Space & Science

NASA Is Rewriting Mars Contamination Rules ... NASA Is Rewriting Mars Contamination Rules for the First Time in 50 Years A new expert panel called M-FORCE will audit planetary protection protocols based on Viking-era data—and could cut sterilization costs that already eat up 10% of mission budgets. Sept. 1, 2026, 4:10 p.m.
US Space Force Is Funding a ... US Space Force Is Funding a Chip That Claims to Pull Power From Empty Space Casimir Inc's MicroSparc harvests energy from quantum vacuum fields — a real physics phenomenon — but independent verification of continuous output is still missing. Aug. 31, 2026, 4:24 p.m.
No GPS? No problem: quantum gravity ... No GPS? No problem: quantum gravity navigation just passed its first sea trial Australian startup Q-CTRL navigated 83 km of open ocean without a single satellite signal — and the system can't be jammed or spoofed. Aug. 29, 2026, 5:56 p.m.
SpaceX hits 100 Falcon 9 launches ... SpaceX hits 100 Falcon 9 launches in 2026 — and one booster is closing in on the Space Shuttle's record Booster B1067 flew for the 37th time on August 25, carrying 29 Starlink satellites. The NASA Space Shuttle's all-time reuse record of 39 flights is now within reach. Aug. 25, 2026, 4:34 p.m.
Singapore just switched on a server ... Singapore just switched on a server rack powered by living human neurons A 20-unit biological data center prototype uses neurons grown from stem cells instead of silicon chips — and draws a fraction of the power of an AI rack. Aug. 21, 2026, 1:55 p.m.
China switches on the world's largest ... China switches on the world's largest grid-forming battery — 4 GWh in Inner Mongolia The DongSu project dwarfs anything built in North America and goes live just as the EU prepares to mandate the same technology by 2027. Aug. 15, 2026, 4:12 p.m.
Alpaca antibodies could make farmed salmon ... Alpaca antibodies could make farmed salmon safer — if the science holds up Hamburg biotech AquaNab wants to fight sea lice with nanoantibodies delivered through fish feed, but the technology is still in proof-of-concept and regulatory approval is years away. Aug. 14, 2026, 5:58 p.m.
A robot learns a new skill ... A robot learns a new skill from a 29-second video — no retraining required X Square Robot's HOST method lets humanoids copy human movements from a single video clip, skipping the costly neural-network fine-tuning that normally takes hours. Aug. 14, 2026, 4:54 p.m.
Astronomers just released a 5.6-trillion-pixel map ... Astronomers just released a 5.6-trillion-pixel map of the universe — with 4 billion objects The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys dataset covers 75% of the sky, took 13 years to build, and is already reshaping what scientists think about dark energy. Aug. 12, 2026, 6:36 p.m.
Rocket Lab's GHOST packs a spaceport ... Rocket Lab's GHOST packs a spaceport into shipping containers A $266M Space Force contract will put Rocket Lab's containerized launch system on the ground in Alaska by 2027 — and the Pentagon wants it anywhere on the planet. Aug. 11, 2026, 8:09 p.m.
Canadarm3 pivots from space station to ... Canadarm3 pivots from space station to moon base as NASA freezes Gateway Canadian robotics firm MDA Space is rewriting its technical brief after NASA paused the Lunar Gateway project, shifting the iconic robotic arm toward lunar surface logistics instead. Aug. 11, 2026, 5:21 p.m.
Musk says Starlink will own 90% ... Musk says Starlink will own 90% of satellite internet traffic — here's why that's a stretch Starlink leads the satellite internet race by a wide margin, but Amazon's Kuiper, European rivals, and regulatory hurdles make a 90% market lock-in look overstated. Aug. 10, 2026, 4:58 p.m.
China loses fourth rocket of 2026 ... China loses fourth rocket of 2026 in another launch failure A Long March 7A rocket carrying a classified payload exploded 85 seconds after liftoff from Wenchang, the latest sign that China's high-speed launch push is straining quality control. Aug. 10, 2026, 4:23 p.m.
Europe's €15.6 billion satellite network IRIS² ... Europe's €15.6 billion satellite network IRIS² is finally moving off paper The EU has signed the deal to build IRIS², a 348-satellite constellation designed for secure government and defence use — not to rival Starlink for consumer broadband. Aug. 8, 2026, 6:10 p.m.
This sodium battery absorbs heat while ... This sodium battery absorbs heat while charging — and it wants to replace lithium Syntropic Power and UNIGRID are targeting 1 GWh of sodium-ion storage in North America by 2027, using a chemistry that eliminates the need for active cooling. Aug. 7, 2026, 4:52 p.m.
RealorRender: Germany's new deepfake detector that ... RealorRender: Germany's new deepfake detector that shows its work Fraunhofer's AI tool catches AI-generated images with 85–91% accuracy — and highlights exactly why it flagged them. Aug. 5, 2026, 6:23 p.m.
China plugged a quantum computer into ... China plugged a quantum computer into its power grid — and it actually works An 18-month trial at a Hefei substation, commissioned in November 2024, shows quantum sensors and encryption moving from lab curiosity to live infrastructure. Aug. 5, 2026, 3:56 p.m.
SpaceX stops building Crew Dragons — ... SpaceX stops building Crew Dragons — five capsules to cover NASA for a decade With Boeing's Starliner years behind schedule, SpaceX's existing fleet is now America's only reliable path to the International Space Station through 2030. Aug. 4, 2026, 10:10 p.m.
The largest known galaxy is 17 ... The largest known galaxy is 17 times wider than the Milky Way — and still growing New deep imaging from the Isaac Newton Telescope has confirmed IC 1101's true size for the first time, and it's bigger than anyone thought. Aug. 4, 2026, 5:31 p.m.
A SpaceX rocket stage is about ... A SpaceX rocket stage is about to crater the Moon — and scientists can't wait A Falcon 9 upper stage launched in January 2025 will slam into the lunar surface on August 5, 2026, giving researchers a rare live experiment in crater formation. Aug. 4, 2026, 3:54 p.m.
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