Paris, France (SPX) Mar 18, 2025
The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) has successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR), a pivotal milestone in the project, held from February 24 to 26 with participation from Emirati and global experts. This review evaluated the detailed development of the MBR Explorer spacecraft, confirming its readiness to progress into the Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT) phase.

San Antonio TX (SPX) Mar 18, 2025
Although NASA's Lucy spacecraft's upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own. New modeling indicates that Donaldjohanson may have been formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid broke apart; its orbit and spin p

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 17, 2025
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has confirmed that its third Pioneer spacecraft, developed for Varda Space Industries, Inc. ("Varda"), has been successfully deployed and is operating in orbit. The mission, designated W-3, launched on March 14 from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:43 p.m. PDT (06:43 a.m. UTC). This deployment follows closely on the heels of Varda's W-2 mission, which c

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 18, 2025
Galactic Energy, a private aerospace firm based in Beijing, successfully conducted its 18th mission using the Ceres 1 rocket on Monday, placing eight satellites into orbit. According to a company release, the Ceres 1 rocket lifted off at 4:07 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The vehicle deployed the satellites into a sun-synchron

Washington (AFP) Mar 18, 2025
A pair of astronauts stranded in space for more than nine months were finally headed home Tuesday after their capsule undocked from the International Space Station. The SpaceX craft carrying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams detached from the orbital outpost at 0505 GMT, ending their prolonged mission that has captivated global attention. The NASA duo are joined onboard by American Nick Ha

ESA Impact: Top 2025 space photos so far

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 14, 2025
Across the street from the Flamingo Visitor's Center at the foot of Florida's Everglades National Park, there was once a thriving mangrove population - part of the largest stand of mangroves in the Western Hemisphere. Now, the skeletal remains of the trees form one of the Everglades' largest ghost forests. When Hurricane Irma made landfall in September 2017 as a category 4 storm, violent w

Logan UT (SPX) Mar 17, 2025
Following the 3,000th orbit of NASA's AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) aboard the International Space Station, researchers publicly released the mission's first trove of scientific data, crucial to investigate how and why subtle changes in Earth's atmosphere cause disturbances, as well as how these atmospheric disturbances impact technological systems on the ground and in space. "We've r

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 14, 2025
Ursa Major has secured a multi-year contract valued between $10 million and $15 million to deliver fully integrated geostationary orbit (GEO) propulsion systems for a customer engaged in critical space operations. This agreement encompasses the design, manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing of a propulsion system engineered for six-degree-of-freedom maneuverability, enhancing operatio

Boston MA (SPX) Mar 14, 2025
Sensing and communication systems based on quantum-mechanical phenomena can greatly outperform today's systems, in terms of accuracy and reliability, and are considered a pivotal part of developing next-generation networks. Developing quantum information and decision systems that come close to meeting the theoretical quantum advantages has been a longstanding challenge. Now, a team of researcher