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Orbital data centers are all the rage right now, and most tech companies want a piece of the action; find updates on the tech in governance and commerce. Plus some interesting research developments in science.
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NASA-supported researchers have identified a eukaryotic organism, an amoeba from heated waters in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park, capable of reproducing at 63 degrees Celsius (145 F), a record for any eukaryote, extending the known upper temperature limit for complex life.

Some fungi and red algae held the previous record, 60 C. Incendiamoeba cascadensis, or "fire amoeba," stays active at 64 C, is partly active at 66 C, shuts down at 70 C but recovers, and dies at 80 C.

Eukaryotes, organisms whose cells have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, were thought unable to keep those membranes stable above 62 C. Single-celled prokaryotes, which lack a nucleus and those organelles, can tolerate far more heat. They have less cellular ‘machinery’ that can be damaged by extremes. The microbe Methanopyrus kandleri reproduces at up to 122 C.

Using the NIRPS infrared spectrograph, scientists sequenced its genome and found genes that stabilize DNA and protein-folding genes that grew more active in heat. Some proteins carry a positive surface charge seen in heat-loving bacteria and archaea. Related genetic signatures in geothermal samples from New Zealand and Yellowstone suggest similar organisms may be widespread. NASA officials say the findings broaden the range of environments where complex life could persist, informing astrobiology and biotechnology. Lead author Beryl Rappaport said temperature is only one requirement; the amoeba also needs other life. The research was published in the journal Cell.

Human cells kept in simulated microgravity for 24 hours remained largely intact, showed no disruption to genome organization or motion and no DNA damage, NASA‑supported New York University researchers reported in Science Advances.

The team built a random positioning machine that rotates live cells on two axes, with algorithms that minimize the fluid flows rotation creates. Strong flows elongated cells and damaged DNA, which may have skewed earlier studies.

By minimizing fluid flows normally generated during rotation, the team isolated gravity’s effects and showed that microgravity increased nuclear volume and smoothed the nucleolus but did not disrupt chromatin structure, nuclear‑envelope integrity, or produce detectable DNA damage. Lead researcher Alexandra Zidovska said changes could still emerge over longer exposures or from DNA damage in space. The experiment did not reproduce space radiation.

ESA’s 2026 Space Environment Report warns that rising launch rates and uncontrolled reentries are driving up collision and casualty risks in orbit and on the ground. ESA's Space Environment Health Index rose from about 4 to 50 in 2025, meaning the long-term strain from space activity is 50 times what the agency considers sustainable, its Space Environment Report 2026 found.

More than 300 launches in 2025 carried over 4,000 payloads. Despite better mitigation, the debris population grew, and ESA shortened its projections from 200 to 100 years yet still forecasts a runaway rise in objects and collisions in low Earth orbit. Because fragmentation creates debris faster than it reenters, the population would grow even without launches, which ESA said could leave some orbits unusable. ESA says active debris removal and stricter mitigation are needed to curb runaway growth driven by collision‑generated fragments.

The agency reports more than three intact satellites or rocket bodies reenter daily, while ten new payloads launch each day, accelerating congestion and fragmentation. A new casualty-risk metric shows on-ground risk rising, though low, as traffic grows, with long‑term sustainability worsening by an order of magnitude in 2025. Ewan Wright of the University of British Columbia said the report puts 2024 risk from reentering rocket stages above 4%.

Wright said about 124 rocket stages reentered uncontrolled in 2024, more than two a week, and that if that rate holds for a decade, the chance of someone being killed by rocket debris is 33%. He put the casualty risk from reentering satellites at 1% in 2024 and said the chance of an aircraft being struck, or of airspace closing for a reentry, is also rising. He called for all rockets to be required to make controlled reentries into the ocean. ESA's report found that controlled rocket-body reentries outnumbered uncontrolled ones for a second year, and a shift from 25-year to five-year disposal targets in low Earth orbit shortens lifetimes.

Active satellites are also spreading across a wider range of altitudes as constellations expand, which ESA said makes traffic coordination and end-of-life disposal more important. The agency said ground risk could be reduced through more controlled payload reentries and design-for-demise satellites built to burn up completely.

