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A well rounded week brought us updates in science about our cosmological histories and tech developments in space commerce and defense. Governance saw some worrisome trends. Having trouble with links? Click the link below to read the unclipped publication. ↓
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IMAGES
Crescent Nebula : Astrophotographer Kevin Boardman
Astrophotographer Kevin Boardman has produced a detailed new image of the Crescent Nebula, revealing gas filaments around the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136, a star 4,700 light-years away in Cygnus expected to explode as a supernova in about 100,000 years. Cataloged as NGC 6888, the 25-light-year-wide nebula formed from material shed as WR 136 evolved into a red giant, reshaped by shockwaves from stellar winds. Boardman captured the image using narrowband H-alpha and O III filters over 16 hours and 18 minutes across five nights in late July. Too faint for the naked eye, the nebula is visible through a telescope with a light-pollution filter, lying between the stars Sadr and Eta Cygni, best viewed around the Sept. 10-11 new moon. (Credit: Kevin Boardman)
Two galaxies coming together : Gemini North telescope
NSF NOIRLab's Gemini North telescope on Maunakea has released an image of NGC 7253, a pair of merging spiral galaxies about 200 million light-years away in Pegasus, known as Ka Lupe o Kawelo in Hawaiian skylore. High school interns in the Project Hōkūlani program, run by the International Gemini Observatory and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, named the image Nā ʻUhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola, or "The Twin Spirits Pulling Together Creating Life." Raiyan Rahman, Rafan Rahman and Alia Tamanha selected the galaxy pair in 2025; Mylin Wilson, Manu Silva-Sampaio and Samantha Silva-Sampaio named it in 2026. (Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Dunes on Mars : Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured a new false-color image of a purple-hued dune field on Mars, taken by the spacecraft's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera to track surface changes since a 2011 observation of the same site. The dunes sit on the floor of the northern half of an unnamed impact crater. The image is part of decades of HiRISE and rover observations that have revealed craters, ancient riverbeds and other features pointing to a dynamic Martian history, including evidence that the planet once held abundant surface water — lakes, rivers and possibly an ocean. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
A stratovolcano and a lava lake : NASA Earth Observatory
A Landsat 8 image captured Aug. 24, 2026, revealed ongoing volcanic activity at Mount Michael, a stratovolcano on Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands, the uninhabited, volcanic islands in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. MODIS, VIIRS and the MIROVA system show low-intensity activity persisting for years, while NASA's Aura satellite has detected sulfur dioxide emissions. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison)
Infrared data from the satellite's Operational Land Imager (OLI) showed heat from a persistent lava lake in the summit crater, along with a volcanic plume and darkened snow on the northern slopes. A 30-year analysis of Landsat, Sentinel and ASTER thermal data confirmed the lava lake, one of a few known worldwide, alongside Kīlauea, Nyamulagira and Erta Ale. The natural-color image is overlaid with an infrared signal (OLI bands 7-6-5), shown in red, revealing heat from the persistent lava lake in its summit crater. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison)
A week later on September 1, 2026, Landsat 9 captured wave clouds and a volcanic gas track over the 843-meter peak. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison)
Dust storms in Mali : NASA Earth Observatory
NASA's Terra satellite captured a dust plume over Mali and neighboring countries on Sept. 5, 2026, an event atmospheric scientist Tianle Yuan attributed to a haboob, a convective wind-driven dust storm. Subsequent imagery showed the aerosols moving westward over the Atlantic, though a full transatlantic crossing is unlikely in September. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin)
Yuan said the developing El Niño could reshape West African dust patterns by shifting the Intertropical Convergence Zone, though the connection is hard to pin down for individual events. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin)
Anak Krakatau : NASA Earth Observatory
A more than 24-hour eruption at Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano beginning Sept. 5, 2026, sent ash to altitudes of 15,000 meters, prompting the temporary closure of eight airports on Java and Sumatra and disrupting nearly 3,000 flights. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison)
Ashfall degraded air quality in Jakarta and West Java, posing health risks, Indonesia's humanitarian coordination platform reported. The explosive eruption subsided Sept. 6, reverting to Strombolian activity; airports resumed by Sept. 8, though the volcano remains at its second-highest alert level since July. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison)
SCIENCE
Falling atom experiment supports Einstein's gravity theory at quantum scale
The 2D MOT setup supplies the science chamber with cold atoms. At its center, a vacuum‑sealed glass cell sits between magnetic field coils, and the atoms pass into the science chamber through the small aperture visible in the middle of the yellow reflective surface. (Credit: Or Dobkowski)
An international team including Nobel laureate Roger Penrose has made the first direct measurement of gravity's effect on a falling quantum object, confirming Einstein's equivalence principle holds in the quantum realm. Led by Ron Folman of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, with Oxford, Ulm and other collaborators, the study was published in Science Advances.
