Space News from SpaceDaily.com
February 26, 2026
ROCKET SCIENCE
Superconducting thruster cuts power and mass for space propulsion
Singapore (SDX) Feb 25, 2026

Small satellites have become attractive for space missions because they offer low cost and flexibility, but their growth has been limited by the lack of compact, efficient propulsion systems that wo ... more

PHYSICS NEWS
Rare lensed supernova offers new route to measure cosmic expansion
London (SDX) Feb 25, 2026

That the universe is expanding has been known for almost a century, but its exact rate of expansion remains one of cosmology's most hotly debated questions. A team from the Technical University of M ... more


SOLAR SCIENCE
Ganymede aurora study links moon and Earth space weather
London (SDX) Feb 25, 2026

New observations of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, reveal that its auroras share detailed structural similarities with auroras on Earth, suggesting that the physical processes that generate these ... more

ICE WORLD
Seafloor weathering may explain ancient global glaciation puzzle
New York (SDX) Feb 25, 2026

In Earth history, a few episodes stand out for their extreme cold, when geologic evidence indicates that ice covered the planet from pole to pole during so-called Snowball Earth events. These episod ... more

SPACEWAR
AST SpaceMobile wins SDA HALO Europa contract for direct to device tactical links
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

AST SpaceMobile has secured a prime contract worth about 30 million dollars with the United States Space Development Agency for the Europa Track 2 Commercial Solutions program under the Hybrid Acqui ... more


MOON DAILY
NASA chief rules out March launch of Moon mission over technical issues
Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 21, 2026

NASA chief Jared Isaacman on Saturday ruled out a March launch for Artemis 2, the first crewed flyby mission to the Moon in more than 50 years, citing technical issues. ... more

ROCKET SCIENCE
Prometheus starts work on new Indiana solid rocket motor campus
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

Prometheus Energetics LLC has begun construction of a new solid rocket motor manufacturing campus in Bloomfield, Indiana, marking a key step in the companys plan to expand domestic energetics produc ... more

ROCKET SCIENCE
NASA prepares Artemis II rocket for rollback after upper stage issue
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

Weather permitting, NASA plans to move the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off Launch Pad 39B at the agency Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Tuesday, Feb 24. ... more



TIME AND SPACE
Record LOFAR Radio Sky Map Charts Millions Of Growing Black Holes
London (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

An international team using the Low Frequency Array has released the most detailed low frequency radio map of the sky so far, revealing 13.7 million cosmic radio sources and delivering an unpreceden ... more

MARSDAILY
Perseverance rover now self-locates precisely on Mars
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

NASA's Perseverance rover can now determine its exact position on Mars without relying on ground teams, using a new system called Mars Global Localization that compares navigation camera panoramas t ... more

SPACE MEDICINE
Open source microscope enables low cost live cell imaging in zero gravity
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

As space agencies advance plans for human missions to the Moon and Mars, researchers are working to understand how the absence of gravity affects living cells over time. A team led by Newcastle Univ ... more

SOLAR SCIENCE
Webb maps Uranus upper atmosphere in 3D
London (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

A Northumbria University PhD student has led an international collaboration to construct the first three-dimensional view of Uranus upper atmosphere, showing how the planet's unusual magnetic field ... more

OUTER PLANETS
Simple collapse may build cosmic snowman worlds
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

Astronomers have puzzled over why many icy worlds in the distant Kuiper Belt look like snowmen, with two round lobes joined together. New work from Michigan State University points to a surprisingly ... more



SOLAR SCIENCE
AI-driven solar model aims to extend space weather warnings
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

New research by Southwest Research Institute and the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research has produced a new tool that could eventually extend space weather forecas ... more

ROCKET SCIENCE
Lithium trace in upper air linked to Falcon 9 rocket breakup
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

A plume of lithium pollution detected in the upper atmosphere in February 2025 has now been directly linked to the uncontrolled re-entry of a Falcon 9 rocket stage. Researchers report that this even ... more

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Stellar rotation drives deep mixing in ageing red giant stars
New York (SDX) Feb 23, 2026

Advances in supercomputing have enabled astronomers to resolve a long-standing problem in stellar evolution: how changes in the chemical composition at the centers of red giant stars connect to the ... more

TECH SPACE
India chases 'DeepSeek moment' with homegrown AI models
New Delhi (AFP) Feb 20, 2026

Fledgling Indian artificial intelligence companies showcased homegrown technologies this week at a major summit in New Delhi, underpinning big dreams of becoming a global AI power. ... more

ROCKET SCIENCE
NASA delivers harsh assessment of botched Boeing Starliner test flight
Washington, United States (AFP) Feb 19, 2026

NASA on Thursday blamed what it called engineering vulnerabilities in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft along with internal agency mistakes in a sharply critical report assessing a botched mission that left two astronauts stranded in space. ... more