space

The International Space Station orbited over Los Angeles on July 4th, with the city's fireworks visible from space as America celebrated 250 years of independence.

Katalyst Space Technologies launched its Link satellite on a Pegasus XL rocket to rescue NASA's Swift observatory from falling out of orbit, marking the first mission of its kind.

A study led by University of Surrey astrophysicists shows that Vantablack 310, an ultra-black coating, could significantly reduce satellite light pollution by reflecting only about 2% of light diffusely. An in-orbit demonstration on the Jovian-1 CubeSat is planned to test its real-world performance.

Claire Parfitt, who cleaned a space toilet during work experience at age 14, now leads Mars exploration teams at the European Space Agency. Her journey from student to senior engineer highlights the impact of early exposure to space science.

NASA has launched an emergency mission with Katalyst Space Technologies to raise the orbit of the Swift Observatory, which is in danger of burning up in Earth's atmosphere due to recent solar storms.

NASA announces new Moon Base missions, a completed ISS spacewalk, and an ongoing Swift boost mission, highlighting America's 250th birthday space exploration efforts.

Ars Technica recaps a live discussion on the aftermath of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explosion, focusing on the implications for NASA's Artemis IV mission and the timeline for new rocket variants.

NASA's July 2026 skywatching guide highlights a lunar-planetary alignment, Comet 10P/Tempel 2, views of the Milky Way, and Saturn's thin rings.

Amazon announces it has deployed enough satellites (396) to begin initial service for its Starlink competitor, Amazon Leo, targeting commercial availability by mid-2026, though early performance may be limited like SpaceX's initial beta.

SpaceX announces the completion of build and acceptance testing for the 1,000th Merlin 1D engine used on Falcon's first stage, noting that reusability has enabled continued reliability enhancements.

NASA chief Jared Isaacman praises Blue Origin's progress after a launch failure, noting plan A is still to launch New Glenn by year's end, while NASA considers alternative launch vehicles for the Artemis III mission.

NASA's inspector general reports that Boeing's Starliner crew capsule certification may be delayed to 2027, a decade behind schedule, due to unresolved technical issues including helium leaks and thruster overheating.

NASA is considering sending a backup nuclear-powered Mars rover, Promise, to the Moon instead, repurposing existing hardware to advance lunar exploration before China's potential landing.

65 years ago, the US Navy's Transit-4A became the first satellite to use nuclear power in orbit with a tiny RTG. Today, modern RTGs like those from Zeno Power can scale output using nuclear waste.

Rocket Lab acquires Iridium Communications in a bold move to compete with SpaceX and Blue Origin, aiming to become a 'self-launching space superpower' by combining launch capabilities with satellite operations.

Rocket Lab acquires Iridium for approximately $8 billion, merging its launch and satellite manufacturing with Iridium's global satellite communications network to create a vertically integrated space powerhouse.

Linus Ekenstam demonstrates a fluid dynamics designed cup for drinking coffee in space, showcasing how it works in microgravity.

NASA is testing Red Hat's RamaLama open source tool to run local LLM and VLM inference for a medical AI assistant on deep space missions, enabling autonomous real-time diagnostics without Earth communication.

Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 will pass 2.56 million km from Earth this weekend, visible with telescopes and binoculars. It poses no collision risk and will not come this close again until 2133.

Botswana becomes the 68th country to sign the Artemis Accords, committing to peaceful, transparent, and responsible civil space exploration as part of NASA's Artemis program.