Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 30, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The Philippines has ambitions to develop both a national space capability and a new military space force; Both should be opportunities for the Philippines and the United States to strengthen their alliance cooperation. During his July 27 State of the Nation Address, Philippine President Ferdinand […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 26, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Sunday, July 26 Asteroid 3 Juno reaches opposition at 1 P.M. EDT. Already above the horizon at sunset and visible all night, Juno glows at 9th magnitude in the constellation Aquila the Eagle. The Moon is nearby, now contained within the lid of Sagittarius’ Teapot. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 23, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher For both the United States and China, satellite megaconstellation companies require space launch vehicles (SLVs), or rockets, while SLV makers require customers — governments or companies that require their payload to be launched into space. In the United States there are well-known SLV-satellite “ecosystems” in […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 19, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Sunday, July 19 Right as the Moon is setting this evening, the planetary nebula NGC 6563 in Sagittarius is reaching the highest point in its path across the sky. This oval-shaped bubble of gas, generated as well as lit up by a dying Sun-like star […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 16, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The video showed the big rocket’s first stage in recovery, then a huge crowd of people erupt in cheers — it was all very SpaceX-like — but only this video was of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) July 10 first launch and […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 12, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Sunday, July 12 Let’s look back to Saturn this morning to catch Titan, its largest and brightest moon, now close to the planet as it passes south of its parent world. Shining at mid-8th magnitude, Titan is easy to spot in any telescope. Check it […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 5, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Sky & Telescope.com report. SUNDAY, JULY 5 ■ And while you’re doing globulars, here’s a rather different one. Explore the area around Antares using Matt’s column and chart in the June 2026 Sky & Telescope, page 43. In Antares’s binocular field is M4, bigger and closer to us but […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 1, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher While China has been considering the problems of asteroid defense since at least about 2020, there may now be real plans for the construction of a Chinese planetary defense capability — with inherit dual-use dangers. On June 30, Chinese state television CCTV featured an official […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 28, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 21, 2026 Sunday, June 28 The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 3:11 A.M. EDT. At that time, our satellite will be 252,441 miles (406,264 kilometers) away. The planet Mercury stands stationary tonight at 10 […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 25, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The demand for commercial manned space activity in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has been demonstrated recently by the success of Long Beach, California-based space station developer VAST having signed up astronaut clients from three European countries just during the month of June 2026. Founded only […]