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  • NASA's Artemis II Mission Advances Toward Historic Crewed Lunar Flight with Critical Wet Dress Rehearsal

    NASA's Artemis II Mission Advances Toward Historic Crewed Lunar Flight with Critical Wet Dress Rehearsal
    Feb 18 2026
    NASA's Artemis II mission is advancing toward its historic crewed lunar flight with a critical wet dress rehearsal underway. According to NASA's official mission blog, the agency is targeting Thursday, February 19, as the tanking day for the second wet dress rehearsal of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. This test involves loading approximately 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to simulate a complete launch countdown.

    The second rehearsal became necessary after the first attempt in early February encountered a liquid hydrogen leak during propellant loading. NASA's Kennedy Space Center teams spent the weekend replacing a suspected filter in ground support equipment that was reducing the flow of liquid hydrogen. Engineers have now reconnected the line with the new filter and are reestablishing proper environmental conditions for Thursday's test.

    According to NASA's latest updates, if the wet dress rehearsal is successful, Artemis II could launch as early as March 6, 2026. NASA has identified March 6 as the earliest viable launch date because it allows sufficient time for the second rehearsal, comprehensive data review, and transition of the launch pad, rocket, and spacecraft to launch operations. Additional launch opportunities are available throughout March, including March 7, 8, 9, and 11. If the mission cannot launch in March, backup dates in April have been identified as April 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 30.

    The Artemis II mission represents humanity's return to lunar exploration after more than five decades. Four astronauts will conduct a 10-day journey aboard the Orion spacecraft named Integrity. The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The mission will loop around the far side of the Moon, reaching approximately 230,000 miles from Earth, making it the farthest humans have traveled since the Apollo era ended in 1972.

    Meanwhile, NASA's Perseverance rover continues its work on Mars, with recent advancements in autonomous location pinpointing announced on February 18. Additionally, NASA announced in early January that it has selected industry proposals to advance technologies for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a future flagship space telescope designed to search for Earth-like planets around distant stars and potentially identify signs of extraterrestrial life.

    These developments underscore NASA's dual focus on near-term human spaceflight achievements and long-term exploration objectives that could fundamentally reshape humanity's understanding of our place in the universe.

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  • Artemis II Mission Advances Toward Historic Moon Journey

    Artemis II Mission Advances Toward Historic Moon Journey
    Feb 14 2026
    # Planetary Science News Script

    NASA's Artemis II lunar mission continues advancing toward its March launch window following critical testing this week. According to NASA's mission blog, engineers completed a confidence test on February 12th in which operators partially filled the Space Launch System core stage liquid hydrogen tank to assess newly replaced seals in the propellant fill area. The Adler Planetarium reports that NASA conducted a full wet dress rehearsal on February 2nd and 3rd, loading 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen aboard the SLS rocket for the first time. These tests represent crucial milestones as NASA prepares to send four astronauts on a journey around the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

    The Artemis II crew will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft named Integrity, venturing approximately 230,000 miles from Earth and 4,600 miles beyond the Moon's surface, making it the farthest humans have ever traveled. According to the Adler Planetarium, the crew includes Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will serve as mission specialist and experience his first spaceflight after previously serving as capcom, the voice between mission control and astronauts in space. The outbound trip from Earth will last about four days as the spacecraft loops around the far side of the Moon.

    While NASA continues eyeing March as the next potential launch opportunity, no confirmed launch date has been set pending completion of the wet dress rehearsal and data review. The Adler Planetarium indicates that if the mission cannot launch by March 10th at 11:48 PM Central Standard Time, the next available launch windows occur in April on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 30th. These particular dates ensure that Earth and the Moon are properly positioned in space for Integrity to reach its intended destination.

    Beyond lunar exploration, NASA announced new Earth system missions that will support future planetary science endeavors. NASA's selection of the STRIVE and EDGE missions will provide enhanced data on atmospheric conditions and surface topography, supporting longer-range weather forecasts and advancing understanding of extreme environments both on Earth and across the solar system. These missions are designed to assist in ensuring astronaut and spacecraft safety as NASA returns to the Moon through the Artemis campaign and prepares for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond.

    Current planetary observation opportunities abound this month as well, with Saturn descending toward the horizon while Venus and Mercury climb upward in the southwestern sky. Jupiter remains high in the night sky, and the distant planets Uranus and Neptune are visible with binoculars or telescopes, creating what NASA describes as a planetary parade across February's night skies.

