The rapid increase in space debris poses a significant threat to the safety of in-orbit spacecraft and the utilization of valuable orbital resources. Active debris removal (ADR) has emerged as the most effective approach to mitigating debris growth. However, traditional rigid capture methods are limited by constraints such as capture distance, target adaptability, and the risk of generating secondary debris, making them inadequate for the increasingly complex space debris environment. Net-membrane capture systems integrate smart materials with controllable deployment mechanisms, offering advantages such as long-range capture, adaptability to non-cooperative targets, and reusability. However, the dynamic characteristics throughout the entire process—shooting, deployment, contact, and wrapping capture—remain insufficiently understood. The combined stretching, shearing, and bending deformations of the membrane, along with the complex contact mechanics introduced by debris spin, pose challenges for traditional modeling approaches such as the finite element method (FEM) and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF).

Space-based distributed array telescope formations, through multi-telescope collaborative observation and long-baseline optical interferometry, can significantly enhance deep space exploration capabilities, providing key technological support for missions such as asteroid monitoring and the search for extraterrestrial life. However, the measurement and control performance of such formations is highly dependent on the precision of intertelescope baseline measurements. Frequency-sweeping interferometry (FSI) technology, with its significant advantages—including freedom from the ambiguity range limitation, capability for non-cooperative target measurement, strong anti-interference ability in complex space environments, and high maturity of core components—has emerged as the most promising technical approach for baseline measurement in space-based distributed array telescope formations. Nevertheless, advancing this technology toward aerospace engineering applications still faces two major challenges: suppressing optical frequency-sweep nonlinearity and eliminating dynamic ranging errors. Currently, using electro-optic modulation to generate highly linear, synchronized, symmetrically sweeping positive and negative sidebands—establishing a frequency-sweeping interferometry system based on electro-optic sideband modulation—represents an effective method to address the issues of sweep nonlinearity and Doppler dynamic error. However, frequency-sweeping interferometry systems based on electro-optic sideband modulation lack a traceable on-orbit optical frequency-sweep reference, making it difficult to ensure long-term stable measurement and accuracy maintenance on orbit. Therefore, further research into high-precision electro-optic sideband modulation-based frequency-sweeping interferometry methods with traceable sweep references is of great significance for advancing the development of baseline measurement technology for space-based distributed array telescope formations.

Spaceborne gravitational wave detectors achieve long-baseline inter-satellite laser interferometry through satellite constellations, overcoming the limitations imposed by seismic noise and interferometer arm lengths on ground-based detectors, and providing a new observational means for detecting medium- and low-frequency gravitational waves and revealing the origin and evolution of the universe. The TianQin project aims to build a high‑precision spaceborne gravitational wave detection array. The test mass within its core component, the gravitational reference sensor, must transition smoothly from a high-load locked state to an ultra‑quiet and ultra‑stable geodesic state after launch and orbit injection, and this release process is a critical link for mission success. However, the plunger of the grabbing, positioning, and release mechanism (GPRM), under prolonged high-load operation, induces adhesion effects such as cold welding on the test mass, and the available electrostatic capture force is insufficient to overcome the interfacial adhesion, making it difficult for conventional release strategies to meet the strict constraint of residual velocity below 5 μm/s. Therefore, establishing a theoretical model that can accurately describe the dynamic behavior of the release mechanism and the interfacial adhesion effect is of great significance for evaluating release performance, revealing the mechanism of residual velocity generation, and guiding the optimization of mechanism parameters.

Near‑Earth asteroid impacts pose a major threat that could lead to the destruction of human civilization, having already caused catastrophic environmental changes and mass extinctions multiple times in history. In recent years, asteroids with diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of meters have frequently made close flybys of Earth, and a large number of large‑sized asteroids remain undiscovered, with warning times often only a few days to weeks. For large‑sized asteroids exceeding 100 meters in diameter, or even kilometer‑scale ones, traditional kinetic impact or long‑term force deflection methods offer limited energy and cannot achieve effective deflection within short timeframes. Using the enormous energy generated by nuclear detonation to directly destroy or rapidly deflect the asteroid's orbit is the most effective, and in extreme cases the only feasible, approach for dealing with large asteroids or those with short warning times. However, existing research on detonation defense has mostly focused on the direct rendezvous impact mode, in which the impact and detonation positions cannot be autonomously selected and energy coupling is relatively weak. Moreover, there is a lack of systematic analysis of the capability coverage and overall effectiveness of different defense modes, severely constraining the optimization of engineering designs.

As humanity enters the era of long‑term crewed deep‑space exploration, understanding the brain’s adaptive mechanisms to extreme environments such as microgravity and radiation has become a critical issue in space medicine. Previous studies using magnetic resonance imaging have revealed structural brain plasticity after spaceflight, including ventricular expansion and changes in grey matter volume. However, knowledge of dynamic changes at the neurophysiological level remains limited, and most existing evidence comes from group‑level analyses of long‑duration missions (e.g., six months), leaving the specific neurofunctional impact of short‑duration missions on individuals unclear. Conventional neuroimaging equipment is bulky and cannot be used in orbit. In contrast, electroencephalography (EEG) is portable, low‑cost, and repeatable, and has shown sensitivity in neurological conditions such as concussion, but its application in the extreme spaceflight environment has not been reported. Therefore, validating the feasibility of portable EEG technology for monitoring individual brain function before and after short‑duration spaceflight holds significant practical value for building future in‑orbit brain health assessment systems in deep‑space exploration.

In May 2024, auroras were observed at unusually low latitudes across the globe, lighting up skies that rarely see such displays. Inside Earth’s magnetosphere, the region of space surrounding our planet and dominated by its intrinsic magnetic field, something significant was finally being observed. It started with a large sunspot firing a rapid series of powerful solar eruptions. Clouds of magnetized plasma merged as they traveled through space and impacted Earth's magnetosphere. No geomagnetic storm this powerful had ever been measured in the Earth’s ring current region, a belt of charged particles in space near our planet. Two sources of ring current ions are known: solar wind and Earth's ionosphere, the electrically charged upper layer of the atmosphere. For decades, scientists have debated how much each source contributes to the ring current. During most storms, both contribute. However, during a storm driven by a dense solar wind, some scientists expected solar wind ions to continue to play a notable role. Yet the first direct measurements of ring current composition from a super geomagnetic storm revealed that solar wind ion contributions were minimal, and the level of Earth-origin ion dominance had never been observed before. The findings, published in Science Advances, suggest that understanding how much Earth's ionosphere contributes to the ring current may be essential to accurately predict the severity of super geomagnetic storms. The dominance of ionospheric ions, which are far heavier than solar wind particles, may have intensified the magnetic disturbance and concentrated the ring current peak unusually close to Earth. The researchers also make a case for a proposed Japanese multi-satellite mission to understand exactly how ion supply processes work.

Researchers from the University of Oxford have uncovered evidence that Mars once hosted enormous, Earth-like magmatic systems deep beneath its surface – despite the planet lacking the plate tectonics long thought necessary for this kind of geological complexity. The findings, published today (26 June) in Nature Astronomy, reveal fascinating new possibilities for how rocky planets become habitable.

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of East Anglia have shown that carefully shaped light can reveal important chiral effects in free space, without the complex materials or extreme focusing conditions that scientists once thought were necessary. The finding could help improve optical sensing, imaging, communication and future quantum technologies.