TYB
(Illegal spam file GM)
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
June 4, 2026
A Planetary Nebula with Cosmic Buckyballs
What is happening inside this unusual nebula? Planetary nebula Tc 1, captured here in exquisite detail by the James Webb Space Telescope, is the celestial site where buckyballs were first identified in 2010. Buckminsterfullerene — as buckyballs are officially called — is a molecule with 60 carbon atoms (C60) arranged in the shape of a soccer ball. The molecule is named for architect Buckminster Fuller because of its resemblance to the geodesic dome he helped popularize. Webb’s new data reveal where the C60 molecules live in this nebula, and the geometry is striking: they populate a thin spherical shell around the central star, visible here as the bright edge of the nebula’s glowing orange central region. Look closely near the nebula’s heart and a more perplexing feature emerges: a delicate structure shaped uncannily like an upside-down question mark, fitting punctuation for the many questions this nebula still poses.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10LX3idqVC8
Solar Storm Coming Tonight, Quakes, Storms, Magnetic Wind | S0 News and frens
June.4.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VbqxVj63J4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlyf-YOgRgw (S0: SOLAR STORM COMING - Multi-Shockwave Event)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIeOcIU3h70 (Ray's Astro: SOMETHING inside the SUN is CHANGING)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR6J4TY8owA (EarthMaster: More Earthquake activity off Northern California coast. Normal? Or something big coming? WED Night)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuFjHDUOm4M (On the Pulse with Silki: TWO Systems SHAKING at the SAME time ! Unusual Earthquake Swarm hits Oregon and California)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwOzE3cM9DY (GeologyHub: The World's Tallest Lava Fountains; Reached 22,000 Feet Altitude)
https://www.space.com/stargazing/solar-eclipses/spains-total-solar-eclipse-2026-comes-with-a-catch-heres-how-to-avoid-ruining-your-view
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/sun-erupts-with-3-colossal-solar-flares-in-less-than-24-hours-boosting-chances-for-northern-lights
https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/aurora-alert-4-earth-bound-cmes-could-spark-northern-lights-as-far-south-as-illinois-and-oregon-tonight-june-4-5
https://kpic.com/news/local/57m-earthquake-strikes-in-ocean-near-oregon-california-border-magnitude-local-usgs-geological-temblor-shaking-fault-line
https://ticotimes.net/2026/06/04/earthquake-shakes-costa-ricas-osa-peninsula
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/update-g3-watch-4-5-june-utc-days
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news-events/solar-1-launch
https://meteoagent.com/schumann-resonance-forecast
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/304106/Volcano-earthquake-report-for-Thursday-4-Jun-2026.html
https://weather.substack.com/p/june-3-2026-wednesday-tropical-update
https://www.tornadohq.com/
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is not an alien spacecraft: SETI hunt for 'technosignatures' comes up empty
June 4, 2026
Sorry, true believers: It appears the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is indeed just a comet.
Radio astronomers recently hunted for "technosignatures" coming from 3I/ATLAS, which is just the third confirmed interstellar object ever seen in our solar system. As expected, that search came up empty — but it still gathered valuable data, the scientists said.
"The results from 3I/ATLAS show how realistic it is to detect a signal with the technology we have today," study co-author Valeria Garcia Lopez, of Furman University in South Carolina, said in a statement Wednesday (June 3).
"That is why it is important to keep searching for technosignatures, even from objects we might not expect to have signals."
3I/ATLAS was first seen on July 1, 2025 by the Deep Random Survey remote telescope in Chile, which is part of the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) project.
That explains "ATLAS" in the object's name. "3I" indicates that it's the third known interstellar interloper, after 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, which were discovered zooming through our neck of the cosmic woods in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
Telescope observations strongly suggest all three of these visitors are natural objects — namely, comets that were born in other solar systems and subsequently booted into interstellar space, likely via gravitational interactions.
However, it's still worth studying such bodies in detail, according to lead author Sofia Sheikh, who's based at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in California.
"Eventually, our own Voyager spacecraft will be extraterrestrial artifacts in other stellar systems," Sheikh said in the same statement.
"Given that, it is important that we understand the natural distribution of interstellar objects so that we will be able to identify any anomalies that could one day be signs of an artificial interstellar object."
There's also the possibility, however remote, that one or more of these interstellar objects could actually be the product of alien intelligence. Indeed, that hypothesis has been advanced to explain 'Oumuamua's perceived weirdness.