Einstein’s equivalence principle says gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable: an observer in a closed box can't tell whether they're sitting still in a gravitational field or being accelerated through empty space at the same rate. It follows that an object in free fall — like something inside a plummeting elevator — experiences no gravity at all from its own point of view, since falling freely and floating in the absence of gravity look and feel identical.
The new experiment tests whether that same disappearance-of-gravity-in-free-fall holds not just for everyday objects but for a quantum object behaving as a wave. Using a Quantum Galileo Interferometer, researchers split ultracold rubidium atoms into a quantum superposition, meaning the atom's matter-wave was made to travel along two separate paths simultaneously, rather than taking just one.
By holding one path of the split rubidium atom's wave stationary with magnetic fields while letting the other fall freely, then measuring how they interfered when reunited, the researchers found the phase shift matched exactly what the equivalence principle predicts, i.e., evidence that Einstein's principle still holds even down at the quantum scale. The result doesn't demonstrate quantum gravity, and doesn't overturn Penrose's proposal that quantum mechanics could break down for larger, longer-held superpositions, a possibility the team is testing with nanodiamonds.
New simulations show moon may have formed within hours of impact
Simulations showing the formation of the Moon. (Credit: SwRI)
New simulations from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and University of Arizona suggest the moon's formation, after a giant impact between Earth and the Mars-size protoplanet Theia, may have taken as little as five hours, depending on the bodies' internal temperature. The findings indicate that material strength and internal temperature of the early Earth and Theia significantly shaped the Moon’s formation.
Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the research led by Adeene Denton is the first to incorporate temperature-dependent material strength into impact modeling, building on Robin Canup's 2001 work. Hotter, weaker bodies produce a massive debris disk that coalesces into the moon within hours and destroys Theia whereas colder, stronger bodies allow more gradual accretion over a longer period. Canup, who was not involved, said the findings could help constrain the timing of the moon-forming impact.
The work also reinforces that the Moon likely formed primarily from Theia’s mantle, while leaving unresolved compositional differences between Earth and its satellite. Researchers say the new models may inform searches for exomoons and refine theories of early planetary evolution.
A photon from the biggest ever gamma-ray burst defied known physics on 2-billion-light-year journey to Earth
9 September, 2026
Physicists say they may have solved how the highest-energy photon ever detected from a gamma-ray burst reached Earth. The 300‑TeV photon, from GRB 221009A — the "brightest of all time," or BOAT gamma ray burst, detected Oct. 9, 2022, should have been destroyed interacting with the cosmic microwave background over its 2-billion-light-year journey to Earth, according to physics. The photon, detected by the Carpet cosmic‑ray observatory, exceeds energies at which such particles should undergo pair‑production and vanish, i.e., collide with a background photon, turning into an electron–positron pair instead of continuing through space as light.
A team led by Giorgio Galanti of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics proposes a combined explanation instead: the temporary conversion of photons into axion‑like particles plus a violation of Einstein's Lorentz invariance, which would alter photon propagation at extreme energies and create a “fast lane” through an otherwise opaque universe. The scenario predicted the photon would arrive about an hour after lower-energy light from the burst, matching observations. The research, with Marco Roncadelli of INFN, awaits publication in Physical Review Letters.
