Check out the night sky during November 2026. Here are videos and links to websites highlighting the month’s top sights, including a close Mars and Jupiter meeting, Taurids and Leonid meteor showers, and more.
** What’s Up: November 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA | NASA JPL
Meteor showers, a close pairing of Mars and Jupiter, a Voyager 1 milestone, and a November supermoon.
The Southern Taurids peak around November 5, followed by the Northern Taurids around November 12. Both offer occasional bright fireballs, even though only a handful of meteors per hour are expected under ideal conditions.
On November 15 and 16, look southeast before sunrise to see Jupiter and Mars appear just 1.2 degrees apart.
The Leonid meteor shower offers another chance to catch shooting stars before dawn on November 17 and 18, after the Moon sets.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft reaches a historic one light-day milestone. Join the Shine Bright for Voyager’s Light-Day activation on November 17. Learn more at nasa.gov/voyager.
And on November 24, watch a full supermoon rise in the east around sunset, the first of three consecutive supermoons – in November, December, and January.
0:00 Intro 0:08 Southern and Northern Taurids 0:41 Leonid meteor shower 1:11 Mars and Jupiter draw close 1:53 Voyager 1 reaches one light-day 2:36 November supermoon 3:13 Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/.
From the so-called ‘supermoon’ to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus stars, constellations and deep-sky objects, astronomers Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel reveal the best things to see in the night sky in November 2026.
This episode takes you on a guided audio tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during November. During the last half of this month, all five bright planets can be seen before dawn and after sunset. You’ll also get the lowdown on a celestial queen with an unfortunate fate. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.
** November 2026 Night Sky: Jupiter & Mars Conjunction, Saturn Shines Bright, Leonids Meteor Shower | Late Night Astronomy
Welcome to the November 2026 night sky guide! Discover this month’s top stargazing events, including the Jupiter and Mars conjunction, the Leonids meteor shower, and a Moon-Jupiter occultation.
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Timestamps: 0:00 Jupiter & Mars Conjunction 2:14 Leonids Meteor Shower 2:54 SkySafari Ad 4:15 Moon & Jupiter Occultation 5:47 Saturn & The Planets 7:32 Deep Sky Challenge
For many decades, students in university programs have designed and built small satellites and operated them in orbit. With the arrival of standardized Cubesat designs and hardware, high school and even grade school students have joined in the smallsat fun. Such endeavors grew out of the AMSAT initiative of the amateur radio community, which launched the first non-government satellites in 1961. (For more smallsat history, see Satellite Building in the HS archives.) Note that the term Amateur Satellites refers to the use of amateur radio bands for communications, not the quality or sophistication of the satellites.
Here is another sampling of recent student smallsat projects and programs:
Georgia Tech students made initial contact last week with a satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to test next-generation space propulsion systems, according to the university. …
… A team of student operators at Georgia Tech sent their first command — “Go Jackets!” — to the small satellite on Thursday at 6:21 p.m.
Operating out of the Space Systems Design Laboratory Mission Operations Center in Atlanta, the students will run daily shifts to track and control the spacecraft during a nine-month demonstration, officials explained.
LSF was surprised when Kazakhstan’s Space Agency approached it directly after learning about its work at international conferences.
“They wanted an estimate of how much a ‘pocket-class’ satellite would cost for use in a school in Kazakhstan,” LSF vice president Eleftherios Kosmas told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
He said Kazakhstan appeared keen to gradually develop an independent space programme but had a limited budget, so officials decided to start with a school.
LSF initially provided an engineering model designed only for laboratory testing and used it to train the students. It then built the satellite that eventually launched into orbit.
On 1 October 2026, four SIDLOC PocketQubes and NIS-PQ, a QUBIK PocketQube built for a Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Kazakhstan, launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare. That brings the number of Libre Space Foundation satellites put in orbit to ten.
NASA is testing heat shields that can keep astronauts safe as they return from missions to the Moon and Mars in an unusual way: by taking out the trash.
When Northrop Grumman 24th cargo resupply mission for NASA undocked from the International Space Station, it carried a fleet of 12 small, experimental capsules designed to test the next generation of thermal protection materials that could serve as the foundation for future heat shields.
The experiment, called the Kentucky Reentry Probe Experiment (KREPE-3), is the third in a series of low-cost, high-impact missions that use the final moments of the cargo spacecraft’s lifespan to gather valuable data.
The experiment is a collaboration among the University of Kentucky, the state of Kentucky, NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), several NASA centers, and other federal and commercial partners.
“KREPE-3 is a great example of the goals of NASA’s EPSCoR program,” said David Berger, EPSCoR program manager at NASA’s Headquarters in Washington. “We are supporting the next generation of scientists and engineers as they develop unique projects that benefit their education and NASA’s mission goals.”
Engineers from universities in Scotland and Japan are planning to boldly go where no dram has gone before with the launch of a new research project to distil whisky in space.
The researchers are planning to send whisky-making materials into space aboard a tiny satellite and use an artificial ‘tongue’ to taste tiny changes in the tipple’s terpenes as it orbits the Earth.
The project aims to test for the first time how the complex chemistry of whisky-making is affected by the harsh environment of space.
