A roundup of recent space exploration updates, astronomical discoveries, and environmental impacts on space facilities.
Recent space news covers a SpaceX rocket colliding with the moon, China's Tianwen-2 probe reaching a quasi-moon, a NASA deep space observatory hit by wildfires, and new astronomical discoveries including an exomoon and a sugar molecule.
AI-generated summary
Recent advancements and incidents span space debris tracking, planetary science, and astronomical anomalies.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon—and It Could Be Visible From Earth
The impact will kick up a plume of debris so high, it’ll likely be visible through some telescopes. Astronomers will be watching.
China’s Tianwen-2 Space Probe Has Rendezvoused With Earth’s Quasi-Moon
The probe sent back the first pictures of the asteroid Kamo’oalewa. Next step: landing on the surface and collecting samples to send back to Earth.
One of NASA’s Most Important Deep Space Observatories Hit by Spanish Wildfires
Flames burned through the Deep Space Communications Complex near Madrid, but NASA has been unable to assess the damage as a wildfire emergency grips the region.
Astronomers Have Detected an Exomoon for the First Time
A discovery in a solar system 73 light-years from Earth is challenging definitions and “blurring the lines between stars, planets, and moons.”
The Search for Another Earth-Like Planet Just Took a Big Step Forward
Astronomers have discovered a rocky exoplanet that has an atmosphere and sits within the habitable zone of a solar system.
It’s Becoming Clear Why Black Holes Never Run Out of Fuel
Black holes eject powerful energy jets that blow away the surrounding gas to great distances. So how can they continue to grow?
France Had Never Seen a ‘Fire Cloud’ Until This Month’s Record-Smashing Blazes
Extreme fire conditions on the ground have created unprecedented conditions in the atmosphere.
Mysterious Compound Detected on Pluto and Titan
Something on Pluto and one of Saturn’s moons, Titan, absorbs light in a way unexplained by anything in spectroscopic databases.
An Extreme Solar Storm May Be Even More Devastating Than Previously Imagined
Scientists have long assumed that there’s an upper limit to the intensity of the solar winds that reach Earth. New research suggests there’s not—and the implications are alarming.
Astronomers Have Found a Sugar Molecule in Deep Space for the First Time Ever
Researchers identified traces of erythrulose, a monosaccharide, thousands of light-years away.
The US Approves Launch of Mirror Satellite That Can Reflect Sunlight and Illuminate the Earth at Night
The FCC authorized Reflect Orbital to launch the mirror satellite Eärendil-1. “For optical astronomy, this poses an existential threat,” the European Southern Observatory said.

Software engineer Margaret Hamilton, who led the team that programmed NASA's Apollo mission computers, has died at the age of 90, MIT announced.

Astronomers will test new equipment aboard NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope that could eventually prove crucial for discovering Earthlike planets.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to bolster its space sector, calling for independent crewed spaceflight capabilities and a reduction in reliance on US and Russian services to close the technological gap with global competitors.

President Donald Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts who flew around the moon in April, announcing the creation of a US space academy for the Space Force, NASA, and commercial space community during a ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

China is set to launch its Chang’e-7 robotic space mission to search for ice water in permanently shadowed craters at the moon's south pole, featuring an orbiter, lander, rover, and a unique hopper.

China's Tianwen-2 space probe has reached the near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa after a 400-day journey. Launched in May 2025, the mission aims to collect asteroid samples, a first for China, potentially offering insights into solar system formation.