Detected objects that cannot be traced to a source are increasing, and ESA said atmospheric pollution from reentries needs more data. The report also highlights a widening gap between detected and catalogued objects and calls for improved monitoring and space‑traffic management.

Under its Zero Debris Approach, ESA has tightened its own mitigation requirements, backed the 2023 Zero Debris Charter and is developing removal and servicing demonstrations, including ClearSpace-1 and CAT, a standardized interface that would make satellites easier to remove. It is also working to deorbit older missions such as Aeolus and Cluster more sustainably than first planned. Longer term, ESA aims to build a circular economy in space through in-orbit refueling, repair and recycling. Stijn Lemmens, head of ESA's Space Debris Office, said the report's projections extrapolate current behavior rather than what would be desirable.

NASA has advanced its PRIMA far‑infrared space telescope, the first mission in its new Probe Explorers class, to Phase B of development, which refines its preliminary design and technology.

The 5.9-foot (1.8-meter) telescope would survey the universe in far-infrared light, between the wavelengths covered by the James Webb Space Telescope and radio telescopes, to study the origins of exoplanets, galaxy and black hole growth, and the buildup of dust and heavy elements across cosmic time.

If the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics or PRIMA passes a confirmation review, its project cost will be capped at $1.2 billion, excluding launch and other costs. Launch is targeted for 2033 for a five-year mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage it, with contributions from space agencies in France, Italy, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Japan and the U.K. The mission was recommended by the 2020 Decadal Survey. NASA astrophysics chief Shawn Domagal-Goldman said PRIMA continues a premier-mission pipeline after Webb and Roman.

29 September, 2026

Scientists identified a phosphorus‑driven feedback cycle that helped keep atmospheric oxygen elevated after the Great Oxidation Event, offering new insight into how Earth remained habitable more than 2 billion years ago.

A self-sustaining phosphorus cycle in ancient oceans helped keep oxygen high after the gas first built up in Earth's atmosphere about 2.3 billion years ago, a study published in Nature Communications found. As oxygen entered the oceans, sulfate rose, letting microbes break down organic matter more efficiently and release phosphorus. The nutrient fueled growth, so more organic carbon was buried and more oxygen accumulated.

Researchers led by Lewis Alcott of the University of Bristol, with UC Riverside's Andrey Bekker, used a technique on South African rocks that separates phosphorus available to life from phosphorus locked in minerals. Earlier methods measured only totals.

The findings suggest oxygen levels fluctuated more than once believed after the Great Oxidation Event. If oxygen stayed abundant for extended periods, Bekker said, factors other than scarce oxygen may have slowed the emergence of complex oxygen-dependent organisms. Climate-driven ocean oxygen loss could again make phosphorus less available, reducing marine productivity, UC Riverside said. Bekker said understanding how oxygen, nutrients and life evolved together could help identify similar conditions on ocean worlds elsewhere.

30 September, 2026

The MEGATRON collaboration released its first major results, using high‑resolution cosmological simulations to examine how the Universe’s earliest stars formed and enriched their surroundings. Simulations from the project suggest simpler models may underestimate how starlight and chemistry shape gas around early galaxies, according to four studies published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics, with more to be published.

Modeling Early Galaxies and Ancient Traces of Radiation, Oxygen, and Nitrogen or MEGATRON, a University of Bath-led project, with the University of Chicago and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, simulates a young galaxy that will grow to roughly Milky Way mass, starting from pristine gas without heavy elements. It tracks the first stars, their radiation, supernovae and the spread of new elements, resolving gas structures simpler models miss. The first stars, known as Population III, formed from hydrogen and helium and forged heavier elements, which their supernovae spread to later stars.

Bath's Martin Rey said the work links James Webb Space Telescope observations of early galaxies with chemical fingerprints in ancient stars in and around the Milky Way, allowing competing models of the first stars to be tested in new ways. He said understanding the first stars is key to explaining where life's elements came from. The project, running from 2023 to 2030, will expand with 40 million processor hours on UK supercomputers to refine comparisons with emerging JWST and stellar‑survey data.

