S301 is the fastest known star orbiting the Milky Way’s black hole
S301 reaches 25,000 km/s and passes closer to Sagittarius A* than any previously identified star.
Reusable rockets, Earth observation, constellations: orbit is becoming infrastructure.
Orbit is becoming infrastructure: reusable launchers driving down the cost per kilogram, constellations that connect and observe, Earth observation feeding agriculture, weather forecasting and climate monitoring. The section follows flights, commissionings and order books — SpaceX of course, but also the Chinese, Indian, Japanese and European launchers the general press skims over.
The angle stays the journal’s: what changes concretely, quantified and sourced. A launch is not a feat but a price per kilogram; a constellation is not a project but a number of active satellites and a service rendered. We distinguish the test flight from the commercial cadence, and the announcement from the signed contract.
S301 reaches 25,000 km/s and passes closer to Sagittarius A* than any previously identified star.
Hubble detects evidence of a galaxy collision 11.8 billion years ago.
Hubble identified globular clusters left by the Milky Way’s ancient merger with dwarf galaxy LKH.