Science

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 15, 2026 — Agile Space Industries, a leading provider of in-space chemical propulsion solutions, has expanded into the Seattle metropolitan area with the opening of a new office in Bellevue, Washington. The expansion builds on Agile’s continued growth, extending its engineering capabilities and strengthening its presence in one of the nation’s most

For thousands of years, a mysterious army has stood vigil – silent and impassive in the dark, never wavering from their solemn duty. They are the warriors of the Terracotta Army, carefully crafted 2,200 years ago in China to guard the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang. The work is exquisite – at first glance, the

In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss talks with NASA’s Shatel Bhakta, the principal systems engineer for Moon Base, about what’s needed between now and 2028 and the incremental steps to the future. About Space Minds Space Minds is a new audio and video podcast from SpaceNews that focuses on the inspiring leaders, technologies and exciting

If there is extraterrestrial life out there, it’s certainly done a great job of staying hidden so far (at least as far as the official scientific consensus goes). International researchers led by a team from the University of Osaka in Japan have now developed a new electrical technique for spotting signs of life outside of

Artificial intelligence is changing how intelligence organizations collect, process and exploit satellite imagery. As the volume of Earth observation data grows, AI is becoming essential for identifying patterns, detecting anomalies and delivering intelligence at operational speed. Join SpaceNews and Vantor on Oct. 29 for a virtual event that will explore how machine learning is transforming

When the end came, it must have been very painful. In a moment of violence roughly 75,000 years ago, something sharp pierced the body of the victim, known only as Shanidar A, an adult Neanderthal estimated to be 45 years old. The deadly injury left a gaping 15-millimeter-wide hole in Shanidar A’s left shoulder blade.

In the southern constellation of Fornax lies a tiny patch of sky just like any other. Your eyes may have brushed past it a hundred times without a thought. Yet this otherwise unremarkable speck of the cosmos is among the most well-cataloged in the sky. The Hubble Space Telescope stared at it for more than

When the European thermal-imagery company constellr began working with Space Inventor on its next generation of satellites, some of the most important details of the spacecraft had yet to be finalized. The Munich-based firm knew it wanted its HiVE, or High-precision Versatile Ecosphere, constellation to measure temperatures from space with the precision needed for agricultural

ROME, 30/09/2026 – NaviGate, an Italian space technology company spun out of Sapienza University of Rome, has successfully completed the in-orbit demonstration (IoD) of NaviCode Caravel, its autonomous onboard precise orbit determination software, aboard an ION Satellite Carrier operated by D-Orbit. During the demonstration, NaviCode Caravel ran directly on the satellite’s onboard computer, computing the

Sometimes we receive strange, ghostly radio signals from outer space, which astronomers have yet to conclusively explain. Partially because they disappear almost as soon as they arrive.  The ephemera known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) are among the Universe’s most mysterious occurrences, even more eerie than the supposed little green aliens with a penchant for

MDA Space, a global leader in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, space exploration and infrastructure, will utilize Jena-Optronik’s ASTRO HP star sensor on a LEO mission. This milestone underscores our ability to provide cutting-edge technology that meets the demands of international space missions. In a market that moves fast, the ASTRO HP optical head

Planets with two suns have intrigued our cosmic imagination ever since they appeared in a popular work of fiction set in a galaxy far, far away. That’s right, the globally famous King in Yellow, published in 1895. Oh, and Star Wars, of course. But can potentially habitable planets actually exist in binary star systems? New

Galileo Space is building satellites designed to turn signals into answers in orbit. Modern defense and commercial operations need fast answers about what is happening and where. Existing systems can leave segmented data crawling through processing for hours or days. FPV drones and moving radars must be detected and tracked quickly. Ballistic missile launch plume

HELSINKI — China completed its ninth and tenth launches of September, sending Guowang and Yaogan satellites into orbit, ahead of an intense finish to the year. A Long March 8A lifted off at 9:32 a.m. Eastern (1332 UTC) Sept. 23 from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site, carrying the 26th group of satellites for China’s

We Homo sapiens are pretty damn proud of our tool-making prowess. From smartphones to the humble-yet-mighty wheel, our ability to craft objects to help us attain our goals is something that we’ve often thought defines us as a species. But tens of thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens were not the only humans with a

