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IMAGES
The LHA 120-N 159 star-forming region : James Webb Space Telescope
A Webb telescope image of N159, a star-forming region in a galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, shows star birth in conditions resembling those in the early universe. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), 161,000 light-years away, is poorer than the Milky Way in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Less than 3 million years old, N159 in the LMC, holds thousands of forming stars. It is an H II region, where ultraviolet light from massive stars ionizes surrounding hydrogen gas, which glows.
Taken with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera, the image spans about 230 light-years. Blue marks ionized hydrogen, orange marks carbon-based molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and dark red marks dense filaments of cool molecular hydrogen that shield new stars for now. Using data from Webb observing program 5114, astronomers detected stars less than a tenth of the sun’s mass and distinguished fully evolved stars from those still forming inside gas clouds. Forming stars are more concentrated in the western region, indicating an earlier stage of collapse. (Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, E. Sabbi, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. H. Özsaraç)
Orionid meteor shower and Haley’s comet’s debris trail : Astrophotographer Tim McCollum
The Orionid meteor shower, produced by particles from Halley’s comet / Comet 1P, runs until Nov. 7, and astrophotographer Tim McCollum captured three of its meteors near the shower’s peak. Halley’s comet is more than 4.8 billion kilometers / 3 billion miles from Earth. He photographed the meteors above Toccoa, Georgia (U.S.) between 3 and 4 a.m. on Oct. 21, each streaking away from their apparent origin near the star Betelgeuse in Orion. (Credit: Tim McCollum)
Tim McCollum combined 30-second exposures, taken on a Canon EOS Ra with a star tracker, into one composite. The image shows Orion’s Belt, the Orion Nebula and, in the Milky Way’s plane, the Rosette Nebula. (Credit: Tim McCollum)
The edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 1827 : Hubble Space Telescope
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the edge-on, intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1827, located roughly 37 million light-years away in the constellation Columba, the Dove. It comes from a survey of small galaxies that, NASA says, can test models of the universe at small scales, where those models struggle to match observations. The survey targets 260 satellite galaxies orbiting 22 Milky Way-like galaxies within about 32 million light-years of Earth.
Hubble has observed 111 and the rest will take 149 more orbits, one per galaxy. The image shows blue regions and dark dust lanes along its edge-on disk, where new stars are likely forming. (Credit: NASA, ESA, Michael Jones (California Institute of Technology); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America))
Antarctic sea ice near its annual winter maximum : Copernicus Sentinel-3
A Sentinel-3 satellite image taken Sept. 30 shows Antarctic sea ice near its annual winter maximum, which the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center says most likely peaked Sept. 14. The European Space Agency image covers about 1,200 by 1,700 kilometers of West Antarctica, where sea ice engulfs the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and part of the Weddell Sea. Antarctica’s main landmass is about 4,500 kilometers across. Cloud covers much of the lower image, while textures in the upper right show different ice types, including tightly packed sea ice.
Floes comparable in size to Elephant Island, about 50 kilometers long (visible against ice-free ocean on the left-hand side of the image), give way to smaller pieces swirling in the ocean. Elephant Island appears against ice-free ocean about 930 kilometers from the tip of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego. Its name reflects a shape some liken to an elephant’s head and its elephant seal population. (Credit: Modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA)
The Andromeda Galaxy : Astrophotographer Lucy Yunxi Hu
A composite photograph from Mullion, Australia, on Oct. 10-11 shows the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large spiral galaxy, rising over hills in far more detail than the naked eye sees. Though one of the brightest objects in the Messier catalog, Andromeda, also called M31, appears to the eye alone as only a faint, fuzzy patch. From there, it never rises more than a few degrees above the northern horizon and is highest around midnight in the Southern Hemisphere spring. The image combines tracked telephoto exposures with a foreground shot. The galaxy spans nearly six full moons across. (Credit: Lucy Yunxi Hu)
SCIENCE
Japan launches MMX to return first samples from Mars moon Phobos
The animation shows a rendering of JAXA's MMX asteroid sample-return spacecraft, in action. (Credit: JAXA)
19 October, 2026
Japan launched its Martian Moons eXploration mission or MMX, Oct. 19 to bring back the first samples from Mars’ moon Phobos, material scientists hope will reveal whether Mars’ two moons are captured asteroids or debris from a giant impact. The answer could illuminate when Earth and the inner planets may have acquired water and organics, NASA’s Tom Statler said. The moons’ lumpy shapes and asteroid-like spectra point to capture whereas their circular, equatorial orbits point to an impact. Statler said hybrid scenarios are possible.