Their findings could help pave the way for orbital factories where molecules which are difficult or impossible to synthesise on Earth can be manufactured for use in new medications for conditions like diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Students in Cornell’s Space Systems Design Studio (SSDS) have just published mission results for two unique light sail experiments. These sails are slightly larger than a pizza box, and harness momentum from photons to accelerate to high velocities. With ChipSats onboard – gram-scale spacecraft that fit in the palm of your hand, the sails can become free-flyers. They origami-fold into CubeSats for launch, and completely separate when deployed, allowing them to be far smaller and lighter than traditional solar sails. The ChipSats provide all ground communications and steering capabilities, for a fraction of the mass and cost.
Alpha is 1U CubeSat, funded by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, that deployed the light sail in low Earth orbit. Through the TinyGS network, amateur radio operators around the world managed to establish contact with the small ChipSat spacecraft onboard prior to the sail’s quick demise due to atmospheric drag.
The second experiment took place solely within the ISS. It involved testing systems for deployment of small sails:
Sailing to the Stars is a companion ISS experiment that tested the deployment of six of these light sails in the microgravity environment of the space station. Funded by ISS National Laboratory in collaboration with Rhodium Scientific, it obtained critical video footage and IMU data that helps the students better understand the sail-deployment dynamics. Two different CubeSat-scale deployer designs were tested – both entirely 3D-printed with modular “CubeSat-LEGO” components, spin-stabilized with laptop hard disk drive reaction wheels, and commanded via TV remotes – to assess which release mechanism displayed more stable kinematics. The insights gained from this experiment inform the design of future missions.
The two light sail projects
were designed, assembled, and tested by students, with the original concept for Alpha proposed by a high school student as part of the Museum of Science Fiction’s International CubeSat Design Competition. Since 2016, over 150 students contributed to the spacecraft projects, with over 50% interning or working in the aerospace industry after graduation.
When students begin their engineering education, there’s no way to predict where their work will take them. For most, projects remain in classrooms, laboratories or on computer screens. For a team of Arizona State University students, however, years of effort have reached Earth’s orbit.
Throughout the last two years, students from Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory, or SDSL, designed, built and tested Coconut, a CubeSat — a miniaturized, cube-shaped satellite used for space research and technology demonstrations. The CubeSat was deployed from the International Space Station, or ISS, into Earth’s orbit.
For the students behind the mission, the deployment is a culmination of years of volunteer work, technical problem-solving and persistence. Ricardo Ontiveros, an electrical engineering alumnus from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. Ontiveros graduated this spring and served as an electrical lead and later team lead on the project. He says the countless hours of volunteer work were undoubtedly worth the rare opportunity to see a spacecraft they built launch into space.
On May 3, a satellite prototype created at Wichita State was launched into low space orbit by NASA. On Aug. 4, when the first delivery of data came through, Professor Nickolas Solomey and his entire team of faculty and students breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“It’s something to be excited about for a university that prides itself on technology and educating students to do creative technology,” said Dr. Solomey, professor of mathematics, statistics and physics. “We’re out there measuring things. That is what scared me the most – ‘Is this experiment detector going to work? Because I cannot go up there and fix it like experiments in the lab on earth.’”
The CubeSat project, known as SNAPPY (Solar Neutrino Astro-Particle PhYsic) CubeSat, is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)-funded collaboration. It aims to validate the feasibility of a larger detector positioned closer to the sun, where the neutrino flux from the fusion core is expected to be 1,000 times or higher than at Earth.
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Solomey leads the interdisciplinary project, which also includes Dr. Holger Meyer, professor of physics, Atri Dutta, professor of aerospace engineering, and Professor Hyuck Kwon, of electrical engineering. Thirty-six graduate and undergraduate students, to date, have worked on the project since its start in 2017.
What began as a student satellite project is now helping position the University of Victoria (UVic) and its Centre for Aerospace Research (CfAR) as a key player in Canada’s growing space sector. …
… A key chapter in that journey began with the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP),, launched in 2017 to give post-secondary students the opportunity to design, build and operate real satellites. At UVic, students embraced the challenge through ORCASat, a CubeSat project that gave them hands-on exposure to every stage of a successful space mission.
The skills and knowledge developed through the ORCASat project did not disappear when the mission ended. Many former CCP participants continued to be involved in space engineering activities through employment and graduate studies at UVic, developing novel space technologies and training highly qualified personnel, and supporting innovation across Canada’s space industry.
This ongoing involvement has created a cycle of mentorship and knowledge transfer. Former participants continue to support students involved in CubeSats Initiative in Canada for STEM (CUBICS), the CSA‘s current CubeSat development program for post-secondary students.
** ShakthiSAT Explained: Mission Lead Sam Richards Details Global Girls’ 12U CubeSat Mission | India Today on Youtube
ShakthiSAT, a 12U CubeSat mission shaped by thousands of female students globally, is designed for low Earth orbit operations with a two-year mission lifetime. Mission Lead Sam Richards detailed the satellite’s architecture and international payloads, which include an Egyptian drag sail, American space domain awareness cameras, an Australian thermal camera for fire detection, a Swiss graphene magnetometer, and edge AI computing modules from Brazil and the Philippines in partnership with Portugal. The satellite utilises deployable solar panels, reaction wheels, and student-wound magnetorquers to achieve stable orientation and navigation. To address space debris, onboard AI chips analyse orbital objects and transmit actionable insights instead of bulky raw data. At the end of the mission, the deployable drag sail will act as a frontal aerodynamic shield, accelerating atmospheric drag to de-orbit the spacecraft within days to weeks, ensuring complete burn-up and sustainable space operations.
