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Space Missions to Phobos Are Cursed. Will Japan Succeed?
JAXAPhobosMars
On October 20th, a rocket took off from the southern Japanese island of Tanegashima. On board was Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, the boldest solar system mission JAXA, Japan’s space agency, has ever undertaken. Its plan? Fly to Mars, land on Phobos – one of its two peculiar moons – and grab some of its rocks using a vacuum cleaner and a bolt gun-like drill. Then it’s got to bring them back to Earth in 2031. The ultimate goal is to find out where Phobos came from. Is it a shorn-off piece of Mars itself, or a captured asteroid or cometary interloper from far beyond?
Russia Positions Spy Satellite for Possible Orbital Attack
RussiaUkraineSatellites
Satellite War
During a two-week series of maneuvers that began on September 30th, Russian controllers steered the Kosmos 2612 spy satellite within a few hundred meters, or less, of the ICEYE X36 Earth-observation spacecraft. Experts think that Russia may have tried to intercept the satellite’s data transmissions, or worse, practice for its future destruction.
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Space Missions to Phobos Are Cursed. Will Japan Succeed?
On October 20th, a rocket took off from the southern Japanese island of Tanegashima. On board was Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, the boldest solar system mission JAXA, Japan’s space agency, has ever undertaken. Its plan? Fly to Mars, land on Phobos – one of its two peculiar moons – and grab some of its rocks using a vacuum cleaner and a bolt gun-like drill. Then it’s got to bring them back to Earth in 2031. The ultimate goal is to find out where Phobos came from. Is it a shorn-off piece of Mars itself, or a captured asteroid or cometary interloper from far beyond?
October 27, 2026
article
Russia Positions Spy Satellite for Possible Orbital Attack
During a two-week series of maneuvers that began on September 30th, Russian controllers steered the Kosmos 2612 spy satellite within a few hundred meters, or less, of the ICEYE X36 Earth-observation spacecraft. Experts think that Russia may have tried to intercept the satellite’s data transmissions, or worse, practice for its future destruction.
October 20, 2026
article
Can the Embattled Habitable Worlds Observatory Find a Second Earth?
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) could profoundly change our understanding of the Universe. It is our ticket to finding other Earths and to knowing whether these worlds harbor life.
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What is China Doing With its Secret Spaceplane?
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In Photos: Starship Finally Achieves Orbit
SpaceX has successfully achieved an orbital flight of Starship for the very first time and even deployed 26 new Starlink V3 satellites.
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What We Know About Russia’s Answer to Starlink
A batch of RASSVET satellites, Russia's version of Starlink, launched in March this year failed to reach their operational altitude of 500 miles (800 kilometers) and is reportedly lingering in a much lower orbit of around 310 miles (500 km) above the planet. On top of that, two satellites appear to be spiraling back toward Earth, and one has already deorbited.