Einstein’s Lorentz invariance is the principle that the laws of physics stay the same for all observers moving at constant speeds, and a violation means those laws subtly change at very high energies so photons don’t behave the way relativity predicts.
China's Tianwen-3 targets 2028 launch for Earth's first Mars sample-return mission
A June 11, 2021 photo released by the China National Space Administration shows the Martian landscape. (Credit: CNSA/Handout via Xinhua)
9 September, 2026
China's Tianwen-3 mission, aiming to become history's first Mars sample-return mission, is advancing toward a dual‑launch campaign around 2028, chief scientist Hou Zengqian said at the International Deep Space Exploration Conference in Hefei. The mission's top goal is searching for signs of life on Mars, examining both Earth-like microbial traces and unknown life forms, Hou told Xinhua and CCTV. Two Long March 5 rockets will launch a lander, ascender, service capsule, orbiter and Earth‑return module from Wenchang, targeting about 500 grams of samples returned by 2031.
China plans to finalize a landing site by year's end and is building the world's first planetary protection laboratory in Hefei to prevent cross-contamination and manage sample isolation. With NASA's own Mars Sample Return plans uncertain, former NASA "Mars czar" Scott Hubbard called the effort a potential "Sputnik moment," saying China could be first to find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Engineering prototypes are now in development, and Chinese teams are building a next‑generation global geological map of Mars to guide site selection.
Study finds our Sun may have once engulfed a super-Earth-sized planet
A rendering of a star engulfing a planet. The blue line traces the path of the planet as it spirals toward the star and ultimately collides with it. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))
10 September, 2026
A new modeling study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests the young Sun may have engulfed a super‑Earth between 5 and 10 Earth masses, billions of years ago, leaving a detectable chemical and structural imprint still visible today. The research by Ege University's Mutlu Yildiz used the MESA stellar-evolution code (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics is an open source software suite) to model the sun's evolution against helioseismic observations. The team found that engulfing a planet five to ten times Earth's mass could explain discrepancies between solar models and observations, including the sun's sound-speed structure below the convection zone and its depleted surface lithium. The study builds on 2016 research suggesting super-Earths may have formed inside Mercury’s orbit and migrated into the young sun, and explain why our solar system lacks one. observations are needed to confirm this.
The team argues that a rocky planet could have survived passage through the Sun’s outer layers with minimal mass loss, leaving “fingerprints” in the solar interior. Yildiz said independent detection of the predicted chemical and structural signatures would provide strong evidence of an early planetary engulfment.
GOVERNANCE
World set to cross 1.5 degree warming limit within years, UN report warns
The world is on track to cross the 1.5-degree-Celsius warming threshold within a few years under current emissions trends, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme report. The 2015 Paris Agreement, signed by 196 nations, pledged to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally 1.5, above pre-industrial levels. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres cited this summer's heat, wildfires and floods as warnings, calling for an "overshoot of ambition" to keep any exceedance as small and short as possible. The report urges immediate, sustained cuts to greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide, scaling carbon capture toward net-negative emissions, and adaptation measures for already-affected communities.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said "there are no good outcomes" above 1.5 degrees. Climate impacts will intensify as temperatures rise, urging governments to strengthen resilience while deploying AI‑enabled monitoring and large‑scale mitigation strategies, Andersen said. The guidance emphasizes that avoiding prolonged exceedance is essential to limit irreversible damage to societies and ecosystems.
China unveils five-year telecom plan targeting 5G, satellites and 6G by 2030
7 September, 2026
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a five-year plan (2026-2030) to fully establish a new-generation nationwide communications network with comprehensive coverage by 2030 and lay groundwork for information and communications sector modernization by 2035. The plan calls for a technologically advanced, secure and “controllable” industrial system, with strengthened governance and all‑domain network and data‑security capabilities.
