Scientists using the Inouye Solar Telescope have captured new detail of the Sun’s surface, revealing magnetic vortices that influence space weather. The telescope, located on a high peak in Hawaii where clear blue skies are typical, provides high‑resolution images of the photosphere. The images reveal swirling patterns caused by the twisting of the Sun’s magnetic field by hot gas motions, identified as Kelvin‑Helmholtz instability. This instability creates magnetic energy that can accumulate and release as solar flares or coronal mass ejections, which travel into space and may disrupt Earth’s power grids, satellites, and pose risks to astronauts. Dr David Boboltz of the US National Solar Observatory said the new data enhance understanding of the physics that drive space weather and support prediction efforts. Dr David Kuridze, also of the NSO, said the twisting motions generate magnetic energy that fuels large‑scale solar explosions. Dr Friedrich Woeger noted that the findings clarify why the solar surface is hot and show how energy is transported upward before being released. The results were published in Nature and were made possible by the telescope’s high‑altitude site with minimal atmospheric interference. Continued study of these magnetic structures may improve space‑weather forecasts and deepen knowledge of solar physics.
Breakthroughs from labs, observatories, and clinical trials worth your attention.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Erich Hernandez‑Baquero to oversee military space acquisition and Roger Mason to head the National Reconnaissance Office on Aug. 7. The vote was 51‑47. It came a day after the Senate confirmed Gen. Douglas Schiess as the next chief of space operations. Hernandez‑Baquero will serve as assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration. He becomes the senior civilian official responsible for much of the Space Force’s acquisition enterprise. He joins the role as the service pursues a $71.1 billion fiscal 2027 budget. The service is reorganizing acquisition programs under Portfolio Acquisition Executives to place authority closer to officials delivering operational capability. A retired Air Force colonel, he previously worked at Raytheon and held senior acquisition positions at the National Reconnaissance Office. During his July confirmation hearing, he said his priorities would be acquisition reform, integration across missions, and rebuilding the acquisition workforce. He added that the new structure should be judged by its ability to deliver integrated capabilities to operators rather than individual platforms. Mason succeeds Christopher Scolese, who left the National Reconnaissance Office on July 10 after nearly seven years as director. Mason previously served as chief growth officer at V2X and as head of Peraton’s space and intelligence business. He also held the role of first assistant director of national intelligence for systems and resource analyses. In his remarks to senators, Mason said his top priorities would be accelerating an architecture that combines proliferated satellites with more sophisticated government systems, speeding the adoption of new technology, and making the NRO’s enterprise more resilient from satellites through ground networks. The confirmations place new leadership at three organizations that define military space requirements, acquire Space Force systems, and operate the nation’s intelligence satellites. The action follows a broader push to increase spending on satellites and to overhaul procurement processes as the Space Force and NRO move toward a proliferated constellation designed to improve imagery frequency and resilience. The new leaders will be evaluated on whether they can meet the large budget and acquisition reforms while maintaining operational readiness.
A 2026 study examined the five mucus types produced by C. nemoralis to determine how composition affects mechanical properties.
Snails generate mucus for locomotion and defense, and some species secrete distinct fluids when disturbed.
The research team applied proteomics, X‑ray fluorescence, X‑ray diffraction, cryoscanning electron microscopy and liquid chromatography to analyze the samples. All five mucus types contained collagen IV as the main structural component. Differences in protein abundance and the addition of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) determined each mucus’s mechanical characteristics. The two defensive mucus types exhibited higher protein counts than the remaining three. The authors concluded that protein quantity and ACC influence cross‑linking density, which directly alters network strength. Calcium is secreted with the mucus, acting as an ion source for cross‑linking and as a mineral precursor for reinforcement.
The findings may guide materials science research, while the specific role of the defensive mucus in predator deterrence remains to be clarified.
A U.S. District Court in Oregon ordered the federal government to restart the process for approving new wind energy projects. The order ends a moratorium that had halted all wind development in the United States since August 2025. The pause was instituted when the Department of Defense withdrew from a mandated review process that required it to evaluate potential radar interference from wind turbines and negotiate modifications with developers. A federal law establishes the procedure for that review. The court found that the DoD’s national security arguments did not justify bypassing the statutory process. The decision applied to both offshore and onshore wind projects. The Trump administration had previously sought to block wind development by asserting that radar interference posed a security risk, a claim rejected by multiple courts, including one that reviewed a classified DoD report. In response, the administration redirected efforts toward compensating developers for halting projects. For onshore wind, the administration halted participation by refusing to sign or draft required agreements, effectively stopping all new projects. The ruling leaves the timeline for resuming wind projects uncertain, as the administration must now re-engage in the legally required review process.
