The X-59 has spent the past year expanding its flight envelope, flying at the altitudes, speeds, and conditions that will be utilised for all the aspects of the Quesst mission. NASA’s experimental X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft completed its first cross-country journey from California to Florida.

NASA X-59’s first cross-country journey

Recently, NASA celebrated X-59’s first anniversary of its maiden flight, and now this supersonic aircraft has achieved another milestone.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft completed its first cross-country journey from Edwards Air Force Base, California, to Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, with stops in El Paso, Fort Worth and Birmingham.

The aircraft has reportedly achieved a maximum speed of Mach 1.53 (approximately 1,010 mph or 1,625 km/h) and an altitude exceeding 56,000 feet. NASA is progressing towards acoustic validation to measure the aircraft’s actual noise signature during supersonic flight.

The programme aims to collect scientific data and public feedback that could help regulators reconsider restrictions on supersonic flights over land, potentially paving the way for a new generation of commercial supersonic aircraft.

This cross-country journey of the aircraft represents a public milestone for a research programme that could influence the future design and regulation of commercial supersonic aircraft.

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A few months ago, Brazil reportedly authorised SpaceSail to operate 324 LEO satellites starting in Q4 2026. The approval came from Anatel. With this approval, Brazil became the first country in Latin America to open its market to this Chinese constellation officially.

Starlink is already growing rapidly in Brazil, and it appears that the country is building options as SpaceSail has certified its residential equipment in Brazil.

SpaceSail residential equipment certified in Brazil

According to Tecnoblog’s report, SpaceSail’s antenna has model code STG-S001-A0 and received approval from Anatel. The certification reveals the design and key details of this antenna.

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Externally, the equipment features a rectangular design and only one port, used for power and a wired internet connection, in addition to a status LED and a diagnostic port covered by a rubber cap. It measures 48 x 36 x 4cm, weighs 4kg and comes with an IP65 protection. The included cable is 15m long and can be installed using a non-standard USB-C connector.

At the other end, the cable has an RJ45 connector for Ethernet network cables and a power connector for use with the included power supply. The antenna is also capable of creating a WiFi 5 network, mainly used for initial setup via the SpaceSail app.

According to the technical specifications in the manual, download and upload speeds will be up to 400 Mb/s and 100 Mb/s, respectively. As per the listing, SpaceSail may offer some accessories for the device, such as various types of mounts and an external battery. The label mentions a power supply of 48 Volts at 4.5 Amperes, resulting in an incredible 216W (a value close to the latest version of USB Power Delivery).

The certificate of conformity states that “The product is intended for multiple scenarios (fixed and mobile).”

SpaceSail is expected to face strong competition from Starlink, but also from Amazon Leo, which will be sold by Sky in the country and whose launch is delayed.

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For the first time, a group of researchers — including scientists from @GoogleResearch and HHMI Janelia — built the first complete brain map for a male fruit fly. Together, we mapped every single neural connection in a male fruit fly brain and central nervous system, amounting to… pic.twitter.com/nRk8EB48xS

— Google (@Google) September 25, 2026

This map includes a record-breaking more than 166,000 neurons. It is a big step in advancing neuroscience experiments on this key model organism.

First complete brain map for a male fruit fly

A record-breaking map

The image shows selected neurons in the male fruit fly’s brain and ventral nerve cord, which is analogous to a spinal cord.

Like humans, flies do most of their sensing using organs located on their heads, including two huge compound eyes and a retractable proboscis that extends to detect smell and ingest liquid food. Neurons in these sensing organs detect external information and pass the signal through pathways that eventually reach the motor neurons that control movement.

Brain+ Nerve Cord

When seen from above, the fruit fly’s massive eyes and central brain stand out. They connect via a thick cord of nerves to the body, where motor neurons control behavior. This map was created by taking thin sections of a fruit fly brain and body, imaging each slice, and then using computers and AI to combine millions of 2D images to create 3D neural shapes. Knowing the structure of the brain allows neuroscientists to understand the mechanisms behind brain function.

