Space Business News
May 02, 2026
GPS NEWS
Camera-only navigation system cuts localization drift by up to 95 percent without GPS or LiDAR



Tokyo (SPX) May 01, 2026
Researchers from Wuhan University and Chongqing University have developed a monocular camera localization system that uses prebuilt colored point cloud maps to sharply reduce navigation drift in environments where Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are unavailable, achieving absolute trajectory error reductions of 52 to 95 percent over leading existing methods. The work, published April 20, 2026 in Satellite Navigation, addresses a persistent weakness in visual odometry (VO) - the ... read more

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SPACE MEDICINE
Fruit flies survive, reproduce and recover under gravitational forces up to 13G in UC Riverside centrifuge study
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
Fruit flies subjected to gravitational forces many times stronger than Earth's pull not only survived but mated, reproduced, and eventually returned to normal behavior, according to new research fro ... more
UAV NEWS
Reliable Robotics Pursues FAA Certification for Network-Agnostic UAS Datalink System
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
Reliable Robotics is advancing the certifiability of its safety-critical command-and-control datalink system for uncrewed aircraft, using industry collaboration, standards work, and active flight te ... more
UAV NEWS
ThinKom Develops Self-Funded Mobile HPM Weapon to Counter Drone Swarms
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
ThinKom Solutions has unveiled Alecto, a self-funded, mobile high-power microwave (HPM) directed energy weapon designed to defeat unmanned aircraft system (UAS) swarms. Based in Hawthorne, Californi ... more
GPS NEWS
Lockheed Martin Reaches Core Mate Milestone on First GPS IIIF Satellite Slated for Launch
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Lockheed Martin has completed the core mate production phase for GPS IIIF Space Vehicle 11 (SV11), the manufacturing milestone that formally marks a satellite's structural birth. SV11 is the first G ... more
ROCKET SCIENCE
Ariane 6 Flies Four-Booster Config Again on Amazon Satellite Mission
London, UK (SPX) Apr 28, 2026
Ariane 6 is set to fly in its maximum four-booster configuration for the second time, carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites to low Earth orbit on flight VA268. Liftoff is scheduled for 30 April 2026 bet ... more
ROCKET SCIENCE
Space Rider Heat Shield and Steering Flaps Pass Plasma Wind Tunnel Trials
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Ceramic tiles and control flaps from Europe's Space Rider reentry module have successfully completed high-temperature testing in a plasma wind tunnel, clearing a major qualification hurdle for the r ... more
SPACE TRAVEL
Voyager 1 Loses Another Instrument As Power Margins Shrink Across Interstellar Space
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent commands on April 17 to shut down the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, known as the LECP, aboard Voyager 1. The move ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
Deep Learning Reconstructs 32 Years of Global Nighttime Light Data
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
A team of researchers from Fuzhou University, East China Normal University, Anhui Normal University, and Yunnan Normal University has developed a deep-learning framework to reconstruct a global, hig ... more

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SPACE MEDICINE
Freeze-Dried Synthetic Platelets Proven Shelf-Stable for Battlefield and Remote Trauma Care
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Platelets are the blood components that enable clotting and can be decisive in saving patients who are bleeding to death from traumatic injuries. Until now, donated platelets have been confined to h ... more
ENERGY TECH
Quantum Tunneling Drives Hydrogen Transport in Lanthanum Trihydride Near Practical Temperatures
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
For decades, ion transport in solids has been described as a classical barrier-climbing process, in which an ion must acquire sufficient activation energy to surmount an energy barrier before it can ... more
ENERGY TECH
US and Europe Lock In Decade-Long Stellarator Fusion Research Deal
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
A new 10-year project agreement will advance research on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator, an experimental fusion energy system, paving the way for continued collaboration between the U.S. Dep ... more
GPS NEWS
Halter Smart Cattle Collars Go Direct-To-Satellite Expanding Virtual Fencing To Remote Ranches
Boulder CO, US (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Halter has become the first virtual fencing provider to deliver direct-to-satellite connectivity through its smart cattle collars, eliminating the need for cell towers or on-ranch radio infrastructu ... more
ROCKET SCIENCE
JPL Team Ignites High-Power Lithium-Fed Electric Thruster Aimed at Human Mars Flights
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
A prototype lithium-fed magnetoplasmadynamic thruster was fired for the first time in years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, reaching power levels higher than any previous ... more
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DRAGON SPACE
China Moves To Deepen Commercial Space Sector With Focus On In-Space Manufacturing
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 28, 2026
The China National Space Administration has called for stronger support of commercial space development, with particular emphasis on emerging sectors including space-based computing power and in-spa ... more
ENERGY TECH
Superhot geothermal aims to power a next generation grid
Paris, France (SPX) Apr 23, 2026
Quaise Energy plans to use superhot geothermal resources to generate large amounts of firm, carbon free electricity from a small number of deep wells. The company reports that new modeling of a cand ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Biofilm communities seen as key to safer long term spaceflight
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
A global team of scientists has identified biofilms, the structured microbial communities that form on surfaces, as a critical yet underappreciated factor for the future of human space exploration. ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
LizzieSat 3 hosts HEO USA non Earth imaging payload in orbit
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
Sidus Space and HEO USA have reported a new on orbit imagery milestone with the Holmes Mk1 non Earth imaging camera operating aboard the LizzieSat 3 multi mission spacecraft. The mission has returne ... more
ROBO SPACE
Iowa State Researchers Develop Priority-Ranking Framework To Guide Robot Rule Conflicts
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
Researchers at Iowa State University have developed a formal framework that allows autonomous robots to rank and reconcile competing rules when following every rule simultaneously is impossible - a ... more
ROBO SPACE
Princeton Study Maps Raw Material Risks as Drone and Robot Output Scales Toward Millions of Units
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
A new study published in the Cell Press journal Chem Circularity warns that rapid growth in drone and autonomous robot manufacturing could strain global supply chains for a handful of critical raw m ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
ESA-SSTL Twin HydroGNSS Satellites Return Water Cycle Data During Commissioning
London, UK (SPX) Mar 16, 2026
Just three months after launch, the twin HydroGNSS satellites built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd for the European Space Agency are producing early science measurements, detecting water-linked ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
NISAR Radar Satellite Tracks Mexico City Ground Sinking at Over Half an Inch Per Month
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
The NISAR satellite has produced detailed radar maps of ground subsidence beneath Mexico City, showing parts of the metropolitan area sinking by more than half an inch - more than 2 centimeters - pe ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
UK and Saudi partners design climate focused Earth observation mission
London, UK (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
The University of Portsmouth, working within the Space South Central regional space cluster, has launched a new international partnership with Saudi space-tech company SARsatX to design an Earth obs ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
UK roadmap aims to bring space made medicines to patients
London, UK (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
Patients could benefit from more effective, higher quality and longer lasting medicines as the UK government sets out a clearer route to bring drugs manufactured in space safely to market. The packa ... more
ENERGY TECH
KIT spinoff develops photoreactor panel for direct solar hydrogen
Berlin (SPX) May 01, 2026
Photreon, a KIT spin-off, has developed a photoreactor panel that generates hydrogen directly from sunlight and water without electrolyzers or electrical power. 'We avoid the detour through el ... more
ENERGY TECH
Warwick Researchers Find Hidden Intermediate Materials With Uses in Solar Fuels and Batteries
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) May 01, 2026
Chemists at the University of Warwick have identified a series of previously unknown materials formed during the heating of molecular precursors, including a new structural form of bismuth vanadate, ... more
ROBO SPACE
AI Safety Guardrails Built For Chatbots Fail To Protect Humans From Robots
Los Angeles, CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2026
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Oxford argue in a new Science Robotics paper that the safety frameworks developed for AI chatbots ar ... more
UAV NEWS
China Moves To Convert Underused Airspace Into A New Industrial Growth Engine
Beijing, China (SPX) Apr 28, 2026
For decades, China's economic growth has largely unfolded on land - across factory floors, highways and ports. Now the country is turning its gaze upward. What was once empty airspace below co ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
Geomagnetic Reversal Trigger Mechanism Study Finds Dipole Field Bi-Stability in Dynamo Simulations
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 28, 2026
A team at Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, has published new magnetohydrodynamic simulation results demonstrating that ... more
ENERGY TECH
Tubular solid oxide fuel cells mapped for cleaner energy systems
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 30. 2026
A new review in the journal Energy and Environment Nexus examines how advances in the geometric design of tubular solid oxide fuel cells could speed their adoption in cleaner and more efficient ener ... more
ENERGY TECH
Carbon nanotube textile heaters push industrial gas systems toward electrification
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 30, 2026
A cross-disciplinary team at Rice University has developed a new type of electric heating element that uses carbon nanotube fibers to deliver high power in flowing gases while remaining lightweight ... more
UAV NEWS
Airspan extends 5G in motion to defense aerial networks
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
Airspan Networks Holdings LLC has expanded its In-Motion 5G platform from commercial air to ground deployments into defense-grade mobile ad hoc networks, high-altitude pseudo-satellite systems, and ... more
UAV NEWS
Hawk shape shifting in flight may guide future drone control
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 29, 2026
Birds can thread their way through cluttered environments by changing their body shape in flight, a capability that engineers still struggle to reproduce in uncrewed aerial vehicles such as drones. ... more
GPS NEWS
China Breaks Foreign Monopoly with Mass-Produced Fingernail-Sized Atomic Clock
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 26, 2026
China has achieved mass production of a chip-scale atomic clock the size of a fingernail that loses just one second every 30,000 years, a development with direct applications in low-Earth-orbit sate ... more
SPACE TRAVEL
China's First Commercial Space Standards Aim To Cut Costs and Unify Industry
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 26, 2026
China has released its first set of commercial space standards, marking a shift from an industry characterized by fragmented technical specifications to one with a shared regulatory framework. Yang ... more
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