Danube water levels fell to a record low in Hungary this year, according to Copernicus Sentinel-2 images, affecting energy, water supplies, river transport and wildlife. The Danube, the EU’s longest river at 2,860 km, has experienced recurring low water levels since 2018 due to prolonged drought and heatwaves in central Europe. Images from 9 August 2025 and 4 August 2026 show the same river stretch near Budapest with noticeably lower water, exposed sandbanks and drier surrounding land. The reduced flow has limited barge traffic, constrained water treatment capacity and raised water temperatures and pollutant concentrations, leading to reduced oxygen levels that threaten fish populations. Record low levels have also been reported in Romania, highlighting the regional scope of the drought.
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston is preparing hardware for its Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon, focusing on lunar dust. The Lunar Development and Test Facility, located in the Energy Systems Test Area, uses simulated lunar regolith in vacuum chambers to evaluate how dust affects spacesuits, spacecraft components and moving mechanisms. Engineers test hardware under conditions that replicate the lunar environment, including a 3‑foot cube vacuum chamber and a 15‑foot thermal vacuum chamber that employ a closed‑loop nitrogen system. The Propulsion and Power Division has developed these systems, and engineers are advancing techniques to extract resources from lunar regolith for oxygen production and rocket propellant. Mike Salinas, deputy chief of the Propulsion and Power Division, said the facility helps develop technologies needed for long‑duration lunar exploration. A 2024 mural by artist Sebastian Boileau on the facility's exterior depicts astronauts exploring the lunar surface. NASA offers a 3D virtual tour of the facility for public viewing of the hardware development supporting this era of exploration.
Blue Origin said an anomaly in the main oxygen valve of a BE-4 engine caused the explosion of its New Glenn rocket on May 28 at Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral. The static fire test was part of preparations for a launch targeted for early June.
The New Glenn first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines that use liquid methane and liquid oxygen and generate about 640,000 pounds of thrust each. The rocket had completed three prior orbital flights before the May 28 incident, and a planned payload of 48 Amazon LEO satellites was stored elsewhere and not on the vehicle at the time of the explosion.
In a social media post, CEO Dave Limp said the failure originated at the oxygen valve, was confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections, and that extensive component-level and hotfire tests were being conducted to understand the failure mode and guide mitigations. He added that small modifications to the valve could be retrofitted to existing engines and that updated hardware would be ready by the end of the month, with further analysis ongoing.
Blue Origin aims to return New Glenn to flight before the end of 2026. The rocket can carry more Amazon LEO satellites per launch than the four other vehicles it has contracted for its broadband internet service.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) also uses BE-4 engines in its Vulcan rocket, which relies on two such engines for its first stage. A ULA spokesperson said the company will perform the necessary modifications to its Vulcan BE-4 engines at its Decatur, Alabama manufacturing plant and at Cape Canaveral facilities. The most recent Vulcan launch, the USSF-87 mission in February 2026, was suspended due to a solid rocket booster issue unrelated to the BE-4 engines; ULA is investigating that anomaly and expects to resume Vulcan flights later this year.
NASA is counting on New Glenn’s return to flight to support its Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander demonstrations. The first lander, Endurance, was originally scheduled for launch toward the end of 2026 but is now expected to fly in early 2027, pending New Glenn’s readiness.
Blue Origin said the path forward is clear and that it will continue to work through the fault tree analysis and required testing to achieve a return to flight.
Blue Origin provided its first substantive update on the May 28, 2026 hot‑fire test anomaly that destroyed the New Glenn rocket and most of Launch Complex 36‑A at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Chief executive Dave Limp said the anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve of one BE‑4 engine, a finding confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections, and that no root cause has been identified yet. The company is pursuing small valve modifications that can be retrofitted, manufacturing updated hardware expected by month end, and continuing fault‑tree analysis to guide mitigation, with a goal of returning the rocket to flight before the end of the year. Debris removal and launch‑tower reconstruction are underway, and the company says it is operating with urgency and significant expense to resume launches. The timeline for a definitive root‑cause determination remains open.
NASA engineers connected a coaxial cable to a test antenna in JPL's electromagnetic interference testing chamber on August 6 2026, as part of preparations for the SkyFall mission. The SkyFall mission will use three aircraft, each carrying four instruments, to conduct ground-penetrating radar surveys on Mars, building on the flight record of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which completed 72 flights between 2021 and 2023. During testing, the antenna was pointed upward to reduce reflections and improve measurement accuracy, according to JPL personnel. SkyFall is scheduled to launch aboard NASA's Space Reactor-1 Freedom vehicle in late 2028. The mission aims to provide subsurface data that could help future lander operations, though the timing of data collection and analysis remains to be determined.
