Space

In late September and early October 2025, four cosmic‑dawn objects in JWST data were flagged as possible dark stars, with one showing a tentative helium 1640 absorption. The debate is on; here is what to watch next and why it matters.

With first images now public, Rubin Observatory shifts from construction to action. Over the next decade, its rapid all-sky cadence will speed near-Earth asteroid discovery and turn fleeting cosmic events into same-day science.

Astronomers watched rogue planet Cha 1107-7626 brighten through summer 2025 as torrents of gas rained down, a record accretion burst on a planetary-mass world. The flare reveals star-like magnetospheric funnels and sets up a roadmap for Roman, the ELT, and ALMA to turn orphan planets from hints into a census.

Rocket Lab has lit up Launch Complex 3 at Wallops Island, shifting Neutron from design to operations. If engines and sea recovery perform, the United States could have a third reusable medium-lift workhorse as early as 2026.

Blue Origins second New Glenn flight is set to carry NASAs twin ESCAPADE orbiters toward Mars, signaling a faster, lower-cost model for interplanetary science and a more competitive launch market.

Euclid’s March 2025 quick data release spans 63 square degrees and tens of millions of galaxies. It has already unlocked a wave of strong lens candidates and early cosmic web structure, setting up a faster, open, AI-powered path to DR1 in October 2026.

A couch-size asteroid crossed the same altitudes as the ISS and mega-constellations at just 428 kilometers. Here is what we missed, what it really threatened, and a 24-month plan to detect the next one before it arrives.

Blue Origin and Luxembourg have unveiled Oasis-1, an ultra low lunar orbiter built to map water ice, helium-3, and metal-rich geology. If it flies on schedule, high-resolution resource maps could move lunar refueling and power from idea to plan.

A new peer-reviewed study of Perseverance’s Sapphire Canyon core reports mineral textures and organics that often track with microbial activity on Earth. Here is why those clues make a lean, faster Mars Sample Return the most important mission of the 2030s.

On September 24, 2025, IMAP and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 rode a Falcon 9 to L1, completing a Sun-to-Earth data chain with Parker Solar Probe. Space weather is shifting from art to infrastructure, enabling minute-to-day decisions for crews, launch ranges, and satellites.

Fresh analyses of Chang'e-6 farside samples point to a mantle roughly 100 degrees Celsius cooler than the nearside and basalts that crystallized near 1,100 degrees Celsius. With South Pole–Aitken dated to 4.25 billion years, lunar base planning now shifts to thinner lids, smarter drills, and focused relays.

On October 13, 2025, SpaceX plans the eleventh Starship test with objectives that trade viral moments for repeatable procedures. Here is what is new, why it matters for rapid reuse, and what to watch on launch day.

Launched in May 2025, China’s Tianwen‑2 is on course to sample Earth’s quasi‑moon Kamoʻoalewa, then use an Earth swingby to set up a second act at active asteroid 311P. One spacecraft, two targets, a faster, cheaper deep‑space playbook.

NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle is heading toward a 2025 downselect. Inside the rival designs: how they plan to survive polar night, work the shadowed rims, and turn short landings into a lasting foothold at the Moon’s south pole.

A September 8, 2025 MIT-led analysis of JWST observations rules out a hydrogen-rich sky and makes a Venus or Mars style carbon dioxide atmosphere unlikely on TRAPPIST-1e. The hunt now shifts to cooler, nitrogen-dominated options and a two-year plan that treats the star as part of the instrument.

NASA’s infrared NEO Surveyor has passed Critical Design Review and is moving into build and test for a no earlier than September 2027 launch, shifting planetary defense from plans to a working space-based search for small, dark asteroids.

Euclid’s 2025 results turn gravitational lensing into a precision tool. From crisp Einstein rings to panoramic weak lensing maps, here is how wide surveys, AI, and partner observatories will turn hints into answers by 2028.

Fresh off a precision gravity assist over Earth on September 23, 2025, NASA’s OSIRIS‑APEX is setting up the first controlled before‑and‑after experiment on the near‑Earth asteroid Apophis. Here is how the team will watch it change in real time and why those measurements matter for planetary defense.