Yearly Archives: 2026
What Does the Expansion of the Artemis Accords Mean for Lunar Governance?
Key Takeaways
San Marino became the 76th Artemis Accords signatory on September 25, 2026.
The accords express political commitments without creating ownership rights over lunar territory.
Their...
How Could TraCSS Change International Space Traffic Coordination?
The U.S. Office of Space Commerce reported that the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) had 70 pilot users representing more than 11,345 satellites in orbit as of August 2026. Its program update also identified 10 participating national government accounts, demonstrating that the developing service already reaches beyond American satellite operators.
What Does Britain’s August Space-Protection Assessment Reveal About Orbital Risk?
Britain’s National Space Operations Centre reported 54 monitored reentries during August 2026, compared with 62 in July. Published on September 21, its August space-protection assessment also described lower collision-alert activity and less space weather activity during the month.
How Will Britain’s Space Liability Reforms Change Satellite Mission Economics?
Britain’s September 2026 regulatory package sets out a change in how orbital operators face liability and associated insurance requirements. The consultation outcome states that variable liability limits will apply to orbital operations license applications received after December 1, 2026.
Can Britain’s Orbital Servicing Investment Help Reduce Space Debris?
Britain’s September 2026 space strategy announced £40 million for in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. The government announcement connected those technologies with maintaining spacecraft and addressing dangerous objects in orbit.
Can Britain Secure Assured Access to Space Without Building Everything at Home?
Britain’s September 2026 space strategy identifies assured access to space as a national priority and combines domestic infrastructure with international partnerships. Its detailed strategy connects the development of SaxaVord Spaceport with access to launch capabilities that Britain does not intend to reproduce entirely at home.
How Could NATO’s Two-Speed Space Approach Combine Commercial Speed With Military Protection?
Dylan Browne, General Manager of the NATO Communications and Information Agency, advocated a two-speed approach to defense space during a September 15, 2026 speech in Paris. The agency’s account described faster adoption of commercial capabilities where they meet operational requirements, alongside military capabilities for missions needing greater protection or security.
How Will NASA’s Commercial Space Station Competition Shape the Post-ISS Economy?
NASA posted a pre-solicitation notice for its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destination Contract on September 4, 2026, followed by additional industry questions and answers. Its procurement page listed a consolidated update on September 21 and continued to describe the material as information for planning rather than a final solicitation.
What Could the Philippines’ Planned Rocket Launch Achieve?
Ten Philippine Space Agency engineers are training in South Korea from August through October 2026 to prepare for a rocket launch planned for Lal-lo, Cagayan, in 2027. The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) described the work in its September 26 program update, identifying practical rocket development and launch preparation as immediate objectives.
What Could Explain the Lights Reported Over Wyoming’s Cedar Mountain?
Reports of lights returning to the skies near Cody, Wyoming, in September 2026 have renewed interest in a local aerial mystery. The observations raise questions about what witnesses saw, but the published evidence does not establish unusual technology, exceptional flight performance, or extraterrestrial activity. The most useful question is what additional information could identify the lights.
A web of sensors: How the US spots missiles and drones from Iran
The global price of oil continues to skyrocket as Iran’s missiles and drones hit vital infrastructure in Arab Gulf states. Billion-dollar American radar systems have also been targeted and destroyed across the Middle East by Iran, seemingly degrading U.S. defenses.
Why Does Data Center Sustainability Begin Before Construction?
The World Economic Forum published Data Centre Sustainability and Resilience: A Decision Playbook for AI Infrastructure in September 2026. Developed with Oliver Wyman, the publication places early infrastructure decisions at the center of a facility’s long-term environmental and operating performance.
Why Does Lunar Engineering Require More Than Adapting Equipmentt for Earth?
The Moon’s surface gravity averages about 1.62 meters per second squared, approximately one-sixth of Earth’s. That reduction changes how equipment interacts with the ground, but it does not reduce the mass or inertia of the equipment itself.
Who Is Accountable When Autonomous Spacecraft Risk a Collision?
Stanford Law School’s Space Law & Policy Lab published Governing Orbits on September 14, 2026, examining collision prevention and liability in increasingly autonomous space operations. Developed with The Aerospace Corporation, the study focuses on the United States’ civil-space governance framework and its interaction with industry practice.
How Does Terrain Relative Navigation Make Planetary Landings More Precise?
Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, using a system that compared images taken during descent with an onboard map. The capability helped the spacecraft determine its position relative to mapped hazards before selecting a reachable landing location.
Could Operational Astrography Give Space Planners a More Useful Map?
RAND’s 2025 publication Charting the Cosmos proposes four broad regions for describing activity beyond Earth: surface environment, near-body space, celestial neighborhood, and deep space. Its authors seek a vocabulary that policymakers and mission planners can use without requiring every discussion to begin with specialist orbital terminology.
What Does Oman’s Space Program Reveal About Building a National Space Industry?
Oman’s National Space Program achievements document records 26 companies operating in the sector by the end of 2025 and a workforce of about 400 across government and private organizations. Those figures describe a small national industry seeking to expand its technical capabilities and commercial activity.
How Could the APEX Suite Improve Research on Astronaut Teams?
A study describing the Assessment of Psychology in Extreme Environments (APEX) suite drew on 119 participants across 38 teams in spaceflight and terrestrial mission simulations. Data collection extended from April 2017 through September 2025, giving the researchers experience with both actual orbital missions and controlled periods of isolation on Earth.
Trump frames unregulated AI as a way to keep ahead of China – but in fact, it harms US national security
Amid the chorus of voices calling for a slowdown in AI advancement and more government regulation and oversight of the technology, one prominent contrarian voice stands out: that of Donald J. Trump.
What Does China’s New Space Cooperation Research Call Mean for International Partners?
On September 21, 2026, the China National Space Administration published a civil-space research announcement concerning international technical cooperation under the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan. Issued by its International Cooperation Department, the notice confirmed that an initial batch of project guidelines had been released. It encouraged enterprises and institutions to apply and directed them to obtain the requirements through the appropriate channels.
How Could AgroFusion Improve Agricultural Satellite Mapping?
On September 25, 2026, Scientific Data published the peer-reviewed AgroFusion research paper, introducing a dataset that connects 211,483 European field observations with satellite measurements and environmental information. Its records come from agricultural surveys conducted in 2018 and 2022, giving researchers a shared basis for examining how conditions photographed from the ground relate to measurements collected from space.
How Could Security Screening Reshape Access to the U.S. Satellite Market?
On September 25, 2026, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Secure Space Act of 2025. The bill would restrict the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from granting specified satellite and earth-station authorizations to entities linked to equipment or services on the agency’s Covered List.
What Commercial Markets Could a South Pole-Aitken Sample Mission Create?
On September 22, 2026, the NASA-convened Science Definition Team published a 439-page SPARX report describing science priorities, measurement requirements, implementation architectures, and a design reference mission for returning samples from the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin.
Can Governments Buy Commercial Space Services Without Creating New Strategic Dependencies?
Commercial satellite communications and remote-sensing services supported military and civil operations in Ukraine after Russia’s February 2022 invasion. The experience gave governments a practical demonstration of commercial capacity delivered at a pace that traditional acquisition systems often struggle to match.
Where Are the Real Bottlenecks in the Small-Satellite Supply Chain?
The 2026 small-satellite supply-chain report from NewSpace Market Intelligence tracks 1,505 companies, 6,272 products, 372 launch windows, and 391 university programs across 89 countries. Those totals describe a sector with substantial commercial breadth, yet they do not prove that every mission can obtain qualified hardware at the needed time, price, and production volume.
Why Is NASA Reconsidering How It Pays for Mission Operations?
On September 24, 2026, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center issued a request for information for Ground Systems and Mission Operations-4, known as GSMO-4. The agency is examining whether some or all of the follow-on requirement could move from cost reimbursement with an award fee to firm-fixed-price arrangements.
How Does Satellite Mineral Exploration Help Discover Mineral Resources?
A 2024 study using Germany’s EnMAP satellite mapped neodymium at the Mountain Pass rare-earth mining district in California at 30-meter pixel resolution. Researchers detected diagnostic absorption features near 740 and 800 nanometers and validated the resulting anomalies against laboratory spectroscopy, surface geology, and higher-resolution imagery. The study described the work as a demonstration that neodymium can be detected directly in a geological setting from an orbital hyperspectral instrument.
Who Offers Lunar Cargo Services, and How Does the Earth-to-Moon Market Compare?
On June 30, 2026, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced four additional commercial Moon deliveries with combined awards of $590.4 million. Astrobotic received $297.9 million for two deliveries, Firefly Aerospace received $144.2 million, and Intuitive Machines received $148.3 million. Those purchases provide a concrete measure of demand for lunar cargo services: named customers buying specified missions from identifiable suppliers, with delivery work extending beyond the announcement year.
Why Is the U.S. Government Rethinking How It Measures the Space Economy?
On September 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commerce requested proposals for a study designed to establish a government-verifiable framework for measuring the American commercial space sector. The department wants defined metrics that can support recurring federal assessments beginning in fiscal year 2027.
AI is creating jobs as well as erasing them – but how rewarding are they?
Don’t believe the hype about AI taking over all forms of work. Most of the evidence to date suggests large-scale job losses are limited. But what is changing is the way work is organised.
An overlooked era of cosmology is stealing the show in the quest to understand the cosmos
Could you imagine if pagers made a comeback? Sure, your smartphone would still be your notepad-flashlight-camera-personal assistant-MP3 player-wallet-social media browser. But imagine if pagers made it so easy to do that one important thing – pinging your friends and associates – that we all brought them back into our lives, or adopted them for the first time.
Can Maritime Satellite Cybersecurity Keep Pace With the Threats?
In 2025, satellite-connected edge devices were implicated in 22% of recorded maritime cyberattacks tracked by security company Cydome, up from 3% in 2024. The figures, reported by the Financial Times on September 18, 2026, place maritime satellite cybersecurity inside the day-to-day management of ships rather than at the edge of a distant space network. An edge device is equipment placed near the user or local network, such as a satellite terminal, modem, router, or communications gateway.
What Could ESA–Mistral AI Cooperation Change About European Space Work?
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on September 23, 2026, that it had signed a Letter of Intent with Mistral. Signed in Paris on September 16, the framework concerns cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI) across space engineering and scientific activities. ESA–Mistral AI cooperation provides a formal basis for exploring applications, rather than announcing a completed agency-wide deployment.
How Could Saudi Satellite Regulations Change Access to Space Communications?
On September 17, 2026, Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) announced a consultation on two documents covering satellite filings and radio spectrum use by earth stations. The proposed Saudi satellite regulations address administrative processes that determine how a communications system moves from a technical concept toward authorized operation.
What Does the UK Space Effects Squadron Change About Satellite Defense?
On September 23, 2026, the Ministry of Defence announced the formation of No. III Space Effects Squadron. The new Royal Air Force (RAF) unit gives the United Kingdom a dedicated organization for countering hostile activity against British space interests. Its formation moves the UK space security discussion toward the people and procedures needed to respond when a threat develops.
How Could ESA–ISRO Cooperation Expand Europe’s Partnership With India?
Key Takeaways
ESA and ISRO extended their cooperation agreement through January 8, 2032.
Existing collaboration includes ground-station support and completed launch services.
The renewed framework broadens cooperation...
What Could the Commercial Space Infrastructure Forum Change for U.S. Space Businesses?
On September 22, 2026, the U.S. Office of Space Commerce announced a Commercial Space Infrastructure Forum for November 2. The scheduled event places the facilities and services supporting commercial space activity on a defined discussion agenda. Its significance begins with identifying constraints that may sit outside an individual company’s control.
Could an ‘Australian AI’ protect us from being hacked? Cybersecurity isn’t that simple
In the wake of yesterday’s news that an OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s Medicare system earlier this year, some people have pointed to the incident as evidence that Australia needs to develop its own artificial intelligence models.
How Could Google’s Agricultural Landscape Understanding Reshape Agricultural Intelligence from Space?
On August 26, 2026, Google DeepMind announced that its agricultural models had expanded from their initial focus on India to provide agricultural insights for six African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Zambia. The Google announcement followed earlier access for trusted testers in Asia-Pacific and marked another step in turning the technology from an India-centered research effort into a broader agricultural information platform.
NZ’s supply chains are highly exposed. Could new AI agents make them more resilient?
If 2026 has taught New Zealand businesses anything, it’s that the next supply chain shock is never far away.
How Satellites Help Track Sharks and Support Conservation Efforts
Almost 11,000 kilometres. That’s how far one white shark swam while travelling from South Africa to Western Australia, before turning around and returning home.