Fourteen-year-old Kandula Jessie, a student of Zilla Parishad Girls High School in Dhavaleswaram, Andhra Pradesh, has been selected for Mission ShakthiSAT, the world’s first global all-girls lunar CubeSat programme.
Chosen from nearly 12,000 applicants across 108 countries, she is among just 20 students selected from India and the only participant from Andhra Pradesh to be part of the ambitious moon mission.
Mahima Rajput, a Class 10 student from Raipur, has been selected for the international student space mission ‘ShakthiSAT’ representing India. It is a programme that will bring together female students from around 108 countries to participate in the mission and learn about satellite technology.
Sharing the proud moment, Mahima said, “My principal informed my guidance teacher about the mission, and she registered me for it,” in an interview with ANI. She further explained that after registration, she received various learning modules that helped her strengthen her understanding of science and satellite technology.
Omani youth are getting hands-on experience in CubeSat technology under a two-week training programme aimed at building skills for the country’s emerging space sector.
The Oman Orbit programme, organised by the Youth Centre in cooperation with Etco Space, introduces participants to the design, assembly and operation of small satellites while linking space applications to national development priorities.
Training begins with an overview of the space sector before moving into practical work on satellite subsystems, wireless communications, Global Positioning System technology and Earth observation data.
Participants are also developing graduation projects based on skills acquired during the camp.
The programme focuses on the main systems used in CubeSats, including satellite structures, power, onboard computing, control systems and communications. The aim is to give participants a practical understanding of how the individual components work together in orbit.
For his final-year project, Agose turned his attention to a subject with significant implications for Nigeria’s growing interest in space technology. He researched spacecraft structures and locally sourced materials, working on a CubeSat qualification model and exploring what affordable, home-grown space engineering could look like within the Nigerian context.
CubeSatPlus is an important meeting point for Australia and the region’s rapidly developing CubeSat and small-satellite community, bringing together scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs,
students, industry and policymakers. The outstanding 2025 event led directly to our decision to sponsor this year.
The 2026 theme — “Youth in Space: Building an Ecosystem” — emphasises students, early-career professionals and emerging leaders who will shape Australia’s space industry. Developing this talent is critical to Australia’s ability to compete globally.
A research team from North South University (NSU) recently attended the APSCO CubeSat Competition (ACC) summer camp held in the historic city of Xi’an in China. CubeSats are a class of nano-satellites. The ACC summer camp was held between August 12 – 25, 2026.
The North South University research team was led by Dr. Shahnewaz Siddique from NSU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
During the summer camp, the NSU team attended hands-on training on the different subsystems of CubeSats, such as the onboard computer, control system, communication system, power system, structure integration, thermal management and ground station interfacing. The hands-on training was held on the campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University, a top ranked university in China.
University and graduate students in Korea are set to develop small satellites that will carry out diverse missions such as disaster monitoring and space environment observation. The completed satellites are scheduled to be launched into space aboard the Nuri rocket.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) announced on the 22nd that it has selected a total of seven teams — five in the junior category and two in the senior category — that will begin satellite development in the “7th Small (Cube) Satellite Competition.”
The Small (Cube) Satellite Competition is an event where university and graduate students form teams with their academic advisors to propose satellite missions and designs, and the selected teams then participate in actual satellite development. The junior category focuses on creative satellites that perform a single mission, while the senior category develops satellites that carry out multiple complex missions.
Korea Aerospace University will develop a next-generation small satellite that navigates space using the pressure of sunlight without propellant and autonomously leaves orbit when its mission ends, and launch it aboard Nuri (KSLV-II) in October 2028.
Korea Aerospace University said on the 22nd that a research team led by Professor Noh Jin-ho of its Space Engineering program (KAUSAIL) had been selected in the beginner category of the 7th CubeSat Competition, hosted by the Korea AeroSpace Administration and organized by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and had received its certificate of selection at a ceremony held on the 22nd at the KT Human Resources Development Center in Daejeon.
The selected satellite, KAUSAIL-D1, is a 3U CubeSat measuring approximately 30 centimeters. Once in orbit, it will deploy a large solar sail measuring 3 meters by 3 meters. Its primary mission is to demonstrate a next-generation space propulsion technology that uses the tiny pressure created when sunlight strikes an object’s surface to move through orbit without fuel.
** Canadian Aleasat student designed and built CubeSat tested at ESA facilities such as a large vacuum and vibration
The ESA Academy is offering student teams support with the preparation and execution of environmental testing of their student designed and built hardware through dedicated access to the CubeSat Support Facility (CSF). The Test Opportunities programme is an educational opportunity for University or other tertiary education institution student teams from an eligible state who would like to receive support and training in conducting an environmental test campaign. This opportunity is a response to the ESA Agenda 2025 ‘Open labs’ action, where ESA Education opens up access to its testing facilities and enables sharing of technical competences to support, through the training of students, the enhancement of European industrial competitiveness.
ALEASAT is a student-built CubeSat developed by students from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Canada. As part of their participation in the Fly Your Satellite! programme, the team travelled to ESA’s CubeSat Support Facility to subject several key spacecraft elements to a comprehensive environmental test campaign.
The campaign was particularly ambitious, spanning three consecutive weeks of testing and combining multiple test activities. During the first two weeks, vibration and thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing were conducted in parallel, requiring the team to prepare and operate multiple subsystems while managing different test procedures, functional checks and inspection activities.