28 September, 2026

Astronomers are seeking an International Court of Justice advisory opinion to clarify states’ obligations under the Outer Space Treaty as satellite proliferation accelerates. Astronomers at the nonprofit Outer Space Institute are campaigning for the U.N. General Assembly to seek an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on states' duties to limit orbital clutter and light pollution.

The campaign began in 2023 in response to megaconstellations such as SpaceX's Starlink. It follows a failed bid, backed by Chile, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, Peru and South Africa, for a light-pollution expert group at the consensus-based UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. A General Assembly request needs only a simple majority of states voting, co-director Aaron Boley said.

Urgency grew as U.S. companies SpaceX, Google and Starcloud announced orbital data center networks and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. satellite regulator, licensed California-based Reflect Orbital's Eärendil-1 in July. The demonstration mirror could precede a fleet of tens of thousands beaming sunlight to solar plants after sunset.

The court would interpret the Outer Space Treaty's "due regard" principle. Boley said it "won't tell the U.S. how many satellites it can or cannot launch" but could change how the U.S. approaches satellite licensing.

ICJ opinions are not binding, but former NASA counsel Robin Frank said U.S. dark-sky advocates could cite one in a domestic case against the FCC over megaconstellations' environmental impacts. Boley cited the island nation, Vanuatu's 2025 climate opinion, which led to a May 2026 General Assembly resolution. Campaigners later relied on it to win a June ruling in Paris ordering TotalEnergies to disclose climate risks. Vanuatu successfully spearheaded a landmark UN General Assembly Resolution that operationalizes the historic International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on state climate obligations.

30 September, 2026

The U.S. FCC voted Sept. 30 that launching, deploying and operating spacecraft are not major federal actions requiring review under the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. Spectrum authorizations and many satellite ground stations are also excluded. The ruling comes as astronomers seek an international court opinion that could shape U.S. satellite licensing.

The FCC cited an industry projection that its environmental and historic-preservation rules would otherwise cost more than $2.2 billion in compliance over a decade. Chairman Brendan Carr said the change removes the risk of "activist lawsuits" over projects such as orbital data centers. Commissioner Olivia Trusty said operators remain subject to orbital debris and space safety rules, while Commissioner Anna Gomez dissented in part.

Environmental groups had raised concerns about reentry pollution and light pollution from megaconstellations. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still conducts NEPA reviews of launches. Mary Guenther of the Progressive Policy Institute said FCC review would duplicate the FAA's, which mostly finds no significant impact. Satellite operators including Iridium, Planet and SES had requested the exemption and SpaceX and Amazon backed it. The order formalizes longstanding categorical exclusions for space activities, removing a major source of environmental‑litigation risk for operators and accelerating market‑access and modification approvals. Launch and re‑entry impacts remain under FAA oversight.

The FCC sees this as a move to streamline commercial space regulation, voting to exempt satellite licensing, deployment and on‑orbit operations from NEPA review while opening more than 1,000 megahertz in the 12.7 and 42 GHz bands for satellite broadband and mobile connectivity, and proposed opening 1,450 MHz in the Ku and Ka bands, plus D-band spectrum. This would enable bi‑directional fixed‑satellite service and “light licensing” to support broadband, direct‑to‑device links and Earth stations in motion. Industry groups broadly backed both moves, which take effect after Federal Register publication.

29 September, 2026

The EU has broadened its Space Threat Response Architecture to cover threats to member states' security, not only EU program assets such as Galileo, under Council Decision 2026/2195. A new toolbox offers responses from diplomacy to sanctions, and the EU's foreign policy chief can act provisionally in urgent cases such as Galileo disruption. The decision allows cooperation with NATO and keeps an annual exercise, STRA-X.

Meanwhile, the European Union is also accelerating its push for space independence amid uncertain U.S. cooperation and rising concerns over Russian nuclear threats. Fifteen EU countries agreed Sept. 25 to a European Defence Agency mechanism, worth about €50 million ($56.02 million), to access and share space situational awareness data, targeting initial capability in early 2029. Participants include France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Most member states rely on U.S. or commercial data. The mechanism builds on EDA's satellite communications market, whose contract ceiling is €250 million.