NASA astronaut Adam Fuhrmann trained in a high‑altitude flight aboard a WB‑57 aircraft on July 16 2026, wearing a pressure suit. The exercise simulates operating aircraft systems in a confined, pressurized environment and is intended to ready the crew for upcoming International Space Station, lunar, and deep‑space missions, according to NASA.
Astronomers using the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii captured the highest‑resolution images of the Sun’s surface to date, revealing structures smaller than 20 km in a magnetically active region near a sunspot. The Sun’s surface appears as a patchwork of granules roughly the size of France, with earlier observations resolving features about 30 km across; the new images, taken in 2024, achieve a resolution near the telescope’s limit. The images show fine, whirlpool‑like formations interpreted as signatures of Kelvin‑Helmholtz instabilities, where fast‑moving plasma interacts with slower plasma, creating shear and spiral vortices. Such instabilities have been observed in Earth’s oceans, atmospheric clouds, and the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, but they had not been confirmed on the Sun. The findings, published in Nature, suggest that these small‑scale turbulent events may generate the magnetic field line braiding that leads to energy dissipation as heat in the corona, where temperatures reach several million degrees Celsius, compared with the surface temperature of about 6,000 °C. Dr David Kuridze, an astronomer on the research team, said the instability allows energy to cascade to smaller scales and dissipate as heat, which could explain the long‑standing mystery of coronal heating. Dr Friedrich Wöger, senior scientist at the US National Solar Observatory, said the observations represent the highest spatial resolution ever achieved on the solar surface. The results provide a potential mechanism for coronal heating but do not resolve all aspects of the process, and further observations are needed to confirm the role of Kelvin‑Helmholtz instabilities.
ESA released a weekly images feature covering August 3-7, 2026. The selection presents photographs captured by ESA’s spacecraft and ground facilities during the week, illustrating a range of space activities and observations. The images include orbital views of Earth, planetary surfaces, and deep‑space phenomena recorded by the agency’s satellites and probes.
Colorado biologist Daniel Blumstein launched an OnlyFans account to raise money for the Marmot Project after federal grant support was reduced.
Colorado biologist Daniel Blumstein launched an OnlyFans account to raise money for the Marmot Project after federal grant support was reduced.
The Marmot Project, a field study of yellow‑bellied marmots that has run for more than 60 years at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado, is among the longest investigations of individually identified mammals.
Blumstein said he began posting family‑friendly videos of marmots scurrying in their burrows, and the account generated more than $5,000, of which the laboratory expects to retain about $4,000 after OnlyFans fees.
The videos, which contain no sexual content, are intended to showcase the animals in their natural habitat, according to the lab.
Blumstein and his students named the account OnlyMarms, and a student assisted with account setup.
He encountered a verification issue when the platform flagged a mismatch between his driver’s license photo and the marmot profile picture, but an email exchange resolved the problem.
Because the yellow‑bellied marmot is neither threatened nor endangered, the study offers data on population fluctuations without bias, the lab noted.
The researchers have also launched Fat Marmot Week, a public voting event modeled on Fat Bear Week, to encourage community engagement and fundraising.
Blumstein said the earnings are unlikely to fully cover the laboratory’s budget shortfall, but the initiative raises awareness of the project’s continued need for funding.
The August 8, 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day image shows periodic comet 10P/Tempel 2 positioned near globular star cluster Messier 30.
Messier 30, the 30th entry in Charles Messier’s catalog of non‑cometary objects, is a globular cluster about 28,000 light‑years from Earth.
Comet 10P/Tempel 2, a short‑period comet with a roughly 5.5‑year orbit, was 3.5 light‑minutes away when the photograph was recorded on July 29.
In the image the comet’s narrow dust trail appears to pierce the dense star field of Messier 30, though the two objects are not physically close.
The alignment offers a rare visual comparison of a solar‑system object and a distant stellar grouping, and the image remains available for public viewing.
NASA announced the program for its Hyperwall storytelling sessions at the IGARSS 2026 conference. The sessions will take place in Exhibit Hall Booth #100 from August 10 to August 12. The International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) is an annual gathering of Earth science researchers and professionals. NASA’s Hyperwall initiative provides visual presentations of Earth observation data to illustrate scientific findings. On Monday, August 10, a session titled “Technology Enabling the Future of Earth Science” will be presented by Mike Seablom at 3:00 PM. Following that, “Discovery Earth: New Missions & Technical Innovation Advancing Earth System Insights” will be delivered by Karen St. Germain at 3:15 PM. On Tuesday, August 11, Mike Taylor will speak at 10:00 AM on “STELLA: Open-Source Multisenor Platforms For Real-Time Environmental Monitoring.” At 10:15 AM, Dan Lindsey will present “NOAA Geostationary Satellites: Valuable Data for both Research and Operational Use.” Later, Robert O. Green will discuss “Discovering Mineral Resources with NASA Imaging Spectroscopy” at 3:00 PM, and Paul Chang will address “The Importance of Satellite Ocean Observations at NOAA” at 3:15 PM. On Wednesday, August 12, Joel Scott will present “Enabling Earth Science Data to Serve Society” at 10:00 AM. Shannon Brown will speak at 10:15 AM about “Microwaving the Solar System.” At 3:00 PM, Paul Rosen and Marco Lavalle will update attendees on “NISAR Updates, One Year After Launch.” The session will conclude with Lauren Leese’s talk on “Office of the Chief Science Data Officer: Data Driven Exploration” at 3:15 PM. The schedule reflects NASA’s commitment to share data-driven insights with the scientific community. Details are available on the IGARSS 2026 website, and the program may be updated before the event.
