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Khabre desk
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the space exploration desk.
science
NASA selected GIMLI, a lunar science payload, to investigate whether the Marius Hills Pit opens into a large underground lava tube. Two other selected payload suites will study lunar ice, surface behaviour and environmental hazards.
science
NASA’s Voyager 1 is due to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth on Nov. 18, 2026. A recent power-saving change is intended to keep its remaining science instruments operating longer.
science
NASA says the Psyche spacecraft began using its solar-powered thrusters nearly 90% of the time after a Mars gravity assist. The extended thrusting is intended to keep it on course for an asteroid rendezvous in summer 2029.
technology
ESA’s 350th Council meeting advanced preparations for a proposed European exploration path spanning low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars. A December meeting in Rome will be an interim step before later programme and financial decisions.
science
JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration mission lifted off on an H3 rocket on 20 October 2026. It is planned to investigate Phobos and Deimos, collect a sample from Phobos and return to Earth.
technology
NASA’s Perseverance rover has driven 45.22 kilometres on Mars, surpassing the previous off-world distance record held by Opportunity. NASA says autonomous navigation has helped Perseverance cover more than 90% of its total distance.
science
ESA says Juice’s 28 September 2026 Earth flyby bent its path by 20° and increased its velocity by 3.5 km/s. The encounter also gave the mission teams an opportunity to test and calibrate science instruments in space.
science
ESA and The Pokémon Company International are launching exhibitions and Pokémon GO activities across Europe for World Space Week 2026. A Pikachu plush previously spent 67 days aboard the International Space Station.
science
NASA’s Perseverance rover found that the Margin Unit in Jezero Crater records at least three separate episodes of water-rock interaction, including a later episode involving heated underground water. The findings revise the picture of how water moved through early Mars.
technology
ESA will host a media event in Lanzarote on 26 September 2026 after the final stage of astronaut Pablo Álvarez’s PANGAEA training. The programme teaches astronauts to conduct geological fieldwork for future Moon and Mars exploration missions.
science
NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered an unusually extensive field of polygonal fractures in a Martian valley. Scientists are studying whether the honeycomb-like patterns formed through drying, temperature changes or processes that compressed ancient sediments.