Member states also approved five defense projects of common interest, including one on space, under the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme, which has set aside €325 million for them. Ukraine is involved in four of the five projects, which average 18 member states each.

France, Germany and five other governments, however, reportedly argue military satellites should stay under national control as the Commission develops its European Space Shield, which would link national assets with Galileo, GOVSATCOM and the IRIS² constellation. EU Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has described it as a common architecture with national governments, NATO and commercial operators.

Germany plans a larger military satellite network, France and Poland began a joint military satcom project, and European institutional demand could require at least 62 launches by 2034.

29 September, 2026

Momentus said its Vigoride-7 orbital service vehicle or OSV completed a rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration using low-cost commercial sensors, under a $1.86 million contract from SpaceWERX, the Space Force's innovation arm.

Vigoride-7 deployed NASA's R5-S10 cubesat, which then maneuvered nearby while Momentus' sensor suite collected optical, infrared and lidar data at varying distances and lighting conditions. A Solstar Space terminal relayed data between the spacecraft. Momentus said the mission met its primary and extended objectives.

Vigoride-7 launched on SpaceX's Transporter-16 in March. The company's Vigoride-8 mission, carrying two NASA payloads, is scheduled for 2027.

L3Harris's $461.9 million satcom deal leads military space awards, with Boeing satcom and spares contracts, a Lockheed Martin missile-warning contract update and base work at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, alongside an $85 million Parsons role on Space Command's headquarters and $67 million in Army electronic warfare prototypes.

29 September, 2026

Parsons Corporation, the defense and infrastructure engineering firm, secured an $85 million Other Transaction Authority agreement to act as the government's owner's adviser for the progressive design‑build of U.S. Space Command's new headquarters at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Acting on the government's behalf, Parsons will manage cost, schedule, scope, quality and risk from design through operations. The 950,000-square-foot complex, for up to 1,800 personnel, will include a command and control facility, a fusion center and supporting secure infrastructure. It will also have radio-frequency shielding, protection against high-altitude electromagnetic pulses and classified workspaces. A May Air Force notice estimated the facility at about $2 billion and said the approach aims to cut a typical 10-year build to about five.

The 75-month agreement, awarded by Army Contracting Command-Rock Island with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, is among the Air Force's first uses of the owner's adviser model. The project is among the Department of War’s largest PDB undertakings. Parsons will manage cost, schedule, scope, quality and risk on behalf of the government. The award expands the company’s national‑security infrastructure portfolio following recent Space Force and Navy contract wins.

30 September, 2026

The Space Force's portfolio office for satellite communications (SATCOM) and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) awarded L3Harris a $461.9 million sole-source contract to provide commercial satellite communications connectivity for executive airlift aircraft. The award definitizes an earlier action (final price and terms settled), runs through October 2028 and obligated $62.3 million at award.

The same office awarded Boeing a $95.5 million sole-source contract for commercial satellite communications services through September 2029, with no funds obligated at award. A separate undefinitized modification of up to $22 million to an existing Boeing contract for Joint Hub spares and spares management raised its value from $616.4 million to $638.4 million.

Lockheed Martin Space received a $15.7 million modification to the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Geosynchronous missile-warning satellite contract, bringing its cumulative value to $8.26 billion. Work runs through July 2029 in Boulder, Colorado. The contract is incrementally funded, and no funds were obligated at award.

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded Pigott Asphalt and Sitework $18.1 million to widen Phillips Parkway at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Katmai Global Solutions up to $12 million for aircraft and ground fuel services at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Pigott's award drew eight bids, and Katmai's two.

The U.S. Army awarded five prototype agreements worth about $67 million combined to develop electromagnetic warfare systems that protect troops from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) threats.

KBR, the defense, space and cyber security contractor, received $22.4 million, defense and intelligence technology company, ICR, received $18.8 million, Systems & Technology Research $10.9 million, Raytheon $7.6 million and Northrop Grumman's Xetron $6.9 million under the other transaction agreements, which run 18 to 20 months.

