Space Exploration & Science Missions News

Space.com • Josh Dinner

SpaceX completes record-duration Static Fire for Starship Flight 13: Booster 20 ignites 33 Raptor 3 engines

SpaceX has finished a record-duration static fire for Starship Flight 13, with Booster 20 lighting all 33 Raptor 3 engines for 20–25 seconds. The booster is expected to rollback for Flight Termination System installation at Megabay-1 before Booster and Ship 40 head out to the launch site.

6 Sources

2026-07-10T09:30:42.950979-07:00

Wall Street Journal

StormWall concept proposes salt-dispensing “ionic air-bag” satellites to mitigate solar storm impacts

1 Source

2026-07-10T05:29:07.243107-07:00

New York Times

Wally Funk, last ‘Mercury 13’ and oldest woman to fly to space, dies at 87

22 Sources

2026-07-09T09:59:25.062127-07:00

SpaceNews.com

MDA Space to acquire 70% of French EO/geo-intelligence firm CLS in €567M deal, vertically integrating radar satellite data with

8 Sources

2026-07-09T04:29:00.090902-07:00

Space Exploration & Science Missions News Timeline

Space.com

6 sources

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SpaceX completes record-duration Static Fire for Starship Flight 13: Booster 20 ignites 33 Raptor 3 engines SpaceX has finished a record-duration static fire for Starship Flight 13, with Booster 20 lighting all 33 Raptor 3 engines for 20–25 seconds. The booster is expected to rollback for Flight Termination System installation at Megabay-1 before Booster and Ship 40 head out to the launch site.

2026-07-10T09:30:42.950979-07:00

SpaceX completes record-duration Static Fire for Starship Flight 13: Booster 20 ignites 33 Raptor 3 engines

Wall Street Journal

1 source

StormWall concept proposes salt-dispensing “ionic air-bag” satellites to mitigate solar storm impacts StormWall—a proposed constellation of school-bus-size satellites—would release salt into the upper atmosphere to create an ionic “air-bag” that could reduce the harm from solar storms. The effort is aimed at protecting Earth systems from space-weather effects that can disrupt modern life.

2026-07-10T05:29:07.243107-07:00

StormWall concept proposes salt-dispensing “ionic air-bag” satellites to mitigate solar storm impacts

Space.com

1 source

Euclid telescope finds the oldest known quasar—black hole-powered beacon from the early universe Using the ESA’s Euclid space telescope, astronomers identified a large population of black hole–powered quasars in the early universe, including the most ancient and most distant quasar observed to date. The object’s brightness corresponds to energy output described as a “trillion suns.”

2026-07-09T14:14:03.753069-07:00

Euclid telescope finds the oldest known quasar—black hole-powered beacon from the early universe

New York Times

22 sources

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Wally Funk, last ‘Mercury 13’ and oldest woman to fly to space, dies at 87 Wally Funk, the trailblazing aviator and final living member of NASA’s original “Mercury 13” astronaut trainee class, died at 87 in Texas. She flew into space at 82 after decades of waiting, later recognized as the oldest woman in space, following a Blue Origin invitation.

2026-07-09T09:59:25.062127-07:00

Wally Funk, last ‘Mercury 13’ and oldest woman to fly to space, dies at 87

Payload

2 sources

Auxilium Biotechnologies demonstrates scalable bioprinting of multiple organ tissues in orbit via ISS tech demo Auxilium Biotechnologies said it has created multiple types of organ tissues aboard the International Space Station, a milestone toward scalable in-orbit bioprinting. The company positioned the results as enabling future bioprinting use cases in space, building toward broader orbital manufacturing and medical applications.

2026-07-09T05:14:37.806766-07:00

Auxilium Biotechnologies demonstrates scalable bioprinting of multiple organ tissues in orbit via ISS tech demo

Space.com

6 sources

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Hidden orbital threats surface: new debris scans reveal dozens of previously undetected fragments near critical satellite orbits New observation techniques are uncovering small, previously unseen space-debris fragments—dozens of them—raising concerns about a “potential minefield” near valuable satellite regions, including objects as small as ~5 cm. Separate work outlines ways to detect hidden nuclear-weapon material in orbit, and reporting also highlights China’s Tianwen-2 probe imaging an Earth ‘quasi-moon’.

2026-07-09T05:14:13.339467-07:00

Hidden orbital threats surface: new debris scans reveal dozens of previously undetected fragments near critical satellite orbits

Space.com

None source

China announces plan to build early-warning system for dangerous asteroids

2026-07-09T05:14:13.339467-07:00

China announces plan to build

SpaceNews.com

8 sources

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MDA Space to acquire 70% of French EO/geo-intelligence firm CLS in €567M deal, vertically integrating radar satellite data with MDA Space will purchase a 70% majority stake in French data analytics and geo-information company Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS) from CNES, in a €567 million transaction (about $647 million). MDA also plans to raise US$819 million via an upsized bought deal to fund the acquisition, positioning the combined company as a top global space-based geointelligence provider.

2026-07-09T04:29:00.090902-07:00

MDA Space to acquire 70% of French EO/geo-intelligence firm CLS in €567M deal, vertically integrating radar satellite data with

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