TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
September 19, 2026
A Zodiacal Night
Also known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during September's star party at the remote Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India, planet Earth. At about 4,500 meters altitude, the dark sky reserve presents a haven for hardy stargazing and astrophotography enthusiasts. While meteors streak through the night, bright planet Jupiter appears immersed in the faint zodiacal glow near the eastern horizon. Follow the zodiacal band toward the zenith to find open star cluster M44 and a yellowish tinged planet Mars near the center of the frame. In fact, serendipitous detections of interplanetary dust by NASA's Juno spacecraft suggest Mars itself is the source of dust that back scatters sunlight and creates zodiacal light in planet Earth's night.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZlF0e8HuTk
==Star Crosses the Stream, Disaster Survival Mind | S0 News and frens=
Sep.19.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RsP-hvudgA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISUZIAg_2M (Max Velocity: This Super El Niño Just Took A HUGE Turn…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oofnlhtcj_A (Mr Weatherman: Heavy Tropical Wave moving through Jamaica…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBqVUobmPhs (dutchsinse: 9/18/2026 REVISED Earthquake Forecast LARGE M6.5 level activity incoming – Multiple locations)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChIuj9yuHKk (On the Pulse with Silki: ALASKA JUST SHOOK — M6.5 + Aftershocks: Is Something Bigger Coming)
-
wildfires
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/an-unworldly-experience-why-scientists-flew-into-firestorm-clouds-this-wildfire-season
https://arkadelphian.com/2026/09/18/hollywood-wildfire-erupts-no-homes-in-danger/
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1023654/arkansas-national-guard-battles-southern-arkansas-wildfires-with-support-oklahoma-mississippi-guards
https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2026-09-19/Hungarian-researchers-develop-digital-tool-to-help-fight-wildfires-1QfJPb3D2GQ/p.html
https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/charente-man-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-for-starting-dozens-of-wildfires/816269
https://sharjah24.ae/en/Articles/2026/09/19/Wildfire-threatens-Ecuadors-capital-as-helicopters-respond
-
storms and floods
https://weather.com/2026/09/19/forecast/regional/flood-threat-kansas-city-chicago-midwest-minneapolis
https://texasstormchasers.com/forecast/severe-storms-today-in-west-texas-record-heat-driving-extreme-fire-danger-9-19/
https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/dangerous-flood-warnings-issued-for-multiple-counties-in-illinois-wisconsin-and-iowa/
https://www.ktvb.com/article/weather/idaho-state-highway-21-cfollowing-flash-flooding-mudslide/277-3cab2021-4c22-4ac0-87b2-cd410c130164
https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/flooding-continues-in-northern-new-mexico/
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2026/09/severe-thunderstorm-causes-considerable-flooding-and-damage-across-eastern-idaho/
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/09/19/duke-energy-over-1k-customers-without-power-upstate-during-severe-thunderstorm/
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/09/high-flood-to-hit-lagos-delta-imo-12-other-states-in-7-days-nihsa/
-
tornadoes
https://www.cubaheadlines.com/articles/340663
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/rare-high-elevation-tornado-hits-152650704.html
1/2
-
hurricanes and frens
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/09/18/breaking-news/uscg-hawaii-harbors-reopened-after-hurricane-lowell/
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/japan-weather-agency-warns-of-landslides-floods-as-typhoon-draws-near
https://www.gematsu.com/2026/09/tokyo-game-show-2026-day-five-cancelled-due-to-severe-weather-concerns
https://www.dzrh.com.ph/post/typhoon-dujuan-intensifies-outside-par
-
earthquakes
https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/36-magnitude-earthquake-hits-near-great-falls
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/earthquake-33-magnitude-rattles-coast-11162891
https://www.thedailyjagran.com/world/news/earthquakes-strike-bhutan-and-tibet-49-and-44-magnitude-tremors-felt-in-himalayan-region-including-northeast-10329781
https://cedarnews.net/newstasks/994389/earthquake-santiago-rattles-4-8-magnitude-hits/
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/5.2-magnitude-earthquake-hits-Indonesia/67136685
https://cedarnews.net/newstasks/994936/earthquake-m5-5-strikes-peru-ecuador-border/
-
volcanoes
https://unofficialnetworks.com/2026/09/19/volcano-erupts-chile-ski-resort/
-
dailys
https://schumannresonance.today/
https://www.weather.gov/
https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Drought%20Persists%20Across%20Much%20Of%20The%20US
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/359942/Volcano-earthquake-report-2026-09-19.html
https://www.spaceweather.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=19&month=09&year=2026
2/2
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260919031040.htm
other space objects
https://www.unilad.com/news/world-news/asteroid-tracking-milestone-40000-041023-20260919
A giant crater may reveal the origin of Mars’ doomed moon
September 19, 2026
Summary:
A massive crater on Mars’ moon Phobos may hide a dense region of compressed material that could reveal whether the moon is a captured asteroid or debris from an ancient impact on Mars.
