Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 02, 2026
Bacteria that thrive on Earth may not survive easily on Mars, where the soil contains toxic perchlorate salts at levels that can reach about 1 percent by weight. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science have now shown how a brick building soil bacterium responds to this chemical and discovered that although the toxin slows growth and stresses the cells, it can also yield stronger biocement

Paris, France (SPX) Feb 02, 2026
A four person international crew is preparing to launch to the International Space Station no earlier than Wednesday 11 February, riding a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The planned liftoff time is 11:00 GMT, which corresponds to 12:00 CET and 06:00 EST, with two additional launch opportunities on 12 an

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 02, 2026
NASA is preparing for a new phase in hypersonic aviation by funding industry studies aimed at expanding flight test capabilities for reusable airbreathing vehicles that can cruise at several times the speed of sound. The agency has awarded short term study contracts to SpaceWorks Enterprises of Atlanta, Georgia, and Stratolaunch of Mojave, California, to examine how existing platforms coul

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 02, 2026
NASA has ordered a fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station from Axiom Space, targeting a launch no earlier than January 2027 from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight, designated Axiom Mission 5, continues the series of commercially sponsored crewed missions to the orbital laboratory under NASA's commercial space strategy. NASA Administrator J

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 2, 2026
Meet OpenClaw: the AI assistant that promised to be your dream intern, terrified cybersecurity experts, and now thrives on chatbot-only social media - all in just a few weeks. The perfect assistant? At the heart of the tech world's latest come-out-of-nowhere fascination is an AI tool built by Austrian researcher Peter Steinberger in November to help organize his digital life. After

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 03, 2026
The Expedition 74 crew has opened the week with preparations for the arrival of NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission while keeping the International Space Station supplied and its science hardware in working order. A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is also being readied for its return to Earth after delivering experiments, supplies and hardware in August 2025. The next mission to the orbital outpo

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 03, 2026
Terran Orbital has announced it will provide its Nebula satellite platform for the Mitsubishi Electric LEO Demo Mission, a new project developed with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric US to support future low Earth orbit constellations. The mission is described as a key step in advancing technologies needed for LEO satellite systems and associated services. The Mitsub

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 03, 2026
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is launching three new space projects under Singapore's Space Technology Development Programme, a national initiative to accelerate the commercialisation of space technologies. The projects are among the first supported under the Space Access Programme, which targets annual launches in 2026, 2027 and 2028 to give local researchers and companies faster,

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 03, 2026
NASAs IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) began its two-year primary science mission on Feb. 1 to explore and map the boundaries of our heliosphere - the protective bubble created by the solar wind that encapsulates our solar system. The mission, which launched on Sept. 24, 2025, relies on 10 scientific instruments to chart a comprehensive picture of what is roiling in space

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 03, 2026
A PhD candidate at the University of Sydney has recreated a small slice of cosmic chemistry in the laboratory by manufacturing carbon rich dust under conditions that mimic space. Working in the School of Physics, materials and plasma physics researcher Linda Losurdo used a simple set of gases to simulate the harsh environments near aging stars and supernova remnants, then tracked how they assemb