Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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February 13th, 2026
Captured by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), this long-exposure photograph showcases Earth’s city lights, the upper atmosphere’s airglow, and streaked stars. The bright flashes at the center are reflections of sunlight from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit.
Image credit: NASA
The consequences of more and more “megaconstellations” of satellites being shoved into Earth orbit also gives rise to what are the chances of being conked in the head by the in-coming remnants of those spacecraft?
“What happens if the minimum lethal amount of debris from each satellite does not burn up and reaches the ground intact?”
A new study by a team of Canadian researchers looks into the fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere of eleven megaconstellations. What are the charred, declarative results?
They find that there’s a 40% collective risk of on-ground casualties if satellites do not burn up entirely.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Satellite megaconstellations continue to grow. Could their debris fall on us?”
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Image credit: CMSE
China is stepping up its activities in testing various elements of its humans-to-the-Moon program.
“It is estimated that by the end of this year, China will fully achieve testing and launch capabilities for the crewed lunar exploration program,” said Zhong Wen’an, a technician at China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Next-generation spaceship
On February 11, China test launched its Mengzhou (dream vessel) spacecraft, China’s new-generation spaceship for crewed flight, also successfully conducting a maximum dynamic pressure abort test.
The uncrewed Mengzhou was flown on a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight test for the Long March-10 carrier rocket – a derivation of the booster to be utilized for China’s human Moon exploration undertaking.
Image credit: CMSE
Mengzhou is designed primarily for China’s crewed lunar exploration initiative, and can also be used for space station operations. Its return capsule is capable of multiple reuses, reports China Central Television (CCTV).
Ocean recovery
This week’s test flight involved the first ignition flight of the Long March-10 rocket. Both the rocket’s first stage and return capsule landed in their designated ocean recovery zones.
The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule then splashed down separately in their designated sea areas, as planned.
Image credit: AsiaToday/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The test flight saw the first evaluation of a sea landing and recovery of Mengzhou’s return capsule, which will bring China’s spacefarers back to Earth.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“This laid the foundation for completing verification flights for the crewed lunar exploration program, and eventually, lunar landings. Efforts to build the equipment and facilities required for a comprehensive launch and test system are progressing as planned,” said Zhong.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Significant flight test
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program told CCTV: “This was a highly significant flight test, especially the retrieval technologies, which are entirely new to us. Achieving success on the very first attempt represents a leapfrog development.”
Wang Zhifei, a researcher at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said the successful soft splashdown and retrieval from the sea “marks a crucial and significant breakthrough in China’s reusable carrier rocket technology and will also greatly promote the upgrading of China’s carrier rocket technology.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space program officials heralded the successful test of its new-generation heavy-lift rocket and next-generation piloted spacecraft as a significant step forward for China’s crewed lunar program.
For a newly-issued video focused on the test flight, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2689199744771289
For the first stage ocean landing, also go to:
Image credit: ULA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket delivered a national security spacecraft directly to geosynchronous orbit for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command on the USSF-87 mission. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Feb. 2.
Solid observation
Image credit: ULA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors, the team is currently reviewing the data. The booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued to perform on a nominal trajectory,” explains ULA.
Go to launch video replay at:
Image credit: B612 Foundationu
They are mean and malicious – and could mess up your day big time here on our home planet.
It is a cosmic roll of the dice. There’s no doubt that a major asteroid strike could cause widespread devastation and profoundly impact life on Earth. To thwart an incoming object that has Earth in its crosshairs means warding off the hazardous space rock.
Enter the heads-up and off-world reality of the private nonprofit B612 Foundation.
This sky rendering is a reconstruction of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013.
Image credit: Sandia National Laboratories
Advancing knowledge
Since 2002, the Silicon Valley-based organization has engaged in research, education, and promoting the protection of Earth from asteroid impact but also advancing knowledge about the solar system’s evolution and expanding economic development in space.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Can a nonprofit help protect Earth from dangerous asteroids? How the B612 Foundation has taken on the challenge – “The tools we are building are about our planetary future” – at:
Image credit: CMSE
China’s Long March 10 booster successfully conducted on February 11 a low-altitude demonstration and verification flight, a test that included an uncrewed Mengzhou spacecraft using its abort escape flight system.
Image credit: CMSE
The China Manned Space Engineering (CMSE) website noted that the February 11 test follows (1) the tethered ignition of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, (2) the zero-altitude escape flight of the Mengzhou piloted spacecraft, and (3) the comprehensive verification of the country’s lunar lander craft’s landing and takeoff on the Moon.
