Once-in-century lunar impact & Ghosts of five supernovas - Space News (Sep 24, 2026)

Welcome to The Automated Daily, space news edition. The podcast created by generative AI. Today, we begin with a once-in-a-century strike on the Moon that has left behind a record-breaking crater and a rare scientific opportunity. From there, we’ll move through ghostly supernova remnants, strange early-galaxy clues from Hubble, a new Chinese satellite launch, SpaceX’s latest Starship milestone, a good reason to look for Neptune tonight, a fresh idea for AI-guided docking, rising tension over space weapons, and a live link between students and an astronaut in orbit.

Once-in-century lunar impact

Our first story takes us to the Moon, where NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team has confirmed a newly formed crater called McGetchin. At about 222 meters wide, it is the largest fresh impact crater yet discovered in the Solar System, and scientists estimate an event this large happens on the Moon only about once every 132 years. Beyond the record, the crater matters because it excavated material from just below the lunar surface and created a thermal “cold spot,” giving researchers a rare chance to study how the Moon responds to sudden, high-energy impacts.

Ghosts of five supernovas

Next, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day showcases an eerie composite image of the remnants of five ancient supernovas. These ghostly shells and filaments are the expanding aftermath of massive stellar explosions, and together they reveal how stars enrich the galaxy with heavier elements and stir the gas that will eventually form new stars. It’s a vivid reminder that even seemingly quiet regions of the sky are shaped by repeated cosmic violence over long timescales.

Weird early-universe galaxies

Astronomers are also learning more about the early Universe by studying extreme stars much closer to home. Using Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph as part of the TEMPOS survey, researchers examined very hot, extremely metal-poor O-type stars in nearby galaxies. These stars appear to act like the primitive stars that dominated the young cosmos, blasting their surroundings with intense radiation and helping explain why early galaxies looked so compact, chaotic, and unusually active.

China’s new Yaogan satellites

In launch news, China has successfully sent the Yaogan-40 04 satellite group into orbit aboard a Long March-6A rocket from Taiyuan. Official descriptions say the satellites will be used for electromagnetic environment detection and related technology tests. Missions in the Yaogan series are often broadly described, but they are widely watched because they reflect China’s expanding remote-sensing, surveillance, and space-based monitoring capabilities.

SpaceX readies orbital Starship

SpaceX, meanwhile, has stacked a Starship upper stage on top of a Super Heavy booster at Starbase in Texas ahead of Flight 14. The mission is being positioned as the first planned orbital Starship flight and could include deployment of next-generation Starlink V3 satellites if final approvals come through. If the test succeeds, it would mark a major step for full-stack reusability and for SpaceX’s effort to turn Starship into an operational heavy-lift launch system.

Neptune near opposition tonight

For skywatchers, tonight offers a quieter but rewarding target: Neptune near opposition in Pisces. The distant ice giant is too faint for the naked eye, but binoculars or a small telescope can reveal its tiny gray-blue disk, especially with a nearby background star helping observers locate it. Events like this are useful not just for casual viewing, but also for long-term monitoring of the outer planets under favorable geometry.

AI-driven spacecraft docking

A more experimental development comes from Stanford, where engineers have proposed an AI-based spacecraft docking system that runs internal simulated scenarios before making a move. In simple terms, the spacecraft would test possibilities in a kind of digital rehearsal, then choose the safest and most effective approach. If the concept proves reliable, it could make future rendezvous and docking operations more autonomous and more resilient to uncertainty.

Growing tension over space weapons

Space policy is also growing more tense. China has warned that acknowledged U.S. on-orbit space control weapons could fuel a wider arms race beyond Earth, following unusually direct comments from American officials about operational defensive capabilities in space. The exchange underscores a broader shift, with orbit increasingly treated not just as a scientific and commercial domain, but as a strategically contested environment.

NASA astronaut engages students

And finally, a more inspiring note from orbit: NASA astronaut Anil Menon is scheduled to answer prerecorded STEM questions from students in New Hampshire during a live Earth-to-space call from the International Space Station. The event will stream on NASA’s education platforms and gives students a direct link to life and work in microgravity. Outreach like this remains one of the most effective ways to turn spaceflight from an abstract idea into something personal, real, and motivating for future scientists and engineers.

That’s all for today’s space news briefing. From a record-setting crater on the Moon to new satellites, new launch milestones, and new questions about how humanity uses space, it’s clear the story above our heads keeps moving fast. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back soon with more from the frontier.

Once-in-century lunar impact & Ghosts of five supernovas - Space News (Sep 24, 2026)

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