The plan sets 13 key indicators, including industry revenue of 4.1 trillion yuan (about $604.8 billion), 3.8 trillion yuan in infrastructure investment, 7% annual growth in telecom business volume, 50 5G/5G-A base stations per 10,000 people, 9,800 EFLOPS of intelligent computing power and 95% 5G user penetration. Among 26 tasks across six areas, the plan calls for initiating 6G commercial services "at an appropriate time," building a nationwide integrated computing-power network and an anti-fraud laboratory, and integrating AI into manufacturing.
The plan also targets over 10 million satellite connectivity users by 2030, with state-owned firms leading low-orbit buildout, telecom operators handling direct-to-device service, and private firms developing IoT applications. It calls for tighter coordination across low-, medium-, and high-orbit constellations integrated with terrestrial networks, plus 100 Gbps throughput via optical inter-satellite links and early research into space-based computing. China’s existing 5G and gigabit optical networks already cover nearly all counties and administrative villages, supporting the broader Digital China initiative.
FCC moves to exempt satellite constellations from environmental reviews
8 September, 2026
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will formally vote Sept. 30 to exempt satellite launches, deployment and operations from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Chairman Brendan Carr announced in a blog post. The exemption will advance a regulatory overhaul that he says will cut “billions of dollars in red tape” and accelerate U.S. space and telecom infrastructure, and orbital investment. The forthcoming rules, previewed in a commission briefing, would codify the agency’s long‑standing practice of treating satellite operations as extraterritorial and outside NEPA’s scope.
The FCC has avoided such reviews, and a year ago began describing satellite operations as "extraterritorial activities" outside U.S. jurisdiction. The decision comes despite GAO‑flagged concerns about light pollution, atmospheric effects from launches and satellite reentry, and impacts on astronomy as megaconstellations expand. Astronomers and environmental groups have urged the FCC to revisit its approach amid SpaceX plans for tens of thousands of additional Starlink satellites and a proposed Starmind data‑center constellation.
The move follows a 2022 GAO report warning that tens of thousands of satellites could be in orbit by 2030, and comes as SpaceX seeks approval for 100,000 more Starlink satellites and up to 1 million for its Starmind data-center constellation. SpaceX has said it will start Starmind small to monitor atmospheric effects. In July, the FCC approved Reflect Orbital's sunlight-reflecting mirror over astronomer objections, saying the concerns fell outside its NEPA authority.
Opposition to the exemption has mounted: Public Interest Research Groups or PIRG cited a letter from 120 astronomy researchers warning of launch soot, ozone damage from deorbiting satellites and collision risk, with Nathan Proctor warning of a potential "huge mess." The American Astronomical Society warned of threats to telescopes including Hubble, Fermi, Swift, NuSTAR and SPHEREx, plus reentry pollution affecting U.S. air and climate.
MILITARY
Golden Dome space interceptors unworkable because of cost and physics, reports find
Credit: FPRI
Two new analyses published in September 2026 conclude that the Pentagon's Golden Dome space-based interceptor program, mandated by President Trump's January 2025 executive order, is technically and economically unworkable.
A Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) report by Sam Lair, Jeffrey Lewis and Aaron Stein used mathematical modeling to find that intercepting boost-phase missiles would require constellations of thousands to tens of thousands of satellites costing tens to hundreds of billions of dollars, while adversaries could counter them with faster-burning missiles, laser dazzling or anti-satellite weapons, leaving the system "expensive yet brittle."
Separately, a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists analysis examined Booz Allen Hamilton's "Brilliant Swarms" proposal, the only publicly detailed design among 12 companies awarded $3.2 billion in April 2026 for boost-phase development. It found Booz Allen's proposed 40-to-80-kilogram interceptor satellites are far too light. A workable kill vehicle alone would weigh 95 kilograms, pushing full satellite mass past 20 tons and requiring roughly 4,000 satellites, some 80,000 tons in orbit, to counter a five-missile salvo.
