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Second fireball in a week lights up Washington skies
May 5, 2026
Cameras in Olympia recorded a fireball crossing state skies early Tuesday morning.
This is the second such missive from space to be seen in western Washington in about a week, and just in time for "May the Fourth," an informal holiday celebrating the "Star Wars" franchise.
The name of the holiday is a play on words for the iconic Star Wars phrase "may the force be with you."
Street cameras at the Washington State Capitol Campus recorded the incident at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, showing multiple angles of a bright green flash with a glowing orange tail.
Witness reports logged on the American Meteor Society website around 11:30 p.m. describe the fireball in detail.
"To my perspective, it was the size of a light-pole, but much brighter. The initial light through the sky caught my attention, but the flash of light and then the disappear was really alarming.
Initially, the comet/fireball was light yellow, but the terminal flash was closer to white. It is too dark outside right now, I couldn't see any fragmentation after the flash," wrote one witness on the AMS website.
Per astronomers at NASA, meteors originate as rocks in space that can range in size from grains of dust to small asteroids.
When they enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up, they become meteors, and especially bright meteors are called fireballs.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/second-fireball-in-a-week-lights-up-washington-skies/ar-AA22t85w
other space objects
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/05/06/the-best-is-yet-to-come-astronomers-on-when-and-how-to-view-rare-comet/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vHtWA-2P74 (Dobsonian Power: 4I/RUBIN INTERSTELLAR OBJECT WITH AVI LOEB LIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I6jISZo1p0 (Angry Astronaut: NEW Breakthrough can CRUSH Interstellar Travel! Metajet Lightsail!!)
NASA’S Juno Misson Captures Jupiter Moon Thebe
05/05/2026
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view of Thebe, the second largest of Jupiter’s inner moons, during a close pass on May 1, 2026.
The spacecraft’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) captured this image from a distance of approximately 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) at a resolution of about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel.
Thebe resides at the outer edge of Jupiter’s faint ring system and is believed to play a role in the formation of the planet’s “gossamer” ring through the shedding of dust.
While the SRU’s primary function is to image star fields for navigation, its high sensitivity in low-light conditions makes it a powerful secondary science instrument.
The SRU has previously been used to discover “shallow lightning” in Jupiter’s atmosphere and to image the planet’s ring system.
A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-juno-misson-captures-jupiter-moon-thebe/
extra NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/05/05/crew-works-health-spacesuits-and-cargo-mission-preps-on-tuesday/
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/melting-snow-off-shivelyuch/
https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/great-observatories-chandra-x-ray-observatory/
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-astronaut-to-answer-questions-from-students-in-florida/
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Frees Its Drill From a Rock
05/05/2026
This series of images shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover as it got a rock stuck to the drill on the end of its robotic arm and, after waving the arm and running the drill a few times, finally detached the rock.
The imagery showing the entire process was captured by the black-and-white hazard cameras on the front of Curiosity’s chassis and by navigation cameras on its mast, or head.
On April 25, 2026, Curiosity drilled a sample from a rock nicknamed “Atacama,” which is an estimated 1.5 feet in diameter at its base, 6 inches thick and weighs roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms).
When the rover retracted its arm, the entire rock lifted out of the ground, suspended by the fixed sleeve that surrounds the rotating drill bit.
Drilling has fractured or separated the upper layers of rocks in the past, but a rock has never remained attached to the drill sleeve. The team initially tried vibrating the drill to shake off the rock, but saw no change.
Then, on April 29, they tried reorienting Curiosity’s robotic arm and vibrating the drill again. Imagery in the GIF shows sand falling from Atacama, but the rock stayed attached to the rover.
Finally, on May 1, Curiosity’s team tried again, tilting the drill more, rotating and vibrating the drill, and spinning the drill bit. The team planned to perform these actions multiple times but the rock came off on the first round, fracturing as it hit the ground.
Figure A is the same GIF with yellow time stamps added in the upper left corner.
Figure B is an alternate view of the same activities from the navigation cameras on Curiosity’s mast, or head.