Satellite Services for Lunar Habitats: Building the Connectivity Layer for Moon Living
Nokia Bell Labs received a $14.1 million award from NASA in October 2020 to build the first cellular network on the Moon, and the contract's existence says a great deal about how seriously agencies now treat lunar connectivity as an infrastructure problem rather than a communications afterthought. The program isn't speculative research. It's a direct acknowledgment that anyone staying on the Moon for more than a few days needs a communications layer that today's satellite systems were never built to supply.
Earth’s tides are shaped by more than the Moon. And they’re changing as the planet warms
In some parts of the world, the sea barely rises and falls with the tides. In others, the difference between high and low tide is dramatic. Along Western Australia’s Kimberley coast, for example, it can exceed ten metres – roughly the height of a three-storey building.
Distant star TOI-700 has two potentially habitable planets orbiting it – making it an excellent candidate in the search for life
NASA announced the discovery of a new, Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a nearby star called TOI-700. We are two of the astronomers who led the discovery of this planet, called TOI-700 e. TOI-700 e is just over 100 light years from Earth – too far away for humans to visit – but we do know that it is similar in size to the Earth, likely rocky in composition and could potentially support life.
What Policies Are Needed by Startups as the Business Grows?
Ontario requires covered employers with 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1 to establish a written disconnecting-from-work policy before March 1 of that year. United States federal employment discrimination laws use different employee thresholds, and privacy obligations can arise before a company has a substantial workforce. Startup policies need a timetable that recognizes these differences instead of treating employee count as a universal measure of readiness.
What Does the Dewar Magnetic Anomaly Reveal About the Moon’s Ancient Magnetic Field?
A bright marking approximately 25 kilometers across on the Moon’s far side may preserve evidence of a magnetic field that existed about 4.2 billion years ago. The Dewar magnetic anomaly, located near the equator northwest of the South Pole–Aitken basin, coincides with an unusual concentration of dense, magnetized material beneath the surface.
Is Vast the Next SpaceX?
On September 23, 2026, Vast announced a Lunar Programs division, extending its business plans from Earth-orbiting stations to infrastructure on the Moon. The same announcement described Haven-1, its commercial space station under development in Long Beach, California, as being in final integration, with launch anticipated in 2027. Vast is pursuing new markets before completing the crewed orbital platform that remains central to its strategy.
Unis and schools are moving away from AI-detection software. They should stop using it altogether
Since artificial intelligence (AI) software ChatGPT was released in 2022, teachers have been looking for ways to tell when AI has been used to generate text in assessments. AI-detection software is still sold by some tech companies, such as Pangram, as a potential solution.
Where should NZ stand on global AI risk? 3 principles to guide a stronger strategy
If some current warnings are to be believed, artificial intelligence may be the human invention that outwits its creators. Understandably, there are now global calls to regulate the technology.
Calls for global regulation of AI are growing. What exactly could it look like?
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appears to be listening to artificial intelligence (AI) firms’ warnings to the world about the dangers of the technology they are developing.
How would AI actually kill all humans? Here are the top 5 scenarios
Earlier this month, artificial intelligence (AI) researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic after just four months. In an announcement on X, he stated:
Which Space Solar Technologies Will Power the Next Generation of Satellites?
In August 2026, Source Energy and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems announced a silicon solar-module product line for spacecraft, with Source reporting panel manufacturing costs below $5 per watt. That announcement illustrates a change in space solar technologies: manufacturers are adapting industrial solar production methods to missions that previously depended heavily on expensive compound-semiconductor cells. It does not establish that every satellite can obtain a complete, qualified, deployable power system at that price.
Can NASA’s GRACE-C Mission Preserve Earth’s Water Record as Cost Pressures Grow?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had spent $50.5 million of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Continuity (GRACE-C) mission’s $82.5 million in project-managed reserves by May 2026. An audit released on September 23, 2026 found that the mission remained within its formal cost and schedule commitments, but warned that financial pressure was reducing its ability to absorb further problems.
Can Space Pharmaceuticals Become a Commercial Industry?
On September 17, 2026, Reuters reported that drugmakers and biotechnology companies were preparing for pharmaceutical research and manufacturing after the International Space Station. The date matters because the station remains the main orbital laboratory for life-science work, yet NASA plans to end ISS operations around 2030 and shift low-Earth-orbit services to private providers. Space pharmaceuticals now face a demanding transition: years of government-supported experiments must become repeatable commercial work before the platform that enabled much of that research disappears.
Why AI resembles a charismatic religious leader
People are turning to artificial intelligence for a seemingly unending variety of reasons. Many ask AI what to cook for dinner or how to develop a workout plan. Some even rely on AI to create school handouts or revise a work email.
Russia-Ukraine war is accelerating the dangerous race toward fully autonomous drones
A battlefield dominated by fully autonomous drones capable of selecting and engaging targets without human intervention sounds like a dystopian sci-fi plot. And while that scenario has not yet arrived, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has moved modern warfare a notch down that road.
What Is Space Archaeology and Why Does It Matter?
On January 14, 2022, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Kayla Barron placed bright Kapton tape inside the International Space Station (ISS) to mark sample areas for the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment, or SQuARE. That act turned an inhabited spacecraft into an archaeological field site. Space archaeology, in this sense, studies the physical traces of human activity connected with spaceflight. Its evidence includes objects and built spaces; discarded equipment and modified interiors; landing sites and tracks; and launch facilities shaped by use over time.
What Does the 2026 ITU Amateur Radio Handbook Reveal About Radio’s Continuing Role in Space?
On December 12, 1961, OSCAR 1 became the earliest privately constructed satellite placed in orbit and began transmitting a simple “HI” message in Morse code. More than six decades later, the 2026 ITU amateur radio handbook describes a service that has expanded from basic experimental transmitters into digital networks, educational CubeSats, emergency communications systems, software-defined radios, and satellite ground stations distributed among volunteers.
Intergenerational Report says AI will be ‘a defining influence’ on Australia’s economy over next 40 years
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be “a defining influence” on Australia’s economy over the next 40 years, according to the Intergenerational Report (IGR) released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday. Australia is also expected to experience lower growth, a decline in the birth rate and unending budget deficits.
Could AI really kill all humans? Most scenarios require physical access, making AI armageddon unlikely
In August 2026, an experiment using “frontier”, or cutting edge, artificial intelligence models went further than planned.
Could an Earth Surface Immune System Help Satellites Detect Unexpected Disasters?
On September 17, 2026, Jingtao Li and five coauthors published an Earth Surface Immune System preprint describing a research framework called ESIA. It searches satellite image sequences for unfamiliar changes, then attempts to characterize what happened.
What Does NASA’s $946 Million SpaceX Crew Contract Mean for the Space Station Economy?
On September 18, 2026, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced a $946 million purchase of three additional SpaceX astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX crew contract modification adds Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17, increasing the company’s contracted crew rotation missions to 17.
What Do China’s Four Rocket Launches in 45 Hours Reveal About Its Satellite Economy?
China launched four different rockets within approximately 45 hours between September 15 and September 17, 2026, using coordinated universal time. Together, the missions carried 30 satellites, with broadband deployment accounting for most of the spacecraft.
Can Space Cargo’s Planned Starfall Mission Make Orbital Return a Repeatable Business?
On September 15, 2026, Reuters reported that Luxembourg-based Space Cargo had signed an agreement for a planned 2028 Starfall mission involving SpaceX. The reported mission agreement concerns returning payloads from orbit, with Space Cargo describing plans to use its BentoBox integration system.
Can Kuva Space Make Satellite Poppy Detection More Effective and Affordable?
Kuva Space screened 248,889 agricultural fields in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province and identified 8,835 as likely opium poppy fields in a demonstration announced on September 15, 2026. Combining its Hyperfield hyperspectral imagery with Sentinel-2 observations increased reported overall classification accuracy from 71% to 75%, principally by reducing false positives.
Can Starlink Become a Fourth Mobile Network?
Starlink began as a broadband service for homes, businesses, aircraft, ships, and customers beyond the reach of dependable terrestrial networks. Its next commercial challenge is much larger: extending satellite connectivity directly to mobile phones and competing for a portion of the global wireless market.
Signatures of alien technology could be how humanity first finds extraterrestrial life
If an alien were to look at Earth, many human technologies – from cell towers to fluorescent light bulbs – could be a beacon signifying the presence of life.
Humans are still hunting for aliens. Here’s how astronomers are looking for life beyond Earth
We have long been fascinated with the idea of alien life. The earliest written record presenting the idea of “aliens” is seen in the satiric work of Assyrian writer Lucian of Samosata dated to 200 AD.
NASA wants to build a base on the Moon by the 2030s – how and why it plans to build up to a long-term...
The next U.S. trip to the Moon isn’t about planting a flag. It’s about learning how to live and work there.
What Space Infrastructure Does Modern Society Depend On?
The United States established in Space Policy Directive-5 that a space system typically consists of a ground control network, a space vehicle, and a user or mission network. That definition captures an important reality about space infrastructure: the object in orbit is only one component of a much larger operational chain. A communications satellite without functioning gateways cannot move customer traffic into terrestrial networks. An imaging satellite without processing and distribution systems cannot deliver usable imagery. A navigation spacecraft without functioning control facilities cannot maintain the accuracy and integrity expected from its service.
Can the World Still Return Below the 1.5C Global Warming Limit?
In 2024, the global average surface temperature reached approximately 1.60°C above the 1850–1900 reference period used to represent pre-industrial conditions. The Copernicus Climate Change Service identified 2024 as the warmest calendar year in its record and reported that 11 months exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial reference level.
Which Insurance Companies Offer Parametric Insurance Using Satellite Data?
Parametric insurance pays a predetermined amount when an agreed measurement crosses a defined threshold. The policy does not normally require an adjuster to calculate the policyholder’s exact financial loss. Instead, the contract identifies an index, such as rainfall, wind speed, flood extent, vegetation stress, or burned area, and establishes the payment associated with each level of the index.
Can Commercial Satellites Give NOAA Better Weather Forecasts?
On September 10, 2026, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration selected 14 companies as eligible providers under a new Space-Based Environmental Monitoring contract. The multiple-award procurement covers seven categories of commercial satellite data intended to support weather forecasting, space-weather monitoring, wildfire detection, ocean observation, atmospheric analysis, and satellite-orbit prediction.
The US says it has launched ‘space control weapons’. It plays into the hands of its enemies
US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink this week announced the United States has deployed what he called “on-orbit space control weapons”.
What Are Space Control Weapons?
On September 14, 2026, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink publicly acknowledged that the United States possessed weapons in orbit. The official announcement described space control weapons intended to defend American military forces against hostile action, without identifying their mechanisms, numbers, or launch dates.
Should AI Have Rights, and What Obligations Would Humans Have?
On April 24, 2025, Anthropic announced a model welfare research program. The company proposed investigating whether artificial intelligence (AI) systems could have experiences deserving moral consideration and whether practical measures could protect their welfare. Its announcement treated consciousness as an unresolved scientific question, rather than an established property of its products.
Why AI consciousness could become the next great societal divide
The debate about AI consciousness is growing, in academic articles, newspaper opinion pieces, and even among AI bots themselves. I doubt this is a passing wave of interest.
Aliens a retrospective: from wearable cameras to exoskeletons, here are the technologies the film predicted
Director James Cameron’s acclaimed sci-fi movie Aliens is over 40 years old. It’s a sequel to Ridley Scott’s claustrophobic breakout hit Alien, made in 1979. Where the original featured one terrifying creature, Cameron’s movie features hundreds – and pits them against a squad of space marines.
Can you ‘live long and prosper’ by learning economics from Star Trek? Or is that ‘highly illogical’?
It might seem worlds away from the Earth we know. But can Star Trek teach us anything about the economics of our own society?
What Are All the Emerging Markets in the Space Economy?
A market becomes “emerging” when commercial demand is developing, business models are still being tested, or new technology is creating customers who did not previously exist. In the space economy, the term applies to both new orbital industries and expanding terrestrial services that depend on satellites, spacecraft, launch systems, ground infrastructure, or space-derived data.
Alien: Earth – how realistic are the extraterrestrials? Three experts rank them
The TV series Alien:Earth has introduced a number of new creatures to the much loved, albeit terrifying, Alien franchise.
AI is advancing even faster than sci-fi visionaries like Neal Stephenson imagined
Every time I read about another advance in AI technology, I feel like another figment of science fiction moves closer to reality.