Both reports note the concept echoes Reagan-era "Brilliant Pebbles," which collapsed under the same physics and cost constraints, and warn a limited system would offer no meaningful defense while pushing adversaries toward destabilizing countermeasures.
US military completes first multi-orbit satellite maneuvers to refine space warfare tactics
8 September, 2026
U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) completed Apollo Maneuvers 2026, its first live‑fly exercise to test dynamic satellite maneuvering across low‑, medium‑, and geosynchronous orbits, marking a major step toward formal maneuver‑warfare doctrine in space, the command announced Sept. 8. The September exercise demonstrated coordinated repositioning of existing U.S. and partner spacecraft in simulated contested environments, validating contested logistics, satellite servicing concepts, and multi‑orbit command‑and‑control.
Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting, who had announced the live-fly exercise in August, said the drills refined tactics for “maneuvering for advantage,” a capability Space Command views as essential as satellites become targets in future conflicts and not just adjust orbital position. SPACECOM did not disclose the assets used, but said the exercise, named for the Army's 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers, integrated allies from Operation Olympic Defender and industry through its Commercial Integration Cell, reinforcing combined operations as other nations expand close‑proximity satellite maneuver capabilities.
Whiting said the push toward maneuverability reflects a shift from fuel-conserving station-keeping, amid cheaper launches and refueling tech. In June, a Rocket Lab-launched Puma satellite rendezvoused with True Anomaly's Jackal spacecraft to simulate dynamic engagements.
US Space Force picks Texas as final site for global deep-space radar network
An aerial image shows the DARC Site 1 receive array in Western Australia. The U.S.–U.K.–Australia program is building an all‑weather global radar network to track very small objects in geosynchronous orbit and safeguard critical allied satellites. (Credit: Apache Drone Photography)
9 September, 2026
The U.S. Space Force has named Lake Kickapoo, Texas, as the preferred location for the third and final Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) site, completing a trilateral deep‑space surveillance network with Australia and the United Kingdom. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with civil work finishing in 2029 and operational acceptance planned for 2030, pending FAA certification and other approvals. Gen. Douglas Schiess said the site improves visibility in a "contested domain."
DARC is designed to provide continuous, all‑weather, day‑and‑night tracking of geostationary orbit, offering higher sensitivity and persistent coverage than existing optical systems. The first site, in Western Australia, was completed in December 2024 under a $341 million Northrop Grumman contract and entered early use in 2025. A second in Wales remains pending approval, with Northrop's contract now near $495 million. Although the U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) has flagged delays and cost growth at Site 1, all three sites are expected operational by December 2032.
COMMERCIAL
Stoke Space raises $1 billion and India-based Pixxel raises $100 million
Indian Hyperspectral-imaging startup Pixxel closed a $100 million Series C while reusable-rocket developer Stoke Space raised $1 billion, funding satellite manufacturing, launch vehicle development and infrastructure expansion.
6 September, 2026
Pixxel, the Indian hyperspectral-satellite startup, closed a $100 million Series C led by Temasek and Seraphim Space, with 360 ONE Asset, IMM Investment, Radical Ventures and growX Ventures also participating, bringing total funding to $195 million, the largest space-tech round by an Indian company. Founded in 2019, Pixxel operates six hyperspectral satellites, with roughly 25 more in development. The funds will expand its U.S. footprint with a new manufacturing facility and increase support for U.S. civil, defense and intelligence missions.
Pixxel will use the capital to build its next‑generation Honeybee constellation, adding shortwave infrared, synthetic aperture radar or SAR, and ultra‑high‑resolution optical sensors, with its first U.S.‑built Honeybee satellite, part of a larger constellation, launching in 2027. The company is also scaling its Aurora analytics platform and has secured contracts from the NRO, NASA's Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition program, an Indian government Earth-observation constellation and the Indian Air Force, and plans expansion into Europe and the Middle East.
