NETWORKS Rocket Lab buys its way into the satellite big league with $8B Iridium deal SpaceX gains a vertically integrated rival as launch specialist adds global comms network
OFFBEAT Blue Origin insists New Glenn will rise from the ashes this year after explosion deleted launchpad CEO says reconstruction has begun, though the timetable looks ambitious
public sector Australia investigating five social media giants for not enforcing ban on kids PLUS: Qualcomm tweaks datacenter chips for China; Japan's Air Force stretches into space; WiseTechs' woes mutiply; and more!
offbeat Perseverance rover finds even more signs of extinct life on Mars Scientists remain skeptical, plead for someone to bring the rocks home
SCIENCE Salyut 5 at 50: The Soviet space station that sickened one crew and nearly drowned another The last inhabited Almaz outpost was short-lived, secretive, and remarkably accident-prone
offbeat Space Force goes to (pretend) orbital war following record-fast Rocket Lab launch Less than 17 hours after receiving orders, Rocket Lab put Pioneer in orbit for close-range maneuvers with True Anomaly's Jackal satellite
SCIENCE Humanity trashed Earth orbit – next stop the Moon Neuraspace CEO floats lunar scrapyards as a cleaner way to handle hardware left behind
SCIENCE NASA payload to ride commercial Mars orbiter from rocket biz yet to reach orbit Aeolus mission promises better Martian weather models, assuming Relativity Space can get its Terran R off the ground
SCIENCE NASA said nyet to Roscosmos plan to cut into leaky ISS segment Crew sheltered in SpaceX Dragon as aging Zvezda segment's cracks continue to test orbital nerve
offbeat DARPA seeks swappable satellites to help with future star wars Worried that an unexpected strike could take out critical orbital systems, Pentagon researchers want to know how fast the industry thinks it could launch replacements
SCIENCE NASA management wants a word and won't say why A mystery calendar event is certainly one way to find out about being selected for the Artemis III crew
Off-PREM Fire burns Google Cloud India’s network, which remains slow a week later PLUS: Japan’s space truck is back in business; Zoho's DIY servers; Record tech exports for Korea, and more!
Science Race against re-entry: Swift's would-be saviour straps itself to a rocket Katalyst's LINK spacecraft is go for integration, with a launch from Kwajalein expected within weeks
SCIENCE NASA names crew for Artemis III lunar lander rehearsal Whether any of the spacecraft will be ready in time for H2 2027 remains unanswered
offbeat NASA's Secret: Moon astronauts will be rocking Prada underwear What, you think any old liquid-cooled bodysuit would be acceptable to pair with such a fashionable outer layer?
SCIENCE Serious ISS air leak forces NASA astronauts to temporarily take shelter in Dragon capsule Business is back to normal in the orbital station, but one of two newly discovered leaks is still unrepaired
Personal Tech Exploding rockets and exploding hardware prices make for a lousy new normal This week on The Kettle, we mull over whether the Steam Deck is a canary in the coal mine for the future of hardware prices, and the effect of Blue Origin's blowout on NASA's Moon missions
Offbeat Rocket exhibit at National Space Centre pulls off unintentional NASA SLS impression 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... pfft
Science Blue Origin's New Glenn makes a crater-sized dent in Artemis plans Explosion wrecks rocket and pad, leaving NASA's lunar ambitions looking less than launch-ready
Science Japanese Space Agency names arrival date for BepiColombo Mercury mission Due on November 21, eleven months late - but on time to do science!
Systems SpaceX pitches itself as integrated interplanetary proto-monopolist in IPO filing Aims for the stars while burning cash and blowing deadlines on Earth
Science Space factories edge closer after experimental capsule survives hypersonic landing Varda hails success of autonomous touchdown tech and celebrates heat data haul
Off-Prem Red Hat blasts RHEL 10.1 into orbit aboard Voyager's micro datacenter Orbital compute platform, which launched on a mission to the ISS last year, gets an immutable upgrade alongside refreshed container images
Offbeat DIY mystery box will wow your friends by hinting at what the ionosphere is up to A rough guide to when your signal will behave, or not
Science More missions, less money, higher risk: NASA's back to the '90s playbook Faster, better, cheaper is back and history suggests you can't get all three at the same time
Science NASA boss: make Pluto a planet again Despite looming science cuts, Isaacman finds resources to poke the planetary hornet nest
Science Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope trumps Trump cuts, is launch-ready ahead of schedule Revolutionary telescope aiming for space after multiple near death experiences
Science FAA grounds Blue Origin's New Glenn as it probes missed satellite delivery 'mishap' One of two second stage engines misbehaved, administration must sign off report before flights resume
Science NASA Inspector fears new spacesuits won’t be ready for Moon landing Dud contracts, proprietary designs, and zero-experience supplier make for quite the mess
Science Blue Origin nails the landing, but puts the payload satellite in the wrong orbit Wouldn't be the first time a Jeff Bezos company left a package in the wrong place
Science NASA working on ‘Big Bang’ upgrade to keep the Voyagers alive for longer Tests scheduled for May can’t come soon enough after VGER 1 power glitch led to instrument shutdown
Science Fission impossible: Uncle Sam wants nuclear reactors in space by 2031 Some on the Moon's surface, some in orbit. How does 5 years sound? Do-able, right nerds?
