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© 2026 Developments Today. All rights reserved.

Falcon 9 launches final GPS 3 satellite into orbit for U.S. Space Force

SpaceX launches final GPS 3 satellite, closing a major Space Force upgrade cycle

Falcon 9 launched GPS 3 SV-10 from Cape Canaveral on April 21, 2026.
SV-10 is the tenth and final Lockheed Martin-built GPS 3 satellite.
The spacecraft includes an optical communications demo and an advanced atomic clock demonstration.
It is the fourth consecutive GPS mission reassigned from ULA to SpaceX.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 21, 2026·via spacenews.com

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Artemis spacesuit development risks further delays

NASA Inspector General Warns Artemis and ISS Spacesuits Could Slip Past the End of the Decade

NASA’s inspector general says the xEVAS contract approach was poorly suited to spacesuit development.
Collins Aerospace effectively exited the program in 2024 after performance issues and delays.
Axiom Space remains in the program, but the watchdog says schedule slips of years are possible.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 21, 2026·via spacenews.com

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Rhea Space Activity raises $6 million to develop GPS-free spacecraft navigation

Rhea Space Activity raises $6 million to push GPS-free navigation further into the space market

Rhea Space Activity raised a $6 million Series A round to expand work on GPS-free spacecraft navigation.
Its AutoNav system uses visual observations of space objects to calculate position and trajectory.
The company plans to test the technology on a Varda Space Industries reentry capsule launched on March 30.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via spacenews.com

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This image shows Venus on the left and three possible atmospheres on a recently discovered exoplanet, Gliese 12b. Arid planets like Gliese 12b, even ones in habitable zones, may not have enough liquid water for habitability. Water plays an important role in Earth's carbonate-silicate cycle, which is responsible for moderating the planet's temperature. But rainfall is a critical part of the cycle, and arid planets with low water abundances may not be able to resist a greenhouse climate state. This may have been what happened with Venus. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)

Arid exoplanets may lose climate stability even inside habitable zones

Researchers argue that too little water can disrupt the climate-stabilizing carbon cycle on rocky planets.
The study says rainfall is critical to silicate weathering, which removes carbon from the atmosphere.
Arid worlds in habitable zones may still drift into greenhouse conditions.
The work suggests Venus may illustrate what happens when the cycle fails.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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Latvia joins the Artemis Accords

Latvia becomes the 62nd nation to join the Artemis Accords

Latvia signed the Artemis Accords at NASA Headquarters on April 20.
It is the 62nd country overall and the third to join in 2026.
The Accords set principles for transparent, safe, and sustainable space exploration.
Latvian officials said the move could also expand opportunities for scientists and entrepreneurs.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via spacenews.com

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Third New Glenn launch suffers upper stage malfunction

Blue Origin’s third New Glenn launch leaves payload stranded in unrecoverable orbit

New Glenn’s third flight failed to place BlueBird 7 into its intended orbit.
AST SpaceMobile said the satellite’s orbit was too low to recover using onboard electric propulsion.
The malfunction is a setback for Blue Origin as it works to build New Glenn’s flight rate and credibility.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via spacenews.com

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A fluorescing C. elegans worm. Credit - University of Exeter

Why Tiny Worms Are Being Sent Outside the ISS to Help Prepare Humans for Deep Space

C. elegans launched to the ISS on April 11 aboard the CRS-24 resupply mission.
The worms will spend 15 weeks on the exterior of the station inside miniaturized Petri Pods.
Researchers will monitor fluorescent biological signals to study responses to microgravity and radiation.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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Comet R3 Pan-STARRS from April 12th. Credit: Eliot Herman.

Comet R3 Pan-STARRS Reaches Perihelion After a Brief but Bright Dawn Display

Comet R3 Pan-STARRS reached perihelion on April 19, 2026.
It brightened to about magnitude +4.3 and produced a strong dawn display for observers.
Its close apparent proximity to the Sun makes ground-based viewing increasingly difficult.
Space-based instruments should help track the comet through and after perihelion.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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This artist's illustration shows what Mars might look like if it were terraformed. New research shows how the effects of terraforming, whether intentional or not, could help identify clusters of planets the are habitable and that life has spread to. Image Credit: Daein Ballard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Propose a New Way to Search for Alien Life by Looking at Groups of Planets

A new paper proposes looking for life through patterns across groups of planets rather than only single-world biosignatures.
The model explores how panspermia or terraforming could create observable planetary population signatures.
The approach is designed to reduce false positives that can complicate atmospheric biosignature claims.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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Concept art of Lucy visiting a Trojan asteroid. Credit - NASA / Goddard Spaceflight Center / SwRI

Small Jupiter Trojans Are Not Following the Color Pattern Astronomers Expected

Researchers studied small Trojan asteroids using Subaru Telescope’s Suprime-Cam.
The smaller objects did not show the clear red and less-red split seen in larger Trojans.
The result adds a new puzzle to efforts to understand the early solar system.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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A model of the inner Solar System showing the asteroids discovered by Rubin in light teal. Known asteroids are dark blue. Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NSF NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/R/NASA/Goddard/ESA/Gaia/DPAC

