Space Stories: Too Much Satellite Sunlight, Sugar and Spice in Space, and Super Black Satellite Paint

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Credit: Pixabay

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Universe Space Tech: “The Earendil-1 Satellite, Equipped with its Large Mirror, Has Caused Discontent Among Astronomers“

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted approval to Reflect Orbital to proceed with testing its innovative Earendil-1 satellite. This spacecraft features a substantial mirror engineered to redirect sunlight towards the nighttime side of Earth. The primary objective of the startup is to augment energy supply to solar power facilities and illuminate extensive regions up to 5 kilometers in width. By the year 2035, the company intends to deploy a constellation comprising 50,000 such orbital reflectors. Notwithstanding the potential advantages for agriculture and emergency services, the initiative has elicited grave concerns within the community.

—CBS News “Astronomers Discover Sugar in Space That’s Also Found in Raspberries: ‘Just Floating Out in the Galaxy‘”

The space between stars just got a little sweeter. Astronomers have detected a type of sugar in space that’s also found in raspberries and self-tanners. The sugar, called erythrulose, lurks in what’s called the interstellar medium: thin clouds of gas and dust littered between stars. Sugar does more than sweeten tea and powder doughnuts. Different varieties fuel our cells and even make up DNA. Scientists are itching to know how sugars form because they’re a key ingredient for life as we know it.

—Science Alert: “Vantablack: World’s Blackest Paint Could Solve A Major Problem For Astronomy“

Low Earth orbit is becoming increasingly crowded with satellites, and they’re quietly erasing our view of the Universe…Chaturvedi and a team of researchers in the UK think they might have the answer: Vantablack 310, a specific formulation of one of the blackest materials ever developed, intended for use on spacecraft. In lab tests, coating satellites with Vantablack 310 meant that only 2 percent of incoming light was reflected.

Sci-Fi Stories: Dune & Duncan, The Sixth Nik, and Foundational Theories

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Here are a few sci-fi stories of interest.

—Den of Geek: “Dune 3 Trailer Just Revealed the Most Important Character in the Franchise“

It’s not really about Paul Atreides. Paul may be Lisan al-Gaib, he may be the Kwisatz Haderach, but Paul is not actually the main character of the Dune franchise. Instead, that honor goes to the character introduced in the latest trailer for Dune: Part Three, the character you knew as Duncan Idaho. The latest trailer shows the internal fractures in Paul’s (Timothée Chalamet) life as he continues the Fremen jihad launched after he dethroned Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) at the end of the previous movie. His partner Chani (Zendaya) feels betrayed by his actions and his legal wife, Shaddam IV’s daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) joins the plot that the Face Dancer Scytale (Robert Pattinson) launches against him. Central to this conspiracy is the introduction of the man we first met as Duncan Idaho, played by Jason Momoa. Despite what he appears to be, this man is actually called Hayt, and he is the most important character in Frank Herbert‘s Dune novels.

—Chicago Review of Books: “Body Horror At Its Best: Daniel Kraus’s “The Sixth Nik”“

Imagine a future Earth where bodily and mental modifications are the standard. The internet, riddled with rogue AI, has become a sequestered and dangerous pseudo-entity known as the Snarl. Humanity has expanded beyond Earth to settle on other planets. The forefront of technology includes spaceships made from synthetic organic materials resembling internal human organs. In central focus of this society of the future, and in focus of the novel to be discussed today, are a collection of six metallic coin-shaped technologies called niks. Niks are implanted in the brains of a lineage of children, giving them incredible powers of intuition—and lifespans that end at the onset of puberty. When one child dies, the niks are removed from their head, and the next child is chosen. This initial description can hardly begin to cover the scope and depths of The Sixth Nik, a new science fiction novel from the accomplished Daniel Kraus.

—Movieweb: “5 ‘Foundation’ Theories That Will Change the Way You Watch Season 4“

Foundation Season 4 still has no official release date, but it is expected to arrive in 2027. The explosive Season 3 finale set up some great storylines that both extend what’s already been adapted from the Isaac Asimov novels and other subplots that are original to the Apple TV project. Like many familiar with the source material, I was caught massively off-guard by the writers changing the true identity of the Mule at the end of last season. It was one of the biggest twists in the novels, and the adaptation was bold enough to include a huge bait-and-switch. As such, I think it’s fair to say that reading the books doesn’t guarantee knowledge of what’s to come in Foundation Season 4.

Note: Do not forget to watch the third official trailer for the upcoming Dune: Part Three movie.

