Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
The Threat of “Space Waste” – New Research Points to Impacts of Reentering Satellite, Rocket Remains
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November 4th, 2025
Artwork depicts Cluster satellite reentry.
Image credit: ESA/David Ducross
The upsurge in placing mega-satellite constellations into Earth orbit is amplifying the problem of on-orbit space debris, possible impact on Earth’s atmosphere, and increased risk of space waste hitting the Earth.
New research points to the growing hazard of space waste.
“Large satellite constellations are one of the main reasons for an increasing amount of mass being brought into low Earth orbit in recent years. After end of life, the satellites, as well as rocket stages, reenter Earth’s atmosphere. This space waste burns up and thus injects a substantial amount of its matter into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere.”
One object that survived reentry of an Iridium satellite was discovered on the ground back in 2018. Image credit: Kings County Sheriff’s Office
Transition metals
The soon-to-be published work has been done by researchers at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany. They point out that reentering “transition metals” – such as titanium and copper that are used in spacecraft and rocket stages — are threatening Earth’s ozone layer.
The injection of space waste into the Earth’s atmosphere can create “long-term adverse effects on the atmosphere such as ozone depletion, radiative effects and changes in cloud formation, if no action is taken,” concludes Leonard Schulz and colleagues.
“Research is urgently needed into the atmospheric accumulation, chemistry, and general atmospheric effects of specific elements,” the research team explains.
Credit: CORDS
Driving factor
According to the researchers, between 2020 and 2024, the mass influx and injected mass has more than doubled, whereas it stayed almost constant in the years before. “This shows that the onset of the large satellite constellation age is the driving factor of the increased space waste reentry into the atmosphere.”
To gain access to the preprint submitted to the Advances in Space Research journal – “Space waste: An update of the anthropogenic matter injection into Earth atmosphere” – go to:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.21328v1
Images taken recently of purported space debris landing in Australia.
Image credit: Western Australia Police Force
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The Age of Disclosure: A documentary that reveals an 80-year global cover-up of non-human intelligent life, with testimony from 34 U.S. Government insiders is coming November 21st.
The Age of Disclosure featuring U.S. Government, military, and intelligence community – tells the story of a cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin.
The film probes the impact of the situation on the future of humanity, while providing a look behind-the-scenes with those at the forefront of the bi-partisan disclosure effort.
For trailer, go to: https://youtu.be/DkU7ZqbADRs
Also, go to this Real Time with Bill Maher discussion with the film’s producer at:
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Preparations are underway for China’s upcoming Shenzhou-20 crew landing in the Dongfeng Landing Site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Multiple rehearsals have been carried out to prepare for search and recovery operations.
The three Shenzhou-20 crew members — Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — are returning to Earth after a six-month stint in space.
Landing area
“Our five helicopters will be deployed around the landing area of the return capsule, forming a square with the four sides approximately 26 kilometers long each, arranged in a tiered formation into the air,” said Wang Wenjuan, a member of the detachment.
“This setup will ensure that the landing area of the return capsule remains perfectly centered within this square,” Wang told China Central Television (CCTV).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Systematic drills
The medical rescue team also carried out systematic drills, centering on medical treatment under extreme conditions, such as low temperature and darkness.
“We’re familiarized with the treatment process and have renewed our first-aid equipment, which allows our team members to conduct treatment more effectively,” Wang Bingjun, leader of the medical aid team with search and rescue mission for Shenzhou-20, told CCTV.
Astronauts on the Shenzhou-21 manned spaceship were greeted by the Shenzhou-20 crew, who they will be replacing, after successfully docking with China’s Tiangong space station in orbit on November 1 to begin the handover of duties.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Shenzhou-20 crew is now onboard China’s Tiangong space station, engaged in handover procedures with the recently arrived Shenzhou-21 crew members.
Go to this CCTV video spotlighting practice sessions for recovery of the Shenzhou-20 crew at:
Image credit: CCTV/CMSA
A major element of China’s humans-to-the-Moon program is development of a new generation of crewed spaceship.
