WWF's Living Planet Report 2026, released October 7, found vertebrate wildlife populations it tracks have fallen 73% between 1970 and 2022. The findings come ahead of the UN's COP17 biodiversity conference in Yerevan, where nations are reviewing progress on 2022 Montreal targets, including protecting 30% of land and water by 2030 and raising $30 billion annually for low-income and island nations by decade's end. A separate study published October 14 in Nature suggests official figures may be undercounting how much land is actually protected.
nature.com
· 2026-10-14
Reanalyzing 1999 Hubble data with an updated chemical database, University of Warwick-led researchers identified roughly 100 previously unexplained chemical signatures around white dwarf HS 0209+0832 as niobium, an element formed only in extreme stellar conditions. Niobium levels were about 1,000 times higher than in our sun, which the team says points to a planet formed from material shed by the dying star itself rather than from its original birth cloud.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-13
Google has launched a prototype satellite for its Project Suncatcher initiative, built with partner Planet, aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission. The company confirmed contact with the satellite and says it is functioning normally. A peer-reviewed paper detailing the underlying research has been published in the journal Joule.
blog.google
· 2026-10-02
Google sent a prototype orbital compute satellite, built by Planet Labs, aboard a SpaceX rocket from California, marking the first time one of its Tensor Processing Units has flown in space. The test will check whether the chip can sustain a kilowatt of continuous power, manage heat, and run AI models in short bursts without failure. Google's Travis Beals, who leads the effort called Project Suncatcher, said a more advanced two-satellite demo with laser communication links is planned for next year.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-01
Google plans to send a refrigerator-sized test satellite called MWP aboard a SpaceX Transporter 18 rideshare flight on Oct. 1, built in partnership with satellite imaging company Planet. The solar-powered craft is part of Google's Project Suncatcher initiative and is meant to test whether AI chips, including TPUs, can withstand launch and operate in orbit, rather than perform substantial computing tasks.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-25
Google will launch a prototype satellite carrying its Tensor Processing Units next week as part of Project Suncatcher, a research effort into running AI computing clusters in space. The satellite, launching with Planet Labs aboard a SpaceX Transporter-18 mission, will test how the chips withstand launch forces, radiation and temperature extremes, along with a heat-pipe cooling system suited for vacuum conditions.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-25
Google will launch its first Project Suncatcher test satellite, called MVP, on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission. The refrigerator-sized craft carries four of Google's custom TPU AI chips and roughly one kilowatt of solar power, and it uses a spacecraft body built by satellite imagery firm Planet Labs rather than a custom-built Google design. The test mission will run for only a few months.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-24
Researchers recalculated how much Mercury's radius has contracted over its history and found the planet has shrunk 10% to 30% more than earlier studies indicated. The updated figures come from reassessing surface features like fault scarps that record the planet's cooling and contraction over billions of years.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-10
Planet Labs, the San Francisco-based Earth-imaging company, maintains a public ephemerides feed that lists tracking data for its satellite fleet. A query of this data against catalog records shows 97 Planet Labs satellites currently active, spanning several constellations including the newly launched Pelican-11, which was deployed into low Earth orbit via SpaceX's Transporter 17 mission on July 7th.
tech.marksblogg.com
· 2026-09-09
Hotel developer Ian McClure has become the first outside operator in more than ten years to sign a fresh development agreement with Planet Fitness, rather than buying into the chain by acquiring an existing franchisee's gyms. McClure's firm, Gulf Coast Hotel Management, which runs extended-stay hotels and Wyndham properties across several states, secured three area deals to open over a dozen locations on Florida's Gulf Coast. Each gym costs between $1.3 million and $5.4 million to launch depending on financing.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-09
Planet Labs, which runs the world's largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites, has been named No. 4 on Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 list. The company generates over 3 terabytes of high-resolution imagery daily, used by governments, researchers and media to track environmental and security threats. Its recognition stems from an in-house approach called 'Agile Aerospace,' used to build satellite systems including Pelican and Owl.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-08
Two decades after the International Astronomical Union voted in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, a vocal group of scientists, historians and enthusiasts continue to push back against that decision. Critics like Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida argue the IAU's planetary definition is scientifically unworkable, while others such as writer Laurel Kornfeld have campaigned against the ruling since the day it was announced. The dispute remains largely an American phenomenon, tied partly to national pride since Pluto was discovered by a US astronomer in 1930.
theguardian.com
· 2026-08-31
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