Space News for Tuesday, February 17, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!<br>(00:10) Podcast Introduction<br>(00:23) Leonardo funding development of Earth observation constellation<br>(01:19) NASA work on several programs pending responses to White House executive order<br>(02:06) The space nuclear power bottleneck — and how to fix it<br>(02:38) Low-profile Chinese launch firm conducts first stage static fire<br>(03:25) NASA to attempt second full fueling test of its Space Launch System rocket<br>(04:22) Viasat Report Signals Industrial “Rush” Toward Direct-to-Device (D2D) Connectivity<br>(05:29) China Completes In-Orbit Testing of “Three-Body” AI Computing Constellation<br>(05:44) India Accelerates Military Space Architecture Amid Rising Orbital Weaponization Risks<br>(06:41) JAXA Awards Rakuten Mobile $71.9 Million to Advance Satellite-Terrestrial 5G Integration<br>(07:36) LMT Group and Sateliot Partner with ESA to Advance Dual-Mode 5G Satellite IoT<br>(08:37) Orbex collapse fails to halt progress for UK domestic launch capability<br>(09:29) Launch Preview: Firefly to launch Alpha, SpaceX to launch three Starlink missions<br>(09:49) The Artemis 1 moon mission had a heat shield issue. Here’s why NASA doesn’t think it will happen again on Artemis 2<br>(10:34) Why don't more Tatooine-like exoplanets exist in our Milky Way galaxy? Astronomers might have an answer<br>(11:07) Astronomers discover chemicals that could seed life in the core of a developing star<br>(11:44) Wormholes may not exist – we've found they reveal something deeper about time and the universe<br>(12:31) How astronomers are unveiling the 'skeleton' of the universe<br>