It’s still unclear why a Cold War-era spy satellite named after famed Charlie’s Angels actress Farrah Fawcett recently exploded above Earth . The secretive reconnaissance craft FARRAH III (officially designated USA-32) launched into orbit aboard a Titan II SLV rocket on September 5, 1988, and likely remained operational for years before exploding on September 13But
On Oct. 1, Google plans to hitch a ride on a SpaceX Transporter 18 rideshare flight, entrusting the mission with a test satellite it hopes will prove durable enough to start doing some light AI work while orbiting in space. This isn’t exactly putting a data center in space — a much-hyped concept that AI
In this animation, frames of NISAR data from December 2025 to August 2026 show the spread of lava from the northern crater of Krasheninnikov, a volcano pair on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. In the image, the lava field appears brighter in the foreground than the surrounding surfaces. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Like tendrils on a vine,
Satellite imagery shows a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia has been badly damaged after a strike last week, which experts have told BBC Verify could take more than a month to repair and force oil prices even higher. The image shows the most significant damage is at a pumping station along the East-West Pipeline,
Sticher, V. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11004-6 (2026). Article Google Scholar Raleigh, C., Linke, A., Hegre, H. & Karlsen, J. J. Peace Res. 47, 651–660 (2010). Article Google Scholar Sundberg, R. & Melander, E. J. Peace Res. 50, 523–532 (2013). Article Google Scholar Weidmann, N. B. Am. J. Polit. Sci. 60, 206–218 (2016). Article Google Scholar
NASA has carried out some notable rescue missions over the past few years, including bringing home the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station last year. More recently, the agency sent up a probe in hopes of saving the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a satellite first launched in 2004 that began falling out of our