** More articles about student space projects:
Aerospace Engineering Student Yang Jun-young (Class of 2022) Successfully Launches GBSAT CubeSat Aboard the Fifth Nuri Rocket | KAU News – Oct.28.2026 – “On October 7, at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, eyes remained fixed on the screens long after the Nuri rocket rose into the sky. Once the rocket reached its target orbit, it deployed CubeSats two at a time into space, and finally, the deployment of GBSAT was confirmed. Yang Jun-young, a fourth-year student in Aerospace Engineering and the project manager (PM) of GBSAT, was on standby inside the center to witness the moment. Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. GBSAT began when seven alumni of Gyeonggi Buk Science High School reunited after enrolling at Korea Aerospace University, KAIST, DGIST, Seoul National University, and GIST. They entered the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s CubeSat competition as first-year undergraduate students, even though the competition had traditionally been dominated by university research laboratories. Their efforts earned them the opportunity to launch their satellite aboard the Nuri rocket…“
After School STEM Programme, Dassault Foundation Expands Space Education Pipeline to Universities | Business Upturn – Sept.15.2026 – “La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, India is linking school-level aerospace education with university and industry-readiness programmes as part of its broader effort to develop talent for India’s space ecosystem. The foundation has concluded its “My First Aerospace Program”, a multi-city initiative that introduced 150 students aged 13–16 in Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram and Pune to practical aerospace projects.“
Binar-567 CubeSat trio set for launch in Q4 2026 | SPACE & DEFENSE – Aug.31.2026 – “Binar-5 will carry student-designed payloads developed through the BinarX Student Payload Development Program, aimed at giving Western Australian high school students the chance to run experiments in space as part of a satellite mission.“
Cal Poly’s CP3 CubeSat Still in Orbit 19 Years After 2007 Dnepr Launch | KeepTrack – Oct.28.2026 – “CP3 is a single-unit CubeSat built and operated by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), the school that wrote the CubeSat standard. It is a 10 cm box with a deployed antenna, a dry mass of 1 kg, and power from solar cells and batteries. It carries no propulsion. It launched on April 17, 2007, aboard a Russian Dnepr from Baikonur. More than 19 years later it is still in orbit and still tracked, about 617 km at its lowest point and 742 km at its highest. Even with no thrusters to hold it there, it has stayed up nearly two decades. Its drag-driven decay is slow enough to measure in meters per day.“
From Oct 1st to Oct. 7th, there were 11 people on the ISS after Crew-13 arrived. Then SpaceX Crew-12 – Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Andrei Fedyaev (Russia) and Sophie Adenot (Europe) – let the station on Oct. 7th in a Dragon and landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angles on Oct. 8th.
— NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 docks with the International Space Station in record-breaking time | VideoFromSpace – Oct.1.2026
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the Crew-13 crew docked with the International Space Station 7 hours and 55 minutes after launch, a new U.S. record.
Crew-13 is NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins (commander) and Luke Delaney (pilot), joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialists.
The quickest docking to the ISS was made by Russia’s Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft in 2020 at 3 hours and 3 minutes
— NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 enters space station after docking | VideoFromSpace – Oct.1.2026
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the Crew-13 crew docked with the International Space Station 7 hours 55 minutes after launch, a new U.S. record.
Crew-13 is NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins (commander) and Luke Delaney (pilot), joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialists.
The ISS crew welcomed them aboard a few hours after docking.
** NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 undocks from International Space Station | VideoFromSpace – Oct.7.2026
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts undocked from the International Space Station and begin their journey home on Oct. 7, 2026.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev departed the space station aboard their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft following their nearly 8 month mission in orbit.
** Astronaut Discusses Life in Space with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital– September 28, 2026 | NASA Video
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 75 flight engineer Anil Menon of NASA, discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview Sept. 28 with St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis. Menon is in the midst of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
For ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, her first steps into space were only the beginning.
In less than 15 days, she performed three extravehicular activities, or EVAs, spending 19 hours and 42 minutes outside the International Space Station.
Across three demanding spacewalks, Sophie and her crewmates replaced critical Station hardware, installed a new communications antenna, carried out maintenance, and prepared experiments for future work, all while adapting to the challenges of working in the extreme environment of space.
From her very first spacewalk to leading her third as EV1, Sophie demonstrated what it takes to work beyond Earth: technical skill, perseverance, adaptability, and trust in the teams supporting you.
Axiom Space today provided an update on its orbital compute strategy, highlighting progress on its Axiom Resilient Compute (ARC) platform, a step toward a distributed model for space-based workload orchestration, AI/ML processing, and post-quantum secure communications.
Axiom Space currently operates two ARCs on orbit, launched earlier this year as part of Kepler Communications’ optical data relay satellite constellation and developed with granted funds from the Texas Space Commission. The company has confirmed ARC-to-ARC and ARC-to-ground communications and separately completed a ground demonstration in which a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) encrypted workload was successfully migrated, early proof of securing compute at the edge of the network, in space or on Earth.
“Satellite sensor and operations systems generate more data than communication systems can transmit to ground stations during an orbit,” said Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President of Axiom Space. “The capacity to generate space-based data will only increase, and the solution isn’t just more bandwidth, it’s less dependence on bandwidth in the first place, by securely processing data close to where it’s captured. That’s the problem ARC exists to solve.”
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Axiom Space is building the infrastructure that government and commercial customers need for advanced space-based capabilities, including orbital compute. At #IAC2026 we announced progress on Axiom Resilient Compute alongside @KeplerComms.