The work supports the Army's counter surveillance and reconnaissance initiative and will end in field experiments assessing whether the prototypes can scale into production. Kent Shea, the Army's product manager for tactical space superiority, said non-kinetic effects would help neutralize space-based threats to land operations.

1 October, 2026

Finnish radar-satellite maker ICEYE and Nokia will jointly develop sovereign low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband satellite systems for governments, with the first satellites expected to launch in 2028, expanding ICEYE’s existing sovereign‑mission model beyond radar imaging.

Governments would buy and own the satellites, ground stations and ruggedized terminals and size constellations to their needs, according to an ICEYE spokesperson, applying the model ICEYE uses for its radar satellites. The systems will provide low‑latency connectivity for defense, border security and disaster response and are meant to complement military and commercial networks.

ICEYE will adapt its existing satellite platform and supply its constellation experience while Nokia brings secure networking technologies. CEO Rafał Modrzewski said nations should not depend on a foreign commercial operator's terms of service. Governments would have full ownership, distinguishing it from commercial services. SpaceX's Starlink is among competitors in low Earth orbit.

1 October, 2026

German arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall's Italian subsidiary and Turin-based Argotec launched their first jointly developed satellite Oct. 1 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, beginning a program to build an independent space‑based capability and supply space-based data for military air defense, early warning and situational awareness.

Rather than mapping terrain, the satellite's sensors look for ground-based indicators of emerging airborne threats. Data will be processed with artificial intelligence and fed into national air defense systems, with a command-and-control post managing satellite, ground and tactical network layers.

The spacecraft will validate technology before the effort expands into a broader constellation, with a second satellite planned for 2028, toward a broader constellation. Argotec has worked on NASA missions and Italy's IRIDE Earth observation program. No specific customer was disclosed. Rheinmetall also works with ICEYE on radar reconnaissance satellites ICEYE recently announced a sovereign satcom partnership with Nokia and a new technology center in Warsaw.

Astranis gets a $468 million EXIM credit line, Varda raises $251 million for in-space drug processing, and China's Deep Blue and Z-Trak fund reusable rockets.

27 September, 2026

Chinese reusable rocket developer Deep Blue Aerospace said it raised nearly 2 billion yuan ($298 million) in funding rounds it called B6 and B7, to develop its Nebula-1 and heavy-lift Nebula-2 rockets.

Investors included the state-backed Wuxi National Hi-Tech District Investment Holding Group, Addor Capital, Huafu Capital and the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Fund. Addor and Huafu also backed rival Space Epoch's recent round. The Nebula rockets use Thunder (Leiting) family of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene engines with deep throttling for vertical first-stage landings, a design similar to SpaceX's Falcon 9. Nebula-1 has not yet made its maiden flight. Investor Addor Capital said it could be China's first rocket recovered on its debut.

30 September, 2026

Lithuanian startup Blackswan Space raised €2.5 million ($2.9 million) in seed funding led by Iron Wolf Capital to commercialize its rendezvous and proximity operations payload, the RPO Kit, and expand in the U.S. Total funding reaches €3.2 million.

The payload uses vision-based navigation to let spacecraft maneuver autonomously relative to other objects. It is set for an in-orbit test in late 2027, then will enable docking on Orbit Fab's ASTRAL mission, planned as Europe's first in-space refueling demonstration in 2028. The U.K. Space Agency and ESA are backing ASTRAL with up to €3.3 million.

Blackswan also sells a mission design simulator to customers in Europe and the U.S. CEO Marius Klimavičius said all its investors are from Lithuania and Estonia.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a $468 million credit facility for Astranis to expand U.S. production and launches of its small geostationary communications satellites, under EXIM's Make More in America Initiative.

Astranis has five satellites in orbit and more than $1.2 billion in commercial contracts with customers including Gulf Space Technology in Thailand, Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan, stc group in Saudi Arabia and Oman's MB Group. It is also a prime contractor on the Space Force's Resilient GPS program. The financing follows a $450 million equity and debt raise in May.

