GOLDEN, Colorado — NASA’s Europa Clipper, now en route to Jupiter, departed with less-than-satisfactory and vulnerable devices that are susceptible to Jupiter’s intense radiation. The spacecraft’s liftoff on October 14, […]

The post End-run around radiation – The saga and surprise vulnerabilities of Europa Clipper appeared first on SpaceNews.

GOLDEN, Colorado — Interlune, a Seattle-based company of former Blue Origin technologists, has set its sights on the moon’s supply of Helium-3 — a rare heavy isotope deposited into lunar […]

The post Interlune plans to gather scarce lunar Helium-3 for quantum computing on Earth appeared first on SpaceNews.

In September 2004, NASA’s Genesis return sample capsule tumbled from the sky and slammed into the Utah desert in a remote part of the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, shattering […]

The post Shattered Genesis spacecraft yields scientific discoveries 20 years after crash landing appeared first on SpaceNews.

LOUISVILLE, Colorado — The long-awaited inaugural cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has been delayed to no earlier than May 2025, pushing back a launch previously expected this […]

The post Sierra Space expands spaceplane fleet with in-house mission control appeared first on SpaceNews.

GOLDEN, Colorado — NASA is faced with the challenge of safely deorbiting, in one fell swoop, over 400 tons of space hardware in a few years. As of now, the […]

The post Ocean experts raise concerns over deorbiting the International Space Station appeared first on SpaceNews.

GOLDEN, Colorado — The increased amount of space hardware flying through cislunar space and around the moon is, among experts, a growing worry. Even one fragmentation event can have calamitous […]

The post University researchers flag cislunar space debris concerns appeared first on SpaceNews.

In an era of increasing global launch rates, heightened by the buckshot approach to tossing mega-satellite constellations into Earth orbit, there’s also escalating anxiety about the ramifications from reentry of […]

The post The Aerospace Corporation pushes research on hard-to-spot spacecraft reentries appeared first on SpaceNews.

GOLDEN, Colorado — Finding exploitable water ice at the lunar south pole is high on the agenda of NASA’s Artemis program. If reservoirs of water ice exist in lunar cold […]

The post Ice-hunting Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 nearly ready for January 2025 launch appeared first on SpaceNews.

LITTLETON, CO. – The common saying that “space is hard” may need redefinition, given the increasing use of softgoods to fashion inflatable structures from airlocks to habitats for future lunar […]

The post With successful airlock test, Lockheed Martin invests in inflatable space structures appeared first on SpaceNews.

GOLDEN, Colorado — A future where the moon serves as a long-term haven for human explorers is within reach but significant challenges like constructing launch and landing facilities, addressing moonquakes, […]

The post Long-term moon mission safety depends on sturdy infrastructure appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA's CAPSTONE spacecraft is testing software for autonomous operations in cislunar orbit to pave the way for Gateway.

The post NASA’s CAPSTONE is testing “Autopilot” software suite for cislunar operations appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is tackling many of the challenges facing crewed Artemis missions.

The post How the Applied Physics Laboratory is tackling Artemis moon exploration appeared first on SpaceNews.

While NASA has long hoped for extractable water ice on the lunar surface, making use of the resource may be harder than expected.

The post Moon ice in the Artemis era: what we still don’t know appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Florida crash landing of space debris jettisoned from the ISS has spun up worrisome views regarding the escalation of human-made space debris plummeting to Earth in an uncontrolled manner.

The post Uncontrolled reentry of space debris poses a real and growing threat appeared first on SpaceNews.

Work is underway on new ways to protect Artemis astronauts from radiation and solar storms.

The post How Artemis astronauts will be protected from solar storms appeared first on SpaceNews.

Laurie Leshin spoke with SpaceNews about JPL’s path forward and steps to retain and bolster the revered laboratory’s capabilities.

The post JPL chief Laurie Leshin on science, Mars and budget infighting appeared first on SpaceNews.

The growing scale and pace of launch activities call for more monitoring and regulation to minimize their potential impact on the Earth’s atmosphere.

The post Studies flag environmental impact of reentry appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceNews spoke with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s new director to learn more about the JPL’s future vision.

The post Finding balance within the space ecosystem: Q&A with JPL Director Laurie Leshin appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Applied Physics Laboratory's new space sector director spoke with SpaceNews about his vision for APL's portfolio of civil and national security space projects.

The post APL’s Future Vision: Q&A with Robert Braun appeared first on SpaceNews.

Astronomers have always sought out remote and isolated spots from which their precision observations of the surrounding universe can be made. Now, add one more far-flung location – the moon.

The post Far side: the moon’s use as a new astronomical site appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASA’s intention to replant bootprints on the moon is getting a kick-start by the launch of a microwave oven-sized smallsat, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, called CAPSTONE for short.

The post CAPSTONE cubesat ready for cislunar mission appeared first on SpaceNews.

Mars scientists and technologists are blueprinting inexpensive and novel ways to deepen the investigation of the multifaceted planet.

The post Mars on the Cheap? New ways to probe the Red Planet appeared first on SpaceNews.

With NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover set to begin its multiyear mission to collect rocks and soil for future retrieval, planetary scientists are concerned other Mars research goals could suffer during the decade-long wait for those samples to complete their three-legged relay back to Earth.

The post Report calls for revamped cost-conscious vision for Mars exploration appeared first on SpaceNews.

A privately funded smallsat project is underway intended to slow the pace of climate change by providing global, high-resolution detection and quantification of methane emissions around the world.

The post Private methane-watching smallsat MethaneSAT taps SpaceX for late 2022 rideshare appeared first on SpaceNews.