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  • Unlocking Jupiter's Secrets: NASA's Juno Mission Redefines the Solar System's Largest Planet

    Unlocking Jupiter's Secrets: NASA's Juno Mission Redefines the Solar System's Largest Planet
    Feb 11 2026
    NASA's Juno mission has redefined the size and shape of Jupiter, revealing the solar system's largest planet is slightly smaller and more squashed than previously thought, according to data published in the February 2, 2026, issue of Nature Astronomy by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This insight from the ongoing Juno spacecraft, orbiting Jupiter since 2016, highlights how gravitational forces and rapid rotation flatten the gas giant, offering new models for planetary formation across the solar system.

    In lunar science advancements, NASA delayed the Step-2 proposal deadline for its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon program, or PRISM, to February 27, 2026. This extension, announced in ROSES-2025 Amendment 45, allows researchers to refine budgets and plans for science payloads targeting lunar south pole sites, excluding the north pole. These instruments will support planetary science, Earth science, and exploration goals, delivered via Commercial Lunar Payload Services landers, signaling growing momentum for sustained Moon investigations.

    Artemis II preparations underscore US leadership in planetary exploration. After a fuel test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida faced cold weather delays on February 2, NASA now eyes March for the next launch window, following repairs and data analysis. The mission will send four astronauts around the Moon, the first crewed lunar flyby since 1972, paving the way for Artemis III landings.

    Meanwhile, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory suspended most operations on February 11 to minimize atmospheric drag in low Earth orbit, preserving the spacecraft ahead of a summer reboost. This maneuver extends its gamma-ray burst detections, aiding planetary defense studies.

    Emerging patterns show intensified focus on precise planetary measurements and lunar access. Worldwide, skywatchers note February's planetary parade, with Jupiter brightest, alongside Venus, Saturn, Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune aligning by month's end, visible after sunset from US latitudes. These events, per NASA skywatching tips, coincide with US missions, fostering public engagement in planetary science amid budget pressures that spared key Earth observers like EDGE and STRIVE, indirectly benefiting planetary analogs.

    Such developments reveal a US-centric push toward Moon return and giant planet revelations, with global alignments enhancing observational insights.

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  • NASA Selects Advanced Earth System Explorers to Enhance Weather Forecasting and Lunar Exploration

    NASA Selects Advanced Earth System Explorers to Enhance Weather Forecasting and Lunar Exploration
    Feb 7 2026
    NASA has selected two advanced Earth System Explorers missions to enhance understanding of planetary environments and support future space exploration. The STRIVE mission, led by Lyatt Jaegle at the University of Washington in Seattle, will deliver daily high-resolution measurements of temperature, atmospheric elements, aerosols, ozone, and trace gases from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere. NASA reports this data will improve long-range weather forecasts, aiding coastal communities worldwide. The EDGE mission, headed by Helen Amanda Fricker at the University of California San Diego, will map three-dimensional structures of ecosystems, glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice, building on NASA's ICESat-2 and GEDI satellites to assess transportation corridors and commercial terrains. Each mission faces a confirmation review in 2027, with costs capped at 355 million dollars excluding launch, targeting no earlier than 2030.

    In lunar science advancements, NASA's Artemis II mission, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, completed a key fueling test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Cold weather delayed tanking on February 2, revealing a leak in the service module cavity during liquid hydrogen fast fill, but engineers met most objectives. NASA now targets March 2026 for launch, shifting from February windows like March 6 to 9, after data review and a second rehearsal. The crew, released from quarantine in Houston, will orbit Earth twice, circle the Moon at 8,000 kilometers, and splash down in the Pacific after 10 days, paving the way for Artemis III landings.

    Meanwhile, NASA's SPHEREx mission from Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California tracked the brightening of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its all-sky infrared mapping, offering insights into cosmic visitors. ROSES-2025 Amendment 45 extended the F.10 PRISM Step-2 deadline to February 27 for lunar surface payloads at sites like the South Pole, supporting planetary science, Earth science, and exploration goals via Commercial Lunar Payload Services landers.