EXIM coordinated with NASA's Office of Strategic Space Finance, and J.P. Morgan arranged the deal. CEO John Gedmark said the money would also expand work "securing our country's most valuable assets in GEO."

Varda Space Industries raised $251 million in a Series D round co-led by Lux Capital and Natural Capital, bringing its total funding to $598 million and its valuation to $1.6 billion.

The California company processes pharmaceuticals in microgravity aboard capsules that return to Earth, aiming to produce drug crystal forms that cannot be made under gravity. Merck's space station research informed its under-the-skin formulation of the cancer drug Keytruda. Varda has completed six reentry missions since 2023. It said more than a dozen more are planned through 2028; Reuters reported 28 launches booked from 2027 to 2029.

In May, United Therapeutics partnered with Varda on formulations for rare lung diseases. Competitors include Voyager Technologies and Redwire's SpaceMD, which has contracted a mission on SpaceX's new Starfall in-space manufacturing program.

Chinese startup Z-Trak Space said Sept. 29 it raised at least 100 million yuan (about $14 million) in an Angel+ round to develop Fission-A, a small reusable rocket it plans to fly in 2027.

Existing backers Beidou Group, CMBC International and Century Huatong were joined by new investors including West Shanghai Group's Xuanhu Capital. The round follows a seed round in December and an angel round in May.

The 24-meter Fission-A would carry 450 kilograms to low Earth orbit using a methane-fueled engine whose propellant pumps are driven by electric motors rather than turbines. In May, the company had targeted an orbital debut in 2028 or 2029.

28 September, 2026

SpinLaunch and its satcom unit, Meridian Space, are separating into two independent companies, Meridian CEO Massimiliano Ladovaz said. Meridian will pursue its broadband constellation, while SpinLaunch continues developing its kinetic launch system, with planned applications in hypersonics for Golden Dome and the lunar economy.

Meridian's first satellite, First Customer Link, flew on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare, which launched Oct. 1. It will demonstrate a reflect-array antenna that Meridian says needs less power than existing satcom payloads. Meridian will test it with customers from a ground site in France and at partner Equinix's facility in Miami, and Ladovaz said the design allows testing of both commercial and defense waveforms.

Meridian targets sovereign governments and regional operators that want to own their constellations, which Ladovaz said it can deliver for under $1 billion, including launch and ground systems. Its long-term plan is to fly the antenna on flat satellites, allowing a constellation of more than 250 to launch on a single rocket. A faster "Meridian Express" option on conventional buses could launch next year.

28 September, 2026

NASA plans to fly Boeing's Starliner uncrewed to the International Space Station in December or January, with astronauts flying again on Starliner-2 by 2028, the agency said Sept. 28. Woody Hoburg will command that flight.

Starliner has been grounded since its 2024 crewed test, when thruster failures and helium leaks led NASA to return it empty. Fixes include thermal changes to service module thrusters and new valve seals. More thruster, battery and parachute work follows the uncrewed flight.

NASA intends to exercise options for a fifth and sixth Starliner mission, which will fly on ULA's Vulcan after Atlas V retires. NASA's Dana Weigel put the cost of the upgrades and Vulcan certification at $359 million.

29 September, 2026

ESA said Sept. 29 that consortia led by Airbus Defence and Space and OHB, with six unnamed partners, are studying the feasibility of a European-led outpost in low Earth orbit after the International Space Station retires. The nine-month early-stage studies, funded under ESA's European Exploration Envelope Programme, began in June. They will draw on European hardware such as the station's Columbus laboratory and the European Service Module built for NASA's Orion.

The station is one of three options ESA is weighing, alongside relying on or contributing to commercial stations. Development would be capped at €1 billion per three-year funding period, limited to two periods. At a Sept. 9 summit in Paris, member states named post-ISS access to low Earth orbit as a core priority, and ESA is preparing proposals for their Dec. 15 meeting in Rome.

ESA also has agreements with Axiom Space, Starlab and Vast. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is training for Vast's first private mission to the ISS, and Arnaud Prost is set to fly to Vast's Haven-1 station. ESA backs The Exploration Company's Nyx cargo vehicle.

