The archive

News archive

Every dispatch, feature and dossier published by the Space Exploration .IN newsroom.

International Space Station

EVA 97 removes failed ISS antenna but leaves spare for later

Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot secured the old unit after cables and bolts consumed the available work time. One antenna remains operational, while NASA has not assigned the replacement to a date.

20 August 20265 min read

Near-infrared Webb image of Neptune's rings and six small moons against a dark field

Planetary science

JWST clay signatures point to shattered interiors around Neptune

Larissa, Galatea and the rings carry a 2.72-micrometre feature associated with magnesium-rich phyllosilicates, but missing water ice and a shredded dwarf-planet alternative keep their origin unsettled.

20 August 20266 min read

Annotated Landsat 9 view of east Greenland and Denmark Strait, with the iceberg and surrounding sea ice labelled

Earth observation

Landsat traces a 17-square-kilometre iceberg into Denmark Strait

NASA followed the berg more than 1,000 kilometres from northeast Greenland, but satellite clues do not settle whether it came from Zachariæ Isstrøm or a remnant ice shelf.

20 August 20265 min read

Artist’s concept of the gold-and-white Swift observatory with its solar arrays extended against a white background

Swift Boost Mission

LINK control problem ends planned capture and boost of Swift

NASA and Katalyst ruled out grappling or raising the observatory. LINK may still attempt rendezvous and proximity operations, but neither organisation says those manoeuvres have begun.

20 August 20265 min read

Four grayscale LRO views of the Falcon 9 impact crater and its bright and dark ejecta rays at different viewing angles

Lunar science

LRO measures 18-metre crater from Falcon 9’s uncontrolled Moon impact

The mark is smaller than two pre-impact academic forecasts. The sharper operational lesson is that uncertainty around the spent stage’s path prompted Danuri’s team to consider a possible close encounter.

20 August 20266 min read

Multi-panel lunar south-pole maps showing modelled microbial survival at Nobile Rim and Connecting Ridge

Science

Models map lunar south-pole shadows where human-associated microbes may survive

A Science Advances study identifies cold, low-UV pockets at three prospective exploration areas. Viability means at least one Earth day in a dormant state, not growth or replication.

20 August 20266 min read

Diagram showing Lynk’s six low-Earth-orbit satellites and mobile-operator spectrum, Omnispace’s 60 megahertz of S-band spectrum and three test spacecraft, and SES’s medium- and geostationary-orbit infrastructure feeding Elveo Mobile’s multi-band direct-to-device platform

Satellite communications

Lynk and Omnispace complete merger to form Elveo Mobile

The combined company joins Lynk’s direct-to-phone platform with Omnispace’s S-band spectrum and SES’s multi-orbit infrastructure, but its deployment and funding plans are still ahead.

20 August 20265 min read

Federal Register page for NASA’s procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, identifying 14 CFR Part 1216 and document 2026-13245

Space policy

NASA’s interim NEPA rule takes effect with 19 adopted exclusions

Part 1216 now codifies previously adopted exclusions, one- and two-year review deadlines, page caps and a defined role for commercial project sponsors.

20 August 20266 min read

NOAA award notice listing the $6.4 million total order and daily radio-occultation deliveries assigned to PlanetiQ and Spire

Commercial weather data

NOAA buys 4,200 daily radio-occultation profiles from PlanetiQ

The $2.73 million, 74-day bridge order also assigns PlanetiQ 500 ionospheric tracks a day while NOAA prepares a two-year successor procurement under a broader $2.35 billion vehicle.

20 August 20265 min read

Diagram showing Planet imagery flowing through Rwanda Space Agency to government agencies, public universities, selected startups and development partners

Earth observation

Rwanda’s Planet data programme targets public services and universities

Rwanda Space Agency will manage access to near-daily imagery and an archive for state bodies, public universities, selected startups and development partners. The August 14 newsletter item was follow-on coverage of Planet’s August 10 announcement, not a second programme launch.

20 August 20265 min read

Saguaro at redshift 2, a simulated redshift-7 view and a real little red dot shown side by side

Science

Saguaro simulation shows how a galaxy could fade around a Webb little red dot

When researchers simulated the redshift-2 spiral at redshift 7, its faint host slipped below Webb-like limits while the compact nucleus remained. It is one analogue, not a universal answer.

20 August 20266 min read

Emission-line maps of six Local Volume Mapper targets released in SDSS DR20

Astronomy surveys

SDSS-V DR20 opens more than three million spectra and 18 specialist catalogues

The July 30 release adds the first southern BOSS data, major eROSITA follow-up and six Local Volume Mapper targets; its newly reduced BOSS observations stop at February 2, 2025.

20 August 20266 min read