“Satellite sensor and operations systems generate more data than communication systems can transmit to ground stations during an orbit. The capacity to generate space-based data will only increase, and the solution isn’t just more bandwidth; it’s less dependence on bandwidth in the first place, by securely processing data close to where it’s captured. That’s the problem ARC exists to solve.” – Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President, Axiom Space
Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a global leader in space and defense technology solutions, today announced it has been awarded a contract by Axiom Space, a leader in next-generation space infrastructure, to develop and deliver two Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) wings for Axiom Station’s second space station module.
As previously announced, Redwire is also building the ROSA wings for AxiomSpace’s first space station module.
“We are excited and grateful for the opportunity to provide Axiom Space with additional ROSAs,” said Mike Gold, President of Redwire Space. “The unparalleled track record of ROSA supporting the International Space Station (ISS) in low-Earth orbit (LEO) make it the ideal system to provide the robust power needed to support Axiom Space’s global customers and pioneering commercial space station, Axiom Station. At Redwire, we’re committed to leveraging our proven, heritage systems such as ROSA – with its 100-percent success rate in a wide variety of space environments from LEO, to GEO, and beyond – to be a part of Axiom Space’s mission to revolutionize both space and life on Earth via microgravity research, development, and manufacturing.”
Axiom Station will provide a permanent commercial platform in LEO where nations around the world can conduct microgravity research, develop and eventually manufacture commercial products to return to Earth, and access space uninterrupted, through human spaceflight missions.
The MoU emphasizes the importance of international collaboration and commercial innovation in space and seeks to broaden cooperation for sustained European access to low-Earth orbit (LEO), enabling an evolving space ecosystem.
“The path to a sustainable human presence in space runs through international collaboration — reliable supply chains, shared innovation, and partners who bring real capability,” said Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and President of Axiom Space. “Europe’s contributions to microgravity science and deep space technology make ESA exactly that kind of partner. This MoU strengthens our work together, and we look forward to ESA and its member states joining us as customers for future astronaut missions.”
Together, the two organizations will explore cooperation on the development of space infrastructure, research, and commercial activities in LEO, including the potential for future astronaut missions onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and Axiom Station and the use of European Cargo Return service and potentially a European Crew Vehicle as part of the transportation system to support operations of the Axiom Station.
Gravitics was founded in 2021 by CEO Colin Doughan, chief architect Gary Hudson and chief marketing officer Michael DeRosa. Over the past five years, it has secured some high-profile contracts for the design and manufacture of orbital carriers and space station modules.
Although Gravitics hasn’t yet put any spacecraft in orbit, several projects are underway. In 2024, the company won a $125 million contract from Axiom Space to provide a pressurized module for Axiom’s yet-to-be-launched space station. Last month, NASA said it would issue an award of up to $225,000 to support Gravitics’ work on a hangar facility for orbital cargo vehicles.
Max Space, Inc., a U.S.-headquartered space infrastructure company developing next-generation expandable habitats, today announced it has been selected for NASA funding through the agency’s Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) program. The work will accelerate testing of Max Space’s expandable habitat technology for future human lunar surface applications.
The award comes as NASA and the United States shift from returning astronauts to the Moon to building the infrastructure required to stay there. Artemis and NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture point toward a future defined by sustained lunar operations, surface logistics, power, mobility, science, and habitation. In that future, pressurized volume is not a luxury. It is the place where astronauts live, work, recover, conduct science, manage operations, and build the first enduring foothold beyond Earth.
“America’s next great space milestone will not be a footprint. It will be permanence,” said Saleem Miyan, Co-founder and CEO of Max Space. “NASA’s lunar strategy makes clear that the Moon is becoming an infrastructure mission. Habitats are central to that mission, and this ACO award advancesone of the hardest and most important capabilities required: large, safe, affordable volume that can launch compact and expand where it is needed.”
Max Space was created to solve a fundamental constraint in human exploration: conventional rigid structures do not scale efficiently to the volume astronauts need for long-duration life and work. The company’s expandable architecture is designed to launch compact, reduce mass and packaging burden, and deploy into large pressurized environments on orbit, on the Moon, and eventually on Mars
Launch isn’t the limiting factor for on-orbit research anymore. Reusable rockets have cut launch costs 96% since 1960. What the space economy needs now is the commercial pipeline to utilize it. The Voyager Institute of Science, Technology, and Advancement (VISTA) is purpose-built to meet that challenge.
Read the full story to see how VISTA is enabling a real pathway to orbit at https://t.co/lAnlYQwjfh
Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) signed a contract with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space to manage Symphony Biosciences’ biopolymer cancer implant experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The contract underscores the continued demand for access to low-Earth orbit for biopharmaceutical research.
“Our mission management service exists to clear the obstacles between breakthrough research and low-Earth orbit,” said Scott Rodriguez, vice president, Government Programs, Voyager. “Microgravity provides a cancer research environment where tumor cells form complex, three-dimensional structures that are obscured in Earth cultures, and our role is to make sure nothing stands between companies like Symphony Biosciences and unlocking better ways to fight cancer and improve life on Earth.”
Under the contract, Voyager will adapt Symphony Biosciences’ sample hardware to station equipment, ensure the clearing of NASA safety reviews and manage integration and stowage for launch. From the Voyager mission operations room, mission managers will oversee on-orbit operations like incubation and fluorescence reading, including assisting astronauts in running the experiment. When the study concludes, Voyager will return all samples and data, as well as provide post-flight and close-out reporting.
