Satellite maps GPS jamming zones & Satellites confirm El Niño’s return - Space News (Jun 18, 2026)

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Prezi: Create AI presentations fast - https://try.prezi.com/automated_daily - SurveyMonkey, Using AI to surface insights faster and reduce manual analysis time - https://get.surveymonkey.com/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad Support The Automated Daily directly: Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/theautomateddaily Today's topics: Satellite maps GPS jamming zones - An experimental LEO satellite called Pulsar-0 mapped widespread GPS interference across Europe and the Middle East, revealing disruption on a far larger scale than expected. The findings highlight rising risks to navigation, timing, and even satellite operations in jammed corridors. Satellites confirm El Niño’s return - NASA Earth Observatory imagery and NOAA analysis indicate El Niño is underway, with persistent warmer-than-average waters across the equatorial Pacific. Satellite measurements of sea surface temperature and sea level provide early warning for global weather shifts that can affect floods, droughts, and agriculture. Ariane 6 lofts record payload - Europe’s Ariane 6 launched 36 Amazon Leo broadband satellites in its heaviest Ariane payload ever, marking a major milestone for the rocket’s growing commercial cadence. The mission underscores both the promise of global satellite internet and the increasing crowding of low Earth orbit. Possible supernova remnant near core - NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day showcased a candidate supernova remnant near the Milky Way’s crowded Galactic Center, seen in Pan-STARRS optical data. If confirmed, it offers clues about recent stellar explosions, element recycling, and energetic processes near our galaxy’s core. Dragon returns ISS research samples - A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down off California after departing the ISS, bringing back bioprinted tissue samples, cryogenic fuel storage research, and advanced materials experiments. The return highlights how the station functions as a continuously serviced microgravity laboratory with tangible Earth benefits. Episode Transcript Satellite maps GPS jamming zones First up: a new look at a very modern problem—GPS interference. An experimental satellite called Pulsar-0, operated by Xona Space Systems, has been used to map GPS jamming and related disruption across large parts of Europe and the Middle East. What stood out is the sheer extent: reporting describes disruption stretching from France all the way toward the borders of Pakistan, and the mission team said it was more widespread than they expected. The big takeaway is that this isn’t just a nuisance for pilots or ship crews on the ground—satellites in low Earth orbit can also experience a degraded GPS environment, which matters because so many spacecraft use GPS for positioning and precise timing. Satellites confirm El Niño’s return Next: climate monitoring from orbit, with El Niño officially back in the picture. NOAA has declared an El Niño event is underway after sea surface temperatures in key regions stayed at least about half a degree Celsius above long-term averages for months. NASA’s Earth Observatory highlighted the shift with satellite-based maps showing warmer-than-usual water across the equatorial Pacific—exactly the kind of large-scale pattern that’s hard to grasp without a global view from space. El Niño can reshape weather around the world, so these satellite measurements act as an early diagnostic that helps governments, researchers, and communities prepare for downstream impacts like altered rainfall patterns, drought risk, and coastal effects linked to changes in ocean heat and sea level. Ariane 6 lofts record payload In launch news: Ariane 6 just hit a major milestone with a record-breaking payload. On June 17, Europe’s Ariane 6 flew carrying 36 satellites for Amazon’s Leo broadband constellation, and coverage notes this was the heaviest payload ever lofted by an Ariane rocket. Arianespace also frames the mission as a key step in Ariane 6’s operational ramp-up—an important signal in a market where launch reliability and cadence are everything. For listeners, this is one of those stories with two sides: on one hand, more satellites can mean broader internet access in remote regions; on the other, every big deployment adds to the growing challenge of managing traffic and safety in an increasingly crowded low Earth orbit. Possible supernova remnant near core Now, a quick trip to deep space via NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. The June 18 feature spotlights a “possible supernova remnant” near the Milky Way’s Galactic Center, built from optical observations by the Pan-STARRS survey telescopes. If this structure is truly the aftermath of a stellar explosion, it represents a relatively young remnant on cosmic timescales—described as roughly 1,700 years old—and it’s a reminder that galaxies are constantly being reshaped by violent events that seed space wit