Space

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is working to address recent concerns about cost and technical challenges associated with a Mars Sample Return mission.

NASA has conducted the first of 12 ground-test firings to certify the upgraded Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engine for the Space Launch System rocket.

Berkeley Space Center, unveiled Oct. 16, could see employment for more than 6,000 researchers and developers in astronautics, quantum computing and more.

SpaceX says the FAA’s review process, exacerbated by a technical staff shortfall , has left it waiting for a month to launch an integrated Starship-Super Heavy.

NASA has announced another rescheduling as well as a resequencing of a pair of International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks.

Arms exports topped $17.3 billion for South Korea in 2022, smashing the previous yearly record of $7 billion, set in 2021.

The first all-European private astronaut crew is working toward a planned 14-day visit aboard the ISS to carry out science and technology investigations.

Blue Origin's Blue Ring can host and/or deploy 1,100-lb.-class satellites on a dozen generic ESPA and ESPA Grande ports.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is feeling good and so far pleased with how his body is responding to Earth’s gravity after a U.S. record-setting 371 days in space.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket making a debut mission for NASA sent the Psyche spacecraft on a mission to explore a planetary body made mostly of metal.

NASA’s IG is calling for the agency to execute a more aggressive contract transition strategy as it works to reduce the cost of future SLS rocket production.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Proteus Space, a startup satellite developer, closed a $4.2 million seed round to create an automated, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system to design ESPA-class satellites in 30 days.

The company plans to develop a fully autonomous docking system for the Cygnus.

NASA has postponed a pair of International Space Station spacewalks planned for Oct. 12 and Oct. 20 due to a coolant leak.

Samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth less than three weeks ago by NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission already are paying scientific dividends.

Planet Labs has delivered its Pelican-1 Earth imaging satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California ahead of a planned launch in November.

Amazon becomes a satellite operator.

Azerbaijan has agreed to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program.

The National Reconnaissance Office plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit.

An external coolant leak from a backup radiator on the International Space Station’s Russian segment Nauka multipurpose laboratory module has ceased.

Ground controllers saw flakes coming from the leak site—on one of two radiators—on Oct. 9 at about 1 p.m. EDT, using externally mounted ISS cameras, NASA says.

The European Space Agency has launched a competition for “visionary business ideas” for how to use its proposed “Moonlight” project.

Germany has put the first of its new-generation synthetic aperture radar satellites into operational use.

The European Space Agency and Axiom Space have agreed to collaborate.