January 26, 2026

NASA Reveals New Details About Dark Matter’s Influence on Universe (Source: NASA)
Scientists using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have made one of the most detailed, high-resolution maps of dark matter ever produced. It shows how the invisible, ghostly material overlaps and intertwines with “regular” matter, the stuff that makes up stars, galaxies, and everything we can see. The map builds on previous research to provide additional confirmation and new details about how dark matter has shaped the universe on the largest scales — galaxy clusters millions of light-years across — that ultimately give rise to galaxies, stars, and planets like Earth. (1/26)

Mitsubishis Invest in Japan LEO Shachu (Source: Japan LEO Shachu)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. are investing Japan LEO Shachu, which was established with the aim of creating a new economy in low Earth orbit (LEO) by leveraging Japan’s technology and industrial foundation. Japan LEO Shachu is developing the Japan Module, which will be connected to commercial space stations, with the objective of enabling Japan to secure commercial utilization opportunities in LEO, leveraging the nation’s strengths in the technologies of Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” on the ISS and New unmanned cargo transfer spacecraft “HTV-X.” (1/26)

Agile Space Industries Breaks Ground on New Space Test Center in Oklahoma (Source: Agile)
Agile Space Industries announced the groundbreaking of the initial $20M phase establishing the Space Test Center (STC), a multi-phase hot-fire rocket engine test facility designed to address a critical shortage of responsive, altitude-capable propulsion testing infrastructure for the global space industry.

The Space Test Center is expected to anchor a broader regional space industry cluster known as the Tulsa Space Park, attracting additional manufacturing, integration, and testing capabilities to the region. With access to a growing aerospace workforce and strategic infrastructure, Tulsa is positioned for sustained space industry growth. (1/23)

China's Commercial Space Industry Hits High Gear, Expanding Beyond Launches (Source: Xinhua)
A Beijing-based commercial space company, InterstellOr, has captured nationwide attention recently with plans to start suborbital rides by 2028, offering tickets priced at 3 million yuan (about $429,500) per passenger. Meanwhile, several Chinese commercial space companies like Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace have announced maiden flights of their newly developed launch vehicles scheduled this year, many involving the high-thrust and reusable ones.

Industry experts say exploring profitable, mass-market applications is crucial for China's commercial space companies to expand businesses and achieve sustainable growth. More than 20 provincial-level regions have rolled out space-supportive policies. In Beijing's Yizhuang district alone, "Rocket Street" hosts over 75 percent of China's commercial rocket firms. China now has more than 600 commercial space companies, with annual financing reaching 18.6 billion yuan in 2025, up 32 percent year on year. At least five private rocket makers are eyeing initial public offerings. (1/26)

AFRL Selects Aalyria for Space Data Network Experimentation Program (Source: Via Satellite)
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will evaluate Aalyria’s Spacetime network orchestration software as a candidate for a future “network of networks” concept under a new selection announced. The AFRL’s Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development (RAPID) program selected Aalyria for the Space Data Network Experimentation (SDNX) program. The SDNX looks to explore architectures integrating spacecraft, ground segments, and advanced communication links for the joint force. (1/23)

We Need a ‘Planetary Neural Network’ for AI-Enabled Space Infrastructure Protection (Source: Space News)
You may not see it with the naked eye, but in Earth’s orbit, a silent crisis is unfolding. With over 11,000 active satellites currently in orbit — a number expected to reach between 30,000 and 60,000 by 2030 — 40,500 tracked objects of 10 cm and more, 1.1 million pieces of space debris between 1 and 10 centimeters, 130 million pieces of space debris between 1 millimeter and 1 centimeter, our orbital infrastructure faces unprecedented challenges. Traditional space monitoring systems that were designed for a much simpler era of space operations are struggling to keep pace with this exponential growth in orbital activity and space debris accumulation. (1/26)

Oman Joins the Artemis Accords (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Oman has officially joined the Artemis Accords today, during the opening day of the Middle East Space Conference in the country. The signing comes after the third U.S.- Oman strategic dialogue in Muscat. Oman has now become the treaty's 61st signatory as well as the fifth middle eastern member of the Accords. (1/26)

Astranis Adds Oman Customer to Summer GEO Launch Lineup (Source: Space News)
Oman-based industrial conglomerate MB Group has ordered a small geostationary broadband satellite from Astranis that is slated to launch this summer. (1/26)

Former Astronaut on Lunar Spacesuits: “I Don’t Think They’re Great Right Now” (Source: Ars Technica)
Kate Rubins outlined the concerns NASA officials often talk about: radiation exposure, muscle and bone atrophy, reduced cardiovascular and immune function, and other adverse medical effects of spaceflight. We have come to understand many of these effects after a quarter-century of continuous human presence on the ISS. But the Moon is different in a few important ways. The Moon is outside the protection of the Earth’s magnetosphere, lunar dust is pervasive, and the Moon has partial gravity.