The 10th H3 flight launched the spacecraft from Tanegashima Space Center, releasing it toward Mars 71 minutes after liftoff. H3 problems delayed it from 2024 and arriving in August 2027, it will fly alongside 22-kilometer-wide Phobos in a quasi-satellite orbit.
Mitsubishi Electric built its propulsion, exploration and return modules. Meanwhile, the 25-kilogram French-German rover IDEFIX, named for a dog in the “Asterix” comics, will drop from 40 meters to study the surface with cameras, a Raman spectrometer and radiometer. Instruments include France’s MIRS mineral spectrometer and NASA’s MEGANE, which will measure volatile elements such as hydrogen. Higher levels would favor capture, lower levels an impact.
The spacecraft plans two Phobos landings to collect at least 10 grams, then flybys of Deimos before its capsule lands in Australia in 2031. JAXA scientists think some of it could be Martian rock blasted onto Phobos. NASA, which invested about $87 million and supplied a sampler and communications support, will keep at least 15% of the sample at Johnson Space Center. ESA also supports communications.
Astrolab rover to test HPE computer running AI language models on the Moon, will test whether it can survive lunar radiation
A rendering of the Astrolab FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover, an unmanned lunar vehicle designed for the moon's surface. (Credit: Venturi)
20 October, 2026
Astrolab’s FLIP rover will carry a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) computer to the moon’s south pole as early as November to test AI that HPE says could let future robots act without waiting on Earth.
Astrolab CEO Jaret Matthews said the mission brings the first AI experiments to the moon, and HPE says its computer will be the first to run large language models there. China’s Chang’e-6 mission, though, used basic AI to navigate in 2024. The fanless, aluminum Spaceborne-4 pairs a 64-bit processor with a GPU and KIOXIA solid-state storage and relies on software, not radiation-hardened parts, to slow down during radiation spikes. Earlier versions each ran more than two years on the International Space Station, and two ran Meta’s Llama 3.2 language model there in 2025, but the moon’s surface gets nearly triple the station’s radiation.
The computer will aid navigation, condense data for transmission and run a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory machine-learning program, used on Mars, that matches terrain to stored maps to locate the rover without GPS. The 480-kilogram FLIP, short for FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform, is the first in a series of vehicles NASA has contracted from Astrolab, carries 20 payloads, including a 3D laser mapper and a helium-3 sensor, and is designed to survive at least 150 hours of lunar night. It will ride the Griffin-1 lander, built by Astrobotic, which now operates as Voyager Technologies subsidiary Voyager Lunar Systems, and test systems for Astrolab’s planned crewed Artemis rover. University of Valencia researcher Roser Almenar warned the models can err, with serious consequences in space.
Report proposes Moon’s far side, Apollo 15 site among four other locations beyond poles, for NASA astronauts
A screenshot of the interactive dashboard accompanying the report, that shows the four proposed lunar landing sites. (Credit: National Academies)
21 October, 2026
A National Academies report commissioned by NASA recommends that astronauts explore four sites beyond the moon’s poles, which it calls essential to answering top science questions about the moon, the solar system and the universe. The committee defined the poles as latitudes above 84 degrees and assumed four spacewalks per mission, with no equipment placed in advance. In priority order, the sites are:
Bhabha Crater, on the far side. It would be the most isolated place humans have explored, and the far side’s shielding from Earth’s radio interference suits it for astronomy. Crews would return samples, run radio and optical astronomy experiments and test crew operations independent of Earth.
Mons Hadley, near the Apollo 15 landing site. Crews would collect geological samples and study hardware and biological material exposed for more than 50 years, to inform Artemis and Moon-to-Mars planning.
The Orientale Basin. It is the solar system’s best-preserved large multi-ringed basin, and its seismically quiet setting could reveal the moon’s deep structure and origin. Crews would return samples and deploy a gravitational-wave observatory.
The Aristarchus Plateau, for volcanic samples from its geologically rich landscape.
Mons Hadley and Aristarchus would also suit a space weather observatory and a test of lunar soil as radiation shielding. The committee ranked the sites by the cross-disciplinary science a single mission could achieve, the value for exploration capability and support across stakeholders. It said missions may not fly in that order. It urged NASA to let astronauts range beyond the 2-kilometer limit, build instruments that survive many lunar day-night cycles, and develop an orbital imager, an unpressurized rover and continuous surface communications.