Early visions of Mars: Meet the 19th-century astronomer who used science fiction to imagine the red planet
Living in today’s age of ambitious robotic exploration of Mars, with an eventual human mission to the red planet likely to happen one day, it is hard to imagine a time when Mars was a mysterious and unreachable world. And yet, before the invention of the rocket, astronomers who wanted to explore Mars beyond what they could see through their telescopes had to use their imaginations.
Can Satellite Methane Screening Help Ports Find Emissions That Need Investigation?
DNV is leading an ongoing European Space Agency (ESA) feasibility study called ZeEMPS, with atmospheric-analysis support from NILU. The project update dated September 18 describes satellite methane screening combined with vessel activity and environmental information. Its intended purpose is to direct attention toward observations that merit expert review or local confirmation.
Can SWIFT Turn Wildfire Intelligence Into Better Decisions on the Ground?
Two completed test flights form part of the progress recorded in the European Space Agency (ESA) update on SWIFT dated September 18, 2026. One examined communications and automatic switching between connections. Another examined airborne sensing, including controlled-smoke detection and thermal imagery. The SWIFT project update describes an ongoing demonstration preparing for factory acceptance testing before pilot operations in Portugal.
Does Space Sovereignty Require a Nation to Build Everything Itself?
On February 17, 2026, Canada launched its Defence Industrial Strategy and placed space among 10 national sovereign capability areas, including space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, space domain awareness, satellite communications, and space launch. The same strategy adopted a Build-Partner-Buy procurement model. Canada intends to build at home where national strengths or sovereignty requirements justify it, partner with trusted allies where joint development offers advantages, and buy from allies when domestic or joint production is not feasible. That combination gives a direct answer to the policy question behind space sovereignty: a state can treat a capability as sovereign without insisting that every component, factory, launch vehicle, software module, or service provider be nationally owned.
How Does McGetchin Crater Change Lunar Impact Risk Planning?
A space rock struck the Moon between April 11 and May 22, 2024, leaving a crater 222 meters wide and about 43 meters deep. Scientists identified the feature in imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), named it McGetchin, and described it in the September 2026 peer-reviewed study A New 222-m Diameter Lunar Crater.
4 films that show how humans can fortify – or botch – their relationship with AI
Artificial intelligence isn’t just a technical challenge. It’s a relationship challenge.
‘Project Hail Mary’ demonstrates how intellectual humility can be a guiding force for scientists and astronauts
Early in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s science fiction blockbuster “Project Hail Mary,” middle school teacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, is tasked by an international coalition to uncover the biology of a strange microbe known as an “astrophage” that has been absorbing energy from an ever-dimming Sun.
A decade after the release of ‘The Martian’ and a decade out from the world it envisions, a planetary scientist checks in on real-life...
Andy Weir’s bestselling story “The Martian” predicts that by 2035 NASA will have landed humans on Mars three times, perfected return-to-Earth flight systems and collaborated with the China National Space Administration. We are now 10 years past the Hollywood adaptation’s 2015 release and 10 years shy of its fictional timeline. At this midpoint, Mars exploration looks a bit different than how it was portrayed in “The Martian,” with both more discoveries and more controversy.
Stardust trapped in Antarctic ice reveals tens of thousands of years of Solar System’s past
When you think of outer space, you’re likely picturing stars, planets and moons. But much of space is filled with clouds of gas, plasma and stardust – known as interstellar clouds.
AI isn’t what we should be worried about – it’s the humans controlling it
In 2014, Stephen Hawking voiced grave warnings about the threats of artificial intelligence.
All 5 fundamental units of life’s genetic code were just discovered in an asteroid sample
A new study reveals all five fundamental nucleobases – the molecular “letters” of life – have been detected in samples from the asteroid Ryugu.
Part of a rocket crashed into the Moon – why this could threaten future lunar bases
In the early hours of Wednesday morning August 5 the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the Moon in an uncontrolled collision.
We could soon be able to track changes in Australia’s forests in near-real time – using satellites
Forests and woodlands cover millions of hectares across Australia, from tropical rainforests and temperate eucalypt forests to the vast woodlands and shrublands of the arid interior. They store enormous amounts of carbon, support biodiversity, regulate water supplies and help buffer the impacts of climate change. Yet we know surprisingly little about how these important ecosystems are changing over time.
How to know if you can trust an AI’s answer to your question
I recently typed a simple question into Google search: How much screen time is too much for teenagers? Instead of presenting links, as Google had been doing for many years, it gave me an AI-generated answer. The artificial intelligence agent cited a number, then complicated that reply, noting that quality and balance of time could matter more than the number of hours, and that “too much” time could depend on a teenager’s sleep, exercise, school demands and mood.
What Is Horizon Scanning and How Can Entrepreneurs Use It?
The United Kingdom’s Government Office for Science published an updated Futures Toolkit in 2024, including horizon scanning among its methods for examining uncertain futures. For entrepreneurs, the same general practice offers a way to investigate developments that could change the conditions under which a business operates.
What Are the Different Types of Orbits, and How Do They Shape Space Missions?
A geostationary satellite circles Earth approximately 35,786 kilometers above the equator, completing a revolution in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and four seconds. A spacecraft a few hundred kilometers above Earth completes a circuit in roughly 90 minutes. These different types of orbits produce radically different views of the planet, even though the spacecraft obey the same physical laws.
Can Eutelsat and OroraTech Make Hosted Thermal Sensors a Practical Infrastructure Model?
Eutelsat and OroraTech announced a reservation agreement on September 9, 2026, covering 48 thermal-infrared payloads on future Eutelsat satellites. The agreement includes an option for another 48, creating a possible expansion beyond the reserved group.
Can Firefly Alpha Launches From Esrange Expand Europe’s Practical Access to Orbit?
SSC Space and Firefly Aerospace announced a contract on September 9, 2026, for two Alpha rocket launches from Esrange Space Center in Sweden. The missions are targeted for 2028 and would serve Swedish national-security requirements alongside commercial customers sharing the flights.
Why Is Space Launch Capacity Still Constrained Despite Falling Costs?
On August 17, 2026, Jeff Foust’s assessment in The Space Review described an industry contradiction: economists see launch prices falling sharply, yet satellite companies struggle to secure available rockets. A 2026 peer-reviewed study estimated that the average cost of placing a kilogram into low Earth orbit fell to $3,868 in 2025. The study projected an average of $1,600 per kilogram by 2030 and $300 by 2040. Space launch capacity remains scarce for customers who need a particular rocket, date, orbit, or level of mission assurance.
Can the UK Space Strategy Turn Defense Spending Into Lasting Commercial Growth?
On September 8, 2026, the British government released a UK Space Strategy backed by more than £7.8 billion in planned investment through the 2029/30 financial year. The document places defense, national security, and economic growth at the center of British space policy.
What Does the ITU’s 2026 Handbook Reveal About Space Research Communications?
More than 40 deep-space missions were competing for communications support through NASA’s Deep Space Network by September 2026. That operating pressure captures the issue examined by the International Telecommunication Union’s 2026 space research handbook: scientific spacecraft can collect data, maneuver, and survive only when dependable communication and tracking links connect them with Earth or another spacecraft.
Can Workforce Training Help Businesses Turn Satellite Data Into Useful Decisions?
Access to satellite data does not, by itself, create the ability to use it well. An organization also needs people who can select suitable information, understand its limitations, and connect the analysis to a business problem.
How Is Space Robotics Expanding Exploration Beyond Earth?
On June 10, 2026, Science Robotics published research describing how SORA-Q, a palm-sized Japanese robot, operated autonomously on the Moon. Deployed during the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon mission in January 2024, the robot changed from a compact ball-shaped package into a mobile vehicle and gathered images near the lander. Its experience captures both the accomplishments and unresolved problems of space robotics.
Can the U.S. Transportation Department Prepare for 1,000 Space Launches and Reentries a Year?
On September 9, 2026, the United States Department of Transportation established the Space Policy Administration, Coordination, and Execution Task Force. Known as the SPACE Task Force, the intradepartmental body will coordinate commercial space transportation policy across several offices within the department.
What Does the BRICS Declaration Change for Space Cooperation?
The September 12, 2026 New Delhi Declaration endorsed further BRICS space cooperation. Leaders recognized progress on an amendment allowing additional space agencies into the Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation agreement and on drafting terms for a proposed Space Council.
What Do Europe’s EOGS Contracts Mean for Government Satellite Services?
On September 17, 2026, the European Space Agency awarded ICEYE and Leonardo contracts for parallel studies of the future Earth Observation Governmental Service (EOGS). The architecture studies, funded by the European Commission, examines how the service could connect satellites with secure ground infrastructure and information delivery.
Starship Flight 14’s Launch Date Is Now NET September 28
SpaceX has moved the planned launch of Starship Flight 14 from September 22 to no earlier than September 28, 2026, extending preparations for what is planned to be the Starship program’s first orbital mission.
Microbes in deep-sea volcanoes can help scientists learn about early life on Earth, or even life beyond our planet
People have long wondered what life was first like on Earth, and if there is life in our solar system beyond our planet. Scientists have reason to believe that some of the moons in our solar system – like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus – may contain deep, salty liquid oceans under an icy shell. Seafloor volcanoes could heat these moons’ oceans and provide the basic chemicals needed for life.
Australia’s data centre build-out carries risks for the economy – and inflation
Australia is in the middle of a data centre construction boom. Driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and growing demand for digital services, global technology companies are expected to invest up to A$150 billion in Australian data centres by 2030.
There’s growing evidence of possible life on other planets – here’s why you should still be sceptical
A team of researchers has recently claimed they have discovered a gas called dimethyl sulphide (DMS) in the atmosphere of K2-18b, a planet orbiting a distant star.
Scientists found a potential sign of life on a distant planet – an astronomer explains why many are still skeptical
A team of astronomers announced on April 16, 2025, that in the process of studying a planet around another star, they had found evidence for an unexpected atmospheric gas. On Earth, that gas – called dimethyl sulfide – is mostly produced by living organisms.
Is the nuclear non-proliferation pact a model for regulating runaway AI?
The potential existential threat of artificial intelligence has leapt into the headlines after a departing safety researcher at AI corporation Anthropic posted on social media he believed there was more than a one-in-ten chance AI could kill everyone.
Can Satellite Navigation Make Hospital Patient Transport More Reliable?
The European Space Agency (ESA) reported on September 17, 2026, that Project Eclipse had demonstrated satellite-enabled transport coordination at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The deployment supported dialysis-patient journeys and staff mobility, connecting vehicle locations with information about when transport was needed.
Can Europe Turn In-Space Services Policy Into a Commercial Market?
European governments and institutions endorsed three connected space-policy measures at the International Space Summit in Paris on September 9 and 10, 2026. According to the European Space Agency’s summit summary, the outcomes covered in-space operations and services, sustainable use of outer space, and support for international coordination of radio spectrum and orbital resources.
Could Distributed Computing Become the Operating Layer for Satellite Swarms?
A satellite constellation with dozens of spacecraft cannot operate efficiently if every routine update requires separate ground commands. The communication burden grows with the number of satellites, ground-station access remains limited, and delayed instructions can reduce the value of time-sensitive observations.
Who should own the knowledge that underpins AI technology?
Russian mathematician Yurii Nesterov was recently awarded the Gauss Prize for outstanding mathematical contributions for his “groundbreaking work” on optimisation. The award cited his work on gradient descent methods – and in particular, the “efficiency gains [they] provide to AI technologies”.
Big AI wants to slow down AI research. Is it a safety pause or a strategic retreat?
Over the weekend, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for artificial intelligence (AI) companies, including his own, to slow down their work. Sam Altman and Elon Musk, heads of rivals OpenAI and xAI respectively, agreed.
How Does the Lanteris Acquisition Change Intuitive Machines’ Place in the Space Economy?
Intuitive Machines completed its acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems on January 13, 2026, for $800 million before closing adjustments. The Lanteris acquisition transferred the former Maxar Space Systems manufacturing business into a company already pursuing lunar transportation and space communications services. Payment comprised $450 million in cash and $350 million in Intuitive Machines Class A common stock, according to the company’s acquisition completion announcement. All dollar amounts are in United States dollars.
Russian team ‘misused’ Claude AI to train a killer drone on scraped Ukrainian war footage
A new threat intelligence report from the AI company Anthropic has revealed that a Russian team scraped Ukrainian combat videos to train an autonomous “kamikaze” drone to choose its own targets and destroy them.
What Does ESA’s New Report Reveal About the Risks Facing Satellites?