So Sheikh and her team studied 3I/ATLAS using the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, a network of radio dishes at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California, not long after the comet's discovery.
They collected more than seven hours of observations, looking for "narrowband" radio signals — emissions that aren't produced by any known natural phenomenon.
The researchers identified nearly 74 million such signals, which they then culled to about 200 after eliminating human interference and filtering out artifacts caused by 3I/ATLAS' movement.
They were then able to explain away those final 200 as well, as signals generated here on Earth or by orbiting satellites.
The new study, which was published online Wednesday in The Astronomical Journal, "sets new constraints reinforcing that 3I/ATLAS is a natural object," SETI Institute officials wrote in the same statement.
"The observations place upper limits on the power of any radio transmitter on or near 3I/ATLAS, ruling out signals stronger than about 10-110 watts, approximately the power of a household appliance, over the detected frequencies," they added.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/search-for-life/not-an-alien-spacecraft-hunt-for-technosignatures-around-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-comes-up-empty
https://www.iflscience.com/latest-revelations-from-3iatlas-show-an-unusual-comet-rich-in-methane-and-absolutely-no-traces-of-alien-tech-83725
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae5700
other space objects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-LEfwLuIT4 (Dobsonian Power: ASTEROID 3X BIGGER THAN APOPHIS IS HEADED OUR WAY! (1997 NC1))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPYbQrLB_yU (Ray's Astro: The Fireballs That Shouldn't Exist — These EARTH GRAZERS Return to Space)
A Moonlit Earth as Seen From Artemis II
Jun 04, 2026
One of the first images transmitted back to Earth from the Artemis II mission was a stunner. In a single image, Earth’s full disk appears amid celestial phenomena that illustrate its place in the solar system.
And although the visible hemisphere appears to be awash in sunlight, it is actually lit by moonlight. The astronauts’ vantage point provided a rare opportunity to capture nighttime features—most notably lights from human habitation—from a new perspective.
An Artemis crew member captured the photo from the Orion spacecraft after it completed the translunar injection burn, which sent the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and on a trajectory toward the Moon.
In the photo, Earth eclipses the Sun from Orion’s perspective, leaving only a small sliver of its bright light visible around the bottom right edge.
Green auroras, caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth’s upper atmosphere, glow around the north and south poles (lower left and upper right, respectively).
The Sun’s light also produces the fuzzy glow, known as zodiacal light, that appears to the lower right of Earth. This phenomenon comes from sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust.
Skywatchers on Earth may see it at certain times of year around dawn or dusk as a faint column of light extending up from the horizon.
Data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on its journey to Jupiter suggest that Mars may be a significant source of the dust particles that produce zodiacal light. Earth’s other planetary neighbor, Venus, appears as the bright object in the bottom right of the image.
On Earth itself, city lights are evidence of human activity. Bright areas appear in Spain, Portugal, and northern Africa (lower left), sub-Saharan Africa (center left), and Brazil (center right).
Digital camera technology—with help from the illumination of a full Moon—made it possible to see these and other details of Earth’s surface and atmosphere in low light.
The crew set the camera’s ISO to 51,200 to make it highly sensitive to light. For comparison, an ISO setting of 100 or 200 is common for daytime photography.
Previous nighttime views of Earth taken from spacecraft may look very different from this photo but have also inspired and enlightened.
For instance, the Apollo 12 crew photographed Earth eclipsing the Sun in 1969; astronaut Alan Bean would go on to depict his impressions of the event in paintings.
More recently, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have photographed the planet at night from low Earth orbit, while NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite uses satellite observations to produce science-quality records of nighttime lights at daily, monthly, and yearly time scales.
Those programs provide sustained data records, while the Artemis II photo is distinctive as a single human-captured full-disk view showing many low-light features at once.
Cindy Evans, senior exploration scientist in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, was working in the Science Evaluation Room during the Artemis II mission and was one of the first people on Earth to see the image.
Evans was struck both by its beauty and the perspective revealed by all the visible solar system features. “I love the image so much because it was taken with Earth in moonshine, and shows Earth as a solar system body, a dynamic planet interacting with the solar wind, and a place harboring life,” she said.
