Webb reveals colliding galaxy & Record-breaking Falcon 9 launch - Space News (Jul 9, 2026)
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TODAY'S TOPICS:
WEBB REVEALS COLLIDING GALAXY - NASA'S JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE HAS CAPTURED A STRIKING NEW VIEW OF THE GALAXY CENTAURUS A, WHOSE WARPED SHAPE COMES FROM A LONG-AGO COSMIC COLLISION, REVEALING INTRICATE DUST LANES AND MILLIONS OF STARS IN UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL. KEYWORDS: JAMES WEBB, CENTAURUS A, COSMIC COLLISION, GALAXY EVOLUTION, NEW IMAGE.
RECORD-BREAKING FALCON 9 LAUNCH - SPACEX HAS FLOWN A FALCON 9 BOOSTER FOR A RECORD 36TH TIME ON A STARLINK MISSION FROM FLORIDA, UNDERSCORING HOW FAR ROCKET REUSABILITY HAS COME WHILE ADDING MORE SATELLITES TO THE COMPANY'S ALREADY MASSIVE INTERNET CONSTELLATION. KEYWORDS: SPACEX, FALCON 9, ROCKET REUSE, STARLINK, LAUNCH RECORD.
ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE READIES - NASA'S NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE IS NOW IN FLORIDA FOR FINAL PREPARATIONS AHEAD OF ITS PLANNED AUGUST LAUNCH, WHERE IT WILL CONDUCT WIDE-FIELD SURVEYS OF DARK ENERGY, EXOPLANETS AND GALAXY EVOLUTION. KEYWORDS: ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE, NASA, LAUNCH PREPARATION, DARK ENERGY, EXOPLANET SURVEY.
NASA FUNDS NEW MARS ROVERS - NASA HAS AWARDED NEW CONTRACTS UNDER ITS STRIDE INITIATIVE TO MULTIPLE COMPANIES TO DEVELOP ADVANCED ROBOTIC MOBILITY SYSTEMS FOR FUTURE MARS MISSIONS, AIMING TO REACH ROUGHER TERRAIN AND MORE AMBITIOUS SCIENCE TARGETS ON THE RED PLANET. KEYWORDS: NASA, MARS EXPLORATION, STRIDE, ROBOTIC MOBILITY, ROVER TECHNOLOGY.
HOW BIG SHOULD MOON BASE BE - A NEW ANALYSIS ASKS HOW MANY ASTRONAUTS SHOULD LIVE AT NASA'S FUTURE LUNAR OUTPOST, FINDING A BALANCE POINT WHERE CREWS ARE LARGE ENOUGH FOR SCIENCE AND MAINTENANCE BUT NOT SO LARGE THAT LOGISTICS BECOME UNMANAGEABLE. KEYWORDS: MOON BASE, ARTEMIS, LUNAR OUTPOST, CREW SIZE, HUMAN EXPLORATION.
LAVA-OCEAN EXOPLANET DISCOVERED - ASTRONOMERS REPORT THAT THE EXOPLANET L 98-59 D, ABOUT 35 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY, APPEARS TO BE A NEW KIND OF WORLD WITH GLOBAL OCEANS OF MAGMA AND A SULFUR-RICH ATMOSPHERE, EXPANDING OUR PICTURE OF HOW EXTREME ROCKY PLANETS CAN BE. KEYWORDS: EXOPLANET, L 98-59 D, MAGMA OCEAN, SULFUR ATMOSPHERE, NATURE ASTRONOMY.
NEW CLOSE-UPS FROM ASTEROID FLYBYS - NEW IMAGES FROM TWO RECENT ASTEROID FLYBYS, INCLUDING ONE BY A JAPANESE SPACECRAFT, ARE GIVING SCIENTISTS SHARPER VIEWS OF SMALL ROCKY WORLDS AND THE CLUES THEY HOLD ABOUT HOW OUR SOLAR SYSTEM FORMED. KEYWORDS: ASTEROID FLYBY, CLOSE-UP IMAGES, JAPANESE MISSION, SMALL BODIES, SOLAR SYSTEM ORIGINS.
SATELLITES MAP UTAH WILDFIRE - NASA EARTH-OBSERVING SATELLITES ARE TRACKING THE COTTONWOOD FIRE IN UTAH FROM ORBIT, MAPPING BURN SCARS AND SMOKE PLUMES TO SUPPORT FIREFIGHTERS AND HIGHLIGHT HOW SPACE-BASED IMAGING HELPS MONITOR A WARMING, FIRE-PRONE PLANET. KEYWORDS: COTTONWOOD FIRE, UTAH, SATELLITE IMAGING, NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY, WILDFIRE MONITORING.
VENUS PAIRS WITH STAR REGULUS - TONIGHT VENUS WILL SHINE IN A CLOSE PAIRING WITH THE BRIGHT STAR REGULUS IN LEO, OFFERING SKYWATCHERS AN EASY NAKED-EYE SHOW LOW IN THE WESTERN SKY AFTER SUNSET. KEYWORDS: VENUS, REGULUS, CONJUNCTION, SKYWATCHING, JULY 9 2026.
