Satellite Down, Meteorite Strike, ISS Saved & More

A 1,300-pound NASA satellite is falling back to Earth today, a meteorite punched through a German roof after a dazzling European fireball, Congress wants to keep the International Space Station flying until 2032, ALMA has captured the largest-ever image of the Milky Way's core, astronomers have mapped a hidden 'sea of light' from 10 billion years ago, and Jupiter appears to reverse direction in tonight's sky. Stories Covered 1. Van Allen Probe A Falls to Earth: NASA's 600kg Van Allen Probe A — launched in 2012 to study Earth's radiation belts — is making an unplanned early return to Earth today, March 10, 2026. Deactivated in 2019 after a seven-year mission, its descent was accelerated by unexpectedly high solar activity expanding Earth's atmosphere. Most of the spacecraft will burn up on reentry; the risk of any harm to people on the ground is approximately 1 in 4,200. 2. German Meteorite Strike: On the evening of Sunday 8 March, a brilliant fireball lit up the skies over Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, attracting over 3,000 reports to the International Meteor Organization. Fragments reached the ground in Koblenz, Germany — with the largest piece punching a football-sized hole through the roof of a residential building. No one was injured. ESA's Planetary Defence team estimates the original object was just a few metres across. 3. ISS Extended to 2032: The NASA Authorization Act of 2026 has passed the Senate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support, pushing the ISS retirement date from 2030 to September 2032. The extension aims to prevent a gap in U.S. human presence in low Earth orbit while commercial successor stations are developed. The bill also rejects proposed cuts to NASA's budget and funds key programmes including the Chandra X-ray Observatory. 4. ALMA's Milky Way Mosaic: The ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey (ACES) has produced the largest ALMA image ever — a sweeping 650-light-year mosaic of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone, assembled from hundreds of observations by over 160 scientists worldwide. The image reveals a intricate web of cold gas filaments feeding star formation near supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, and detects dozens of molecules from simple silicon compounds to complex organics like methanol and ethanol. 5. 3D Map of the Early Universe: Using data from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), astronomers have created the largest 3D map yet of the universe as it appeared 9–11 billion years ago — during 'cosmic noon', the peak era of star formation. By tracking Lyman-alpha light from energised hydrogen rather than individual galaxies, the team revealed a hidden 'sea of light' filling the spaces between galaxies. The dataset comprised over 600 million spectra, with 95% still untapped for future research. 6. Jupiter's Retrograde Motion: Tonight, Jupiter begins its apparent reversal of direction against the background stars — a well-known optical illusion called retrograde motion caused by Earth overtaking the slower-moving outer planet in its orbit. Jupiter is well-placed in the evening sky and easily visible to the naked eye; binoculars will reveal its four bright Galilean moons. Links & Resources NASA Van Allen Probe A reentry update: nasa.gov/missions/van-allen-probes ESA fireball analysis: esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence ALMA ACES Survey: almaobservatory.org | ESO press release: eso.org/public/news/eso2603/ HETDEX project: hetdex.org Astronomy Daily: astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod on all platforms

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