The image is scientifically valuable, as well, said Miguel Román, Deputy Director for Atmospheres and Data Systems at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
“It speaks powerfully to the breadth of what NASA does across science and human exploration,” he said. Román studies artificial light at night, as viewed from space, as a measurable signal of human activity.
“[This photo] reminds us that Earth at night is visually compelling, physically complex, and scientifically underexplored,” Román said. “I see this image as a glimpse of what Earth science can become in the future.”
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/a-moonlit-earth-as-seen-from-artemis-ii/
extra NASA
https://www.geneonline.com/goodyear-and-lockheed-martin-develop-non-pneumatic-tires-for-nasa-artemis-lunar-missions/
https://thedebrief.org/look-what-nasa-captured-in-satellite-images-as-this-bizarre-phenomenon-erupted-from-the-heart-of-a-super-typhoon/
https://starlust.org/best-mars-mission-ever-a-look-at-mave-ns-achievements-as-nasa-bids-goodbye-to-spacecraft/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/06/03/human-research-biotechnology-for-advanced-health-fill-station-research-schedule/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLrV3EFAPTU (Kristin Fisher: I Asked an Artemis II Astronaut About Consciousness)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOwEM3PTu_k (Canadian Space Agency: Tutorial: How to enjoy maple syrup in space)
Hello, World! NASA Shares New Home for Roman Space Telescope Updates
June 3, 2026 5:30PM
We’re kicking off the inaugural Roman blog post with a launch update: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is officially slated to launch Aug. 30, eight months ahead of schedule and even earlier than previously targeted.
With less than three months to go, the Roman team now is finishing up final tasks.
Engineers are currently packing Roman up for a voyage from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, down to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida later this month.
Once at Kennedy, Roman will move into the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where it will undergo a thorough inspection to verify all the observatory’s components traveled well.
In the weeks leading up to launch, engineers will perform powered testing and launch rehearsals, load about 290 gallons (roughly 1,100 liters) of hydrazine fuel into the tanks, and install the observatory on the adapter for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket that will propel it to its destination in space: the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, which is about four times farther away than the Moon is from Earth.
Next, Roman will be encapsulated in a protective fairing, or nose cone, which will shield the telescope during liftoff and its journey through the atmosphere.
Roman will then move to a hangar for integration with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket before rolling out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA Kennedy.
All this work will culminate in Roman delivering never-before seen views of the universe. The observatory will pair a large field of view with crisp infrared vision to survey deep, vast swaths of sky.
While the mission was designed with dark energy, dark matter, and planets outside our solar system in mind, Roman’s unprecedented observational capability will offer practically limitless opportunities for astronomers to explore a broad range of cosmic phenomena.
Follow along with the blog for updates, including a behind the scenes look at the road to launch and Roman’s journey to L2.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/06/03/hello-world-nasa-shares-new-home-for-roman-space-telescope-updates/
extra extra NASA
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/international-sea-level-satellite-observes-el-nino-precursor/
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/astrobiology/nasa-finds-new-way-earth-may-have-received-elements-needed-for-life/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/journey-to-the-center-of-the-virgo-cluster/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/slice-of-history-when-jupiter-came-into-focus/
SpaceX Starlink Mission
June 4, 2026
On Thursday, June 4 at 6:26 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This was the 12th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SES O3b mPOWER-E, Crew-10, Bandwagon-3, mPOWER-D, CRS-33, and now seven Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-10-43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5QO6OtLuSk
extra SpaceX
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2062490390864027976
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lSym6J4hIk (VideosFromSpace: SpaceX launches IPO with new promo video that features mass driver on moon)
Meteorite found in Sahara desert may be 1st evidence of lost solar system world
June 4, 2026
A rare meteorite recovered from the Sahara Desert contains the first definitive evidence of a long-lost world that may have rivaled the moon in size and existed just a few million years after the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago, according to a new study.
The meteorite, known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 12774, is a roughly one-pound (454-gram) rock discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2019. Scientists classify it as an angrite, a rare type of meteorite that ranks among the oldest volcanic rocks in the solar system.
This particular chunk of space rock, known as NWA 12774, preserves an unusual chemical signature that suggests some of the solar system's earliest worlds developed differently from other rocky planets, researchers say.
"The materials that formed the angrite parent body are fundamentally different from the ingredients of Earth and Mars," study lead author Aaron Bell, who is a geoscientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a statement.
"These meteorites preserved evidence of a completely different pathway through which early planets developed."