NUCLEAR-POWERED CUBESAT APPROVED - A MIAMI STARTUP HAS LAUNCHED A TINY CUBESAT POWERED BY A NUCLEAR BATTERY, BECOMING THE FIRST MISSION CLEARED UNDER A NEW U.S. FRAMEWORK FOR SPACE NUCLEAR POWER AND RAISING FRESH QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW WE USE NUCLEAR ENERGY IN ORBIT. KEYWORDS: CUBESAT, NUCLEAR BATTERY, CITY LABS, FAA CLEARANCE, SPACE NUCLEAR POWER.
Episode Transcript
Webb reveals colliding galaxy
We’ll start with that striking new galaxy portrait from the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA has released a fresh Webb view of Centaurus A, a nearby galaxy whose bizarre shape comes from a massive cosmic collision that happened around two billion years ago.[24][37] In the new image, Webb cuts through dark lanes of dust to reveal a dense field of millions of stars woven through the galaxy’s warped core, giving researchers a clearer look at how the collision scrambled its structure.[24][24] This kind of detail matters because Centaurus A is essentially a laboratory for understanding what happens when galaxies smash together, tear up each other’s gas and stars, and then slowly settle into a new form. By tracing how the dust, gas and stars are arranged now, astronomers can better test models of galaxy mergers and the growth of supermassive black holes over cosmic time.[24][24] The image is also part of the broader celebration of Webb’s fourth year of operations, showcasing just how far its infrared eyes can push our understanding of the nearby universe.[37][43]
Record-breaking Falcon 9 launch
From deep space to low Earth orbit, SpaceX has just pushed rocket reusability a little further. Early this morning in Florida, a Falcon 9 successfully launched a batch of 29 Starlink internet satellites while flying its first-stage booster for the 36th time, setting a new reuse record for the company.[1][2][2] Liftoff came from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:25 a.m. Eastern, and about an hour later the upper stage deployed the Starlink payload into low Earth orbit as planned.[1][6][2] After stage separation, the veteran booster came back down to land on the droneship in the Atlantic, adding yet another recovery to its already long résumé.[6][1] This mission was also the 80th Falcon 9 launch of the year, a pace that shows how routine orbital flights are becoming for SpaceX even as they continue to stretch the limits of how many times a single rocket can be turned around.[2][2] The flight adds to a Starlink network that now includes more than ten thousand operational satellites, further cementing SpaceX’s role in global broadband from space and raising ongoing debates about congestion and how crowded low Earth orbit is becoming.[1][21]
Roman Space Telescope readies
Another big NASA mission is waiting in the wings: the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now in Florida, moving through its final checkouts ahead of a planned launch in August.[22][22] Roman is often described as the Hubble Space Telescope’s wide-field cousin, designed to image huge swaths of the sky in high resolution rather than zooming in on narrow targets.[22][27] Once it reaches its orbit around the Sun–Earth L2 point, Roman will tackle some of the biggest questions in cosmology, mapping the distribution of galaxies and dark matter to probe dark energy, and conducting massive surveys to hunt for exoplanets through subtle changes in starlight.[22][22] NASA just highlighted the mission with a new feature on Roman’s journey to space, underscoring how much effort has gone into building and testing the observatory before it ever leaves the ground.[27][22] With launch just weeks away, Roman is shaping up to be one of the defining observatories of the next decade, complementing both Hubble and Webb with its ability to scan the universe in breadth as well as depth.[22][27]
NASA funds new Mars rovers
If Mars is your destination of choice, there is also fresh news about the next generation of robotic explorers. NASA has announced contract awards under its STRIDE initiative — that stands for Science Transport and Robotic Innovation for Deployment and Exploration — to help several companies develop advanced surface mobility systems for future Mars missions.[38][38] The idea is to move beyond the traditional single, slow-moving rover and instead support more nimble, modular platforms that can handle steeper slopes, rougher rocks and longer traverses across the Martian landscape.[38][38] Firms ranging from established lunar lander providers like Intuitive Machines to rover specialists such as Astrobotic and Venturi Astrolab will now work with NASA on concepts that could hop, drive or possibly even swarm across the surface in coming years.[38] The total potential value of the awards is about 17 million dollars, with work expected to start this fall, and the goal is to both close technology gaps and understand how commercial mobility systems could plug into future science missions and, eventually, human expeditions.[38][38] It is a clear signal that NASA wants a more diverse toolkit for getting around on Mars than a single flagship rover every decade.