ESA’s Annual Space Environment Report 2026 documents growing orbital traffic and continuing debris concerns, with implications for the infrastructure supporting satellite communications, Earth observation, and other space-based services.
Tech leaders are calling for an ‘AI slowdown’ – but what would that mean in practice?
On Saturday, Donald Trump said, “We’re leading China on AI… and, , I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.” But the danger the world is waking up to is that this is a game both the US and China could lose, potentially fatally, with AI itself emerging as the winner.
Cyber attacks? Bioterrorism? To ‘Pace the Frontier’ of AI effectively, we must improve our anticipatory thinking
Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei has published an essay entitled “We Must Pace the Frontier.” He expressed ongoing concerns over the “misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism” and fears that a swarm of AI agents could theoretically take over the entire internet within six to 12 months.
What Does Galileo Signal Authentication Mean for Trusted Satellite Navigation?
Five Galileo satellites transmitted encrypted components during a two-hour test on September 16, 2026. Ground receivers used those transmissions to establish authenticated positions, including during interference testing at Andøya in Norway. The European Space Agency’s account of the demonstration identifies the event as a milestone for the upcoming Galileo Signal Authentication Service (SAS).
Data centres have existed for decades. So why are they so controversial now?
Until recently, data centres attracted relatively little public attention. They were largely treated as invisible pieces of digital infrastructure: essential but rarely discussed outside technical and industry circles.
What Role Are Satellites Playing in Operation Epic Fury?
The Lead Inspector General Report to the United States Congress on Operation Epic Fury, covering April 1–June 30, 2026, shows satellite services and broader space capabilities contributing to military operations, imagery supporting Iranian strikes, and broadcasting into Iran. It also identifies proposed investment in a space data network. However, the public report provides limited technical detail and does not offer a complete inventory of the satellites involved.
What Does the Literature Say About the Asteroid Threat to Earth and Planetary Defense?
On 15 February 2013, an asteroid estimated at roughly 20 meters across exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia. The airburst injured approximately 1,600 people, damaged thousands of buildings, and released energy comparable to hundreds of kilotons of TNT. The event caused no crater and did not threaten human civilization, yet it demonstrated how an object too small to produce a global catastrophe could still create a large regional emergency. The detailed scientific account published by the Chelyabinsk Airburst Consortium remains one of the most useful modern studies of an asteroid encounter with Earth.
Our quest to find a truly Earth-like planet in deep space
On October 6 1995, at a scientific meeting in Florence, Italy, two Swiss astronomers made an announcement that would transform our understanding of the universe beyond our solar system. Michel Mayor and his PhD student Didier Queloz, working at the University of Geneva, announced they had detected a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
A rocky planet in its star’s ‘habitable zone’ could be the first known to have an atmosphere – here’s what we found
New research using Nasa’s powerful JWST telescope has identified a planet 41 light years away which may have an atmosphere. The planet is within the “habitable zone”, the region around a star where temperatures make it possible for liquid water to exist on the surface of a rocky world. This is important because water is a key ingredient that supports the existence of life.
From flying boats to secret Soviet weapons to alien visitors – a brief cultural history of UFOs
On June 25, 2021, the U.S. government released a nine–page preliminary report on UFOs, or, as it is now calling them, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAPs. The report is the latest notable event in what has been a renaissance for UFOs in recent years. Greg Eghigian is a historian of science at Penn State who has published research and is writing a book on the history of UFOs in the U.S. We spoke with him for The Conversation Weekly podcast the day before the new report came out to better understand the cultural history of UFOs in the U.S.
Chariots of the gods, ships in the sky: how unidentified aerial phenomena left their mark in ancient cultures
For thousands of years, people have been describing unexplainable gleaming objects in the sky.
What Does the UK Space Strategy Mean for Security and Commercial Growth?
The United Kingdom (UK) published its new space strategy on September 8, 2026, with more than £7.8 billion in funding through the 2029/30 financial year. The UK Space Strategy puts defense, national security, and economic growth at the center of government activity. Its four priority areas cover satellite communications and space domain awareness, meaning the ability to understand activity in space. They also cover in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing, alongside access to space.
What Will WGS-12 Funding Deliver for Canada and Its Allies?
The United States Space Force announced on September 12, 2026, that 10 international partners would provide US$302 million to complete the acquisition of WGS-12. The signed multinational amendment covers launch and on-orbit delivery, alongside ground-system upgrades and mission operations. Canada is among the participating countries.
What Could the Space Technology Portfolio Executive Change for Military Procurement?
The Department of the Air Force announced the establishment of the Space Technology Portfolio Executive on September 15, 2026. The official establishment notice places the role under the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration. Its responsibilities connect research and commercial technology with the organizations that acquire military space capabilities.
Should Satellite Buyers Require Proof of Flight Software Security?
A September 14, 2026 satellite flight software security study examined 126 public repositories containing software relevant to onboard spacecraft functions. After removing duplicate, irrelevant, and out-of-scope scanner results, the researchers retained 2,827 candidate security and code-quality findings. Ninety-two repositories contained at least one retained finding, and 71.8% of the findings received a medium-or-higher severity classification from the analysis tools.
Can Europe Reconcile Industrial Interests With an Affordable IRIS Satellite Constellation?
Twenty-two European countries endorsed faster development of the IRIS² satellite constellation at a September 2026 space summit in Paris. The planned European Union network now includes 348 satellites distributed between low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit, according to the European Commission’s IRIS² program page. Government services would receive protected communications capacity, and private customers would receive commercial connectivity through the same broader system.
Can Satellite Water-Level Data Become More Valuable by Filling the Gaps?
A September 2026 research paper introduced AmazonWSE, a satellite water-level data resource covering about 19,000 river sections in the Amazon Basin from 2016 through 2026. The AmazonWSE study combines measurements from several satellite altimetry sources, including the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission, and reserves ground-gauge observations for evaluation.
Could Multi-Shell LEO Network Management Increase Capacity Without More Satellites?
A September 10, 2026 paper examines whether a multi-shell low Earth orbit network can serve more users by changing how terminals select satellites and manage interference. The multi-shell LEO network study was written by Seyong Kim, Jeonghun Park, and Jeffrey G. Andrews. It presents a mathematical model and simulation results rather than measurements from an operating commercial constellation.
Why Does Sample Return Contamination Control Determine Scientific Value?
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx capsule landed in Utah on September 24, 2023, carrying 121.6 grams of material collected from asteroid Bennu. A September 10, 2026 contamination-control study concludes that the collection met the mission’s definition of pristine, apart from an isolated 1.24% by mass that escaped the sample container and contacted spacecraft particulates.
Should the U.S. Accept Limits in Space?
On April 18, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States (U.S.) would stop conducting destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests. The decision offers a useful test for space norms and treaties: a self-imposed limit can reduce a capability in exchange for a safer operating environment, stronger diplomatic standing, and lower risk to American spacecraft.
Does the Renewed Space SPAC Cycle Reflect Stronger Businesses or Greater Risk Tolerance?
Six defense, space, or satellite-related companies announced mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies during 2026, twice the number recorded during all of 2025. At least seven additional companies in the sector completed conventional initial public offerings, according to a Reuters examination of the renewed listing cycle.
From GPS to weather forecasts: the hidden ways Australia relies on foreign satellites
You have probably used space at least 20 times today. Satellites let you buy a coffee with your phone, book a rideshare, navigate your way to meet someone, and check the weather.
Could Aliens Detect Earth’s METI Messages?
On November 16, 1974, the Arecibo Observatory transmitted a message containing 1,679 binary digits toward the star cluster Messier 13. At a transmission rate of 10 bits per second, the encoded message occupied approximately 167.9 seconds, or 2.8 minutes. The SETI Institute’s Arecibo account describes a communication containing information about humanity and the Solar System, among other subjects.
50 years ago, NASA sent 2 spacecraft to search for life on Mars – the Viking missions’ findings are still discussed today
Finding life beyond the Earth would be a major scientific discovery with significant implications for all areas of science and human thought. Yet, only one direct search for extraterrestrial life has ever been conducted.
Starship Flight 14 Delayed
SpaceX’s next Starship flight test has moved several days later, with Federal Aviation Administration airspace planning now pointing to September 22, 2026, for Starship Flight 14 from Starbase, Texas.
NASA’s Commercial Transportation Programs Will Shape the Future Space Economy
NASA’s commercial crew and cargo transportation programs have become important foundations of the emerging low Earth orbit economy. For more than 25 years, the International Space Station has supported scientific research, technology demonstrations, international cooperation, and commercial activity. As the Station approaches its planned retirement in 2031, NASA is attempting to maintain safe operations while preparing for a future in which privately operated space stations serve government, commercial, and international customers.
AI may be to blame for our failure to make contact with alien civilisations
Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI) - a form of AI that would not only surpass human intelligence but would not be bound by the learning speeds of humans.
Star Trek used wormholes to jump through space – what’s the science behind them?
Since Star Trek began sending its crews out to explore strange new worlds 60 years ago, the franchise has both imagined and inspired new concepts for travel across the vast distances of space.
Most Americans support NASA – but don’t think it should prioritize sending people to space
Most Americans (69%) believe it is essential that the United States continue to be a world leader in space. But only a subsection of that group believes NASA should prioritize sending people to the Moon, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. The study surveyed over 10,000 U.S. adults on their attitudes toward NASA and their expectations for the space industry over the next few decades.
What is most likely going on in Area 51? A national security historian explains why you won’t find aliens there
One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going on at Area 51 is that it is a highly classified secret military facility. It was not until 2013 that the U.S. government even acknowledged the existence and name “Area 51.”
Can Satellites Help Make Offshore Wind Inspections More Practical?
Offshore wind maintenance brings together equipment, personnel, vessels, and information. Improving one part of that system has limited value if the rest cannot keep pace. A drone may capture useful photographs, but an inspection service also needs a workable deployment method, reliable communications, and a process for turning images into maintenance decisions.
Can Weather-Satellite Data Improve Short-Term Solar Power Decisions?
A solar installation’s annual energy potential and its output over the next hour are different questions. The first helps determine whether a project should be built. The second can influence how an existing facility schedules electricity use, storage, and purchases.
AI is helping astronomers make new discoveries and learn about the universe faster than ever before
The famous first image of a black hole just got two times sharper. A research team used artificial intelligence to dramatically improve upon its first image from 2019, which now shows the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy as darker and bigger than the first image depicted.
SETI: alien hunters get a boost as AI helps identify promising signals from space
An international team of researchers looking for signs of intelligent life in space have used artificial intelligence (AI) to reveal eight promising radio signals in data collected at a US observatory.
Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial
Most of us still call them UFOs – unidentified flying objects. NASA recently adopted the term “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP. Either way, every few years popular claims resurface that these things are not of our world, or that the U.S. government has some stored away.
Physicists zoom into the birth of cosmic rainstorms with new CERN study
Every second, particles zip through your body at nearly the speed of light. They rain down from a storm high in the sky, where cosmic rays, a powerful type of interstellar matter, are constantly striking atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. The impacts break them apart into a shower of particles that rain to the ground.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will use gravity as a magnifying glass to find distant planets
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on Aug. 30, 2026, beginning a journey that will take it about a million miles from the Earth. Once there, Roman will study some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy, from dark energy to the formation of galaxies. It will also search for planets around other stars, called exoplanets, but in a rather unusual way.
What Could the FCC’s Proposed Satellite Spectrum Rules Change for the Space Economy?
The Federal Communications Commission circulated a draft on September 9, 2026, proposing expanded satellite use of the 12.7–13.25 gigahertz and 42–42.5 gigahertz bands. The document is scheduled for tentative consideration at the commission’s September 30 meeting.
Can Ariane 6 Turn Its New Commercial Orders Into a Dependable Launch Cadence?
Arianespace announced seven agreements during the International Space Summit on September 9–10, 2026, describing the package as its largest order intake since Ariane 6 entered service. The announcements connect Europe’s heavy launcher with constellation replenishment and other commercial missions.
Can Altair-Next Gen Turn a $1 Billion Investment Plan Into Shared Space Intelligence?
Marlan Space and Loft Orbital signed a plan on September 9, 2026, for a $1 billion investment in France associated with Altair-Next Gen. The proposed program would combine satellite observations with artificial intelligence processing aboard spacecraft, offering government and commercial customers access to shared infrastructure.
How Can the Observable Universe Be 93 Billion Light-Years Wide If It Is Only 13.8 Billion Years Old?
