Archive for February, 2026
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February 2nd, 2026
Image credit: NASA/Sam Lott
Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are conducting a prelaunch test to fuel the Artemis II Space Launch System—a vital step in ensuring this rocket is ready for its upcoming trip around the Moon.
During the rehearsal, teams will demonstrate the ability to load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the rocket, conduct a launch countdown, and practice safely removing propellant from the rocket without astronauts inside the spacecraft.
Programming for this static feed begins at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 UTC) on Feb. 2.
The rehearsal will count down to a simulated launch at 9 p.m. EST (0200 Feb. 3 UTC), but could run to approximately 1 a.m. (0600 UTC) if needed.
Artemis II leaders will discuss initial results during a news conference at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
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Spot-3 Earth Observation satellite.
Image credit: CNES
Yet another “close call/near miss” in Earth orbit.
On Christmas Day 2025, a European non-operational payload (SPOT 3) passed within roughly 65 feet (20 meters) of a fragment from a Soviet payload that exploded in 1996.
“This conjunction involved two objects left in orbit last century,” said Darren McKnight, a senior technical fellow for LeoLabs that offers persistent orbital intelligence for space domain awareness.
Cosmic culprits
SPOT 3 (Satellite pour l’Observation de la Terre) was a commercial Earth-imaging satellite from CNES (Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales), the French Space Agency. It was launched on September 26, 1993 and ceased operations after a malfunction in November 1996.
The other object was a fragment of the former Soviet Union’s Cosmos 1275 that was launched and then broke apart in 1981, with the break-up occurring at approximately 609 miles (980 kilometers).
Image credit: LeoLabs
Two-body problem
The actual near two-body bang-up was at roughly 525 miles (845 kilometers) altitude.
According to a History of On-orbit Satellite Fragmentations, 16th Edition, produced by NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, the Soviet Cosmos 1275 is the only member of its class, Parus, to explosively fragment.
Image credit: History of On-orbit Satellite Fragmentations, 16th Edition
The defunct spacecraft was a member of a Soviet military navigation system called the Parus series. The satellite was only 50 days old at the time of the event.
“During the February 1992 Space Debris Conference in Moscow, Russian analysts discussed independent studies about the probable cause of the breakup. Later, the official Russian assessment asserted that a battery malfunction was the likely culprit,” the NASA document explains.
PC factor
Often, probability of collision (PC) drops as time of closest approach (TCA) is approached, “however, it stayed very stable for this event,” McKnight adds.
“When an eventual collision occurs,” McKnight said, it will likely look like this PC/miss distance evolution (see LeoLabs chart).
Image credit: Darren McKnight/LeoLabs
Image credit: ULA
The countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The countdown clock began January 31 at 8:13 p.m. EST, or L-48 hours, 40 minutes before the opening of a simulated launch window at 9 pm. Mon, Feb. 2. The test is expected to go until approximately 1 a.m. Feb. 3.
Go to NASA’s Artemis II Live Views from Kennedy Space Center at:
Image credit: Mars Guy/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mars Guy details how driving a rover on Mars requires humans on Earth to plan the route.
“Self-driving cars on Earth can take advantage of GPS to navigate,” Mars Guy points out, “but Mars has no global positioning system, so rover drivers have to set waypoints manually.”
Image credit: Mars Guy/NASA/JPL-Caltech
AI navigation
Now Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been given that task. See how NASA’s Perseverance rover was AI navigated across Martian terrain!
This Mars Guy episode details how Claude, an AI model, planned the rover’s route, using orbital and ground images to avoid hazards. Watch the AI’s route planning in action, contrasted with the actual drive.
Go to video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wubO9j1keNA
Also, go to this Jet Propulsion Laboratory release Perseverance’s use of AI at:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-rover-completes-first-ai-planned-drive-on-mars/
