China resumed orbital launch activity Thursday with a pair of missions lifting off from Hainan and Xichang spaceports, launching satellite internet and technology test satellites.

The European Space Agency’s mission to discover Earth-like exoplanets, Plato, is now sealed in the Large Space Simulator (LSS) chamber at ESA’s Test Centre for a series of vital tests under space‑like conditions.

Engineers placed Plato in the LSS on 18 February, and since the beginning of March the spacecraft has been experiencing the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space. This photo captures the satellite standing in the centre of the simulator, moments before the chamber was bolted closed.

The picture was taken from the top opening of the LSS and gives us a direct view of Plato’s 26

NASA is pushing ahead with an Artemis 2 launch as soon as April 1 after completing repairs to a helium line that required rolling the rocket back from the pad.

New facility to support electronics and software development for missile defense and space programs

In this episode of the SpaceNews Space Minds podcast, host David Ariosto talks with Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President of Axiom Space.

Watch the replay of the CELESTE pre-launch media briefing. The briefing covered the mission details of the ahead of the inaugural launch of ESA’s Celeste LEO-PNT in-orbit demonstration constellation. The first two satellites are scheduled to lift off no earlier than 24 March aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from New Zealand.