The upper stage of Stoke Space’s Nova Pathfinder launch vehicle at the company’s headquarters in Kent, Washington. (Credit: Stoke Space Technologies)
8 September, 2026
Stoke Space raised $1 billion in Series E funding, bringing total investment to $2.3 billion. The Kent, Washington (U.S.)-based company detailed progress on its fully reusable Nova Pathfinder rocket and unveiled Nova Block 2, a more powerful variant.
Pathfinder, targeting a 2027 debut, uses seven full‑flow staged‑combustion Zenith engines and an actively cooled, metal heat‑shielded upper stage powered by the Andromeda system. Block 2 scales to 14 Zenith engines, a cylindrical upper stage with 12 independent thrust chambers, and a wider 5‑meter fairing, enabling up to 15 tons to LEO. Block 2’s first launch is planned for 2029, with Pathfinder remaining in service for missions suited to its configuration. Stoke Space is looking to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Rocket Lab's Neutron.
Stoke plans a 475‑acre expansion of its Moses Lake test site, continued build‑out of SLC‑14 launch complex at Cape Canaveral, and expand new payload-processing as well as development of an offshore recovery platform.
Consortium plans world's largest AI-enabled satellite constellation for $1 billion
The Altair satellites will be built on Loft Orbital’s Longbow platform, an ESA-funded upgrade of the Airbus Arrow 150. (Credit: Airbus)
8 September, 2026
Loft Orbital and Marlan Space, a UAE-based IHC subsidiary, unveiled a $1 billion consort Wednesday at France's Paris space summit to build the world's largest AI-enabled satellite constellation. The plan scales Orbitworks' Altair Earth‑observation constellation from a 10-satellite demonstration to 50 satellites carrying radar, optical and other sensors that process imagery in orbit and transmit results within seconds.
Orbitworks, their joint venture, will build the satellites in Abu Dhabi. BlackSky supplies high-resolution optical satellites, Mistral AI provides onboard reasoning models, and MaiaSpace is the preferred launch provider. Applications include maritime awareness, wildfire detection, disaster response and infrastructure security for government and commercial customers worldwide. IHC acquired an 80% stake in Marlan Space on Sept. 8. The first ten satellites are already in production and begin launching in October, with the UAE positioning the consortium as a sovereign capability for global commercial and government users.
Two Impulse Space satellites rendezvous within 200 meters in orbit
Impulse Space’s LEO‑2 Mira spacecraft, photographed from a telescope aboard LEO‑3 at a distance of roughly 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). (Credit: Impulse Space)
8 September, 2026
California startup Impulse Space maneuvered two Mira orbital transfer vehicles within 200 meters of each other in low Earth orbit this summer, demonstrating rendezvous capabilities for future customers. The Mira spacecraft, from the LEO Express 2 and LEO Express 3 missions launched in January and November 2025, closed in via a February orbital-plane burn, smaller alignment burns through spring and summer, and a July series of approaches starting at 820 meters.
Both captured imagery of each other with onboard cameras, aided by partners Starfish Space and HEO. It was Mira's second such demonstration, following last year's Remora mission, which brought two Miras within 1,250 meters. CEO Tom Mueller called the maneuvers key to unlocking "full access to space after launch." Mira, equipped with eight Saiph thrusters and capable of carrying 300 kilograms, is designed for high‑agility mobility, supporting missions from payload delivery to space domain awareness.
Besxar completes first orbital test flight for in-space semiconductor manufacturing
Besxar engineers with the "fabship" canisters the company flew on a Falcon 9 booster in July. (Credit: Besxar)
9 September, 2026
Washington-based startup Besxar completed, Mission Asimov, its first orbital test flight of in‑space semiconductor manufacturing hardware on a July 5 SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, flying two reusable “Clipper‑class” Fabship canisters to 71 miles before intact recovery. The 11-minute flight met its structural, vacuum-exposure and contamination goals with no wafer damage detected. One of two canisters suffered a data-recording anomaly under review.
