TYB
Would be a good time to address a few elephants in the room
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
September 3, 2026
The Eclipse and the Stork
How do animals react to a total solar eclipse? The featured image shows a stork roosting on her nest in Poland at a partial phase of the recent total solar eclipse. If you are lucky enough to experience a total eclipse somewhere quiet and close to nature, you may be able to notice unusual daytime animal behaviors. During totality, you may hear nighttime sounds like crickets and frogs and see fireflies. In the dark, most birds are quiet. Thinking that it is time to go to bed, ducks and other waterfowl prepare to sleep on one leg, with their heads turned around and their beaks tucked into their back feathers (they don't really sleep with their heads tucked under one wing). When sunlight returns at the end of totality, songbirds greet the new "morning" with their dawn songs. The crickets and frogs go quiet again. Animals and people resume their lifes, only briefly disturbed by the chance alignment of our Sun and Moon.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Rml-0ZATE
Sun Awakens, New Saturn Super-Anomaly | S0 News and frens
Sep.3.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWgAgRb4nQE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eFk6Yz_sLQ (BPEarthwatch: Hoover Cuts Water Output By 50%!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtmwyzxI9gE (MrMBB333: This is about to do the IMPOSSIBLE!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPUj5JI0NTY (Mr Weatherman: Dolly Remnants bring Flood Risk…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwiVhF8GE9E (Ray's Astro: Nepal Flood: Is This a Man-Made Disaster? | I Found New Clues)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QMitqawKic (On the Pulse with Silki: IT's THERE !!! WHY CAN'T THEY FIND IT ?? 46 TRAPPED inside Nepal Mountain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p8WU1qHB5o (EarthMaster: 6.2 Earthquake South Sandwich Trench. Elevated EQ activity today. M 3.0 Solar Flare on the Sun)
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solar
https://gizmodo.com/a-solar-superstorm-caused-a-gps-glitch-bad-enough-to-crash-self-driving-cars-2000806428
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wildfires
https://www.ktvu.com/news/pge-defer-2b-capital-investments-after-wildfire-reforms-collapse
https://nbc16.com/news/local/oregon-wildfire-costs-reach-236-million-as-state-seeks-additional-funding-09-03-2026
https://azluminaria.org/2026/09/03/at-the-grand-canyon-flooding-and-wildfire-underscore-compounding-extreme-weather-risks/
https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/national/ross-wildfire-was-caused-by-tire-blowout-investigators-determine/article_a3dd029c-2a6c-52ae-9505-2fb70c0d5b9c.html
https://internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com/south-wales-wildfires-data/
https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-16101763/true-extent-Europe-summer-wildfires-Map.html
https://news.az/news/toxic-haze-from-indonesias-wildfires-spreads-malaysia-philippines
https://www.army.mil/article/295068/u_s_indonesian_forces_add_wildfire_safeguards_ahead_of_super_garuda_shield_joint_land_strike
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storms and floods
https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather-news/articles/extreme-flooding-utah-damages-homes-150006240.html
https://www.syracuse.com/weather/2026/09/severe-storms-flood-roads-down-trees-cut-power-to-thousands-across-upstate-ny.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gta-storm-cleanup-9.7330581
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/thousands-remain-without-power-roads-closed-across-southwestern-ontario-after-severe-storms-hit-region-9.7330583
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tornadoes
https://uk.style.yahoo.com/tornado-chaser-reed-timmer-man-134802744.html
https://www.insauga.com/possible-tornadoes-being-investigated-after-storms-hit-southern-ontario/
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hurricanes and frens
https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/el-nino-set-become-very-strong-raising-risks-of-extreme-weather-2027
https://laist.com/brief/news/climate-environment/southern-california-hurricane-maria-forecast-dangerous-surf
https://www.honolulu.gov/mayor/city-continues-to-closely-monitor-hurricane-lowell/
https://bigislandnow.com/2026/09/03/lowell-remains-category-4-hurricane-forecasters-say-still-too-soon-to-determine-potential-impacts-in-the-hawaiian-islands/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather-news/article/tropical-depression-edouard-tracker-storms-extreme-rainfall-threatens-east-central-texas-through-thursday-171932693.html
https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2026/09/03/chinese-students-marooned-in-floods-unleashed-by-typhoon-saudel039s-rains
https://www.ibtimes.sg/typhoon-saudel-makes-third-landfall-china-areas-hit-evacuations-latest-updates-93314
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earthquakes
https://dayakdaily.com/sabahs-keningau-hit-by-weak-3-4-magnitude-earthquake-436-tremor-reports-received/