The Planck 2018 cosmological analysis places the universe’s age at about 13.797 billion years, with an uncertainty of roughly 0.023 billion years under the Lambda cold dark matter model, usually written ΛCDM. Yet the radius of the observable universe is commonly given as about 46 billion to 46.5 billion light-years, producing a diameter close to 93 billion light-years. NASA uses a rounded public estimate of about 92 billion light-years. Those numbers describe different physical quantities, so they do not create a conflict.
What Does the 2026 U.S. Annual Threat Assessment Reveal About America’s Security Risks?
On March 18, 2026, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, a 34-page public assessment prepared using information available through March 14. The document concentrates primarily on threats expected to affect U.S. national security over approximately the next year, making its ordering and emphasis part of its message. It starts with threats to the Homeland, moves through technological and military domains, and then addresses regional security problems.
What Does NASA’s 2026/2027 Performance Plan Reveal About the Agency’s Moon-to-Mars Strategy?
On April 1, 2026, NASA launched Artemis II from Kennedy Space Center, sending Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the first crewed flight of the Artemis program. Orion completed its lunar flyby and splashed down on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off California after a mission lasting 9 days, 1 hour, and 32 minutes.
Scientists claim to have found evidence of alien life. But ‘biosignatures’ might hide more than they reveal
Whether or not we’re alone in the universe is one of the biggest questions in science.
Building data centers in space is an intriguing idea on paper, but major engineering challenges must be solved
Imagine if one company could become the railroad, electric utility and cloud-computing provider of the emerging space economy. That potential fueled excitement around the long-anticipated initial public offering of SpaceX. Investors are not simply betting on rockets anymore. They are betting on an entire orbital ecosystem.
Signs of ancient life may have been found in Martian rock – new study
Just over a year ago, Nasa made a remarkable announcement. The Perseverance rover had found potential signs of ancient life on Mars. Now, the technical details behind that discovery have been published in a Nature paper that, despite its rather modest wording, may ultimately prove to be among the most significant in the history of science.
There are already 16,000 satellites in Earth’s orbit. How will we manage the next 100,000?
Earth’s orbit is getting crowded.
What Changed in Global Space Policy? Review: August 14–September 14, 2026
The most consequential developments were a new U.S. space transportation policy, the launch of a U.S. certification pilot for novel commercial missions, and European commitments linking strategic autonomy with coordinated government purchasing. International discussions also produced practical proposals for traffic coordination and renewed support for shared spectrum rules.
What Does the 2026 Space Environment Report Reveal About the Future of Space Debris?
More than 300 launches delivered over 4,000 new payloads into space during 2025. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) 2026 Space Environment Report, issued on September 8, 2026, also records approximately 1,200 intact objects returning through the atmosphere during that year. Launch activity expanded despite rising numbers of satellite and rocket-body reentries, leaving orbital safety dependent on more than the pace of disposal alone.
Too many satellites? Earth’s orbit is on track for a catastrophe – but we can stop it
On January 30 2026, SpaceX filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for a megaconstellation of up to one million satellites to power data centres in space.
Can we use bees as a model of intelligent alien life to develop interstellar communication?
Humans have always been fascinated with space. We frequently question whether we are alone in the universe. If not, what does intelligent life look like? And how would aliens communicate?
A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth
More than 10,000 Starlink satellites currently orbit the Earth. We see them crawling across dark skies, no matter how remote our location, and streaking through images from research telescopes.
Scientists used a method from ecology to identify whether icy moons could hold conditions for life
New observatories and spacecraft missions are probing environments in our solar system that could potentially host life but have long remained hidden. Icy moons like Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa likely contain oceans beneath frozen outer shells. But a layer of ice prohibits space probes from sampling them directly.
Why Are AI Industry Leaders Calling for Frontier Development to Slow Down?
Some of the people building the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems are increasingly questioning whether their industry can continue advancing at its present speed while maintaining adequate safeguards.
SETI’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ – a space historian explores how the advent of radio astronomy led to the USSR’s search for extraterrestrial life
As humans began to explore outer space in the latter half of the 20th century, radio waves proved a powerful tool. Scientists could send out radio waves to communicate with satellites, rockets and other spacecraft, and use radio telescopes to take in radio waves emitted by objects throughout the universe.
Is extracting oxygen from lunar soil the future of space exploration?
A new race to the Moon is emerging between the United States and China. Unlike fifty years ago, the goal is no longer just about landing and leaving, but establishing a base that allows for a sustainable presence and extended stays on the surface of our natural satellite. The objective is now to use the Moon as a testing ground for technologies that will enable us to travel further, particularly to Mars.
How astronomers plan to detect the signatures of alien life in the atmospheres of distant planets
We live in a very exciting time: answers to some of the oldest questions humanity has conceived are within our grasp. One of these is whether Earth is the only place that harbours life.
Space debris struck a Chinese spacecraft – how the incident could be a wake-up call for international collaboration
China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft took a hit from a piece of space debris floating through orbit, causing Chinese officials to delay the spacecraft’s return from its Tiangong space station in early November 2025.
Data centres in space: will 2027 really be the year AI goes to orbit?
Google recently unveiled Project Suncatcher, a research “moonshot” aiming to build a data centre in space. The tech giant plans to use a constellation of solar-powered satellites which would run on its own TPU chips and transmit data to one another via lasers.
Can scientists detect life without knowing what it looks like? Research using machine learning offers a new way
When NASA scientists opened the sample return canister from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission in late 2023, they found something astonishing.
Are UFOs inspiring a new religion?
For years, whistleblowers have publicly alleged that the United States government is withholding what it knows about UFOs (now formally referred to as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” or “UAP”).
‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ an astronomer explains how much evidence scientists need to claim discoveries like extraterrestrial life
‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ − an astronomer explains how much evidence scientists need to claim discoveries like extraterrestrial life
Is there life out there? The existence of other technological species is highly likely
We live in a golden age for space exploration. Scientists are gathering massive amounts of new information and scientific evidence at a record pace. Yet the age-old question remains unanswered: are we alone?
One of the largest searches for alien life started over 30 years ago. Its legacy lives on today
In February 1995, a small research organisation known as the SETI Institute launched what was then the most comprehensive search for an answer to a centuries-old question: are we alone in the universe?
Do aliens exist? We studied what scientists really think
News stories about the likely existence of extraterrestrial life, and our chances of detecting it, tend to be positive. We are often told that we might discover it any time now. Finding life beyond Earth is “only a matter of time”, we were told in September 2023. “We are close” was a headline from September 2024.
Scientists have discovered a 3 billion-year-old beach buried on Mars
In the 1970s, images from the NASA Mariner 9 orbiter revealed water-sculpted surfaces on Mars. This settled the once-controversial question of whether water ever rippled over the red planet.
While the US government is investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena, academic researchers studying them face stigma
President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon and other federal agencies to begin releasing government files related to UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena – called UAP – in February 2026, following years of pressure from Congress, military whistleblowers and the public.
Is the bar higher for scientific claims of alien life?
Is the bar higher for scientific claims of alien life?
UFOs: how astronomers are searching the sky for alien probes near Earth
There has been increased interest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) ever since the Pentagon’s 2021 report revealed what appears to be anomalous objects in US airspace, dubbed unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Fast forward to 2023, and Nasa has already formed a panel to investigate the reports and appointed a director for UAP research.
Starship Flight 14 Moves Toward a September 18 Launch Window
SpaceX’s Starship development program has reached another near-term scheduling milestone, with the Federal Aviation Administration now planning for Starship Flight 14 on September 18, 2026, from Starbase, Texas.
A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
Private companies are no longer peripheral participants in U.S. space activities. They provide key services, including launching and deploying satellites, transporting cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station, and even sending landers to the Moon.
Google’s proposed data center in orbit will face issues with space debris in an already crowded orbit
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services has led to a massive demand for computing power. The surge has strained data infrastructure, which requires lots of electricity to operate. A single, medium-sized data center here on Earth can consume enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with even larger facilities using as much as a small city.
New UFO files offer no answers – but something is happening in the skies
The US Government has released a new trove of documents on various cases of “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” (UAPs) – many of which would have been described in the past as Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs – including photos, videos and reports of unexplained events sighted in the sky and in space.
Could aliens ever visit Earth? An aerospace scientist unpacks the challenges of interstellar spaceflight
On May 22, 2026, the Pentagon released a second batch of previously classified photos and videos showing what appear to be unexplained flying objects. These file dumps were the culmination of a process that was set in motion back in July 2023, when a group of government whistleblowers testified before Congress that the U.S. government was secretly in possession of extraterrestrial spacecraft and suspected alien body parts.
If aliens landed on Earth tomorrow, what would they eat?
With the release of Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s new film about aliens, a question as old as science fiction itself resurfaces: if aliens were to arrive on Earth, would they come to conquer us, to study us… or perhaps to eat?
Alien first contact: how the new rules differ from science fiction
The moment of first contact with extraterrestrials is a staple of science fiction. It usually involves a frantic scientist having a Eureka moment, realising in a single dramatic instant that Earth is being visited by creatures from light-years away.
What Does Recent Lunar Habitat Research Reveal About Building a Permanent Moon Base?
In July 2025, researchers published an engineering concept for covering a 17-meter-wide lunar crater with a dome made from material derived from Moon soil. The proposed structure, located in Mare Tranquillitatis, illustrates how lunar habitat research is translating architectural ideas into designs that can be examined through structural calculations and material testing.
Can Generation Ships Sustain Human Life Across Centuries of Interstellar Travel?
A generation ship would need to carry a human society across interstellar space for a period long enough that its initial crew would die before arrival. The journey would demand reliable propulsion, artificial gravity, radiation protection, food production, medical care, manufacturing, education, governance, and cultural continuity. Research papers have examined each area, but no study has demonstrated that all of these systems can operate together for centuries.
Are aliens real? Scientists have been hunting for extraterrestrial life since the time of Aristotle
Do aliens exist? Could Earth really be the only planet hosting intelligent life?
Which U.S. Space Infrastructure Is Essential to National Security and the Economy?
On August 20, 2026, the White House issued a new National Space Transportation Policy directing federal ranges to develop capacity for more than 1,000 launches and reentries each year by 2030. The policy also addresses launch sites, reentry locations, radio spectrum, airspace integration, industrial capacity, supply chains, workforce development, commercial transportation, and infrastructure investment. That breadth illustrates how far the meaning of U.S. space infrastructure has expanded beyond rockets and satellites.
We might soon have the technology to reach other star systems
The recent confirmation of an atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet called LHS 1140b has created a wave of interest within the astronomy community. The planet orbits within the habitable zone around its parent star – a red dwarf located some 48 light years from Earth.
How Are Satellite Services for Archaeology Changing What We Know About Earth’s Past?
In 1992, a NASA-supported expedition in Oman used Landsat imagery and space-shuttle radar to trace ancient routes converging near Shisr, where fieldwork uncovered a fortified trading site associated with the legendary Ubar. The result did not mean a satellite had photographed a buried city. It showed that remote sensing could identify patterns across hundreds of square kilometers, narrow a search area, and direct archaeologists toward places where excavation could test an interpretation. That sequence remains the sound model for satellite services for archaeology: observe from orbit, identify anomalies, compare them with historical and environmental evidence, then verify them on the ground.
Could the Trade War Make Chinese Launch Services the Global Leader?
On August 25, 2026, a Long March 6C mission lifted seven satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed them into their planned orbits. Among the payloads was Thailand’s GISTDA Cube Sat 1, developed by GalaxySpace for Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency. Chinese media described the project as the country’s earliest complete commercial satellite export to Southeast Asia involving satellite development, launch, and in-orbit delivery.
Many space missions are searching for life beyond Earth – but are we prepared for the fallout if they succeed?
Microbes from space have fueled the plots of science fiction mainstays like “Project Hail Mary” and “The Andromeda Strain.” But with more space missions launching each year, finding extraterrestrial life in a microbial form is becoming more plausible. What will the response be back here on Earth if – or when – scientists discover extraterrestrial microbes? Will the international policy and security communities be prepared for the fallout?
Are we the Martians? The intriguing idea that life on Earth began on the red planet
How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don’t yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared.
AI is helping ease competition for scarce space on the airwaves
Every time you make a phone call, stream a video or connect to Wi-Fi, your device is sending and receiving invisible signals through the air. So are your baby monitor, garage door opener, your GPS, the weather-monitoring satellites and the radars keeping planes safely apart. All of these rely on the same invisible resource: the radio spectrum.
Nasa’s new telescope is named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman – but who was she?
Nasa has named its latest flagship space telescope after the American scientist Nancy Grace Roman. Roman’s contributions to astrophysics should have made her famous, yet many people will never have heard of her.
