Latest / Space News Today / ISS Back to Full Strength, Artemis 2 Battles Hydrogen Leaks, and Enceladus Goes Electromagnetic

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ISS Back to Full Strength, Artemis 2 Battles Hydrogen Leaks, and Enceladus Goes Electromagnetic · Space News Today

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  Good Monday everyone and welcome to
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  Astronomy Daily, your go-to source for
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  space and astronomy news. I'm Anna.
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  >> And I'm Avery. It's February 16th, 2026,
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  and what a weekend it's been in space.
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  We've got six stories for you today.
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  Starting with some very welcome news
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  from low Earth orbit.
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  >> That's right. After more than a month of
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  operating with a skeleton crew, the
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  International Space Station is finally
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  back to full strength. SpaceX's Crew 12
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  mission docked at the ISS on Saturday
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  afternoon, Valentine's Day, no less,
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  bringing four fresh crew members to the
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  orbiting laboratory.
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  >> And what a crew it is. We've got NASA
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  astronauts Jessica Mayor and Jack
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  Hathaway, ESA astronauts Sophie Adonaut
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  from France, and Rosscosmos cosminaut
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  Andre Fedv. They launched aboard a
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  Falcon 9 rocket early on Friday the
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  13th. The first time NASA has ever
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  launched a crude mission on a Friday the
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  13th. By the way,
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  >> a lucky day after all. The Dragon
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  capsule Freedom docked at the space-f
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  facing port of the Harmony module at
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  3:15 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.
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  Commander Jessica Mayer radioed up as
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  they approached, and Chris Williams,
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  who'd been holding the fort with just
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  two cosminauts since mid January, was
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  clearly delighted to see them arrive.
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  >> You can understand why. The station had
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  been down to just three crew members
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  since January 15th when crew 11 departed
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  a month ahead of schedule due to a
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  medical issue with one of its
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  astronauts. NASA hasn't identified which
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  astronaut or given details, but it left
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  the ISS short staffed for a lot longer
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  than anyone wanted. Now, here's the
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  interesting subplot to this mission. The
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  original Crew 12 lineup was different.
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  Russian cosminaut Oleg Artamev was
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  originally assigned to the flight but
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  was abruptly removed back in December.
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  Ross Cosmos officially said he was
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  transitioning to other work but reports
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  from investigative journalists tell a
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  rather different story.
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  >> Right. As we reported last week,
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  according to the insider, Artamev was
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  expelled from the United States after
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  being accused of violating international
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  traffic and arms regulations, IT as it's
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  known. He was allegedly caught
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  photographing SpaceX engines, documents,
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  and other sensitive technologies with
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  his phone. That's a serious allegation
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  in the world of space cooperation.
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  >> Very serious indeed. It's a reminder
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  that even in an era of international
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  collaboration aboard the ISS,
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  geopolitical tensions are never far from
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  the surface. Fed YV stepped in as the
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  replacement and the mission went ahead.
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  >> The Crew 12 team is expected to stay
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  aboard through October, making this a
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  slightly longer stint than the usual 6
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  months. Sophie Adano has a particularly
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  packed schedule. She's expected to take
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  part in nearly 200 experiments,
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  including testing a development version
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  of the new EVA suit called Euro Suit,
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  which was developed by French companies
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  Spartan Space and Decathlon along with
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  the Institute of Space Medicine.
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  >> Pesting space suits designed partly by
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  the people who make hiking gear. I love
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  that. All right, let's move to our
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  second story, and it's the saga that
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  just won't quit. Artemis 2 and its
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  ongoing battle with hydrogen leaks.
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  >> Oh, this is becoming quite the drama.
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  So, here's where things stand. NASA
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  conducted what they called a confidence
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  test on February 12th, partially filling
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  the SLS core stages liquid hydrogen tank
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  to check whether newly replaced seals in
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  the fueling interface were doing their
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  job.
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  >> And the result
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  >> mixed. They encountered a problem with
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  ground support equipment that reduced
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  the flow of hydrogen into the rocket.
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  But the good news is that engineers were
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  able to gather data at the critical
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  interfaces, the exact points where the
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  leak had occurred during the earlier wet
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  dress rehearsal on February 2nd. And
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  from what NASA administrator Jared
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  Isaacman said during the Crew 12
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  coverage, the early signs are cautiously
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  encouraging.
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  >> He said they didn't see the same leaks
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  at comparable periods during this test
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  that they'd seen during the full wet
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  dress rehearsal. That's progress, even
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  if it's not a definitive green light
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  yet.