The research focuses on testing SymphNode, a device designed to restore the body’s immune response under immunosuppressive conditions, recruiting and activating a patient’s T cells to fight their cancer. The study aboard the ISS is looking to replicate the in vitro studies done on Earth with human T cells and tumor cells to assess the efficacy of immune cells that were trained in SymphNode.
Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) and Exobiosphere today announced two additional research campaigns aboard the International Space Station, expanding an agreement that is turning commercial biotech research in microgravity into a recurring, schedulable service rather than a one-off opportunity.
Exobiosphere’s Orbital High-Throughput Screening in Microgravity (OHTS) platform, a mid-deck-locker-class system for automated drug screening, is scheduled for installation aboard the ISS in April 2027. These two new campaigns follow in quick succession: the first launching on an ISS Program Commercial Resupply Services mission in June 2027, the second in the August–September 2027 timeframe. The two customers span different institutions and different scientific objectives, all running on the same platform and the same station. Voyager Europe will be responsible for mission management under the companies’ existing master services agreement.
“Every one of these missions matters to the researchers behind it, and together they tell us something important about where this industry is heading,” said Matt Magaña, president of Space, Defense and National Security, Voyager. “When multiple organizations with unrelated science cases book time on the same orbital platform inside a single year, that is a healthy market behaving as it should. Commercial research in low-Earth orbit is becoming something customers plan around, and we intend to make that access routine.”
During the 77th International Astronautical Congress, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Vast, a company developing next-generation space infrastructure, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding collaboration between the two parties and development of a framework to work together ahead of the upcoming end of service of the International Space Station (ISS).
This MoU replaces the previous MoU that ESA and Vast signed at ILA Berlin in June 2024 and broadens their cooperation in human spaceflight, science, technology, and commercialization. It runs for an initial three years, starting with a joint feasibility study of research and utilization opportunities for Europe on Haven space stations, intended to produce a shared roadmap for future cooperation.
Vast, the company building next-generation space infrastructure, today announced that it has established a Lunar Programs division. Leveraging its commercial space station and satellite development heritage, Vast Lunar Programs is dedicated to helping advance NASA’s vision for a permanently crewed Moon Base.
Vast’s Haven‑1 is targeted to be the world’s first commercial space station, with launch anticipated in 2027, and is currently in final integration in the clean room at Vast headquarters in Long Beach, California. By building upon the technologies, systems, and operational experience developed through the Haven‑1 program, Vast is developing a scalable path toward lunar infrastructure, scientific discovery, and long‑term human exploration.
In the coming years, NASA plans to ramp up lunar activity, working with American industry to continuously deliver payloads to the lunar surface and to lunar orbit. Through its experience building large, crew‑rated space infrastructure, life support systems, thermal control systems, avionics, power systems, and habitats, Vast is positioning itself to rapidly meet the demands of NASA’s Moon Base program.
“Vast has the manufacturing capability, flight heritage, and technical expertise needed to help build humanity’s first lunar outpost,” said Max Haot, CEO of Vast. “By vertically integrating the engineering, manufacturing, and testing of habitats and infrastructure, Vast can move with the speed, efficiency, and safety that this national imperative demands.”
Consistent with Vast’s stepping‑stone approach, Vast proposes a hardware-driven roadmap aligned with NASA’s vision for a phased, iterative Moon Base designed to build capability over time….
Astronauts Thomas Pesquet (France), Aleš Svoboda (Czech Republic), and Adrianos Golemis (Greece) are part of Vast’s first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Launching no earlier than summer 2027, the four-person crew will spend two weeks aboard the station conducting science research. This will be NASA’s sixth commercial private astronaut mission.
Vast is building next-generation space infrastructure, including Haven-1, targeted to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches in 2027. The first astronaut for that mission, Arnaud Prost of France, was announced in June 2026. To learn more about Vast, head to https://www.vastspace.com.
At the International Space Summit in Paris, France, the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, joined the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on stage to announce that the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of Greece, has signed an agreement with Vast for the Vast-PAM-1 mission to the International Space Station in partnership with NASA. The mission is expected to be Greece’s first crewed mission to space, sending the first Greek citizen to orbit.
Subject to Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP) review and approval, Dr. Adrianos Golemis, who has worked as a flight surgeon for ESA, will serve as Mission Specialist. The MCOP’s decisions are reached through a consensus among representatives from all five space station partners: NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. Pending approval, Golemis will become the first Greek astronaut to conduct a mission on the International Space Station.
Human-centric design sits at the heart of how Vast builds next-generation space stations for America and its allies, starting with Haven-1, set to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches in 2027. Throughout Haven-1’s design and its ongoing integration, Vast’s Astronaut Advisors have worked side by side with our industrial design and engineering teams to make sure every crew-facing system is safe, intuitive, and built for the realities of microgravity. Collectively, those advisors have spent more than 1,000 days living and working in space, and that experience shapes decisions down to the smallest detail.
Human-in-the-loop evaluations are an important engineering practice used across the aerospace industry and throughout NASA’s human spaceflight programs to test flight-representative hardware, software, and procedures with real people, ensuring designs are built around human capabilities and limitations.
At Vast, we’re conducting human-in-the-loop evaluations with high-fidelity, full-scale models of all the systems that the crew will interact with on Haven-1. This hardware-rich, iterative approach to space station design reduces technical risk and improves crew safety, health, and productivity on orbit.