    These developments highlight a pattern of integrated Earth and planetary observations informing Artemis campaigns, extreme environment studies for Moon and Mars safety, and growing international focus on lunar south pole resources, as discussed in recent U.S. delegations at the Vienna Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Scientific and Technical Subcommittee from February 2 to 13.

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  • NASA Secures Funding for Planetary Science, Prepares for Lunar Landings and Heliosphere Studies

    NASA Secures Funding for Planetary Science, Prepares for Lunar Landings and Heliosphere Studies
    Jan 31 2026
    NASA has secured stable funding for planetary science missions after Congress passed H.R. 6938 for fiscal year 2026, rejecting nearly all White House-proposed cuts and preserving key programs like Juno at Jupiter and New Horizons at the solar system's edge, according to the Planetary Society. This victory ensures continued operations for most space science efforts, though Mars Sample Return faced cancellation amid budget pressures.

    Planetary exploration accelerates with four NASA-backed lunar landing missions targeting 2026 launches, primarily from U.S. sites using SpaceX rockets. Astrobotic's Griffin 1, aboard Falcon Heavy, aims for the lunar south pole to prospect water ice with the FLIP rover, building on prior setbacks. Intuitive Machines' IM-3 heads to the Reiner Gamma region to study lunar magnetism and space weather effects on future habitats. Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1, launching on New Glenn, will test precision landing and plume interactions at the south pole, advancing Artemis goals. These missions counter international competition, especially from China, and highlight commercial partnerships enabling robust lunar strategies.

    NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe arrived at Lagrange point 1, one million miles sunward from Earth, on January 10, 2026, confirming its orbit for heliosphere studies. Meanwhile, the agency updated Artemis II preparations, delaying a critical Space Launch System fueling test at Kennedy Space Center due to freezing temperatures, pushing the crewed lunar flyby no earlier than February 8 from Florida.

    Challenges emerge as NASA plans to end formal support for planetary science advisory groups like the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, potentially reducing scientific input into decisions, SpaceNews reports. Amid this, Purdue University hosted its second Advancing Space Exploration Symposium on January 16 in Indiana, uniting experts on robotic and human missions with industry partners.

    These developments reveal patterns of fiscal resilience, commercial innovation driving lunar returns, and tensions between policy shifts and scientific continuity, positioning U.S. planetary science for sustained deep space progress.

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  • Headline: NASA Milestones and Discoveries Fuel Resurgence in U.S. Planetary Science

    Headline: NASA Milestones and Discoveries Fuel Resurgence in U.S. Planetary Science
    Jan 28 2026
    In the past week, United States planetary science has advanced with key NASA milestones and discoveries. NASA's Artemis Two mission rocket reached its launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after an overnight journey on January 19, according to ScienceDaily. Engineers there completed pre-fueling checks ahead of a test, staying on schedule for a potential liftoff as early as February 6, NASA reports. This crewed flight will loop astronauts around the Moon, building on decades of lunar research to study its surface and prepare for future landings.

    Congress delivered a major win by passing H.R. 6938, rejecting White House cuts to NASA funding for fiscal year 2026, as detailed in The Planetary Society's January newsletter. The bill preserves science programs, safeguarding missions like Juno at Jupiter and New Horizons at the solar system's edge. Only Mars Sample Return faced reduction, signaling strong bipartisan support amid threats of future budget battles.

    NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite reobserved Comet Three I slash Atlas from January 15 to 22, with data now public on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, NASA Science announces. Meanwhile, the Arcstone instrument wrapped its primary mission, boosting lunar calibration accuracy for better surface mapping.

    Discoveries abound too. An Earth-sized planet with a yearlong orbit was spotted, Science.org reports, while NASA's alert highlights a cool Earth-sized candidate transiting a K-dwarf star, hinting at icy worlds. The James Webb Space Telescope revealed distant platypus galaxies at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, as astrophysicist Becky Smethurst noted in her January 23 Night Sky News.

    Looking ahead, 2026 promises lunar landers from Intuitive Machines and Blue Origin, Mars arrivals for ESCAPADE satellites, and ESA's Hera at asteroid Didymos. These efforts reveal patterns of resilient funding, prolific small missions, and a push toward habitable exoplanets and solar system frontiers, underscoring a golden age of United States-led exploration.

