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Category: satellites

Haven Demo lays the groundwork for first private space station

It may look like an ordinary satellite, but the recently launched Haven Demo is a major step toward the first commercial space station. Built by Vast, the 1,100-lb (500-kg) uncrewed spacecraft will test core systems of the planned Haven-1 outpost.

Launched on November 1, 2025 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Haven Demo was one of 18 shared payloads for a variety of customers that formed the Bandwagon-4 mission. The satellite is scheduled to remain in orbit for six months during which it will carry out a series of tests to reduce the risk of failure when Haven-1 is put into orbit in May of next year.

True, the Haven Demo doesn’t look like any sort of space habitat. There’s no balloon-like module for astronauts to hang out in, but it does have propulsion systems, flight computers, navigation and guidance systems, communication units, and power systems similar to those that will be used on Haven-1. The Haven Demo will not only validate these systems in orbit, but it will also test the ground network and mission operations infrastructure back on Earth.

Scientists reveal it is feasible to send quantum signals from Earth to a satellite

Quantum satellites currently beam entangled particles of light from space down to different ground stations for ultra-secure communications. New research shows it is also possible to send these signals upward, from Earth to a satellite; something once thought unfeasible.

This breakthrough overcomes significant barriers to current quantum communications. Ground station transmitters can access more power, are easier to maintain and could generate far stronger signals, enabling future quantum computer networks using satellite relays.

The study, “Quantum entanglement distribution via uplink satellite channels”, by Professor Simon Devitt, Professor Alexander Solntsev and a research team from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), is published in the journal Physical Review Research.

Exploring a space-based, scalable AI infrastructure system design

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a foundational technology that could reshape our world, driving new scientific discoveries and helping us tackle humanity’s greatest challenges. Now, we’re asking where we can go to unlock its fullest potential.

The Sun is the ultimate energy source in our solar system, emitting more power than 100 trillion times humanity’s total electricity production. In the right orbit, a solar panel can be up to 8 times more productive than on earth, and produce power nearly continuously, reducing the need for batteries. In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute. Working backwards from there, our new research moonshot, Project Suncatcher, envisions compact constellations of solar-powered satellites, carrying Google TPUs and connected by free-space optical links. This approach would have tremendous potential for scale, and also minimizes impact on terrestrial resources.

We’re excited about this growing area of exploration, and our early research, shared today in “Towards a future space-based, highly scalable AI infrastructure system design,” a preprint paper, which describes our progress toward tackling the foundational challenges of this ambitious endeavor — including high-bandwidth communication between satellites, orbital dynamics, and radiation effects on computing. By focusing on a modular design of smaller, interconnected satellites, we are laying the groundwork for a highly scalable, future space-based AI infrastructure.

Scientists smash record in stacking semiconductor transistors for large-area electronics

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) researchers have set a record in microchip design, achieving the first six-stack hybrid CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) for large-area electronics. With no other reported hybrid CMOS exceeding two stacks, the feat marks a new benchmark in integration density and efficiency, opening possibilities in electronic miniaturization and performance.

A paper detailing the team’s research appears in Nature Electronics.

Among microchip technologies, CMOS microchips are found in nearly all electronics, from phones and televisions to satellites and medical devices. Compared with conventional silicon chips, hybrid CMOS microchips hold greater promise for large-area electronics. Electronic miniaturization is crucial for flexible electronics, smart health, and the Internet of Things, but current design approaches are reaching their limits.

Swarm reveals growing weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field

Using 11 years of magnetic field measurements from the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have discovered that the weak region in Earth’s magnetic field over the South Atlantic—known as the South Atlantic Anomaly—has expanded by an area nearly half the size of continental Europe since 2014.

Earth’s magnetic field is vital to life on our planet. It is a complex and dynamic force that protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from the sun.

It is largely generated by a global ocean of molten, swirling liquid iron that makes up the around 3,000 km beneath our feet. Acting like a spinning conductor in a bicycle dynamo, it creates electrical currents, which in turn, generate our continuously changing —but in reality the processes that generate the field are far more complex.

Magnetic ‘switchback’ detected near Earth for the first time

In recent years, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has given us a close-up look at the sun. Among the probe’s revelations was the presence of numerous kinks, or “switchbacks,” in magnetic field lines in the sun’s outer atmosphere. These switchbacks are thought to form when solar magnetic field lines that point in opposite directions break and then snap together, or “reconnect,” in a new arrangement, leaving telltale zigzag kinks in the reconfigured lines.

In their article published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, E. O. McDougall and M. R. Argall now report observations of a switchback-shaped structure in Earth’s magnetic field, suggesting that switchbacks can also form near planets.

The researchers discovered the switchback while analyzing data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which uses four Earth-orbiting satellites to study Earth’s magnetic field. They detected a twisting disturbance in the outer part of Earth’s magnetosphere—the bubble of space surrounding our planet where a cocktail of charged particles known as is pushed and pulled along Earth’s .

Radical Plan to Beam ‘Sunlight on Demand’ at Night Sparks Concerns

A proposed constellation of satellites has astronomers very worried. Unlike satellites that reflect sunlight and produce light pollution as an unfortunate byproduct, the ones by US startup Reflect Orbital would produce light pollution by design.

The company promises to produce “sunlight on demand” with mirrors that beam sunlight down to Earth so solar farms can operate after sunset.

It plans to start with an 18-metre test satellite named Earendil-1 which the company has applied to launch in 2026. It would eventually be followed by about 4,000 satellites in orbit by 2030, according to the latest reports.

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