg-class spacecraft engineered specifically for lunar and cislunar missions. Equipped with onboard AI, LiDAR, and hyperspectral imaging, the platform aims to deliver near real-time intelligence on lunar terrain and environmental conditions without ground-based dependency. Designed for both government and commercial missions, Luna

Beijing (XNA) Jul 25, 2025
China's first Mars sample-return mission, Tianwen 3, is scheduled for launch around 2028, with the goal of returning no less than 500 grams of Martian samples to Earth by around 2031, according to the mission's chief scientist. Hou Zengqian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Tianwen 3 mission, together with his collaborators, recently published an

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to carry out the preliminary design and technology development for the Multi-Purpose Habitation (MPH) module, set to become the first human habitat on the Moon's surface. The MPH module is scheduled for launch in 2033 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center under the Artemis Accords between NASA and ASI. As part of the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Skyfall, a forward-looking Mars helicopter concept developed by AeroVironment (AV) in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), aims to support future human exploration of the Red Planet by 2028. The system features a fleet of six autonomous scout helicopters designed to explore potential astronaut landing zones. Each rotorcraft would operate independently, capturing high-

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Curiosity has made significant progress in its ongoing exploration of the intricate boxwork terrain along the slopes of Mount Sharp. The past several sols have brought the rover from the base of a steep ridge to a resting point within a nearby hollow, offering increasingly detailed views of these unique Martian formations. This marks a new phase in Curiosity's campaign to analyze the composition

Tucson AZ (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
On the slopes of Martian mountains and craters clings what appears to be flowing honey, coated in dust and frozen in time. In reality, these features are incredibly slow-moving glaciers, and their contents were once thought to be mostly rock enveloped in some ice. Work over the last 20 years has demonstrated that at least some of these glaciers are mostly pure ice with only a thin cover of