Exploration & Science Missions

The pursuit of efficient solar energy harvesting presents a stark contrast between terrestrial and orbital environments. While terrestrial solar farms are the backbone of current renewable infrastructure, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) arrays offer a high-intensity, uninterrupted alternative that fundamentally shifts ...

Dr. Gladys West, the visionary mathematician whose complex calculations of the Earth’s shape provided the essential foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS), passed away on January 17, 2026, at the age of 95. Her work in satellite geodesy at ...

In modern mineral exploration, particularly for high-altitude projects in the Argentinian Puna, satellites are the primary tool for "Target Prioritization" before any boots hit the ground ...

The January 17 rollout of Artemis II represents a genuine technical achievement and a policy paradox. To understand why NASA is rolling out a roughly $4 billion-per-launch vehicle in an era of reusable rockets, we must examine what happened in ...

The future of discovery is now inextricably linked to the success of private infrastructure ...

The primary objective of the mission is to locate and quantify Helium-3 concentrations within the lunar regolith ...

The discovery, detailed in a study published in the journal Microbiome, raises significant concerns for planetary protection protocols ...

The communication lapse coincides with clarification by Professor Brian Cox regarding the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS non-natural radio emissions ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a decisive move for the future of the Artemis campaign, NASA has officially awarded a delivery task order to Blue Origin for the transport of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the lunar South ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — NASA has selected the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to develop and manage the Lunar Freezer System (LFS), a mission-critical infrastructure component for the agency’s Artemis campaign. The Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) award, which carries a potential total ...

Senate Scutiny Targets NASA's Lunar Strategy Confirmation hearings for NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman, billionaire and Polaris Dawn commander, commanded Capitol Hill's attention yesterday. Isaacman utilized his Senate appearance to push a high-stakes competitive agenda for the agency's human lunar ...

Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev has been abruptly removed from the upcoming SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which is currently slated for a 2026 launch, following an alleged security breach involving highly sensitive, export-controlled technology at a SpaceX facility. Reports indicate that Artemyev ...

The global space race has entered a new, accelerated phase, characterized by an increasingly defined split in long-term strategic goals and infrastructure development. This division is fundamentally driven by geopolitical alignment rather than purely scientific motivation, creating two separate power ...

Thales Alenia Space has signed multiple contracts shaping the core industrial team that will build the European Space Agency (ESA) Argonaut Lunar Descent Element. ESA’s Argonaut Mission, planned for launch from the 2030s, will deliver cargo, infrastructure and scientific instruments ...

Endurance™ is a 750kg life-extension vehicle for geostationary satellites. Arrangements for a commercial mission have been signed by Infinite Orbits and SES. Together their contract will provide a first for Europe with a geostationary satellite life extension mission. Following an in-orbit ...

Included in the satellites is Spire’s next-generation Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder—a compact, space-ready sensor built to demonstrate global weather forecasting from space Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) has now shipped nine satellites, all designed and built by the company’s in-house manufacturing ...

Sierra Space's Dream Chaser® spaceplane has completed a series of critical pre-flight tests at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), marking continued progress toward Dream Chaser’s first, free-flyer mission. Dream Chaser spaceplane being pulled at high speeds by a fifth-generationFreightliner Cascadia ...

The recent LVM3-M5/CMS-03 mission set for launch, photo courtesy of ISRO ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan has said the Indian government has approved the complex Chandrayaan-4 mission that is designed as a lunar sample-return mission for launch in 2028. The organization ...

Power beaming demo at Kennedy Space Center The lunar South Pole has drawn sustained attention from scientists, space agencies, and commercial innovators due to its potential reserves of water ice and its strategic value for long-term exploration. Deep craters remain ...

Testing the operational readiness of lunar terrain vehicles has been challenging because Earth-based environments such as rocky desert beds or confined test areas filled with small amounts of synthetic regolith lack the scale and adaptability to truly replicate the Moon’s ...