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-curiosity-rover-frees-its-drill-from-a-rock/
extra NASA rovers
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-perseverance-mars-rover-surveys-crocodile-bridge/
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/curiosity-blog-sols-4879-4885-struggle-at-atacama/
https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/a-penny-on-mars-space-photo-of-the-day-for-may-6-2026
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/astrobiology/nasa-research-shows-early-life-relied-on-rare-metal/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72133-0
extra extra NASA
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/neo-surveyor/2026/05/05/nasas-next-gen-near-earth-asteroid-space-telescope-takes-shape/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/building-on-americas-65-year-legacy-of-human-spaceflight/
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/650-nasa-volunteers-have-co-authored-scientific-papers/
https://science.nasa.gov/learning-resources/science-activation/nasa-eclips-and-globe-educators-strengthen-a-regional-stem-ecosystem-in-coastal-virginia/
NASA Research Shows Early Life Relied on Rare Metal
May 05, 2026
NASA-funded scientists have discovered that life on Earth over 3 billion years ago relied on the metal molybdenum, which was incredibly scarce in the environment at the time.
The study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, is the first to show that molybdenum was used by ancient life this far back in our planet’s history.
On Earth today, molybdenum helps speed up vital biochemical reactions in cells. The metal is a component of essential enzymes that drive several major biological reactions in organisms.
This is not only important for the individual organisms, but also biogeochemical cycles, such as the nitrogen cycle, which affect our entire planet. Without molybdenum, those important reactions could still happen in nature, but they would be too slow to sustain life.
“Molybdenum sits at the catalytic center of enzymes that run major carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur reactions,” explained Betül Kaçar, head of the Kaçar Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and senior author on the study.
Kaçar leads MUSE, a NASA Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) at UW-Madison.
“Asking when life began using molybdenum is really asking when some of the most consequential metabolic strategies became possible,” said Kaçar.
Molybdenum through history
Molybdenum is now relatively common in the environment, and its scarcity is no longer a problem for life. But that wasn’t always the case.
Geological evidence shows that only trace amounts of molybdenum were present in Earth’s oceans billions of years ago.
Levels increased around the time that microorganisms began to use photosynthesis, which eventually led to a dramatic boost in the amount of atmospheric oxygen (roughly 2.45 billion years ago).
This is known as the Great Oxidation Event and had a profound effect on the evolution of life. A previous NASA study even suggested that the rise of molybdenum in the environment around this time may have been necessary for the evolution of complex life.
But when did life first start using molybdenum? Because of its scarcity on ancient Earth, astrobiologists have wondered if life could have started by using other metals to speed along vital reactions.
Tungsten, for instance, behaves similarly in cells and is used today by some organisms that live in extreme environments. Scientists previously theorized that life may have used tungsten first and then evolved to used molybdenum once it became more available.
The new study shows this wasn’t necessarily the case.
The team gathered available data on the prevalence of molybdenum through time and reconstructed the history of the metal’s use along the branches of the tree of life.
They found that although molybdenum was scarce, ancient microbes on Earth still found a way to use it. The same is true for the use of the metal tungsten.
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“Our work shows that both molybdenum and tungsten-using enzyme systems have Archean roots, which suggests that early life likely worked with both metals rather than following a simple “tungsten first, molybdenum later” story,” said Kaçar.
“We argue that molybdenum use is far older than many models assumed, with molecular dating placing molybdenum utilization back into the Eoarchean to Mesoarchean, roughly 3.7–3.1 billion years ago, well before the Great Oxidation Event.”
Accessing molybdenum
Previous work from the MUSE ICAR, published in 2024, identified certain niches where early life may have found supplies of molybdenum and other scarce metals deep below the oceans.
Hydrothermal vents at the seafloor provide trace metals including iron, zinc, copper, nickel, manganese, vanadium, molybdenum, cobalt, and tungsten.
“Even if Archean seawater held little dissolved molybdenum overall, localized systems such as hydrothermal vents could still have supplied usable amounts of molybdenum and other metals,” said Kaçar.
The new study shows that, even amid an assortment of other useful metals, molybdenum was somehow one of life’s first choices as a metal catalyst.
“Molybdenum may have been worth “choosing” because it enables catalysis across a broad range of substrates and redox conditions,” said Kaçar.
“In other words, scarcity did not make molybdenum unimportant; its catalytic advantages may have made it worth evolving ways to acquire and use.”