The mission carried gallium nitride, silicon and sapphire wafers from Besxar alongside University of Virginia and University of Texas at Austin samples, advancing in-space semiconductor manufacturing. Founded by former OpenAI staffer Ashley Pilipiszyn, Besxar has raised $14.7 million, including a $10.3 million seed round led by Dauntless Ventures and Overture VC to advance toward autonomous in‑space compound‑semiconductor fabrication and larger orbital “fabships” on future vehicles such as Starship. The flight marked the first of 12 contracted missions under Besxar’s agreement with SpaceX.
Startup Eclipse Space debuts satellite platforms for D2D comms and in-orbit computing
Eclipse Space's CitraSat, SliceSat, and SurgeSat platforms give sovereign and commercial customers the infrastructure to own and control their constellations. (Credit: Eclipse Space)
9 September, 2026
Eclipse Space, a startup building turnkey, customer-owned satellite constellations, unveiled its first three spacecraft platforms Monday in Paris ahead of World Space Business Week: CitraSat for direct-to-device communications, SliceSat for high-throughput broadband, and SurgeSat for in-orbit computing. All three use a flat-panel, stackable design to maximize satellites per launch and share a common architecture, with SurgeSat targeting 100 kW-class power for on-orbit AI and data processing. Eclipse also announced a partnership with French company Gama to develop scalable solar power systems, targeting a first in-space demonstration in 2028, the same year Eclipse now plans its own debut mission, delayed from 2027. Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Eclipse is prioritizing commercial customers over U.S. government contracts, focusing first on the direct-to-device market before broadband and compute.
The satellites are designed to give commercial and sovereign customers turnkey, independently operated constellations spanning direct‑to‑device communications, high‑throughput broadband, and in‑orbit compute.
ESA awards largest ever European LEO cargo-return contract to Exploration Company
The Exploration Company is building the Nyx spacecraft to carry cargo to and from upcoming commercial space stations. (Credit: The Exploration Company)
10 September, 2026
The European Space Agency awarded The Exploration Company a €760 million contract for Phase 2 of ALADDIN, Europe's commercial LEO cargo-return program, signed at International Space Summit in Paris, the first and largest capsule transportation contract ESA has awarded a European company. The deal covers an initial Nyx capsule demonstration mission to the International Space Station and two additional cargo missions, with €310 million for the demo and €450 million optional for the rest.
TEC secured 40% financing for the demonstration, with ESA covering the remainder. The five-year-old startup signed an Arianespace deal to launch Nyx's first flight on an Ariane 6 from French Guiana, and holds pre-booking agreements worth $2 billion for 10 missions with Axiom, Starlab and Vast. ESA previously funded two LCRS competitors with €25 million each and says ALADDIN will demonstrate autonomous ISS docking.
RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Astronomers find massive binary stars drawn together after forming separately
An artist’s impression of the formation of a close massive binary system, showing misaligned disks around two young stars. (Credit: Y. Zhang)
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile have found the first direct evidence that a massive binary star system formed not from a single fragmenting disk, but from two protostars that formed separately and were drawn together by a close gravitational encounter.
The inset zooms in on the binary's core, combining an ALMA 0.9 mm continuum image of IRAS 07299−1651 with the team's reconstructed orbital paths. Red- and blue-shifted hydrogen recombination line emission maps the rotation of the ionized disks encircling each forming star, and arrows mark the direction of their bipolar jets. The wider view is a JWST mid-infrared image of the surrounding region. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Y. Zhang.)
Led by Yichen Zhang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the team tracked IRAS 07299−1651, 5,300 light-years away, for nearly eight years using ALMA, the Very Large Array, James Webb Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope. The stars follow a highly eccentric, near-parabolic orbit with sharply misaligned gas disks, inconsistent with shared formation. The encounter likely occurred about 60 years before observation. The findings, published Sept. 8 in Nature Astronomy, offer a new method for studying binary star formation.
Despatch Out. 👽🛸
