SpaceFoxies: Space News and Space Community

Welcome to a captivating journey through the depths of the universe, where galaxies twinkle, stars explode, and distant worlds await our exploration. Astronomy, the science of celestial bodies and the cosmos, is one of humanity's oldest and most intriguing disciplines. In this article, we invite you to see the universe with fresh eyes and embark on a quest to discover the wonders of the cosmos.

In India, for the first time in the history of the country's space exploration, a satellite for the study of the Sun was launched on Saturday, just under a week after the first Indian lander landed near the South Pole of the Moon. The spacecraft Aditya-L1 is the latest mission of India's space program, and it lifted off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, South India, aboard a rocket around noon (local time). Its mission is to observe the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

With the Artemis program, the NASA aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time in more than five decades. Unlike the Apollo era, the focus is not on a single landing but on the step-by-step establishment of a sustainable human presence in lunar orbit and on the Moon’s surface. Artemis is designed as both a technology program and an exploration initiative, while also serving as preparation for future crewed missions to Mars.

With Artemis II, NASA completed one of the most important steps in modern spaceflight in early April 2026: for the first time since the Apollo missions, a crewed mission flew around the Moon again. The four-person crew launched on April 1, 2026, circled the Moon on a so-called free-return trajectory, and safely splashed down in the Pacific on April 10, 2026. The mission lasted 9 days, 1 hour, and 32 minutes and marks the transition from the testing phase to the next big question: What happens now?

Does China have its own space station? Yes — Tiangong is a major Chinese space station in orbit. Learn how large it is and how it compares with the ISS.

A new chapter in space exploration is unfolding, and this time the public is invited to take part. With Euclid Space Warps, volunteers around the world can help scientists search for rare cosmic phenomena known as strong gravitational lenses in real images from ESA’s Euclid space telescope. These warped galaxies, arcs, rings, and repeated images are more than beautiful distortions. They are clues to the hidden structure of the universe, including dark matter, dark energy, and the way gravity bends spacetime itself.

ESA’s ambitious Enceladus mission could launch in 2042 and search for signs of life beneath the icy surface of Saturn’s mysterious moon.

The NASA rover Perseverance has now successfully produced oxygen on Mars for the 16th and final time, surpassing the mission's expectations. This announcement comes from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the U.S. space agency. Since the activation of the Moxie instrument (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), 122 grams of oxygen have been produced. This is equivalent to what a small dog would breathe in over 10 hours, or approximately four hours of oxygen for an adult human. In total, Moxie generated 12 grams per hour, more than double the initially expected amount. The achieved purity level was at 98 percent or higher.

Space is no longer the exclusive playground of government agencies and billion-dollar corporations. Today, German start-ups are emerging as bold players in the global space industry, aiming to harness satellite data, build rockets, and develop innovative solutions for environmental protection, communication, and beyond.

Germany has joined the international "Artemis" initiative, becoming the 29th country to do so, in order to play a more significant role in the current lunar and Martian exploration efforts, primarily led by the United States. The Director-General of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Walther Pelzer, signed the agreement at the German Embassy in Washington. Pelzer emphasized that Germany and the United States have been "successful partners in space exploration for a long time." German space industry companies are already making a "significant contribution to NASA's Artemis program" for lunar landings. Pelzer stated that Germany's signing of the 'Artemis Accords' will provide new momentum to the joint effort to conduct space exploration programs.

Within our solar system, there exist numerous fascinating phenomena that pique the curiosity of scientists and space enthusiasts alike. One such phenomenon is the rings of the gas giant Jupiter. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into Jupiter's rings, their discovery history, their structure, possible causes, and most importantly, the question of how many rings Jupiter actually has.

Japan has successfully launched its new HTV-X cargo spacecraft on its first mission to the International Space Station (ISS), marking a major milestone in the nation’s space transportation program.

In Japan, on Thursday, the mini-probe Slim embarked on its journey toward the Moon. The launch took place at 8:42 a.m. local time (1:42 a.m. CEST) aboard a rocket from the Japanese Tanegashima Space Center in the southern part of the country, as shown in a live broadcast by the Japanese space agency. The launch, which had been postponed three times due to poor weather, was watched online by around 35,000 people.

Mars – our neighboring planet and the most promising target for humanity to establish an interplanetary civilization. For centuries, people have dreamed of visiting the Red Planet and even settling there one day. But only in the last few decades, thanks to modern space technology and ambitious plans from space agencies and private companies, has this dream moved closer to reality.

Mars has fascinated scientists and space enthusiasts for centuries. As our closest neighboring planet, it could one day become the destination for a manned mission or even a human colony. But what do we really know about the Red Planet?
In this article, you'll discover fascinating facts about Mars – from its size and gravity to its seasons, massive sandstorms, and the time it takes to travel there.

For years, scientists and space enthusiasts have been enthralled by the prospect of discovering life outside of Earth. NASA has now announced the finding of an Earth-like planet designated TOI 700e, which is located an amazing 100 light years distant from us. This finding has sent shockwaves through the scientific world, increasing the possibility that we have finally discovered a planet capable of hosting life. In this article, we'll go through the specifics of this amazing discovery. Would this revelation usher in a new age of scientific discovery and adventure, or will it endanger our very existence?

Since landing almost three months ago, NASA has faced challenges in opening the container holding soil samples from the asteroid "Bennu." While the braking parachute failed during the landing in the Utah desert, the main parachutes compensated for its absence. However, a new issue arises as the lid of the sample container cannot be fully opened due to two screws being unresponsive. Experts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston are attempting to retrieve at least part of the valuable cargo using forceps since the container cannot be fully opened. Additionally, there is material located outside the container.

A solar eclipse is usually something we wait years to see from Earth. ESA’s Proba-3 mission changes that idea completely. Instead of waiting for the Moon to block the Sun, Europe is using two spacecraft flying in perfect formation to create artificial solar eclipses in space. This allows scientists to observe the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere, the corona, in far greater detail — and it could help us better understand solar wind, space weather, and the storms that affect satellites, GPS, radio signals, and power grids on Earth.

It was a brief, intense puff. Then, dust and rocks that had remained untouched for billions of years were sent into the air. The collection of the rock sample from the asteroid Bennu, far out in space, lasted just five seconds. Following that, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent more than two years returning to Earth.

The mission of the "Luna-25" probe was meant to be a prestige project for the Russian space program. Moscow anticipated collecting soil samples and gaining further insights about the Moon. However, complications arise even before landing, leading to a crash.