St. Louis, MO (SPX) Jun 12, 2025
The Apollo astronauts didn't know what they'd find when they explored the surface of the moon, but they certainly didn't expect to see drifts of tiny, bright orange glass beads glistening among the otherwise monochrome piles of rocks and dust. The beads, each less than 1 mm across, formed some 3.3 to 3.6 billion years ago during volcanic eruptions on the surface of the then-young satellite

London, UK (SPX) Jun 12, 2025
PLD Space has reached a critical milestone in the development of its MIURA 5 orbital launcher by completing integrated testing of its TEPREL-C rocket engines. This progress marks a significant step toward the start of the engine's flight qualification campaign, which is slated to begin at the end of June. The Spanish aerospace company emphasizes propulsion as the foundation of its technolo

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 12, 2025
Rocket Lab has successfully executed its 66th Electron mission, deploying the QPS-SAR-11 satellite for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS). The launch marks Rocket Lab's second mission for iQPS in just 25 days and its fourth overall, all completed with full mission success. Lifting off from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 15:31 UTC on June 11, the mission-titled "The

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What if we could look at the Sun from a whole new angle, one we've never seen before? 

From Earth, we always look towards the Sun's equator. This year, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission broke free of this ‘standard’ viewpoint by tilting its orbit to 17° – out of the ecliptic plane where the planets and all other Sun-watching spacecraft reside. Now for the first time ever, we can clearly see the Sun’s unexplored poles.  

Using different instruments, Solar Orbiter can see what happens throughout the Sun's outer layers. The material in these layers never stays still, being

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2025
BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has delivered the first very high-resolution images from the company's second Gen-3 satellite just 12 hours following its successful launch last Monday. "In today's national security environment, BlackSky's customers require space-based intelligence that moves at warfighter speed," said Brian O'Toole, BlackSky CEO. "BlackSky's newest Gen-3 satellite ha

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 10, 2025
China is positioning a satellite to test its ability to refuel another in orbit over Earth and extend its mission for several more years. China's Shijian-25 satellite is designed to refuel and service other satellites while they stay in geostationary orbit over Earth, SpaceNews reported. A geostationary orbit is one in which a satellite or another spacecraft maintains its locatio

Thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun’s poles from outside the ecliptic plane. Solar Orbiter’s unique viewing angle will change our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle and the workings of space weather.