ESA unveils Pulse framework to streamline mission management
Monday, 06 October 2025 07:14
Paris, France (SPX) Sep 30, 2025
The European Space Agency has launched Pulse, a new initiative designed to transform mission monitoring and control across its expanding portfolio of space operations. Developed under ESA's Operations Directorate, Pulse provides a European, royalty-free, multi-mission solution that spans from spacecraft assembly and integration through to operations in low Earth orbit and deep space.
Pulse

Simulations of Exoplanet Formation May Help Inform Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Monday, 06 October 2025 07:14
Melbourne FL (SPX) Sep 25, 2025
Florida Tech astrophysicist Howard Chen is offering new insights to help aid NASA's search for life beyond Earth. His latest theoretical work investigates the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, one of the most widely studied exoplanetary systems in the galaxy. It has captured scientists' attention for its potential to host water, and thus possibly life, on its planets. Now, he's offering an explanatio

The first animals on Earth may have been sea sponges, study suggests
Monday, 06 October 2025 07:14
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 30, 2025
A team of MIT geochemists has unearthed new evidence in very old rocks suggesting that some of the first animals on Earth were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge.
In a study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have identified "chemical fossils" that may have been left by ancient sponges in rocks that are more than 541 mi

China's Tianwen 2 probe marks halfway milestone en route to asteroid target
Monday, 06 October 2025 07:14
Beijing (XNA) Oct 01, 2025
China's Tianwen 2 spacecraft has reached the halfway point of its journey to near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 after more than four months in interplanetary flight, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The robotic probe has already traveled 43 million kilometers and remains in stable condition, with another 45 million kilometers left before arrival.
The agency released a

TakeMe2Space and AICRAFT partner to deliver orbital data centre infrastructure
Monday, 06 October 2025 07:14
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 01, 2025
AICRAFT of Australia and India's TakeMe2Space (TM2S) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to integrate AICRAFT's edge computing systems into the TM2S satellite constellation from 2026. The collaboration will begin with a hosted payload mission in 2026, after which AICRAFT's high-performance, low-power edge devices will become a core part of TM2S' orbiting platform.
This al

SpaceX plans 11th test of Starship later this month from South Texas
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Washington DC (UPI) Oct 3, 2025
SpaceX is planning the 11th flight test of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever developed, as early as Oct. 13 from South Texas.
The private company, which is developing the fully reusable transportation system, said the launch window will open in 10 days at 6:15 p.m. CDT but said "the schedule is dynamic and likely to change." A webcast will begin 30 minutes before the window opens.

Eutelsat and Tusass Strengthen Greenland's Digital Backbone with LEO Connectivity Expansion
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Paris, France (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Eutelsat and Tusass, Greenland's national telecommunications provider, have expanded their strategic partnership through a new multi-year agreement to deliver low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity across Greenland. The collaboration will use Eutelsat's OneWeb network to enhance secure, resilient, and high-speed communications across the Arctic nation's remote regions.
The extended p

Patchwork planets: Piecing together the early solar system
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
New Haven CT (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Our solar system is a smashing success.... A new study suggests that from its earliest period - even before the last of its nebular gas had been consumed - Earth's solar system and its planets looked more like a bin of well-used LEGO blocks than slowly-evolving spheres of untouched elements and minerals.
"Far from being made of pristine material, planets - including Earth - were built from

Curtin powers global push to find life on Mars and advance autonomy
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Perth, Australia (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Curtin University is helping unlock the secrets of life on Mars and advance next-generation robotics and autonomous systems, with two new international agreements signed this week at the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney.
Curtin signed a Statement of Strategic Intent to formalise the LifeSpringsMars Working Group, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India-based techno

Vantor and Lanteris mark new era for space intelligence and defense technology
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Vantor and Lanteris Space Systems - formerly Maxar Intelligence and Maxar Space Systems, respectively - have each launched bold new identities, marking the completion of a historic transformation for the companies once united under Maxar Technologies. The dual rebrands reflect the group's strategic evolution into two complementary entities driving innovation across spatial intelligence, defense

New tabletop detector to capture gravitational waves in the milli-Hz range
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
London, UK (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Scientists have proposed a groundbreaking method to detect gravitational waves in the milli-Hertz frequency range, unlocking a new observational window into the universe. This advance could allow researchers to study astrophysical and cosmological events invisible to existing detectors.
Gravitational waves - minute ripples in spacetime first predicted by Einstein - have so far been observe

Rogue planet devours matter at record pace of six billion tonnes a second
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Paris, France (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) have witnessed an extraordinary growth spurt in a free-floating planet, observing it accumulate mass at a rate of six billion tonnes per second - the fastest accretion ever recorded for a rogue planet or any planet to date.
Rogue planets drift through space untethered to any star. The newly studied objec

Most powerful cosmic radio ring yet found by citizen scientists
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
London, UK (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
The most distant and powerful odd radio circle (ORC) ever detected has been discovered by astronomers working with citizen scientists.
ORCs are giant, faint rings of radio emission surrounding galaxies, visible only in radio wavelengths and composed of relativistic, magnetised plasma. First identified in 2019, only a few confirmed examples exist, most spanning 10-20 times the diameter of t

Young rogue planet displays record-breaking 'growth spurt'
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
Baltimore MD (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
A young rogue planet about 620 light-years away from Earth has experienced a record-breaking "growth spurt," hoovering up some six billion tons of gas and dust each second over a couple of months.
A team of international researchers have explored changes in the planet's growth and immediate surroundings. The observations provide insight into how rogue planets - free-floating planetary-mass

Detection of phosphine in a brown dwarf atmosphere raises more questions
Sunday, 05 October 2025 22:53
La Jolla CA (SPX) Oct 06, 2025
Phosphorus is one of six key elements necessary for life on Earth. When combined with hydrogen, phosphorus forms the molecule phosphine (PH3), an explosive, highly toxic gas. Found in the atmospheres of the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, phosphine has long been recognized as a possible biosignature for anaerobic life, as there are few natural sources of this gas in the atmospheres of terr
