ExoMars TGO detected localized HCl over Mars volcano Alba Mons in northern summer
The orbiter's spectrometers recorded hydrogen chloride in a season when it is normally absent; the team links it to fissures, but active volcanism is not proven.
Space
Rockets, satellites, stations, the Moon and Mars: launches, tests and the economics of orbit.
Updated
NASA tests SPLICE landing navigation payload on Alta-X drone in simulated lunar descent
The SPLICE payload mapped terrain and assessed landing areas during a drone flight at Rogers Dry Lake, California. NASA reports the test raised the technology's readiness level.
Artemis II launch opened 5,000-km holes in the ionosphere, a preprint from Taiwan reports
Researchers at National Cheng Kung University found that the SLS launch changed ionospheric electron density by amounts equivalent to GPS errors of several meters.
Northwestern's FLIP method raises JWST sensitivity up to 15 times and reveals 51 Eridani b
Physics-based processing of archival JWST coronagraph images removed residual starlight and revealed the giant planet 51 Eridani b, which conventional processing missed.
Hubble data on 37 dwarf galaxies show much of their expected oxygen is missing
A study in The Astrophysical Journal found that dwarf galaxies retain only a small fraction of the oxygen their stars produce, far less than simulations predict.
FLIP method raises JWST NIRCam coronagraph sensitivity 2–15 times; 51 Eridani b detected at 4.3 μm
Authors report a physics-based starlight subtraction method tested on real JWST NIRCam data. It reduces dependence on the stability of reference images.
Orbital Matter's Replicator 2 satellite prints a 50 cm rigid beam in open space, developers report
Orbital Matter says its 13 kg demonstrator printed a rigid beam in vacuum and helped unfold a solar module. Load capacity data are not yet published.
James Webb data suggest interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS formed over 11 billion years ago
Astrophysicists measured the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in the methane of 3I/ATLAS and found it about 13 times that of comet 67P. The exact age remains uncertain.
Globular cluster VVV CL001 near the Galactic center dated at 13.4 billion years from 155 stars
Astronomers for the first time measured the distance and age of VVV CL001 using turnoff and horizontal-branch stars. The age is close to that of the Universe.
Martian meteorite Teghaza 001 formed at least 4.1 billion years ago, sampling ancient crust
Teg 001 is a slowly cooled igneous rock whose composition, mineralogy and texture differ from other Martian meteorites. It shows signs of reactions with fluids.
Japanese team finds all five DNA and RNA nucleobases in Hayabusa2 samples of asteroid Ryugu
Two samples returned by JAXA's Hayabusa2 in 2020 contain adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil in roughly similar amounts. Bennu samples gave the same set.
Cambridge simulations: comet delivery of HCN to early Earth would have been extremely rare
Researchers led by the University of Cambridge modeled comet impacts and found that organic molecules would almost always be destroyed. Mars may have been slightly more favorable.
Astrophysicists find green, pink and red surfaces among 151 white dwarfs within 65 light-years
A British-German team used the spectra of 151 white dwarfs to model how the human eye would see them. Most are white; a few show green, pink or red surfaces.
Starfish Space loses contact with Otter spacecraft after onboard software error on NASA-funded mission
A fault-protection software error switched off the radio of the Otter demonstrator launched 1 October; NASA and the company concluded it cannot be recovered.
Hubble data: 37 dwarf galaxies retain on average about 11% of the oxygen their stars produced
Astronomers of the GLOW project report that dwarf galaxies keep 4–25% of the oxygen made by their stars. The rest was apparently expelled, with supernovae named as the main driver.
ExoMars orbiter detects hydrogen chloride seeping from Alba Mons fissures on Mars
ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter recorded hydrogen chloride rising through fresh fissures in Alba Mons, which the authors link to a dormant magma chamber beneath the surface.
Parker Solar Probe data show turbulent magnetic fields reverse rotation direction between scales
An international team using Parker Solar Probe data found that the preferred rotation of turbulent magnetic fields flips where fluid-like plasma behavior gives way to particle dynamics.
ExoMars TGO detects possible hydrogen chloride release near Alba Mons on Mars over four Mars years
A Science Advances study links a localized hydrogen chloride signal to possible magma beneath Alba Mons; the authors call the link a hypothesis.
Rocket Lab flies 99th Electron, placing iQPS radar satellite in 575 km orbit
Electron deployed the WADATSUMI-II synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japan's iQPS, Rocket Lab's 20th mission of 2026.
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