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Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)--The only working ion engine on Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned probe, which is on an extended mission to its new target asteroid after bringing samples from asteroid Ryugu to Earth in December 2020, has broken down, it was learned Thursday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, aims to continue the mission by employing usable parts of two other failed ion e...
As the Africa Space Expo closes in Abidjan, African innovators are showing what the continent can build.
Chinese researchers appear to have revealed a previously unknown satellite-to-satellite refuelling operation in high Earth orbit, putting the country at the forefront of a technology that could reshape the space race. In a paper undergoing peer review for the Journal of Deep Space Exploration, the team said China had “successfully provided room-temperature propellant refuelling for a high-orbit BeiDou satellite for the first time”. The researchers from the state-funded Deep Space Exploration...
While major powers compete in militarised space races and state-led megaprojects, a group comprising a Russian astronaut trainer, Chinese science educators and Malaysian collaborators is laying the groundwork for an international youth space camp. Set to be held in Penang’s rainforest eco-park in late 2027 at the earliest, the week-long programme will gather youth from around the region to inspire future spacefarers, scientists and global citizens through physical exercises, immersion in space...
The UK has jammed satellites to defend itself from hostile threats, the BBC has been told.
China has just taken a quiet but critical step in space-based electronic warfare. A Lijian-1 Y18 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China at noon on Sunday, carrying nine satellites. Among them were three Diting-01 satellites, which successfully entered their planned orbit. The trio is named after Diting, a beast from Chinese mythology that crouches beneath the desk of Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva of the underworld, and can identify all things simply by...
Ghana's foreign minister hosted astronaut Koichi Wakata in Accra on 15 September 2026 and said Ghana is drawing up a national space policy and its first dedicated space institution. The post Ghana Hosts a Veteran Astronaut and Sets Out a Plan for Its Own Space Institution appeared first on The Rio Times.
Erin Ogunkeye is pleased to welcome Mélusine Lebret, Researcher in the Defence, Security & Justice research group at RAND Europe. According to Lebret, the growing militarisation of space cannot be understood simply by asking whether a satellite is civilian, military, or a “weaponised.” And Lebreton argues that militarization does not eliminate the necessity of cooperation. The emerging space-security order is therefore defined by an unusual tension: states may increasingly prepare to compete and potentially fight in space while remaining structurally dependent on one another to keep space usable at all.
The US has confirmed it deployed a space weapon in Earth's orbit, the first time it has acknowledged such offensive capabilities.
The US Space Force has confirmed for the first time that Washington has weapons deployed in orbit, as the United States, China and Russia expand military capabilities in space. The disclosure highlights a growing focus on controlling the space domain and protecting satellites vital to military communications, surveillance and navigation.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Thursday for Europeans to "act" on a massive scale to find their place against the United States and China in the space race, from communications to crewed spaceflight. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, Svetla Ben-Itzhak, Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, and Deputy Director of the West Space Scholars Programme at Johns Hopkins University, explains that "Europe does have world-class scientific and industrial capabilities, as well as aspirations, but it lacks the investment, the launch cadence, the scale as well as the degree of political integration that the US and China possess".
The space sector is booming. The global industry expected to reach a value of €2 trillion mark by 2040. But behind this spectacular growth lies major geopolitical challenges, particularly for Europe. In this edition, FRANCE 24’s Charles Pellegrin speaks to Kai-Uwe Schrogl at the International Space Summit in Paris. Schrogl, a political affairs adviser to the European Space Agency, answers questions about the future of the great beyond and Europe’s place in the new space race.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for the "shared governance" of space in a speech delivered at the two-day International Space Summit held in Paris. He also called on Europe to develop its own crewed spaceflight capability as part of the broader push to strengthen the continent's space sector.
Hong Kong’s first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, will deliver a live lesson from space to students and teachers at her alma mater at 9.50am on Wednesday, with the 90-minute event broadcast to campuses across the city and streamed live on television. Lai and her two fellow Shenzhou-23 crew members – mission commander Colonel Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan – will take part in the “Tiangong Class” at Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College. Representatives from the youth sector and innovation and...
German startup Isar Aerospace successfully launched its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Norway on Saturday night, marking the first ever such launch by a commercial entity from European soil. European firms are racing to make up ground in the lucrative launch industry, currently dominated by America's SpaceX.
German startup Isar Aerospace becomes the first company to achieve a successful private orbital space launch. But first: Germany's far-right AfD party scores a big electoral victory, pushed along in part by the country's structural economic crisis and its fiscal policies.
German start-up Isar Aerospace on Saturday launched its first rocket into space from a site in Arctic Norway, bringing Europe closer to offering satellite flights from its own soil. The uncrewed Spectrum rocket was the first commercial flight to reach orbit from continental Europe, where several nations have said they want a share of a growing market for space missions. “We’re in orbit! And just made European history,” Isar said in a post on social media. The event was a breakthrough for the...
Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying and her two fellow Shenzhou-23 crew members will deliver a live lecture from space for students and teachers in the city and neighbouring Macau. Hong Kong authorities revealed on Saturday plans for live broadcasts of “Tiangong Class” to take place soon, without specifying the date and time. The activity, jointly organised by the Hong Kong and Macau governments and the China Manned Space Agency, includes an expert lecture, an in-orbit demonstration and a...
In a rare study, Chinese aerospace researchers have explored how a war could one day spill into the vast space between the Earth and the moon, with rival spacecraft chasing and evading each other, trying to slip past defences and even blocking strategic routes. Spacecraft could hide in the complex gravitational environment around the moon, where their trajectories are difficult to predict, before emerging and moving towards targets closer to Earth when needed, according to a team from the...
The flood, from the ancient canyon system, the largest in the Solar System, is estimated to have released 1,245 trillion cubic metres of water and may have raised the global mean level of the hypothesised ancient Martian ocean by about 34 metres, according to a new study published online in the peer-reviewed journal Icarus.
Ariane 6 flew its first geostationary orbit mission from French Guiana's spaceport, carrying a European weather satellite and proving the rocket's range. The post Ariane 6’s First Geostationary Mission Lifts Off From French Guiana appeared first on The Rio Times.