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/china/article/341803/Earthquake-of-magnitude-48-hits-Chinas-Sichuan
https://cedarnews.net/newstasks/960182/earthquake-magnitude-5-1-strikes-coquimbo-chile/
https://cedarnews.net/newstasks/960764/earthquake-magnitude-5-1-strikes-owen-fracture/
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361073507/magnitude-55-earthquake-hits-fiordland
https://meteo24news.gr/english-edition/strong-m6-2-earthquake-recorded-near-south-sandwich-islands-region/
https://www.democrata.es/en/international/a-magnitude-6-3-earthquake-shakes-the-coast-of-alaska-without-causing-damage/
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volcanoes
https://colombiaone.com/2026/09/02/purace-volcano-in-colombia-marks-one-month-on-orange-alert-with-intense-activity/
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dailys
https://schumannresonance.today/
https://www.weather.gov/
https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn
https://www.americanforests.org/wildfire-map/
https://www.tornadohq.com/
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/340610/Volcano-earthquake-report-2026-09-03.html
https://www.spaceweather.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=03&month=09&year=2026
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Scientists discover enormous 10-sided wave over Saturn
Last updated: September 02, 2026
Mysterious decagon over Saturn’s south pole even bigger than its famous northern hexagon
Cape Canaveral: Scientists have discovered an enormous 10-sided wave pattern in the icy ammonia clouds over Saturn’s south pole.
The spinning, meandering decagon appears to be even bigger and more unstable than the hexagon of clouds around Saturn’s north pole that was spied by NASA’s twin Voyagers in the 1980s, the Spanish-led team reported Wednesday.
This new jet stream formation popped up in the Hubble Space Telescope’s sights in 2023 after earlier observations came up empty.
The researchers suspect the bizarre atmospheric phenomenon may have formed between 2017 and 2023, when Saturn’s south pole was tilted away from Earth and therefore out of view.
It could still be evolving, with a single side of the decagon already exceeding 16,700 kilometers.
The findings are significant because it shows “the ‘unique’ hexagon is not as extraordinary as we thought," lead author Agustin Sanchez-Lavega with the University of the Basque Country said in an email.
The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.
Although all of the solar system’s planets with atmospheres have wave-spawning disturbances, only Saturn churns them out looking like polygons, geometric shapes bounded by straight lines.
Both sit on jet streams, but the hexagon is practically stationary whereas the decagon migrates eastward at a tame 6 mph (10 kph).
“Saturn still has the ability to surprise us," the University of Leicester's Leigh Fletcher said in a statement. He measured the wind in the decagon as part of the study using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
By comparing these two formations on opposite ends of Saturn, scientists can learn more about the weather patterns of giant gas planets, according to Sanchez-Lavega.
“This is a highly interesting phenomenon that appears to be unique to Saturn, and we want to know why,” he said.
Sanchez-Lavega wonders whether they might be related to the cyclones on Jupiter that are arranged in polygonal shapes.
Improving views of Saturn's southern hemisphere over the next several years should allow astronomers to capture more details of the decagon and perhaps solve “this intriguing atmospheric mystery,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the decagon will last as long as the hexagon, which has been visible by spacecraft for more than 40 years. That is longer than a Saturnian year, which is equivalent to 30 Earth years.
“For the time being, all I can confirm is that the decagon is still there,” Sanchez-Lavega said.
https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/scientists-discover-enormous-10-sided-wave-over-saturn-1.500661231
other space objects
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/astronomers-see-how-a-centaur-can-become-a-comet
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2635a/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfXXrjHhM_I (Dobsonian Power: LIVE UFO HUNT WITH THERMAL IR CAMERA)
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-rocket-takes-first-multi-point-look-inside-radio-disrupting-clouds/
moar
https://news.emory.edu/stories/2026/09/rose-library-displays-family-artifacts-early-nasa-astronaut
https://starlust.org/international-observe-the-moon-night-date-importance-and-how-to-be-part-of-nas-as-celebration/
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/in-1970-nasa-launched-two-bullfrogs-into-orbit-to-measure-motion-sickness-over-6-days-the-animals-provided-139-hours-of-vestibular-data/articleshow/133703335.cms
https://nasawatch.com/2026/09/02/ostp-to-u-s-space-companies-skip-that-french-space-summit/
NASA Rocket Takes First Multi-Point Look Inside Radio-Disrupting Clouds
Sep 02, 2026
High above Earth, thin veils of metallic haze drift through the edge of space.
