Space Desk
BepiColombo splits on Thursday
ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module separates 3 September 2026 at 14:00 CEST from ESOC Darmstadt. MPO and Mio stay stacked. Science in April 2027.
Liora Hale · 2 Sept 2026
Space correspondent
Liora Hale
Space desk
Liora Hale is The Gold Standard's space correspondent. Hale covers astronomy, launch windows and the work of putting hardware into orbit.
Space Desk
Roman left 39A at 7:26
Here's the clock: a SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Launch Complex 39A at 7:26 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, 30 August. Three months and about 1.5 million kilometres to a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2.
Liora Hale · 31 Aug 2026
Space Desk
NASA’s Starling swarm finds its orbit without GPS
NASA’s 17 August FALCON demo on the Starling CubeSat swarm matched star-tracker sightings to a ~20,000-object catalog, fixed its own orbit, and refined more than 200 others in three days. EraDrive’s Era-Core flew the software.
Liora Hale · 30 Aug 2026
Space Desk
Roman is on Falcon Heavy, nine months early
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 7:26 a.m. Eastern Sunday from 39A. The readiness date was May 2027. The fairing already says Roman.
Liora Hale · 30 Aug 2026
ArchiveSpace Desk
A Quiet Golden Age of Amateur Astronomy
Cheap sensors, dark-ish suburbs, and the unfashionable joy of looking up. Sample copy from the Space desk.
Liora Hale · 25 Aug 2026
ArchiveSpace Desk
The Moon Is Back on the Itinerary
A sample exploration essay: public agencies, commercial landers, and a destination that still deserves a headline.
Liora Hale · 24 Aug 2026
ArchiveSpace Desk
Launch Windows, Constellations, and a Sky That Feels Close
Cadence as culture. A sample dispatch on why flying often makes the night less theoretical.
Liora Hale · 23 Aug 2026