The Mengzhou-1 is to be launched in 2026, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
A state-run Xinhua news agency story explains that “Mengzhou is developed through a comprehensive upgrade from the Shenzhou crewed spaceship. It adopts a modular design, comprising a return capsule and a service capsule, and it will provide transport between Earth and the space station.”
Maiden flight
The Mengzhou-1 crewed spaceship will make its maiden flight — (uncrewed) atop the Long March-10A carrier rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in southern Hainan Province, and dock with the radial port of the space station’s core module.
New generation Mengzhou spacecraft.
Image credit: CMSA
The spaceship’s overall systems are to be evaluated while delivering to China’s orbital outpost environmental assessment instruments and supplies, technology demonstration payloads, crew necessities, and experiment devices for applied-science tests.
Future launches
CMSA also noted that China will also launch the Shenzhou-22 and Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China next year. Each mission will carry a crew of three astronauts.
The Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will dock with the radial port of the space station’s core module, while Shenzhou-23 will dock with the front port.
“One astronaut of the Shenzhou-22 crew will stay in orbit for a long-duration residency experiment lasting more than one year,” states the Xinhua report.
Astronauts on the Shenzhou-21 manned spaceship were greeted by the Shenzhou-20 crew, who they will be replacing, after successfully docking with China’s Tiangong space station in orbit on November 1 to begin the handover of duties.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China also plans to launch the uncrewed Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in 2026. It will dock with the backward port of the space station’s core module.
Landing site drills
Meanwhile, the recently lofted Shenzhou-21 crew is involved in handover station activities with the Shenzhou-20 trio of space travelers.
Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie flew to the space station in April of this year and are preparing to return to Earth in the coming days.
China Central Television (CCTV) states that multiple comprehensive drills have been conducted at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This recovery crew will handle the return of the Shenzhou-20 crew.
For a new video showing the two crews aboard China’s Tiangong space station, go to:
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-21 crew is now onboard the country’s orbital outpost, the Tiangong space station.
The Shenzhou-21 spaceship successfully docked early November 1 with the front port of the Tianhe core module, a docking process that took about 3.5 hours.
That fast-paced launch-to-docking time set a new record for the most rapid rendezvous and docking between a Shenzhou spacecraft and the space station, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
An in-orbit crew handover from the Shenzhou-20 crew with the newcomers has begun.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
New faces
Chen Dong, commander of the Shenzhou-20 mission, said: “Since you are the new faces here, everything is fresh and exciting, and from this moment on you are embarking on a brand new journey of space exploration.”
The Shenzhou-21 crew consists of mission commander Zhang Lu, who was previously a member of the Shenzhou-15 mission, alongside flight engineer Wu Fei and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, each embarking on their first spaceflight mission.
Handover work
The six space travelers will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work, the CMSA said.
At that point, the Shenzhou-20 crew — Chen Dong, along with Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — will depart the station and head back to Earth after their six-month journey.
Go to these new videos highlighting the liftoff and docking of the Shenzhou-21 at:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/4019423761689879
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1247595994052395
Biofabrication of engineered tissues and grafts in microgravity environments can help sustain long-term space missions and provide insights into disease mechanisms in space.
Image credit: ETH Zurich
Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, via parabolic flight investigation, have succeeded in 3D printing human muscle tissue in microgravity. The intent is to offer a novel approach that would help space travelers cope with health risks that the human body will endure on the Moon, or transiting to Mars.
Printing biological tissue in microgravity means more realistic muscle models that reflect how tissue truly behaves in space.
The technique creates opportunities for on-orbit drug testing and disease modeling (e.g., muscular dystrophy, weightlessness-induced atrophy) in systems that better mimic the human body.
Image credit: Air Zero G by Novespace
Parabolic flights
The ETH Zurich research team used parabolic flights to simulate the microgravity of space for a short period of time. Investigations were carried out onboard an Airbus A310 Zero G flying laboratory operated by Novespace based in France.
ETH researchers developed a new biofabrication system called G-FLight (Gravity-independent Filamented Light). This system enables the rapid production of viable muscle constructs within seconds.