Known as sporadic E layers, these high-altitude “clouds” form from the vaporized dust of burnt-up meteors, earning their name from the unpredictable way they emerge and then dissipate.
Now, new results from a NASA sounding rocket — a suborbital research rocket — that flew five detectors through one of these layers simultaneously reveal unexpected complexity in the layer for the first time.
Though invisible to the eye, sporadic E layers make their presence known to the radio signals we rely on for long-distance communication.
When present, sporadic E can send those signals ping-ponging off in unexpected directions, rendering the technology temporarily unreliable.
Scientists have long sought a fuller understanding of these radio-disrupting clouds, but until recently, they had only sampled them one narrow slice at a time.
The rocket, called the sporadic E Electrodynamics Demonstration, or SpEED Demon for short, launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Aug. 24, 2022, and demonstrated the first concurrent, multi-point view inside sporadic E.
Its results, from a team led by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, are described in a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.
Sporadic E layers form in the ionosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere beginning around 40 miles (60 kilometers) up where the neutral gases begin to transform into plasma, or ionized gas.
Some of the particles there come from meteors, which burn up and leave behind traces of iron, magnesium, and other metals. These metals occasionally clump into dense, cloud-like sheets — the sporadic E layers — that reflect radio waves.
“Sporadic E layers are, in one sense, giant mirrors of radio frequency waves in the sky,” said Aroh Barjatya, the mission’s principal investigator and a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Florida.
When a sporadic E layer forms, signals meant to travel out to space can ricochet back toward the ground.
Air traffic controllers and marine radio users may pick up distant transmissions as though they were nearby, and radars scanning beyond the horizon can register so-called “ghosts,” or false targets. The effects reach everyday technology, too.
“The biggest source of error in the GPS in your phone, for example, is from the plasma in the ionosphere, and sporadic E layers can contribute to this uncertainty,” said Henry Valentine, the study’s lead author, who conducted the work at Embry-Riddle and is now a researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
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Because sporadic E layers hover around 60 miles (100 kilometers) up—too high for weather balloons, too low for satellites — and form and dissipate unpredictably, they have long been the province of sounding rockets, which can be launched on short notice to catch one in the act.
But a single rocket flies a single path, taking measurements only along a line. Barjatya likens the situation to viewing a scene through a crack in a wall.
One can only observe what is happening along that narrow slit, missing out on the crucial context of whatever is occurring to the left or right of one’s view.
The SpEED Demon mission changed that. The mission was the first to deploy ejectable probes, called dropsondes, inside a sporadic E layer.
Once inside, the rocket released four dropsondes that flew away from the main payload and from one another, each measuring the plasma along its own track and beaming its measurements back to ground stations.
Together with the main payload, the probes sampled the layer in a total of five places at the same moment.
“Now with multiple sensors, we’ve turned that crack into a picket fence,” Barjatya said.
The data revealed surprising complexity inside the sporadic E layer.
Rather than a smooth, dense pancake of metallic particles, the layer that SpEED Demon flew through appeared uneven and structured, shaped by turbulent winds moving through the neutral air around it.
“A lot of times you think of sporadic E as this single sharp density layer, but what we saw in ours is it’s interacting with neutral wind and these swirling atmospheric turbulences,” Valentine said. “Rather than a flat pancake, it’s closer to a cinnamon roll.”
On the way down, the layer even split into two distinct peaks. The team found that shape was consistent with modulation by Kelvin-Helmholtz billows, the curling, wave-like instability that produces breaking-wave patterns in ordinary clouds.
Because the flight was unable to measure the local winds and electric fields directly, the researchers are careful to call the billow explanation plausible rather than confirmed.
The SpEED Demon mission was designed as a technology demonstration — a test of whether the dropsonde technique would work at all. It did, and the team was quick to apply it again.
Barjatya’s team used a similar multi-probe strategy to launch rockets into the paths of the October 2023 annular eclipse and April 2024 total solar eclipse, studying how the sudden darkness disturbed the upper atmosphere.