By measuring tiny radioactive elements within them that act like natural clocks, scientists know that angrites formed alongside the young sun more than 4.5 billion years ago.
As such, they preserve valuable clues about how planets formed and evolved, according to NASA. They are also remarkably scarce — only 68 of more than 80,000 meteorites recovered on Earth are known angrites.
What makes them particularly puzzling is their chemistry.
Unlike Earth, Mars and most other rocky worlds, angrites contain very little silica — what the familiar sand is made of — a major component of planetary crusts throughout the solar system.
Because of that unusual composition, scientists had long assumed they originated from a relatively small asteroid.
While analyzing NWA 12774, however, Bell and his colleagues identified crystals of a mineral called clinopyroxene that were "exceptionally rich" in aluminum, a telltale sign the rock formed under immense pressure.
By reconstructing the conditions under which the meteorite formed, the team found the mineral required pressures of at least 17.5 kilobars — more than 17 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth.
Such extreme conditions could not have existed inside a small asteroid, so the parent body must have been much larger, the study notes.
The crystals inside the space rock also preserved characteristics such as sharp edges and chemical patterns that scientists expect would have been erased if they had spent long periods deep inside a hot planetary interior.
These clues suggest the minerals formed at relatively shallow depths, meaning the parent body would have needed to be substantially larger to generate the same pressures near its surface, according to the study.
Under that scenario, the lost world may have exceeded 1,118 miles (1,800 kilometers) in radius, making it comparable in size to Earth's moon and potentially approaching Mars, according to the study.
"It's incredible to think there was once a world this large," Bell said in the statement. "We only know it existed because a few fragments of it happened to land on Earth."
What ultimately happened to the ancient world remains unclear.
One possibility, the researchers say, is that it was destroyed in one of the violent collisions that routinely reshaped the young solar system, with fragments like NWA 12774 later incorporated into other rocky planets, including Earth.
And it may be that there is more evidence of these lost worlds that has so far been overlooked.
"There are many meteorites sitting in drawers that haven't been thoroughly studied, so there were likely more of these protoplanets we don't know about," Bell said.
This research is described in a study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/solar-system/meteorite-found-in-sahara-desert-may-be-1st-evidence-of-lost-solar-system-world
https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/06/01/rare-meteorite-provides-evidence-giant-early-planet
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X26002128
assorted general amd international space
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/archaeologists-study-the-international-space-station-and-everest-to-figure-out-how-humans-adapt-in-this-impossible-place-where-we-have-no-business-going
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06-04/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDkwOTQ5/index.html
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/06/04/japan/france-japan-space-command/
Hatcher takes command at Space Forces Korea
June 3, 2026
Leadership of U.S. Space Forces - Korea, the theater space component assigned to U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, was passed June 2 from Col. John D. Patrick to Col. Dorian C. Hatcher at a change of command ceremony held at Osan Air Base
“The U.S. network of alliances and partnerships represents a tremendous asymmetric advantage in the Indo-Pacific,” said Brig. Gen. Brian Denaro, U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific commander, and the officiating officer for the ceremony.
“The [U.S.-South Korea] alliance remains one of the strongest in the world because it is built on shared interests, interoperability, trust and readiness. And increasingly, that alliance is strengthened through integrated space operations.”
Denaro added that the U.S. Space Force was created to meet “the demands of the competitive strategic environment that define the 21st century and continues to increase warfighting readiness, develop Guardians and strengthen partnerships.”
In partnership with South Korean partners, the commander of U.S. Space Forces - Korea leads the unit during what Denaro described as “a critical period for both the Space Force and the alliance.”
Denaro said that the USSPACEFOR-KOR commander has traditionally expanded the role of space within combined planning and exercises, strengthened operational integration and built enduring relationships across the joint and combined force.
He added that it was important for the commander to build a team that understands deterrence is built daily through professionalism, integration and trust.
“As the single voice for space on the peninsula, our mission is unequivocally focused on warfighting and joint integration,” Hatcher said. “We are here to provide the space planning and employment expertise required to command and control space forces effectively in this theater.
By seamlessly weaving space combat power into shared operations, expanding our shared domain awareness and integrating deeply with our South Korean allies, we guarantee that the joint force remains ready to deter and defeat any threat to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, in, from and to space.”
For Hatcher, an interservice transfer from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Space Force in 2023, taking command of USSPACEFOR-KOR represents a profound homecoming.