China opens call for experiments on uncrewed moon lander test ahead of crewed landing
On August 6, 2025, China carried out simulated touchdown and ascent tests of its crew-capable Lanyue lunar lander, a key step toward its planned 2030 moon mission. (Credit: CMSA)
22 October, 2026
China’s human spaceflight agency is seeking experiments for an uncrewed flight of its Lanyue lunar lander, a test run ahead of the crewed moon landing China aims to make before 2030. The China Manned Space Agency’s Oct. 22 call caps total payloads on the mission at 50 kilograms and generally 100 watts. Proposals are open only to domestic independent legal entities, including government agencies, research institutes, universities, companies and industry groups, and are due March 1, 2027, to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ space utilization center. Experiments must address scientific and technological frontiers, need to be done in space and be feasible for a lunar mission. Proposals closely tied to lunar exploration get priority.
The agency charges no carriage fee, but applicants must fund building, testing and integrating their experiments. The agency did not say when or where the mission will land. The call suggests most program payloads are already assigned and that the lander likely lands in 2028, probably away from the complex south pole and without experiments being moved off China’s Chang’e 8 probe. The Long March 10 moon rocket is expected to debut as early as mid-2027. A development Lanyue lander underwent ascent and descent tests in a reduced-gravity simulator in August 2025, and Chinese astronauts have shaped its design by training in a lander simulator, according to academic papers.
Europe’s Space Rider test model crashes after parachute detaches in drop test
A rendering of the Space Rider vehicle. (Credit: ESA)
22 October, 2026
A full-scale model of Space Rider, Europe’s first reusable orbital spacecraft, crashed in an Oct. 6 drop test after its steerable parachute detached, a setback for the landing system that it needs in order to be reused. The uncrewed vehicle is designed to carry experiments in orbit for up to two months, then glide under a parafoil to a runway. Released from a helicopter about 3 kilometers over a military range in Sardinia, the model deployed its drogue parachute, but the parafoil detached and it hit the ground.
ESA recovered all its components, and an independent investigation is underway. ESA has not said whether it needs a replacement model or when it will test again. The model replicated the spacecraft’s size, mass and landing gear but was not flightworthy. Drop tests in 2024 and 2025 had used mass simulators to verify the parafoil and autonomous landing systems. A May attempt was aborted before release after a sensor flagged an issue. Heat-shield materials were tested earlier this year at about 1,600 C in a plasma wind tunnel. ESA’s Géraldine Naja said remaining qualification work is not on the critical path. ESA targets a first flight in the second quarter of 2028, rather than the first, from the Guiana Space Centre. It would be the first Vega C flight with the upgraded, more powerful P160C first stage.
GOVERNANCE
Refundable $200,000 satellite deorbit bonds could reduce space junk by a third, study finds
An illustration showing a visualization of human-made space debris and orbiting satellites surrounding Earth. (Credit: ESA/ID&Sense/ONiRiXEL)
Requiring satellite operators to post refundable deposits could cut the mass of dead satellites left in orbit by more than a third, a Nature Communications modeling study found.
Experts warn of a collision cascade, Kessler syndrome, as SpaceX, Blue Origin and Amazon plan vast constellations. The European Space Agency estimates over 57,000 debris objects exceed 10 centimeters. LeoLabs logged at least four breakups in six months. Only 40% of satellites in orbits that would not decay in time on their own were removed between 2010 and 2024, the authors said and derelicts can break apart and raise collision risk. International guidelines, which are voluntary, recommend removal within 25 years while the U.S. FCC requires five years for satellites it licenses.
According to the model the deposits would be refunded with interest after removal and forfeited funds, up to $3 billion in the model, could fund debris cleanup. Simulating 25 years, the researchers found a $200,000 bond also raised “economic welfare” (the paper’s term for consumer benefit plus government revenue) by up to 27%, and bonds above $1 million showed diminishing returns. Refunds requiring full reentry cut collision risk more than refunds at a decaying disposal orbit but, below $1 million, lowered economic value. If only 20% of the market adopted bonds, derelicts fell up to 18%, and at 60%, they fell about 60%, though launches shifting elsewhere erode gains.
