January 10, 2026

Important Vulcan Mission Approaches (Source: Politico)
ULA is preparing to launch a second national security mission on its new heavy-lift rocket next month, as questions swirl about the future of the once dominant launch company. The mission was supposed to launch last year but slipped after a rocky year for ULA. The company once hoped to launch its Vulcan rocket up to 10 times in 2025, but only launched once. ULA once had a monopoly on space launch until SpaceX started dominating the market in the 2010s. (1/9)

Tiangong Science Program Delivers Data Surge (Source: Space Daily)
Chinese astronauts and ground-based science teams completed 86 new scientific and technological tasks on the Tiangong space station in 2025, underscoring the outpost's expanding role in research, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said that in 2025 a total of 1,179 kilograms of experimental instruments, materials, and other necessities for science and technology missions were transported to Tiangong, while 105 kilograms of experimental samples were brought back to Earth for further study.

More than 150 terabits of scientific data were transmitted from the station to ground control. Major accomplishments on board the station in 2025 included China's first in-orbit experiments involving rodent mammals and what the agency described as the world's first in-orbit tests of a pipe-checking robot. Chinese researchers published more than 230 academic papers and registered over 70 patents during 2025 that drew on experiments and data from Tiangong, the agency noted. (1/9)

Earth's Ocean Warming Breaks Record for Ninth Straight Year (Source: Inside Climate News)
Every second of last year, the Earth’s oceans absorbed the equivalent in energy to 12 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. Global ocean heat content (OHC) increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2025, according to a report released Friday in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

The study—a collaboration involving more than 50 scientists from 31 international institutions—measured temperature fluctuations in the upper 2,000 meters of the planet’s waters, finding the greatest increases in the Southern Atlantic, the Northern Pacific and the Southern Ocean. Warming waters are linked to increasingly extreme weather patterns, coral reef die-offs and sea level rise.

Earth’s oceans act as the planet’s main thermal energy sink. Absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, ocean temperatures serve as a critical indicator of long-term climate change. “Global OHC is the single best indicator that the planet is warming,” said Kevin Trenberth, a co-author and scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. (1/9)

ISS Crew Medical Evacuation: Surprised This Didn't Happen Sooner (Source: Gizmodo)
A medical issue affecting one of the Crew-11 astronauts will bring an early end to their mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA confirmed in a Thursday press briefing. Their return will mark the agency’s first controlled medical evacuation from the space station, but statistically, this should have happened a long time ago.

“In our 25-year history of the International Space Station, we’ve had many models and Monte Carlo analysis models that have said that we should have had a medical evacuation approximately every three years in that 25-year history, and we’ve not had one to date,” Dr. James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said during the briefing. A Monte Carlo analysis uses repeated random simulations on a computer to estimate the likelihood of outcomes in uncertain situations. (1/9)

Navy Selects Northrop Grumman for Second Stage Solid Rocket Motor Program (Source: Naval News)
Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a $94.3 million contract by the U.S. Navy to develop and qualify a new 21-inch diameter second-stage solid rocket motor (SSRM) for the Navy’s extended-range missile programs to deter and defeat fast-moving air, surface and hypersonic threats. The SSRM is a low-risk, rapidly developed design. Continued design and low-rate initial production of 60 units for testing and delivery will take place at Northrop Grumman’s Propulsion Innovation Center in Maryland. (1/8)

Hermeus Arrives at Spaceport America (Source: Hermeus)
The Hermeus Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 has arrived at Spaceport America following shipment from Atlanta. Capable of reaching supersonic speeds, Quarterhorse will be the world's first high-Mach unmanned aircraft for national defense. Within a dedicated hangar, the team will now reintegrate the aircraft's tail and wings, begin ground operations and systems checkouts, run engine ground tests, and conduct progressive taxi testing leading to a first flight. (1/7)

NASA Ending ISS Mission for Crewmember Health Issue (Source: Space News)
For the first time in the agency’s history, NASA is ending a crewed mission early because of a medical issue. NASA announced Thursday that the four members of Crew-11 will return to Earth in the “coming days” on their Crew Dragon spacecraft after one of them suffered an unspecified medical issue Wednesday. NASA did not disclose who suffered the issue or other details, but said the person was stable and that the issue was not serious enough to require an immediate emergency evacuation from the station. They added that the medical issue was not related to preparations for a spacewalk that had been scheduled for Thursday. NASA is considering moving up the Crew-12 mission, currently planned to launch as soon as mid-February. However, the agency expects that for at least a few weeks the ISS will be operated by a three-person crew, including one NASA astronaut, who arrived at the station in November on a Soyuz. (1/9)

NASA Plans Roman Telescope Launch NET September (Source: Space News)
NASA’s next large space telescope is on track to launch as soon as September. At a conference this week, officials with the Roman Space Telescope said the telescope is now fully assembled and will soon begin environmental testing ahead of a launch scheduled for late September. NASA emphasized that development of Roman has remained on budget and its launch is several months ahead of schedule, demonstrating the agency can complete large missions without the cost and schedule overruns of previous projects, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. (1/9)ws]