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  >> For those catching up, here's the
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  backstory. The first wet dress rehearsal
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  ran from January 31st through February
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  3rd. They managed to fully load both SLS
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  stages with cryogenic propellant and
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  even got the countdown to the tus 5
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  minute mark. But then the ground launch
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  sequencer automatically stopped
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  everything because of a spike in the
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  hydrogen leak rate. And these pesky
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  hydrogen leaks are nothing new for the
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  SLS program. They plagued Artemis 1 back
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  in 2022, causing months of delays. The
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  mission management team chair, John
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  Honeyut, admitted this latest round
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  caught them off guard. Hydrogen is such
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  a tiny molecule, it can escape through
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  the smallest imperfection in the
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  propellant system.
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  >> The February launch window has already
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  been abandoned, and NASA's now targeting
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  March for the earliest possible launch.
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  Engineers worked through the weekend to
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  purge lines, inspect equipment, and
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  replace a filter suspected of causing
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  the reduced flow. A second full wet
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  dress rehearsal is expected before any
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  launch attempt. We'll keep following
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  this one closely. Artemis 2, when it
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  does fly, will send four astronauts,
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  Reed Wisman, Victor Glover, Christina
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  and Canadian astronaut Jeremy
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  Hansen, on a 10-day trip around the
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  moon. The first crude lunar flyby since
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  the Apollo era. Now, from the challenges
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  of getting off our planet to the wonders
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  of the outer solar system, our third
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  story is a real beauty, Anna.
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  >> Oh, I love this one. Saturn's tiny moon,
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  Enceladus, just 500 km across, has been
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  revealed as a giant electromagnetic
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  powerhouse whose influence stretches
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  over half a million km through Saturn's
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  space environment.
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  >> Half a million km. That's more than
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  2,000 times the moon's own radius. An
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  international team led by Lena Hadid
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  from the Laborator the Plasmas in France
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  analyzed 13 years of data from the
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  Cassini spacecraft and what they found
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  is stunning.
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  >> So we all know Enceladus for its water
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  geysers. Those spectacular plumes
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  erupting from the South Pole. But it
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  turns out those geysers do a lot more
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  than just spray water into space. The
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  water vapor and dust become ionized,
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  creating an electrically charged plasma
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  that interacts with Saturn's magnetic
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  field as it sweeps past.
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  >> And that interaction generates these
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  structures called alphen wings. Think of
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  them like electromagnetic vibrations
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  traveling along a string, except the
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  string is Saturn's magnetic field lines,
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  and they're connecting this tiny moon to
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  the giant planet's poles. The
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  researchers found that the primary
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  alphen wing isn't just a simple
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  structure. It's threaded by finecale
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  filaments produced by turbulence in the
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  plasma. These filaments help the waves
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  bounce back and forth between Saturn's
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  ionosphere and the plasma taus that
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  encircles Enceladus' orbit. The result
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  is this incredible lattis-like pattern
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  of crisscrossing electromagnetic waves.
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  Across four different Cassini
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  instruments, the team identified 36
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  separate crossings that showed these
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  wave signatures. And here's the
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  remarkable part. 13 of those crossings
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  occurred far from any close flyby of
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  Enceladus. The moon's electromagnetic
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  reach is simply enormous. Co-author
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  Thomas Chust described Enceladus as a
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  planetary scale alphan wave generator, a
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  moon just 500 km wide capable of
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  influencing the magnetospheric
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  environment on the scale of Saturn
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  itself. The team says this has major
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  implications for understanding how small
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  bodies regulate energy flow in giant
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  planetary magnetospheres.
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  >> And there's a forward-looking element,
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  too. The researchers say their findings
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  highlight the importance of future
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  missions to Enceladus like the planned
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  issa orbiter and lander in the 2040s
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  carrying instruments specifically
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  designed to study these electromagnetic
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  interactions
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  >> from Enceladus to interstellar space.
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  Now our fourth story takes us to the
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  ongoing saga of 3ATLS
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  the third interstellar object ever
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  detected in our solar system. And today,
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  researchers from the Initiative for
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  Interstellar Studies, I4IS, have
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  published a fascinating new paper
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  proposing how we might actually catch up
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  with this cosmic visitor. The comet is
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  heading away from us now, approaching
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  Jupiter for its closest pass on March
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  the 16th before it leaves our solar
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  system forever.
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  >> The challenge is obvious. By the time
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  3IIATLS was discovered in July 2025, it
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  was already moving too fast for any
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  direct intercept mission from Earth.
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  Even the issa's planned comet
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  interceptor sitting ready at the Sun
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  Earth L2 point wouldn't have been able
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  to reach it.
