Space Exploration & Science Missions News

SpaceNews.com • Jeff Foust

NASA Loses Contact with MAVEN During Mars Far‑Side Pass; Recovery Underway

NASA has lost contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter while the vehicle was on the planet’s far side, and teams are working to restore communications. MAVEN — which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in Mars orbit and is central to studies of atmospheric escape — went silent over the weekend.

2025-12-10T05:06:46.868310-08:00

Bloomberg

NASA invites competitors to challenge SpaceX's Artemis moon-landing contract amid Starship delays

2025-12-09T20:10:38.681807-08:00

Space.com

JWST confirms earliest-known supernova, detects its host galaxy from the Cosmic Dawn

2025-12-09T14:26:53.883333-08:00

collectSPACE

Artemis IV astronauts to land with and deploy lunar outpost rover — first human-robot surface partnership beyond Earth

2025-12-09T02:31:32.173292-08:00

Space Exploration & Science Missions News Timeline

Universe Today

JWST hints at methane on TRAPPIST‑1e, but team calls detection tentative An international team using JWST reports spectral signatures on rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST‑1e that could indicate methane in its atmosphere. The multi‑paper dataset marks a significant advance toward characterizing terrestrial exoplanets, but researchers stress the detection is ambiguous and urge caution.

2025-12-10T12:04:36.330844-08:00

JWST hints at methane on TRAPPIST‑1e, but team calls detection tentative

SpaceNews.com

Multi‑Agent AI for Space Missions: Enhancing Autonomy and Resilience Against the Unknown Multi‑agent AI distributes decision‑making across cooperating software agents to boost spacecraft autonomy and resilience to unforeseen events, enabling faster anomaly detection and mitigation, degraded‑mode operations and reduced ground intervention. The approach aims to harden science, commercial and operational missions against uncertainty in on‑orbit and deep‑space environments.

2025-12-10T06:09:20.592438-08:00

Multi‑Agent AI for Space Missions: Enhancing Autonomy and Resilience Against the Unknown

SpaceNews.com

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NASA Loses Contact with MAVEN During Mars Far‑Side Pass; Recovery Underway NASA has lost contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter while the vehicle was on the planet’s far side, and teams are working to restore communications. MAVEN — which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in Mars orbit and is central to studies of atmospheric escape — went silent over the weekend.

2025-12-10T05:06:46.868310-08:00

NASA Loses Contact with MAVEN During Mars Far‑Side Pass; Recovery Underway

Space.com

Industrial project in Chile could darken world's best skies — 28 astronomers urge relocation Twenty‑eight leading astronomers warned that an industrial project in Chile could brighten the night sky at a premier observatory site, potentially eliminating observations of roughly 30% of the faintest galaxies and undermining nascent studies of exoplanet atmospheres; they urged moving the project to protect those skies.

2025-12-10T05:05:48.281994-08:00

Industrial project in Chile could darken world's best skies — 28 astronomers urge relocation

slate.com

Inside NASA under Trump: the official 2027 Moon goal meets 'Moondoggle' skepticism Officially the U.S. plans to land astronauts on the Moon in 2027 and press on to Mars thereafter. Inside NASA under President Trump, many staff describe a far different reality — dubbing the programme a 'Moondoggle' and questioning the agency’s ability to meet the official timeline.

2025-12-09T23:57:52.934940-08:00

Inside NASA under Trump: the official 2027 Moon goal meets 'Moondoggle' skepticism

Bloomberg

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NASA invites competitors to challenge SpaceX's Artemis moon-landing contract amid Starship delays NASA has opened a competition for companies to bid on the crewed lunar-landing contract currently held by SpaceX, citing delays with the Starship vehicle. The move signals agency frustration with schedule slips and seeks redundancy ahead of upcoming Artemis missions.

2025-12-09T20:10:38.681807-08:00

NASA invites competitors to challenge SpaceX's Artemis moon-landing contract amid Starship delays

Space.com

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JWST confirms earliest-known supernova, detects its host galaxy from the Cosmic Dawn James Webb has confirmed the earliest-known supernova as the source of a gamma‑ray burst and, for the first time at this distance, detected the event's host galaxy. The explosion occurred when the universe was roughly 730 million years old (≈13 billion years), and Webb's rapid follow-up corroborated other observations.

2025-12-09T14:26:53.883333-08:00

JWST confirms earliest-known supernova, detects its host galaxy from the Cosmic Dawn

Space.com

Seven‑hour gamma‑ray burst in July 2025 is longest on record, suggests exotic black‑hole origin Telescopes recorded a gamma‑ray burst in July 2025 that lasted seven hours — the longest GRB ever observed when most last milliseconds to minutes. Its unprecedented duration suggests a new, exotic class of explosive event; astronomers say a rare form of black hole is a leading candidate.

2025-12-09T13:04:26.740819-08:00

Seven‑hour gamma‑ray burst in July 2025 is longest on record, suggests exotic black‑hole origin

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