Japan’s upcoming MMX sample return mission could provide the measurements and physical evidence needed to solve the mystery.
The large impact crater known as Stickney is the largest crater on the Martian moon Phobos.
Some scientists believe the grooves and crater chains are related to the formation of Stickney, whereas others think they may have formed as a result of the ejecta from impacts on Mars that later collided with Phobos.
The lineated textures on the walls of Stickney and other large craters are landslides formed from materials falling into the crater interiors. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Mars' innermost moon, Phobos, has puzzled planetary scientists for decades. One of the biggest unanswered questions is where it came from.
Some researchers think Phobos is an asteroid that was captured by Mars, while others argue that it formed from debris thrown into orbit after a massive object slammed into the planet.
Solving that mystery may depend on something scientists still know surprisingly little about: what Phobos looks like on the inside.
Researchers are now trying to narrow down the possibilities by studying subtle characteristics of the moon, including its gravity and motion.
At the recent European Geosciences Union general assembly in Vienna, scientists presented work modeling these geophysical measurements around one of Phobos' most dramatic features, Stickney Crater.
Stickney Crater Could Hold a Key Clue
The enormous Stickney Crater is central to the debate over Phobos' history. If Phobos formed from debris created by a giant impact on Mars, the collision that produced the 9 km (5.6 mile) diameter crater may have occurred roughly 4.2 billion years ago.
If Phobos was instead captured as an asteroid, the Stickney impact could have happened much later, around 2.6 billion years ago.
Current estimates suggest that Phobos has a porous interior that may contain water ice, according to Benjamin Haser and co-author Thomas Andert in a 2026 paper published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
One promising way to investigate those possibilities is to map Phobos' gravity in greater detail. The researchers are particularly interested in whether the Stickney impact created a concentrated region of denser material beneath the crater.
The Stickney event is one of the most important episodes in Phobos' history, and learning more about it could help scientists determine where the moon came from, Haser, a doctoral student in planetary science at Germany's Universität der Bundeswehr München, told me in Vienna.
Phobos Is More Than a Rock in Orbit
Phobos is small and strangely shaped, but Haser says it should not be viewed as simply a 'rock in orbit.'
The moon has a mean diameter of only 22.2 km (13.8 miles) and races around Mars once every 7 hours and 39 minutes.
Scientists have developed two main explanations for its origin.
Under one scenario, a giant object struck Mars and blasted material into orbit. That debris eventually formed a disc around the planet and later produced Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, Haser and Andert write in their MNRAS paper.
The competing idea is that the moons began as asteroids and were later captured by Mars' gravity. Their spectral properties, along with models of asteroid capture, provide support for that possibility, according to the researchers.
Understanding Phobos' gravitational field is therefore a critical step toward learning how mass is distributed inside the moon and, in turn, determining how it formed.
Haser noted in his EGU 26 paper that current estimates point to a porous interior, possible water ice, and a denser concentration of material near Phobos' equatorial region.
Could Phobos Be Like a Giant Sponge?
Stickney Crater raises another difficult question. An impact large enough to create such an enormous scar might be expected to destroy a moon as small as Phobos.
Haser says survival may have been possible if the moon had an unusually low and relatively uniform density, allowing it to absorb the impact somewhat like a sponge.
"You would assume that such an impact would have shattered Phobos, unless it has a very low homogeneous density, like a sponge that can absorb that kind of impact," says Haser.
1/2
The collision also would have generated intense heat around the impact site.
"And at that impact region, there must be very high temperature that melted and compressed the stone beneath it," he says.
That compression could have left behind a denser region below Stickney Crater, creating a subtle gravitational signature that scientists may be able to detect.
