For the first time, astronomers combined Hubble and Webb space telescopes to hunt down some of the smallest, faintest objects ever spotted in the outer Solar System.
The post Hubble and Webb Team Up to Spy Tiny Frozen Worlds beyond Neptune appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Chinese scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have run satellite proximity simulations to extend potentially hostile observation of U.S. space assets in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), seemingly inching both countries closer to a potential war in space.
Although the new simulations focus on orbital adjustments to extend observation times and increase proximity to U.S. satellites, including critical missile warning and other space defense-oriented systems, Chinese scientists also plan to integrate reinforcement learning methods into future space assets to give satellites even more independence from human operators.
In the 20th century, the concept of war in space remained mostly in the realm of science fiction, as depicted in popular films like Star Wars. Today, advances in space access, orbital maneuvering technologies, and weapons systems have made the possibility of a future conflict in space a very real security concern, and several nations engage in espionage using reconnaissance spacecraft to obtain information on valuable defense targets in Earth’s orbit.
According to the authors of the new study, “acquiring multi-aspect payload information of non-cooperative targets to infer their functions and mission statuses is of great significance for space security assessment.”
The study authors highlight a series of relative motion configurations that modern spy satellites employ, including fly-around, hovering, and drifting flight. They also point to real-world “adversarial” U.S missions they suggest were designed to gather intelligence on their GEO defense assets.
“Since 2014, the US GSSAP (United States Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program) satellite has carried out hundreds of maneuvers and has conducted close observation operations on dozens of normally working satellites near GEO orbit,” the Beijing University of Technology scientists write.
The study authors also include a specific July 2021 accusation, where they charge that “the U.S. satellite ‘USA-271’ deliberately approached the operational ‘Practice 20’ satellite in geostationary orbit and flew in close proximity.”
In an email to The Debrief, a U.S. Space Command Spokesperson did not address the specific incident or the accusations of “dozens” of similar operations, but offered some insight into the agency’s thinking.
“USSPACECOM, working with allies and partners, plans, executes, and integrates military spacepower into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression, defend national interests, and when necessary, defeat threats,” the spokesperson told The Debrief, adding that “we have nothing additional to add in response to the article.”
In a step toward potential dogfights between satellites, the Chinese scientists looked at several challenges faced by current spy satellites.
For example, they explain, since most spacecraft observation cameras are mounted in a fixed position, “frequent large-angle attitude maneuvers are time-consuming and consume substantial fuel.” The researcher also noted that several different angles and approaches could yield different categories of intelligence data.
However, changing angles and orbital planes requires fuel, an extremely limited resource in GEO. Therefore, the researcher accounting for all the variables required to gather intelligence on adversarial spacecraft as efficiently as possible “has become a key bottleneck in enhancing space situational awareness capabilities.”
To find an optimized solution, the team designed what they called a “waypoint trajectory planning scheme” and a “multi-impulse maneuver strategy” using a common game-theory tool called “minimum integral squared control” theory. Unlike previous research aimed at extending spy satellite observation time and fuel efficiency, the Chinese scientists said their use of sequential coalition game theory “is introduced for the first time into the multi-model combined observation problem.”
Next, the researchers designed a “game tree.” A press release said this approach lets the spacecraft select the “optimal combination of initial motion points and close-range operation models at each stage under minimum fuel constraints, thereby generating an optimal observation strategy sequence.”
Finally, the researchers ran simulations to see whether their approach improved sensor observation times and field of view while reducing fuel use.
As hoped, the Beijing University of Technology team said their simulations supported the theories. Specifically, the study authors said the simulations showed that their spacecraft efficiency algorithm “can successfully generate a multi-model combined observation strategy sequence under minimum fuel constraints.”
“The effective observation time increases with larger observation distances and field-of-view angles, and reducing the model configuration size also contributes to improved observation performance,” they explained. The study authors also said that the simulation results “demonstrate that the algorithm can successfully generate the optimal combined observation sequence under minimum fuel constraints.”
When discussing next steps, the Chinese scientists said they will explore optimal initial points to further improve maneuver efficiency. They also plan to explore a “reinforcement learning method,” suggesting future spacecraft could learn and adapt to evolving conditions to further enhance their cold war in space information-gathering capabilities.
