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// technology and science news, explained
Space news: missions, launches, discoveries and the agencies and companies exploring the solar system and beyond.
Space Explainer
NASA picked SpaceX in June 2024 to build the craft that will steer the station into a remote stretch of ocean. Its launch is now planned for July 2029.
The satellite, operated by EUMETSAT, continues measurements begun in 1992 that show global sea level up more than 11.5 cm and rising faster.
A request issued October 29 seeks ideas to raise Hubble's orbit, upgrade it or bring it down safely. NASA expects it to re-enter in 2033 or 2034.
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus will each build two more Galileo G2 satellites for delivery in 2031, as Indra Space signs on to develop new ground stations.
Hera's camera split the Didymos pair into two asteroids from 1,280 km away. Close-ups of the asteroid NASA's DART hit in 2022 are due on November 25.
Space Explainer
Even thin air slows satellites in low Earth orbit, and an active Sun makes it worse. Here is how drag pulls spacecraft down, with Swift as the example.
Over 1,645 Martian days, NASA's rover measured dust particles as small as about 100 nanometers sticking to spacesuit samples, a hazard for future crews.
Headlines as each source published them, with links to the original releases.