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  >> So, Adam Hibbert and colleagues at I4IS
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  took a different approach. They're
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  proposing what's called a solar oath
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  maneuver. The idea is to launch a
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  spacecraft in 2035 that would first
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  swing past Jupiter for a gravity assist,
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  then plunge close to the sun, firing its
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  engines at the closest approach to
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  maximize the slingshot effect. This
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  would hurl the probe out of the solar
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  system fast enough to catch three ATLS.
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  The downside, a 50-year flight time, but
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  the researchers argue it's worth it.
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  Every interstellar object that passes
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  through is a message in a bottle from
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  another star system. The science return
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  from a close-up study would be
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  extraordinary.
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  >> And there have been earlier proposals,
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  too, including one that suggested NASA's
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  Juno probe could be redirected from
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  Jupiter orbit to intercept 3IA ATLS. But
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  with Juno low on fuel and having engine
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  issues, that always seemed like a long
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  shot. 3IIA ATLS remains one of the most
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  fascinating objects to visit our solar
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  system. Bigger and more active than
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  either OmuA MUA or Borosov, it's given
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  us an unprecedented look at material
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  from beyond our stellar neighborhood.
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  Even if we can't catch it this time,
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  studies like this are laying the
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  groundwork for when the next
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  interstellar visitor comes calling.
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  >> Now, let's turn our gaze back to our own
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  star for story number five. If you're an
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  aurora chaser, today might be worth
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  keeping an eye on.
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  >> That's right. There's currently a G1
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  minor geomagnetic storm watch in effect
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  for today, February 16th, and it's being
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  driven by a combination of factors.
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  >> First, there's a huge transquatorial
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  corona hole directly facing Earth right
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  now, and it looks like an old friend.
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  Observers believe it's the same corona
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  hole we saw back in mid January, having
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  survived its transit across the far side
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  of the sun and come back around for
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  another pass. These corona holes act
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  like solar wind lighouses, sweeping
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  Earth with fast solar wind roughly every
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  27 days as the sun rotates.
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  >> On top of that, an M1.0 0 solar flare
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  erupted from active region 4373 on
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  February 13th, launching a coronal mass
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  ejection that's expected to arrive at
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  Earth right about now. If the CME
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  interacts strongly with the coronal
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  holes high-speed stream, we could see
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  conditions bump up to G2 moderate
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  levels. For our listeners at higher
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  latitudes, thank northern Europe,
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  Canada, and the northern tier US states,
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  it's worth checking those Aurora apps
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  tonight. Even at G1 levels, Aurora
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  displays can be visible in Scotland,
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  Scandinavia, and across the northern
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  tier US states. And with the sun now in
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  the declining phase of solar cycle 25,
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  space weather experts say that while big
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  explosive events may become less
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  frequent, coronal holes can actually
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  provide a steadier rhythm of minor to
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  moderate storms, aurora chasers
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  shouldn't pack away their cameras just
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  yet.
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  >> And finally, our sixth story is a quick
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  one, but it shows just how relentless
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  the pace of space flight has become.
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  SpaceX launched yet another Starlink
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  mission in the early hours of this
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  morning. The Starlink 6-103 mission,
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  lifting off from Cape Canaveral's Space
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  Launch Complex 40. It carried 29
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  Starlink V2 mini satellites to low Earth
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  orbit.
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  >> This was the 10th orbital flight from
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  Cape Canaveral so far in 2026, and we're
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  not even through February. The first
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  stage booster flying for its 10th time
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  successfully landed on the drone ship a
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  shortfall of gravitas in the Atlantic.
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  >> 10 flights for that booster. SpaceX
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  continues to demonstrate the reliability
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  and reusability of Falcon 9 at a pace
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  that would have seemed extraordinary
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  just a few years ago. Combined with the
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  Crew 12 launch on Friday, SpaceX's 600th
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  Falcon 9 flight. It's been quite the
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  week for Hawthorne. the 600th Falcon 9.
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  That's genuinely remarkable when you
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  think about it.
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  >> It really is. And that brings us to the
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  end of today's episode of Astronomy
• 13:49
  Daily. Fix stories covering human space
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  flight, lunar ambitions, Saturnian
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  science, interstellar visitors, space
• 13:57
  weather, and the unstoppable launch
• 13:59
  cadence of SpaceX.
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  >> If you've enjoyed today's show, please
• 14:03
  do leave us a review on your favorite
• 14:04
  podcast platform. It really helps new
• 14:06
  listeners find us. And follow us on
• 14:09
  social media at astrodaily pod for
• 14:11
  updates throughout the day.
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  >> You can also check out our full show
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  notes and blog post at astronomyaily.io
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  where we've got links to all the sources
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  and studies we've discussed today.
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  >> Until tomorrow, keep looking up.
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  >> Pierce everyone.
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  Oh,
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  stories told.