ORBIT

SpaceX is flying the 14th test mission of its Starship rocket, with live coverage showing the vehicle heading toward orbit. The flight is part of the company's rapid testing campaign to mature the giant rocket for future deep space missions, and the launch is drawing wide attention from space enthusiasts tracking its progress and performance.

Four environmental organizations filed a petition Thursday urging the Federal Communications Commission to reverse its approval of a startup's plan to beam on-demand sunlight from space to Earth. The groups argue the agency failed to consider the project's potential impacts on wildlife and astronomy, opening a new front in debates over commercial use of orbit and light pollution.

Experts including former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe say people are currently more likely to be struck by lightning than by falling space junk, but warn those odds are shifting as more objects are launched into orbit. They argue governments and companies should be required to use materials that will fully burn up on re-entry, pushing space environmentalism into the policy debate.

The US Air Force secretary has publicly acknowledged that the United States has weapons in space, a rare and notable admission about American military capabilities beyond Earth. The statement sheds light on the Pentagon's space-based arsenal, an area long shrouded in secrecy, and comes amid growing international attention to military activity in orbit.

The Space Development Agency has carried out its fourth Tranche 1 mission, launched aboard a SpaceX rocket. The mission adds more satellites to the agency's proliferated low-Earth-orbit constellation, designed to provide resilient communications and missile-tracking capabilities for the US military. The launch marks continued progress in the agency's plan to field its Tranche 1 network in orbit.

The Space Review has published an article examining URSALA, RAQUEL and FARRAH, three classified US satellites launched in 2025 whose missions remain officially undisclosed. The piece looks at what can be inferred about the spacecraft from orbital data and naming conventions. Readers online are discussing the satellites' likely purpose and the mystery surrounding their classified operations.

A full-length documentary exploring the militarization of space is drawing attention, framing a growing international race for military power beyond Earth's atmosphere. The film examines how nations are developing satellite weapons, anti-satellite capabilities and space-based defense systems, and what an armed conflict in orbit could mean for global security.

Google's Project Suncatcher is drawing attention with a proposal to run AI chips in orbit, an idea its supporters say could reshape the future of computing by moving data-center workloads off Earth. The concept is being explained and debated by technology educators and commentators, with audiences asking whether space-based AI hardware is realistic or mainly a long-term experiment.

DARPA is developing a robotic spacecraft designed to service and repair satellites in geosynchronous orbit, some 36,000 kilometres above Earth. The program, detailed by IEEE Spectrum, would allow malfunctioning or aging satellites to be fixed or refueled in place rather than decommissioned. Interest centers on how the robot would operate at such distances and what it means for the future of satellite maintenance and space security.

In July 1985 the Space Shuttle Challenger suffered the failure of one of its three main engines during ascent, forcing the crew of mission STS-51-F to execute the first and only abort-to-orbit in shuttle history. The spacecraft reached a lower-than-planned but stable orbit, and the mission continued with its Spacelab research objectives despite the in-flight emergency.

SpaceX launched Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, which flew into orbit before breaking apart and exploding over the ocean. The test flight marks a major milestone for the programme, even with the loss of the vehicle at the end of the mission. The dramatic launch and fiery end drew massive global attention.

The Vaduz Space Dialogue 2026 is putting radio spectrum at the centre of Europe's space strategy debate, with participants arguing that access to orbital frequencies has become a strategic resource rather than a technical detail. The event also raises the question of whether European states need a more federated approach to space governance to compete with larger powers.

SpaceX's Starship has achieved orbital flight, and financial outlets including The Motley Fool and Yahoo Finance are analyzing what the milestone means for investors. Coverage focuses on implications for SpaceX's valuation, the commercial space sector, and companies tied to rocket development and satellite launches, as the program moves closer to operational capability.

A Cold War-era US spy satellite, nicknamed after actress Farrah Fawcett, has broken apart in orbit, adding debris to an already crowded near-Earth environment. Observers are tracking the fragmentation and discussing the risks the new debris cloud poses to other satellites and the International Space Station, while noting the unusual nickname and the vehicle's decades-old classified origins.