Rhea Adapts NASA Nav Software for Space Force (Source: Space News)
Rhea Space Activity is adapting navigation software originally developed by NASA for military use under a U.S. Space Force contract. The company is one of 10 firms selected last year by the Space Force’s SpaceWERX organization under its Sustained Space Maneuver Challenge, an open competition designed to accelerate technologies that improve satellite mobility and resilience. As part of the award, Rhea Space Activity is developing autonomous navigation software through a project called Vanguard, or Vision-based Autonomous Navigation and Guidance for Unassisted Approach, Rendezvous and Deployment. It builds upon software developed at NASA for autonomous navigation that, in this case, would allow military spacecraft to navigate without the assistance of GPS. (1/9)ws]

Eutelsat Offers OneWeb Service to Canadian Military (Source: CBC)
Eutelsat is offering OneWeb services to the Canadian military in the Arctic as a potential alternative to Canada’s own planned broadband constellation. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly made the offer to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during last year’s G7 summit, allowing the Canadian military to participate with the French military on an initiative to use OneWeb. Under the proposal, the Canadian military would own all of the OneWeb capacity in Arctic regions and control its use.  One consideration is how the proposal would affect Lightspeed, the broadband constellation that Canadian company Telesat is developing. The Canadian military announced an agreement with Telesat and MDA Space in December to develop military satellite communications capabilities. (1/9)

Airlines to Decide on Free Starlink (Source: PC Mag)
A SpaceX executive says it will be up to airlines to decide whether to keep offering Starlink connectivity to passengers for free. Airlines that have agreed to install Starlink on their aircraft typically offer it to passengers for free. At the CES trade show this week, the head of Starlink’s aviation business said he expected most airlines to continue to do so, perhaps monetizing it with ads during the login process. However, some low-cost carriers might elect to charge customers for the service to cover the costs of installing Starlink on their aircraft. (1/9)

ESA Plans 65 Missions In 2026 Driven By Earth Observation (Source: Aviation Week)
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans 65 satellite launches and other missions throughout the year, a roughly 30% jump from last year’s record figure. The increase, which also includes third-party missions, is largely driven by a hike in Earth-observation activities. (1/8)

European Space Agency Rethinks Mars Plans as it Kicks Off a ‘Mission-Dense’ 2026 (Source: Aerospace America)
ESA is reconsidering its plans for Mars exploration in the next decade after the fiscal year 2026 budget released by the U.S. Congress offered no funding for Mars Sample Return, the joint NASA/ESA program for which ESA was developing an Earth Return Orbiter. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and colleagues outlined the agency’s broad mission plans for 2026, including launching a record 65 missions, — a sharp increase from the 44 launched in 2025 — plus some landmark events, including the first launch of the four-booster Ariane 64 rocket, the first drop tests of the Space Rider uncrewed laboratory, and the arrival of the Hera probe at the binary asteroid system Didymos. (1/8)

Space Force Medicine Focuses on People, Policy in 2026 (Source: USSF)
The U.S. Air Force Surgeon General’s Space Force Medical Operations Directorate is directing its focus in 2026 on its most vital component: the medical experts who support the Guardian warfighter. “This year is set to be a turning point, with a clear strategy to build the policies and the people needed for the future of Space Force Medicine,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Melissa Runge, deputy director of Space Force Medical Operations. “A top priority is a new Department of the Air Force Instruction focused specifically on operational medical support for Guardians.” (1/7)

GomSpace Signs 2.9 MEUR Contract with Leading North American Space Company (Source: GomSpace)
GomSpace Luxembourg today announced its selection by a leading North American space company for a mission focused on lunar exploration. The mission marks a major step forward in the understanding of the solar system and in the capabilities of small satellite platforms for deep space exploration. The contract covers the initial design of two state-of-the-art spacecrafts. The spacecrafts will be designed with advanced technologies derived from the company’s extensive experience in previous interplanetary missions such as the European Space Agency HERA/Juventas and RAMSES missions.

The contract for this initial design is valued at 2.9 MEUR (31.7MSEK) and is to be executed during the first half of 2026. A substantial portion of the project will be carried out in Luxembourg, boosting the country’s capabilities in the design and delivery of space systems for exploration missions. (1/9)

Landspace Secures Launch Contracts for China’s Megaconstellation Projects (Source: Space News)
Chinese commercial launch startup Landspace has secured formal contracts to launch satellites for China's two main megaconstellation projects, the state-owned Guowang and the Shanghai-backed Qianfan (Thousand Sails). The contracts will utilize Landspace's Zhuque-3 methane-liquid oxygen reusable launch vehicle. The company's IPO prospectus confirmed the Zhuque-3 was added to the China SatNet core supplier list. (1/9)

Is Orion’s Heat Shield Really Safe? New NASA Chief Conducts Final Review (Source: Ars Technica)
This week, NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, said he has “full confidence” in the space agency’s plans to use the existing heat shield to protect the Orion spacecraft during its upcoming lunar mission. Isaacman made the determination after briefings with senior leaders at the agency and a half-day review of NASA’s findings with outside experts. “We have full confidence in the Orion spacecraft and its heat shield, grounded in rigorous analysis and the work of exceptional engineers who followed the data throughout the process,” Isaacman said Thursday. (1/9)