Week in images: 12-16 January 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
Spire Global Inc has successfully launched nine satellites on SpaceXs Twilight mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, further expanding its space based sensing and Internet of Things service portfolio. The mission carried Spires Hyperspectral Microwave Sounder, or HyMS, a compact satellite based demonstrator designed to advance global weather forecasting from orbit. HyMS is engineered t

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
Planet Labs PBC has signed a multi year, low nine figure agreement with the Swedish Armed Forces to deliver a suite of satellites, space based data and awareness solutions in support of Sweden's peace and security operations. The contract gives Sweden ownership of a fleet of Planet satellites alongside access to high resolution imagery and intelligence solutions, providing a sovereign spac

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
In near weightless conditions aboard the International Space Station, viruses that infect bacteria continue to attack their hosts but follow an altered evolutionary trajectory compared to the same systems on Earth. A new study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison used Escherichia coli and its bacteriophage predator T7 to probe how microgravity reshapes the coevolution

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
At times the sun ejects massive clouds of energetic material into space, and these events can disturb satellites, threaten astronauts and even affect power grids on the ground. Researchers are working to understand how these eruptions travel through the solar system so they can develop reliable space weather forecasts that protect critical technology and infrastructure. A team including sc

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and Universite Paris-Saclay report that dark matter in the early universe may have started out moving at nearly the speed of light, challenging the long held assumption that it had to be born cold and slow. Their work suggests that the universe's dominant unseen matter component could have been incredibly hot at birth yet still cooled suffic

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
NASA is getting ready to send four astronauts around the Moon with Artemis II, laying the foundation for sustainable missions to the lunar surface and paving the way for human exploration on Mars. As the agency considers deep space endeavors that could last months or years, it must develop ways to feed astronauts beyond sending supplies from Earth. That is why NASA is launching the Deep Sp

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
ThinkOrbital Inc has closed a Seed Round led by TFX Capital to accelerate development of its defense-driven space capabilities, on-orbit servicing solutions, and in-space construction technologies. The company positions itself as a pioneer of the next generation of space superiority and orbital infrastructure, aiming to support both national security and commercial missions with systems th

Washington, United States (AFP) Jan 14, 2026
Don't say the c-word. Global temperatures soared in 2025, but a NASA statement published Wednesday alongside its latest benchmark annual report makes no reference to climate change, in line with President Donald Trump's push to deny the reality of planetary heating as a result of human activities. That marks a sharp break from last year's communications, issued under the administration o

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
Hydrogen cyanide is highly poisonous to humans, yet new work suggests it could have played a constructive role in the emergence of life on early Earth and in other cold environments in the solar system and beyond. At very low temperatures this molecule forms solid crystals, and those crystals can host chemistry that would normally be far too slow or even impossible under such frigid conditions.