Analysis

Deep dives and explainers

Mission breakdowns, science context, and the bigger picture behind the headlines. Written for curious minds, not aerospace engineers.

Earth seen from orbit, blue oceans and white clouds visible

May 16, 2026 roundupweekly

Space Roundup: What Happened This Week

Europa Clipper crosses the asteroid belt. Axiom Space prepares for its fourth ISS mission. The Dragonfly Titan drone passes its critical design review. China announces a second crewed lunar mission. What you need to know.

$Europa, Jupiter's ice moon, showing its fractured icy surface from space$

May 14, 2026 europaastrobiology

Why Europa Is Our Best Bet for Finding Life in the Solar System

Jupiter's ice moon Europa has a subsurface ocean, a rocky seafloor, and an energy source that has kept water liquid for billions of years. This is a serious scientific argument, not wishful thinking.

Rocket on a launch pad preparing for launch

May 5, 2026 launchcommercial-space

The New Space Race Isn't US vs. China. It's Everyone vs. the Launch Cost Curve.

Launch costs have fallen by roughly 90 percent in the last decade. That change is democratizing access to orbit in ways that are reshaping every other space industry, from Earth observation to communications to scientific missions.

The Milky Way galaxy arching across a clear night sky

Apr 27, 2026 carl-saganastrobiology

What Sagan Got Right and Wrong About the Search for Life

Carl Sagan died in 1996. In the thirty years since, we have discovered thousands of exoplanets, found water ice on the Moon and Mars, confirmed subsurface oceans on multiple moons, and built telescopes he never imagined. How do his ideas hold up?