🚀 Space Pulse · 2026-09-24 22:01 UTC

SPACE PULSE

Thursday, 24 September 2026 | 22:00 UTC

⚡ TL;DR

NASA has selected PRIMA, a far-infrared space telescope, as the first mission in the new Probe Explorer class, marking a significant expansion of its astrophysics portfolio.

A busy 24 hours across agencies: BepiColombo closing on Mercury, Hubble at 200,000 orbits, a live K-index 4 geomagnetic disturbance, and two classified SpaceX launches queued for the coming week.

🚀 LAUNCHES

USSF-385 | CLASSIFIED SPACE FORCE MISSION

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5, status Go for Launch, targeted for 2026-09-26 at 11:56 UTC; payload likely Starshield-bus LEO satellites based on matching stage drop-zone geometry with prior Starlink Group 15 flights. ^[1]

NROL-97 | CLASSIFIED NRO PAYLOAD

• SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying a National Reconnaissance Office classified payload, Go for Launch, window opens 2026-10-02 at 03:53 UTC. ^[2]

IRNSS-1L (NVS-03) | INDIAN NAVIGATION SATELLITE

• ISRO GSLV Mk II to geosynchronous orbit, target date 2026-10-15; replaces aging node in India's GPS-alternative Regional Navigation Satellite System for both military and civilian users. ^[3]

🔭 DISCOVERIES

HUBBLE MARKS 200,000 ORBITS, HUNTS SUPERNOVA ATHENA

• NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completed its 200,000th orbit on September 19, having traveled more than 5 billion miles in 36 years of operation. ^[4]
• In a Sept. 19 observation, Hubble targeted massive galaxy cluster MACS J0417 as a gravitational lens to search for Supernova Athena, first spotted by JWST, whose predicted lensed reappearance has so far proved elusive. ^{[5] [6]}

NISAR CAPTURES KAMCHATKA VOLCANIC ERUPTION

• The joint US-India NISAR satellite recorded a time-lapse of lava spreading from Krasheninnikov volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, apparently reactivated by the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the nearby ocean on July 30, 2025. ^{[7] [8]}

ARCTIC SEA ICE 2026 MINIMUM

• Arctic sea ice hit its annual minimum extent on September 12 at 4.6 million square kilometers (1.78 million sq mi), tying 2008, 2010, and 2025 for the 10th-lowest extent on record, per NASA and NSIDC. ^{[9] [10]}

NASA APOD: GHOSTS OF FIVE SUPERNOVAS

• Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day features faint supernova remnant shells from five separate stellar explosions, offering a striking visual record of high-energy events in the local galaxy.

🛰️ MISSIONS

PRIMA SELECTED AS FIRST PROBE EXPLORER

• NASA has advanced PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) to the next development phase; it is the inaugural mission in the new Probe Explorer mid-class astrophysics category and is designed to trace the history and evolution of the universe in far-infrared light.

DAVINCI PROBE PASSES VENUS HEAT TEST

• NASA's DAVINCI engineering descent probe survived a thermal qualification run from August 28 to September 10, confirming the design can endure the extreme temperatures it will face descending through Venus's atmosphere.

BEPICOLOMBO MERCURY ARRIVAL CAMPAIGN OPENS

• ESA is running a public outreach competition inviting welcoming messages (art, poetry, song) for BepiColombo's imminent Mercury orbit insertion, with winners receiving a trip to mission control to watch the arrival live.

ISS EXPEDITION 75 PREPS FOR CREW-13 HANDOVER

• Expedition 75 crew ran augmented-reality ultrasound scans and collected blood and saliva immune-system samples on September 23 while beginning preparations for the upcoming crew swap with NASA's SpaceX Crew-13.

NASA CREW-13 BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE LINEUP ANNOUNCED

• During the Crew-13 mission aboard ISS, astronauts will conduct investigations into blood flow, clotting under microgravity, and manual performance testing; a new collaborative spaceflight health study is included.

SPLICE LUNAR LANDING TECH TESTED OVER CALIFORNIA

• On August 27, an Alta-X drone flew NASA's SPLICE (Safe and Precise Landing Integrated Capabilities Evolution) guidance system over Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, advancing precision landing tech for future Moon and planetary missions.