Visualising almost 11,700 types of neurons

Play video

This video shows some of the 11,691 types of neuron cells in the male fruit fly’s central nervous system, which includes the brain and ventral nerve cord. Neurons can be categorized by size, shape, function, gene expression, or other factors. This visualization begins with neurons at the core of the brain and body. It then gradually moves to outer layers and, finally, to neurons at the extremities. Computing and AI helped human experts classify more than 166,000 neurons.

Brain differences between male and female fruit flies

While most neurons in male and female fruit flies are the same, or isomorphic, a minority are sex-specific. A third category of neurons is “dimorphic,” existing in both males and females but connecting to different neighbouring neurons. These neighbours may be isomorphic, the same in both males and females, or sex-specific, or even dimorphic themselves.

Connecting stimulus to motion

Play video

The new brain map of the male fruit fly includes visual-motor pathways. These connect the visual neurons, which help the fly detect its environment, to motor neurons, which help it move in response. This video shows an example of such a pathway, going from the R1-R6 visual neurons (purple) to the DNg13 motor neuron (green). In between are several intermediate steps, including the male-specific LoVP92, named for the so-called “love spot,” that plays a role in courtship behaviour.

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After being in space for almost a year, it was revealed yesterday that the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket has collided with the Moon. The 4000kg rocket body crashed into the Moon’s surface, and, according to scientists, the impact created a crater approximately 20 to 30 metres in diameter.

Will this collision have an impact on Earth?

According to NASA, this poses absolutely no danger to Earth or the Moon. According to researchers, this rare event provided valuable scientific data, offering new insights into the Moon’s surface and helping improve planning for future lunar exploration missions.

SpaceX, via an X post, clarified that solar activity and gravity led the second stage toward the Moon. It is said that impacts like this are rare, but they can happen with objects in these types of orbits, and the company has worked with NASA on the optimal disposal solution.

It is also revealed that this impact was not deliberately planned by NASA, but it does outline opportunities to study crater formation, dust ejection, and high-speed impact dynamics.

Stay tuned for more such updates!

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Hello space, we have arrived! Vikram-1's Test Flight-1 has completed it's mission.

The first ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed. #Vikram1 #MissionAagaman #OpeningSpaceForAll

— Skyroot Aerospace (@SkyrootA) July 18, 2026

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has also congratulated Skyroot Aerospace on this historic achievement.

Spoke to the team of Skyroot Aerospace and congratulated them on the successful launch of Vikram-1.

This is a defining moment in India’s space journey. The growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation.

This achievement will… pic.twitter.com/epWjOY8yKa

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 18, 2026

Vikram-1 launched six payloads into a 450km LEO from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. These include Skyroot’s SCOPE satellite, DCUBED’s technology demonstration payload, Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS S3 satellite, and Cosmoserve Space’s Embrace. It also carried two symbolic payloads: Cosmic Bloom and an 18K gold micro-rocket (features microscopic sculptures of C. V. Raman, Vikram Sarabhai and APJ Abdul Kalam)

This successful mission has made India the third country with a private orbital launch capability. This achievement showcases the growing strength of India’s private sector, advancing innovation and the potential of India’s space economy. Meanwhile, as the Prime Minister mentioned in his X post, this achievement will encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly.

Stay tuned with The Tech Outlook for the latest tech updates!

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For the first time, doctors have completed two surgeries with the use of remotely controlled humanoid robots. According to the study published in Nature, “In Vivo feasibility study of humanoid robots in surgery”, it was revealed that a team of engineers and surgeons at the University of California San Diego has demonstrated that teleoperated humanoid robots can successfully perform live minimally invasive surgery during preclinical trials.

In one surgery, a human-robot team made up of a humanoid robot and a human surgeon acting as an assistant successfully performed a gallbladder removal. A second successful surgery was performed by two humanoid robots working side by side in a robot-robot team, while surgeons controlled them remotely. Both procedures were performed on large non-primate mammals.

It is revealed that the robots used in the study, nicknamed Surgie, are 5 feet tall and weigh 60 pounds. The robots were designed to work with standard laparoscopic instruments rather than custom-built surgical hardware. This latest achievement moves humanoid robots beyond laboratory demonstrations and simulated surgical exercises. The research team measured how close current humanoid systems are to the standards expected in real surgical environments.

