Earth science
Elephant Butte Reservoir falls to 1.4% as Landsat maps the retreat
A July 27 image captured New Mexico’s largest reservoir near a late-July trough; Reclamation records put its storage at the lowest level since 1971.
The archive
News archive
Every dispatch, feature and dossier published by the Space Exploration .IN newsroom.
Planetary science
Broad Europa radar survey points to a leading-trailing hemisphere difference
The August 18 preprint combines 33 observations from 2011–2024, supporting coherent backscatter while leaving the source of the hemispheric pattern unsettled.
Space cybersecurity
Preprint finds regional security gaps among exposed Starlink-connected hosts
A Censys snapshot tied about 33,000 exposed IPs inside Starlink’s network to higher operating-system vulnerability and legacy-protocol rates in several regions, but it did not test Starlink infrastructure, prove exploitability or establish cause.
Commercial launch
FAA’s 4,288-operation high case is not a US launch count
The agency’s upper scenario covers commercial launches and re-entries through fiscal 2036, including US-licensed activity abroad. It still points to heavier work for licensing teams, busy ranges and shared airspace.
Science
GJ 523b packs 23.5 Earth masses into a proposed ‘mega-Earth’ class
A submitted TESS–NEID analysis places the young, dense planet between familiar size and composition categories; its gas-poor interior and likely polar orbit remain inferences awaiting further observations.
Satellite communications
GSA counts 283 operator–satellite partnerships; 23 phone services have launched
The June snapshot puts satellite-to-cellphone activity at 123 announced partnerships: 23 launched, 27 trialling and 73 planned. The figures show commercial movement, but announcements still dominate.
Commercial signals intelligence
NRO moves HawkEye 360 RF data from trials into operational use
The uncapped CRFCA vehicle follows three phases of testing and years of mission use, but neither NRO nor HawkEye 360 disclosed its initial value, duration or ordered data volume.
Uncrewed aviation
Honeywell publishes BVLOS test results for lightweight satcom antenna
Flights at Budkovice Airport linked a drone, Viasat satellite service, Honeywell ground control and Frequentis traffic-management software. The test exercised an end-user communications stack, not a new spacecraft.
Science
Hubble cluster ages reconstruct the Milky Way’s ancient LKH merger
A separate age–metallicity track among inner globular clusters points to a merger before Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, while LKH is the authors’ name for a modelled progenitor that unites three earlier clues.
Earth science
VIIRS images trace Lala from hurricane to tropical storm near Hawai‘i
NASA published the views on August 18, but Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 observed the storm on August 15 and 16; ground reports document the rain, wind and transport damage.
Space safety
India documents start of debris-removal precursor demonstrations
The August 13 parliamentary reply connects policy and on-orbit trials, but names no target object, removal attempt, operational system or timetable.
Earth science
INSPYRE aircraft sample Widemouth 2 smoke from inside and above
An NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V crossed the resulting plume at 12 kilometres on August 3; NASA’s ER-2 later logged ten fire overpasses while the campaign was still gathering data.