CROATIA JOINS ARTEMIS ACCORDS

• The Republic of Croatia signed the Artemis Accords in Zagreb on September 23, becoming the 74th nation to commit to the norms of peaceful and transparent space exploration.

ESA INDUSTRY SPACE DAYS 2026 SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD

• ESA's two-day Industry Space Days event at ESTEC in the Netherlands on September 16-17 drew a record 3,100 visitors from across Europe's space industry.

☀️ SPACE WEATHER

ACTIVE K-INDEX 4 CONDITIONS IN EFFECT TODAY

• NOAA issued a K-index 4 warning beginning 09:44 UTC today (September 24), confirmed by an alert at 09:52 UTC; the warning was extended through 21:00 UTC, indicating elevated geomagnetic activity persisting most of the day.

SEPTEMBER 5-8 SOLAR RADIATION AND STORM RECAP

• An S1 Minor solar proton event peaked at 18 pfu (10 MeV flux) on September 5 at 16:45 UTC, accompanied by a 100 MeV proton event peaking at 1 pfu before ending by 16:15 UTC; both events have since cleared.
• Type II and Type IV solar radio emissions were detected September 4 starting around 19:22-19:24 UTC, with the Type II indicating a CME shock velocity of approximately 698 km/s.
• A G1 Minor geomagnetic storm watch was issued for September 8-9 as a downstream consequence of the early-September solar activity; that storm period has now passed.
• A G1 Minor geomagnetic K-index 5 warning was also issued for the period September 15-16, indicating a secondary round of elevated activity mid-month.

📄 RESEARCH

Note: No arXiv astro-ph papers are present among today's indexed source items. The research highlights below draw on agency science announcements grounded in the data.

PRIMA FAR-INFRARED PROBE EXPLORER

• NASA's selection of PRIMA advances a mission class explicitly positioned to fill the wavelength gap between JWST's near/mid-infrared and radio observatories; it targets the cosmic history of star formation, galaxy evolution, and the cold universe.

HABITABLE WORLDS OBSERVATORY PRECURSOR SCIENCE

• NASA is actively recruiting reviewers for ROSES program element D.8, Habitable Worlds Observatory Precursor Science Investigations, signaling early-stage community science preparation for the future flagship direct-imaging mission.

THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL ASTROPHYSICS NETWORKS

• NASA is also seeking panelists for TCAN (ROSES D.4), supporting theoretical and computational modeling work across astrophysics disciplines including areas relevant to future missions.

SPACEFLIGHT BLOOD FLOW AND CLOTTING STUDY

• The Crew-13 manifest includes a new collaborative investigation specifically designed to characterize how microgravity alters blood flow dynamics and clotting mechanisms, addressing a known long-duration spaceflight health risk.

FARMFLUX AGRICULTURAL EMISSIONS AIRBORNE CAMPAIGN

• NASA aircraft are conducting low-altitude research flights over Colorado measuring ozone, methane, ammonia, and particulates from agricultural lands and animal farms, filling a recognized data gap in Earth's land-atmosphere emission inventories.

Space Pulse is compiled from NASA, ESA, ISRO/Launch Library 2, and NOAA SWPC official sources only. Next edition: 2026-09-25 22:00 UTC.

📎 Sources

1. Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-385 — Launch Library 2
2. Falcon Heavy | NROL-97 — Launch Library 2
3. GSLV Mk II | IRNSS-1L (NVS-03) — Launch Library 2
4. NASA’s Hubble Seeks Lensed Supernova, Marks 200,000 Orbits — NASA News Releases
5. NASA’s Hubble Telescope Reaches Milestone, Looks for Elusive S… — NASA News Releases
6. NASA’s Hubble Telescope Reaches Milestone, Looks for Elusive S… — NASA Science
7. US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic Eruption — NASA News Releases
8. US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic Eruption — NASA Science
9. Arctic Sea Ice Reaches 2026 Annual Minimum Extent — NASA News Releases
10. Arctic Sea Ice Reaches 2026 Annual Minimum Extent — NASA Science

Curated from official sources — NASA/ESA/JAXA/ESO/NOAA/arXiv/Launch Library. Informational only.
Serial 20260924-22-v90 · 2026-09-24 22:01 UTC · pulse.uzylab.com