Today, the Columbus laboratory aboard the International Space Station completes its 100 000th orbit around Earth—a remarkable achievement for Europe’s science module in space. 

Since its launch in 2008, Columbus has been a hub of research and innovation, orbiting at 28 800 km/h and approximately 400 km above Earth. Over the course of 6427 days, it has travelled more than 4.26 billion kilometres, hosted astronauts from over 20 countries, and supported hundreds of experiments that explore everything from human health to advanced materials.

CEO Jason Kim said the company’s Alpha vehicle could launch test targets while the Elytra platform could host interceptors for the Golden Dome missile-defense shield

In this week’s episode of Space Minds, host Mike Gruss is joined by SpaceNews senior writer Jeff Foust to break down the surprising appointment of Sean Duffy as NASA’s Acting Administrator.

The fourth satellite for the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, Sentinel-1D, has arrived at Félix Eboué airport, the main airport in French Guiana. From there the spacecraft, safely stored in its protective casing, will be transported to launch preparation facilities at the European Spaceport in Kourou.

The European Space Agency’s Plato spacecraft has safely arrived at ESTEC, ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands. There, engineers will complete the spacecraft by connecting its solar panels and sunshield, and carry out a series of critical tests to confirm that Plato is fit for launch and ready for its planet-hunting mission in space.

House appropriators offered support, but no specific funding, for several NASA missions slated for cancellation in the administration’s 2026 budget proposal.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 11, 2025
Physicists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report a more than 90% probability that astronomers could witness an exploding black hole within the next decade. If observed, the event would provide unprecedented insight into the foundations of physics and the origins of the universe. Such an explosion would strongly suggest the existence of primordial black holes (PBHs), theoretical

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 11, 2025
Whether building alloys that can power rovers on Venus or devising portable sensors to detect rare earths on Earth, University of Pittsburgh researcher Paul Ohodnicki is advancing materials science for critical frontiers. His team has earned two 2025 R and D 100 Awards for VulcanAlloy and eMission Critical Sensor technologies. The annual awards honor innovation with practical impact across

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 11, 2025
Shenzhou 20 astronauts - Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie - are pushing forward with wide-ranging scientific experiments and technology tests aboard China's space station, advancing knowledge across multiple research domains. In space medicine, the crew used electroencephalogram equipment for experiments including visual field studies, executive-function training and exploratory utili

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 11, 2025
NASA's Perseverance rover has uncovered evidence of long-ago chemical processes while exploring Jezero Crater, giving scientists fresh insight into how minerals, water, and possibly organics interacted billions of years ago. A new Nature News and Views article by SETI Institute Senior Research Scientist Janice Bishop and University of Massachusetts Professor Mario Parente highlights these discov