“In 1997, I served on this peninsula as a U.S. Army private 1st class — it was my very first duty station," Hatcher told the audience. “To return decades later and lead our Guardians as we integrate space into this critical joint fight is a true full-circle moment for me.”
USSPACEFOR-KOR was established on Dec. 14, 2022, as the U.S. Space Force’s first forward-deployed field component.
The unit provides space planning, expertise and command and control to the U.S. Forces Korea commander, maximizing synergy by co-locating with the 7th Air Force headquarters and the 607th Air Operations Center.
Under previous leadership, the unit made history by standing up the first forward-deployed Space Operations Center, allowing USSPACEFOR-KOR to execute rapid command and control operations alongside U.S. allies and partners.
This has allowed the unit to pioneer specialized warfighting exercises, such as Polaris Hammer, to train commanders on theater-specific space threats.
Hatcher’s previous assignment was as the deputy commander for operations at Space Launch Delta 30, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
He supported a team of more than 11,000 personnel, managed integrated launch and range operations across the Western Range and supported national security space launches and developmental missile system testing for the Department of War.
Patrick, the outgoing commander, will assume command of U.S. Space Forces - Japan at Yokota Air Base.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4508044/hatcher-takes-command-at-space-forces-korea/
extra Space Force
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4507501/454-million-grant-supports-new-school-project-for-vandenberg-families/
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Tessera_AI_model_offers_accessible_way_to_view_Earth
extra ESA
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Sustainability
https://www.esa.int/Education/Climate_detectives/Climate_Detectives_Summit_2026_empowers_European_students_to_use_Earth_observation_data
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Branding_and_Partnerships/A_new_chapter_for_ESA_s_brand
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/ExoMars_rover_targets_vast_bed_of_clay_in_search_for_life
Tessera AI model offers accessible way to view Earth
04/06/2026
A foundation model trained on Earth observation data from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 has been made widely available to researchers, it was announced at a computer industry conference this week in Denver, US.
Tessera, an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model, offers high-accuracy datasets that encode what the satellite ‘sees’ of Earth’s surface during the course of a year. This compressed data can be used by the scientific community to generate information-rich maps.
Crucially, the encoded datasets – called 'embeddings' – use far less data than the pixellated images that are transmitted to Earth from satellites. A variety of applications are supported by the model, from monitoring agricultural crops to measuring areas burnt by fire and forest canopies.
A paper on Tessera was published at the 2026 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), held 3-7 June. The model itself was first launched in 2025 and the paper marks the first fully peer-reviewed announcement of Tessera to the scientific community.
The foundation model – Temporal Embeddings of Surface Spectra for Earth Representation and Analysis, or Tessera for short – was developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK, alongside global and European partners, including Aalto University in Finland.
Tessera’s processed datasets, or embeddings, offer several specific benefits to the Earth observation community. Because Tessera’s embeddings are pretrained, they capture patterns in the data and changes over time that other methods must learn from scratch.
This means that non-AI experts can solve remote sensing problems at a global scale using only a fraction of the labelled data previously required.
The embeddings are also lightweight enough to access from a laptop or even a mobile device, making them available to users without computational resources.
And as an open-source project, it is freely modifiable, raising near limitless possibilities for using satellite datasets to study the Earth.
According to Nuno Miranda, Mission Manager for Sentinel-1 at the European Space Agency (ESA), this is an innovative and exciting step in the development and use of AI in the field of Earth observation.
He said, “Foundation models are the new frontier of AI applied to remote-sensing data. Tessera demonstrates how data from the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions can be applied in practice, helping users to analyse and understand the Earth system more efficiently.”
Srinivasan Keshav, professor at the University of Cambridge and co-lead on the Tessera project, noted, “With Tessera, we've addressed some of the challenges of working with the very large amounts of data provided by the Copernicus programme.
Our embeddings make the data more accessible to users from traditionally unserved communities, especially those from ecology, conservation, plant science and zoology.
We’ve also made these available without requiring registration and at no cost, opening the door to many new classes of critical problems.”
What is Tessera?
Tessera processes huge amounts of remote-sensing data from the Copernicus missions, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2.
It combines two types of data: optical data from Sentinel-2, and advanced radar data, known as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, from Sentinel-1.
The optical and radar datasets are fused by the foundation model and processed into global embeddings spanning each year from 2017-2025.
