Space Exploration News 10 December 2025 - 26 December 2025

Astronomers report Comet 3I/ATLAS shows wobbling jet structures inside a rare sun-facing anti-tail, with the jets’ angle shifting every 7.74 hours. The anti-tail extended up to 1 million kilometers. This marks the first periodic jet-angle modulation seen in an interstellar comet. On Dec. 26, 3I/ATLAS is magnitude 13.2, about 1.8 AU from Earth, in Leo.

Dec. 24, 2025 — A rare, close-up orbital photograph has provided a clearer look at a SpaceX Starlink satellite that suffered an in-space anomaly and is now tumbling toward reentry, while a growing debris field underscores how quickly low Earth orbit can become more complicated — and potentially more dangerous — as megaconstellations expand. Space+2Reuters+2 The satellite, identified as Starlink 35956, lost communications after the incident and began an unexpected descent from its operational altitude. SpaceX says the spacecraft and associated debris are expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere “within weeks,” and that the satellite’s path remains below the

December 23, 2025 — Comet 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object ever seen passing through our solar system, is already on its way out. But the news cycle around it is still very much inbound. In the days following 3I/ATLAS’ closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025, space agencies and research teams have been stitching together an unusually rich, multiwavelength “biography” of this visitor from another star system: NASA says it’s a normal (if rare) active comet, while ESA and Japan’s XRISM mission have revealed something never conclusively seen in an interstellar comet before—an X‑ray glow produced as the

December 20, 2025 — The rare interstellar visitor known as Comet 3I/ATLAS is now past its closest approach to Earth and heading back out toward the outer solar system. But “past” doesn’t mean “gone.” Today’s updates include a new research release describing ultraviolet measurements from NASA’s Europa Clipper that captured the comet when Earth- and Mars-based observers had limited views, plus fresh details on how NASA’s Parker Solar Probe tracked the comet near the Sun—right through the glare that normally hides objects like this from ground-based telescopes. ScienceDaily+2NASA Science+2 For skywatchers, 3I/ATLAS remains a telescope target rather than a naked-eye

Two days before it reaches its closest point to Earth, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is giving astronomers and serious backyard skywatchers a rare, time-limited opportunity: observe a visitor that formed around another star, then wandered into our solar system on a one-way trip back to interstellar space. The flyby itself isn’t close in the everyday sense—NASA says 3I/ATLAS will remain about 1.8 astronomical unitsfrom Earth on Dec. 19, 2025 (roughly 170 million miles / 270 million kilometers, nearly twice the Earth–Sun distance). But for scientists, it’s still “close” enough to run intensive observation campaigns, compare measurements across many telescopes and spacecraft, and test new ways of tracking

On December 15, 2025, the solar system’s most talked-about “visitor” is back in headlines for two very comet-like reasons: it’s brightening and it’s glowing green. The object is Comet 3I/ATLAS—often shortened to “3I/Atlas comet”—the third confirmed interstellar object ever found passing through our neighborhood, after 1I/ʻOumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). Space+1 Today’s coverage is focusing on what observers are seeing now that 3I/ATLAS has re-emerged for sustained viewing after its late-October solar passage: a more active coma, a greener tint, and renewed discussion of a quirky-looking feature known as an anti-tail. The Times of India+2Digit+2 With the comet set to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19—still a very safe ~270 million kilometers

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX opened Monday with another late-night-to-early-morning Starlink push, lofting 29 internet satellites into low Earth orbit from Florida’s Space Coast just hours after a separate Starlink mission out of California marked a major milestone in booster reusability. At 12:25 a.m. EST (0525 GMT) on Dec. 15, a Falcon 9 rocket rose from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, threading a narrow weather needle after forecasts warned of strong winds and cloud-rule constraints. The first stage returned to the Atlantic for a droneship landing, keeping SpaceX’s rapid-fire launch cadence intact as the

NASA is racing to re-establish contact with one of its most important Mars orbiters after an unexpected loss of signal on December 6, 2025. Key facts at a glance What happened to MAVEN? NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars since 2014, stopped talking to Earth on December 6, 2025. Before the blackout, telemetry showed the spacecraft behaving normally as it slipped behind Mars in its usual orbit. But when MAVEN emerged from the planet’s far side, NASA’s Deep Space Network didn’t hear the expected carrier signal.NASA Science+1 In a short statement published on December 9, NASA confirmed the

As of 11 December 2025, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has turned into the most closely watched object in the night sky — and not just by astronomers. In the last few days we’ve had: At the same time, a swirl of headlines about “World War I chemical weapons” and “alien probes” is competing with the science. Here’s a clear, news-style rundown of what we actually know today. What is interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS? 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to sweep through our Solar System, after 1I/ʻOumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019). NASA classifies it as interstellar because its orbit is