Earth

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission can single-handedly approve massive spaceflight projects, such as large satellite constellations, that could permanently alter the view of the night sky for everyone on Earth. Space law experts note that despite public outcry over these projects, the FCC holds largely unrivalled authority over such approvals, with few other regulatory avenues available to challenge them.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, a research initiative to run machine learning infrastructure on solar-powered satellite constellations in orbit. The idea is to use uninterrupted sunlight in space to power AI data centers without Earth's land and energy constraints. Commenters are debating feasibility, launch costs, thermal management and whether orbital compute could scale.

A study published in Science argues that a Mega El Niño pattern, producing extreme and prolonged climate swings, triggered the end-Permian mass extinction around 252 million years ago, the deadliest extinction event in Earth's history. The researchers say runaway warming destabilised ecosystems beyond what species could tolerate. The paper is being shared widely, with an open-access version of the full text available.

A Washington Examiner report argues that the growing strain AI places on data centers — power demand, cooling needs and land use — could eventually push computing infrastructure into orbit, where satellites would get continuous solar energy. The idea is gaining attention as AI companies face rising energy costs and grid constraints on Earth, though significant technical and cost hurdles remain before space-based data centers become realistic.

Researchers suggest a long-standing interpretation of a 2-billion-year-old geological record may be wrong, with implications for how scientists understand Earth's ancient atmosphere and early conditions. The claim is drawing attention because such clues underpin theories about the planet's oxygenation and climate history, and a misreading could require revisions to models of how Earth's environment evolved over deep time.

Four environmental organizations filed a petition Thursday asking 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 regulating commercial space ventures.

DARPA is developing a robotic spacecraft designed to service and repair satellites in geosynchronous orbit, roughly 36,000 kilometers above Earth. The program, detailed by IEEE Spectrum, would extend the lives of expensive communications and military satellites that currently cannot be fixed once deployed. Interest is focused on the engineering challenges of robotic repair at such extreme distances and its implications for space operations.

A new study reports that the Earth's crust is slowly tearing apart beneath the Pacific Northwest, in the Cascadia region of the United States. The finding concerns the tectonic forces acting under the area, which includes Oregon and Washington. Scientists are highlighting new details about how the plate boundary there is deforming, a topic of interest given the region's earthquake risk.

Two NASA astronauts who traveled farther from Earth than any humans before them are moving into new roles within the space agency. The pair set the distance record during their mission, and NASA is now assigning them to fresh positions. Details of their exact new duties have not yet been made public.

The U.S. government has seized a 54-pound Martian meteorite that was sold at auction last year, asserting that the space rock belongs to America. The case, reported by the New York Times and tied to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, raises questions over who has legal ownership of meteorites found on Earth and whether private sales of such rare objects can stand. The seizure has drawn attention for its unusual mix of science, property law and government power.

Researchers report the discovery of a microorganism nicknamed the "fire amoeba" that survives at temperatures far beyond what was thought possible for life. The finding challenges established assumptions about the upper heat limit for living cells and could reshape understanding of where life can exist, including in extreme environments on Earth and potentially elsewhere. Coverage is highlighting how the organism survives conditions that would destroy most known biology.

New research indicates that Earth microbes can survive under simulated conditions of the ocean beneath the ice of Saturn's moon Enceladus, suggesting life there is not out of the question. Scientists see the finding as encouraging for the search for life beyond Earth, since Enceladus's subsurface ocean is considered one of the most promising places to look.

Scientists are studying whether a nuclear explosion could be used to deflect a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The idea, long confined to Hollywood plots like Armageddon, is being taken seriously as a last-resort planetary defence option, with researchers testing models of how a nuclear blast could nudge or break up an incoming space rock.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, discovered in December 2024, has drawn attention from NASA and space watchers worldwide after early calculations suggested a small but nonzero chance it could hit Earth in December 2032. The roughly 40-metre-wide rock briefly topped impact-risk monitoring lists, and astronomers have been refining its orbit as it moves away from view.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck near New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean on September 26, 2026, prompting a natural disaster alert. The available evidence comes from a US embassy advisory posted for Fiji, warning people in the region about the event. The posts collected do not include eyewitness reactions, damage reports, or details on casualties, and no tsunami warning information is given in the evidence, so the full public response is not yet clear.

New findings suggest asteroid Bennu, a near-Earth object studied by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, may have originated much closer to the Sun than previously believed, challenging existing models of how the solar system's early materials were distributed. Scientists say the asteroid's composition could indicate it formed in a warmer region before migrating outward.

Reports describe a single photon that traveled roughly 2 billion light-years before reaching Earth, a journey that current physics supposedly says should not have been possible. The claim is circulating widely, but no specific observatory, source event, or research team has been named, so the finding's details and significance remain unverified.

The Japanese word for the Sun is trending on Google in Japan, driven by news coverage of a study suggesting that early in its formation the Sun may have swallowed a giant Earth-sized planet. Posts share the Forbes Japan headline and discuss what this would mean for our understanding of the solar system's early history. The evidence is limited to this one headline, so wider reaction is not clear from the collected posts.

Starlab, the planned commercial space station being developed by Voyager Space and Airbus, is being discussed as a possible answer to Europe's orbital ambitions once the International Space Station is retired around 2030. The question being raised is whether the station can give European astronauts and researchers continued access to low Earth orbit, and whether Europe should commit to the project or pursue other options.

NASA's mission to asteroid Psyche remains in the spotlight as the spacecraft travels toward the metal-rich object between Mars and Jupiter. The mission aims to study what may be the exposed core of an ancient planetesimal, offering clues about how rocky planets like Earth formed. Interest continues as the spacecraft progresses on its journey toward a planned arrival.