To understand the potential implications of the Chinese study, including its impacts on a potential future war in space, The Debrief reached out to former U.S. Air Force officer Shelli Brunswick, CEO and Founder, SB Global LLC.
According to the author and futurist, the Chinese team’s research matters not just because it proves China has deployed a “new operational surveillance capability.” Instead, Brunswick said that the work is significant because it “illustrates how sophisticated coordination and optimization could make spacecraft observation more efficient, persistent, and strategically useful.”
The Blue Marble Space Visiting Scholar also told The Debrief that the work “should not be interpreted as demonstrating a complete pursuit-and-evasion capability against a spacecraft that is actively responding,” since the work assumes a stationary target without maneuvering capabilities. Still, Brunswick noted, the Chinese framework “shows how game-theoretic planning could help an observing satellite gather information from multiple angles while managing limited resources.”
When discussing the potential implications for the broader U.S.-China space-security competition, including how such enhanced spacecraft could lead to more activities that could be construed as hostile, the space strategist said this area of research “extends beyond any single algorithm.”
“As rendezvous and proximity operations become more sophisticated, the line between inspection, space situational awareness, intelligence gathering, and potentially threatening behavior becomes increasingly difficult to interpret,” she explained.
When suggesting what potential strategic responses the U.S. and its allies might employ in the emerging cold war in space, Brunswick told The Debrief that they should include “more resilient architectures, improved space-domain awareness, clearer expectations for close approaches, stronger communication mechanisms, and deeper coordination with commercial and international partners.”
“The challenge is not simply detecting another spacecraft—it is understanding capability and intent early enough to respond responsibly and effectively,” Brunswick explained.
The study “Spacecraft Proximity Operation Model-Based Sequential Coalitional Observation Game Strategy Design” was published in Space: Science & Technology.
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.
After nearly eight years and billions of kilometers of travel, BepiColombo -- a science mission led by ESA in close collaboration with JAXA -- has begun its long-awaited arrival at the smallest and innermost planet in our Solar System.
The post BepiColombo Begins Final Approach to Mercury appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
When NASA announced that the new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will perform its science duties from a point in space known as Lagrange 2, many observers noted that the space agency’s current state-of-the-art space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, shares this same orbital location.
Due to the extremely sensitive nature of both satellites and their sensors, and the irreplaceable scientific value they will provide in the future, it might seem natural to wonder whether these two space observatories are at risk of a deep-space collision.
Fortunately, that’s a very unlikely prospect, and here’s a look at all the space separating Roman and Webb—and how NASA will ensure the two observatories remain safely apart.
Many scientific satellites reside a little over 200 miles above Earth in an orbital plane called Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This proximity enables communication with Earth and offers the potential for future servicing missions.
For example, NASA’s groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope orbits LEO at about 300 miles above Earth. This proximity enabled servicing missions that have kept Hubble delivering valuable scientific data for over three and a half decades since its 1990 launch. Still, LEO also limits which missions Hubble can undertake.
More recently, NASA launched JWST. However, unlike Hubble, Webb rocketed roughly one million miles from Earth before arriving at Lagrange 2. According to a NASA fact sheet detailing the Roman Space Telescope’s mission, this location offers several benefits over LEO.
“At L2, the gravity of the Sun and Earth, together with an object’s motion around the Sun, let it stay lined up with Earth as they orbit,” NASA explains, “allowing Roman to have a relatively steady orbit without using much fuel.”
NASA also notes that heat from Earth, the Sun, and the Moon has less impact on infrared telescopes designed to “see” heat. L2 also offers JWST and Roman, “a constant, unobstructed view of a wide swath of the sky.”
“Earth won’t block much of Roman’s view since it will be so distant,” NASA explains.
Instead of sitting still at the heart of L2, NASA notes that Webb “traces out a large orbit around the actual L2 point.” For comparison, the space agency noted that JWST’s orbit around L2 is “much larger than the Moon’s orbit around Earth.”
Like Webb, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is also destined for L2. The new space telescope will also trace out an orbit around L2 rather than remaining comparatively stationary.
Because of the wide orbits of both spacecraft and the efforts of the mission’s controllers, NASA said the two valuable space telescopes “will easily be kept far apart.”