A Possible Rubble Pile Asteroid
Haser says several characteristics of Phobos fit well with the captured asteroid explanation.
In particular, the moon's irregular appearance resembles what scientists call a rubble pile asteroid, an object made from many pieces of rock held together relatively loosely by gravity.
But fitting all the evidence into one explanation remains difficult.
Phobos' present-day gravity field, shape, density, spectral properties, and changing orbit must all be reconciled within a single geophysical model. Its highly irregular shape and extreme proximity to Mars make interpreting its gravity and internal structure especially challenging.
In the paper, we investigate how a compressed mass beneath Stickney crater affects the tiny moon's gravitational signal, moments of inertia, and libration amplitude (essentially how Phobos wobbles and oscillates), says Haser.
Those tiny changes in Phobos' movement could ultimately reveal how material is arranged inside the Moon.
University Student Graduation
Phobos is unusual not only because of its mysterious past, but also because of what is happening to it today.
Its orbit is extremely close to Mars, and the moon is gradually spiraling inward. Eventually, it is expected either to break apart or collide with the planet.
"Phobos' orbit is dynamically very special; it is very close to Mars, slowly spiraling inward, and will eventually be disrupted or impact Mars," says Haser.
That makes Phobos both a preserved record of events billions of years ago and a moon that is continuing to change.
"This means that Phobos is not only a record of the past, but also an actively evolving geophysical system," he says.
University Student Graduation
Scientists may soon get their best opportunity yet to investigate Phobos directly.
Japan's upcoming Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, targeted to launch in late 2026, is designed to study Phobos and return samples of its surface to Earth.
The spacecraft will attempt to operate in a quasi-stable orbit around the tiny moon, an unusually difficult maneuver because Phobos does not offer the kind of stable orbital environment found around larger worlds.
As Haser points out, there truly is no stable orbit around Phobos.
Part of the difficulty comes from Mars itself. Phobos' own gravitational field is extremely weak compared with the much stronger gravitational pull of the planet nearby.
"Phobos' gravity field is strongly overshadowed by Mars' gravity field," says Haser.
Despite those challenges, the MMX spacecraft is expected to use two systems to gather material from Phobos.
One core sampler will collect material from depths of up to 2 cm. A second system, a pneumatic sampler (being contributed by NASA), will fire pressurized gas at the surface to "loft material into a sample container," according to the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA).
The collected samples are expected to return to Earth by mid 2031 inside a capsule designed to survive re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.
The Bigger Mystery Inside Phobos
As for what Haser finds most puzzling about Phobos?
The biggest question is not simply what materials make up the moon. Scientists also need to determine what kind of internal structure could account for all of its unusual characteristics at once.
For Haser, answering that question will be essential for distinguishing among the competing explanations for Phobos' birth, including asteroid capture, formation from debris created by a giant impact on Mars, or perhaps a more complicated origin involving elements of more than one scenario.
2/2
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/xrism/xrism-sees-pulsar-gathering-companions-wind/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/xrism/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXgZFQ4aLY
moar
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/worldview-image-archive/nusantara-future-capital-indonesia
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-punched-5-holes-into-mars-the-craters-revealed-a-surprise
https://www.bradenton.com/news/article317299341.html
Progress 96 Docking
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/russia-progress-96-cargo-spacecraft-iss-docking
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/09/19/progress-96-cargo-spacecraft-docks-to-station-to-resupply-crew/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/09/19/progress-96-cargo-spacecraft-approaching-station-for-docking/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v03RjDNwG1o
NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’
Sep 18, 2026
Using data from the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) observatory, astronomers have directly observed a giant star’s outflow, called a stellar wind, being captured by its compact companion and providing the power source for strong X-ray flares.
The research is part of NASA’s exploration of the extreme universe to better understand how the cosmos works.
“We’ve never before seen clear indications of wind plasma falling onto a compact object,” said Roi Rahin, a researcher at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“We can now test our understanding of these processes in much greater detail.”
A paper describing the findings published Friday in the journal Science Advances.
The target system is BP Crucis, a high-mass X-ray binary located about 13,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Crux.
The primary star, known as Wray 977, is a blue hypergiant about 40 times the Sun’s mass and 60 times its size. It’s so big, hot, and luminous that ionized gas constantly streams away from it, a phenomenon astronomers call a stellar wind.