Scientists using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) collected more than 140 hours of observations of the magnetar 1E 1547-5408 from March to April 2025. An artist’s concept dated August 5, 2026, provided by NASA and Pablo Garcia, depicts the magnetar. The observations may indicate that empty space behaves in a manner predicted by physicists for 90 years, a pattern that has not been directly observed before. Magnetars are neutron stars with magnetic fields estimated to be around a trillion times stronger than the strongest permanent magnets created on Earth.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess as the next chief of space operations on Aug. 6, succeeding Gen. Chance Saltzman. Schiess, who has served as deputy chief of space operations for operations since late 2025, previously led missile, launch, GPS and satellite communications units, including the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral and U.S. Space Forces–Space. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said the Space Force has completed its initial institution‑building phase and must now rapidly expand its workforce, infrastructure and operational capabilities to meet the rapid growth of China’s military space programs. He emphasized the need to defend U.S. satellites, protect the joint force from space‑enabled attacks and provide capabilities for worldwide military missions. Schiess argued that offensive spacecraft should remain under government ownership while the service increasingly relies on commercial providers for communications, tracking and other functions. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said he was pleased with the confirmation and noted Schiess would lead the effort to accelerate delivery of next‑generation military space capabilities. Gen. Saltzman, retiring after 35 years of service, called Schiess an exceptional leader with the experience needed to guide the Space Force into its next phase.
On 7 August 2026, the European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium signed an implementation agreement to advance the IRIS² satellite constellation, expanding the main network to 348 satellites. The agreement adds 66 satellites to low‑Earth orbit, bringing the total to 330 LEO and 18 MEO satellites and moving the programme from planning to full‑scale deployment with European Space Agency support. European Commissioner for Defence Industry and Space, Andrius Kubilius, said the acceleration will increase secure governmental capacity by more than 60 % within the Union and by 54 % globally. ESA will oversee technical development, qualification and in‑orbit validation, working with the Commission and SpaceRISE to deliver secure, resilient connectivity for EU governments, defence and emergency services. The additional 66 high‑low Earth orbit satellites will reinforce the constellation’s capacity for defence, security and emergency missions. European manufacturers including Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space, OHB and Aerospacelab, together with the SpaceRISE consortium, have committed to provide the required space and ground infrastructure under a public‑private partnership. The expanded deployment requires additional investment funded by the EU budget for 2028‑2034 and national contributions such as €656 million from Poland, €500 million from Hungary and €1.6‑2 billion from Spain. The Commission will inform the European Parliament and Member States of the agreement, and the SpaceRISE consortium will accelerate satellite manufacturing, launch service procurement and secure ground‑infrastructure development, aiming for first launches by 2029 and operational services thereafter. IRIS² is a 12‑year concession contract signed in December 2024 that establishes a sovereign, secure connectivity system for European governments and emergency services, building on design work and negotiations concluded in January 2026.
APOD on August 7, 2026 features the COSMOS field observed by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which contains more than half a million galaxies in a sky region several times larger than the full moon.
The COSMOS field was first captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and later observed by the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments because it contains comparatively few bright Milky Way stars, providing an unobstructed view of external galaxies.
The central image includes ten numbered panels that show zoomed‑in views of selected regions, revealing a wide variety of galaxy shapes and sizes, with some galaxies whose light has traveled for billions of years.
The Rubin Observatory plans to revisit the COSMOS field approximately every two days as part of its ten‑year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, creating a continuous record of changes in the sky.
On July 27‑29, 2026, the NASA Cosmic Storytelling with NASA Data (CosmicDS) project and the Smithsonian Institution's BEST AQI initiative hosted a leadership institute at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, bringing together 13 educators who advise the BEST AQI program for teen air quality research.
The institute aimed to give educators hands‑on experience with TEMPO‑Lab, an online tool that provides near‑real‑time air quality measurements from NASA's TEMPO mission, which monitors pollution across North America hourly during daylight.