Image credit: CCTV/CMSA
This test marked the first ignition flight of the Long March 10 carrier rocket in its prototype state, the CMSE stated. The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule safely splashed down in the designated sea area.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
This flight test was performed at a newly built launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site.
The rocket’s first stage and the spacecraft’s return capsule then splashed down separately in their designated sea areas, as planned.
Image credit: AsiaToday/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
CMSE added that the developmental flight test marked a significant breakthrough in China’s plans for its human Moon exploration program.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Go to video at:
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
One step closer on the Stairway to Seven!
Firefly Aerospace successfully completed a full duration 20-second static fire at the company’s SLC-2 launch complex at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The team is now preparing to launch the Alpha Flight 7 test flight no earlier than February 18.
Following a successful 20 second static fire, the Alpha Flight 7 launch window will open no earlier than February 18.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“Alpha Flight 7 is the last flown in the rocket’s current configuration and serves as a test flight with the primary goal to achieve nominal first and second stage performance,” a Firefly posting explains. “Flight 7 will test and validate key systems ahead of Firefly’s Block II configuration upgrade on Flight 8 that’s designed to enhance reliability and manufacturability across the vehicle.”
The subsystems tested on Flight 7, including the in-house avionics and thermal improvements,” adds Firefly, will allow Firefly to gain flight heritage and validate lessons learned ahead of the full configuration upgrade.
“The Block II configuration includes a 7-foot increase to Alpha’s length, consolidated batteries and avionics built in house, an enhanced thermal protection system, and stronger carbon composite structures built with automated machinery,” the company explains.
Go to this static fire video at:
Image credit: Steve Durst/ILOA
I am saddened to learn that my good friend for decades, Steve Durst, has passed away.
Steve was the founding director of the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), a dedicated leader in furthering international space cooperation. He was publisher and editor at Space Age Publishing Company since 1976, operating from both Hawai’i and California offices.
Avenues of cooperation
Durst was unstinting in his work toward finding avenues of space cooperation with China. Indeed, that dedication led to his involvement on the upcoming mission of China’s Chang’e-7 Moon lander.
On Chang’e-7’s manifest for the Moon is a telescope, a collaboration between the University of Hong Kong’s Laboratory for Space Research and ILOA.
Image of a BISME camera electrical model.
Image credit: Steve Durst/BISME
Not too long ago, Durst told me that the ILO-C is a wide-field telescope designed for the Chang’e-7 lunar lander. The instrument had successfully passed all flight model testing, securing its acceptance as a payload, he said.
Big picture person
“This advanced astronomical camera is set to launch aboard China’s Chang’e-7 mission, scheduled to land near the illuminated rim of Shackleton Crater in the lunar south pole region in November 2026,” Durst said. “The telescope aims to capture stunning images of the galactic plane, contributing to lunar science and inspiring future generations.”
The telescope is being develop by the Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics & Electricity (BISME), known for its camera and instrument expertise, already flown on Chang’E lunar and Tianwen-1 Mars missions.
Image from International Lunar Observatory Association’s ILO-X wide field-of-view imager taken on February 22, 2024 about 4.2 minutes prior to the Intuitive Machines Odysseus faulty touchdown. It shows craters in the Moon’s south pole region as well as the IM-1 Odysseus lunar lander.
Image credit: ILOA Hawai’i
Durst was always a “big picture” person – even from the perspective offered by the Moon — and will be missed.
In all my communiqués back and forth with Steve, he always greeted and bid farewell with the Hawaiian word “Aloha” – meaning both “Hello” and “Goodbye.”
So Galactically Aloha back to you my good friend…I’ll miss you.
Curiosity Mars rover on the prowl.
Image credit: NASA
In the journal Astrobiology, researchers report on the prospect that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover may have found evidence for life on the Red Planet.
Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument analyzed the “Cumberland” rock sample back in May 2013.
Investigators now say that non-biological sources could not fully account for what SAM found in that Curiosity sample.
Fatty acids
The new work is led by Alexander Pavlov within the Solar System Exploration Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The Curiosity landing site at the base of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) at Gale crater NASA’s Curiosity rover drilled into this rock target, “Cumberland,” during the 279th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (May 19, 2013) and collected a powdered sample of material from the rock’s interior.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Reporting on Feb. 4 in the journal Astrobiology, in revisiting the SAM data, Pavlov and colleagues say it is reasonable to hypothesize that living things could have formed organic compounds detected. They conjecture that they could be fragments of fatty acids preserved in the ancient mudstone in Gale Crater.