A follow-up aim is to use these techniques to produce complex human “organoids” and tissues on board the International Space Station or future off Earth orbital platforms.
Optical components of G-FLight printer and resin formulations.
Image credit: Michael Winkelbauer, et al.
Gravity’s disruptive forces
According to an ETH statement, “the production of fine, biological structures such as muscle tissue poses a major challenge under normal gravitational conditions on Earth. The goal is to print tissue that looks exactly like the natural structures in the body. However, gravity interferes with the process.”
That said, under microgravity, these disruptive forces disappear.
“Without structural stress, researchers can produce muscle fibers exactly as they are aligned in the body. This precise construction is crucial: only models that accurately reflect the human body structure provide reliable results when testing new drugs or studying disease progression,” the ETH statement explains.
In the micro-g environment of space, researchers can conduct basic research thanks to these ‘organ models.’ The models are used to study diseases such as muscular dystrophy or muscle atrophy caused by weightlessness.
“In addition, they can be used to test the effectiveness of therapeutics in a system that better reflects the complexity of the human body – because 3D printing in weightlessness allows muscle fibers to be aligned with such precision and accuracy,” reports the ETH.
G-FLight printer and example prints of microfilamented constructs.
Image credit: Michael Winkelbauer, et al.
Flight validation
“Biofabrication of engineered tissues and grafts in microgravity environments can help sustain long-term space missions and provide insights into disease mechanisms in space,” points out a research paper led by Michael Winkelbauer of the Institute for Biomechanics, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich.
“As a necessary precursor to future space applications, we have validated the G-FLight printer within parabolic flights, which recreate several cycles of microgravity lasting 20–22 seconds, which represents the time window for printing the constructs,” Winkelbauer and colleagues report.
For access to the informative paper – “Prolonged Cell Encapsulation and Gravity-independent Filamented Light Biofabrication of Muscle Constructs” – go to:
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202512727
For more information on ETH Zurich, go to:
Image credit: Roscosmos/Makeyev State Space Center
Roscosmos, the lead Russian space agency, has announced Project Korona: Creating a fully reusable launch vehicle.
At a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council, held at the Roscosmos facility — the Makeyev State Space Center –key technologies were detailed regarding the Korona research project. The feasibility of the project was reviewed, an effort that “will allow Russia to ensure independent access to space and enter the global space services market,” states a Roscosmos posting.
Development work will begin in 2026.
According to Roscomos, the Kornoa rocket
- will be able to quickly launch satellites into orbit,
- return damaged or retired spacecraft to Earth,
- fly from point A to point B, deliver cargo in minutes, or transport people across intercontinental distances.
Key advantages of Korona would be:
- high launch rates
- low cost of payload launch
- no need to identify impact areas
- the ability not only to launch but also to return cargo from orbit
- point-to-point flights
- preserving cargo in emergency situations
Missile design bureau
Image credit: Makeyev State Space Center
The JSC Makeyev Design Bureau is a Russian missile design company located in Miass, Chelyabinsk region, Russia. According to sources, Korona would be 98 feet (30 meters) tall, sporting a diameter of 33 feet (10 meters).
As a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle capable of performing vertical takeoff and landing, Korona was reportedly studied by the Makeyev Design Bureau from 1992 to 2012. But its development was curtailed due to lack of funding.
In 2016, the design bureau reportedly resumed development of the vehicle and now appears to have been given the Roscosmos go-ahead.
Robotic and human explorers are on the hunt for lunar polar volatiles that can be utilized for an extended stay on the moon.
Image credit: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Earth’s moon is a treasure trove of resources and an upcoming meeting of international experts will focus on today’s state of knowledge regarding volatiles in the lunar polar regions.
Lunar volatiles include hydrogen, water, helium, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide – items that can be used as a fuel source, breathable air, and as a source of drinking water.
The goal of next month’s gathering is to help prepare for an onslaught of upcoming robotic and crewed expeditions by multiple nations to explore for, investigate and ultimately utilize lunar polar volatiles.