It was observed that the humanoid robots were able to operate within an existing operating room environment. Although researchers did have to build adapters to allow Surgie to hold traditional surgical tools, controlling humanoid robots felt more natural to them.

One of the assistant professor of surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine said, “It’s a fraction of cost and it takes a fraction of the space in an operating room. So it’s easy to deploy, anywhere from rural areas, to the battlefield, and even to space.”

Healthcare systems in many countries are facing a shortage of surgeons; this leads to delays in the treatment of patients, widening disparities, and more. The use of humanoid robots is expected to expand access to surgical care to more patients and locations.

Apart from this major achievement, the researchers did go through some adjustments like robots had to be reclibrated several times during surgery, and latency is also being improved. Researchers also discovered a different role for surgie- it could fetch tools for the surgeons and could clean up an operating room after a procedure.

Via.

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Today, NASA revealed that it is investing more than $500 million to deliver more science and technology to the lunar surface, and for this, the agency has selected three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 to advance its Moon Base development.

NEW: NASA is investing more than $500 million to deliver more science and technology to the lunar surface. The agency has selected three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 to advance @NASAMoonBase development. https://t.co/We89abfvue

— NASA (@NASA) June 30, 2026

The three companies include:

• Astrobotic: Awarded $297.9 million total for two deliveries
• Firefly Aerospace: Awarded $144.2 million for one delivery
• Intuitive Machines: Awarded $148.3 million for one delivery

Each company will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA’s increased mission cadence. The companies are responsible for initiating and executing procurements, providing an assessment of a similar previous lunar lander, and incorporating lessons learned to improve the overall mission reliability.

Each delivery will carry three NASA payloads to the lunar surface:

• Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS)
• Laser Retroreflector Array (LFA)
• Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS)

NASA is also reviewing options for these landers to deliver potential additional payloads to the Moon.

“By flying the same science instruments on multiple landers, we will better understand potential hazards during landing and built out a global network of environmental data and location markers on the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. “It’s akin to having weather stations in different locations on Earth. These three payloads are flight-proven and their data is critical to supporting safe human exploration of the lunar surface.”

Apart from this, NASA is also considering plans to send PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration) to the Moon, a hybrid engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance and Curiosity Rovers. Agency experts will define potential opportunities for PROMISE to characterise the lunar surface, subsurface, and prospect for resources.

NASA plans to solicit proposals in the coming months for lunar landers to deliver a power and avionics technology demonstration, another science manifest, and a South Polar optical imager. The agency will also share an open solicitation for Moon Base technology demonstrations and seek a lunar communication and navigation relay constellation to enable improved communication between Moon Base elements and Earth.

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Read more about the update below.

Rare Red Sprites Captured Over Tibetan Plateau!

Recently, a rare display of red sprites was captured by Chinese astrophotographer Dong Shuchang from ~5,000 m elevation, and the glowing crimson-coloured flashes were seen high above massive thunderstorm clouds. These red sprites are classified as a type of Transient Luminous Event (TLE), and unlike ordinary lightning that usually arcs between clouds and the ground, these form much higher in the atmosphere. The red sprites are said to appear at an altitude between 50 km to 90 km, and last only for a few milliseconds, thereby making them very difficult to observe.

Speaking more, these red sprites as mentioned are triggered by intense positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes that take place in massive and powerful storm systems below. These strong lightning strikes send a large surge of electrical energy upward, and when this discharge interacts with the upper atmosphere, it excites the thin nitrogen molecules present there. Notably, the excited nitrogen molecules then emit the characteristic glowing red or reddish-orange colour, which gives the red sprites their unique appearance.

 

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Regarding why these red sprites are considered rare, the luminous bursts can spread across tens of kilometres in the sky, but they remain visible only for a very short time. As mentioned, they usually last only for a few milliseconds, and this makes it almost impossible to see them clearly with the naked eye. In addition to this, since they occur above the clouds and also rely on the unpredictable intensity of thunderstorms, scientists have only recently been able to study them better with the help of advanced high-speed and long-exposure astrophotography.