In June 2025, they flew SpEED Demon’s most direct descendant, Sporadic-E ElectroDynamics, or SEED, into sporadic E layers from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, studying them at lower latitudes. Papers from those missions are in preparation.
After years of study, sporadic E layers are no longer as unpredictable as they once were. “They have a seasonality to them, with peak occurrence happening in the local summer,” Barjatya said.
Questions about how and when they form are increasingly fine-grained. The new deployable multi-point rocket sensor methodology, along with ground-based measurements, is likely to bring the picture even closer to completion.
“The science community as a whole is now in its final stretches of fully understanding these giant radio frequency mirrors in the sky,” Barjatya said.
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Station Crew Cleans Up, Relaxes After Busy Month of Spacewalks
September 2, 2026 4:08PM
The Expedition 75 crew members are coming off a busy period that saw four spacewalks take place in one month outside of the International Space Station.
The orbital septet cleaned spacesuits, conducted cargo operations, and relaxed throughout Wednesday.
Astronauts Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Jessica Meir of NASA completed the last of four spacewalks during a monthlong period on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Adenot and Meir spent six hours and 49 minutes installing a spacecraft navigation aid, swabbing the station’s exterior for microorganisms, and preparing a cosmic particle detector for future upgrades.
The duo spent Wednesday mostly relaxing taking time out for exercise and joining NASA flight engineers Anil Menon and Jack Hathaway for a post-spacewalk conference with mission controllers on the ground.
Menon worked throughout Wednesday refilling spacesuit tanks with water, photographing suit gloves for inspection, and downlinking video captured from cameras attached to the spacewalkers’ helmets.
He also transferred cargo in and out of the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft berthed to the Unity module since April 13. Hathaway swapped out orbital plumbing components in the Tranquility module and uninstalled gear from inside a research incubator.
The duo also spent a portion of Wednesday relaxing following their daylong support of Tuesday’s spacewalking activities.
During August, three spacewalks were performed with the first taking place on Aug. 6 when Meir and Menon installed a modification kit on the station’s starboard truss structure preparing it for a future roll-out solar array.
The next two spacewalks saw Menon and Adenot disconnect a failed space-to-ground antenna from the Z1 truss segment on Aug. 18, then install a spare antenna on Z1 on Aug. 25.
The station’s three cosmonauts from Roscosmos stayed busy throughout Wednesday with a variety of research, cargo, and inspection duties.
Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev turned off a camera that automatically photographed wildfires on Earth in multiple wavelengths during the crew’s sleep shift. Next, he photographed the condition of light fixtures in the Zarya module for analysis.
Flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov packed items for disposal inside the Progress 94 resupply ship then photographed the condition of windows inside the Zvezda and Nauka modules.
Flight engineer Anna Kikina checked the operation of scientific equipment, deployed carbon dioxide monitoring hardware, then cleaned Roscosmos ventilation systems.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission now is targeted to launch no earlier than late September to the International Space Station. A new target launch date will be shared once confirmed.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/09/02/station-crew-cleans-up-relaxes-after-busy-month-of-spacewalks/
moar
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/wallops/2026/09/02/nasas-hasp-scientific-balloon-launches-from-fort-sumner/
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/linking-community-college-studies-to-aerospace-careers/
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/solicitations/roses-2025/amendment-72-new-opportunity-a-17-hydrosphere/
https://x.com/NASA/status/2095206153277862026
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2095345993738850760
moar
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2095322358953243059
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2095522914863051179
https://x.com/NASASolarSystem/status/2095492899240841555
https://x.com/NASAGoddard/status/2095527236627542477
NASA Watch
@NASAWatch
Sep 2
NASA Is About to Lose Its Way to Low Earth Orbit https://linkedin.com/pulse/nasa-lose-its-way-low-earth-orbit-phil-mcalister-e16kc/ by Phil McAlister #NASA
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
@NASAAdmin
Few thoughts in response:
1) NASA has not given up on LEO. Within weeks of being on the job, I publicly addressed the Starliner situation and the role NASA played in it, and we have since taken a very active role with Boeing in implementing the investigation recommendations and putting Starliner on a path to life beyond Atlas V. We intend for Starliner to safely transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and commercial LEO destinations, in the years ahead. I actually agree that we should have more crewed transport vehicles, but how many major endeavors do you want NASA to solve simultaneously? The more NASA takes on in parallel, the less will be accomplished. And if there is considerable demand in LEO and lots of economic potential, nothing stops the companies referenced from raising capital and building vehicles. We are trying to get back to the Moon, build a base, get underway on nuclear power, launch more science missions, replace the International Space Station with a commercial service, but now we also need to fund several new crewed vehicles too? To the author’s point, nothing stopped one company from building a suborbital vehicle and operating it dozens of times without NASA as an anchor tenant, but I think market realities have spoken and the service appears to have been paused.
