Astronomy / Space

Google has run its Gemma 4 AI model on a satellite in orbit for the first time, with the system responding to a prompt from Earth by writing a short poem about space. The test marks an early milestone in Project Suncatcher, Google's effort to explore the possibility of putting AI data centers in orbit.

Astronomers have recently discovered a dwarf planet candidate. Although its size has already been estimated, it could be among the largest and brightest objects discovered in this region of the solar system.

SpaceX wants Starlink Mobile to be America's fourth carrier, and the incumbents are not taking it quietly. It is in talks with tower operators to build a rival terrestrial network.

Although the Euclid space telescope is equipped with instruments to observe distant galaxies, it recently detected a comet that was previously unknown. Located in the solar system, it could take thousands of years to orbit the Sun.

The Tesla Roadster EV has debuted with technology from SpaceX to give the vehicle breakthrough performance and features not found on any other EV, including the ability to fly over obstacles and hold onto surfaces while upside down.

SpaceX has returned Ship 40 to Starbase nearly three months after its launch, marking the first time a Starship upper stage has survived an ocean splashdown and been recovered. Engineers will inspect its heat shield, Raptor engines and avionics to gather data for future flights and recovery attempts.

Amazon Leo's Leo Pro terminal recorded peak download speeds above 400Mbps in a US Army demonstration hosted by the DEVCOM C5ISR Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Amazon, which has nearly 400 of its more than 1,000 manufactured satellites in orbit, plans further military trials and a commercial launch later in 2026.

Astronomers have detected, using observations from different telescopes, a fast radio burst that occurred when the universe was still relatively young. And studying it could help them better understand the distribution of matter within and between galaxies.

Located in our Milky Way, a star is consuming a companion brown dwarf and accreting matter from it. And according to estimates made by astronomers, this phenomenon could still last for several billion years.

The FCC has approved SpaceX’s application to launch and operate 15,000 next-generation satellites for Starlink Mobile and granted a waiver that lets the company sell satellite wireless service without leasing spectrum from a terrestrial carrier. SpaceX says the constellation will deliver 5G speeds of up to 150Mbps per user.

Astronomers have recently identified a candidate second-generation planet located about 270 light-years from Earth. And if this discovery is confirmed, it would be the first celestial object of its kind known to date.

Google has built a prototype satellite in partnership with other companies and sent it into space aboard a SpaceX mission. The satellite carries AI accelerators and is designed to study how they perform under the conditions of space. The question behind the project: Would it be technically and economically viable to move large-scale AI computing capacity into orbit?

Besides the 25% price cut of the Starlink Mini dish ahead of an expected battery-powered Gen 2 launch, SpaceX sells the equipment on monthly installments. The Starlink Mini payments are at 0% APR.

SpaceX has hit a big milestone today as Starship's flight 14 lifted off from Starbase, Texas, and reached orbit, and this time the rocket wasn't flying with a test payload. The upper stage deployed the first Starlink V3 satellites intended for actual service.

SpaceX promised gigabit satellite Internet speeds by the end of 2026, and it will seemingly be able to deliver. The gigabit speeds are coming to existing Starlink users, too.

Astronomers have detected radio signals originating from an exoplanet for the first time. While this is a significant achievement, it also allows them to gather information about this world orbiting a young star.

Astronomers have discovered the youngest exoplanet ever detected, located several light-years from Earth. However, similar discoveries may soon follow, particularly thanks to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

SpaceX appears to be expanding eligibility for its Starlink Mini rental program in the US, allowing more residential subscribers to claim the portable satellite dish at no upfront hardware cost. Previously limited to Residential Max customers, the offer is now reaching users on lower-tier plans, including the standard Residential 100Mbps tier.

While the Moon is covered with craters, astronomers have recently discovered a very large new crater formed in 2024. Following this discovery, some researchers believe it would be interesting to send a robot to the impact site to study it.

The FCC has granted SpaceX global facilities-based and resale authority, clearing Starlink Mobile to offer telecommunications services beyond the US. The company plans next-generation direct-to-cell satellites promising 5G-level speeds of up to 150 Mbps and has recently partnered with Japan's KDDI to launch Starlink Mobile V2.

SpaceX has scheduled the 14th test flight of its Starship rocket for September 22, 2026, targeting its first successful Earth orbit insertion. The mission will also serve as a commercial payload delivery, deploying 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites.

China’s Tianwen-3 mission is targeting a 2028 launch and could deliver the first-ever Martian rock and soil samples to Earth in 2031. Its simpler design may give China a chance to beat NASA’s uncertain Mars Sample Return effort.

Astronomers have studied a star located several million light-years away. According to them, it was expected to soon explode as a supernova. However, they noticed that its behavior was linked to a companion.

Speaking at the Citi 2026 Global TMT Conference, T-Mobile's CFO claimed that Starlink Mobile can never be a real threat to the terrestrial carriers like Verizon or AT&T. The signal just takes too long to reach Earth and is too weak, he clarified.

