Rare fresh crater found on Moon & Roman telescope mission lifetime expands - Space News (Sep 19, 2026)

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Effortless AI design for presentations, websites, and more with Gamma - https://try.gamma.app/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad - Invest Like the Pros with StockMVP - https://www.stock-mvp.com/?via=ron Support The Automated Daily directly: Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/theautomateddaily Today's topics: Rare fresh crater found on Moon - NASA scientists have characterized McGetchin, the largest newly identified fresh lunar impact crater in recent times, offering rare insight into modern Moon geology and impact hazards. The discovery also matters for future lunar base planning and public interest during International Observe the Moon Night. Roman telescope mission lifetime expands - The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope may now operate for at least 22 years, far beyond its original 10-year expectation, thanks to highly efficient trajectory corrections and major fuel savings. That longer life could transform future dark energy and exoplanet research. Hubble and XRISM reveal extremes - New space observatory results are spotlighting both quiet complexity and violent physics in the universe. Hubble captured the unusual, misaligned spiral galaxy NGC 4698, while XRISM observed a pulsar feeding on a companion star’s stellar wind. ISS cargo flight and Moon outreach - A Roscosmos Progress cargo spacecraft is heading to the International Space Station with food, fuel, and equipment, underscoring the constant logistics behind human spaceflight. At the same time, International Observe the Moon Night is inviting the public to connect with lunar science. Space security and satellite strategy shift - The strategic side of space is also shifting quickly, with reports of major U.S. Space Force expansion and explicit acknowledgment of weapons in space. In Europe, ESA has signed new IRIS² contracts to strengthen secure low-Earth-orbit communications and strategic autonomy. Episode Transcript Rare fresh crater found on Moon One of the most dramatic stories today comes from the Moon, where scientists have characterized McGetchin, the largest newly identified fresh impact crater found in recent times anywhere in the solar system. Using before-and-after imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers determined that the 222-meter-wide crater formed sometime between April 11 and May 22 of 2024, likely when an asteroid or comet the size of a small building struck the lunar surface. Events this large are thought to happen only about once every 132 years on the Moon, making this a rare modern example of a major impact and a valuable new data point for future lunar habitat risk planning. Roman telescope mission lifetime expands That lunar discovery also lands just as skywatchers celebrate International Observe the Moon Night. While observers on Earth admire familiar craters and maria near first quarter, scientists are reminding us that the Moon is still an active impact environment, even if some of its biggest recent changes happened on the far side from our viewpoint. It’s a powerful contrast between public observing and orbital science, and a great example of how spacecraft extend our understanding beyond what backyard telescopes can see. Hubble and XRISM reveal extremes NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope may now have a far longer future than expected. Thanks to an exceptionally precise mid-course correction and a launch and navigation profile that used far less fuel than planned, Roman could remain scientifically productive for at least 22 years instead of the roughly 10 years originally anticipated. That extra lifetime would give astronomers much more time to study dark energy, map cosmic structure, and build a much richer census of exoplanets through microlensing surveys. ISS cargo flight and Moon outreach The scientific payoff of that extended Roman mission could be enormous. More years in operation means more repeated observations, better statistics, and stronger cross-calibration with other observatories like Webb and Rubin. For cosmology, that could sharpen measurements of the universe’s expansion history, and for exoplanet science, it could dramatically increase the number of rare lensing events Roman is able to capture. Space security and satellite strategy shift Elsewhere in astrophysics, Hubble has highlighted the strange spiral galaxy NGC 4698, about 55 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster. What makes this galaxy special is that its central bulge appears misaligned with its outer disk, and the inner material rotates differently from the rest of the galaxy. Astronomers think that odd structure likely points to a past merger or gas accretion event, giving us a vivid example of how galaxy interactions can reshape even seemingly ordinary spirals. Story 6 In high-energy astronomy, XRISM has delivered new insight into a compact binary system by observing a pulsar, or neutron-star