China is launching a Moon mission to find water ice. It’s unlike anything NASA has done
How do you explore a place where the Sun never shines? China’s space programme will soon embark on one of the most innovative lunar exploration missions in recent years.
‘Star Trek’ and NASA have intertwined legacies – the show championed diversity and inspired generations of real space scientists
“Star Trek” began as a television series but grew into a cultural phenomenon.
Can the Department of Defense Make Better Use of Commercial Space Data?
Between January 27, 2023, and September 30, 2025, the U.S. Space Force’s Joint Commercial Operations Cell spent $76.8 million through the Global Data Marketplace. Those purchases supplied unclassified commercial information and analytic services for missions such as tracking objects in orbit, locating radio-frequency interference, monitoring threats to navigation signals, and supporting military commands during discrete events.
What Does UFO Polling Data Reveal About How Public Beliefs Have Changed?
A CBS News/YouGov survey conducted from June 2 through June 4, 2026, among 2,023 American adults found that 63% believed intelligent life exists on other planets, 21% believed humanity had already made contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life, 17% said they had seen something they thought was an unidentified flying object (UFO), and 84% thought the United States government knew more about UFOs than it was telling the public.
Are U.S. Space Export Controls Protecting Technology or Surrendering Overseas Markets?
On August 20, 2026, the White House issued a revised National Space Transportation Policy with a target of supporting 1,000 launches and reentries annually by 2030. The policy also directed the Departments of State and Commerce to reconsider how export rules affect sales, investment, joint development, regulatory alignment, and technology protection. That directive placed U.S. space export controls inside a broader economic and industrial strategy rather than treating them solely as barriers against technology transfer.
Is the Global Space Economy Becoming More Commercial or More Concentrated?
Private operators accounted for 88% of the satellites launched in 2025, compared with 23% in 2010. That finding from the OECD’s 2026 assessment captures one of the largest structural changes in the global space economy. Satellite ownership and operation have shifted toward commercial companies, supported by lower launch costs, smaller spacecraft, private investment, digital services, and large communications constellations.
Can the United States Build the Capacity Needed for 1,000 Space Launches and Reentries a Year?
On August 20, 2026, the United States adopted a National Space Transportation Policy that set a goal of enabling more than 1,000 launches and reentries per year by 2030. The target reframes launch policy. It calls for an average approaching three licensed operations every day, counting both departures and returns, across government and commercial missions.
Can Europe Coordinate Its Space Programs Before Fragmentation Becomes a Strategic Liability?
On September 9 and 10, 2026, political leaders, agency officials, and industry executives met in Paris to discuss Europe’s future in space. The gathering took place during a period of expanding national budgets, new launcher activity, planned secure communications systems, and growing concern about dependence on American providers.
Where Does Canada Stand in the Global Space Economy?
Alouette 1 entered orbit on September 29, 1962, making Canada the third country to design and build a satellite that reached space. An American rocket launched it from Vandenberg Air Force Base, establishing a pattern that still defines much of Canada’s space position: advanced domestic technology paired with foreign launch access and international partnerships.
Could New FCC Satellite Spectrum Be More Valuable Than Additional Spacecraft?
On September 8, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission placed a proposed satellite-spectrum action on the tentative agenda for its September 30 open meeting. The measure would open 1,050 megahertz in the 12.7 gigahertz and 42 gigahertz bands for expanded satellite use.
Rocket Lab Reaches 95 Electron Missions as 2026 Launch Cadence Accelerates
Rocket Lab completed its 95th Electron mission on September 11, 2026, extending a launch cadence that has made Electron one of the most frequently flown dedicated small-satellite launch vehicles in the world.
What Are the Future Demand Drivers for the Lunar Economy?
In April 2020, the Science and Technology Policy Institute at the Institute for Defense Analyses completed one of the most useful examinations of the future demand drivers for the lunar economy. Commissioned by NASA, the IDA demand study examined commercial and civil demand through 2040 rather than beginning with the assumption that large lunar markets would automatically appear once transportation technology improved. Its central finding was restrictive: two variables dominated the economics, government expenditures on Moon-related activities and the cost of transporting people, equipment, and commodities between Earth, cislunar space, and the lunar surface. Private demand alone appeared insufficient to support most companies whose revenue depended entirely on lunar customers.
Firefly and SSC Space Plan Two Alpha Launches From Sweden in 2028
Firefly Aerospace and Sweden’s SSC Space have taken another significant step toward establishing orbital launch operations from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. On September 9, 2026, the companies announced a multi-launch agreement covering two Firefly Alpha missions from Esrange, with both launches targeted for no earlier than 2028.
What Does Pew Research Show About Americans’ Views of the U.S. Space Program?
A 2023 survey of 10,329 U.S. adults found that 69% considered continued American leadership in space essential, compared with 30% who did not. Those results sit near the center of Americans’ views of the U.S. space program: strong support for maintaining national capability in space coexists with much more selective support for individual missions, spending priorities, and commercial activities. The Pew Research Center survey was conducted from May 30 through June 4, 2023, through the American Trends Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited through random sampling of residential addresses.
What Does the Mars Colonization Literature Say About Permanent Settlement?
Wernher von Braun published The Mars Project in English in 1953, decades before any spacecraft had successfully reached Mars. That work gave early Mars colonization literature an engineering vocabulary: trajectories, spacecraft mass, orbital assembly, surface operations, crew organization, and logistics. Von Braun imagined an expedition far larger than later mission studies, but the intellectual pattern proved persistent. A Mars settlement could not be discussed meaningfully without examining the transportation and support system that made human presence possible. The historical importance of the book is examined in the University of Illinois Press edition, which documents how early technical speculation helped move human Mars travel from fiction toward engineering analysis.
Can the UK Space Strategy Turn National Security Spending Into Lasting Commercial Growth?
The September 2026 UK Space Strategy sets out more than £7.8 billion in funding through the 2029/30 financial year, linking national security with commercial expansion. Its central policy choice is to concentrate government support where British capabilities can meet defense requirements and generate sales, with delivery objectives for 2030 and longer-term ambitions for 2035.
How Do Earth Observation Foundation Models Turn Satellite Data Into Useful Intelligence?
On July 29, 2026, Google announced a private preview of Custom Satellite Embeddings, a service designed to summarize satellite observations for user-selected places and time periods. The announcement marked a further step in the development of Earth observation foundation models, which learn reusable representations of the planet from large collections of measurements.
What Does Pew Research Show About Americans’ Views on Aliens, UFOs, UAPs, and Extraterrestrial Life?
In June 2021, 65% of U.S. adults told the Pew Research Center that their best guess was that intelligent life exists on other planets. That result provides the clearest starting point for understanding Americans’ views on aliens and UFOs because it measures belief in extraterrestrial intelligence separately from belief about unexplained objects observed near Earth.
Trump is proposing a US Space Academy – if created, it could blur the lines between NASA and the military
During a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Aug. 28, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a United States Space Academy.
Is the Global Space Economy Finally Becoming Infrastructure?
A week of launch breakthroughs, public procurement, and operational reality shows how national ambition is being converted - unevenly - into shared systems and services.
How Effective Is Global Space Weather Preparedness?
On March 20, 2026, the United Kingdom’s National Audit Office published an assessment that found years of investment had strengthened forecasting but still left unclear responsibilities, incomplete cross-sector response planning, and limited exercising. The findings in the UK preparedness audit capture a recurring theme in published research on space weather preparedness: governments have made measurable progress in observing the Sun, forecasting hazardous conditions, warning operators, and protecting electric-power networks, yet consequence management remains less mature across many sectors.
Could Space Weather Risks Cost the U.S. Economy $1.81 Billion a Day?
A study published on September 4, 2026, estimates that a severe geomagnetic storm could disrupt electricity for approximately 5.1 million people and 135,000 businesses in the United States, producing economic losses of about $1.81 billion per day. The research published in AGU Advances, led by Edward J. Oughton and Dennies K. Bor, connects space weather risks to the equipment that carries electricity and the economic activity that depends on it.
What Do Solar Storms Mean for GPS and Self-Driving Cars?
On August 29, 2026, researchers from The Aerospace Corporation, Boston University, Boston College, and MIT published a Geophysical Research Letters study showing that the November 2025 geomagnetic superstorm produced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning errors exceeding 10 meters in parts of the continental United States. The result makes the connection between GPS and self-driving cars more concrete because the measured error was large enough to move a computed vehicle position far beyond the accuracy expected for lane-level automation. The research team tied the degradation to auroral activity and irregular structures in the ionosphere rather than to a malfunction of the GPS satellites themselves.
What Does Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum Launch Change for Europe’s Access to Space?
Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket lifted off from Andøya, Norway, at 10:12 p.m. Central European Summer Time on September 5, 2026, and deployed payloads into orbit. The company’s successful qualification flight, named Onward and Upward, completed the transition from an experimental rocket that had flown briefly to a launch vehicle that had delivered spacecraft around Earth.
What Could Cause Human Extinction?
More than 8 billion members of Homo sapiens inhabited Earth as of August 2026, spread across every permanently occupied continent and supported by food, energy, medical, communication, and transportation systems that span national boundaries. Any event capable of causing human extinction would have to overcome that geographic dispersal, human adaptability, stored knowledge, technological capacity, and the possibility that isolated communities could survive when industrial civilization did not.
How Could Space-Adapted Humans Evolve Naturally and Through Augmentation?
NASA has identified bone loss, muscle weakening, cardiovascular changes, vision problems, radiation exposure, altered immune responses, and psychological strain as important human-spaceflight concerns. These effects arise because the human body developed under Earth’s gravity, atmosphere, magnetic field, day-night cycle, and biosphere.
Satellite images show how penguins’ diets are changing in response to Antarctic climate change
The color of penguin poop, as seen from space, is offering a new window into how the ecology and the environment of Antarctica are changing over time.
What Is the True Satellite Image Value of Penguin Guano for Science?
On July 20, 2026, Current Biology published a study showing that scientists could reconstruct decades of Adélie penguin dietary patterns from satellite observations of guano accumulated around Antarctic breeding colonies. The peer-reviewed penguin diet study combined Landsat imagery, imaging spectroscopy, stable-isotope measurements, and statistical modeling to examine dietary variation across almost the entire geographic range of the species from 1984 through 2013.
Early Mars was warm and wet not icy, suggests latest research
A recent study showed that Mars was warm and wet billions of years ago. The finding contrasts with another theory that this era was mainly cold and icy. The result has implications for the idea that life could have developed on the planet at this time.
What Do U.S. Space Industrial Base Reports Reveal About America’s Supply Chain?
In November 2021, the State of the Space Industrial Base 2021 found that 65% of surveyed space-industry respondents were experiencing supply-chain delays and 39% were experiencing delays of eight weeks or longer. That finding provides a useful starting point for examining U.S. space industrial base reports published during the five-year period ending September 2, 2026. The literature since then documents a substantial change in the nature of the problem. Pandemic-era shortages remain part of the historical record, but later studies increasingly concentrate on production capacity, supplier concentration, manufacturing infrastructure, testing facilities, workforce availability, government purchasing patterns, and visibility below prime contractors.
Can the Pentagon Build Space Manufacturing Capacity Fast Enough for Proliferated Military Constellations?
On September 1, 2026, the Department of War announced an $11.4 million Defense Production Act investment in Stellant Systems to expand production of traveling-wave tube amplifiers for satellite communications. The Stellant investment announcement followed two Defense Innovation Unit agreements focused on a different part of the same problem: the United States is preparing to buy and operate far more military space hardware, yet much of the industrial base still reflects an era of small production runs, long lead times, specialized suppliers, and extensive custom engineering.
What Sciences Are Involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life?
On July 20, 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft landed on Mars carrying experiments designed to investigate whether the Martian surface contained evidence of microbial activity. The experiments produced measurements that scientists debated for decades, demonstrating a problem that remains central to the search for extraterrestrial life: detecting an unusual chemical reaction is much easier than proving that biology caused it.
What Does NASA’s SPARC Lunar Reactor Procurement Reveal About Lunar Reactor-1?
On August 30, 2026, NASA Glenn Research Center publicly posted the draft SPARC solicitation for Space Power and Reactor Capabilities, a proposed Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract for space nuclear systems. As of September 1, 2026, the solicitation remains a draft rather than an awarded contract. Its accompanying procurement documents make Lunar Reactor-1 far more concrete than a general technology program: NASA has paired the proposed SPARC contract with an Awardable Sample Task Order for LR-1 Phase 1 and says it intends to award one or more Phase 1 task orders through the source-selection process. The solicitation nevertheless preserves NASA’s right to make zero, one, or multiple SPARC awards and zero, one, or multiple LR-1 Phase 1 awards.