Lead author Indigo Brownhall of University College London said countries could act alone and the EU could extend it through market access. Co-author Daniel Kaffine of the University of Colorado Boulder compared it to U.S. bonds requiring oil operators to plug wells. The authors said pricing is unresolved, some firms may treat forfeiture as a business cost, and more reentries could affect ozone.
Russian satellite shadows commercial US radar craft tied to Ukraine, drawing US accusation
A photograph from Vantor shows a Russian satellite (right) about a kilometer from ICEYE X36 (left) on Oct. 17. (Credit: Vantor)
18 October, 2026
The United States has accused Russia of threatening behavior after a Russian satellite closed to within about 500 meters of a U.S.-operated commercial radar satellite whose company supplies imagery to Ukraine’s military.
Under Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno told a U.N. committee on Oct. 21 that Kosmos 2612 had intentionally maneuvered dangerously close to the satellite, behavior he said was consistent with on-orbit weapons operations. Russia has not explained the satellite’s mission. U.S.-based tracking firm LeoLabs said the maneuvers did not establish hostile intent but showed capabilities that could support intelligence collection, interference or future counterspace operations.
Kosmos 2612 closed from 350 kilometers to under 5 kilometers of ICEYE-X36 on Oct. 15-16, held position through the weekend and had begun moving away by Oct. 19, LeoLabs said, adding that separation estimates are uncertain because of repeated maneuvers. Kosmos 2612 launched in April with five other satellites. In May, four of them, including Kosmos 2612, shifted orbits to align with ICEYE-X36, according to Britain’s Royal United Services Institute. Such orbit-matching maneuvers consume a lot of fuel.
Close inspections are not unique to Russia. The U.S., China and Russia have all approached other nations’ satellites, mostly in higher geostationary orbit, where the U.S. Space Force flies Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program or GSSAP satellites designed to maneuver near and characterize other objects. Russia’s earlier low-orbit approaches, within 30 to 70 kilometers, targeted classified U.S. spy satellites, said Victoria Samson of the Secure World Foundation. ICEYE-X36 is a commercial spacecraft. Samson said Russia may be demonstrating space capabilities Ukraine cannot match and RUSI cited possible intimidation or jamming and said options to protect the satellite are limited. Russia and China may be seen as challenging long-standing U.S. dominance in orbit. ICEYE said it is tracking the situation.
US could lose backup for hurricane-tracking satellites in 2032, Accountability Office warns
An artist's rendering of NOAA's future Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) weather satellite constellation, being built by Lockheed Martin. (Credit: NASA)
19 October, 2026
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could go several months without a spare weather satellite starting in late 2032, risking a gap in data used to track hurricanes and severe storms if either operating satellite is impaired, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.
The current spare, GOES-16, is expected to reach end of life in October 2032, months before the first next-generation GeoXO satellite, due to launch that year, becomes fully operational. The Commerce Department cut GeoXO from six satellites to four and from five instruments to two, lowering projected lifecycle cost from $19.6 billion to $13 billion. The cuts eliminated two satellites planned for a central location, leaving launches in 2032, 2034, 2039 and 2043. They also dropped a lightning mapper, which GAO says lengthens lead time for thunderstorm and tornado warnings, and instruments for ocean color and air quality. No independent cost estimate has been completed, so whether $13 billion is reasonable is unclear, GAO said.
GAO also said the 2022 estimate partially met three of four documentation best practices and substantially met the fourth, making errors harder to detect. GAO also found the contingency plan lacks a failure-impact analysis and that readiness assessments for three new instruments went undocumented, raising delay and cost risks. A March 2026 Commerce inspector general report found NOAA had not formalized plans to address the gap risk. GAO credited the program with fully adopting requirements-management lessons from earlier weather satellite programs. NOAA agreed with GAO’s three recommendations. Separately this year, NOAA awarded $46.5 million to Muon Space, Weather Stream and Spire Global to fly microwave sounders whose data it can buy, and selected 14 companies for a commercial satellite data contract of up to 10 years.
MILITARY
US Space Force scales up workforce and commercial partners for wartime demand
Space Forces Central plans fivefold growth, more Guardians for Middle East operations, six firms including LeoLabs, Anduril and Slingshot join a commercial space-tracking reserve, and EraDrive wins $13 million for satellite autonomy.
Brig. Gen. Todd Benson, commander of U.S. Space Forces Central, in conversation with Jennifer Reeves, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute. (Credit: Mitchell Institute livestream)
19 October, 2026
The Space Force unit supporting U.S. military operations in the Middle East, including those against Iran, expects to grow about fivefold within roughly three years to meet demand for space capabilities, its commander said Oct. 19.