So, rather than the data-heavy and pixellated imagery from satellites, Tessera compresses data heavy, cloudy satellite imagery to create an embedding layer of Earth data. It does this at a resolution of 10 m, which is the same as the highest resolution captured by Sentinel-2.
Tessera’s embedding layers are basically compressed Earth observation data with missing values filled in. Each 10-m pixel contains a time series of what happened at that point over the year.
This gives researchers a picture of change – rather than how a field, river or mountain looks at any given point in time – in a format that’s searchable.
1/2
Tessera is supported by tools that enable users to search and compare Earth imagery in a number of different ways.
For example, users can search for geographic regions that are similar to each other and they can look for changes in landscapes.
It is also possible to make predictions about vegetation health and urban growth.
Tracking habitat change
A UK-based project involving Tessera is developing ways to evaluate the UK government's nature protection schemes using satellite data from Sentinels 1 and 2.
Researchers used Tessera embeddings to track habitat change on land designated for protection across Cumbria, an area of northern England.
The project, a partnership between Tessera, the Endangered Landscapes and Seascape Programme, and other UK partners, could eventually provide the government with a way to measure the effectiveness of investments in farming subsidies and nature conservation.
One of Tessera’s co-leads and a senior researcher on the Cumbria landscape monitoring project, Professor David Coomes, from the University of Cambridge, said, “Monitoring these environmental changes over vast scales is exactly the sort of problem that Tessera was designed to solve.”
How are foundation models changing Earth observation?
Tessera promotes transparency and reproducibility. It is open-source and aligned with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) – a set of widely adopted guidelines developed by the international research community on the reusability of digital assets.
It offers an open and transparent alternative to systems such as AlphaEarth Foundations, an AI model by Google DeepMind, which also compresses complex satellite data from multiple sources to create embeddings using a closed model.
Moreover, Tessera facilitates access to Copernicus data and offers an efficient way to explore Earth observation data.
According to the University of Cambridge’s Srinivasan Keshav, “The adoption of embeddings represents a paradigm shift.
Instead of distributing heavy imagery, models such as Tessera can now provide downstream users with compressed semantic representations of the information of Earth’s surface embedded in the original data.”
ESA partners on models for Earth observation
Several teams are working on foundation models for Earth observation, placing Europe at the forefront of this field. ESA has also pioneered the development of foundation models trained on Earth observation data through its open innovation laboratory, Φ-lab, a hub and catalyst for Earth observation innovation.
Two foundation models to recently come out of Φ-lab are Thor, developed by the Norwegian Computing Centre, and TerraMind, developed with IBM Research Europe.
Importantly, unlike models such as Tessera or AlphaEarth that aggregate information into long-term or annual embeddings, both Thor and TerraMind focus on learning from individual observations, preserving rich spatial contextual information within single imagery snapshots rather than encapsulating everything into a single compressed representation.
Thor (Transformer-based foundation model for Heterogeneous Observation and Resolution) is a versatile multi-modal foundation model, which combines different types of data and is designed to overcome both the challenges of varied inputs and rigid deployment constraints.
While most current foundation models are architecturally rigid, Thor allows the user to adapt the internal resolution and optimise computational performance. It is trained on data from Sentinels 1, 2 and 3.
This model was funded and supported through ESA’s Foundation Models for Climate and Society (FM4CS) project.
TerraMind, a foundation model released in April 2025, is also multi-modal and able to answer questions about climate and nature.
Rather than focusing solely on downstream tasks, its core innovation lies in learning a unified representation space that aligns multiple sources of geospatial data – including satellite imagery, topography, land use/land cover, elevation and geolocation.
This enables cross-modal reasoning and query-based interaction with Earth system data. By jointly embedding these diverse sources, TerraMind moves beyond traditional task-specific models toward a more general-purpose geospatial intelligence framework.
It was trained on a dataset of more than nine million globally distributed samples spanning eight complementary data types, including radar from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and optical Sentinel-2 imagery.
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China’s Long March 12B Launch Sparks Space Race Debate
04/06/2026
Unveiling China’s Ambitious Spacestep: The Long March 12B Rocket
Last week marked a pivotal moment in China’s rapid ascent into the realm of commercial space exploration.
On Monday, at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Site in Inner Mongolia, China launched the Long March 12B rocket, an event that not only showcased technological prowess but also ignited international debates over space safety and transparency.
