Orbit

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 regulating commercial uses of orbit and light pollution.

New research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters argues that stochastic fluctuations in the Sun's mass loss can trigger a terminal instability of the Solar System, gradually disrupting the long-term stability of planetary orbits. The finding challenges assumptions about how predictable planetary motion remains over billions of years and is drawing attention among astronomers and science readers.

A European coalition has approved a €24 billion military space program alongside a joint pact for tracking objects in orbit. The move signals a push toward collective European defence capabilities in space, covering both military space assets and shared orbital surveillance. The agreement places European nations among the growing number of blocs investing heavily in space as a security domain.

The International Telecommunication Union is hosting its Global Space Connectivity and Sustainability Events, now in their second day with live coverage. The sessions bring together policymakers and industry figures to discuss satellite connectivity, orbital spectrum management and the long-term sustainability of space activities. Viewers are following the proceedings closely as decisions on space governance could shape satellite internet and orbital traffic rules for years to come.

A new analysis under the banner of 'orbital sovereignty' asks who controls space-enabled services — satellite communications, navigation and Earth observation — when a crisis strikes. With militaries, commercial operators and governments increasingly dependent on orbital infrastructure, questions of access, jurisdiction and wartime control of satellites are moving to the centre of space policy debates globally.

Reflect Orbital has purchased two launches from Indian rocket startup Skyroot Aerospace. The deal gives the US-based company access to Skyroot's Vikram rockets for future missions, marking a notable commercial partnership between an American space startup and India's emerging private launch sector. Payload Space reported the agreement, which signals growing demand for launch capacity among emerging space companies.

Satellites are being used to detect farmers spreading manure on frozen winter fields, a practice that can send nutrients running off into waterways. The orbital monitoring gives regulators and researchers a new way to spot when and where winter manure application happens, drawing attention to agricultural runoff and water quality concerns.

Researchers suggest that tactics used to manage the world's fisheries, such as quotas, monitoring and shared stewardship, could offer a model for governing Earth's increasingly crowded orbital environment. With satellites and debris proliferating in low Earth orbit, the analogy highlights how common-pool resources risk overexploitation without coordinated rules among nations and operators.

SpaceWatch.Global published a recap of day three of the Riyadh space event, under the theme 'Knowing Who Is Up There', pointing to discussions on tracking objects and monitoring activity in orbit. The focus on space situational awareness reflects growing international concern over congestion and security in space, with Saudi Arabia hosting international participants.

EigenOrbit has released eigenkit 1.0, an open-source toolkit for multi-backend quantum execution, announced via Quantum Computing Report. The software is designed to let developers run quantum workloads across different hardware backends rather than being tied to a single provider's platform. The full open-source release marks the toolkit's 1.0 milestone.

The University of Western Australia has been selected to lead a new $20 million National Centre for Space Domain Awareness. The centre will focus on tracking and monitoring objects in orbit, a growing priority as satellite traffic increases and concerns about space debris and security rise. The announcement positions Australia to build a larger role in international space monitoring efforts.

Reports point to a US and Israeli push into space-based weaponry, including technology capable of disabling satellites and directed-energy systems such as space lasers. The development highlights growing militarisation of orbit, where anti-satellite capabilities are becoming a strategic priority for allied powers amid rising global tensions over space security.

Physicists report that the compound chromium arsenide (CrAs) exhibits orbital-driven magnetism that is highly tunable under uniaxial stress, according to a new study in an American Physical Society journal. The finding points to magnetic behaviour in CrAs that can be controlled by applying mechanical strain along a single axis, a property of interest for strain-controlled magnetic devices.

Quantum computing company EigenOrbit has released eigenkit, a new open-source software library for quantum computing development. The company announced the launch via news coverage, positioning the library as a resource for developers and researchers working on quantum applications. Details on licensing, supported platforms, and the library's specific features have not yet been widely reported.