Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
Author: 
May 1st, 2026
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Expect new breakthroughs in China’s space exploration program in the near future.
Leading researchers at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) note that critical space missions are scheduled this year and next.
China will launch its latest lunar probe and its Hubble-class Xuntian Space Telescope, as well as hundreds of satellites to support its Guowang broadband constellation.
Artistic view of China’s Xuntian space telescope. Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“This year, we will send the Chang’e-7 probe to the Moon. There will be another space station mission next year, which might be the most valuable space station project in the history of science, and it will be launched by the Long March-5B rocket,” rocket designer Feng Shaowei from China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology of the CASC told China Central Television (CCTV).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Upcoming lunar exploration
Chang’e-7 will explore the Moon’s south pole, focusing on locating water ice and other resources in anticipation of a crewed lunar landing in the future.
Chang’e-7 artwork. Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to CCTV, China’s Tiangong space station will continue to carry out its wide-ranging experimental research, both inside the station’s laboratories and outside its walls, with the use of robotic arms.
These arms are often used for research in exposing materials to space, but increasingly, they are also used to carry out complex logistical tasks, from collecting space cargo crafts to rearranging the station’s solar arrays.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
New station modules
Hou Yongqing, a space station systems expert from China Academy of Space Technology of the CASC, told CCTV that in the future, the country’s space station may see the addition of more modules to expand application capabilities. “At the same time, we will enhance the capabilities of our robotic arms, enabling them to perform even more complex tasks,” Hou said.
According to the CASC aerospace scientists, the coming years could even see China become the second country ever to put astronauts on the Moon.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
New crewed spacecraft
“One thing we look forward to is seeing the new generation of crewed spacecraft flying into space, building a brand-new round-trip transportation platform between Earth and space for astronauts,” said Shao Limin, an expert in crewed spacecraft systems of China Academy of Space Technology.
“Our manned lunar exploration project has also been making steady progress in recent years. In the near future, we will witness the footprints of the Chinese people left on the lunar surface,” said Shao.
Go to this newly released CCTV video at:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1245248530697645
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Posted in 
Note Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom on POTUS desk.
Image credit: White House/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Artemis II crew and NASA chief, Jared Isaacman, took part April 29, 2026 in White House discussion of that mission and the future of America’s return to the Moon plans.
Go to:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/artemis-ii-crew-visits-the-oval/
President Trump welcomes the astronauts of the Artemis II mission to the Oval Office at:
https://www.youtube.com/live/4hLYFGv9ktM?si=08P7Ybz2PUMHhcll
Planetary defense work is underway via the first commercial deep space rideshare mission, the Apophis EX mission by Exploration Labs.
Image credit: ExLabs
Colorado Springs, Colorado – Asteroid Apophis is a major rocky world visitor that in 2029 is whisking by Earth but also serves as a wake-up call for getting our planetary defense act together.
This Friday the 13th 2029 Apophis passage is stirring up — as luck would have it — considerable multi-nation action plans to reconnoiter that object at various stages as it careens toward Earth.
Asteroid Institute leader Edward Lu, former NASA astronaut, details his view of deflection techniques during panel discussion.
Image credit: Barbara David
A new entry for in-space Apophis-watching is what’s billed as the first commercial deep space rideshare mission: Exploration Labs’ (ExLabs) Apophis EX mission.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “This is going to be what makes the Earth secure – How one California company plans to protect us from dangerous asteroids,” – at:
Image credit: SpaceX
Earth’s moon is to be on the receiving end of a spent rocket stage in early August – the leftovers from a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch last year.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, launched on January 15, 2025 and performed the first fully successful commercial lunar landing on March 2 at Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille. That lander went on to mark the longest commercial operation on the moon to date.
Also riding onboard that SpaceX booster was Japan’s HAKUTO-R M2 lunar lander, called Resilience. However, that probe was lost roughly 90 seconds before touchdown, plowing into the stark lunar terrain.
SpaceX rocket stage.
Image credit: SpaceX via Project Pluto
A certain carelessness
Meanwhile, that Falcon 9’s leftover upper stage, labeled 2025-010D that lobbed the two private spacecraft into space is now headed for a run in with the moon.
“It doesn’t present any danger to anyone, though it does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware is disposed of.”
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “A stray SpaceX rocket stage could slam into the moon this August, amateur astronomer says” – at:
Projected impact point of rocket hardware.
Image credit: Project Pluto
Space-based data centers would place data processing and storage systems for AI and other computing needs into satellites.
This could reduce the land, electricity, and water needed for data centers on Earth.
Several companies have begun development of data centers in space, but there are engineering and economic barriers to deployment.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a new Science & Tech Spotlight report: Data Centers in Space.
Key Takeaways of the report
- Placing data centers in space could reduce the demand for resources from these facilities on Earth.