Space Forces Central, activated in December 2022 with about 30 personnel at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., and Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, supports 24/7 operations, Brig. Gen. Todd Benson said at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “There are no days off, really, downrange,” he said. Components must “present combat-credible forces” and lead joint forces in combat, which “takes size,” Benson said. He gave no target but said the unit would still be far smaller than peer components, which have thousands. Benson said intelligence staff for targeting is a priority; at one point the unit had two Guardians in a targeting process of more than 1,000 people.
He said the past year showed a need for more personnel, ground systems such as jammers, and satellites. “Space will forever be a part of every military operation going forward,” he said. Space Force components, now in every geographic combatant command, provide effects including electronic warfare, satellite communications, navigation and missile warning. The newest, U.S. Space Forces Special Operations, was activated this month.
22 October, 2026
Meanwhile, the Space Force has awarded its first operational contracts under the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, a program meant to give it commercial space-tracking help it can call on in a crisis. The program is modeled on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which lets the military use airline capacity in wartime.
The six companies are Anduril, which entered through its acquisition of ExoAnalytic, InTrack Radar, Slingshot Aerospace, LeoLabs, Australia’s EOS Space Systems, and Canada’s NorthStar Earth and Space. All six already work with the Space Force’s Joint Commercial Operations cell. Operators would rely on them after a debris or breakup event, said Lt. Col. Brandon Galindo. The short-term awards total $1.37 million, a Space Systems Command spokesperson said. Col. Tim Trimailo, head of the Commercial Space Office, said they are meant to gauge military demand and that funding, companies and mission areas could expand.
Candidates include satellite communications, launch, and telemetry, tracking and command through the service’s Joint Antenna Marketplace. They follow $1.1 million in 2025 pilot awards to four unnamed firms, which tested contracting through wargames and training rather than delivering data. Clayton Swope of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said companies won’t build surge capacity unless paid to. The office has not resolved “shutter control,” the government’s power to cut off a firm’s other customers in wartime. Companies fear that power could expose them to breach-of-contract claims and deter foreign customers. It also has not resolved whether the Pentagon would indemnify firms whose satellites are damaged in conflict.
22 October, 2026
Separately, the Space Force will buy modules that let satellites act on their own, from startup EraDrive under a $13 million Defense Department award, part of a long-standing Pentagon push for satellite autonomy. In 2024, Frank Calvelli, then the Space Force’s top acquisition official, said autonomous satellites would help the military get around downlink bottlenecks.
The award covers an undisclosed number of Era-Nodes from the Palo Alto, California, company. It comes from the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies or APFIT program, which funds purchases rather than research, unlike the SBIR and STTR programs. Getting a small company onto a government contract “usually takes years,” said Lawrence Robertson, the Air Force’s space experiments lead. He said EraDrive was selected and put on contract within one fiscal year, working with NASA Ames. CEO Sumant Sharma said one software stack handles navigation without GPS, tracking objects in orbit and close-approach maneuvers, with operators setting limits the satellite works within. The full module has not flown, but most components have. Its software, Era-Core, ran at least seven experiments on NASA’s Starling satellites.
US Air Force Lab tests SpaceX Starfall reentry capsule for delivering supplies from orbit
US AFRL conducted a test of preliminary Rocket Cargo capabilities via the SpaceX Bandwagon-5 on a Falcon 9 launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and involved a SpaceX Starfall capsule loaded with AFRLagile cargo pods for point-to-point delivery missions. (Credit: Air Force Research Lab)
21 October, 2026
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has run its first announced test of delivering military supplies from orbit, a capability it says could reach troops in remote or contested areas without runways or roads. The concept calls for placing supply capsules in orbit and directing them to designated areas when forces need urgent help.
A SpaceX Starfall capsule carrying cargo pods launched on a Falcon 9 on Oct. 20, and the lab said it recovered the pods after splashdown in the Pacific. The pods held a satellite-linked locator, batteries, a water desalinator, survival gear and medical equipment, instruments measured temperature, shock and vibration. Engineers also measured whether a UNI-PAC III life raft would fit for future tests.