Systems Orbital datacenter startup CEO admits launch economics don't fly, presses ahead regardless Needs SpaceX et al to drop prices and give competitors a ride into space to make it work
Networks Amazon pays $11.5B to satisfy satellite-envy while cowering in Musk's shadow Deal only comes with 24 operational sats, but also an Apple deal, spectrum licenses, and plenty of IP
Science Japanese rocket part came unglued, leading to mission failure Tiny variation in temperature weakened a component and when a critical moment arrived, that mattered
Science Here's how to watch the Artemis II splashdown Crew went farther from Earth than any humans we know about, now they’re coming back!
Systems Intel gets trapped in Elon’s reality distortion field as it joins in megafab delusions Space is just the next stop on the AI hype train, right after AGI
Science Artemis II blasts off on first crewed lunar mission since Apollo And of course the Orion toilet malfunctioned
Science Mars coughs up another maybe-life clue in the form of nickel compounds Perseverance found the minerals in an ancient river channel, but researchers say geology may still beat biology
Science Artemis II countdown begins as NASA prepares for crewed Moon flyby Orion's four astronauts edge toward liftoff for humanity's first lunar voyage in more than 50 years
Science Commercial space pleads with NASA to stop moving the goalposts in orbit Private station hopefuls say ISS rethink is shaking confidence
Public Sector India's space program can't spend money fast enough, putting missions in peril Satnav systems aren't well, IP is being sold too cheap, and thousands of roles remain open
Science NASA's lunar reboot is long on ambition, short on answers Exactly how will astronauts get to and from that moonbase?
Science Goodbye, Lunar Gateway: NASA ditches Moon station for Moon base NASA boss Jared Isaacman has no intention of letting this setback delay the Artemis program, apparently
Science When it comes to catastrophic space weather, the UK is holding a cocktail umbrella National Audit Office warns government has little idea of how to respond in the event of a major solar storm
Systems Elon Musk wants to build 50 times more chips than the world currently produces, using 'new physics' Like his promise to get a million robocabs on the road, this doesn't add up
Systems Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin applies to launch 51,000 datacenter satellites ‘Project Sunrise’ needs a network that doesn’t exist, a rocket that’s hardly flown, and FCC approval
Nvidia GTC Chips... in spaaaace – courtesy of Nvidia The Space-1 Vera Rubin Module will solve all your in-space computing needs
Science Everything needed to make DNA and RNA found in asteroid sample Results from Ryugu suggest the the Solar System produced the building blocks of life
Science NASA probe checks out years early because this solar cycle is a real drag Van Allen spacecraft re-enters over the Pacific with 1 in 4,200 chance of causing injury
Science Musk admits Starship V3 launch date has slipped as Super Heavy booster rolls into place Launch predictions continue to be optimistic as 2027 and Artemis III near
Science SETI admits its search for alien life may be too narrowly focussed Solar winds near aliens’ homes – and ours – might be blowing away signs of alien technosignatures by broadening signals
Science Amazon tells FCC to bin SpaceX's million-satellite datacenter dream Calls Musk’s orbital plans “speculative” despite Bezos touting orbiting compute
Science 60 years since humanity touched the surface of another planet Remembering the day the Venera 3 impacted Venus
Networks European Space Agency and China both achieve gigabit links to geostationary satellites Raises hopes birds 40,000km away can be reprogrammed, for science or military purposes
Systems Nvidia hasn't made a cent in China lately – and might not need to given $120B profit GPU giant sees yet more growth coming soon, most of it in the datacenter
Off-Prem Orbital datacenters are a pie-in-the-sky idea: Gartner Analyst firm bemoans ‘peak insanity’ among those who think circling servers can replace down-to-earth clouds
Science Artemis II headed back to the bay; helium issues force another delay Sending humans around the Moon in February, er, March – now April 2026, maybe
Science SpaceX's faulty Falcon spewed massive lithium plume over Europe, say scientists Good news: Team shows re-entry pollution can be measured. Bad news: There may be more of it coming
Science NASA points fingers at Boeing and chaotic culture for Starliner debacle Plenty of blame to go around, says Isaacman
Science Skyrora circles Orbex wreckage as UK rocket rival heads for administration Scottish rival Skyrora already eyeing the assets, including Highland spaceport