- Data centers generate excess heat, but space does not cool computing hardware efficiently. This could be a major engineering challenge.
- A significant increase in the number of satellites in orbit could be difficult to manage and cause collisions.
To access this GAO report, go to:
Satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz.
Image credit: Jacques Descloitres/NASA
The ongoing conflict regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz may well mirror a future situation off Earth – the use of cislunar space, the region between the moon and our planet.
Think blockades, seizing of ships, impacts on the global economy, repercussions in terms of needed resources and markets, from fuel to high-tech semiconductors and production processes.
On patrol: cislunar domain awareness spacecraft.
Image credit: Air Force Research Laboratory
Strait talk
Now turn your attention skyward and note that the U.S. Space Force is establishing a dedicated acquisition office to appraise the importance of the cislunar region for warfighting and national security.
Are we seeing the start of “strait talk” in outer space? Could the moon ever be blockaded?
For details, go to my new Space.com story – “Experts predict cislunar space could be the next Strait of Hormuz: ‘Sometimes, a pair of events contains a warning, if you are able to see it.’” – at:
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/could-the-moon-be-the-next-strait-of-hormuz
Artwork depicts two Artemis astronauts planting an American flag at the lunar south pole.
Image credit: NASA/Daniel O’Neal
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a new report assessing the agency’s efforts to obtain new Moon suits and updated microgravity suits for use on the International Space Station.
The report — Suiting up for Success: Assessing NASA’s Next-Generation Spacesuits for Artemis and the ISS — explains that after nearly two decades, NASA’s next-generation spacesuits remain incomplete.
NASA chief, Jared Isaacman, inspects Axiom suit work.
Image credit: NASA/Jared Isaacman
NASA remains challenged to ensure readiness for the Artemis lunar surface mission in 2028 and the ISS before its planned decommission in 2030.
“Today, the Agency continues to face delays and is reliant on Axiom Space to develop both the Artemis lunar suits and updated ISS suits,” the NASA OIG document observes.
Read the report at: https://go.nasa.gov/4cGjdRT
Also, go to this informative NASA OIG video at:
NASA’s MoonFall mission will send four highly mobile drones to survey the lunar surface around the Moon’s south pole ahead of Artemis crews arriving there.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
Last month NASA chief Jared Issacman ripped off the band aid on the space agency’s back to the Moon agenda, calling for, in part, a speedy series of robotic missions to scout, experiment, and prepare for surface operations ahead of any “rebooting” of lunar landscape by astronauts in 2028.
As part of NASA’s “Ignition” event on March 24, in a near breathless overhaul of NASA’s Artemis program, Isaacman called for clearing away needless obstacles that impede progress, “and unleash the workforce and industrial might of our nation” of returning to the lunar landscape and building a lunar base.
Image credit: NASA
One aspect of the NASA chief’s Artemis makeover was use of hopper drones under what’s called MoonFall.
For more details, go to my new Space.com story — NASA wants to use a fleet of MoonFall drones to scout the lunar south pole: ‘We believe we can do it’” – at:
Image credit: Mars Guy/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance turns up a sticky find, explains Mars Guy in a new video episode.
“Mars rovers create disturbances everywhere they drive, which sometimes can lead to bonus science. A recent drive by Perseverance produced the usual wheel tracks but also managed to reveal what looks like moist dirt,” Mars Guy reports.
When the Perseverance rover traverses Martian terrain, Mars Guy adds, unplanned surface disturbances occasionally reveal intriguing features. “Examining these accidental discoveries provides insight into the composition of Martian regolith and the processes shaping the surface, highlighting how rover movement can lead to unexpected scientific observations.”
View this video at:
Hundreds of hectares of winter wheat fields located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert near China’s Kunyu City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Image credit: China Central Television
Signaling other intelligences beyond our solar system without elaborate and expensive electronic gear may be underway – but unknowingly.
Kunyu City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is located in northwest China. On that site, huge pointer sprinklers are irrigating over 533 hectares of winter wheat fields located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert.
Then there’s the world’s largest cluster of solar farms, a megaproject of 235 square miles of sun energy-soaking panels located in Qinghai, China, high on the isolated Tibetan Plateau.
A proposed Pythagorean theorem created on Earth would be huge enough to be viewed from the moon – even by residents of Mars.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Tell-tale signs?
To be sure, the Earth is dotted with humongous, human-made artificial structures.
To an alien eye trained on our planet, perhaps they are tell-tale signs of intelligent goings-on, maybe formations that speak volumes about we Earthlings with no need to squeak out purposeful high-tech and sophisticated signals?
For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Making contact with ET? Aliens may already know we’re here – ‘Megaprojects’ like huge solar farms could be visible from great distances” – at:
