Space & Aerospace

Images from NASA's DART mission have revealed the first direct visual proof that asteroids are pelting their moons with slow-moving debris — "cosmic snowballs" drifting from parent asteroids to their smaller companions.

New simulations reveal our galaxy sits in a gigantic, flat sheet of matter surrounded by huge empty voids, explaining why nearby galaxies drift outward.

# China's Space Programme Prepares for Its Busiest Year Yet China has laid out one of its most ambitious spaceflight schedules yet, with details revealing a programme that is accelerating rapidly. Two crewed Shenzhou missions, a cargo resupply flight, and a year-long solo endurance experiment a...

# Reading the Sun's Mind Weeks Before It Erupts When a powerful solar storm erupts, the warning system we currently rely on gives us just hours to respond — barely enough time to protect the satellites, power grids, and communication networks that modern life depends on.

# Scientists Create Slippery Nanopores That Supercharge Blue Energy Scientists at EPFL have found a way to significantly boost "blue energy" — electricity generated from mixing saltwater and freshwater — by coating nanopores with lipid molecules that create a friction-reducing water layer. The ...

Machine learning pipeline identifies Raman signal linked to liquid-like ion motion in crystals, potentially accelerating solid-state battery materials discovery.

A state-owned Chinese contractor unveiled a concept for low-cost lunar cargo delivery at the inaugural CACE 2026, complete with video of a test vehicle performing liftoff, hover and landing maneuvers.

Japanese satellite servicing company Astroscale has picked Isar Aerospace to launch its ELSA-M debris removal spacecraft, betting on a European rocket that's still working through its growing pains.

# ESA's Plato Exoplanet Mission Enters Thermal Vacuum Testing Europe's hunt for Earth-like exoplanets is heating up — literally. The European Space Agency's Plato spacecraft is now sealed inside the Large Space Simulator at ESA's Test Centre, undergoing a series of space-like thermal vacuum tests.

# ESA's Smile Spacecraft Arrives at Europe's Spaceport The Smile spacecraft has touched down in French Guiana, marking a key milestone for the ESA-Chinese solar wind mission. Smile (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) arrived at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou on February 26 after a...

A Northern California startup has come out of hiding with a new approach to tracking and modeling objects in orbit — and it's betting that combining lidar sensing with AI-powered battle management