Reusable launch vehicles will change everything in space, and on Earth
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 14:00
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says fully reusable launch vehicles will enable routine trips to the Moon and beyond, opening the door to thousands of people traveling to space each year.
Eutelsat gets nearly 1 billion euros in French-backed ECA financing
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 13:30
Eutelsat has secured a €975 million state‑backed loan to finance 440 replacement satellites for its OneWeb LEO broadband network, bringing total funding to about €2.2
Stoke Space adds $350 million to Series D round
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 12:57
Stoke Space has raised an extra $350 million in a Series D extension, bringing its total funding to $1.34 billion as it pushes forward on its reusable Nova launch vehicle.
China tests crewed spacecraft abort and rocket recovery in major lunar milestone
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 10:00
China successfully tested an in‑flight abort of its Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and recovered the first stage of a Long March 10 rocket, proving key capabilities for its 2030 lunar landing goal.
FCC approves thousands more Amazon Leo satellites as Gen 1 deadline looms
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 05:10
Amazon secured FCC approval on February 10 to launch thousands more broadband satellites, after its first‑generation network fell far short of the July milestone—only about 11% complete. The move is aimed at accelerating deployment and meeting the company’s overall launch schedule.
Satellite manufacturers see emerging market for ‘mini-constellations’
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 22:47
Small satellite manufacturers, who can’t build massive constellations, report a surge in demand for mini‑constellations that meet specific mission needs. Customers are turning to compact, tailored fleets that fit their unique operational requirements.
National Reconnaissance Office adds HEO, SatVu and Sierra Nevada to commercial imaging program
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 22:24
The National Reconnaissance Office has signed new agreements with three commercial imaging firms—HEO, SatVu, and Sierra Nevada—to test their satellite data for future intelligence missions.
ULA sets sights on ramping up launch cadence in 2026
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 00:53
United Launch Alliance aims to launch between 18 and 22 times in 2026. Vulcan rockets will be split between pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and pad 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. ULA still has all 38 of its Vulcan launches ahead of it as well as four more flights on its Atlas 5 rockets.
SatService to Deploy Q/V-band Ground Station for German Bundeswehr University
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 14:45
SatService GmbH, a Calian Group subsidiary, has won a German Ministry of Defence contract to build a
D2D’s Hype Hangover: The Physics Finally Bite Back
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 04:23
SmallSat Symposium looks at challenges facing the direct-to-device (D2D) market. The industry has spent billions launching constellations on the premise of a trillion-dollar connectivity market. Despite the gloom regarding consumer broadband, a quiet revolution is occurring in the supply chain.
Silicon Valley to Aerospace: Code is the New Steel
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 04:19
SmallSat Symposium is taking place in Mountain View, California. The industry is moving toward a future with limitless potential, says Dara Panahy. Panahy: The sky is no longer the next server room, it is the next server room. The industry is building reliable, software-driven Fords capable of deployment in swarms.
Space Has a Plumbing Problem, and It’s Getting Expensive
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 02:28
Ground segment bottlenecks are now the biggest choke point in the small‑satellite economy, as soaring data volumes and slow ground‑station roll‑outs leave operators scrambling to keep up. The industry is pivoting toward highly automated, software‑defined ground stations that must also meet strict security standards, while some companies explore satellite‑to‑satellite relays to bypass terrestrial infrastructure entirely.
The New Orbital Guard: Commercial Tech Steps Up as the Pentagon’s Watchtower
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 02:25
The SmallSat Symposium shifted from fear of orbital clutter to a resolve to militarize space awareness, with commercial firms like LeoLabs and Odin Space now providing defense‑grade tracking and on‑orbit video to attribute debris and adversary activity. This marks a move from vague probability to visual proof, turning the sector into a robust, profit‑driven ecosystem that partners with the Pentagon to close the data gap and enforce accountability in space.
The New Space Playbook Faces a Physics Cliff at the Moon
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 01:44
Scientists at the SmallSat Symposium warned that the shift from Earth‑orbit constellations to sustained lunar operations forces the space industry to abandon the “fail‑operational” model that worked in LEO and adopt system‑level hardening, integrating radiation resilience into design rather than relying on costly, limited testing.
The Commercial Mask Slips: Space is Now a Sovereign Arms Race
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 01:14
At the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, industry leaders revealed that the $10.
Summer Heat Hits Southeastern Australia
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 05:00
January 2026 brought sweltering summer conditions to many parts of Australia. A late-month heatwave in the country’s southeast was especially intense between January 26 and January 30. The heatwave brought significant human and public-health effects, including the increased risk of heat-related illness. Organizers of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne suspended play on some courts and closed roofs to provide shade.
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4798-4803: Back for More Science
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 18:47
Curiosity returned to the “Nevado Sajama” drill location to do a deeper dive into the minerals and compounds locked in this rock. This week was focused on completing the many carefully-coordinated steps to apply the TMAH reagent to the rock powder from a drill hole and then analyze the treated sample. ChemCam planned two attempts at targeting the Nevado Sajama2 drill-hole interior, analyzed “Tiquipaya,” one of the family of rocks broken by the rover wheels that expose bright white material. Navcam made complementary measurements of atmospheric dust and planned movies and imaging surveys of clouds and dust devils. RAD and REMS made their regular measurements of the Martian environment while DAN regularly monitored the Martian subsurface.
