The archive

News archive

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

Four-panel research figure showing a JWST image and hydrogen-alpha map of J0148-4214 beside spectra from the outer and central broad-line regions

Science

JWST spectra point to three active black holes in J0148-4214

Two broad-line sources sit 190 ± 40 parsecs apart in projection, while a third is 1.7 kiloparsecs from the primary. The spectra do not show whether that outer object is falling inward or escaping.

19 August 20266 min read

Launch

LandSpace lands Zhuque-3 booster after orbital launch

The Y2 flight put Honghu 03 into orbit and returned its first stage to a pad in Gansu. The landing proves recovery on this mission, not yet refurbishment or reflight.

19 August 20264 min read

Diagram showing the Flatellite award covering spacecraft development, Neutron launch, secure operations and tracking-data delivery, with quantities and dates marked undisclosed

Military space acquisition

Rocket Lab’s $397m Flatellite award spans satellites, Neutron launch and operations

The Space Force deal covers multiple spacecraft and includes an option for more, but the number of Flatellites, Neutron flights and launch dates remain undisclosed. SB-AMTI’s later operational capability depends on programme-wide sensing, processing and orchestration work.

19 August 20265 min read

H3 rocket lifting off at night carrying QZS-7 and the second U.S. geosynchronous-orbit monitoring sensor

U.S.-Japan space security

U.S.-Japan GEO sensor pair is in orbit, but readiness remains unconfirmed

The second U.S. optical payload launched with Japan’s QZS-7, completing the two-launch plan. The Space Force named an operator and data destination but did not announce first light, checkout completion or operational acceptance.

19 August 20265 min read

Face-on spiral galaxy Messier 96 surrounded by stars and smaller galaxies in a square field of black sky

Astronomy surveys

DESI releases 5.6-trillion-pixel 2D map of the sky

The public Legacy Survey release combines 263,407 telescope exposures into a catalogue of nearly four billion sources across roughly three-quarters of the sky. It records where objects appear and how bright they are; DESI’s separate spectroscopic survey supplies the redshift measurements used to place selected galaxies and quasars in three dimensions.

18 August 20266 min read

Technicians work around cylindrical sections of PSLV-C59 during pre-launch integration

Launch industry

Industry-built PSLV targets March 2027 launch

The reported date is at least nine months later than a Q1 2026 target disclosed to Parliament, although first-stage stacking began in December. No reviewed source gives a cause.

18 August 20264 min read

Editorial diagram of IRS 3 surrounded by four modelled dust regions beside a spectrum marking water and silicate absorption

Science

JWST detects water in IRS 3's dust envelope near the Galactic centre

Water absorption and oxygen-rich silicate bands appear in a modelled, multi-shell outflow only 0.55 light-years in projection from Sagittarius A*. The result is about molecular survival, not habitability.

18 August 20266 min read

Plots comparing radio and X-ray intensity, polarization degree and polarization angle across the rotation of magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408

Science

Magnetar polarization strengthens the case for vacuum birefringence

Coordinated X-ray and radio measurements link unusually strong polarization to 1E 1547.0-5408’s magnetic geometry, while model dependence keeps the result short of direct proof.

18 August 20265 min read

Diagram showing five prototype vendors testing common interfaces and a Space Exchange Point before connecting to the separately awarded Space Data Network Backbone

Military satellite communications

Space Force awards five vendors to test shared data-network interfaces

Five companies will each receive a $12 million prototype package to show that independently built satellites and terminals can exchange data through the Space Data Network. The demonstrations are integration tests, not orders for an operational fleet, and they sit beside a separate $2.29 billion backbone award made to SpaceX in May.

18 August 20265 min read

Diagram showing the U.S. Space Force as customer, Viasat as prime contractor and Rocket Lab as spacecraft-bus supplier for one PTS-G Swarm 1 satellite

Defence satellites

Viasat selects Rocket Lab bus for its first PTS-G satellite

Lightning-GEO supplies the spacecraft platform around Viasat’s X/Ka-band payload. Viasat remains the Space Force prime, and no follow-on satellite order was disclosed.

18 August 20264 min read

Two blue instrumented radiation manikins secured in seats inside the Artemis I Orion crew module

Science

AstroRad study models up to 60% solar-storm dose cut from Artemis I data

Orion encountered no major solar particle event. Researchers validated a transport model against radiation measured inside two manikins, then substituted spectra from the 1972 and 1989 storms.

17 August 20266 min read

A wide view of ISRO's Mahendragiri test facility during a semi-cryogenic power-head firing

Launch

India proposes semi-cryogenic LVM3 for Chandrayaan-4 mission

An August 13 Rajya Sabha answer names the thrust chamber as the only SE2000 subsystem still unrealised, leaving full-power power-head and integrated-engine work ahead.

17 August 20265 min read