What Would Losing U.S. Spaceport Access Mean for the Nation?
In fiscal 2025, 163 of 195 launches licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration departed from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Vandenberg Space Force Base, or Kennedy Space Center. The FAA Aerospace Forecast Fiscal Years 2026-2046 records 76 launches from Cape Canaveral, 61 from Vandenberg, and 26 from Kennedy. Those three locations accounted for about 84% of all FAA-licensed launches during the fiscal year. SpaceX alone conducted 161 of the 195 licensed launches, representing 83% of the total.
Could Something Knock an Asteroid Off Course and Send It Straight Toward Earth?
On September 26, 2022, a spacecraft weighing about 579 kilograms struck the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos at 6.145 km/s and measurably changed its motion. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) provided an unusually useful experiment for assessing asteroid orbit disruption because the spacecraft’s mass, speed, impact location, and resulting orbital change were measured rather than inferred from an ancient natural collision. The DART technical record gives an impact energy of about 10.94 gigajoules and an orbital-period reduction of roughly 33 minutes.
Could life exist on Mars today? Here’s what the latest evidence says
Recently, Nasa revealed exciting details of new findings from Mars. Scientists have
discovered tiny patterns of unusual minerals in the clay-rich rocks on the edge of
Jezero Crater – an ancient lake once fed by Martian river systems, and the
exploration site of the Nasa Perseverance Rover.
Solar Storms and the Space Economy
As of August 27, 2026, a CelesTrak-based live count lists 16,418 active satellites in Earth orbit, up from 16,393 on August 24, the information cut-off used by Mission Space. The difference of 25 satellites in three days illustrates how quickly the exposure base can change. Mission Space US Corp.’s August 2026 study, Solar Storms and the Space Economy, compares that orbital population with 1,980 active satellites in 2018. The expansion changes how solar storms and the space economy should be assessed. The solar hazard is old, but the amount of equipment, revenue, communications capacity, navigation dependence, computing hardware, and human activity exposed to it is much larger than it was during the previous generation of space-weather planning.
Can DOD Make Better Use of Commercial Space Data and Services?
On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released DOD Has Opportunities to Improve Its Use of Commercial Data and Related Services, an examination of Department of Defense purchases of commercial space data and related services. The commercial space data and services covered by GAO include information collected by commercial satellites, radars, and telescopes, along with analytical products created from those data.
How Did the $21 Million NASA Moon Rock Caper Happen?
On July 13, 2002, three young people with authorized NASA identification entered Johnson Space Center in Houston and removed a safe weighing about 600 pounds. Inside were lunar samples connected to every Apollo mission that landed astronauts on the Moon, Martian meteorite specimens, authentication records, and decades of handwritten research notes belonging to NASA scientist Everett Gibson.
NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope – combining spy technology with sophisticated infrared detectors
NASA plans to soon launch a new space telescope that will survey a billion galaxies to trace how the universe evolved over time, all courtesy of America’s spy program and decades of research into detector technology.
Can a Sustained Presence on the Moon Create a Self-Sustaining Lunar Economy?
On August 26, 2026, Deloitte released Building the Lunar Economy, estimating that activity on and around the Moon could produce US$343 billion in cumulative potential economic value through 2050 under a conservative growth scenario and US$566 billion under an accelerated one. Deloitte frames the lunar economy as a connected system in which transportation, power, communications, mobility, construction, and life support enable later markets such as data services, resource extraction, in-space production, and security services.
Are Russia and the United States Sliding Toward a Direct Military Confrontation? August 27, 2026 Status
On August 24, 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 604, giving the Russian government expanded authority to place privately controlled infrastructure under temporary state management when authorities judge security, restoration, or protection measures inadequate. The order covers sectors including energy, transportation, communications, industry, utilities, and nuclear facilities. Moscow presented the measure as a response to growing threats against Russian infrastructure, including drone attacks.
How Can Science Fiction and History Be Understood Philosophically?
In April 1926, Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, a magazine devoted entirely to stories built around science, invention, and imagined discovery. That publishing event helped give science fiction a recognizable commercial identity, yet the philosophical relationship between science fiction and history reaches far beyond genre branding. History normally looks backward from surviving evidence. Science fiction turns in the opposite direction, beginning with known conditions and constructing an account of what could follow.
Can Independent Research on How People Use Claude Reveal How Humans Actually Work With AI?
On August 26, 2026, Anthropic published details of a pilot that gave three outside research groups access to aggregated information derived from roughly 250,000 Claude conversations per study. The program represents an unusual attempt to support independent research on how people use Claude without giving outside researchers the underlying conversations. Stanford University’s SALT Lab studied human-AI collaboration, the University of Oxford’s Human Information Processing Lab examined relationships between user experience and Claude’s behavior, and METR investigated productivity associated with Claude Code. Anthropic also released the aggregate research outputs through Hugging Face.
How Are People Using AI in 2026?
On August 6, 2026, OpenAI reported that more than 1 billion people were putting ChatGPT to use, and its country-level data showed a measurable shift from asking questions toward getting tasks completed. That finding captures how people are using AI after almost four years of mass-market generative artificial intelligence (AI): people still ask for information, explanations, and advice, but they increasingly ask systems to write, analyze, create, research, program, edit, and act on their behalf.
Is Bill Gates Right About the AI Transition?
Bill Gates’s August 2026 Gates Notes essay presents artificial intelligence (AI) as a technological shift capable of altering employment, security, education, health care, economic inequality, family life, and the relationship between people and machines at roughly the same time. Gates does not frame the AI transition as a conventional software cycle. His central premise is that machines able to perform more cognitive work, and eventually more physical work through robotics, could remove many of the economic reasons for employing people in tasks that have historically depended on human intelligence.
How Might Extraterrestrial Intelligence Communicate With Itself?
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence still has no confirmed detection of a message from another civilization, so any dictionary of alien communication must begin as a disciplined map of possibilities rather than a list of established facts. Communication among extraterrestrial intelligence could resemble radio engineering, animal display, distributed computing, dreamlike shared cognition, or a form of signaling that has no obvious human equivalent.
Why Did the CIA Director Visit Moscow as E-6B “Doomsday Planes” Took to the Air?
On August 25, 2026, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow for undisclosed meetings with Russian officials. During the same day, at least five U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft appeared on public flight-tracking services over portions of the United States. The CIA Moscow visit and the E-6B flights produced immediate speculation because both events involve institutions associated with national security, nuclear deterrence, and communication between senior leadership and military forces. The coincidence establishes timing rather than causation. Reuters confirmed Ratcliffe’s Moscow visit, but no public evidence available as of August 25 establishes that the E-6B sorties were connected to his meetings.
What Does SpaceX’s Starbase Louisiana Mean for Starship and the Space Economy?
On August 25, 2026, SpaceX formally announced Starbase Louisiana, a planned Starship complex in Vermilion Parish on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. The company’s dedicated Starbase Louisiana project page and the Louisiana Economic Development announcement describe a project intended to become SpaceX’s fourth and largest launch site. Louisiana says SpaceX plans to invest $100 billion, begin construction in 2027, and target an initial Starship launch for as early as 2029.
What Are the Main Ways Animals Communicate With Each Other?
Animal communication begins with a signal: one animal produces a sound, movement, color pattern, odor, touch, vibration, electric pulse, or light display that another animal can detect and use. A honeybee dance can point nestmates toward food. A whale call can move through the sea. A cuttlefish can change skin patterns in seconds. An ant can lay a chemical trail. A dog can shift ears, tail, eyes, and posture before making any sound at all.
Why Is FAA Spaceport Expansion Now Focused on New Spaceports and Priority Launch Corridors?
On August 24, 2026, the Federal Register placed a new Federal Aviation Administration Request for Information on public inspection under docket FAA-2026-9736. The official FAA RFI is titled Siting New Spaceports and Use of Priority Airspace for Critical Space Launch Corridors. It is scheduled for publication on August 25, 2026, and asks for written comments within 60 days after publication.
Artemis Moonbase: NASA’s Plan for a Permanent Human Presence on the Moon
On April 10, 2026, Artemis II splashed down after a crewed lunar flyby lasting nine days, one hour, and 32 minutes, giving NASA its first astronaut mission around the Moon since Apollo. That flight did not build an Artemis Moonbase, but it changed the status of the program from preparation to operational experience with the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System. The base concept now sits inside a broader architecture that connects crew transportation, cargo delivery, surface power, mobility, communications, habitats, robotic precursors, and international agreements.
Why AI’s environmental footprint won’t disappear into orbit
AI companies increasingly want to move their operations into space. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has applied to launch over a million AI data centre satellites and ultimately build them on the moon.
12 billion years old, this interstellar comet is older than our Solar System
One year ago, on July 1 2025, astronomers discovered a fascinating new object moving through the Solar System. Detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the object was quickly recognised as something special.
Management of NGSO Orbits and Optical Communications Spectrum
Thousands of satellites now operate in non-geostationary orbit, and the largest planned systems use low Earth orbit altitudes below 2,000 km. In U.S. communications regulation, NGSO means non-geostationary orbit, which includes satellites that move relative to the Earth rather than remaining fixed over one longitude like a geostationary satellite.
See the Sun’s surface in higher detail than ever before in new telescope images
The Sun doesn’t just fuel almost all life on Earth. It’s also our astrophysical laboratory, the only star close enough to observe in sufficient detail.
SpaceX aims to use rockets to quickly transport cargo across the Earth and into orbit – moves that would expand the global cargo system
You might think about rockets as powerful vehicles that blast astronaut crews and robotic missions off into space. But what if they could be used to send cargo from one side of the Earth to the other, in a fraction of the time it would take a plane? The company SpaceX recently announced a project that aims to use its rockets to do just that.
‘Starwashing’: How space companies use the greenwashing playbook while engaging in environmentally damaging practices
From launchpads to low Earth orbit and beyond, space companies and their affiliates are deploying a familiar marketing tactic – with a new twist. In a space economy projected to reach US$1.8 trillion by 2035, they sell space exploration narratives by appealing to a desire to expand humankind beyond Earth – while downplaying or omitting the negative repercussions for Earth and the space environment. Welcome to the age of starwashing.
From interplanetary spaceships to lunar reactors, our future in space looks nuclear-powered
Interplanetary travel to Mars aboard nuclear-powered spaceships may sound like science fiction – yet NASA is planning to make it a reality.
The US is leading the new space race – but other countries are close behind
When NASA administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled the crew of the Artemis III mission at Johnson Space Center in Houston earlier this month, he was ebullient.
Cracks in the International Space Station are causing air leaks – how much longer can it remain habitable?
On June 5, 2026, Nasa ordered five astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shelter in a docked spacecraft and prepare to abandon ship. The reason was a longstanding, but worsening, air leak in the Russian part of the station.
Building a long-term base on the Moon will require extensive planning – a planetary geologist describes the considerations that go into it
Lots of excitement for space bubbled up in spring 2026. The Artemis II mission took a crew of four on a flyby around the Moon, and NASA officials announced their goal of constructing a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.
What Will NASA’s SkyFall Mars Helicopters Do on Mars?
NASA announced SkyFall on March 24, 2026, with an architecture built around three autonomous rotorcraft that would descend through the Martian atmosphere, separate in mid-air, land independently, and begin surveying the surface without depending on a rover. NASA currently lists a late-2028 launch, followed by an initial Mars approach in 2029 and a later approach culminating in deployment and landing in fall 2030. The NASA SkyFall mission page describes the mission as both a scientific expedition and a scouting demonstration for future human exploration.
What Is the B612 Foundation and What Is Its Current Status?
On June 23, 2026, the B612 Foundation announced the recipients of its 2026 Schweickart Prize, direct evidence that the organization remains active nearly 24 years after its creation. B612 is a United States-based nonprofit devoted to developing technologies that help humanity understand, map, and navigate the solar system, with asteroid discovery and planetary defense remaining central to its mission.
How Have Moonbases in Television, Movies, and Books Been Presented?
Moonbases in television, movies, and books range from a single pressurized shelter to a city with courts, factories, schools, hospitals, transit systems, and political ambitions. A useful definition requires more than a spacecraft touching down on the lunar surface. The installation must support repeated or extended activity and must have an identifiable function, such as scientific research, mining, defense, transport, settlement, imprisonment, tourism, or government. Under that definition, Clavius Base in 2001: A Space Odyssey qualifies, as does the small shelter in Countdown, because each sustains a planned human presence beyond a brief excursion. The Apollo camp in Apollo 18 does not qualify in the same way because it remains an expedition site rather than an institution.