“When you’ve lived and worked in space, you understand that microgravity changes everything: the way you move, the way you eat, even the way you sleep,” said Megan McArthur, former NASA astronaut and a Vast Astronaut Advisor who has spent 213 days in space. “Crew well-being and comfort are closely tied to safety, efficiency, and productivity. The fact that Vast is able to build the spacecraft, test the systems with spaceflight-experienced crew, and train the astronauts all under one roof makes me confident that we are well on track for human spaceflight in 2027.”
** More commercial space station news, articles, etc:
** Shenzhou-23 Crew Conducts Science, Health Checks Aboard Tiangong Space Station | CCTV Video News Agency – Sept.20.2026
The China Manned Space Agency on September 20 released its weekly update on the Shenzhou-23 mission, reporting that the crew has continued scientific research, platform maintenance and health monitoring aboard the Tiangong space station.
Quick Summary: The Sunday Space Show featured Jules Ross, founder of Jules Space Technology, along with cohost John Jossy, discussing the company’s development of Space Station EO, a commercial LEO platform designed to provide artificial gravity and microgravity environments. Jules explained the station’s design, focusing on human-friendly features like immersive rooms, private quarters, and a closed-loop shower system. He detailed the power generation concept using the station’s rotational energy and addressed questions about radiation shielding, assembly, and economic models. The conversation also covered the challenges of transportation to and from the station, with Jules advocating for space planes over traditional capsules. Other participants, including John Jossy, Manuel Cuba, Joe Carroll, and Marshall Martin, asked technical questions about the station’s mechanics, power system, and market viability. The discussion touched on the broader space industry, including the potential retirement of Falcon 9 and Dragon, and the need for frequent, safe access to space to enable new markets.
The Space Show Presents Jules Ross on space station design, artificial gravity & microgravity. by Dr. David M. Livingston
This was a Space Show program featured Dale Skran, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Space Society, discussing the NSS Orbital Space Settlement Design Project. John Jossy acted as the co-host for this program. Dale explained how the project uses the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standardization methodology to design the first orbital space settlement, with a focus on a rotating 1G settlement accommodating approximately 1,000 people in the Earth-Moon system. The project has a five-year timeline and involves creating recommendations that would allow someone skilled in the art to build the settlement, with plans for a workshop in October 2026 in Florida. The discussion covered key technical questions including population size, mental health considerations, agricultural systems, and the need for pets, as well as economic models, location options, and regulatory aspects under the Outer Space Treaty. Participants raised questions about collaboration with commercial LEO destinations, building methods, and the project’s potential impact on space industry development.
The Space Show Presents Dale Skran Discussing the NSS Orbital Space Settlement Design Project with Co-host John Jossy. by Dr. David M. Livingston
The Space Show featured George Tyson, CEO of Orbital Construction Pioneers, discussing his company’s concept for building large orbital structures using additive manufacturing with bio-based materials, primarily plant-based epoxies and fillers like hemp. He detailed the “First Step” project, which aims to create a rotating disk-shaped space station called Station 520, with initial construction relying on materials grown and processed in orbit. Tyson explained the current research phase, focusing on material testing and 3D printing technology, and mentioned partnerships such as with Exo Scientific for life support systems. The conversation covered technical aspects like structural design, launch costs, regulatory considerations, and the long-term goal of establishing an Earth-independent space economy. Tyson also introduced the Interplanetary Regen Network (IRN), a proposed consortium to collaborate on space development. The discussion included questions from co-host John Jossy and other participants about feasibility, timelines, and potential applications of the technology.
No aim is too high. No journey is too far. No challenge is too tough.
Since NASA announced plans for a Moon Base in March 2026, work has been moving quickly to turn an ambitious vision into reality. From identifying commercial partners to sending humans around the Moon for the first time in decades, we are advancing the missions, technologies, and capabilities that will help build humanity’s first lunar outpost.
From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible.
On episode 436, NASA’s Moon Base program manager Carlos García-Galán discusses how NASA is building humanity’s first Moon Base and establishing a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. This episode was recorded August 14, 2026.
As humanity moves towards establishing a permanent presence on the moon, SpaceNews and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., brought together leaders from NASA, the commercial space sector, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab to discuss how they’re approaching the spaceflight, engineering, and human challenges that lie ahead.
Featured Speakers:
Shatel Bhakta, principal systems engineer for moon base, NASA
Wes Fuhrman, lunar/cislunar technologist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Jaret Matthews, founder & CEO, Astrolab
Farah Zuberi, director of spacecraft mission management, Firefly Aerospace
** Can NASA Jump Start a Moon Base? – Intrepid Museum Astro Live | NASASpaceflight.com – Aug.16.2026
More than fifty years after humans first set foot on the Moon, NASA is preparing for an even greater challenge: staying there. As the Artemis campaign returns astronauts to the Moon, NASA is building on decades of experience living and working in space to develop the technologies, operations, and infrastructure needed to support longer and more complex missions on the lunar surface.
At NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, teams that have supported astronauts aboard the International Space Station for 25 years are applying that experience to a new era of lunar exploration. From integrating payloads and supporting Artemis missions to developing new technologies and exploring concepts for lunar habitats, their work is helping lay the groundwork for humans to live, work, and conduct science on the Moon.
Join us for a conversation with Taylor Goodwin from NASA’s Human Exploration Development and Operations (HEDO) Office as we explore what it will take to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, how lessons learned aboard the International Space Station are shaping Artemis, and the steps that could one day turn a Moon base from concept into reality.
