January 31st, 2026
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NASA appears to be continuing its re-contacting efforts with the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN). The agency’s Deep Space Network (DSN) is continuing recovery activities after losing contact with the Mars orbiter on December 6. A posting last month noted that, although no spacecraft telemetry has been received since Dec. 4, a brief fragment […]
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The European Space Agency has green-lighted a very complex reentry of a specially designed spacecraft. They are building a sensor-loaded satellite specifically built to dive into the Earth’s atmosphere. As a headfirst, artificial “fall guy” shooting through first thin and then thicker air, it would collect data on how materials react and introduce pollutants into […]
The Amazon low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation — formerly named Project Kuiper – is a worrisome initiative, particularly for astronomers, given that 3,232 satellites are planned to orbit the Earth. The state-of-the-art satellite technology is to deliver reliable, high-speed connectivity. The Amazon mega-constellation will potentially impact astronomical research and aesthetic appreciation of the night sky, […]
Reentering space clutter and its influence on Earth’s stratosphere continues to draw research attention. “We’re really changing the composition of the stratosphere into a state that we’ve never seen before,” said John Dykema, an applied physicist at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), who warns that scientists today poorly understand many of the […]
A team of astronomers have used a new AI-assisted method to search for rare astronomical objects in the Hubble Legacy Archive. The team sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts in just two and a half days, uncovering nearly 1400 anomalous objects, more than 800 of which had never been documented before. Image credit: ESA/Hubble […]
“This year marks half a century since Spinoff began capturing the commercial impact of NASA. As we explore the universe for the benefit of all, NASA remains committed to ensuring technologies developed for space exploration and discovery have direct benefits here on Earth,” explains Daniel Lockney, Program Executive for NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at NASA […]
NASA has selected a number of global volunteers to track the Orion spacecraft during the crewed Artemis II mission’s journey around the Moon. The space agency’s SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) program announced last week 34 participants to support the Artemis/Orion launch, and the 10-day journey around the Moon, and the crew’s return to Earth. […]
The Pale Blue Data Point – An Earth-Based Perspective on the Search for Alien Life by Jon Willis; The University of Chicago Press; 256 pages; Hardcover, $26.00. As a professor of astronomy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Willis has written a highly-engaging, captivating and timely book. In the preface of this volume, […]
Blue Origin successfully completed on January 22 the 38th flight for the suborbital New Shepard program and first of 2026. The crew included: Tim Drexler, Linda Edwards, Alain Fernandez, Alberto Gutiérrez, Jim Hendren, and Laura Stiles. New Shepard has now flown 98 humans (92 individuals) into space, with some people flying more than […]
This report from the Atlantic Council illuminates important defense and force planning considerations. Its three scenarios span a catastrophic nuclear detonation (NUDET) in low Earth orbit to debris-generating anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons to less aggressive action against commercial satellites. The report makes the case for the development of policies, practical strategies, and more effective acquisition programs […]