The supergiant’s companion is a tiny-but-mighty neutron star called GX 301-2.
The crushed core of a star that long ago exploded as a supernova, it packs more than the Sun’s mass into a ball roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) across.
Rotating every 11 minutes, it sweeps an X-ray beam toward Earth, which classifies it as a pulsar.
1/2
Twice during the pulsar’s 41.5-day orbit, near its closest and farthest points from the primary star, strong X-ray flares occur for several days.
Astronomers think the pulsar’s gravitational influence on the star creates an especially dense stream of plasma. Flares occur when the pulsar traverses this stream and captures some of its matter.
The strongest eruptions happen closer to the star, where the stream is denser.
The researchers targeted the system with XRISM on Feb. 1, 2025, observing it for about 16 hours near the end of one of these stronger flares.
The observatory’s Resolve instrument, jointly developed by NASA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), captured highly detailed X-ray spectra, revealing rapidly changing emission and absorption lines.
In particular, absorption lines from highly ionized iron revealed the speed and direction of plasma relatively close to the pulsar.
When Rahin first saw these spectra, he realized he hadn’t seen anything like them before. He scoured the scientific literature for similar observations and came up empty-handed.
“It was clear that these observations were groundbreaking, but at the same time this meant the analysis had to be especially detailed,” said Nazma Islam, a co-author formerly at UMBC and NASA Goddard and now an assistant professor at Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences, India.
“We could see how the dense stream of plasma acts very close to the neutron star.”
Rahin and his team show that the iron absorption lines they observed are displaced to lower energies than they would be if measured in a laboratory.
This displacement, called a redshift, indicates motion away from the observer, which means the gas is flowing toward the pulsar.
The extent of the redshift indicates the plasma’s velocity. The team’s analysis indicates gas is racing toward the pulsar at speeds of around 335,000 mph (540,000 kph).
Here’s what the researchers think is going on: As the pulsar enters the stream, it sweeps up gas into a thick, messy, turbulent disk. This gas spirals down to the pulsar, heats up, and emits X-rays to power the flares.
As the pulsar pushes farther into the stream, the turbulent disk breaks down. Astronomers suspect that as the pulsar moves more directly into the flow, the stream no longer has the angular momentum required to maintain the disk.
Once the disk dissipates, plasma flows directly onto the neutron star. Observations with XRISM occurred near the end of this phase.
Then, as the pulsar nears the end of the stream, a messy disk briefly returns, this time spinning in the opposite direction. And then it, too, disappears as the pulsar exits. In all, the pulsar takes about four days to transit the stream.
“The BP Crucis system is an ideal laboratory for studying wind-fed pulsar accretion, and XRISM’s sensitive, high-resolution Resolve spectrometer is an ideal instrument for advancing our understanding of the processes involved,” said Brian Williams, the mission’s project scientist at NASA Goddard.
2/2
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
@NASAAdmin
@NASAStennis helped power America to the Moon during Apollo, and it has an important role to play as we return to stay.
We heard directly from the workforce and visited the historic B-Test Complex, where @blueorigin will test New Glenn’s upper stage through its agreement with NASA.
Putting world-class American infrastructure to work with commercial partners is how we move faster, strengthen our industrial base, and stay ahead.
We also met with @USSOCOM leadership and watched Naval Special Warfare’s Special Boat Team 22 conduct an impressive hot extraction demonstration. Incredible capability and professionalism on display.
A great reminder of the extraordinary people and capabilities behind American leadership on Earth and beyond.
Jared Isaacman
@rookisaacman
There are some perks to the job, and having @us_navyseals Special Boat Team 22 at @NASAStennis has its advantages.
As always, I remain incredibly impressed by and grateful for the men and women who put on the uniform every day to serve our country 🇺🇸
2:26 PM · Sep 18, 2026
https://x.com/rookisaacman/status/2101060206444658906
moar
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2101070915463430518
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2101310608054292795
https://x.com/NASA_Marshall/status/2101340539018744195
Rocket Lab launches an Earth-observing radar satellite from New Zealand
September 19, 2026
The "Owl By The Dozen" mission lifted off at 11:22 p.m. ET tonight (Sept. 18).
Rocket Lab launched a Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit tonight (Sept. 18).
