ESA has selected six new Fellows to pursue their own independent research in space science in 2026. The Research Fellowships in space science represent one of the highlights of the ESA Science programme.

Early career postdoctoral scientists are offered the unique opportunity to carry out advanced research related to the space science areas covered by ESA Science missions at one of three ESA establishments (ESAC, ESTEC or STScI) for a period of up to three years.

The 2025 Research Fellows in space science are, Emma Esparza-Borges, Ekaterina Ilin, Gregor Rihtaršič, Peter Stephenson, Paola I. Tiranti, and Jiří Žák.

Their research spans

Astrobotic has pushed rotating detonation rocket engine technology past one of its most stubborn barriers, completing a 300-second continuous hot fire of its Chakram prototype at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center — potentially among the longest sustained burns any RDRE has logged to date. Across two prototype units, the Pittsburgh-based lunar lander company accumulated more […]

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The Federal Aviation Administration will start charging commercial launch and reentry operators for the first time in its history, marking a structural shift in how the U.S. funds oversight of an industry that has outgrown its regulator. The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, known as AST, published its intent in the Federal Register to […]

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SpaceX hit its 50th orbital launch of 2026 on Sunday morning, sending another batch of Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit and keeping the company on a trajectory that would rival its own record-setting 2025. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deployed its payload, and recovered its first stage […]

The post SpaceX’s 50th Launch of 2026 Shows Why Competitors Can’t Catch Up appeared first on Space Daily.

Overview Energy, a startup developing space-based solar power systems, announced an agreement to provide energy for data centers operated by Meta.

On April 10, the Orion capsule carrying Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen splashed down in the Pacific, completing the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years.

The most competent person in any room is usually the one nobody checks on. They got promoted out of being asked, and the cost of that relief is borne entirely by them.

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NASA is reserving a small amount of space on a Mars telecommunications spacecraft for science, which could be one or more cubesats.