New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026
Astronomers have puzzled over why many icy worlds in the distant Kuiper Belt look like snowmen, with two round lobes joined together. New work from Michigan State University points to a surprisingly simple explanation: these so called contact binaries can form directly through gravitational collapse. Far beyond Neptune, the Kuiper Belt holds icy, largely untouched planetesimals that preser

London (SDX) Feb 23, 2026
A Northumbria University PhD student has led an international collaboration to construct the first three-dimensional view of Uranus upper atmosphere, showing how the planet's unusual magnetic field sculpts bright auroras thousands of kilometers above its clouds. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, operated by NASA with ESA and CSA, lead author Paola Tiranti and colleagues observed Uranus

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 19, 2026
NASA on Thursday blamed what it called engineering vulnerabilities in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft along with internal agency mistakes in a sharply critical report assessing a botched mission that left two astronauts stranded in space. The US space agency labeled the 2024 test flight of the Starliner capsule a "Type A" mishap - the same classification as the deadly Challenger and Columbia

London, UK (SPX) Feb 18, 2026
AAC Clyde Space has started building two additional maritime data satellites, Sedna-3 and Sedna-4, to expand capacity in its established space-based maritime data services. The company has placed orders for key components and assigned the build to its U.S. subsidiary AAC SpaceQuest, aiming to support continuity of service and improve performance as its fleet renews

Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 16, 2026
OpenAI has hired the Austrian creator of OpenClaw, an artificial intelligence tool able to execute real-world tasks, the US startup's head Sam Altman said on Sunday. AI agent tool OpenClaw has fascinated - and spooked - the tech world since researcher Peter Steinberger built it in November to help organise his digital life. A Reddit-like pseudo social network for OpenClaw agents called

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 17, 2026
Texas A and M University has developed TAMU SPIRIT, a dedicated orbital research platform that will be deployed on the International Space Station in partnership with Aegis Aerospace. The platform will mount on the station's Express Logistics Carrier 3 and give Texas A and M System faculty, researchers and students sustained access to the conditions of low Earth orbit for a wide range of experim

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Feb 18, 2026
The European Union has begun operational use of its 'Governmental Satellite Communications Programme', known as 'GOVSATCOM', opening secure encrypted satellite communications services to EU member states under European control. The move marks a significant step in the bloc's efforts to secure strategic autonomy in space-based communications for government and security users. At the core of

London, UK (SPX) Feb 16, 2026
New analysis shows that Arctic peatlands have expanded in recent decades as the region has warmed far faster than the global average. Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen by about 4 C over the last forty years, and the study links this rapid warming to the outward growth of peat-forming ecosystems. Led by the University of Exeter, the research team examined peatland cores taken fr

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 18, 2026
Thousands of satellites are launched every year to support navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting and emergency warning services, and most rely on onboard propulsion systems to manoeuvre once in orbit. These propulsion systems are essential to change orbits, perform end of life de-orbiting, carry out collision avoidance with space debris or other satellites, maintain or adjust

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 18, 2026
A research team led by Professor Hexi Wu and Dr Weicheng Li has developed a dynamic three dimensional terrain correction method that significantly improves the quantitative inversion accuracy of airborne gamma ray spectrometer surveys. The approach combines a novel sourceless efficiency calibration technique with a flight path based terrain model to tackle long standing challenges caused by over