The FAA describes Starfall as about 3.1 meters wide and 0.75 meters tall, weighing 2,100 kilograms empty and carrying up to 1,000 kilograms. SpaceX flew a Starfall demonstration mission in June. SpaceX won a five-year, $102 million Rocket Cargo contract in 2022 and Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space, Anduril, Inversion Space and Outpost Space are also working with the lab. The program envisions tens of tons per launch for uses including resupply, expeditionary operations, rescue, disaster relief and response to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards. The lab is also exploring commercial launch and reentry technology for in-space manufacturing.
Ukraine explores own satellite network with Finland’s ICEYE and Nokia
22 October, 2026
Ukraine, which depends on SpaceX satellite services it does not control, has agreed to explore building its own satellite communications network with Finnish firms ICEYE and Nokia.
“We must all rely on capabilities that we can control,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The Defense Ministry signed the letter of intent Oct. 22, during the Finnish prime minister’s visit to Ukraine. It builds on an Oct. 1 ICEYE-Nokia partnership to give nations ownership of satellites, ground stations and terminals for uses from defense and border security to emergency services and disaster response, built on what the companies call trusted European technology.
Ukraine uses Starlink and its military version, Starshield, including to fly long-range drones. On Oct. 14, Ukrainian troops reported Starshield throttling that downed many drones. Some U.S. officials reportedly said Musk ordered it, and Space.com reported it is apparently still in effect. SpaceX’s Elon Musk said Starshield is “owned and controlled by the US government” and that the U.S. military and president decide any limits. Ukraine uses ICEYE radar imagery. Russia’s Kosmos 2612 recently made an extremely close, unsanctioned approach to ICEYE-X36, operated by ICEYE’s U.S. subsidiary, for reasons that remain unclear.
COMMERCIAL
A rendering of Xona’s Pulsar satellite. (Credit: Xona Space Systems)
20 October, 2026
Xona, a California startup building a commercial alternative to GPS in low Earth orbit, launched six satellites this month as it moves to start a navigation service it says resists jamming and spoofing that threaten GPS-dependent systems.
The satellites launched Oct. 20 on SpaceX’s Bandwagon rideshare. Four, built on an Aerospacelab design, will support beta service in multiple countries from early 2027, with eight passes a day of about 25 minutes over the U.S., Canada and most of Europe, the company said. They fly in two orbital planes arranged so that all four are sometimes in view together. The other two are Xona’s first in-house satellites, built in Burlingame, California, to test a design meant to be produced at a rate of several a week.
Its Pulsar system broadcasts in the same band as GPS, letting it work with many existing receivers. Xona says its signals are up to 100 times stronger than GPS. More than 500 transmissions from its Pulsar-0 demonstrator, launched in June 2025, showed accuracy under 2 centimeters, indoor reception and spoofing resistance using unmodified commercial receivers, the company said. Xona says early uses include critical timing systems, which could use intermittent signals to check whether GPS data can be trusted, and it also targets aviation, logistics and defense. The FCC approved its constellation of more than 250 satellites in August.
Xona also raised $250 million in a Series D led by Steve Jurvetson’s Future Ventures, valuing the company at $2.45 billion and bringing its total funding since 2019 to more than $570 million. It has 60 open jobs across engineering, manufacturing, product and operations as it shifts from technology development to running a service.
Chinese sea launch begins Wuyang constellation as Hainan adds two launch pads
Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1S launches the first Wuyang remote-sensing satellite from sea, while Hainan’s two new commercial pads are expected to host a reused Long March 10B booster.
Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1S Y8 vehicle lifting off from its sea launch vessel in the Yellow Sea on October 21st 2026. (Credit: Galactic Energy)
21 October, 2026
Beijing-based space launch vehicle manufacturer, Galactic Energy launched its Ceres-1S rocket from a ship off eastern China on Oct. 21, placing the first satellite of the Wuyang constellation, billed as the world’s first low-inclination remote-sensing network, meant to image southern China and other low-latitude regions as often as every 30 minutes.
The constellation plans up to 28 satellites by the end of 2028, covering southern China, Southeast Asia and Belt and Road countries. The satellite, Xiguang-4 01, is operated by Guangdong Tianyuan Technology, with support from Guangzhou University and the city government. It orbits at 541 kilometers and carries a 0.5-meter-resolution optical camera, a multispectral camera and an infrared imager. Its uses include natural resource monitoring, agriculture, marine observation, typhoon and flood response, disaster mitigation and urban planning, according to state broadcaster CGTN. The Ceres-1S rocket launched from the Yellow Sea near Rizhao, Shandong, on its seventh sea mission, the first to use a new local command center. It was the second Ceres-1 launch of 2026. A November failure, the failed debut of the larger Ceres-2, whose investigation ran until June, and the company’s focus on its Pallas-1 slowed flights.