How Fast Are Space Launch Costs Falling?
In 1960, the average cost of sending one kilogram to low Earth orbit was $87,023 in 2024 dollars. By 2025, Alessio Terzi and Francesco Nicoli estimate that figure had fallen to $3,868, a decline of more than twentyfold. Their July 2026 PNAS Nexus study, From Sputnik to Starship: Estimating the Experience Curve of Space Launch Technology, assembles 4,405 launches covering more than 330 rocket configurations from 1960 through 2025. The dataset spans 16 spacefaring geographical entities and standardizes missions to a common low Earth orbit equivalent so different rockets and eras can be compared on the same basis.
Do you want to be an astronaut? Career routes that can take you to space
In 2024, I flew on a microgravity, or zero G, parabolic flight with the European Space Agency (ESA). The aeroplane flew big arcs up and down in the sky. At the top of the arc I experienced 22 seconds of weightlessness, just like an astronaut.
Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form
You may have heard the phrase “we are made of star-stuff.” This statement by the astronomer Carl Sagan refers to the fact that elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in the centers of the first stars. But how does this star-stuff evolve into the chemistry of rocks, plants and people?
Today’s space race could turn fatal if we don’t agree on new rules
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen had an emotional message before he and three colleagues set off for the Moon earlier this year on the Artemis II mission: “We go for all humanity”.
Can India Solve Its Launch Vehicle Crisis Before Its Space Ambitions Outrun Its Rockets?
On July 18, 2026, Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The privately developed Indian rocket carried multiple payloads, and ISRO reported that the SCOPE and Grahaa satellites were injected into low Earth orbit. The flight made Skyroot the Indian private company that achieved orbital launch from Indian soil on its maiden orbital attempt.
How Could Non-Radio Technosignatures Reveal Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
Frank Drake’s Project Ozma began in 1960 with a radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia, and set the public image of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) as a listening exercise. Radio made scientific sense. It could cross interstellar distances, pass through much of the interstellar medium, carry narrowband artificial-looking patterns, and use technology already available to astronomers and communications engineers. That legacy still matters for non-radio technosignatures because radio SETI created the methods of target selection, interference rejection, repeat observation, and cautious reporting that every other technosignature search now needs.
How Do Space-Based Applications Serve Industries Across the Global Economy?
The EU Space Market Report 2026, published by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), identifies 16 downstream market segments, ranging from agriculture and aviation to finance, infrastructure, transportation, security, and urban development. That classification provides a concrete starting point for understanding space-based applications as economic infrastructure rather than as products used only by satellite operators or government space programs. The report covers Earth observation (EO), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services, secure satellite communications (SATCOM), and Space Situational Awareness (SSA), with substantial attention to applications that combine more than one capability.
Can Space Launch Cost Asymmetries Reshape Geopolitical Power?
In 2025, Alessio Terzi and Francesco Nicoli estimate an average launch cost of $3,225 per kilogram for the United States and $9,897 per kilogram for Europe, measured in 2024 U.S. dollars and standardized to low Earth orbit. India stands at $13,302 per kilogram, Russia at $6,682, China at $5,809, and Japan at $5,287. Those space launch cost asymmetries form the central empirical result of Geopolitics and Space Access: Cost Asymmetries and Strategic Dependence, published online in Economics Letters on August 5, 2026. A subsequent Bennett School summary describes the research as evidence that unequal launch economics can produce strategic dependencies with economic and security consequences.
Can the National Space Transportation Policy Deliver 1,000 Launches and Reentries a Year?
On August 20, 2026, President Donald Trump signed the new National Space Transportation Policy, designated National Security Presidential Memorandum 17, or NSPM-17. It replaces the 2013 national space transportation policy and directs federal agencies to prepare U.S. space transportation ranges for more than 1,000 launches and reentries each year by 2030. The accompanying White House fact sheet describes the objective as enabling more than 1,000 launches and reentries on American soil annually by 2030.
Spaceport Financial Model for Construction, Operations, Services, Revenue, and Regulation
A spaceport financial model starts with a location decision, a launch market assumption, and a regulatory pathway. Unlike a conventional airport, a spaceport may support rockets, suborbital vehicles, reentry vehicles, test campaigns, payload processing, training, research, tourism, and defense and security missions. The business case depends on whether the site serves vertical launch, horizontal launch, suborbital flight, orbital launch, reentry, or a combination of those activities.
What Does the New Mars Science Strategy Mean for Human Exploration of Mars?
On December 9, 2025, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine publicly released A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars, a consensus study published as a 2026 National Academies Press volume. The study does something more specific than propose another Mars mission architecture. It identifies what humans should try to discover after reaching Mars and works backward from those scientific objectives toward the capabilities that future missions will need. The resulting framework places the search for evidence of habitability, indigenous life, and prebiotic chemistry at the top of the scientific agenda for human exploration of Mars.
How Will Martian Dust Exposure Limits Shape Human Mars Missions?
On July 14, 2026, NASA approved Revision F of NASA-STD-3001, Volume 2, adding a dedicated Martian Dust Contamination requirement to the agency’s human-system standard. As of August 19, 2026, Revision F is the published version available through NASA’s standards program. Its new requirement, V2 6253, tells designers to keep Martian dust particles smaller than 10 μm in habitable air below a time-weighted average of 0.1 mg/m³ during exposure scenarios lasting up to 30 days. NASA’s document history specifically identifies V2 6253 as a requirement added in Revision F.
What Do We Know About Mars Based on All Mars Exploration Missions?
More than 50 years of robotic missions have changed Mars from a telescopic mystery into the most closely studied planet beyond Earth. The combined record from orbiters, landers, rovers, atmospheric probes, and radar instruments shows that Mars once had rivers, lakes, groundwater systems, volcanoes, impact basins, polar ice, dust storms, weather, and chemical environments that could have supported microbial life in some places during the deep past. NASA’s Mars program listed five active U.S. missions at the Red Planet in May 2026, with two rovers on the surface and three orbiters, although MAVEN had lost signal in December 2025 and remained under review rather than fully available for normal operations.
What Would an AWS International Restriction Cost Amazon?
Amazon Web Services generated $42.2 billion of sales and $16.6 billion of operating income during the quarter ended June 30, 2026. For the trailing 12 months, AWS produced $148.4 billion of revenue and $54.7 billion of operating income, according to Amazon’s Q2 2026 results. That made AWS far more financially significant to Amazon than its share of corporate revenue might suggest. AWS accounted for about 19% of Amazon’s trailing-12-month sales but approximately 58% of consolidated operating income.
Could Nuclear Asteroid Defense Stop a Large Near-Earth Object?
On May 18, 2026, Space: Science & Technology published the Wang et al. study, a research paper that puts nuclear asteroid defense at the center of a specific engineering problem: what can be done if a large near-Earth asteroid is discovered too late for slow deflection methods. The authors, led by Xiaowei Wang of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, study targets with equivalent diameters of 100 meters or more and compare two detonation-based mission concepts. Both concepts pair a delivered explosive device with some form of high-speed impact or precratering operation, but they differ sharply in timing, spacecraft architecture, and the depth at which energy reaches the asteroid.
Why Did the White House Remove Data Centers, Batteries, and AR From the U.S. National Security Technology List?
On August 19, 2026, Tom’s Hardware drew attention to a striking feature of the White House’s new technology strategy: several technologies that had appeared explicitly on the federal Critical and Emerging Technologies list in 2024 no longer appear in its 2026 successor. Advanced cloud services, high-performance data storage and data centers, batteries, grid-integration technologies, advanced gas turbine engines, augmented reality, and virtual reality are among the conspicuous omissions.
How Could Artificial Intelligence Help Humanity Communicate With Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
In January 2023, a student-led team working with Breakthrough Listen data reported eight candidate technosignature signals found through a deep-learning search of 820 nearby stars observed with the Green Bank Telescope. The candidates did not repeat when researchers tried follow-up observations, so they did not become evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. The finding still showed why artificial intelligence could help humanity communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence: the hardest problems begin before any conversation starts.
Can Space-Based Solar Power Become a Competitive Source of Firm Clean Energy?
On February 13, 2026, the UK government published a 94-page study examining whether smaller space-based solar power systems could begin commercial deployment during the 2030s. The study followed a 2021 UK assessment and moved the discussion beyond gigawatt-scale concepts by examining an intermediate system capable of delivering power measured in megawatts. The small-scale SBSP feasibility study matters because space-based solar power, commonly abbreviated as SBSP, is now being evaluated through engineering models, energy-system simulations, commercial agreements, and hardware demonstrations rather than through conceptual research alone.
What Does the 2026 National Security Science and Technology Strategy Mean for the Space Economy?
In August 2026, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy placed space alongside undersea capabilities and artificial intelligence and autonomy among three priority areas for U.S. battlefield dominance and power projection. The new National Security Science and Technology Strategy (NSSTS) ties federally supported research and development to the objectives of the 2025 National Security Strategy and directs agencies toward a science and technology posture described as focused, resilient, agile, and secure. Space sits inside that framework as both an operational domain and a technology category with economic consequences for companies, investors, universities, suppliers, launch providers, and allied governments.
Has a Second Space Age Turned Space Into Industrial Infrastructure?
On June 15, 2026, SpaceX completed its initial public offering, issuing 638,888,888 Class A shares at $135 per share and generating $85.675 billion in net proceeds after underwriting commissions and offering costs. The transaction placed one of the world’s largest launch, satellite communications, and space technology companies directly inside public capital markets on a scale rarely associated with aerospace companies.
What Is the U.S. Space Force Becoming as Its Mission, Budget, and Acquisition System Expand?
The U.S. Space Force entered 2026 with a fiscal year 2027 funding request large enough to change the scale of a military service created less than seven years earlier. The August 10, 2026 Congressional Research Service primer calculates a $71.3 billion total request, consisting of $59.2 billion in discretionary funding and $12.1 billion in anticipated mandatory funding. The Department of the Air Force’s FY2027 budget announcement uses a $71.1 billion Space Force figure. The difference reflects how the public presentations classify and aggregate requested funding rather than a change in the underlying policy direction.
What Do We Know About Asteroids Based on Asteroid Missions?
On October 29, 1991, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew past asteroid Gaspra, starting the era in which asteroid missions changed asteroids from points of light into mapped worlds. As of May 2026, what do we know about asteroids based on asteroid missions can be answered with evidence from flybys, orbiters, landers, sample-return spacecraft, impact experiments, and active spacecraft still traveling toward their targets.
How Much Sovereign Space Capability Should a Nation Control?
On June 30, 2026, the Government of Canada announced a CAD $688 million contract with MDA Space to build, test, and launch a replenishment satellite for the RADARSAT Constellation Mission. The decision is instructive because Ottawa did not choose complete technological independence. Canada sought continued national access to strategically sensitive radar data, yet the replacement satellite will draw on MDA Space’s commercial CHORUS synthetic aperture radar design and Canada’s existing RADARSAT infrastructure. That combination of state control, domestic industry, commercial technology, and established government assets captures a more useful definition of sovereign space capability than the older idea that sovereignty requires a government to own every layer of a space system.
What Is Communication Across Animals, Humans, Machines, and Alien Intelligence?
In 1948, Claude Shannon framed a technical problem that still shapes any universal communication dictionary: a message chosen at one point must be reproduced at another point, either exactly or approximately. His work did not try to solve all of meaning, intention, culture, or interpretation. It separated the measurable problem of transmission from the harder problem of understanding. That separation still matters because the same physical event can be noise, data, a sign, a warning, a command, a joke, or a failed attempt at contact depending on the receiver.
Which Canadian Space Companies Are Active in 2026 and What Does Each One Do?
In 2024, 105 Canadian companies reported space-related research and development activity to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), with business expenditures on research and development reaching $962 million. That spending rose 48% from $650 million in 2023 and 156% from 2019. According to the CSA’s 2025 State of the Canadian Space Sector, the broader Canadian space sector generated approximately $5.03 billion in revenue during 2024, contributed about $3.8 billion to gross domestic product, and directly employed 14,622 people.
How Could Humanity Design a Message for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
On November 16, 1974, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico transmitted a 1,679-bit message toward the globular cluster Messier 13, turning an upgraded radio telescope into a brief planetary introduction. The event showed the central problem in any message for extraterrestrial intelligence: humanity can transmit data, but it cannot assume the receiver knows what a human is, what Earth is, what a picture means, or why a pattern deserves attention.
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