2) America and NASA are not giving up our astronauts, and as a commercial astronaut, I state that as emphatically and patriotically as possible. Of course, if useful research and affordable data become available as a commercial service, similarly to how we purchase and make available Earth observation data, we would have to look at it.
3) I am about as pro-commercial space as it gets, for what I hope are obvious reasons. But to be clear, you cannot simply slap the word “commercial” on every problem or opportunity, pound the table about “deleting NASA’s burdensome requirements,” and assume it automatically produces a more affordable, better solution supported by a thriving market. When people talk about relying on private capital and commercial services, someone still has to pay, a service provider has to execute really well, and if NASA is the customer, it is likely a service that has rarely been done before. If it turns out NASA is ultimately the only meaningful customer, that has the potential to become a very expensive proposition, if it works at all.
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4) Premature commercialization can set both the NASA program and the emerging industry up for failure. We have seen approaches ranging from spacewalking-as-a-service to lunar-nuclear-power-as-a-service, often premised on NASA eventually being just one customer of many. Sometimes that market materializes. Many times–it is speculative. NASA, the taxpayers and the interested public should care about whatever achieves the intended mission outcome as quickly, affordably and safely as possible, and the contracting method is secondary. We can screw up cost-plus, fixed-price and as-a-service contracts just as easily. The outcomes are what matter. If, along the way, we can create a credible demand signal, help industry mature the technology and buy time for a market to develop, that is outstanding. But we should be grounded in reality rather than pretending a market already exists when it does not.
5) There are absolutely areas where the commercial model works extraordinarily well. Launch, Earth observation and communications are real services supported by real markets, and have been for decades, where NASA truly can be one customer of many. There will be more examples in the years ahead. In those cases, NASA can execute missions at lower cost and free up more of the NASA budget for the low-TRL, cutting-edge missions that have no obvious business case or revenue model, but change the world in air and space.
6) People often point to commercial crew and cargo as proof that this model works everywhere. It does not. Those programs benefited from NASA providing substantial early demand across dozens of missions, creating an opportunity for private capital to generate a return, even though I believe most did not, while also allowing an iterative design process rather than jumping immediately to the dream state. There is a big difference between maturing capabilities over a dozen cargo missions before building a no-fail crew vehicle and jumping directly to the crew vehicle, and I think the real-world data has demonstrated that. Even then, the development record across all of the crew and cargo providers was far from perfect. And today, the category leader is increasingly focused on opportunities with much larger potential markets, which should tell us something about the near-term economics of the market NASA helped create.
7) I have been very open that, in the near term, I do not know whether there is a sufficiently large LEO market where NASA can truly be one customer of many, but we will do everything within reason and within our budget to set industry up for success and ensure there is a home beyond the International Space Station. I do know demand for commercial LEO destinations will be heavily influenced by transportation cost, and those costs are likely to go up in the near term rather than down. Now, you can argue that if NASA had funded more commercial crew vehicles in years past, that would have changed the dynamic, but how many did you want for two crewed NASA missions to the ISS per year? We picked two providers, the results are apparent (for better and for worse), and clearly there was not enough supplemental commercial demand to justify further industry investment. The same uncertainty exists on the Moon. I cannot promise today that the economic value extracted from the lunar surface will exceed all of the input costs. What we can do is create a demand signal for landers, rovers, power, communications and other infrastructure, do so in a logical way that affords iterative design, and give a lunar economy every opportunity to emerge. I believe it will, but there are no guarantees. The mission is to return to the Moon and build the base for scientific, technological, national security and even inspirational reasons, and along the way, we hope enormous economic potential is unleashed.
8) If the objective is to force an economy out of every NASA endeavor, then NASA should probably sit inside the Department of Commerce. But NASA is an independent agency with a broader mission: to extend humanity’s reach farther into space, pioneer breakthrough technologies, undertake the near-impossible and unlock the secrets of the universe. While at times that is sure to leverage commercial capabilities and stimulate economic activity, it is not a prerequisite to achieving every mission.