CubeSats’ Missions Begin
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 17:03
NASA astronaut Chris Williams captured a view from the ISS cupola as a fleet of student‑designed CubeSats were launched from the Kibo module, sending compact
Grants
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 16:56
NASA’s National Space Science Center has consolidated grant and cooperative agreement administration into a single streamlined system, offering faster status requests and unified terms to improve efficiency and data quality.
NASA’s Hubble Captures Light Show Around Rapidly Dying Star
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 15:00
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula. Located approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Egg Nebula features a central star obscured by a dense cloud of dust. It is the first, youngest, and closest pre-planetary nebula ever discovered.
Core Survey by NASA’s Roman Mission Will Unveil Universe’s Dark Side
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 15:00
High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey is one of the mission’s three core observation programs. It will cover more than 5,000 square degrees (about 12 percent of the sky) in just under a year and a half. Roman will look far from the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Displaying the whole high-latitude survey at once would take half a million 4K TVs.
SpaceX complete Booster 19 testing at upgraded Massey’s
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 14:20
Super Heavy Booster 19 (B19) completed full cryogenic proof tests at SpaceX's Massey's test site. The Block 3 booster is earmarked for the upcoming integrated Flight 12 paired with Ship 39. Next up would be engine install and static fire testing at Pad 2.
Stoke Space Adds $350M to Series D Fundraise
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 13:25
Stoke Space has closed a $350 million extension round, bringing its total funding to $1.34 billion as it gears up for the first flight of its Nova rocket this year. The company plans a beyond‑orbit test mission to demonstrate high‑energy trajectories and the vehicle’s reusability, aiming to match the frequency of established launchers like Falcon 9.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos On Cutting Red Tape, Passing NASA Bill
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 18:00
Rep.
Spaceium Tests Robot Gas Attendant Piece in Orbit
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 17:00
Spacecium demonstrated a robotic arm actuator in orbit that achieved 0.003‑degree rotation accuracy, translating to sub‑millimeter precision for future space‑fueling tasks. The test marks a step toward using robotic arms for in‑space refueling, complementing other companies and agencies already developing orbital fuel transfer capabilities.
Momentus and NASA Will Collab on RPO Demo
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 13:50
Momentus Inc. Has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to conduct an RPO demo mission on SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter‑16 flight, slated for launch no earlier than March. The test will validate
UK to Invest Nearly £1M In In-Orbit Manufacturing
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 13:15
UK Space Agency has awarded more than $1.
Artemis 2 rocket chills with the 'Snow Moon' | Space photo of the day for Feb. 11, 2026
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 15:00
NASA unveiled a striking photo of the Snow Moon rising behind the Artemis 2 Space Launch System at Launch Pad 39B, as a crew of four readies for the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years. The
James Webb Space Telescope uncovers secret supermassive black holes that escape traditional detection
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 14:00
JWST’s infrared observations show that low‑luminosity active galactic nuclei—quiet supermassive black holes—actively heat and stir their host galaxies, overturning the idea that they are passive.
Could the remains of a 'dead' comet still be in the solar system? Astronomers are still searching 6 years later
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-11 11:00
Astronomy Solar System Comets Could the remains of a 'dead' comet still be in the solar system? Astronomers are still searching 6 years later News By Kiona N. Smith published 11 February 2026 "How many presumably disrupted comets have really completely disrupted, and could any of them have actually survived with a reduced, inactive nucleus?"
Life on Earth is lucky: A rare chemical fluke may have made our planet habitable
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 22:00
Scientists have found that Earth’s habitability depended on a narrow “chemical Goldilocks zone” during core formation, where just the right amount of oxygen kept essential life elements phosphorus and nitrogen on the surface.
Earth orbit is getting crowded. Can this map of 1 million routes around our planet help prevent satellite collisions?
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 20:00
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has simulated a million cislunar orbits over six years using its supercomputers, revealing that only about 10 % remain stable the whole time and half last at least a year—data that could pinpoint collision‑hot spots for the growing fleet of satellites. The effort, which required
How are gas giant exoplanets born? James Webb Space Telescope provides new clues
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 17:00
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has found that the massive gas giants orbiting HR 8799, each five to ten times the mass of Jupiter, likely formed through the same core‑accretion process that builds ordinary planets, not by rapid star‑like collapse. This discovery pushes the upper size boundary of what counts as a planet, blurring the line between giant planets and brown dwarfs and reshaping our understanding of planetary formation.
Italy's 2026 Winter Olympic venues from space | Space photo of the day for Feb. 10, 2026
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 15:00
European Space Agency has released a breathtaking view of northern Italy captured by its Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. The images celebrate the opening day of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb. 6. The high-resolution imagery reveals a stunningly diverse landscape of snowy valleys threaded with a vein-like network of mountain peaks.
SpaceX's next-gen Super Heavy booster aces four days of "cryoproof" testing
Original Publication Date: 2026-02-10 23:35
SpaceX’s upgraded Super Heavy V3 booster has successfully completed its first cryogenic proof test, a critical milestone after the earlier booster’s failure.