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  • Soaring Exploration: NASA's Artemis, Congress' Funding Boost Fuel US Planetary Science Breakthroughs

    Soaring Exploration: NASA's Artemis, Congress' Funding Boost Fuel US Planetary Science Breakthroughs
    Jan 24 2026
    In the past week, United States planetary science has marked key milestones amid strong congressional support and preparations for deep space exploration. NASA's Artemis two crew entered quarantine this week ahead of their historic journey around the Moon, a critical step in returning humans to lunar orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA also selected ground stations and partners across the United States to track the mission, ensuring real-time communication from locations like California and Texas.

    Congress passed H.R. six nine three eight this month, restoring near full funding for NASA science after proposed cuts threatened dozens of missions. According to The Planetary Society's Planetary Radio, this bipartisan victory protects planetary science programs alongside astrophysics, Earth science, and heliophysics, providing twenty-seven point five billion dollars or more for fiscal year twenty twenty-six, adjusted for inflation the largest NASA budget in thirty years. Advocates from all fifty states and over one hundred countries influenced lawmakers through unprecedented grassroots efforts, highlighting planetary science's value. The budget safeguards upcoming launches like Dragonfly to Titan, NEO Surveyor for near-Earth objects, and early work on the Habitable Worlds Observatory, while funding Mars sample return redesigns despite past challenges.

    NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, known as Maven, awaits recontact after the Mars solar conjunction ended January sixteenth, with engineers in California poised to resume operations studying the red planet's atmosphere loss. On the surface, Curiosity rover continues analyzing Gale Crater's geology.

    Worldwide, patterns emerge of accelerating lunar and planetary missions. Firefly Aerospace plans Blue Ghost Mission two for November, landing NASA's LuSEE-Night radio telescope on the Moon's far side. Intuitive Machines targets its third Nova C lander in late twenty twenty-six from Florida, carrying NASA and international payloads. Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark one pathfinder nears uncrewed lunar debut on New Glenn. Japan's MMX mission and NASA's ESCAPADE twins prepare Mars launches this fall, probing moons and solar wind stripping.

    These developments signal robust recovery for United States planetary science, with stable funding enabling a pipeline of lunar landers, Mars explorers, and solar system probes, fostering insights into habitable worlds and cosmic origins.

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  • Artemis II Readies for Historic February Launch as NASA's Budget Bolsters Planetary Exploration

    Artemis II Readies for Historic February Launch as NASA's Budget Bolsters Planetary Exploration
    Jan 17 2026
    NASA's Artemis II moon rocket completed its rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 17, 2026, marking a key step toward the crewed mission's potential February launch. NASA reports that the giant Space Launch System rocket, stacked with the Orion spacecraft, traveled aboard the historic Crawler Carrier vehicle to Launch Pad 39B, the same site used for Apollo moon missions. Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson stated that a critical fueling test, known as a wet dress rehearsal, is set for February 2 to verify fixes for past fuel leak issues that delayed Artemis I in 2022. If successful, the four astronauts could lift off between February 6 and 10 for a 10-day flight around the Moon, the first human venture beyond low-Earth orbit since 1972.

    This progress aligns with strong U.S. support for planetary science, as the Senate approved a 2026 fiscal year budget providing 24.4 billion dollars to NASA and 7.25 billion dollars to its Science Mission Directorate, rejecting proposed deep cuts and sustaining missions to the Moon and beyond, according to The Planetary Society.

    Worldwide, astronomers are gearing up for a rare solar alignment on January 22, 2026, when Earth positions almost directly between the Sun and interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. USA Herald details how this week-long window, with alignment angles under two degrees, will allow precise brightness measurements to determine if the object's dust grains are carbon-rich, icy, or loosely clumped. Astrophysicist Avi Loeb and Mauro Barbieri note this opportunity precedes 3I/ATLAS's March approach near Jupiter, a focus for NASA's Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency's Juice mission studying ocean moons like Europa and Ganymede for potential habitability.

    Skywatchers in the U.S. can observe Jupiter at its brightest during opposition on January 10, visible high in Gemini, as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory highlights, alongside a Saturn-Moon conjunction on January 23. NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope nears a possible early 2026 launch from the U.S., poised to detect thousands of exoplanets and map dark matter, per Astronomy Magazine.

    These events signal emerging patterns in planetary science: accelerated human lunar return via Artemis, budget stability enabling deep-space probes, and timely alignments unveiling interstellar secrets, all enhancing understanding of our solar system and beyond.

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