The visuals recorded over the Tibetan Plateau offer an awe-inspiring look at the glowing pillars of light and jellyfish-like tendrils formed by these red sprites. This rare observation also further contributes towards understanding such short-lived upper-atmosphere events better, while also showing how powerful storm systems can lead to such unusual and beautiful light displays above the clouds.

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About Moon Base

As defined by NASA, the Moon Base is the home base for Artemis astronauts who will live and work at humanity’s first lunar outpost. NASA is leading global teams of innovators across international space agencies, industry, and academia to build the Moon Base and establish an enduring human presence near the South Pole for the benefit of all.

Moon Base Development in Phases

Phase One (Now- 2029)

Phase One of Moon Base development includes:

• A major increase in lunar activity, with up to 25 missions, including 21 landings.
• Crewed and autonomous rovers for mobility demonstrations and surface preparation, along with 4 drones known as MoonFall and communications relay and observation satellites.
• Early demonstrations of power, navigation, communications, and nuclear radioisotope heater unit technologies designed to endure the long lunar night.
• Scientific payload opportunities integrated across landers and rovers.
• The first tangible footprint of the Moon Base effort, with four tons of payload delivered to test what works on the lunar surface.

Phase Two (2029-2032)

By 2029, NASA will transition to assembling semi-permanent infrastructure and initiating early habitation and logistics operations. Phase Two of Moon Base Development includes:

• Deployment of expanded solar power systems and initial nuclear surface power capabilities, potentially including fission reactors and radioisotope power systems.
• Upgraded rovers, potential advanced MoonFall drones, and early habitation elements.
• Enhanced surface-to-orbit communications networks to provide reliable connectivity across the lunar South Pole region.
• Delivery of up to 60 tons of cargo through as many as 24 landings using low-, medium-, and heavy-class cargo landers.

Phase Three (2032-Beyond)

This phase will scale operations to achieve a sustained presence, with routine crew rotations and continuous surface activity. Phase Three of Moon Base development includes:

• Semi-permanent habitation modules with more spacious interior for crew living and operations.
• Operational fission surface power systems capable of delivering steady, reliable energy through the long lunar nights, leveraging in-situ resource manufacturing.
• Pressurized rovers enabling long-distance travel, exploration, and science operations.
• Advanced logistics networks supported by crewed and autonomous rovers to keep the base supplied and functioning year-round.
• Delivery of up to 38 tons of cargo annually to sustain habitats, power systems, logistics operations, and major science outposts, enabled by low-cost reusable heavy-lift capabilities.

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The crew members include payload specialist Lai Ka-ying (a former Hong Kong police inspector with a doctoral degree in computer forensics), the first astronaut from the city to take part in a Chinese space mission; commander Zhu Yangzhu; and pilot Zhang Zhiyuan.

Among the three astronauts, one will stay on the Tiangong Space Station for a year (one of the longest space missions of China), enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space. According to the China Manned Space Agency, the astronaut who is supposed to stay will be decided later, depending on the progress of this mission.

This launch is a crucial step as Beijing is said to be working towards its ambition of a crewed moon landing by 2030. The launch comes amid an accelerating race to the moon with the US, which has warned about Beijing’s alleged plans to colonise and mine lunar territory and resources. Though Beijing has denied such claims.

Until its 2030 deadline, NASA will have to develop entirely new hardware and software specific to its lunar mission, proving it is mission-ready. That will ensure its astronauts, used to the relative safety of Tiangong in low-Earth orbit, can safely make the riskier transition to the moon’s surface. Reportedly, the Chinese space agency is training two Pakistani astronauts, one of whom could join an expected mission to Tiangong this year on a short-duration basis.

It is revealed that scientists will study the physiological effects of radiation exposure, bone density loss and psychological stress in space for the extended duration of the Shenzhou-23 mission.

China also plans to establish a permanent base on the moon by 2035 with Russia, if the crewed landing before 2030 becomes successful.

Apart from China, NASA is also seeking to achieve a crewed moon landing in 2028 while the US aims to establish a long-term lunar presence as a stepping stone to eventual human exploration of Mars.

Via.

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