Day 1 featured a session by CosmicDS principal investigator Pat Udomprasert introducing TEMPO‑Lab. Days 2 and 3 involved educators co‑developing curriculum and creating case studies on wildfire smoke, traffic emissions, power plant output, and agricultural activities using the tool. A beta ground‑level ozone data product became available, and software developer John Lewis integrated it into TEMPO‑Lab within a day, allowing participants to explore the new data the following morning.
Erika Wright, education specialist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and BEST AQI principal investigator, said the institute highlighted the value of TEMPO‑Lab for empowering youth to investigate local air quality and use evidence for community action.
Providing educators with technical skills and curriculum enables data literacy for teens and supports health‑focused, evidence‑based actions in their communities. The 13 participating educators plan to disseminate the BEST AQI toolkit and TEMPO‑Lab to roughly 100 additional educators in South Dakota, Maryland and New York, potentially reaching thousands of teen researchers.
The CosmicDS team will continue support through the next year, and interested users can access TEMPO‑Lab at projects.cosmicds.cfa.harvard.edu and learn more about CosmicDS at cosmicds.cfa.harvard.edu. The project is funded by NASA cooperative agreement award 80NSSC21M0002 under the NASA Science Activation Program.
NASA released an artist’s concept showing three SkyFall helicopters that will collect subsurface radar data with green-frequency antennas and near‑infrared imagery with red beams while flying over the Martian surface. The helicopters follow the Ingenuity technology demonstrator, which completed 72 flights over three years and helped the Perseverance rover team select science targets. Each SkyFall helicopter will carry four instruments and is scheduled to launch aboard NASA’s Space Reactor‑1 Freedom in late 2028, with arrival on Mars in December 2028. The project is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which oversees the Mars Exploration Program on behalf of the Science Mission Directorate, and AeroVironment of Arlington, Virginia will co‑design and co‑manufacture the helicopters under a contract with JPL.
Tom Percy, manager of systems engineering and integration for NASA's Human Landing System Program, oversees the development of commercial crew landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin for the Artemis lunar exploration program. He ensures the landers are designed, built, tested and will operate safely with other NASA exploration assets.
Born in North Easton, Massachusetts, Percy earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he participated in the Great Moonbuggy Race, a competition that later became the Human Exploration Rover Challenge. He earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a doctorate in aerospace systems engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Since joining NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in 2003, Percy has evaluated transportation architecture options for deep space missions, including lunar and Martian landings, and has worked on propulsion technology, trajectory analysis and spacecraft concept development. He said that integration work falls under his responsibility and that his team works to ensure the landers meet safety and performance standards.
NASA aims to increase the frequency of Artemis missions, building a sustained human presence on the Moon and laying the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars.
An analysis of emergency data from England and Wales found that e‑scooter riders were three times more likely to suffer traumatic brain injuries than motorcyclists and 1.5 times more likely to sustain internal organ injuries than motorbike riders, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. David Bodansky, a consultant surgeon at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, examined trauma registry data from 18 cities between 2020 and 2022. The study covered collisions involving e‑scooters, motorbikes and bicycles. Brain injuries accounted for more than a third of adult e‑scooter injuries, and women were more than twice as likely to report severe injuries. Children represented 16% of e‑scooter injuries. Bodansky said the small wheel design can cause riders to lose balance when striking potholes or road debris, leading to head‑over‑heel impacts. Less than 6% of riders wore helmets. Ventsislavova, a senior lecturer in transport psychology at Nottingham Trent University, said the lack of mandatory training and helmet requirements contributes to the risk and urged legislation that clarifies where e‑scooters may be used, includes safety training and compulsory helmet use. She noted that e‑scooters differ from bicycles because riders stand upright, have a higher centre of gravity and use more sensitive steering, making them less stable in crashes. The Department for Transport said the findings were notable and that road safety is a top priority, adding that current trials are testing e‑scooter use in controlled environments before any legislative updates.
Scientists have created two gene‑edited beagle puppies, named Bailey and Alfie, using CRISPR to knock out the gene that produces the main allergy‑causing protein in dogs.
Dog allergies are triggered by a protein found in saliva, fur and dander; previous attempts to produce hypoallergenic dogs through cloning resulted in unhealthy animals.
The researchers edited skin cells, transferred the modification into eggs, and implanted the embryos in a beagle surrogate, resulting in two healthy female puppies. Laboratory tests showed the edited dogs did not produce the allergen and a skin‑prick test on the lead researcher was negative, whereas samples from a poodle and a goldendoodle produced a reaction.
Kindred Companion Sciences said the technique could be tested on other breeds and service animals and that long‑term health monitoring will be required before commercial use. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan warned that wide availability might reduce adoption of shelter animals. Dr Jeff SoRelle of the University of Texas Southwestern noted that the single gene edited is not the only allergen, so the broader effectiveness of the approach remains uncertain.