7:59 PM · Sep 2, 2026
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Rocket Lab - 'Owl Around The World' Launch
September 2, 2026
This mission was Rocket Lab's 94th Electron launch and latest dedicated mission for Synspective, a Japan-based commercial constellation operator.
"Owl Around The World" deployed a single StriX Earth observation satellite to a 575km LEO that will join Synspective's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging constellation over Japan that provides data for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.
This mission was Rocket Lab's 11th dedicated launch for Synspective.
Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for Synspective's constellation since 2020, with another 16 missions booked to deliver the rest of their constellation to orbit before 2030.
https://rocketlabcorp.com/missions/launches/owl-around-the-world/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLovbBQFxI8
U.S. DOE announces $12 million space solar fund
September 2, 2026
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a $12 million fund for the research and development of space-based solar technologies, with DOE officials announcing the fund on Sept. 1.
Aiming to expand domestic manufacturing of solar panels for outer space applications, the Space Photovoltaics (PV) Research and Development Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) opportunity “will help ensure the next generation of space photovoltaics (PV) is developed in America,” the DOE says.
Led by the department’s Integrated Energy Systems Office (IESO), the program hopes to accelerate technical innovation on U.S. shores, driving down prices of domestic space solar products and projects.
“The next frontier for solar PV power generation is in space,” says assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson.
“As demand for space-grade PV skyrockets, this investment will establish American leadership in next-generation, space-based PV, bolster our national security, and enhance our economic competitiveness.”
The funding will focus on both solar cell innovation and “rapid production and demonstration,” according to the DOE. Winning cell innovation projects will be awarded $1.5 million each, and production and demonstration projects will receive $2 million each.
Funding energy on the final frontier
What makes space solar so exceptionally valuable, the DOE says, is the removal of solar energy’s greatest barrier to operations: weather.
The vast majority of terrestrial solar projects are subject to interruption thanks to inclement weather conditions, and all terrestrial projects are, of course, at the mercy of Earth’s rotation.
Positioning solar energy projects in space solves both of those problems with ease, DOE officials say.
Despite policy changes largely limiting solar and other renewable energy projects in the U.S., the second Trump administration’s race for energy security and “space superiority” has kept the door open for space solar initiatives like the PIA.
“Space PV also has the potential to facilitate major advances in spaceflight and further the Trump Administration’s space superiority agenda,” DOE representatives say.
“The United States, a longstanding global leader in PV technology, developed the first solar cells specifically tailored for spacecraft and, in March 1958, launched the world’s first solar-powered satellite.”
The PIA will fund space-based solar projects for up to three years, with both university and industrial research laboratories eligible for the R&D opportunity.
Potential applicants for the Department of Energy’s space solar fund must complete their bid for department funding Oct. 8. TechWerx, the DOE’s government-funded innovation hub, will host an informational webinar on the research fund Sept. 15.
https://solarbuildermag.com/policy/u-s-doe-announces-12-million-space-solar-fund/
United States Space Force
@USSpaceForce
Join us live today at 11 a.m. ET as Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess assumes responsibility as the next Chief of Space Operations from Gen. Chance Saltzman
at https://dvidshub.net/r/165nnq.
5:45 AM · Sep 3, 2026
https://x.com/USSpaceForce/status/2095493321607041322
https://x.com/USSpaceForce/status/2095245385237225583
moar
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4589880/team-vandenberg-welcomes-new-ncos/
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4589883/vandenbergs-staff-sergeant-promotion-release-party-2026/
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4589615/vandenbergs-hawk-of-the-week-award-on-september-2nd/
SpaceX Starlink Mission
September 2, 2026
On Wednesday, September 2 at 1:42 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 27 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This was the 35th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, NROL-113, NROL-167, NROL-149, NAOS, and now 26 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
There was a possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may have heard one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experienced depended on weather and other conditions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-15-23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msp_aXGeB0I
Latest updates: BepiColombo's arrival at Mercury
03/09/2026
After eight years of travelling through the inner Solar System, BepiColombo is arriving at Mercury. This page will show the latest updates throughout the mission's arrival.
BepiColombo is a world-class science mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in close collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
It will be the first mission to orbit Mercury with two spacecraft, with ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) orbiting the planet at the same time.