NASA selected Axiom Space for a $228 million fixed-price contract to develop commercial pressurized spacesuits for the Artemis III mission. The readiness of Axiom’s spacesuits and the availability of new human-rated landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin are driving the timeline for Artemis III. “When we get to the lunar surface, people are going to be sleep shifting,” Rubins said. “They’re going to be doing EVAs every day. The EVAs that I did on my flights, it was like doing a marathon and then doing another marathon when you were done.”

“We’ve definitely seen trauma from the suits, from the actual EVA suit accommodation,” said Mike Barratt, a NASA astronaut and medical doctor. “That’s everything from skin abrasions to joint pain to—no kidding—orthopedic trauma. You can potentially get a fracture of sorts. EVAs on the lunar surface with a heavily loaded suit and heavy loads that you’re either carrying or tools that you’re reacting against, that’s an issue.” But the new suits are heavier, and for astronauts used to spacewalks outside the ISS, walks on the Moon will be a slog, Rubins said. “I think the [new] suits are better than Apollo, but I don’t think they are great right now,” Rubins said. (1/26)

Extracting Water on Mars (Source: Universe Today)
Scientists have known that Mars has water for some years, documenting ice beneath the surface, moisture locked in soil, and vapour drifting through the thin atmosphere. The challenge facing future human missions isn't finding water on the Red Planet, it’s figuring out how to actually extract and use it.

Researchers compared three primary water sources and their associated technologies. Subsurface ice emerges as the most promising long term option, offering substantial quantities of relatively pure water once drilling or excavation equipment reaches deposits typically buried beneath meters of dry soil and rock. The energy costs of melting ice pale in comparison to the water yield, making this approach economically viable for permanent settlements. (1/26)

The Unexpected Evolution Aboard the ISS (Source: Universe Today)
Bacteria and the viruses that infect them have been locked in an evolutionary battle for billions of years. Bacteria evolve defences against viral infection and viruses develop new ways to breach those defenses. This process shapes microbial ecosystems across Earth, from ocean depths to soil communities. But what happens when you take that battle to space? Researchers decided to find out by sending samples of *E. coli* bacteria infected with T7 virus to the ISS.

They compared how the virus-bacteria interaction unfolded in microgravity versus identical samples kept on Earth, watching evolution play out in real time under fundamentally different physical conditions. While the T7 viruses eventually managed to infect their bacterial hosts aboard the station, everything happened differently than on Earth. Whole genome sequencing revealed that both the viruses and bacteria accumulated distinctive mutations specific to the microgravity environment, changes that simply don't appear in terrestrial populations.

The space dwelling viruses gradually developed mutations that could enhance their infectivity and improve their ability to bind to receptors on bacterial cell surfaces. Meanwhile, the orbital *E. coli* populations accumulated their own suite of protective mutations, helping them survive both the viral onslaught and the challenges of near weightlessness itself. When researchers engineered the microgravity associated mutations into T7 and tested them against *E. coli* strains that cause urinary tract infections in humans, the strains normally resistant to T7, the modified viruses showed dramatically improved activity. Evolution in orbit had revealed solutions to problems down here on Earth. (1/26)

Golden Dome Success Depends on Affordability (Source: Space News)
The general in charge of the Golden Dome missile defense system said the success of the program depends on its affordability. Speaking at a conference Friday, Gen. Michael Guetlein said the program's central challenge is the economics of missile defense, specifically how the cost of each intercept limits how many interceptor shots the United States can afford. He said the "cost per kill" has to come down along with developing sufficient "magazine depth," a term that refers to the number of interceptors available to respond to an attack. Guetlein said what the Pentagon needs immediately from industry is the ability to scale production and deliver lower-cost ways to defeat missiles, including non-kinetic options. He added that details of the Golden Dome architecture will remain classified. (1/26)

Japan's H3 Failure Included Payload Fairing Separation Anomaly (Source: Space News)
An H3 launch that failed last month suffered an anomaly during separation of its payload fairing. A report released last week by investigators said that there was an unusual shock during separation of the fairing that appeared to damage the Michibiki 5 satellite and its payload adapter. That caused the satellite to tilt to one side, forcing the adapter into the upper stage and damaging propellant lines. Pressure in the upper stage's liquid hydrogen tank started dropping, causing problems with the first of two burns of the stage and preventing the engine from reigniting for a second burn. Cameras mounted on the upper stage and other evidence indicate the satellite fell off the upper stage when the second stage separated from the first stage. The Japanese space agency JAXA is still investigating the root cause of the failure. (1/26)

Autonomous Aircraft Ops May be Limited by Number of Human Operators, NASA Research Indicates (Source: Aerospace America)
Plans for operating autonomous aircraft with no onboard pilot usually include some kind of remote monitor, a position that the industry increasingly describes as a “vehicle supervisor.” Watching radar, GPS and visual or radio telemetry from afar in a ground control station, these supervisors would notionally monitor multiple aircraft, which proponents estimate would save money and allow greater distribution of drones or passenger aircraft. Such multi-vehicle supervisors already exist in the military world, tracking multiple tactical drones at one time. (1/26)