Like previous NASA missions, Roman will have a primary lifetime and a backup plan if the observatory remains viable after the first mission ends. For Roman, both the primary and secondary missions are slated for five years, bringing the observatory’s planned potential lifetime up to a possible ten years.
Notably, several NASA missions have continued to deliver scientific data well beyond their planned primary and secondary missions. Perhaps the most famous example is Voyager 1. Launched in 1977, the interplanetary mission has since left the solar system and continues to return data from beyond the heliopause, an area of deep space over 14 billion miles from Earth.
When discussing what obstacles may result in a shorter mission profile, NASA said that “fuel is expected to be the mission’s life-limiting resource.”
“While NASA does not currently have an ability to service observatories at L2, Roman is designed to be refuellable,” they added.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.
New navigation satellites in low-Earth orbit could provide 100 times stronger signal strength compared to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems operating from higher orbital altitudes—enabling greater location accuracy within dense cities, under thick foliage, and even inside buildings. Such signals would also likely prove more resilient to interference at a time when commercial flights, maritime shipping, and even various smartphone apps face increasingly widespread disruption from GPS jamming.
That vision may start to take shape when the first six production satellites of California-based Xona Space Systems are scheduled to launch in October 2026, with early service starting in 2027. Once the full constellation of 258 Pulsar satellites has been launched in the following years, Xona claims that customers will be able to accurately pinpoint their locations anywhere on Earth to within several centimeters.
“That added power means that we can get into that indoor environment that GPS can't get to today,” Adrien Perkins, co-founder and VP of engineering at Xona Space Systems, told Ars. “Our higher power allows you to get into those jamming environments a lot further than you would with GPS by itself.”
© Xona Space Systems
New navigation satellites in low-Earth orbit could provide 100 times stronger signal strength compared to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems operating from higher orbital altitudes—enabling greater location accuracy within dense cities, under thick foliage, and even inside buildings. Such signals would also likely prove more resilient to interference at a time when commercial flights, maritime shipping, and even various smartphone apps face increasingly widespread disruption from GPS jamming.
That vision may start to take shape when the first six production satellites of California-based Xona Space Systems are scheduled to launch in October 2026, with early service starting in 2027. Once the full constellation of 258 Pulsar satellites has been launched in the following years, Xona claims that customers will be able to accurately pinpoint their locations anywhere on Earth to within several centimeters.
“That added power means that we can get into that indoor environment that GPS can't get to today,” Adrien Perkins, co-founder and VP of engineering at Xona Space Systems, told Ars. “Our higher power allows you to get into those jamming environments a lot further than you would with GPS by itself.”
© Xona Space Systems
New navigation satellites in low-Earth orbit could provide 100 times stronger signal strength compared to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems operating from higher orbital altitudes—enabling greater location accuracy within dense cities, under thick foliage, and even inside buildings. Such signals would also likely prove more resilient to interference at a time when commercial flights, maritime shipping, and even various smartphone apps face increasingly widespread disruption from GPS jamming.
That vision may start to take shape when the first six production satellites of California-based Xona Space Systems are scheduled to launch in October 2026, with early service starting in 2027. Once the full constellation of 258 Pulsar satellites has been launched in the following years, Xona claims that customers will be able to accurately pinpoint their locations anywhere on Earth to within several centimeters.
“That added power means that we can get into that indoor environment that GPS can't get to today,” Adrien Perkins, co-founder and VP of engineering at Xona Space Systems, told Ars. “Our higher power allows you to get into those jamming environments a lot further than you would with GPS by itself.”
© Xona Space Systems
For many years, scientists have been tracking even the tiniest fragments of space debris orbiting our planet to keep tabs on whether these small leftovers from decades of spaceflight might become a problem, whether for astronauts or for populations here on Earth.
Now, in new research, scientists say they have uncovered dozens of previously undetected fragments of space debris orbiting high above Earth, revealing a hidden population of tiny objects that some liken to a “potential minefield” in space that could pose a growing hazard to some of the world’s most important satellites.
The findings, published in the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, were carried out by an international team led by researchers at the University of Warwick, who found 25 faint objects in geosynchronous orbit—roughly 36,000 kilometers (22,400 miles) above Earth’s equator.