The launch occurred at 16:40 local time, and the rocket’s impressive 72-meter status symbolized China’s aggressive push to rival established space giants like SpaceX.
The Powerhouse of Chinese Space Innovation
Developed by CASIC (China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation), the Long March 12B was designed as a direct competitor to the American Falcon 9.
It is among China’s most sophisticated commercial launch vehicles, boasting a payload capacity of 22 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO).
This capacity positions it as a vital tool in China’s strategic goal to deploy large satellite constellations, such as those supporting the Qianfan (Thousand Sails) project—a satellite network intended to rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
Risk and Security in Space Launches
While the technical specifications demonstrate remarkable advancement, the launch has raised significant security concerns.
Unlike standard protocols where countries notify international bodies before rocket debris re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, China remained silent.
The absence of prior warning led to worries about debris falling in populated or maritime zones, presenting risks to aircraft, ships, and environmental safety.
International space safety standards emphasize that debris re-entry should be controlled, predictable, and communicated—principles China overlooked in this instance.
Experts warn that such unannounced launches could set dangerous precedents and escalate risks for global space operations.
Technological Advancements and Future Strategies
Although the initial launch didn’t include a reusability test, plans are underway to incorporate vertical landing capabilities similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
CASIC aims to develop reusable Long March 12B components, which would significantly reduce launch costs and improve turnaround times.
This evolution is essential if China wishes to cement its position in the commercial space race and offer cost-effective solutions for international clients.
Impact on Satellite Constellations and Astronomy
The successful deployment of the Qianfan satellite network highlights China’s strategic ambitions.
Intended to provide Chinese-controlled internet coverage, these satellites are part of China’s broader plan to establish a self-reliant space infrastructure.
However, their brightness levels raise alarm among astronomers, as they exacerbate issues like light pollution and hinder astronomical observations.
Glaring satellites have already disrupted night sky surveys and could interfere with scientific research for decades to come.
Geopolitical Tensions: The Race to the Moon and Beyond
China’s space efforts extend beyond satellites, aiming for lunar and even Mars missions.
The revelation of the Long March 10A, a massive rocket designed for crewed lunar missions, indicates a clear timeline targeting the Artemis-era ambitions of NASA.
Chinese officials also plan to launch the Lanyue lunar module, which will dock with their lunar orbiters, ultimately paving the way for future human presence on the Moon—presumably ahead of US-led initiatives.
Meanwhile, the United States accelerates its lunar ambitions, targeting crews on the Moon by 2028.
The race isn’t limited to just landing but extends to establishing a sustainable presence, resource extraction, and even potential lunar base stations.
This intense competition fuels fears of space becoming a battlefield for geopolitical dominance rather than a peaceful shared domain.
Conclusion: The Future of Chinese Space Missions
China’s recent launch of the Long March 12B illuminates the country’s strategic ambitions and technological progress.
However, it also highlights crucial issues—safety protocols, transparency, and international cooperation—that need addressing as space becomes increasingly congested and contested.
As Beijing accelerates its lunar and satellite plans, the global community must navigate the fine line between fostering innovation and safeguarding sustainable, safe exploration for future generations.
The next few years will determine whether China can balance its rapid growth with responsible space conduct, fundamentally shaping the future landscape of extraterrestrial exploration.
https://raillynews.com/2026/06/chinas-long-march-12b-launch-sparks-space-race-debate/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGIwg6NXgow
Ukrainian drone attacks kill four in Crimea – governor
4 Jun, 2026 04:51 | Updated 4 Jun, 2026 08:02
At least four people have been killed and ten others wounded in Ukrainian drone attacks on Crimea, local governor Sergey Aksyonov has said.
One person was killed and three others were wounded during a drone attack on a suburban train traveling from Azovskoye to Kerch, Aksyonov wrote in a post on Telegram on Thursday morning.
The strikes damaged several “nonresidential facilities” in the city of Simferopol, killing at least three people and injuring seven others, the governor added.
The Crimean port city of Sevastopol, home to the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was also attacked overnight, according to its governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev.
At least 20 incoming Ukrainian drones were shot down by air defenses, and there were two incidents of drone debris falling in residential areas. No injuries were reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry has reported that 272 drones were intercepted and destroyed over several regions of the country on Thursday morning.