Rubin Observatory logs 11,000 new asteroids before its main survey even begins

Rubin Observatory identified 11,000 new asteroids before the start of its main LSST campaign.
The early dataset also included 33 previously unknown near-Earth objects, none threatening Earth.
The result suggests Rubin could sharply accelerate Solar System discovery and planetary defense cataloging.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 20, 2026·via universetoday.com

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When the cloudy object G2 passed around Sagittarius A* in 2014, astronomers predicted it would look like this: flare lighting up the core of the galaxy. That didn't happen. New simulations explain what influences what happens when a star gets close to a supermassive black hole. Courtesy: ESO/S.Gillessen/MPE/Marc Schartmann.

New Simulations Show How a Star’s Destruction Could Make a Hidden Black Hole Light Up a Galaxy

New simulations examine how stellar destruction near supermassive black holes produces flares.
Tidal disruption events can briefly outshine their host galaxies.
The work helps explain why G2’s 2014 passage by Sagittarius A* did not produce the expected display.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 19, 2026·via universetoday.com

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Artist's impression of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) concept. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter

Study Suggests Coarser Lunar Soil Near the Moon’s South Pole Could Support Rover Roads

Researchers presented evidence that immature lunar regolith may support rover travel with limited dust generation.
The work is relevant to south polar missions tied to Artemis and other lunar base plans.
Lunar dust remains a serious engineering and astronaut-health challenge.
Surface properties may shape how future lunar infrastructure is planned and operated.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 19, 2026·via universetoday.com

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Blue Origin Targets First Reuse Milestone on New Glenn’s Third Flight

Blue Origin Targets First Reuse Milestone on New Glenn’s Third Flight

New Glenn’s third launch is set to fly Blue Origin’s first reused booster.
Blue Origin replaced all seven engines on the refurbished stage and added upgrades.
The mission will carry AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to low Earth orbit.
A successful flight would mark a key step from recovery demonstrations toward operational reuse.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 19, 2026·via spaceflightnow.com

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SpaceX lines up a Starlink launch that could deliver Falcon’s 600th booster landing

SpaceX lines up a Starlink launch that could deliver Falcon’s 600th booster landing

SpaceX is scheduled to launch 25 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Booster B1097 is set for its seventh flight and a landing attempt on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
A successful recovery would mark the 600th Falcon booster landing and the 191st on that droneship.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 18, 2026·via spaceflightnow.com

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Blue Origin tests refurbished New Glenn booster ahead of possible Sunday launch

Blue Origin tests refurbished New Glenn booster ahead of possible Sunday launch

Blue Origin fired the seven BE-4 engines on its first previously flown New Glenn booster for about 20 seconds on April 16, 2026.
The rocket could launch AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird-7 satellite as soon as Sunday, April 19, 2026, pending data review.
Blue Origin replaced the booster’s engines for this flight, showing it is still refining how New Glenn reuse will work in practice.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 18, 2026·via spaceflightnow.com

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On the left, the cover of the CSDA's Quality Assessment report on data from Satellogic's NewSat satellites. On the left, a Satellogic optical image

NASA Clears Satellogic NewSat Imagery for Scientific Use, With Caveats for Newer Sensors

NASA approved Satellogic NewSat imagery for scientific use through its CSDA program.
The assessment found solid radiometric performance but a notable gap between Mark IV and Mark V geometric grades.
NASA is reviewing revised products after Satellogic changed parts of its processing pipeline.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 18, 2026·via science.nasa.gov

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017A7337.NEF

NASA Opens Artemis II Data Challenge to Study How Deep Space Affects the Human Body

NASA opened the Artemis II Human Research Data Methodology Challenge on March 30, 2026.
The challenge offers $25,000 in total prizes and closes June 5, 2026.
NASA says Artemis II produced a rare deep-space human dataset from four astronauts.
The agency wants methods to analyze small-sample, multi-system, multi-modal human research data.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 17, 2026·via nasa.gov

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NASA Force

NASA launches ‘NASA Force’ hiring program to recruit technical talent

NASA and OPM launched NASA Force on April 17, 2026.
The first open application is for aerospace engineer roles with a two-year term and possible extensions.
NASA described the effort as part of a broader push to strengthen its technical talent pipeline.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 17, 2026·via nasa.gov

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Artemis 2 is a benchmark in our space exploration program — and it depends on steady NASA funding

After Artemis 2, the Real Question Is Whether NASA Can Afford Its Ambitions

The commentary says Artemis 2 has been successfully completed.
It highlights a proposed 25 percent cut to NASA and nearly 50 percent cut to NASA science.
The argument is that human exploration needs steady funding to support science, inspiration and international standing.

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DT Editorial Team·Apr 17, 2026·via spacenews.com

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