** The Questions We Need To Answer, The Solutions We Must Find for Moon To Mars | Scott Manley
Last month I spent a few hours talking with scientists at Science Systems and Applications Inc. about their work, both their internal projects within SSAI and their support for NASA projects and the broader Moon to Mars Architecture.
We talk about exploring the moon using spacecraft that were designed to study the earth. Evidence for water on the moon and proposals to study the flows of water around the surface. Space weather hazards. Asteroid impacts and impacting asteroids and why Mars needs a weather forecast if we’re really going to explore it.
Interviewees: Oreste Reale – Chief Corporate Scientist Ryan Ihnacik Nick Gorkavyi Guiallme Gronoff Gal Sarid
Sponsored by SSAI https://www.ssaihq.com/scientific-res…
0:00 Intro 0:24 Chief Corporate Scientist Oreste Reale 5:11 Ryan Ihnacik: Moon To Mars 14:30 Nick Gorkavyi: DSCOVR Lunar Minerals 19:28 Guillaume Gronoff: Lunar Water Cycle 22:48 Nick Gorkavyi: Rivers on the Moon? 27:36 Nick Gorkavyi: Cheylabinsk 30:27 Gal Sarid: DART Mission 37:06 Guillaume Gronoff: Space Weather 43:02 Oreste Reale: Mars Weather Forecasting 52:34 Is Moon To Mars The Right Choice?
** The Next Steps to Becoming a Space-Faring Civilization – Richard Campbell – NDC Sydney 2026 | NDC Conferences
What will it take for humanity to become a space-faring civilization?
Join Richard Campbell as he talks about the near-term technologies that are moving this idea closer to reality. The first problem is getting up there – and improvements in rocket design have substantially lowered the cost of access to space. Then the question – what do we do up there? And how do we stay? And is that even possible in the long term? Why bother being a space-faring civilization?
=== Other space habitat and settlement news and articles:
ISS in Real Time – “Explore 25 years onboard the International Space Station. This multimedia project replays every day of the past 25 years onboard and consists entirely of historical mission material.”
** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) | NASA
Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.
The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8
Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov
Check out the night sky during October 2026. Here are videos and links to websites highlighting the month’s top sights, including a bright Saturn, meteor showers, and more.
** What’s Up: October 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA | NASA JPL
Saturn takes center stage, a meteor shower lights up the sky, and the Moon visits the Seven Sisters.
On October 4, Saturn reaches opposition, giving skywatchers one of the year’s best opportunities to see the ringed planet. In addition, learn about a 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn’s south pole that was recently revealed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
The Orionid meteor shower peaks October 21-22. Debris from Halley’s Comet produces the meteors, but this year, a bright Moon will obscure some of the fainter streaks. The best viewing chances will likely be the hours before dawn, after the Moon sets.
Then, on October 27-28, look east in the evening for the Moon passing close to the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. The star cluster is visible to the unaided eye and even more spectacular through binoculars.
0:00 Intro 0:10 Saturn at Opposition 0:30 Saturn’s South Pole Decagon 1:01 The Orionids Peak 1:39 The Pleiades aka Seven Sisters 2:20 Phases of the Moon
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/.
This episode takes you on a tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during October. The spotlight is on Saturn, which can be seen all night, and a fantastic occultation of Jupiter by the Moon. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.
Check out the night sky this month, September 2026. Here are videos and links to websites highlighting the top sights to observe.
** What’s Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA | NASA JPL
The Moon joins a tea party, Venus reaches peak brilliance, the seasons change, and the Harvest Moon meets up with some planetary neighbors.
From September 14 through 20, use the Moon as a guide to spot Antares, the Teapot asterism, and – under especially dark skies – the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
On September 18, look low in the west shortly after sunset as Venus reaches peak brilliance for this evening appearance.
On September 19, celebrate International Observe the Moon Night! People around the world are invited to look up and connect with our nearest celestial neighbor while learning more about lunar science, exploration, and the many ways the moon has shaped cultures around the world.
The September equinox arrives on September 22, marking the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
Then on September 26, the Harvest Moon rises near Saturn, with faint Neptune completing a wide triangle in the sky. Saturn is visible to the unaided eye, while Neptune requires binoculars or a telescope.
0:00 Intro 0:12 Moon near Antares and the Teapot 1:02 Venus reaches peak brilliance 1:49 September equinox 2:13 Harvest Moon, Saturn and Neptune 2:50 Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/.
Sky chart view of the west just after sunset on Sept.18.2026. Credits: NASA/JPL
As the dark skies of autumn return, astronomers Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel reveal the best things to see in the night sky, from the 2026 Harvest Moon to planets, stars, constellations and deep-sky objects.
This episode takes you on a tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during September. First, we’ll check out this month’s equinox and Harvest Moon; then we’ll track down the bright planets, explore some lesser-known constellations, and bounce around the Summer Triangle. It’s a great introduction to the late-summer sky. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.
** September 2026 Night Sky: Moon Covers Jupiter & Venus + The Trifid Nebula | Late Night Astronomy
Wondering what you can see in the night sky the September? This monthly guide covers the Moon moving in front of Jupiter and Venus, a pair of comets and the Trifid Nebula.
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Timestamps: 0:00 Lunar Occultation of Jupiter 1:25 Lunar Occultation of Venus 2:23 Comet 220P/McNaught 3:05 Comet Tempel 2 3:35 Wosports Ad 4:54 Lunar Phases 5:34 The Planets 7:15 Deep Sky Challenge