The company plans to continue monitoring the dogs and to evaluate the method's safety, efficacy and cost, while regulatory approval and affordability are still pending.
Three members of the Italian Space Agency’s board of directors resigned on 5 August, leading to the dissolution of the board. The resignations clear the way for the appointment of an extraordinary commissioner to head the agency after the death of president Teodoro Valente on 16 July. Acting vice president Elda Turco Bulgherini, along with directors Stefano Gualandris and Stefano Arcifa, submitted their resignations, the agency said in a statement on 5 August. In an interview with AGEEI/Aerospazionews on 6 August, Arcifa said the departures would allow the agency to address the leadership vacuum before key upcoming events, including the European Space Agency ministerial meeting in Italy in December during Italy’s ESA presidency. Italian law requires the appointment of an extraordinary commissioner when a third of the board is vacant, and the commissioner may serve for up to 12 months to ensure agency functioning until a new president and board take office. The agency did not indicate who might be selected, but Arcifa said the nominee would be a high‑profile individual. This is not the first instance of an extraordinary commissioner leading ASI; Piero Benvenuti filled the role from 14 November 2018 to 3 May 2019 after the previous president’s removal, and the previous board members’ terms had expired earlier.
Relativity Space announced that the engine integration for the Terran-R first stage has been completed. The milestone represents a step in the rocket’s development. The company said the work took place at its facility. No launch date was provided.
The Federal Communications Commission appointed Jennifer Gilsenan as acting chief of its Space Bureau on August 7, succeeding Jay Schwarz, who is set to retire later this month.
The Space Bureau, created in 2023, oversees satellite licensing and aims to modernize regulations to match the rapid growth of commercial constellations.
Gilsenan, who has worked on satellite and spectrum regulation for more than two decades, will manage the bureau’s implementation of a licensing overhaul unanimously approved in July. The reforms introduce a streamlined application process intended to reduce processing times and improve predictability for an expanding number of satellite operators.
Schwarz, in his first year as bureau chief, reduced the FCC’s licensing backlog by 43 percent, and an additional 15 percent decline was reported in 2026, according to agency statements.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the commission’s reforms represent an unprecedented pace of change within the federal government.
The appointment marks a transition period as the bureau prepares to execute the new framework while the satellite industry continues to expand.
On August 12 2026 a total solar eclipse will occur starting at 19:30 CEST and will be visible across parts of Europe including Spain. The European Space Agency will broadcast a live program from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre featuring Dr. Maggie Aderin and ESA scientists who will explain the eclipse and its science. The broadcast will also be available at the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de León in León offering hands‑on activities and safe viewing options. Viewers can watch the stream on the ESA YouTube channel or at watch.esa.int and the agency advises safe eclipse observation.
The European Commission has approved a plan to expand the IRIS² satellite constellation to at least 348 satellites and raise its total cost to 15.6 billion euros, with launches scheduled to begin in 2029.
The original design called for 18 medium‑earth‑orbit satellites and 264 high‑low‑earth‑orbit satellites at about 1,200 km altitude, plus optional low‑orbit test satellites.
The commission added 66 high‑LEO satellites, keeping the MEO count at 18. The extra satellites are intended to increase secure government capacity by about 60 % within the EU and 54 % outside it. Andrius Kubilius, EU commissioner for defense and space, said the accelerated schedule will deliver early defense and security services sooner.
The revised cost represents a 47 % increase over the 10.6 billion euro estimate from December 2024 and a 160 % increase from the initial 6 billion euro projection. Funding will come from the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (2028‑2034) and from member‑state contributions; Spain has pledged 1.6‑2 billion euros, and Poland has committed about $750 million for six MEO and six LEO satellites. The SpaceRISE consortium, led by Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES, will contribute 4 billion euros, while the commission and the European Space Agency will provide the remaining 11.6 billion euros.
Satellite launches are set to start in 2029, matching the timeline established when the consortium was selected in December 2024.
The expanded constellation aims to improve secure communications, but the final budget and schedule remain subject to future EU funding decisions.
Washington — Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) introduced bipartisan legislation that would require the Pentagon to expand the Space Force’s training, wargaming, and simulation activities to prepare for potential conflict with China, and to produce an unclassified report on China’s commercial space sector within 180 days of enactment. The bill would amend the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act and direct the Defense Department to increase the capacity of the Space Force’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure, a network of simulators and live ranges designed to train guardians against realistic threats. The legislation does not create a new organization but expands existing efforts with a focus on scenarios involving China. The requirement for an unclassified assessment mirrors existing Defense Department analyses of China’s military space programs but adds a separate evaluation of the commercial space industry and its possible military applications. The proposal follows a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Arctic in May, during which the senators received briefings at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and visited the SvalSat satellite ground station in Norway. Cortez Masto said the legislation would give guardians the tools, training and resources needed to confront any threat. Britt said the bill underscores the importance of space as a warfighting domain and reflects concerns about China’s expanding military space capabilities. Neither senator serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee; Cortez Masto sits on Finance, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Energy and Natural Resources, and Indian Affairs committees, while Britt serves on Appropriations, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Rules and Administration committees. The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved its version of the NDAA, but the full Senate has not yet begun floor debate. The legislation is pending Senate consideration and could influence future space policy.
