The archive

News archive

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

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

Editorial diagram showing eight deployed Globalstar 2-R satellites and nine still being integrated

Satellite communications

First eight Globalstar 2-R satellites reach orbit

The replenishment spacecraft have established contact and begun commissioning, opening the orbital phase of a 17-satellite refresh without yet entering operational service.

17 August 20265 min read

Horizontal bars compare 2025 modelled launch costs per kilogram for six regions, with India highest at $13,302 and the United States lowest at $3,225

Launch economics

India’s $13,302-per-kg launch estimate uses capacity, not payload flown

A new dataset ranks India highest among six major launching regions in 2025. Its result divides estimated flyaway costs by vehicles’ maximum LEO capacity, leaving prices, mission budgets and actual payload masses outside the measure.

17 August 20266 min read

The improved SSLV SS1 solid motor firing horizontally on a test stand at Sriharikota

Launch

ISRO tests improved SSLV first stage for 100 kg payload gain

The SS1 firing exercised a higher propellant burn rate in two segments, revised thermal protection and nozzle-production changes, but the gain has not yet been demonstrated in flight.

17 August 20266 min read

Editorial chart comparing reported Kulasekarapattinam spaceport expenditure in July 2025 and July 2026

Launch

Kulasekarapattinam operator search opens as construction continues

The latest project reply puts spending at ₹588.70 crore of ₹985.96 crore, while IN-SPACe seeks a private manager and leaves the commissioning date unstated.

17 August 20266 min read

Editorial diagram showing JWST hydrogen emission and ALMA carbon emission identifying two active nuclei in LID-1166

Science

JWST and ALMA resolve two active nuclei 1.5 kpc apart in LID-1166

Separate Hα and [CII] velocity components support the dual-AGN identification at redshift 4.5. The manuscript is accepted by Nature Astronomy but remains an arXiv preprint, and its record claim is the authors'.

17 August 20266 min read

Original conceptual editorial illustration of a luminous black hole surrounded by a dense gas envelope

Science

JWST source MoM-BH*-1 fits a black hole star model—but alternatives remain

A Nature study links an extreme Balmer break to a dense, turbulent gas envelope around a black hole, but the mass estimate spans more than two orders of magnitude and another peer-reviewed model invokes one supermassive star.

17 August 20266 min read