Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates

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Astronomy Daily — S05E90 | Wednesday, April 22, 2026 In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six stories spanning the fading power of humanity's most distant probe, fresh evidence for ancient life on Mars, a landmark black hole measurement, a SpaceX reusability milestone, a sobering assessment of the Artemis spacesuit programme, and tonight's moon and Jupiter conjunction.   Story 1 — Voyager 1 Powers Down the LECP Instrument •       NASA's JPL shut down Voyager 1's Low-energy Charged Particles experiment (LECP) on April 17, 2026, to conserve dwindling power. •       The decision followed an unexpected power drop during a routine roll manoeuvre in late February that nearly triggered an automatic emergency shutdown. •       Seven of Voyager 1's ten original instrument sets are now offline. Only the magnetometer and plasma wave subsystem remain active. •       Engineers are developing 'the Big Bang' — a plan to swap older components with lower-power alternatives — to extend operations into the 2030s. Testing on Voyager 2 is planned for May/June 2026; Voyager 1 to follow no sooner than July. •       Source: NASA JPL — https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-shuts-off-instrument-on-voyager-1-to-keep-spacecraft-operating/   Story 2 — Curiosity Rover Finds Organic Molecules on Mars •       Published April 21 in Nature Communications, the study describes the first use of the TMAH chemical experiment on another planet. •       More than 20 organic molecules were detected in clay-rich sandstone from the Glen Torridon region of Gale Crater, preserved for over 3.5 billion years. •       Discoveries include a nitrogen-bearing molecule structurally similar to DNA precursors — never before confirmed on Mars — and benzothiophene. •       The experiment cannot determine whether molecules are biological, geological, or meteoritic in origin. Future missions including Rosalind Franklin and Dragonfly will build on the technique. •       Source: phys.org — https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mars-rover-compounds.html   Story 3 — Black Hole Jets in Cygnus X-1 •       Curtin University-led study published April 16 in Nature Astronomy directly measures the instantaneous power of black hole jets for the first time. •       The jets in the Cygnus X-1 system carry energy equivalent to 10,000 suns and travel at approximately half the speed of light (150,000 km/s). •       Researchers used the companion star's stellar winds to 'bend' the jets, allowing calculation of their real-time power — a technique compared to watching wind deflect a fountain. •       About 10% of the energy released as matter falls into the black hole is carried away by the jets — confirming a long-held theoretical assumption. •       The measurement will help calibrate future observations from the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, currently under construction in WA. •       Source: ScienceDaily — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/04/260416071949.htm   Story 4 — SpaceX 600th Rocket Landing •       SpaceX completed its 600th successful Falcon booster landing on April 19, 2026, during the Starlink 17-22 mission from Vandenberg SFB. •       Booster B1097 landed on drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' for its eighth successful recovery. The milestone arrived just 7 months after the 500th landing. •       The tally includes 496 drone ship landings and 104 ground landings, per SpaceX VP Kiko Dontchev. •       SpaceX's Starlink constellation now numbers over 10,275 satellites in orbit. •       Source: Space.com — https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-starlink-17-22-b1097-vsfb-ofisly-600th-falcon-landing   Story 5 — Artemis Spacesuit Crisis •       NASA's Office of Inspector General report (released April 20) warns that next-generation Artemis spacesuits may not be ready until 2031 — three years after the stated 2028 target. •       The xEVAS programme began as a two-company competition (Axiom Space + Collins Aerospace). Collins has effectively been removed after missing milestones. Axiom is now the sole contractor for the lunar surface suit. •       OIG analysis: based on an 8.7-year historical average from contract award to first flight for comparable NASA programmes, Axiom's 2022 award points to a 2031 delivery. •       NASA Administrator Isaacman has publicly maintained confidence in the 2028 date. Axiom plans a suit demonstration in 2026 on the ISS or during an Artemis mission. •       A separate risk: if the ISS variant of the suit slips past 2030, the Station could run out of operational EVA suits before decommissioning. •       Additional Artemis delays: SpaceX lunar Starship at least 2 years late; Blue Origin Blue Moon at least 8 months late (per separate March OIG report). •       Source: SpaceDaily — https://spacedaily.com/sd-n-the-spacesuit-gap-why-artemis-iiis-2028-landing-date-is-already-slipping/   Story 6 — Skywatching: Moon & Jupiter Conjunction •       Tonight (April 22), the half moon sits approximately 3 degrees from Jupiter in the constellation Gemini, near the stars Castor and Pollux. •       Visible to the naked eye in the western/northwestern sky after sunset. Binoculars will reveal Jupiter's four Galilean moons. •       Southern Hemisphere viewers: look northwest after dark; viewing window narrows the further south you are. •       Source: Space.com — https://www.space.com/stargazing/the-moon-and-jupiter-steal-the-show-after-sunset-on-april-22

