Scientists turn radio telescopes into space scanners – sharpening view of hidden orbital threats
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Oct-2026 03:16 ET (23-Oct-2026 07:16 GMT/UTC)
World-first live demonstration of next-generation technology shows how repurposing scientific infrastructure can track both potentially hostile satellites and hazardous space debris.
Spectral imaging allows materials to be identified without contact, but compact systems often struggle to preserve enough information for accurate reconstruction. Researchers from Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang University, and Westlake University have introduced a geometry-driven spectral encoding strategy based on the Euclidean Distance of Encoding space (EDE). Instead of optimizing only the statistical properties of an encoding matrix, EDE directly maximizes the separation between encoded spectral responses in measurement space. The team combined genetic algorithms, automatic differentiation, and transfer-matrix modeling to design manufacturable TiO₂/SiO₂ multilayer thin-film encoders. The resulting system improves reconstruction performance over random, correlation-optimized, and coherence-optimized benchmarks, and enables high-fidelity spectral recovery across the visible to short-wave infrared range. The work establishes a new geometric design paradigm for compact, intelligent computational optical systems.
CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. – The Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellite (RSGS) payload, on board SpaceLogistic’s Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) has successfully launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral U.S. Space Force Station at about 5:15 pm on July 21, 2026. It is the first privately owned, operational robotic in-space servicing mission that extends the life and resilience of satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) through on-orbit servicing.
Researchers with the CHIME/FRB Collaboration found that diffuse “puffs” of ordinary matter fill the vast spaces between galaxies. The findings help explain why physicists’ estimates of the amount of visible matter in the universe are much larger than what we know exists within stars and galaxies.