Public Sector SpaceX wants to fill Earth orbit with a million datacenter satellites The FCC is taking public comments - now’s your chance to tell them this plan is bonkers
Science NASA delays Artemis II to March after hydrogen leaks bedevil countdown test This is starting to sound oddly familiar
Science NASA taps Claude to conjure Mars rover's travel plan Is there life on Mars? Well, there's Claude in the machine
Science Challenger at 40: The disaster that changed NASA How a cold morning, failed O-rings, and flawed decision-making led to tragedy
Science NASA confirms command error temporarily felled TESS planet hunter In space, no one can hear you bork
Science Voyager 2's close encounter with Uranus wasn't in the original plan 40 years later, mission boffin recalls being told to pronounce it correctly
Science NASA planet hunter resumes operations after low power incident Pointing problem left TESS in the dark
Science India’s flagship PSLV rocket fails for the second time in a row One payload out of fifteen survived and sent home some useful data
Offbeat Moon hotel startup hopes you get lunar lunacy, drop $1M deposit for 2032 stay Step 1: Ask for deposit. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Build Moon hotel empire
Science NASA decides to bring Crew-11 home early after astronaut health scare Medical issue forces mission curtailment and leaves station short-handed
Science ISS spacewalk postponed over mystery astronaut malady NASA mulling options, including an early trip home
Cyber-crime ESA calls cops as crims lift off 500 GB of files, say security black hole still open Two weeks, two major data leaks … not a good look for the European Space Agency
Science Satellite radio transmissions are jamming telescopes and driving astronomers batty 'What do we need to do better?' El Reg talks to comms boss about the problem
AI + ML China wants to ban making yourself into an AI to keep aged relatives company PLUS: Australia buys air-gapped Google Cloud; Huawei triples use of home-built components; JAXA blames low pressure for rocket crash; And more
Science Starlink satellite fails, polluting orbit with debris and falling toward Earth Spacecraft set to burn up in a few weeks, but it could have been worse
Science Japan loses another H3 launcher, plus the satnav bird it carried 25 percent failure rate for JAXA's space truck, with the second stage again proving perilous
Science NASA tries savin' MAVEN as Mars probe loses contact with Earth Spacecraft was 'rotating in an unexpected manner' and might have shifted orbit
Science Japan just sent origami to space to unfurl possibilities for outsized antennas That’s just one of 16 innovative and experimental sats that launched Sunday
Science The CRASH Clock is ticking as satellite congestion in low Earth orbit worsens It's getting crowded up there
Science Taikonauts inspect cracked Shenzhou-20 window during Tiangong spacewalk Eight-hour EVA was also first outing for new spacesuits
Science NASA loses contact with MAVEN Mars orbiter Didn’t phone home as expected on December 6th and nobody knows why
The Future of the Datacenter Galactic Brain space datacenter coming in 2027, pledges startup Aetherflux Getting inferencing infrastructure into orbit may soon be cheaper than building it down here
Science Rocket Lab ready to send a Hungry Hippo into space Signoff for re-usable faring should help Neutron launcher get off the ground
Networks China’s first reusable rocket explodes, but its onboard Ethernet network flew PLUS: South Korea to strengthen security standards; Canon closes Chinese printer plant; APAC datacenter capacity to triple by 2029; And more
Science We'll beat China to the Moon, NASA nominee declares Isaacman: 'We can never accept a gap in our capabilities again'
Science China's reusable rocket makes it to orbit but fails to stick the landing An ‘anomaly’ meant a fireball arrived at the recovery zone instead of a spent first stage
Science Space telescopes are being photobombed by satellites, and the problem is slated to get much worse LEO communications satellites are proliferating like rabbits
Science ISS hits rare full house as all eight docking ports ocupado Russian vehicles will depart soon, but Baikonur launchpad damage clouds future arrivals
Science UK sinks to fifth in ESA funding league behind Spain Brit astro Tim Peake's much-vaunted mission to the ISS a distant memory
Science Baikonur's only crew-capable pad busted after Soyuz flight Roscosmos confirms 'damage' as images suggest repairs could stretch into 2027
On-Prem Square Kilometre Array is so sensitive, its datacenter needs two Faraday cages to stop RF leaks
Off-Prem Orbital datacenters subject to launch stress, nasty space weather, and expensive house calls
Science Jeff Bezos can now taunt Elon Musk: I'm building a moon rover for NASA, when can Tesla do that?