Here on Earth, fatty acids are produced mostly by life, though they can be made through geologic processes, too.
Rewind the clock
“To reach their conclusion, scientists combined lab radiation experiments, mathematical modeling, and Curiosity data to ‘rewind the clock’ about 80 million years — the length of time the rock would have been exposed on the Martian surface,” explains a NASA blog on the work.
“This allowed them to estimate how much organic material would have been present before being destroyed by long-term exposure to cosmic radiation: far more than typical non-biological processes could produce,” a NASA blog reports.
Image credit: Utah Geological Survey
“The team says more study is needed to better understand how quickly organic molecules break down in Mars-like rock under Mars-like conditions — and before any conclusions can be reached about the absence or presence of life,” the blog adds.
Mudstone makeup
The Astrobiology report – “Does the Measured Abundance Suggest a Biological Origin for the Ancient Alkanes Preserved in a Martian Mudstone?” — has led the scientists to estimate that the Cumberland mudstone conservatively contained 120–7700 ppm of long-chain alkanes and/or fatty acids before exposure to ionizing radiation.
“We argue that such high concentrations of long-chain alkanes are inconsistent with a few known abiotic sources of organic molecules on ancient Mars, namely delivery of organics by IDPs [interplanetary dust particles] and meteorites, atmospheric fallout and deposition from photochemical haze, and organic production from serpentinization and Fischer–Tropsch reactions on the Red Planet.
The Fischer–Tropsch process is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, known as syngas, into liquid hydrocarbons.
The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument onboard Curiosity analyzes samples of material collected by the rover’s arm.
Credit: NASA-GSFC
Absence or presence of life?
The team says more study is needed to better understand how quickly organic molecules break down in Mars-like rock under Mars-like conditions — and before any conclusions can be reached about the absence or presence of life.
In the paper, Pavlov and colleagues note: “We agree with Carl Sagan’s claim that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and understand that any purported detection of life on Mars will necessarily be met with intense scrutiny. In addition, in practice with established norms in the field of astrobiology, we note that the certainty of a life detection beyond Earth will require multiple lines of evidence.”
To that end, Pavlov and his fellow researchers recommend experimental studies that determine the radiolytic degradation rates of kerogens, alkanes, and fatty acids in Cumberland-like Mars analogs under Mars-like conditions.
To access the research paper — “Does the Measured Abundance Suggest a Biological Origin for the Ancient Alkanes Preserved in a Martian Mudstone?” – go to:
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-21 astronauts continue to carry out multiple in-orbit tasks, from performing scientific experiments, space station upkeep, equipment maintenance, to health management over the past week, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Mission commander Zhang Lu and astronauts Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang have spent over three months in orbit.
The Shenzhou-21 crewed spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on October 31, 2025.
This three-person crew completed their mission’s first series of extravehicular activities on December 9.
Artwork depicts China’s Tiangong space station.
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
Onboard work
As reported by the state-run China Central Television (CCTV), in the field of space medicine, the trio collected blood samples, which will be used to study the patterns of change and adaptation mechanisms in astronauts’ bones, nerves, and cerebral vessels during long-duration spaceflight.
Using laptops, the crew also conducted experiments related to the effects of long-term exposure to microgravity on upper and lower visual field differences and their cognitive neural mechanisms.
In the realm of microgravity physical science, the three astronauts cleaned samples in non-container experimental chambers, performed electrode maintenance, cleaned lens covers, disassembled and reassembled fluid dynamics experimental modules and replaced experimental samples.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Clean cabin
For health management, the trio of taikonauts utilized devices with adsorption force to keep their leg muscles strong and completed eye, vision and optic nerve testing, reported CCTV.
In terms of onboard environmental monitoring and equipment maintenance, they used a dew point meter to monitor the thermal environment inside the cabin and conducted air cleanliness tests. They also sorted supplies and cleaned the cabin.
Go to this CCTV video spotlighting onboard station life aboard China’s space station at:
Image credit: NASA
After some 50 days on the job, the NASA chief-in-charge visits every NASA center, wraps up a dozen town hall meetings, and reviewed thousands of workforce submissions, Isaacman says it is clear there is much NASA can do to better empower people and focus resources on the most pressing objectives.
Worth a read: Jared Isaacman Wants to Restore NASA’s Core Competencies by Marcia Smith
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/isaacman-wants-to-restore-nasas-core-competencies/