An Electron rocket carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft for the Tokyo-based company Synspective lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site tonight at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT and 3:22 p.m. local time on Sept. 19).
SAR satellites can study Earth both night and day and peer through cloudy skies. Synspective is assembling a constellation of such spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO), which it calls Strix, after a widespread genus of owls.
The Strix network "provides data for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring and disaster response" in Japan, Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.
Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for this constellation to date. Tonight's mission was the 12th the company has performed to build the Strix network, with another 15 on the books in the future.
Electron delivered the single Strix satellite to LEO, 355 miles (572 kilometers) above Earth, about 53 minutes after liftoff as planned.
Rocket Lab tends to give Synspective launches owl-themed names. Tonight's mission, for example, was called "Owl by the Dozen." It was Rocket Lab's 17th launch of 2026 and 96th overall.
Most of these flights have been performed by the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron, a two-stage vehicle that gives small satellites dedicated rides to the final frontier.
But Rocket Lab also flies a suborbital version of Electron called HASTE, which debuted in June 2023 and now has nine launches under its belt.
The company is also developing a more powerful, partially reusable orbital rocket called Neutron, which could debut late this year or in early 2027.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/rocket-lab-electron-owl-by-the-dozen-launch
https://rocketlabcorp.com/missions/launches/owl-by-the-dozen/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnN8Pj8WvSo
Team Vandenberg honors POW/MIA service members during annual observance
Sept. 18, 2026
Team Vandenberg honored prisoners of war and service members missing in action during the 2026 POW/MIA Recognition Day observance at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, Sept. 17-18, 2026.
The two-day remembrance began with an opening ceremony at the base track, where Col. Justin M. Overmyer, Space Launch Delta 30 deputy commander of operations, delivered remarks before leading participants on the first lap of a 24-hour ruck, run and walk.
Throughout the vigil, Airmen, Guardians and members of the Vandenberg community carried the POW/MIA flag while names of more than 83,000 prisoners of war and missing service members from World War II, Korea and Vietnam were read aloud.
The observance concluded Sept. 18 at the Vandenberg POW/MIA Memorial with a closing ceremony hosted by Col. Lawrence A. Smith II, Space Launch Delta 30 deputy commander.
The ceremony included the presentation of the colors, the national anthem, an invocation, closing remarks and a ceremonial flag folding performed by the Vandenberg Honor Guard in honor of prisoners of war and those still missing in action.
The 24-hour event served as a reminder of Team Vandenberg’s commitment to honoring the courage and sacrifice of those who served, preserving the memory of those who never returned home and ensuring they are never forgotten.
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4606659/team-vandenberg-honors-powmia-service-members-during-annual-observance/
https://x.com/USSpaceForce/status/2101068894676951045
moar Space Force
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4605491/after-being-discharged-under-vaccine-mandate-army-soldier-reinstates-and-comple/
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4605264/diu-and-space-systems-command-award-ghost-r-prototype-contracts-to-support-geo
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/space-operations/2026/09/space-force-looks-for-service-members-from-across-the-military-to-fill-its-ranks/
https://x.com/USSpaceForce/status/2101310515829956858
SpaceX Starlink Mission
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 27 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 10 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX.
This will be the 17th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SDA-T1TL-B, SDA-T1TL-C, Transporter-16, and 13 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-15-27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjBMPqhEBTg
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Branding_and_Partnerships/ESA_and_The_Pokemon_Company_International_reveal_Europe-wide_exhibition_and_astronaut_Pikachu_experience
moar ESA
https://x.com/Soph_astro/status/2101341948153868502
ESA and The Pokémon Company International reveal Europe-wide exhibition and astronaut Pikachu experience
19/09/2026
The European Space Agency (ESA) and The Pokémon Company International (TPCI) have launched an official collaboration to celebrate World Space Week 2026 from 4–10 October 2026.
As a special element of the collaboration, a Pikachu plush travelled to the International Space Station during ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot’s mission. It spent 67 days in orbit, from 11 April to 17 June 2026, completing approximately 1040 orbits.
The much-anticipated collaboration will also bring a temporary exhibition centred on Space and Pokémon to ESA sites and major museums across Europe, alongside exclusive merchandise and a special Pokémon GO event.
The programme is designed to inspire curiosity about space exploration among audiences of all ages.
