Marcin Frąckiewicz

NASA’s ATLAS telescope identified the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, currently about 420 million miles from Earth, with closest approach to the Sun on October 30, 2025, and it will pass safely between Mars and Earth as the third confirmed interstellar visitor after 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov. July marks Aphelion Day, when Earth is about 94.5 million miles from the Sun, but axial tilt, not distance, drives seasonal heat, with northern summers lengthened as Earth moves slower in its orbit at aphelion. Earth’s rotation is speeding up, shortening days by milliseconds, with scientists warning that a leap second may be subtracted by 2029,

Boeing won a $2.8 billion U.S. Space Force contract to develop two Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications (ESS) satellites, with options for two more, for NC3 in geostationary orbit, with first delivery targeted for 2031. MethaneSAT, a $134 million satellite funded by the Environmental Defense Fund and Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund, was lost after 15 months in orbit, ending methane-emission monitoring that had revealed some regions emit up to 10 times higher than prior estimates. ESA launched MTG-S1, the first geostationary meteorological sounder, alongside Copernicus Sentinel-4 to deliver real-time high-resolution atmospheric data for Europe. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, in operation since