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Episode Description
In today's episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six major stories from the frontiers of space and science. NASA has unveiled the fully assembled Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — one of the most powerful observatories ever built — with a launch as early as fall 2026. Researchers at Caltech have published striking evidence of an ancient Martian ocean, identifying a planet-wide 'bathtub ring' coastal shelf in the northern hemisphere. The FAA has formally grounded Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket following an official mishap classification after Sunday's failed satellite deployment. NASA's SPHEREx space telescope has delivered its first published science, mapping interstellar ice and organic molecules across the Milky Way in 102 infrared colours. New research warns that even habitable-zone exoplanets may not be truly habitable without sufficient water to maintain their carbon cycles. And a new study reveals that spaceflight doesn't just change astronauts' bodies — it changes their brains in ways that can linger long after they return to Earth.

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In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six major stories from the past 24 hours. Blue Origin made history by reusing its New Glenn rocket for the first time -- but the upper stage deployed the BlueBird 7 satellite into the wrong orbit, forcing a deorbit. SpaceX delivered a clean GPS III SV10 launch for the US Space Force. Post-mission inspection of the Artemis 2 Orion capsule's heat shield provides initial good news after months of pre-flight controversy. A new MIT/WHOI planetary wave model reveals Titan's hydrocarbon seas could host 10-foot slow-motion waves from gentle breezes. The Lyrid meteor shower peaks Wednesday April 22 under ideal dark-sky conditions. And the Giant Magellan Telescope advances to its final design phase ahead of a crucial Congressional funding decision.   Story Links Story 1 -- Blue Origin New Glenn NG-3 •    Space.com: Blue Origin reuses New Glenn, deploys satellite to wrong orbit •    TechCrunch: Blue Origin's New Glenn puts satellite in wrong orbit •    GeekWire: Blue Origin reuses New Glenn; satellite goes into wrong orbit •    CBS News: In its third flight, New Glenn puts satellite payload into wrong orbit Story 2 -- SpaceX GPS III SV10 •    Space.com: Watch SpaceX launch GPS satellite for US Space Force -- April 20 •    Spaceflight Now launch schedule -- spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule Story 3 -- Artemis 2 Heat Shield •    Space.com: Artemis 2 heat shield seems to have aced its trial by fire •    Gizmodo: NASA sets the record straight on that missing chunk of Artemis 2's heat shield •    NBC News: Did the Artemis II spacecraft protect the crew well enough? Story 4 -- Titan Waves / PlanetWaves •    Space.com: Tall waves moving in slow motion -- how oily oceans on Titan may behave •    Popular Science: Saturn's largest moon could see 10-foot waves from a tiny breeze •    Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (MIT/WHOI study) Story 5 -- Lyrid Meteor Shower •    Space.com: Lyrid meteor shower 2026 -- when, where and how to see it •    EarthSky: Everything you need to know -- Lyrid meteor shower 2026 •    NASA: What's Up April 2026 skywatching tips -- science.nasa.gov Story 6 -- Giant Magellan Telescope •    Space.com: This giant telescope could discover habitable exoplanets -- if it gets its funding •    Giant Magellan Telescope official site -- giantmagellan.org   Trivia Answer QUESTION: The Lyrid meteor shower is produced by debris from Comet Thatcher. Approximately how long does it take Comet Thatcher to complete one orbit around the Sun? ANSWER: Approximately 415 years. Comet Thatcher last visited the inner solar system in 1861 and is not expected to return until around 2276. The Lyrid shower occurs each year when Earth passes through the trail of debris it left behind.   About Astronomy Daily Astronomy Daily is produced by the Bitesz.com Podcast Network. New episodes every day. Find us at astronomydaily.io and follow @AstroDailyPod for daily updates.