SpaceX warns in its Starlink satellite Internet terms of service that 'excessive' users will be penalized by throttling their connection. That Starlink data cap threshold seems to have been 5 TB of monthly downloads.

The Starlink Router 4's PoE compatibility makes wiring a NAS box or mesh extenders tucked in awkward corners of the house easier. All those peak Wi-Fi 7 speeds, however, are dependent on SpaceX's gigabit satellite constellation launch.

Using ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) and other telescopes, astronomers have studied a binary system located in the constellation of Puppis. And according to their estimates, the two stars became a binary system only recently.

Astronomers have detected a new supernova in the galaxy NGC 7331. And in just a few days, its brightness has increased significantly, allowing astronomers to study the early stages of this phenomenon in order to better understand it.

Manufacturer Dwarflab is expanding its portfolio of astronomical telescopes: Following the Dwarf 3 and the very compact Dwarf Mini, the next model is not the Dwarf 4 or Dwarf Maxi. It's Draco. The manufacturer itself describes it as “a portable observatory.”

After studying a young pulsar over several years, astronomers discovered that its rotation had suddenly accelerated on three occasions. This behavior suggests that even quiet pulsars may have significant activity.

Recently, simulations conducted by SwRI have revealed new clues about the formation of the Moon, which occurred several billion years ago. And that's not all, as a hypothesis has also been put forward to explain why Earth and its natural satellite have similar compositions.

The James Webb Space Telescope enables astronomers to make numerous discoveries thanks to its various instruments, such as the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Recently, it may have detected a supernova that occurred in the early universe.

The Seestar S50 Pro is designed to make astrophotography a breeze using a smartphone app and AI. With two cameras, including a telephoto camera with a relatively large sensor and a wide-angle camera for nighttime landscape photography, the telescope is said to be more versatile than most of its competitors.

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a bizarre “tripod” on Mars that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. The strange object appears in just one frame, suggesting it was most likely a camera artifact caused by a high-energy particle rather than something actually standing on Mars.

Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet that may be composed of about 50% water and that orbits very close to its star. However, due to this proximity, it will meet a tragic fate as it will be swallowed by its host star.

Priced at $185 per month, the subscription restores extended international roaming and provides unlimited data within territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles offshore) without requiring users to return to their home country every 30 days.

Starlink installers and resellers in remote or rural regions could be delighted to learn that SpaceX has changed its incentive payout scheme. Previously, SpaceX was only giving Starlink service credit to its referrers.

Located in the constellation of Orion, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that has been observed by astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). According to the results, its surface is very different from that of the Sun.

SpaceX plans to eventually retire its Falcon 9 workhorse and Falcon Heavy and shift production to the much larger Starship. The transition will depend on whether the giant rocket can match Falcon 9’s proven reliability while supporting a much higher launch rate.

Since its formation, the Milky Way has merged with other galaxies, contributing to its current shape and composition. But recently, astronomers have found evidence of another merger that occurred shortly after the Big Bang.

Stars have different masses and origins, but they can also move at very different speeds. Scientists have now discovered the fastest-known star in the Milky Way, which could also allow them to measure the rotation of the black hole at its center.

Using the Einstein Probe, astronomers have recently detected an X-ray flash originating from a supernova explosion. But following this event, the supernova exhibited unusual behavior, which may have led to the formation of a different type of star.

Iridium has told the FCC that new ground gateway stations SpaceX is building to support gigabit-speed Starlink service could cause interference that exceeds permissible limits at some of Iridium's own feeder link facilities.

Using the TESS satellite, astronomers have discovered a rare brown dwarf orbiting a massive star. By analyzing data from the satellite, they were able to determine the age of this system and formulate hypotheses about its formation.

James Webb has spotted a bizarre cosmic object that could be the first known “black hole star” — a massive black hole surrounded by a star-like envelope of gas roughly the size of the Solar System. The discovery may also help explain the mysterious “little red dots” frequently seen in the early universe.

Astronomers have detected, for the first time, three supermassive black holes located in the same galaxy. However, while this discovery is significant, further studies will be needed, particularly to determine their fate.

New FCC paperwork shows SpaceX is working on a new Starlink router called the UTR-261. It is the company's first router built for Wi-Fi 7. The filing shows two Ethernet ports, a USB-C port, and support for Power over Ethernet, which is more than the single-port Router Mini (UTR-251).

Chinese researchers envision future lunar bases where astronauts work alongside robot dogs and other machines. The robots could patrol the base, collect samples, monitor the environment, and handle other dangerous or routine tasks while humans focus on complex decisions.

With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope and its instruments, astronomers have captured an image showing the Lion Nebula in stunning detail. But while this image provides new answers, some mysteries remain.

Astronomers have recently unveiled an image of the universe containing more than 500,000 galaxies and 50,000 stars, taken by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. And this could help them unravel various mysteries in the years to come.