May 18th, 2026
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Since the inception of the Human Landing System (HLS) program in 2019, NASA has obligated nearly $7 billion to lander development. It is projected that NASA will spend over $18 billion through fiscal year 2030. SpaceX and Blue Origin will design, build, and own their landers, while NASA will purchase the landing services. However, both […]
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New research highlights growing risks to public understanding of “planetary defense” – an area of science that deals with the threat to Earth from asteroid and comet impacts, with potentially global consequences. Research professor Mark Boslough at The University of New Mexico has led the effort to appraise how misinformation emerges, spreads and persists in […]
The combination of the Shenzhou-23 piloted spacecraft atop the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket started its transfer over the weekend to a launch area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China. China’s crewed rocket launch adopts a method where, after the rocket and spacecraft arrive at the site, a series of pre-launch preparations are […]
Newly released images show NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover completing a new drilling into a large block target. This action comes after the robot’s drill became lodged into the “Atacama” drill hole. A careful dance of robot arm motions were employed — each one diligently planned by the team — to free Curiosity’s drill from the […]
NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) has released the 2026 Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art report. This report provides an extensive overview and assessment of the state-of-the-art (SoA) for smallspacecraft technologies publicly available as of April 2026. The report flags the fact that the pace of SmallSat technology advancement overall is rapidly accelerating. “Recent […]
NASA has begun to outline preliminary Artemis III mission plans. During the Artemis III mission, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four crew members. Instead of using the interim cryogenic propulsion stage as the upper stage of the rocket, NASA will […]
A new technique and technology is in use to study incoming space debris and its impactful implications for Earth’s atmosphere. Observational evidence is being gathered that the ablation of space debris can be detected by ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) equipment. LiDAR is an acronym for “light detection and ranging,” is a remote-sensing technology […]
SpaceX has announced that the twelfth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Tuesday, May 19. The launch window will open at 5:30 p.m. Central Texas Time (CT). The upcoming flight will debut the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, powered by the next evolution of the Raptor engine and […]
Following launch of China’s Tianzhou-10 cargo craft atop a Long March-7 Y11 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan, the uncrewed supply ship docked on May 11 with the Tiangong space station. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) noted that the Tianzhou-9 separated from the orbiting Tiangong space […]
The Department of War (DOW) has posted new information on UFOs, at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump. Never-before-seen files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) are part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). Justified speculation In a statement by Pete Hegseth, United States Secretary of War: “The Department […]