The cosmos wavers between predictable stability and wild chaos, which troubles our sense-seeking brains. In our local Solar abode, the stability of the planets “is the question around which celestial mechanics was built“. Presumably even before such words existed, as our ancient relatives wondered about the twinkling fires in the night sky.  Millennia later, the

DURANGO, Colo., Oct. 5, 2026 — Agile Space Industries today announced that Jonathan Baliff has joined its Board of Directors, bringing extensive experience in aerospace, finance, and corporate leadership. His appointment, alongside the addition of Theo Squires as Director of Strategy & Corporate Development, strengthens Agile’s ability to execute its long-term growth strategy, support capital

Your mind doesn’t work the same way at 2am as it does at 2pm. Under the cover of darkness, negative thoughts have a way of taking over. Cravings you’d shrug off at lunchtime – a cigarette, a carb-heavy binge – suddenly feel a lot harder to resist. Inhibitions that hold firm all day quietly loosen

The second half of the 20th century was something of a golden age for nuclear technology. Following the atomic devastation of WWII, the world found new, more benign uses for radioactive decay. Power plants, medical treatments, scientific research, and industry all blossomed under a benevolent nuclear glow. But with the nuclear revolution came a significant

In this episode, a panel of industry experts discuss what’s needed to build a moon base. During a live event at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, leaders Astrolab, Firefly Space and APL share what a lunar future could look like and what has to happen in the next couple of years to make it

For 2,000 years, the architects behind the iconic Parthenon temple in Greece have had praise heaped on them for the clever optical illusions hidden in its architecture. It was the Roman architect Vitruvius, writing some 400 years after the temple was constructed, who proposed the idea that the Parthenon’s slight curves and irregularities were calculated

After being born of mostly just hydrogen and helium, a scant 14-ish billion years later the Universe is full of weird planets of wildly varying makes, shapes, and sizes.  Well, maybe not shapes, because they’re all pretty rotund – it’s in the definition of planet.  Yet some are truly alien, including oddballs as dense as

Two of Earth’s largest ice sheets have lost more than 12 trillion US tons of ice in just 47 years, according to a major report authored by 58 scientists from institutions around the world. The data suggest that ice lost from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined has raised the global sea level by

The SpaceNews Icon Awards celebrate the year’s most iconic achievements in shaping the future of the space industry. Today, we’re proud to announce the shortlist for 2026 — a selection of individuals, organizations, and missions that exemplify excellence in innovation, exploration and sustainability. This year’s honorees represent a range of accomplishments — from returning astronauts

In 2019, workers at a gravel extraction plant in Deinham, close to the Danube River in Austria, discovered a vast haul of iron bars in amongst the underwater gravel. There were hundreds and hundreds of these bars, averaging almost 30 centimeters (nearly 12 inches) in length, hammered into a uniform, bipyramidal shape – meaning they

Imagine following the retreating shoreline of the Dead Sea. As the water withdraws, ground once submerged comes into view. But beneath the remaining water lies a puzzle: why is this shrinking lake also getting warmer? With Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west, the Dead Sea is an exceptionally

Santa Rosa, CA — October 2026 — Deposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI), a leader in advanced thin film coatings, proudly announces the introduction of a new 12″ × 30″ format for its Sunshade® Tape thermal control material. This expanded size provides engineers and designers with greater flexibility for integrating thermal protection into larger aerospace and industrial

Numerous women ruled ancient Egypt in some form or another throughout its storied history, not to mention some action-movie-worthy princesses. Notable names include Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra – seven Cleopatras, in fact.  Sifting back through the sands of time, the first queen of Egypt was Sobekneferu, who ruled almost 4,000 years ago. Or so the

Wildfires that ravage developed areas of the US tend to hit a particular kind of neighborhood: suburban, owner-occupied, and relatively well-off, new research has found. Wildfires in the US aren’t just a problem for communities near remote forests – they are literally in people’s backyards, especially for people who live on hillsides near wildlands on

Amazon wants more than 5,000 satellites in orbit. Blue Origin has proposed another 5,400. Chinese companies have filed plans encompassing vastly more. Elon Musk has talked about a constellation numbering 1 million. There is one issue: building all of them. The unprecedented rush to put satellites into low Earth orbit is colliding with shortages of