NASA’s PREFIRE mission captured two years of seasonal temperature data from the Arctic and Antarctic, revealing how surface temperatures vary across the poles. Twin CubeSats began collecting infrared measurements in July 2024 and have recorded two full seasonal cycles at each pole. Because the poles lie in opposite hemispheres, their seasons occur at opposite times, and temperature swings differ between them. Satellite imagery shows surface temperatures shifting from dark blue (cold) to light blue and red (warmer) over the course of each year. In the Arctic, winters are dark and cold, while summers become warm enough to melt tundra and sea ice. In Antarctica, summer temperatures stay near freezing before winter returns. Measuring far‑infrared energy, which accounts for about 60% of Earth’s outgoing radiation, helps scientists refine climate models. The PREFIRE data provide the first comprehensive view of this invisible energy flow. “By measuring the invisible heat radiated from Earth’s coldest regions, PREFIRE improves understanding of rapid polar change and its potential impact on the global climate,” said Chad Greene, glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “These observations affect weather patterns, river flows, shipping routes, and ice‑sheet stability,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin‑Madison and principal investigator of the mission. The mission enables more accurate predictions that support industries, national defense, and Arctic communities. Continued observations from PREFIRE will help determine how long‑term polar warming trends may influence global sea level rise and weather systems.
Stanford researchers employed large genome language models to generate DNA sequences for bacteriophages that infect bacteria. The models were trained on millions of bacterial virus genomes and tested by prompting them with short fragments of the ΦX174 virus. After applying constraints that removed sequences lacking a functional spike protein, appropriate length, and acceptable base composition, 302 candidate genomes were identified; 285 were synthesized and introduced into E. coli. Sixteen of the synthesized sequences inhibited E. coli growth, indicating functional virus activity. Nine of these matched the AI‑generated sequences, while seven acquired additional mutations after insertion. Viability was higher among designs with high similarity to the original ΦX174, reaching 46 percent among those with 98 percent sequence similarity. The viable viruses showed diverse genetic changes, including deletions, additions, and substitutions, some compensating for lost functions or introducing new genes. A cocktail of the 16 viable AI‑designed phages outperformed a control cocktail of natural phages in infecting antibiotic‑resistant E. coli, suggesting a possible application in phage therapy. The authors call for improved governance of AI‑driven virology and DNA synthesis.
Scientists have synthesized bacteriophages whose genomes were generated by artificial intelligence, according to a study published in Science on August 6, 2026. The viruses, which infect bacteria and are used to treat persistent infections, were tested in laboratory dishes and killed Escherichia coli strains resistant to naturally occurring bacteriophages.
Dr Brian Hie, a chemical engineer at Stanford University, employed genome language models to design functional bacteriophage genomes. The AI models, trained on genetic data from two million bacteriophages, excluded sequences that could produce plant, human, or animal viruses to reduce safety risks. From thousands of proposed designs, the researchers selected nearly 300 for laboratory synthesis; only 16 proved viable. A mixture of these phages rapidly overcame resistance in two E coli strains.
The researchers noted that the approach could expand phage therapy and broaden biotechnological tools, but they also highlighted biosafety, biocontainment and biosecurity concerns. They called for consultation with safety and security professionals throughout genome design.
Prof Tom Inglesby and Dr Moritz Hanke of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University wrote that, while the work holds promise for life‑science applications, it raises urgent questions about governance. They warned that the ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists without established regulatory frameworks.
Tom Ellis, a professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London, described the achievement as impressive but noted that the genome created is among the simplest to construct. He added that designing more complex or pathogenic genomes would be more challenging, and that current threats from AI‑generated viruses may be overstated compared with modifying existing pathogens.
Dr Filippa Lentzos of King’s College London emphasized the need for layered governance, including safeguards at the model‑development stage, responsible research review, synthesis screening, and established laboratory biosafety measures.
Bacteriophage genomes are small, but the study demonstrated that generative AI can produce functional viral genomes. The authors indicated that applying the same methods to pathogens capable of infecting humans, animals or plants remains uncertain, and they advised against pursuing such work without robust oversight.
Panel at Small Sat Europe Examines Europe's Space Threat Response
A panel of space security experts convened in May at SpaceNews' defense stage in Amsterdam for the Small Sat Europe conference, discussing how European militaries might address evolving space threats.
