Several major US space firms, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, K2, and Starcloud, have withdrawn from a French-organized space summit in Paris after a call led by a White House science and technology official. Politico first reported that the administration pressured these companies to avoid the event, which was convened by President Macron to unify French and European space strategy. Some US presence reportedly remains on the summit's agenda despite the corporate pullout.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-04
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have identified a ten-sided cloud formation encircling Saturn's south pole, a counterpart to the long-known hexagon at the planet's north pole. The decagon, detailed in a new Science Advances study, has sides roughly 16,800 kilometers long and sits near a jet stream blowing close to 260 miles per hour, even though the shape itself drifts at less than 6 mph.
wired.com
· 2026-09-04
At IFA 2026, Anker introduced a new AI processor called Thus across its Soundcore audio lineup, headlined by the Space 2 Pro over-ear headphones and Liberty Buds 2 earbuds. The chip powers an eight-sensor array for adaptive noise cancellation and real-time voice isolation during calls on both devices. Space 2 Pro offers up to 30 hours of battery with ANC on and launches September 22 for $200, while the $130 Liberty Buds 2 arrive the same day with a custom 9.2mm wool paper diaphragm.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-03
At IFA 2026, Soundcore unveiled the Space 2 Pro headphones alongside AeroClip 2, AeroClip 2 Pro, and Liberty Buds 2, all built around its Thus audio processing chip first launched in April. The Space 2 Pro uses a 6-microphone array for voice isolation and eight microphones for adaptive noise cancellation claimed to be 1.5 times stronger than its predecessor, while offering up to 60 hours of battery life and high-res LDAC audio support. The headphones launch September 22 for $200 in the US, EU, and UK, with the AeroClip 2 arriving the same day at $170.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-03
NASA has directed Axiom Space to develop a lighter, less complex spacesuit variant called the Sortie Suit for the first crewed Artemis lunar landings, aiming to hit a 2028 target date at the Moon's South Pole. The decision, announced internally by Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons, will see the simplified suit used on both SpaceX and Blue Origin landers, cutting mass and easing integration with the spacecraft.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-02
IEEE has designated the Canadarm, the robotic arm developed by Spar Aerospace and Canada's National Research Council for NASA's space shuttle program, as its 300th Milestone. The device, first flown on Columbia in 1981, helped astronauts move payloads, conduct repairs and inspect shuttles over three decades of service on five orbiters and the International Space Station. The honor was announced at a ceremony held at MDA Space's headquarters, with IEEE Toronto Section having sponsored the nomination.
spectrum.ieee.org
· 2026-09-02
A small group of theoretical physicists is reviving the decades-old idea that universes might evolve much like living organisms, selecting for traits that allow them to reproduce through black holes. The concept gained fresh attention after a 2022 James Webb Space Telescope discovery and a widely shared Substack essay reignited debate over whether Darwinian logic can apply beyond biology. Supporters argue that just as natural selection explains complexity in life, a similar process could explain the physical constants and structure of our cosmos.
smithsonianmag.com
· 2026-09-02
Toyohiro Akiyama, a Tokyo Broadcasting System correspondent who became the first Japanese citizen in space and the first journalist to report from orbit, died August 26 from lower gastrointestinal bleeding. He flew aboard Soyuz TM-11 to the Mir space station in December 1990, spending about a week filing daily audio and video dispatches for TBS despite battling space sickness and nicotine withdrawal.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-02
Scientists at the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, which uses 10 tonnes of liquid xenon buried in South Dakota's Sanford Underground Research Facility, recorded one unusual flash consistent with a WIMP particle striking a xenon nucleus. The result, described in a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, is far from confirmed but has generated excitement because it could represent the long-sought direct detection of dark matter.
nature.com
· 2026-09-02
NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on 30 August aboard a SpaceX rocket, sending it roughly 1.5 million kilometres from Earth to begin observing the Universe. The telescope's 2.4-metre mirror, originally built for surveillance purposes and handed to NASA in 2012, was re-engineered for astronomy and paired with a 300-megapixel infrared camera capable of imaging patches of sky about 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope can capture in one shot.
nature.com
· 2026-09-02
Starcloud founders Philip Johnston, Adi Oltean, and Ezra Feilden, along with program manager Garret Jameson, have unveiled Fermi Explorer, a nonprofit aiming to send a 1-kilogram spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri using existing space technology. The mission, budgeted at roughly $15 million and targeting a 2029 launch, would take about 80,000 years to reach the star and would be the sixth object to leave our solar system after Voyager and its peers.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-01
NASA is inviting people to sign up online for a personal 'pixel' from the first images captured by the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Each participant provides an email address, which is limited to one pixel per address, and later receives a printable certificate showing their assigned pixel number.
science.nasa.gov
· 2026-09-01
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