“Inspiring future generations is a key part of ESA’s mission.
Through this collaboration with Pokémon, we are unlocking new ways for people across Europe to connect with space through a unique and engaging experience,” says ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher.
“By taking space exploration beyond traditional settings, we hope to ignite curiosity, spark a sense of wonder about our Universe and encourage people of all ages to discover the opportunities that space offers for the future.”
“Every Pokémon journey begins with a sense of wonder about what lies beyond the world you know. From distant regions to encounters that reach into outer space, that spirit of discovery has always been part of being a Pokémon Trainer.
Collaborating with ESA opens a new frontier for fans, bringing together the world of Pokémon and the wonder of space for visitors at locations across Europe.” said Mathieu Galante, senior director of licensing at The Pokémon Company International.
A unique ESA x Pokémon exhibition
The cornerstone of the collaboration is a family-friendly brand-new exhibition, co-created by ESA and Pokémon, blending real scientific content with imaginative visual storytelling.
Through themed panels, visitors will explore key aspects of Europe's space activities, discovering, among other things, how Europe launches missions, supports astronauts aboard the International Space Station, studies the Sun, and explores the Solar System and the wider Universe.
Selected panels incorporate Pokémon characters, adding a playful and engaging dimension to scientific topics.
Launch across ESA sites and museums in Europe
The exhibition will debut during ESA Open Days 2026 across ESA establishments:
ESA Headquarters, Paris, France: 19-20 September 2026
ESRIN, Rome, Italy: 25 September 2026
ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands: 26–27 September 2026
ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany: 2 October 2026
ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain: 3 October 2026
ECSAT, Harwell, United Kingdom: 10 October 2026
Following its launch, the exhibition will also be present in different venues and for different events across Europe, where it will be hosted from early October 2026 until April 2027.
Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France
Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia, Spain
Deutsches Museum, Nuremberg, Germany
Euro Space Center, Transinne, Belgium
Lucca Comics & Games, Lucca, Italy
Science Museum, London, United Kingdom
Space Expo, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Visit the page dedicated to the collaboration on the ESA website to learn more about the exhibition content and related missions.
Exclusive merchandise and collectible content
The collaboration will also introduce exclusive ESA x Pokémon merchandise, a range of apparel, accessories and collectibles will be available through ESA and Pokémon retail channels, as well as in partner museum shops.
Designed as an extension of the visitor experience, the collection will carry the spirit of exploration beyond the exhibition.
Extending the experience with Pokémon GO V2
The collaboration will also extend into the digital world through a Pokémon GO in-game activation inspired by ESA x Pokémon.
From 4 October 2026 to 30 April 2027, Trainers visiting participating science and space museums across Europe will be able to discover special Pokémon GO gameplay inspired by the wonders of space, including encounters with Astronaut Pikachu.
Visitors to participating museums will be able to take part in a range of in-game activities, including One-Star Raids featuring Astronaut Pikachu, Timed Research and special Pokémon encounters.
Some Pokémon encountered through these activities may feature a special Location Background commemorating their visit.
From 4-10 October 2026, additional event-themed gameplay will be available, including Field Research and increased wild Pokémon spawns at participating museum locations.
All the above gameplay, excluding Location Backgrounds, will be available at ESA locations across Europe from 4 October to 10 October, 2026.
For more information about Research in Pokémon GO visit: https://pokemongo.com/news/european-space-agency-event.
2/2
its the Great Martian War all over again
https://www.rt.com/business/645880-french-swiss-firms-russian-assets/
https://www.nestle.com/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/nestle-operations-russia
moar RT
https://www.rt.com/news/645969-canada-eu-loan-framework-ukraine/
https://www.rt.com/news/645962-eu-ukraine-three-billion/
https://www.rt.com/news/645971-tusk-ukraine-casualty-number/
https://www.rt.com/russia/645952-russia-parliamentary-elections-start/
Putin approves takeover of French and Swiss giants’ Russian assets. Why now?
19 Sep, 2026 02:46 | Updated 19 Sep, 2026 10:04
Moscow has linked the move to Western support for Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian subsidiaries of Nestle, Auchan and Leroy Merlin placed under temporary management owing to Western support for Ukrainian strikes on Russian civilian and economic infrastructure.