Meanwhile, China’s commercial spaceport on Hainan has completed two new launch pads, which are expected to raise its capacity to more than 60 launches a year as Chinese companies move toward reusable rockets. Pads 3 and 4 at the Wenchang site, run by Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., were completed Sept. 29 after about 20 months of work, and were in final checkouts this month. Crews proof-tested the pads with liquid methane in September.
A Long March 10B transporter-erector has since moved to Pad 3 for tests, including of the water deluge system. The first launch is expected to be a Long March 10B reflying a first stage caught by a net aboard a recovery ship in July. That would make it China’s first reused orbital booster. The flight, expected before year’s end, has not been confirmed. iSpace has run integration tests at the site since December 2025 and launched a booster recovery ship, Qinglan, for its planned reusable operations there.
The site plans four more pads before the 2030s. A nearby satellite factory, reported in December to be nearly operational, is designed to build 1,000 satellites a year. Companies using the pads must build nearby integration facilities. A new Wenchang launch alliance has 13 members, China Aerospace Science and Technology’s commercial launch vehicle group, China Rocket, iSpace, LandSpace, CAS Space, Galactic Energy, Space Pioneer, ExPace, Orienspace, Cosmoleap, Astronstone, Spark Space and Shanghai Spacesail.
Chinese startups raise funds for robots that refuel and repair satellites
In on-orbit servicing, Guoyu Star raises nearly 100 million yuan for a planned 16-robot servicing constellation, while Tsinghua spinout Sinxbot, backed by Alibaba and China Mobile, develops flexible robotic arms.
21 October, 2026
Chinese startup Guoyu Star has raised nearly 100 million yuan (about $14 million) to build robotic satellites that could refuel, repair and deorbit other spacecraft, part of a plan for a fleet of servicing robots in orbit. Yijing Capital, Fosun Chuangfu and Luyao Capital invested in the Series A.
Earlier backers include Yuanhe Origin, Houxue Capital and Shangqi Capital, which is linked to automaker SAIC. Founder Zhang Long was president of launch company LandSpace from 2015 to 2021. Co-founder Wu Shufan, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, is chief scientist, and Rong Jiangang is chief technology officer. The team comes from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. and Tsinghua University.
Three of the robot’s four main systems have been proven in orbit: its control computer, combined propulsion system and visual navigation. Final assembly of its robotic arm is set for November. The company says its products will cost less than half as much as rival systems once in commercial production. Its first satellite, Star Trace Source-1, launched in May 2025 carrying 11 customer payloads. A second, due in early 2027, will test a seven-joint robotic arm and refueling interface and two more are planned for late 2027. A planned constellation of 16 servicing robots, funded first by payload hosting and component sales, is reportedly in the works and Zhang said only at that stage would in-orbit service stop being “an experimental project.” The company says it has joined the supplier list of a national satellite internet constellation operator.
Separately, Sinxbot, a Chinese startup spun out of Tsinghua University, has raised hundreds of millions of yuan for flexible robotic arms meant to refuel satellites and push dead ones out of orbit, with a first in-orbit test planned for 2027.
BigGo Finance describes that test as a rendezvous-and-docking demonstration. Chinese space tracker CNSpaceflight says it will show refueling and assisted deorbiting. Alibaba and China Mobile’s industry-chain fund led its Series A, the last of three rounds between May and September. Hongtai Fund, Zhuhai Technology Industry Group and Genesis Capital joined the Series A. Hua Ying Capital led the pre-A round, with Oriza Seed Capital following. Angel investors included Hillhouse’s GL Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, Binfu Capital, Kaifeng Ventures, robot maker AgiBot and Trina Solar, which is interested in in-orbit assembly of space solar power stations.
Founded in September 2025 as Anhui Xianyin Weilai Technology, and built on Professor Liang Bin’s two decades of space robotics research, the company uses cable-driven arms that it says absorb collision impact better than rigid ones. Such arms could connect spacecraft 30 to 100 meters apart for refueling through a hose. The company is in talks with operators of orbital transfer vehicles and providers of computing power in space, and plans to expand later into hazardous ground work and deep-sea operations. Research firm NSR forecasts that the global on-orbit servicing market will reach $17.57 billion by 2031.
RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
The Moon is shrinking and moonquakes can strike anywhere
This illustration of the moon’s interior shows the innermost solid core and the surrounding liquid outer core (red). Heat from the cooling core (red arrows) is trapped by a thick, heavily fractured, porous, insulating crust (the outermost layer extending to the surface). This illustrates a hypothetical lunar interior heat trap that has kept the interior warm and inhibited cooling contraction, resulting in crustal faulting that continues today. (Credit: Intuitive Machines/Rick Hoppe/Smithsonian)
The moon’s radius has shrunk about 45 meters in the past 400 to 800 million years as its interior cooled, a study mapping more than 10,000 young faults found, meaning moonquakes can strike anywhere. If steady, that is 6 to 11 centimeters per million years. The moon likely formed in a giant impact about 4.5 billion years ago, and its interior is still cooling.
Global map of the moon centered on the nearside. The red lines show the locations of over 8,900 lobate scarps, and the blue lines show the locations of over 2,000 small mare ridges. Both lobate scarps and small mare ridges form by thrust faulting driven by global contraction from cooling of the lunar interior and tidal forces. (Credit: NASA/ASU/Intuitive Machines/Smithsonian)
Led by the Smithsonian’s Thomas Watters and published Oct. 14 in The Planetary Science Journal, the study used NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images to map lobate scarps, or curved cliffs, and small ridges. The moon’s single unbroken plate, unlike Earth’s 15-plus, leaves faults scattered rather than at plate boundaries. Areas with the thickest crust had the fewest faults and may be the most stable. The researchers suggest a thick, porous crust once insulated the interior, delaying widespread faulting. Watters said existing faults are likely still growing and new ones forming.
Big Bang’s afterglow rules out giant black holes as major dark matter source
Giant black holes, including some heavier than entire galaxies, cannot make up a significant share of dark matter, the unseen substance thought to account for about five-sixths of all matter, researchers report. Its gravity is thought to keep galaxies from spinning apart, though whether dark matter exists remains unknown. The team examined “stupendously large black holes,” more than 100 billion times the sun’s mass. Those above 1 million billion to 10 million billion suns would outweigh entire galaxies. However, none has been detected and the largest known black hole may weigh about 36 billion suns.
Dark matter is often pictured as fine dust spread everywhere, said co-author Christopher Gerlach of the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics in Germany. Concentrated in a few giant objects, it would make the universe grainy on large scales. The team analyzed the cosmic microwave background, light released about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, whose temperature varies by about one part in 100,000, said co-author Antonio Iovino of New York University Abu Dhabi. The data showed no such graininess, ruling out the black holes as a major component, said co-author Nicholas Leister, a Mainz physicist. They said such black holes may still exist and are now examining asteroid-size black holes, another candidate. The study appears Oct. 26 in Physical Review Letters.
Brown dwarfs have giant-planet-like atmospheres that models can’t fully explain
As it maps the sky, NASA’s SPHEREx telescope is finding thousands of brown dwarfs hiding in the dark. A selection is shown in this collage of observations, listed by spectral type, distance, and temperature in degrees Kelvin. (Credit: Zafar Rustamkulov/NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Brown dwarfs, objects too small to become stars, have chemically rich atmospheres resembling the solar system’s giant planets, and current models struggle to explain some of them, a study using NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) telescope found. With 13 to 80 times Jupiter’s mass, they form like stars but drift without a host star, heated entirely from within. Only a few dozen had been studied in detail from space, and much of what is known about them comes from theoretical models.
NASA’s SPHEREx detected molecules like methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) in brown dwarf atmospheres. The telescope’s view of three different brown dwarfs appears on the left; the depictions on the right imagine them as Jupiter-like worlds. (Credit: Zafar Rustamkulov/International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani)
Researchers analyzed 37 nearby brown dwarfs spanning the full temperature range, from 4,000 to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and found water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane. SPHEREx measures brightness in 102 colors, including infrared light Earth’s atmospheric water blocks from ground telescopes. Models struggle most with brown dwarfs shedding clouds as they age and cool, leaving methane-rich atmospheres, said lead author Zafar Rustamkulov. Co-author J. Davy Kirkpatrick said the team is analyzing thousands more. The study was published Sept. 28 in The Astrophysical Journal.
Despatch Out. 👽🛸