The study shows how life can find a way to use elements in the environment, even if they are scarce, and reminds us that in the search for life beyond Earth we must be prepared for possibilities that we haven’t yet considered.
Bio-essential elements, search for life in universe
Searching for life in the universe isn’t about building a checklist of conditions that look like modern-day Earth.
Studying the history of our planet and the evolution of life allows astrobiologists to view periods of time when the Earth was a much different planet than it is today.
In this way, we gain a better understanding of the breadth of planets in the universe that could be habitable for life as we know it.
“Our NASA ICAR shows that mapping the evolutionary history of bio-essential elements on Earth can help us predict what life on other worlds might use, and that different abiotic inventories could lead to different biological element choices,” said Kaçar.
“Life detection should be metal-aware, redox-aware, and evolution-aware. We should look not just for ‘Earth-like life now,’ but for biochemical strategies that would make sense on a planet with a different history of oxygenation and metal availability.”
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VIEWS FROM SPACE: ATLAS V AMAZON LEO 6
May 5, 2026
ROCKETCAM! Last week, on April 27, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V precisely delivered 29 satellites for Amazon Leo, supporting their mission to help connect the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ch5JX9Hb4
https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-amazon-leo-6
https://www.spacecom.mil/Newsroom/News/Article-Display/Article/4478632/southcom-spacecom-highlight-vital-role-of-space-in-western-hemisphere-security/
Space Force ICYMI
https://www.executivegov.com/articles/space-force-darc-early-use-space-domain-awareness
SOUTHCOM, SPACECOM Highlight Vital Role of Space in Western Hemisphere Security
May 6, 2026
DORAL, Fla. – Two top U.S. military generals highlighted the vital role of space capabilities in enabling U.S. and partner nation efforts to address shared threats in the Western Hemisphere during their opening remarks at the Space Conference of the Americas.
The commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Gen. Francis L. Donovan, and the commander of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, addressed a gathering of senior multinational military space leaders at the conference hosted at SOUTHCOM headquarters in Doral, Florida, April 28.
The conference, held April 28-30, aimed to strengthen regional cooperation and advance shared space-related goals and included 15 nations from the Western Hemisphere along with additional global allies.
“Military strategy has long recognized the importance of controlling the high ground,” Gen. Donovan said.
“In the 21st century, that high ground is space. We must seize the initiative to ensure supremacy over our adversaries in this key domain.” Whiting also acknowledged the growing realization of space as the key domain to maintain superiority in modern warfare.
“While our founding fathers were brilliant, visionary leaders, I find it hard to believe that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson could have ever predicted the need for a war fighting command dedicated to the domain of space,” Gen. Whiting said.
While the rest of the United States’ geographic combatant commands’ areas of responsibility can be easily identified on a map, USSPACECOM’s astrographic area of responsibility is the so-called “high ground” – extending from 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, to infinity.
Dominating and utilizing the high ground will make it possible for the United States and its partners to counter the influence of malign state actors like Russia and China, Gen. Donovan added.
“China continues its malign activities via the Belt and Road Initiative to project hard power and threaten key terrain.
The Western Hemisphere now hosts the largest collection of Chinese-built space infrastructure outside of mainland China, a direct result of the [Chinese Communist Party’s] understanding of this region's importance to its global ambitions,” Gen. Donovan said.
“Together, we send an unmistakable message,” Gen. Donovan said. “To our partners, it is a message of shared responsibility. And to our adversaries, it’s a message of shared resolve.”
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Gen. Donovan also highlighted how space capabilities are currently delivering "real-world impact" in efforts to disrupt cartels and narco-terrorist networks in the region.
He described how the Ecuadorian military recently used a U.S. Space Force satellite system to identify and successfully destroy three clandestine airfields used by the cartels. "That is space power directly enabling ground-truth success," he said.
"The key for us right now, as we look at these narco-terrorist networks, and we think about our actions from point of production to point of delivery in the plazas on the border of the U.S., we want to impose total systemic friction on those networks.
And I believe our space capabilities will enable that," Gen. Donovan said.
Both generals said technological advances in space influence and improve the everyday lives of most people around the globe.
Unfortunately, the ambitions of China and Russia to gain additional space orientated footholds in the Western Hemisphere highlight the need for the United States and its partner nations to work together to secure the space domain and preserve its neutrality.