How big should moon base be
Thinking ahead to humans on other worlds, a new piece from Space.com digs into a deceptively simple question: how many astronauts should actually live in NASA’s planned lunar base.[15][46][37] The report describes recent work using simulations of daily operations, maintenance and emergency scenarios to see how different crew sizes would perform in a long-term outpost at the moon’s south pole.[15][37] Very small groups might be vulnerable to illness or burnout and struggle to keep both the science and the life-support systems running smoothly, while very large groups quickly drive up the demands on logistics, resupply and living space.[15][46] The analysis suggests there is a sweet spot where crews are big enough to be resilient and productive but not so big that the base becomes unmanageable, and those findings are feeding into ongoing planning for NASA’s Artemis-era habitat designs.[15][37] It is a reminder that building a sustainable presence on the moon is not just about rockets and landers; it is also a human-systems problem, where psychology, workload and community dynamics matter as much as hardware.
Lava-ocean exoplanet discovered
Beyond our solar system, astronomers may have identified an entirely new class of planet — one that is more nightmare than paradise. New research on the exoplanet L 98-59 d, about 35 light-years away, suggests that this world may be covered in global oceans of molten rock, with an atmosphere dominated by sulfur-rich gases.[20] The findings, shared in a recent Nature Astronomy paper and now circulating widely in the astronomy community, come from detailed modeling of the planet’s size, composition and heat environment, coupled with observations from space telescopes.[20] Instead of being a temperate rocky world like Earth, L 98-59 d appears to be so intensely irradiated by its star that its surface is essentially a lava sea, making it a prime example of an extreme “magma ocean” planet.[20] While no one is heading there any time soon, worlds like this help scientists understand how rocky planets evolve when they form close to their stars, and they provide stark contrast points for searches focused on more habitable environments.
New close-ups from asteroid flybys
Staying with small bodies, there is also good news for asteroid fans. EarthSky reports that two recent asteroid flybys have produced new close-up images, including one gathered by a Japanese spacecraft and another by an international mission, giving researchers sharper looks at the shapes, craters and surface textures of these tiny worlds.[28] Even without all the technical details, the key takeaway is that each flyby adds to a growing catalog of detailed asteroid portraits, which scientists can compare to meteorites in labs and to computer models of how these bodies formed.[28] Better images help answer questions like how rubble-pile asteroids hold together, how their surfaces respond to sunlight, and what kinds of materials might be available for future resource use. They also refine our understanding of how to nudge a hazardous asteroid if we ever need to, making these quick passes scientifically rich despite their brief encounter time.[28]
Satellites map Utah wildfire
Back closer to home, satellites are again proving their worth as tools for watching a changing Earth. NASA’s Earth Observatory has published new imagery of the Cottonwood Fire in Utah, using data from orbiting sensors to map both the active fire front and the dark burn scar left behind.[36][25] The images show how smoke plumes spread with the wind and how the fire has chewed through vegetation, information that can feed into models of air quality and long-term landscape change.[36] With wildfires becoming more frequent and intense in many regions, this kind of space-based monitoring is increasingly vital for both immediate response and longer-term planning. It helps agencies track conditions in remote areas that are hard to reach on the ground, and it underscores the role Earth-observing satellites play as part of the broader space ecosystem, alongside the more glamorous deep-space missions.[36][24]
Venus pairs with star Regulus
If you want something you can see yourself, tonight’s sky has you covered. Venus is lining up with Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, creating one of July’s prettiest pairings in the western sky after sunset.[23][46][49] Astronomy guides note that about 45 minutes to an hour after the Sun goes down, you can look low toward the west to spot dazzling Venus shining right next to the bluish-white point of Regulus.[18][23][18] No telescope is needed; under clear conditions the two will be obvious even from city locations, although binoculars will bring out the color contrast between Venus’s steady brilliance and the star’s cooler glow.[18][18] This conjunction is part of a busy month for skywatchers, with the moon sliding past several planets and meteor showers on the way later in July, but tonight’s event is an especially easy one to catch if you can grab a few quiet minutes outdoors.[23][31][39]
Nuclear-powered CubeSat approved
Finally, there is a notable development in space power technology with a regulatory twist. A report from SpaceDaily highlights that a Miami-based startup, City Labs, has launched a softball-sized CubeSat carrying a nuclear battery, making it the first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite to fly under a new U.S. policy framework. The mission received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration under guidelines known as NSPM-20, which set out how nuclear power sources in space should be evaluated for safety and environmental risk. Instead of a large reactor, the CubeSat uses a compact tritium-based power source designed to provide a steady trickle of electricity over many years, an attractive option for tiny spacecraft that cannot carry big solar arrays. The launch marks a small but symbolically important step in the broader conversation about nuclear power in space — from powering tiny instruments to, potentially, future deep-space missions — and it signals that regulators and industry are beginning to work through how to handle these technologies responsibly.
Story 11
That wraps up today’s run through the latest space and astronomy stories. From Webb’s tangled galaxy and a record-setting Falcon 9 flight, to new tools for Mars, a future moon base and a lava-ocean world circling a distant star, it has been a busy day above our heads.
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