Madrid, Spain (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Proteins, the molecular machines of life, are constructed from 20 amino acids in seemingly infinite combinations-up to 10^78 possible sequences for a 60-residue protein. Yet only a tiny subset fold into stable, functional shapes. A new study published in Science reveals that the rules guiding these folds may be far more forgiving than previously assumed. Scientists from the Centre for Geno

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
The MetOp Second Generation-A1 satellite has reached a significant milestone in its journey to orbit, with fuelling operations now complete at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. Engineers successfully loaded 790 kg of hydrazine onto the spacecraft, paving the way for the next phase of pre-launch activities. This satellite, MetOp-SG-A1, is the first in a series of three A-B satellite pair

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
GovSat, the public-private partnership between the Luxembourg Government and SES, has awarded Thales Alenia Space a contract to develop a new geostationary defence communications satellite, GovSat-2. The platform will deliver resilient and secure telecom services for national defense and allied missions. The satellite will operate in X, Ka, and UHF frequency bands, supporting high-assuranc

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Earth Fire Alliance, in partnership with Muon Space and Google Research, has released the first images captured by the FireSat Protoflight satellite. These visuals highlight the satellite's ability to detect wildfires in their earliest stages, including small blazes overlooked by current orbital systems, significantly enhancing response capabilities for fire-prone regions worldwide. Among

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
China has introduced new regulations to tighten quality oversight of its growing commercial space industry. The directive, issued Monday by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), outlines comprehensive management standards intended to guide projects from initial design through final decommissioning. The new rules assign explicit responsibilities to various stakeholders and emphasi

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has secured a contract to provide its Gen-3 and Gen-2 satellite-based monitoring services to Latin American defense and intelligence agencies, supporting efforts against transnational organized crime. The contract delivers immediate On-Demand access to BlackSky's high-frequency, low-latency satellite imagery and analytics, enabling security forces to d

Moscow (AFP) July 29, 2025
The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos arrived in the United States on Tuesday to meet with his NASA counterpart in the first such meeting in eight years, Roscosmos said. Space has been one of the few areas of cooperation between Russia and the United States after Moscow's offensive on Ukraine brought relations between the two space pioneer nations to lows not seen since the Cold War.

Video: 00:07:00

Highlights and liftoff of Vega-C flight VV27 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, at 23:03 local time on 25 July (03:03 BST/04:03 CEST on 26 July).

Flight VV27 was operated by Arianespace and launched Airbus’s four CO3D satellites and the French space agency CNES MicroCarb mission.

The four small satellites in the CO3D constellation (an abbreviation of the French 'Constellation Optique en 3D') are set to map the globe in three dimensions from low Earth orbit, to serve public and private sector needs.

MicroCarb is designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide on a global scale. ESA coordinated and procured the

The MicroCarb mission, led by the French space agency CNES, will monitor carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to help identify the world’s main sources and sinks of this important greenhouse gas. Launched on 25 July on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, the mission benefitted from the In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) programme managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the European Commission.