“Most concerning of all,” Gen Whiting added, “Russia reportedly has plans to violate the Outer Space Treaty by launching a satellite capable of carrying a nuclear weapon in space. A nuclear weapon on orbit is unconscionable.”
Threats in the space domain are not the only concern, Gen. Whiting said. A joint force across the Western Hemisphere will combat terrestrial threats as well.
“We have a moral responsibility to provide space enabled solutions to address the terrestrial threats that compromise our way of life,” Gen. Whiting said.
“And there are three terrestrial threats within this hemisphere … that space capabilities can help address, narco-terrorism, illegal mining, and illegal fishing.”
By fostering dialogue and partnerships, the Space Conference of the Americas is supporting joint projects, data sharing, and the development of regional space capabilities.
It also provides a platform to address policy and regulatory challenges, promote responsible space activities, and reinforce diplomatic ties among participating nations, he said.
“I stand here proud of the progress we have collectively made,” Gen. Whiting concluded. “But knowing there is work still to be done, empowering each nation with training and capabilities.”
The Space Conference of the Americas brought senior military space leaders and representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
Alongside Latin American space leaders, senior representatives from Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are participating, as well as invited observer countries including Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Guyana.
Additionally, observer delegations from Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Angola, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria were present.
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Icy object beyond Pluto has an atmosphere that shouldn't exist, study suggests
May 6, 2026
Observations suggest there's a small, icy object with an atmosphere beyond Pluto, challenging assumptions about which bodies can sustain atmospheres.
Astronomers have detected an atmosphere that shouldn't exist on an icy object beyond the orbit of Pluto — sparking calls for follow-up observations.
Japanese astronomers found evidence for a thin atmosphere surrounding the body, which is located within the Kuiper Belt in the cold outer reaches of the solar system, according to a new study published May 4 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The object, known as (612533) 2002 XV93, is supposed to be too small and too cold to sustain an atmosphere.
At about 311 miles (500 kilometers) across — a little wider than the Grand Canyon is long — the object is more than four times smaller than Pluto, which was thought to be the only body beyond Neptune with an atmosphere in our solar system.
The new observations challenge assumptions about which objects can sustain atmospheres in our solar system.
However, these initial findings must be verified by outside researchers, with some experts keen to make follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to confirm the atmosphere exists.
"This is an amazing development, but it sorely needs independent verification," Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and principal investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, who was not involved in the new study, told the Associated Press.
"The implications are profound if verified."
Oddball ice ball
Researchers observed (612533) 2002 XV93 as it passed directly in front of a distant star in January 2024. The observations were made by a team of professional and amateur astronomers from three sites in Japan.
Their data hinted at attenuation — or gradual loss of starlight caused by an atmosphere, according to the study.
"The observation data showed a smooth change of the star's brightness near the edge of the shadow, lasting about 1.5 seconds," study first author Ko Arimatsu, an associate professor and senior lecturer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, told CNN.
"This kind of smooth brightness change is naturally explained if the starlight was bent by a very thin atmosphere around the object."
The team's observations suggested that the atmosphere is extremely thin, around 5 million to 10 million times thinner than Earth's atmosphere — too thin to support life.
The potential atmosphere is also not permanent, with calculations suggesting that it will last less than 1,000 years unless it's restocked with gas.
The discovery raises questions about how an atmosphere could have formed around this small, cold world. Previous JWST observations revealed that the object's surface doesn't appear to have any frozen gas that could have sublimated to produce an atmosphere.
The researchers speculated that the atmosphere could be sustained by cryovolcanoes (ice volcanoes), with some unknown event forcing gases to the object's surface.
Another possibility is that the object was hit by another icy body, such as a comet, which then produced gases to form an atmosphere.
Future observations, particularly by JWST — an infrared telescope designed to probe atmospheres around alien worlds — could help solve the mystery, according to Arimatsu.