The session brought together Brigadier General Daniele Donati, former chief of the Space Policy Office of the Italian Defense General Staff; Dr. Regina Peldszus, space security specialist at the European External Action Service; Antonin Hirsch, co‑founder and CTO of Skynopy; Andrew Faiola, commercial director of Astroscale; and David Tellett, programme director of Magdrive Ltd.
Participants noted the increasing density of objects in orbit and the potential for disruptive actions against satellite infrastructure. They emphasized the need for improved situational awareness, coordinated multinational response protocols, and integration of commercial space capabilities into defense planning.
The discussion also covered the role of existing legal frameworks and the challenges of adapting them to rapid technological change. While no consensus was reached, the panel highlighted the importance of continued dialogue between government and industry.
The conversation left open questions about how Europe will balance security concerns with international space law.
An ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile captured spectral lines of sodium and lithium gas in the plume created when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket upper stage struck the moon at 6:35 am GMT on Wednesday. The impact occurred near the lunar terminator and was observed at a speed of 8,690 km/h. The plume, tens of kilometres across, remained visible for five to ten minutes. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 in January 2025 carrying two lunar landers. Its booster returned to Earth while the upper stage remained to propel the landers toward the moon. The stage, about the height of a five‑storey building and weighing four tonnes, became part of the space debris orbiting the moon. Astronomers determined that the sodium likely originated from lunar soil, while lithium traces probably came from the rocket stage itself, according to Carl Schmidt of Boston University. Dr Sara Webb of Swinburne University estimated the impact would have created a crater about 20 metres in diameter and five metres deep. She noted that multiple telescopes were watching the event but no clear images of the collision were obtained. NASA plans to use its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter to photograph the site, which may reveal the wreckage. Understanding such debris impacts is important as NASA aims to establish a sustained human presence on the moon.
SpaceX reported quarterly earnings with AI‑related revenue rising to $2.56 billion, more than tripling from the prior quarter, while its market capitalization stood at about $1.65 trillion.
The revenue increase stems largely from contracts to lease data‑center capacity to other AI firms such as Anthropic and Google, a strategy that boosts short‑term earnings but may limit SpaceX’s ability to train and operate its own AI models.
Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management, said the leasing model could cap margins if SpaceX becomes primarily a cloud provider. Goldman Sachs, a bookrunner on SpaceX’s offering, projects AI revenue to grow 100‑fold by 2030, and Elon Musk said the company could reach $1 trillion in total revenue by the end of the decade. Musk added that SpaceX expects to begin launching its first orbital data‑center prototypes, called Starmind AI‑1, next year, and that recent Grok AI models are being trained on SpaceX data to give the company an engineering edge. He also noted that the Starlink satellite‑internet business remains under‑appreciated.
Short interest rose to roughly 220 million shares, about 34 percent of freely tradable shares, as traders placed bets against SpaceX. Deutsche Bank analysts attributed the decline to the end of the employee lock‑up period and lower-than‑expected passive fund buying after SpaceX’s inclusion in the Nasdaq 100. Some investors also consider a possible merger of SpaceX with Tesla, though Musk said any such combination would require an “appropriate process.”
The outlook remains uncertain as SpaceX balances its ambitious space and AI initiatives with market expectations.
On April 14, 2025, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope recorded high‑resolution images of the Sun’s surface that revealed Kelvin‑Helmholtz vortex structures along magnetic field boundaries. The observations, made at a wavelength of 416 nanometers, provided a spatial resolution of about 19 kilometers, near the theoretical limit for a 4‑meter mirror at that wavelength.
Kelvin‑Helmholtz instability occurs when fluid flows of different speeds slide past each other, forming curling patterns that have been documented in atmospheric and oceanic contexts. Scientists had long hypothesized that the same instability could operate in the Sun’s plasma, but previous instruments lacked the resolution to detect features smaller than a few tens of kilometers.
During a three‑minute exposure, the telescope captured 740 frames per second with 100 microsecond exposures, which were combined using multi‑frame blind deconvolution to achieve a final image with a 19‑kilometer resolution. The data identified 47 vortex‑bearing interfaces, each spanning 25 to 170 kilometers and separated by 60 to 100 kilometers. Individual vortexes doubled in size in under a minute and propagated at speeds between 0.67 and 3 kilometers per second.
The researchers validated the observations by running computer simulations of a 6‑megameter photospheric patch that incorporated the measured magnetic field and reproduced the vortex dynamics, confirming that the structures are consistent with Kelvin‑Helmholtz behavior. The findings indicate that plasma can mix across magnetic field boundaries, potentially altering models of heat and magnetic energy transport in the solar atmosphere and influencing the mechanisms that heat the corona.