The 'arrival phase' begins with the separation of the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) from the spacecraft stack on 3 September 2026.
The composite spacecraft will enter orbit around Mercury on 21 November 2026, and MPO and Mio will separate from each other on 9–10 December 2026. The mission’s science phase is set to begin in April 2027.
3 September 2026
14:52 BST / 15:52 CEST
Acquisition of signal via two Estrack deep space antennas, in Cebreros (Spain) and Malargüe (Argentina), have confirmed the successful separation of BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) from the spacecraft stack.
Current telemetry indicates all systems are nominal, and MPO's solar panels are charging the spacecraft's batteries.
Behind today's success are years of preparation by teams across the BepiColombo mission. Executing a critical separation more than 200 million kilometres from Earth demands precise planning, navigation and commanding, with no opportunity for real-time intervention.
After nearly eight years in space and billions of kilometres travelled, BepiColombo's two science orbiters, ESA's MPO and JAXA's Mio, are now on their way towards orbit insertion around Mercury. MPO will power the spacecraft stack until Mio separates on 9–10 December 2026.
13:41 BST / 14:41 CEST
We have detected the preliminary Doppler signal indicating that MTM has separated from the BepiColombo spacecraft stack. The Doppler signal is a variation in the radio frequency established between Earth and the spacecraft.
When the spacecraft changes velocity, the frequency of the signal changes. It is the same principle that makes us hear a change in pitch in the siren sound when an ambulance moves towards us or away from us.
The initial Doppler signal is consistent with the planned MTM separation sequence. For full confirmation of the separation being successful, we're awaiting a signal from the MPO spacecraft at around 14:53 BST / 15:53 CEST.
13:00 BST / 14:00 CEST
BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module should have now separated from the spacecraft, a key step in the mission's journey towards orbiting Mercury.
Now expecting acquisition of signal confirming separation no earlier than 14:53 BST / 15:53 CEST.
12:45 BST / 13:45 CEST
ESA's livestream has started! You can watch it here.
Information about ESA's livestream
11:03 BST / 12:03 CEST
"Roll call completed, GO for separation" – the Mission Control Team has the green light to proceed with BepiColombo's MTM separation.
The spacecraft is checked and configured, the ground stations are prepared, and the team at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is ready.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Latest_updates_BepiColombo_s_arrival_at_Mercury
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/bepicolombo-mission-begins-mercury-arrival-phase-esa-jaxa
https://x.com/esaoperations/status/2095401729487520202
https://www.youtube.com/live/oC7lQngNG3o
extra ESA
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/09/Separation_for_Mars
https://x.com/Soph_astro/status/2095546012781641800
IISRO Set to Launch EOS-05, India’s First Geosynchronous Imaging Satellite
September 3, 2026
BRIEF: The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to launch EOS-05 (GISAT-1A) on September 4, 2026, at 2:55 am IST aboard GSLV-F17 from Sriharikota.
As India’s first Earth-observation imaging satellite designed for geosynchronous orbit, it will provide frequent wide-area coverage of the Indian region for weather monitoring, disaster management and strategic applications.
ISRO will launch EOS-05, India’s first geosynchronous imaging satellite
NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to return to the launch pad on September 4, 2026, with the GSLV-F17 mission carrying EOS-05, an advanced Earth-observation satellite designed to operate from geosynchronous orbit.
The liftoff is scheduled for 2:55 am IST from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
EOS-05, also known as GISAT-1A, will be India’s first imaging satellite stationed in geosynchronous orbit, approximately 36,000 kilometres above Earth.
Unlike conventional low-Earth-orbit remote-sensing satellites that pass over a location only periodically, a geosynchronous platform can remain fixed relative to the Indian landmass, enabling frequent and near-continuous observation of large areas.
Mission Profile and Launch Vehicle
GSLV-F17 will be the 19th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. The three-stage rocket, standing 51.7 metres tall and weighing about 420.5 tonnes at liftoff, will use a four-metre-diameter ogive composite payload fairing.
It will place the roughly 2,367-kilogram satellite into a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee of around 170 kilometres and an apogee of approximately 28,934 kilometres. EOS-05’s onboard propulsion system will then raise it to its operational geosynchronous orbit.
ISRO has confirmed that live coverage of the mission will begin at 2:25 am IST. Launch enthusiasts can also view the event from the Launch View Gallery at Sriharikota after online registration.