DoE to Provide Nuclear Fuel for Lunar Microreactor (Source: Space News)
The Department of Energy will provide several hundred kilograms of nuclear fuel to NASA as part of a partnership between the two agencies on nuclear reactors for the moon. NASA and DOE announced earlier this month that they would work together on NASA's Fission Surface Power program, which seeks to develop a nuclear reactor that would be ready to send to the moon by the end of 2029. Under terms of the memorandum of understanding between the agencies, NASA will lead the program and provide funding, giving DOE access to data required to perform regulatory oversight of the program. DOE, besides providing that oversight and technical expertise, will deliver about 400 kilograms of uranium fuel called HALEU for use in ground tests and the flight reactor. NASA plans to develop the reactor in a public-private partnership with industry, but has yet to release a final call for proposals for the effort. (1/26)

Germany's Rheinmetall May Team with OHB on Military Satellite Constellation (Source: Financial Times)
German defense contractor Rheinmetall is in talks with satellite manufacturer OHB to partner on a German military satellite constellation. The companies are discussing a joint bid on a constellation to provide communications services for the Germany military, which would be funded as part of Germany's plans to spend 35 billion euros on military space systems in the next five years. Rheinmetall, which had focused on armored vehicles and ammunition, is moving into the space sector, collaborating with Iceye last year for a synthetic aperture radar satellite system. (1/26)

India Procuring First Module for Space Station (Source: News18.com)
India is starting the process to procure the first module for its planned space station. The space agency ISRO has issued an expression of interest to industry regarding construction of the first module of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, called BAS-01. The module would include a habitat for astronauts as well as a propulsion unit. ISRO plans to launch BAS-01 as soon as 2028, with completion of the station targeted for 2035. (1/26)

The Arctic Space Race is On (Source: Via Satellite)
The race for space dominance continues shifting north to the Arctic. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 significantly heightened European and broader Western interest in securing the Arctic. President Trump’s repeated calls to make Greenland part of the U.S. since returning to office further intensifies the stakes in the Upper North. One thing all countries agree on: achieving Arctic security requires reliable communications, but extreme cold, vast distances and difficult terrain have made laying fiber or building towers impractical.

Kjell-Ove Orderud Skare, program director for Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), calls the ongoing ice meltdown “a multiplier for the climate changes in the Arctic.” The rapid thawing has also led to a race to access the Arctic’s vast untapped oil, gas, and critical mineral resources, including rare earth elements, iron, nickel, copper, gold, diamonds, platinum, and cobalt. U.S. Geological Survey suggests that 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of undiscovered gas reside in the region, with Russia’s Arctic regions particularly rich in gas. (1/20)

Virgin Galactic Sending an All-Female Research Team to Space (Source: CBS)
Virgin Galactic is sending an all-female research team to space. The crew is led by Kellie Gerardi, an American bioastronautics researcher and payload specialist who previously flew on Virgin Galactic's Galactic 05 mission in 2023. She will be joined by Canadian researcher Shawna Pandya and Irish researcher Norah Patten. The mission aims to conduct human-tended research in microgravity, expanding on previous fluid dynamics and biomedical experiments. The flight is scheduled to utilize Virgin Galactic’s next-generation Delta Class spaceship. (1/20)

Moon Landings Could Contaminate Evidence About Life's Beginnings on Earth (Source: Space.com)
Emissions from spacecraft landings on the moon can drift freely across its surface and may settle in — and contaminate — some scientifically precious real estate, according to new research. Many current and planned lunar landers rely on propellants that produce methane as a byproduct during the engine burns required to slow a spacecraft for touchdown.

The new study finds that this exhaust methane can spread rapidly across the airless moon and become trapped in ultra-cold craters at the poles — regions that never receive sunlight and are considered prime targets in the search for ancient water ice and organic molecules that scientists hope may reveal clues about how life first emerged on Earth. (1/26)

State of Play: US Commercial Space Stations (Source: Payload)
In December 2021, NASA awarded a combined $416M to three entities then working on stations: a Nanoracks-led team, which included Voyager and Lockheed Martin, won $160M; a Blue Origin-led team won $130M to design its Orbital Reef station; and Northrop Grumman won $125.6M to attempt to retrofit existing tech into a space station. In 2025, the Trump administration revamped the acquisition method for the CLD program, and changed the initial goal of the program from a continuous crewed presence to accommodating four-person crews for month-long missions.

Here are the companies now at the forefront of the CLD competition: Vast is expecting to launch its Haven-1 space station in Q1 2027. The single-module station is aiming to initially host up to four commercial astronauts for two-week missions. Axiom Space is planning to launch a two-module station by 2028, with long-term plans to operate an independent four-module station. It is the only competitor to have already led commercial flights to the ISS. Starlab, which is being built by a joint venture between Voyager Technologies and Airbus, is aiming to launch its station in 2029 (this is the current form of the Nanoracks-led proposal from 2021)

Phase 2 of the CLD program is just over the horizon. This year, NASA is expected to award contracts to at least two companies to continue development of their CLD proposals. Together, the contracts are expected to be worth $1.5B. Editor's Note: Now Max Space, based on Florida's Space Coast, is planning a semi-inflatable station they say will be deployable with a single launch. (1/26)