"That is why future monitoring is so important," Arimatsu told the Associated Press. "If the atmosphere fades over the next several years, that would support an impact origin. If it persists, or varies seasonally, that would point more toward ongoing internal gas supply."
https://www.livescience.com/space/icy-object-beyond-pluto-has-an-atmosphere-that-shouldnt-exist-study-suggests
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02846-1.epdf
extra Japan and China space
https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/75440
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/05/space-brewed-sake-snapped-up-for-517k/
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202605/06/WS69fb1c6aa310d6866eb47211.html
Putting the ‘super’ into a supersite for Earth observation
06/05/2026
In the far northern reaches of Finnish Lapland, an ambitious new chapter in Earth observation is unfolding.
The European Space Agency, together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Finnish industrial partners, is advancing plans to develop a state-of-the-art ‘supersite’ in Sodankylä.
The plan is to equip this remote site with an array of new advanced environmental measuring technologies, including a striking high-tech airship carrying sensors to perform regional surveys.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute’s Arctic Space Centre in Sodankylä lies well above the Arctic Circle.
Nestled within vast boreal forest, enduring long, cold winters and a short growing season, the site, and the surrounding region, is representative of the wider boreal forest biome – the world's largest land-based biome stretching across northern Canada, Scandinavia and Russia.
The site is therefore an ideal natural laboratory to further develop the role and capabilities of satellite-based Earth observation and sensors to monitor, understand and predict future environmental trends in this area.
Evolving the Finnish Arctic Space Centre into a supersite for Earth observation will deliver benefits on multiple fronts.
The installation of new on-site sensors and regional airborne surveys will deepen our understanding of how boreal forests function and respond to change.
It will enhance the quality of environmental information collected by satellites passing overhead – for instance enabling comparisons between ground-based measurements and satellite-derived observations and maps of the region.
The new supersite will open up new opportunities for Finnish companies to develop and test advanced environmental sensing technologies, and compare their innovative solutions with reference sensors in place.
By improving the quality of satellite-derived data, the supersite will also pave the way for new services and applications tailored to the Arctic region.
Building on initial agreements, a contract signed at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium last year and a recent review, ESA is now proceeding with the procurement and installation of the new sensing instruments at the site, as well as implementing airborne sensing campaigns supported through its FutureEO programme.
Head of ESA’s Earth Observation Campaigns section, Malcolm Davidson, explained, “The new supersite will play a fundamental role in helping us further develop the role and Europe’s capabilities in monitoring the Arctic from space – for instance through upcoming satellite missions such as Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission and the Copernicus Radar Observing System for Europe at L-band mission – two of the Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions.
Since the Arctic is sparsely populated and covers a large area, Earth observation satellites are the key to mapping and monitoring the unique and fragile Arctic region.”
Hannakaisa Lindqvist, who is leading the activity for Finnish Meteorological Institute, added, “ESA has now agreed to a set of new instruments that will be installed at the site including a new tower-based multifrequency radiometer and innovative greenhouse gas sensors.
“Also planned are regional surveys using a new remotely-controlled airship system that can fly up to 12 hours which will generate the first 3D map of all vegetation surrounding Sodankylä.”
The SpacEconomy project, Finland’s strategic research initiative to strengthen the national space ecosystem, is also involved in the supersite.
One of its key goals is to engage companies that have not traditionally operated in the space sector and connect them with space activities and ESA. In this context, ESA Phi-Lab Finland also has a strong presence.
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Putting_the_super_into_a_supersite_for_Earth_observation
other ESA and EU space
https://www.courthousenews.com/brussels-shoots-to-become-the-new-sheriff-in-space/
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Branding_and_Partnerships/ESA_and_DON_T_NOD_team_up_on_a_journey_to_the_planet_Persephone_in_Aphelion
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Shaping_the_Future/Strengthening_Space_Cybersecurity_through_ESA_s_GSTP
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_Hubble_find_massive_star_clusters_emerge_faster
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/05/Special_Announcement_Lunar_Gravity_Campaign_in_Spring_2027
https://www.esa.int/Education/Educational_Satellites/New_teams_selected_for_the_July_2026_test_window
Ukrainian drone strike kills five civilians in Crimea – governor
5 May, 2026 21:42 | Updated 6 May, 2026 05:55
getting a spam link error
https://www.rt.com/russia/639500-crimea-drones-civilians-killed/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/639494-zelensky-inner-circle-war-profiteering/
https://www.rt.com/news/639510-us-greenlights-bomb-deal-ukraine/
https://www.rt.com/russia/639472-fire-point-zelensky-scam/