Capabilities of EOS-05
The satellite is equipped for multispectral and hyperspectral imaging.
It is designed to deliver images of selected priority areas as frequently as every five minutes and cover the entire Indian landmass approximately every 30 minutes, with a spatial resolution of around 42 metres under cloud-free conditions.
This high temporal resolution is expected to prove particularly valuable for tracking fast-evolving events.
Data from EOS-05 is intended to support weather monitoring, cyclone tracking, flood and forest-fire detection, agricultural assessment, natural-resource mapping and strategic surveillance.
Agencies involved in disaster management, meteorology, agriculture and national security stand to benefit from the ability to obtain repeated updates over the same region without waiting for the next orbital pass of a polar-orbiting satellite.
A Long-Awaited Capability
The mission represents a second attempt to establish geosynchronous imaging capability.
The earlier GISAT-1 satellite, designated EOS-03, was lost during the GSLV-F10 launch in August 2021 after an anomaly in the cryogenic upper stage prevented the vehicle from reaching the intended orbit. EOS-05 is the successor designed to fulfil that original objective.
For ISRO, the flight also marks a return to orbital launches after a roughly seven-month pause following setbacks in the PSLV programme. Officials note that the GSLV and PSLV use distinct propulsion systems, allowing preparation of this mission to proceed independently.
The launch forms part of ISRO’s wider schedule for the current period, which includes multiple satellite and launch-vehicle missions.
Once EOS-05 reaches its operational orbit and begins delivering data as planned, it will add a distinctive and complementary capability to India’s existing Earth-observation constellation, strengthening the country’s ability to respond rapidly to natural disasters and other dynamic situations on the ground.
https://beatsinbrief.com/2026/09/01/isro-eos-05-gslv-f17-first-geosynchronous-imaging-satellite-september-4/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbcyVX_ci6g
Threats to civilian ships and aircraft constitute ‘state terrorism’ – Putin
3 Sep, 2026 08:59 | Updated 3 Sep, 2026 10:00
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky previously warned foreign carriers that the “safe days” in Russian skies are over
The seizing and targeting of Russian civilian vessels constitute acts of “state terrorism,” President Vladimir Putin has said, warning that these actions are making peace talks with Ukraine more difficult.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, the Russian president denounced the recent captures of Russian civilian vessels and pointed to Kiev’s threats against passenger aircraft.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky previously stated that the “safe days” in Russian skies are over, addressing foreign airlines, insurers, and governments whose aircraft continue to use Russian airspace.
“This, of course, is a manifestation of state terrorism,” Putin said, adding that these actions “undoubtedly complicate the possibility of bilateral peace negotiations.”
He also warned that “those who remain silent and do not pay attention to this become accomplices in international terrorism,” referring to Kiev’s Western backers.
Putin’s remarks came a day after the Norwegian authorities seized the Russian research vessel the Professor Molchanov in Svalbard at the request of Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz. The ship was detained while docked in the Russian settlement of Barentsburg.
The Professor Molchanov is a Russian state-owned research vessel that operates regular passenger and cargo services between Murmansk and Svalbard, carrying scientists, workers, their families, tourists, and supplies to Russian settlements on the archipelago.
Moscow has said the seizure will be challenged in court.
The detention follows a series of Western seizures of Russian-linked vessels accused of belonging to a so-called “shadow fleet,” although the Professor Molchanov itself was seized in connection with a legal claim by Ukraine’s Naftogaz against Russia.
Moscow has rejected the “shadow fleet” label as having no basis in international law and accused Western states of using sanctions as a pretext to interfere with civilian maritime trade.
Putin warned last month that attempts to seize Russian ships and sell their cargo amounted to “piracy and robbery,” saying Moscow is prepared to respond in kind in any part of the world.
Kiev has also stepped up attacks on civilian shipping. Putin said earlier this week that around 100 Russian merchant vessels had been damaged over a 40-day period, with sailors killed in the attacks, including Russian and foreign nationals.
https://www.rt.com/russia/645081-putin-denounces-state-terrorism/
moar RT
https://www.rt.com/business/645053-bessent-ukraine-russia-refineries-attacks/
https://www.rt.com/russia/645088-ukraine-violent-mobilization-rapist/
https://www.rt.com/news/645071-norway-seized-molchanov-arctic-vessel/
https://www.rt.com/news/645046-hailar-massacre-fsb-archive/