Space & Aerospace
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Curiosity's First TMAH Wet Chemistry Run on Mars Yields More Than 20 Organic Molecules, Seven Never Detected Before on the Planet
A Nature Communications paper published April 21 reports that the first off-Earth TMAH thermochemolysis experiment, performed on a clay-rich sample in Gale crater, expanded Mars's known organic inventory and detected a candidate nitrogen heterocycle for the first time on the surface.
Caltech Team Finds a 'Bathtub Ring' on Mars That May Be the Strongest Topographic Evidence Yet of an Ancient Northern Ocean
A new Nature study identifies a continental-shelf-like band wrapping the Martian northern hemisphere, suggesting a stable ocean once covered roughly a third of the planet's surface.
Falcon Heavy Returns After 560 Days to Close Out the Troubled ViaSat-3 Constellation
SpaceX targets April 27 to launch ViaSat-3 F3 to the Asia-Pacific, ending Falcon Heavy's longest gap and capping a constellation that lost 90% of its first satellite to an antenna failure.
SpaceX Completes GPS III Constellation With Launch of Final Satellite Named After Hedy Lamarr
GPS III SV10 'Hedy Lamarr' lifts off April 21, completing a 32-satellite navigation constellation with optical crosslink tech never before flown on a GPS satellite.
NASA Unveils the Fully Assembled Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Targeting a Fall 2026 Launch to Hunt Dark Energy and Rogue Planets
NASA publicly revealed its completed Roman Space Telescope on April 21 at Goddard, setting up a Falcon Heavy launch as early as this fall for a five-year survey of dark energy, exoplanets, and the galactic bulge.
Blue Origin's New Glenn Nails First Booster Reuse but Loses BlueBird 7 Satellite to Wrong Orbit
New Glenn's third flight landed its reused booster successfully but an upper stage engine failure put AST SpaceMobile's satellite into an unusable orbit, triggering an FAA investigation and grounding.
NASA Selects Voyager Technologies for the Seventh Private Astronaut Mission, Turning the ISS Into a Dress Rehearsal for Starlab
The VOYG-1 flight, targeted to launch no earlier than 2028, gives Voyager a chance to train its ground team and flight controllers before its Starlab commercial station reaches orbit.
The World's Highest Submillimeter Telescope Opens Its Eyes on the Atacama After Three Decades in the Making
The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope, perched at 5,600 meters in Chile, inaugurated on April 9 with over 100,000 superconducting detectors and a mapping speed ten times faster than any predecessor.
Artemis II Crew Splashes Down Off San Diego as NASA Schedules Post-Mission Briefing and Prepares Artemis III Core Stage Rollout
NASA's Artemis II crew returned to Earth on April 10 after the first crewed lunar voyage since 1972. A post-mission news conference is set for April 16, and the Artemis III core stage will roll out April 20.
Amazon to Buy Globalstar for $11.57 Billion in Satellite Push That Pulls Apple Into Its Orbit
Amazon will acquire Globalstar for about $11.57 billion and inherit the company's iPhone satellite partnership, accelerating its Starlink challenge and its rebranded Amazon Leo constellation.
White House Orders Nuclear Reactors in Orbit by 2028 and on the Moon by 2030 Under New Space Nuclear Initiative
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released guidance on April 14, 2026, directing NASA and the Pentagon to run parallel reactor design competitions aimed at demonstrating space fission power as early as 2028.
Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS Surges Past Naked-Eye Threshold as It Races Toward April 19 Perihelion
A 170,000-year visitor from the Oort Cloud has brightened faster than expected, reaching magnitude 4.7 and growing a 10-degree ion tail as it heads for its closest solar approach on April 19.