30 September, 2026

Orbital computing startup Sophia Space and Redwire signed a memorandum of understanding to explore building computing infrastructure in orbit, from near-term demonstrations to larger orbital data centers.

Sophia Space's modular TILE system expects to combine high-performance computing, solar power and passive heat rejection for AI inference and data processing in space. Redwire would contribute deployable structures, solar arrays, thermal systems, avionics and spacecraft integration.

The companies plan to pursue U.S. government and commercial work, potentially including programs with DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Space Development Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. They disclosed no financial terms. Planned orbital data center networks also figure in this issue's items on astronomers' World Court campaign against satellite light pollution and the FCC's environmental review exemption for satellites.

1 October, 2026

SpaceX launched 130 payloads on its Transporter-18 rideshare from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Oct. 1, including a prototype satellite for Google's planned Project Suncatcher AI constellation.

The pathfinder will test how Google's tensor processing units, the chips at the core of Suncatcher, withstand space radiation and how well their heat can be shed. Cowboy Space, which also has orbital data center ambitions, flew its Reason-1 satellite to test beaming power from orbit to the ground by laser. Starfish Space launched its first Otter satellite-servicing vehicle.

Other payloads included cubesats, microsats, hosted payloads, two spacecraft with reentry vehicles and four orbital transfer vehicles carrying 41 payloads for later deployment. The record for a single launch remains 143, set by Transporter-1 in January 2021.

The Falcon 9 first stage landed at Vandenberg on its 25th flight. Transporter-18 was the second of three SpaceX launches planned that day, after NASA's Crew-13 astronaut mission and before a Falcon Heavy carrying NROL-97 for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Rheinmetall and Argotec's early-warning satellite also flew on Transporter-18, and Meridian Space's first satellite was manifested on it.

Asteroid Bennu's parent body likely formed near the early solar system's water-ice line while Jupiter was still growing, not in the outer solar system as assumed, ETH Zurich researchers reported in Science Advances.

Analyzing half a gram of the 120 grams NASA's OSIRIS-REx returned in 2023, the team found iron and titanium evenly distributed and an isotopic fingerprint shared with asteroid Ryugu and rare CI chondrites, an extremely rare group of stony carbonaceous meteorites whose elemental makeup closely matches the composition of the Sun, pointing to a shared origin in this transition zone rather than the distant outer solar system. The uniform isotopic signature suggests Bennu’s parent body assembled from well‑mixed, primordial dust rich in water‑bearing minerals, offering a direct record of the material that built the terrestrial planets.

The researchers propose that the young Jupiter blocked coarse material while fine dust from inner and outer regions mixed near the ice line. That would explain Bennu's water and its sunlike composition.

ETH Zurich's Maria Schönbächler said Bennu may offer the best view of the material the rocky planets formed from. Researchers also said that additional sample‑return missions, including upcoming Phobos and Kamoʻoalewa campaigns, will be needed to test whether other bodies share this signature.

Catastrophic impacts in the outer solar system appear to have little effect on whether icy moons retain subsurface oceans. Collisions large enough to shatter icy moons barely affect whether they hold subsurface oceans, a University of Maryland-led study, published in Nature Astronomy found. Combining collision‑dynamics and long‑term thermal‑evolution models for mid‑sized moons, it was found that even the largest simulated crashes did not create oceans where none existed, nor eliminate existing ones.

Researchers combined impact simulations with models of the moons' interiors over 4.5 billion years, for moons about 1,000 and 2,000 kilometers across. In larger moons, impact heat thickened existing oceans for about 2 billion years. Smaller moons lost an insulating ice-rock mix as rock sank, making oceans harder to keep.

The results apply to several Saturnian, Uranian and Neptunian moons now under consideration for future missions, informing assessments of which worlds are most likely to harbor liquid water beneath their icy crusts. UMD's Marc Neveu said a collision that boosted an internal ocean could help explain softened craters on Saturn's moon Rhea. Neveu said tidal heating matters at least as much as impact history.

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