Study Findings: Accurate Distances of the Galactic Spiral Arms from Dust-scattered X-ray Emission of Gamma-ray Bursts

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Image (Credit): An artist’s rendering of the Milky Way Galaxy illustrating the results of the recent study discussed below. The position of our Sun is also provided in the image.(ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar, ESA/XMM-Newton and NASA/Chandra)

Astronomy & Astrophysics abstract of study findings:

The details of the spiral structure of the Milky Way are still debated due to the large uncertainties in the distance estimates obtained through the most common tracers. However, X-ray dust scattering rings produced by short extragalactic X-ray transients provide a direct method to measure the 3D distribution of interstellar clouds up to the edges of our Galaxy with a precision of a few percent. We report on an analysis of all the available XMM-Newton and Chandra follow-up observations of three low-latitude gamma-ray bursts: GRB 031203 (l ≃ 255°, b ≃ −5°), GRB 160623A (l ≃ 84°, b ≃ −3°), and GRB 221009A (l ≃ 53°, b ≃ 4°). The previous detection of X-ray rings in these observations, produced by dust clouds located beyond 5 kpc, can be associated with dust in the Perseus, Outer, and Outer Scutum-Centaurus arms, thus providing direct distance measurements to these structures along three distinct lines of sight. We identify two additional rings in the direction of GRB 160623A produced by dusty clouds at 6.91  ±  0.06 kpc and 9.9  ±  0.6 kpc, and we confirm – through a second XMM-Newton observation – the presence of one cloud at 9.7  ±  0.4 kpc toward GRB 031203. We also accurately measured the distance of dusty clouds up to 19.0  ±  0.2 kpc based on the analysis of one Chandra and four XMM-Newton observations of GRB 221009A. The small statistical and systematic uncertainties of these measurements place tight constraints on the geometry of the outer Milky Way and reveal significant deviations from current models, which critically depend on spectroscopy-based Galactic rotation curves at large distances.

Citation: Vaia, B., Fornasiero, I., Tiengo, A. et al. Accurate distances of the Galactic spiral arms from dust-scattered X-ray emission of gamma-ray bursts. A&A (2026).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557431

Study-related stories:

Live Science – “’Astronomers Have To Revise Estimates’: The Milky Way May Be Larger, Heavier and More Lopsided Than We Realized”

Earth Sky – “The Milky Way’s Arms Might Not Look As We Thought”

European Space Agency – “XMM-Newton Helps Revise Distance to Outer Spiral Arms”

China Also Has a Reusable Rocket

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Image (Credit): The Long March 10b rocket’s first stage returning to a floating pad earlier today. (CCTV)

Earlier today China successfully recovered the first stage of its Long March 10b rocket (as shown above and also in a CNN video). The rocket was launched from Hainan island in southern China. 

Up to this point, only SpaceX and Blue Origin have been able to accomplish this feat. This means China is joining the U.S. in terms of reusable rockets at a time when it is also making strides in the race to the Moon.

The rocket test was also successful in putting a satellite into low-Earth orbit.

The Long March 10b rockets was built by a state-owned company and is an essential part of China’s plans to send a crew to China. It is also said to be part of China’s plans to put internet satellites into orbit, similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.

One interesting part of the recovery was the use of a large net on the platform. Chen Muye from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (the state-owned company) stated:

Net-based recovery simplifies the onboard structure, reduces weight and boosts payload capacity.

Maybe the US commercial space sector has a few things to learn from the Chinese.

Pic of the Week: Beauty and the Beast

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Image (Credit): Chinese photographers’ entry “Cosmic Neighbours: Beauty and the Beast.”(Yijing Zhu and Xinghan Yang)

This week’s image is from another finalist in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s annual ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The photo is labeled “Cosmic Neighbours: Beauty and the Beast” by photographers Yijing Zhu and Xinghan Yang. It was taken in Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.

Here is a description of the photo from the photographers:

This image captures a dramatic cosmic pairing: the serene elegance of Bode’s Galaxy (M81, left) alongside the chaotic violence of the Cigar Galaxy (M82, right). Located about 12 million light years from Earth, these two neighbours are locked in a gravitational dance that has shaped their destinies profoundly. M81 retains its perfect grand design spiral form, a picture of galactic grace.  

In stark contrast, M82 is a starburst galaxy, reeling from a close encounter with its larger companion. This gravitational disturbance has triggered a furious burst of star formation at its core, which blasts into space spectacular red filaments of superheated hydrogen gas that are clearly visible in this deep exposure.