Europe’s Space Ambitions: Breaking Free from US Launch Dominance Europe is accelerating its efforts to reduce dependence on the United States for space launches, a move driven by both strategic necessity and the explosive growth of the global space economy. In 2024, the US conducted a staggering 154 orbital launches, while Europe managed only three—a…
Read more
Space News Roundup: July 2025 The New Space Race: Commercialization, Constellations, and Billion-Dollar Markets The 21st-century space race is no longer a duel between superpowers—it’s a global, multi-actor sprint, with commercial giants, startups, and governments vying for dominance beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Over 75% of the sector is now commercial, with satellite internet, direct-to-smartphone connectivity, and…
Read more
Key take‑aways In the early hours of 5 July 2025 (09:07 UT), amateur astronomer Mario Rana recorded a brief, white flare on Saturn’s western limb. Within hours, the Planetary Virtual Observatory & Laboratory (PVOL) issued an international “all‑points bulletin,” asking observers to scour their own images for corroboration. So far, no second detection has surfaced, but a growing body of data and expert…
Read more
Key take‑aways (one‑paragraph executive summary) In early July 2025 astronomers using the NASA‑funded ATLAS telescope in Chile discovered a hyper‑fast object now designated 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)—only the third confirmed interstellar body to enter our Solar System after ’Oumuamua (2017) and Borisov (2019). Follow‑up astrometry shows an inbound velocity of ≈58 km s⁻¹ and an orbital eccentricity of ≈6.1, values far in…
Read more
Space News Roundup: July 2025 China’s Bold Advances: Space-Based AI, Deep Space Ambitions, and Satellite Networks The ‘Three-Body Computing Constellation’: Space-Based AI Supercomputing China has launched the Three-Body Computing Constellation, a new class of satellites designed to perform advanced in-orbit data processing and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Each satellite in this constellation boasts a staggering…
Read more
Space Science in July 2025: Breakthroughs, Setbacks, and the Expanding Frontier The first week of July 2025 has delivered a torrent of space news, ranging from awe-inspiring celestial discoveries to sobering technical failures and policy debates. This article synthesizes the latest developments in astronomy, satellite technology, planetary science, and the business and politics of space,…
Read more
The newly confirmed comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) is the third identified interstellar object after 1I/ʻOumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). Discovered on 1 July 2025 by the NASA‑funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, it is racing through the solar system on an extremely hyperbolic path at ∼68 km s⁻¹, will reach perihelion just inside Mars’s orbit on 29 October 2025, and poses no threat to Earth. Early…
Read more
Relentless Launch Cadence and Doubleheader Missions SpaceX’s launch tempo shows no sign of slowing. In one day, the company pulled off back-to-back Falcon 9 launches from opposite U.S. coasts space.com. In the early hours of June 28, a Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida with 27 Starlink internet satellites, followed by another Falcon…
Read more
The U.S. Space Force has tapped SpaceX for a $81.6 million National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 task order to loft the Weather System Follow-on–Microwave 2 (WSF-M2) satellite and a rideshare stack of small DoD spacecraft (the BLAZE-2 mission) in the first half of fiscal 2027. The award—designated mission USSF-178—marks SpaceX’s third…
Read more
June 2025 Space News: Breakthroughs, Missions, and the Expanding Frontier Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Space Exploration and Human Spaceflight Axiom-4: India’s Return to Human Spaceflight ISS Operations Amidst Air Leak Concerns Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-33 Launch 3. Satellite Technology and Earth Observation ESA’s Biomass and Forest Carbon Monitoring Japan’s GOSAT-GW and the…
Read more