Apart from Crimea and the waters of the Azov and Black seas, the UAVs were downed over Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Orel, Rostov, Ryazan, and Tambov regions.
The attack on Crimea came less than a day after a Ukrainian strike on a passenger bus en route from Moscow to Simferopol while it was traveling through the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
Eight civilians were killed and 11 others injured in what the Russian authorities are investigating as an act of “terrorism.”
Russia was hit by another major Ukrainian drone attack overnight, with 272 UAVs shot down across the country, according to the Defense Ministry.
The interceptions took place over Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kursk, Novgorod, Orel, Rostov, Ryazan and Tambov Regions as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.
Moscow previously warned that it would carry out “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, such as drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers,” in response to Kiev’s terrorist attacks, including one in the Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22.
On that occasion, Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk in several waves of drone attacks late at night while students were asleep, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring dozens of others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the Ukrainian leadership had opened “a new chapter in its crime spree” with the attack on Starobelsk, adding that those responsible would face “well-deserved and inevitable punishment.”
On May 24, Moscow launched a large-scale missile and drone attack against military-related targets in Ukraine, among other things deploying intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik systems.
Another major Russian raid took place on Tuesday, targeting defense industry facilities in Kiev, parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions still under Kiev’s control, as well as Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy regions.
https://www.rt.com/russia/640951-crimea-simferopol-drone-ukraine/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/640970-billions-moved-ukraine-fraud-corruption/
https://www.rt.com/russia/640966-russia-financially-sovereignty-siluanov/
https://www.rt.com/russia/640978-putin-spief-news-agencies/
Ukraine's Drone Strikes Set a Gloomy Tone for Putin's Economic Showcase
Jun 4, 2026, 5:13 AM EDT
A massive black cloud rising above the St. Petersburg skyline from a Ukrainian drone strike set a gloomy tone for the opening of President Vladimir Putin's annual showcase of Russia's economic achievements.
With Putin set to arrive Thursday in his hometown that is hosting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Ukrainian attack a day earlier that set an oil terminal ablaze was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimize the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event with no effect on Russian daily life.
The attack, which also targeted a naval base near Russia's second-largest city on the Gulf of Finland, underlined Ukraine’s growing capability to hit deep inside its neighbor and demonstrated that even the heavily protected city where Putin was born is increasingly vulnerable.
Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.
Putin had scaled down Russia's annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian drone strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's forces were pressing inside Ukraine “in order to prevent such attacks” like the one on St. Petersburg. He noted that “systematic” strikes on Kyiv that Russia threatened last week are underway.
On Tuesday, Russia hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, killing 23 and wounding 151 others.
Putin has used the forum to showcase his country's economic advances and encourage foreign investment. Often styled as the Russian version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, it usually draws tens of thousands of delegates from around the world.
While Western officials and business people have stayed away from the forum after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought to attract more guests from other regions to underline its declared goal of promoting a "multipolar world.”
Saudi Arabia, which is a special guest this year, has sent a large delegation. The presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and China’s vice president also are attending.
A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, will attend the event for the first time in years.
Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from massive military spending has fizzled. The government has raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.
Putin is expected to minimize Russia’s economic problems during his forum appearance, but the Ukrainian attack on St. Petersburg's port about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) from the forum’s venue have underlined the growing challenges posed by the conflict.
Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, Ukrainian drones also hit the Kronstadt naval base on an island in the Gulf of Finland, the home of Russia’s Baltic Fleet since Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg.
While most of the fleet has moved to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, Kronstadt retains its symbolic importance as the seat of the country's naval glory, with its historic cathedral and old fortifications.
https://www.military.com/ukraines-drone-strikes-set-a-gloomy-tone-for-putins-economic-showcase
https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/ukraine-drone-strikes-open-new-front-against-russia-s-baltic-fleet-twz-reports-50613325.html
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/77532
other Russia and Ukraine
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russia-Admits-Oil-Output-Is-Falling-as-Ukrainian-Drone-Strikes-Hits-Refineries.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4130544-ukrainian-military-says-it-has-established-drone-control-over-occupied-horlivka.html
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4130505-greece-lodges-second-diplomatic-protest-to-ukraine-over-unmanned-naval-drone.html
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/77446
https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukraine-chokes-russia-s-vital-land-bridge-to-crimea-with-a-massive-drone-swarm-50613254.html
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/77532
watchin'