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In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six space and astronomy stories for Saturday, April 18, 2026. Comet MAPS has met its end at the Sun — the pair reflect on what happened and what comes next. Artemis III's SLS rocket stage rolls out of New Orleans on Monday. JWST and ALMA have revealed a stunning monster spiral galaxy hiding behind cosmic dust 11.5 billion years ago. An exoplanet system is changing its orbital architecture in real time. Four planets are gathering in a pre-dawn planet parade visible tonight. And 33,000 hydrogen halos have been found that solve a decades-old mystery about the early universe's fuel supply.   Story 1: Comet MAPS — Death of a Sungrazer Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS), a Kreutz sungrazer discovered on January 13, 2026 by French amateur astronomers at the AMACS1 Observatory in Chile, disintegrated during its close solar approach on April 4. The nucleus — estimated at approximately 400 metres in diameter based on JWST observations — could not survive passage just 160,000 km above the solar surface. A brief dust tail was visible in coronagraph images from SOHO and GOES-19, but the debris cloud has since dispersed. Attention now shifts to Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) as the next comet of interest. MAPS was the furthest-discovered Kreutz sungrazer in history, spotted 81 days before perihelion. Sources: EarthSky | StarWalk Space News | Sky & Telescope   Story 2: Artemis III SLS Core Stage Rollout On Monday, April 20, NASA will roll the top four-fifths of the Artemis III Space Launch System core stage — containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt — out of the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and load it onto the Pegasus barge for delivery to Kennedy Space Center. The engine section is already at Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building. Four RS-25 engines are expected to arrive from Stennis Space Center by July 2026. Artemis III is currently targeting a 2027 launch for a crewed Earth-orbit test of Orion docking with commercial lunar landers, with a crewed Moon landing planned for 2028. Source: NASA Artemis III Media Release | nasa.gov   Story 3: JWST & ALMA Reveal Monster Spiral Galaxy ADF22.A1 Using the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an international team led by Hideki Umehata (Nagoya University) has revealed the true nature of ADF22.A1 — a galaxy in the SSA22 protocluster from 11.5 billion years ago. Previously hidden behind heavy cosmic dust, JWST unveiled its spiral stellar structure while ALMA mapped its rotating gas disk, spinning at an extraordinary 530 km/s — more than twice our own Milky Way. With an effective radius of approximately 22,800 light years, it is nearly twice the size of typical galaxies from that era. Cold accretion from the Cosmic Web is the leading explanation for its rapid growth and spin-up. A companion study examines nine additional dusty star-forming galaxies in the same protocluster, revealing diverse evolutionary stages and morphologies. Sources: ALMA Observatory Press Release | Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (2025) | ApJ (2026)   Story 4: TOI-201 — Shape-Shifting Exoplanet System A team led by Ismael Mireles (University of New Mexico) has published findings in Science Advances confirming three bodies in the exoplanet system TOI-201: a super-Earth (TOI-201 d, 1.4x Earth radius, 5.85-day orbit), a warm Jupiter (TOI-201 b, ~0.5 Jupiter masses, 53-day orbit), and a brown dwarf (TOI-201 c, ~7.9-year orbit). The brown dwarf's gravity is actively distorting the inner planets' orbits on human timescales — the super-Earth's transits are shifting, and within 200 years it will stop transiting the star from Earth's viewpoint. TOI-201 c is the longest-period transiting object ever discovered. The system is 372 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. Next transit of TOI-201 c: March 26, 2031. Paper: Mireles et al., Science Advances, April 15, 2026 | DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aef2618   Story 5: April 18 Four-Planet Parade Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune are gathering in a compact cluster just 4 degrees wide in the pre-dawn eastern sky. Mercury (mag -0.1), Mars (mag 1.2), and Saturn (mag 0.9) are naked-eye targets. Neptune (mag 7.8) requires binoculars. Southern Hemisphere observers have the best view. Look east 60-90 minutes before sunrise. Peak window: April 16-23, with April 18-20 optimal. The cluster sits near the Pisces-Cetus border. App guide: Star Walk 2 / Sky Tonight | starwalk.space   Story 6: 33,000 Hydrogen Halos Found in the Early Universe The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has published a landmark study in The Astrophysical Journal identifying more than 33,000 Lyman-alpha nebulae — massive hydrogen gas halos surrounding galaxies from 10-12 billion years ago ('Cosmic Noon'). The previous known count was approximately 3,000. Lead researcher Erin Mentuch Cooper (UT Austin) described the halos as 'giant amoebas with tentacles extending into the cosmos.' The study confirms that the hydrogen fuel needed for galaxy growth during the universe's peak star-formation epoch was widespread, not rare. Paper: Mentuch Cooper et al., ApJ 1000, 38 (2026) | DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae44f3

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The heroes of Artemis II speak! Less than a week after their historic lunar flyby, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen held their first full post-mission press conference — and their words were extraordinary. Plus: Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is on the pad for Sunday's landmark first-ever booster reuse; a 34-year dream becomes reality as the world's highest telescope opens in the Chilean Andes; astronomers discover 33,000 hydrogen halos that were hiding the universe's missing fuel; tonight is your best chance to spot the brightest comet of the year; and a solar storm could paint the weekend skies with aurora.
Links & Sources •       NASA Artemis II Postflight News Conference: nasa.gov/artemis-ii-news-and-updates •       Blue Origin New Glenn NG-3: spaceflightnow.com •       FYST Telescope Inauguration: news.cornell.edu •       HETDEX Hydrogen Halos Study: hetdex.org / Astrophysical Journal •       Comet C/2025 R3 Skywatching Guide: science.nasa.gov •       Solar Activity & Aurora Forecast: earthsky.org

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