Nine candidate landing regions for NASA’s Artemis III mission The background image of the lunar South Pole terrain within the nine regions is a mosaic of LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) WAC (Wide Angle Camera) images.
Image credit: NASA
Wanted: definitive measurements
As for water ice possibly lurking in sunlight-shy craters…what’s truly needed is definitive measurements of the ice content, explains one scientist.
For details, go to my new Space.com story – “Can we find water ice on the moon? Only if we know where to look, scientists say” – at:
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A joint drill has verified the functions and technical status of the combination of the Shenzhou-21 spaceship and its Long March-2F Y21 carrier rocket.
“Through the joint drill involving all the mission areas, we simulated the tracking and control process on the launch day,” said Zhao Guohua, a space engineer at the Qingdao Space Tracking and Control Station under the Xi’an Satellite Tracking and Control Center.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Zhao said that, during the drill, technicians conducted a final inspection of the equipment and re-verified its technical status.
“We are ready to escort the Shenzhou-21 astronaut crew into space,” said Zhao.
Status go
The joint drill, held on October 29th, is like a comprehensive physical examination on the spacecraft, said Liu Xiaochen, a space engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“First, it proves that the status of all systems and equipment on the spacecraft is good. The drill also tested the conditions of mutual matching between the astronaut system and each of the major systems including the rocket system, launch site system, and telemetry and control system, proving that the interfaces are compatible and in good condition, and that the spacecraft is ready for launch,” Liu added.
Loading of propellants
In a China Central Television (CCTV) interview, He Pengju, an engineer at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center said: “The enclosed area where the rocket and spacecraft are located now has two layers of insulation. After today’s full-area drill and the completion of our full-system gas inspection, the following steps include the loading of rocket propellants and the final launch that everyone is eagerly anticipating.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Meanwhile, as the Chinese space station is about to enter the rendezvous and docking orbit, the Shenzhou-20 astronaut crew conducted a manual rendezvous and docking drill to prepare for the arrival of the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.
Station handover
During the Shenzhou-21 crewed spacecraft launch, multiple land-based tracking and control stations, the space-tracking vessel Yuanwang and the Tianlian relay satellite network will sequentially handle the tracking and control tasks.
The Shenzhou-20 crew has been in orbit for half a year since their launch on April 24, 2025. The Shenzhou-21 mission will replace the Shenzhou-20 crew also for a six-month stay in orbit.
Reportedly, an October 31st launch date is targeted to send the yet to be identified Shenzhou-21 replacement crew to the Tiangong space station.
For a new video of launch preparations, go to:
What happens when you meld the search for ET with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology?
The SETI Institute has announced it is incorporating the new NVIDIA IGX Thor platform to enhance its real-time search for signals from space at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) situated in Northern California.
The ATA is the first radio telescope designed from the ground up to be used for SETI searches.
NVIDA is billed as a go-to source for those that need massive computing power to handle their AI needs.
Recognizing unusual or promising data
The SETI Institute is to tap into the ATA’s grouping of 42 antennas that scan the sky for radio signals that may provide clues to cosmic events or, one day, evidence of intelligent life.
NVIDIA IGX Thor.
Image credit: NVDIA
Using the NVIDIA IGX Thor platform there will be the ability to process and interpret these signals directly at the telescope, “dramatically reducing the time it takes to recognize unusual or promising data,” explains the SETI Institute.
Image credit: SETI Institute
This new collaboration builds on the SETI Institute’s earlier success with NVIDIA IGX Orin.
That effort powered the world’s first real-time AI search for fast radio bursts (FRBs)— flashes of radio energy that last milliseconds.
Greater precision
Now the move to IGX Thor will expand those capabilities, allowing researchers to analyze more of the sky, more quickly, and with greater precision.
“By combining scientific curiosity with advanced technology, we’re transforming how we explore the universe,” said Andrew Siemion, Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
“The new NVIDIA platform gives us the reliability and performance to run complex AI models right at the telescope,” Siemion said. “It’s an incredible step forward for our mission,” he explained in a SETI Institute statement.
Allen Telescope Array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Image credit: Seth Shostak/SETI Institute
