342nd Council: Media information session
Thursday, 18 December 2025 16:00
Video:
00:00:00
Watch the replay of the media information session in which ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun (CH) update journalists on key decisions taken at the ESA Council meeting, held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 17 and 18 December 2025.
Catch the Ursid meteor shower as it peaks just before Christmas
Thursday, 18 December 2025 15:20?️
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Congress’s SBIR standoff is slowing Space Force innovation — it must act now
Thursday, 18 December 2025 15:00
At a time when space is unmistakably a contested warfighting domain, the United States risks slowing its own progress not because of a lack of technology or talent, but because Congress has failed to act on renewing authority for critical small business innovation funding.
2025 was “almost a watershed year” for the Space Development Agency
Thursday, 18 December 2025 12:27
Space community celebrates Isaacman confirmation
Thursday, 18 December 2025 11:15
The space community welcomed the confirmation of Jared Isaacman as NASA’s next administrator, expressing hope he can lead the agency forward and relief that a long confirmation process is over.
Perseverance rover cleared for long distance Mars exploration
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
After nearly five years operating inside Mars Jezero Crater, NASA's Perseverance rover has logged almost 25 miles (40 kilometers) of driving while engineers certify that its mobility hardware and other subsystems can keep working for many more years.
Built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Perseverance is following up the long-running Curiosity rover
After nearly five years operating inside Mars Jezero Crater, NASA's Perseverance rover has logged almost 25 miles (40 kilometers) of driving while engineers certify that its mobility hardware and other subsystems can keep working for many more years.
Built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Perseverance is following up the long-running Curiosity rover Origami style lunar rover wheel expands to climb steep caves
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
A joint team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory UEL has developed a transformable airless wheel designed to help small rovers access steep lunar pits and lava tubes. The wheel targets subsurface sites considered promising for future human habitats because they shield against cosmic radiation and extreme temperature swings.
A joint team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory UEL has developed a transformable airless wheel designed to help small rovers access steep lunar pits and lava tubes. The wheel targets subsurface sites considered promising for future human habitats because they shield against cosmic radiation and extreme temperature swings. Titan interior study points to thick slushy ice shell instead of global ocean
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
Careful reanalysis of measurements gathered more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, likely lacks a vast liquid-water ocean beneath its ice, contrary to earlier interpretations of Cassini data. Instead, the work suggests that an icy journey downward from the surface would encounter extensive high-pressure ice, slushy layers, and pockets of meltwater closer to the rocky
Careful reanalysis of measurements gathered more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, likely lacks a vast liquid-water ocean beneath its ice, contrary to earlier interpretations of Cassini data. Instead, the work suggests that an icy journey downward from the surface would encounter extensive high-pressure ice, slushy layers, and pockets of meltwater closer to the rocky Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
London, UK (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
A University of Cambridge philosopher argues that current evidence about consciousness is too limited to determine whether artificial intelligence becomes conscious, and that a reliable test for machine consciousness is unlikely to emerge for a long time, if at all. Dr Tom McClelland contends that as artificial consciousness moves from science fiction into an ethical concern, the only justifiabl
A University of Cambridge philosopher argues that current evidence about consciousness is too limited to determine whether artificial intelligence becomes conscious, and that a reliable test for machine consciousness is unlikely to emerge for a long time, if at all. Dr Tom McClelland contends that as artificial consciousness moves from science fiction into an ethical concern, the only justifiabl Galaxy mergers light up fastest growing black holes
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
New Euclid satellite observations indicate that collisions between galaxies trigger the most powerful active galactic nuclei in the universe. The results strengthen the link between galaxy mergers and rapid growth phases of supermassive black holes at galactic centers.
Active galactic nuclei are periods when supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies accrete surrounding matter and
New Euclid satellite observations indicate that collisions between galaxies trigger the most powerful active galactic nuclei in the universe. The results strengthen the link between galaxy mergers and rapid growth phases of supermassive black holes at galactic centers.
Active galactic nuclei are periods when supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies accrete surrounding matter and Evolution study finds history and environment shifts can steer species in very different directions
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
Every living organism must operate in environments that change over time, such as seasonal shifts between heat and cold or alternating years of drought and heavy rain. University of Vermont scientist Csenge Petak set out to examine how such environmental fluctuations affect evolution and whether they help or hinder populations as they adapt to new conditions.
Working with UVM computer scie
Every living organism must operate in environments that change over time, such as seasonal shifts between heat and cold or alternating years of drought and heavy rain. University of Vermont scientist Csenge Petak set out to examine how such environmental fluctuations affect evolution and whether they help or hinder populations as they adapt to new conditions.
Working with UVM computer scie Sandia centrifuge campaign clears NASA VIPER rover for lunar launch
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, has cleared a major test campaign at Sandia National Laboratories that is intended to show the 1,000-pound lunar rover can withstand the stresses of launch and flight on its way to the Moon's South Pole.
"We've built a rover that is designed to go and prospect for water on the moon, but the vehicle must be certified for miss
NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, has cleared a major test campaign at Sandia National Laboratories that is intended to show the 1,000-pound lunar rover can withstand the stresses of launch and flight on its way to the Moon's South Pole.
"We've built a rover that is designed to go and prospect for water on the moon, but the vehicle must be certified for miss Thorium 229 nuclei driven by laser in opaque solid moves optical nuclear clock research forward
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
A team from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has for the first time excited the atomic nucleus of the isotope thorium 229 with laser light while the atoms are embedded in a non transparent solid host. The experiment demonstrates that nuclear laser excitation is possible even when the surro
A team from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has for the first time excited the atomic nucleus of the isotope thorium 229 with laser light while the atoms are embedded in a non transparent solid host. The experiment demonstrates that nuclear laser excitation is possible even when the surro Southern Launch to Host Lux Aeterna Re-Entries South Australia
Thursday, 18 December 2025 03:03
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 18, 2025
Southern Launch and Lux Aeterna have signed a contract to conduct orbital re-entries of Lux Aeterna's reusable satellite infrastructure to the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. The partnership will support the future of circular space manufacturing and operations with rapid, reliable, and flexible access to orbit, enabling governments, businesses, and research organizations to maximise the
Southern Launch and Lux Aeterna have signed a contract to conduct orbital re-entries of Lux Aeterna's reusable satellite infrastructure to the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. The partnership will support the future of circular space manufacturing and operations with rapid, reliable, and flexible access to orbit, enabling governments, businesses, and research organizations to maximise the