Close to 80 percent of these newly detected objects had been absent from catalogs available to the public that track such debris, meaning that there could be even more unrecognized leftovers from past space missions circling the Earth than experts realize.
Home to a steadily growing number of satellites that we rely on daily for activities here on Earth, geosynchronous orbit is where satellites that govern communication systems, television broadcasting, weather forecasting, and environmental monitoring all reside.
Objects at this altitude remain synchronized with our planet’s rotation, which means that they inhabit what is considered some of the most valuable real estate in space around the Earth.
“Pieces of space junk can be moving very quickly relative to one another, as much as several kilometers every second,” says Dr. James Blake of the University of Warwick’s Centre for Space Domain Awareness, who served as the new study’s lead author. “The energies involved are really high, and even small debris can cause a lot of damage to very expensive satellites, so small things really matter.”
Blake and his colleagues didn’t have to collect new observations to make these discoveries: they were able to discover evidence of undocumented orbital debris simply by looking at archival images obtained by the 2.54-meter Isaac Newton Telescope in the Canary Islands.
Offering a new perspective on these archival photos, the team employed a new image processing technique known as “blind stacking,” along with advanced image-processing algorithms, to detect fragments in orbit as small as five centimeters. The detections were significant, as they are now counted among the faintest examples of debris ever observed in geosynchronous orbit.
Naturally, a question arises: how many more examples of tiny debris might be lurking up there?
Additional analysis of the brightness of these objects revealed another concerning reality: based on variances in the light they reflect, it was evident that many of these objects are tumbling as they make their way through space.
The team’s findings offer a wakeup call in terms of just how much undetected debris may be drifting—or even tumbling—through geosynchronous orbit. However, there is also a positive side to the situation: the team’s discoveries also showcase our growing ability to make such detections if we know how to look for such minuscule objects.
Still, the findings underscore the challenges presented by monitoring orbital debris in a space above the Earth where such materials could potentially linger for centuries, since atmospheric drag in this region of orbit is essentially nonexistent.
“The debris in the neighborhood of the geostationary belt is a potential minefield,” said co-author Dr. Stuart Eves of SJE Space Ltd. “No one in their right mind would enter a terrestrial minefield without a mine detector. Similarly, no one in their right mind should launch a satellite to GEO without an adequate debris survey.”
With the project’s reach beyond Europe to include collaboration with researchers in Australia and Japan, the team says that international cooperation will be necessary to track potentially dangerous orbital debris—especially as more and more satellites are being placed in orbit above the Earth.
Increasingly sensitive surveys will be essential for understanding and mitigating the risks posed by even the smallest fragments of space junk, the team says.
“There are a finite number of orbital slots in the GEO belt,” Blake adds, “so it’s important that we know how much debris is out there, how it behaves, what risks are posed to the active satellites we rely on. Surveys for faint debris help us build a clearer picture.”
The team’s findings were detailed in a new study, “DebrisWatch II: Digging Deeper for Geosynchronous Debris,” which appeared in The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
HD 80606b has one of the most extreme orbits of any known exoplanet and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope just caught it getting flash-fried as it whipped past its star.
The post Webb Sees Jupiter-Size Exoplanet Being Roasted by Its Star appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
The new space race is smaller and messier than we anticipated.MILAN – Italian ground segment operator Leaf Space unveiled a new space connectivity service May 27. The technology, named TreeNet, aims to make space communications more seamless by treating individual […]
The post Leaf Space partners with D-Orbit and EnduroSat to test connectivity service appeared first on SpaceNews.
Humans do not just visit space; they live there, but a major part of that is coming to an end. The platform that made the longest continuous human presence in space possible is becoming history.
With NASA and its partners beginning preparations for the destructive end of the International Space Station (ISS) as soon as 2030, those who collect, curate, and study the station are now asking how to preserve the historic and culturally significant artifact, given that it is far too large and complex to keep intact.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on Thursday hosted a three-part panel discussion, bringing together space program officials, museum curators, an archeologist, and an astronaut to begin answering the why, what, and how the ISS might be saved. The sessions were part of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) ASCEND conference in Washington, DC.
© AIAA/David Becker/PWHL
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