Simon Cowell will miss Britain's Got Talent auditions and is to be replaced by a familiar face from the show's orbit, The Independent reports. The long-running talent contest is taping its audition rounds, and producers have brought in a stand-in judge to sit alongside the regular panel while Cowell is away. Fans are speculating about why he is stepping back and how the replacement will fare.

Google has placed its AI chips aboard satellites in orbit, marking a step toward computing infrastructure in space. The milestone shifts attention to the challenges ahead, including reliability, radiation exposure, thermal management and connectivity, as the company works out whether orbital data processing can become practical at scale.

Attention is turning to the idea of placing data centers in orbit, shifting computation off Earth to take advantage of constant solar power and natural cooling in space. Discussion centers on whether orbital infrastructure could ease the growing energy and cooling demands of terrestrial data centers, and what technical and regulatory hurdles, from launch costs to ITU spectrum and orbit coordination, stand in the way of large-scale deployment.

The exoplanet HATS-6b is being discussed alongside the James Webb Space Telescope and ammonia, suggesting new findings about the distant world's atmosphere. HATS-6b is a gas giant orbiting a faint red dwarf star, and observations of molecules like ammonia in exoplanet atmospheres are a key goal of the telescope's science programme. Details beyond the hashtags and a link to a French tech news site are limited.

The U.S. Space Force has confirmed that a Cold War-era American spy satellite has broken apart in orbit, though the cause of the breakup remains unexplained. The event adds to concerns about orbital debris, with trackers monitoring whether the fragmentation created fragments that could pose a risk to other spacecraft in similar orbits.

Google has launched an experimental satellite to test its proposal to put data centers in space. The idea is that orbiting data centers could be powered by uninterrupted solar energy, easing the growing energy and water demands of terrestrial facilities. The satellite is designed to demonstrate whether the ambitious concept can work in practice. Observers note that major questions remain about cost, reliability and the practicalities of operating computing infrastructure in orbit.

SpaceX has released the first picture showing Starlink V3 satellites being deployed from a Starship during the rocket's debut orbital test flight. The image offers a first look at how the company plans to launch its next-generation internet satellites in large batches. Starlink V3 satellites are designed to deliver much higher capacity and can only be launched aboard Starship, making the milestone closely watched by space and telecom observers.

A new study covered by 404 Media concludes that the Solar System is 'terminally unstable' and will eventually be completely destroyed. Researchers' modelling of long-term planetary dynamics suggests the orbits of planets are inherently chaotic, making the system's long-term fate one of eventual disruption. The finding is drawing broad discussion among science readers about what this means for Earth's distant future.

A new image of the Marius Hills Pit, a volcanic shaft on the Moon's near side, has been released. The pit, first spotted in lunar orbiter data, is a collapsed lava tube opening that researchers study for clues about the Moon's volcanic history and as a potential site for future human habitation, since underground cavities could shield astronauts from radiation and extreme temperatures.

Google's Project Suncatcher has put its first satellite into orbit carrying four TPU chips as an early test of computing in space. The prototype runs its TPUs for about 15 minutes at a time before needing to cool down, because a spacecraft has no air or water for cooling and must shed heat by radiation alone. Engineers point to this as a key constraint for future orbital data centers, which supporters hope could one day run at scale using solar power in orbit.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is making headlines, with coverage highlighting the company's continued launch activity. The Falcon 9 is SpaceX's workhorse rocket, regularly flying satellites and cargo to orbit. Reports focus on the latest mission and the vehicle's ongoing role in commercial spaceflight.

New research reported by AAS Nova suggests the Solar System's expected lifetime is roughly a billion times shorter than previously estimated, pointing to far greater long-term instability in planetary orbits. The finding revises how long the current planetary arrangement can persist before gravitational interactions between planets destabilise it, prompting discussion among astronomers and science readers about what this means for Earth's distant future.