Moscow introduced the temporary management mechanism in 2023 in response to Western companies leaving Russia and the seizure of Russian state and private assets abroad.
Officials said it was intended to keep strategically important businesses operating and shield the economy from decisions by “unfriendly” countries.
On Thursday, Putin amended the 2023 decree to add the Russian assets of Nestle, Auchan and Leroy Merlin to the list. All three were transferred to L.E.V. Management, a business and management consultancy.
Why now?
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the companies’ home countries and their support for Kiev were major factors behind the decision.
“We are talking about European companies, companies from unfriendly countries,” he told journalists on Friday. “These are unfriendly countries that are actively involved in military actions against our country,” Peskov said, adding that some also support Ukrainian strikes “against our civilian economic infrastructure.”
Why these companies?
Auchan and Leroy Merlin are controlled by France’s Mulliez family through ELO Group and ADEO respectively. Nestle’s Russian business was controlled by subsidiaries of the Swiss food giant.
France has been one of Kiev’s major military backers throughout the conflict. President Emmanuel Macron also pushed a “forward deterrence initiative” earlier this year that could see French nuclear weapons deployed elsewhere in Europe.
Moscow has warned that such a strategy could backfire, saying it cannot “ignore an obvious buildup of the nuclear component of NATO’s joint potential.”
Switzerland, meanwhile, has backed EU sanctions against Russia, prompting Moscow to designate it an “unfriendly nation.”
Bern has also considered easing restrictions on the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, sparking criticism from the country’s largest party that its longstanding neutrality is being eroded.
1/2
Strikes on Russian infrastructure
The takeover also comes amid continued Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilian and energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has recently targeted warehouses and logistics facilities belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, and its rival Ozon.
Kiev has acknowledged deliberately striking the facilities, claiming their networks are used by the Russian military to procure, store and transport dual-use goods. Moscow rejects the allegations and has denounced the attacks as terrorism.
Ukrainian media reported in July that French intelligence was providing “critical targeting assistance” for strikes on at least eight Wildberries facilities, as well as refineries and other infrastructure.
How important is Russia to the companies?
Russia has been a significant market for the French retailers.
At its peak, Auchan Russia was one of the country’s largest foreign retail chains and was still operating around 230 stores as of 2025.
ELO reported in 2023 that Russia generated 10% of its revenue, making it the group’s third-largest market after France and Spain.
ADEO relinquished operational control of its Russian subsidiary in 2023, handing management to local executives.
However, documents obtained by French investigative outlet L’Informe indicated that ADEO continued to classify the operation as a subsidiary and an “autonomous business unit.”
Leroy Merlin, rebranded as Lemana PRO in Russia in 2024, remained a major source of revenue for ADEO.
L’Informe reported that Russia was the group’s second-largest market by revenue after France in 2024 and accounted for around 18.5% of its worldwide revenue in 2025.
Nestle has less exposure. Its Russian operations account for about 1% of global sales, according to Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Swiss investment bank Vontobel. RBK estimated Nestle Russia’s revenue at 258 billion rubles ($3.06 billion) in 2025.
How have the companies reacted?
Auchan and Lemana PRO said they had received no official notification from the Russian authorities about the status of their assets and had requested clarification. Both said their stores were operating normally as of Friday.
Nestle said it “takes note” of the presidential decree and is “assessing the situation and its options.” The company said it would take “all necessary steps to protect its rights and ensure continuity of business operations in the interests of all stakeholders.”
What happens to the assets?
Under the 2023 framework, foreign owners temporarily lose control of assets placed under management but do not automatically forfeit ownership.
Some assets have been transferred directly to Russian state bodies. In 2023, the Russian operations of Germany’s Uniper and Finland’s Fortum were placed under the Federal Property Management Agency.
In other cases, Moscow has authorized sales. Putin approved the sale of Goldman Sachs’ Russian subsidiary to Balchug Capital in January 2025.
The system also allows assets to be returned. In March 2025, Italian appliance maker Ariston regained control of Ariston Thermo Rus after announcing its return to the Russian market.
The subsidiary had been placed under the temporary management of Gazprom Household Systems the previous year.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in 2025 that cases would be assessed individually.
Companies that left under government pressure but preserved jobs, contacts and technology, as well as a buy-back option, could be allowed to return, he said.
2/2