Curiosity Rovers Boxwork Campaign Reaches New Heights on Mount Sharp
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Curiosity has made significant progress in its ongoing exploration of the intricate boxwork terrain along the slopes of Mount Sharp. The past several sols have brought the rover from the base of a steep ridge to a resting point within a nearby hollow, offering increasingly detailed views of these unique Martian formations. This marks a new phase in Curiosity's campaign to analyze the composition

Skyfall Mars helicopter fleet to scout future astronaut landing sites
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Skyfall, a forward-looking Mars helicopter concept developed by AeroVironment (AV) in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), aims to support future human exploration of the Red Planet by 2028. The system features a fleet of six autonomous scout helicopters designed to explore potential astronaut landing zones.
Each rotorcraft would operate independently, capturing high-

Lunar habitat module project advances under Thales Alenia Space and ASI agreement
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Paris, France (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to carry out the preliminary design and technology development for the Multi-Purpose Habitation (MPH) module, set to become the first human habitat on the Moon's surface. The MPH module is scheduled for launch in 2033 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center under the Artemis Accords between NASA and ASI.
As part of the

China Focus: Chinese scientist details first planned Mars sample-return mission Tianwen 3
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Beijing (XNA) Jul 25, 2025
China's first Mars sample-return mission, Tianwen 3, is scheduled for launch around 2028, with the goal of returning no less than 500 grams of Martian samples to Earth by around 2031, according to the mission's chief scientist.
Hou Zengqian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Tianwen 3 mission, together with his collaborators, recently published an

Sidus Space debuts LunarLizzie 800kg lunar platform built for real time AI terrain intelligence
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Merritt Island FL (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Sidus Space has introduced LunarLizzie, its most advanced 800kg-class spacecraft engineered specifically for lunar and cislunar missions. Equipped with onboard AI, LiDAR, and hyperspectral imaging, the platform aims to deliver near real-time intelligence on lunar terrain and environmental conditions without ground-based dependency.
Designed for both government and commercial missions, Luna

Moon erosion by solar wind far less than expected finds lunar rock study
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
The Moon's fragile exosphere, a sparse envelope of gas surrounding the lunar body, is mainly generated by interactions between the Moon's surface and external forces. Until now, scientists believed the solar wind played a major role in this process. But new research led by Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) challenges that assumption.
Using original lunar rock from NASA's Apollo 16

China eyes Neptune for groundbreaking ice giant mission
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
China is preparing to push deeper into the solar system with an ambitious new phase in its deep space exploration program, including a Mars sample-return mission and a journey to Jupiter. Now, Chinese scientists are setting their sights even farther-toward the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
These remote, largely unexplored planets contain clues to the solar system's origins, according to Y

Building blocks of life found in distant star system suggest origins in interstellar space
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has detected 17 complex organic molecules in the protoplanetary disc of the protostar V883 Orionis. Among them are ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile-molecules regarded as precursors to amino acids and nucleobases-marking their first tentative detection i

BAE Systems completes delivery of NOAA and NASA space weather satellites for fall launch
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
BAE Systems has completed the delivery of two advanced satellites from its Boulder, Colorado facility to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft-NASA's Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA's Space Weather Follow On - L1 (SWFO-L1)-are slated for joint launch this fall.
Developed to enhance scientific and forecasting capabilities, both missions will operate from Lagrange

Millennium Space Systems initiates on-orbit operations for NASA space weather study
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing Company, has started the on-orbit commissioning phase for NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) following their successful launch on July 23.
The company designed, built, and tested the two identical TRACERS spacecraft at its El Segundo facility and is now managing mission operations from its internal Miss

Sidus Space unveils plan to raise capital through public stock offering
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Sidus Space, a provider of space and defense technologies, announced plans to conduct a best-efforts public offering of its Class A common stock or pre-funded warrants. The company will sell all shares or warrants issued through the offering.
ThinkEquity will serve as the sole placement agent. Proceeds from the offering are expected to support sales and marketing initiatives, operational c

AST SpaceMobile launches $500 million convertible note offering with share repurchase initiative
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
AST SpaceMobile has announced a $500 million private offering of convertible senior notes due 2032, with an effective conversion price of $72.07 per share and capped at $120.12 per share. These 2.375% notes were priced at a 20% premium to the company's stock price as of July 24, 2025. Settlement of the offering is expected by July 29, subject to standard closing conditions.
As part of the

Robotic space rovers keep getting stuck
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Madison WI (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
When a multimillion-dollar extraterrestrial vehicle gets stuck in soft sand or gravel - as did the Mars rover Spirit in 2009 - Earth-based engineers take over like a virtual tow truck, issuing a series of commands that move its wheels or reverse its course in a delicate, time-consuming effort to free it and continue its exploratory mission.
While Spirit remained permanently stuck, in the

Cascade raises 59M to develop full stack satellite communications platform
Sunday, 27 July 2025 07:04
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2025
Cascade Space has secured $5.9 million in seed funding to advance its development of a comprehensive satellite communication platform. The round saw investment from Nova Threshold, Undeterred Capital, Y Combinator, Night Capital, Olive Capital, Valkyrie Ventures, Karman Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Garage Capital, TRAC, Aurelia Foundry, Hawktail, MGV.VC, Pioneer Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and oth

Vega launches Earth science, imaging spacecraft
Saturday, 26 July 2025 23:21
A Vega C rocket successfully launched five imaging and Earth science spacecraft late July 25.