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NASA fired up an RS-25 rocket engine at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Oct. 21, 2026. It was a hot-fire test of developmental RS-25 engine No. 10001. The test was planned to last 500 seconds (8 minutes, 20 seconds), with the engine reaching up to 111% of its rated power level. The firing is part of ongoing testing to support NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will carry astronauts toward the moon on future Artemis missions. Four RS-25 engines power the core stage of each SLS rocket. Credit: NASA | edited by Space.com Hot Fire! NASA Tests Powerful...

President Donald Trump met Friday afternoon with CEOs of major defense industry companies at the White House as the war against Iran ended its first full week.After the meeting, Trump said in a social media post that “we discussed Production and Production Schedules” and “they have agreed to quadruple Production of the ‘Exquisite Class’ Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity.”Trump did not explain what he meant by “Exquisite Class Weaponry.” The term is used in the defense industry to describe one-of-a-kind technology or systems.Trump said the meeting included CEOs of...

Google and internet rights groups have called on Congress to weigh in on spyware, asking for sanctions and increased enforcement against so-called legit surveillanceware makers. During an open House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, US lawmakers heard testimony from Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton; Shane Huntley, who leads Google's Threat Analysis Group; and Carine Kanimba, whose father was the inspiration for Hotel Rwanda and who was, herself, targeted by Pegasus spyware. This, of course, is the now-infamous malware that its developer, Israel's NSO Group, claims is only sold to legitimate government agencies — not private companies or individuals. Once...