The moon could turn astronauts into 'walking, high voltage capacitors' that accidentally zap spacecraft

space.com Oct 12, 2026

The moon could turn astronauts into ‘walking, high voltage capacitors’ that accidentally zap spacecraft

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Oct 12, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

NASA has launched the Lunar Grounding Challenge, a $150,000 competition to develop lightweight, low‑power solutions that prevent astronauts from becoming “walking, high‑voltage capacitors” during moon missions. The agency cites tribocharging and plasma charging as risks, especially in permanently shadowed lunar regions where negative charge builds up on suits. The goal is to safely discharge astronauts before they re‑enter landers, avoiding arcs that could damage equipment or ignite oxygen‑rich atmospheres. Submissions are due Jan. 15, with potential use in Artemis 4 or 5 missions at the lunar south pole.

💡 Why It Matters

· By addressing static‑charge hazards, NASA aims to safeguard crew safety and mission integrity, ensuring that future lunar expeditions can proceed without electrical failures that could jeopardize both personnel and critical hardware.

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EXCLUSIVE: For the Stars Images Showcase the Upcoming Space Sandbox Survival Multiplayer…

IGN Fan Fest 2026 unveiled five new screenshots of Snail Games USA’s upcoming space sandbox survival title, For the Stars. The images showcase diverse biomes, weapons, flora, fauna, vehicles, and spaceships, highlighting the game’s multiplayer exploration. Players will travel between planets, establish outposts, upgrade technology, and study alien artifacts while surviving environmental threats. Outposts require balanced labs, factories, and living quarters. Customizable spacecraft and contested regions for PvP are also featured, providing players with strategic depth and cooperative gameplay experience.

💡 The reveal underscores Snail Games’ ambition to blend survival mechanics with competitive multiplayer, positioning For the Stars as a potential rival to established titles like No Man’s Sky.

space.com · Oct 12

Astronomers witness supermassive black hole gorge on a cosmic meal before ‘burping’…

Astronomers using NASA’s Swift X‑ray telescope and radio observations have tracked a supermassive black hole at the core of galaxy NGC 1275 in the Perseus Cluster as it “burped” twin radio jets 300 days after a massive accretion episode. The black hole’s X‑ray flare in February 2023 doubled its brightness for less than two months, indicating a sudden spike in the inflow of matter rather than a tidal‑disruption event. By modeling Swift’s archival data and removing cluster background, researchers estimated the black hole’s mass between 100 million and 1 billion solar masses. The subsequent radio jet flare provides a rare, long‑term view of disk‑jet coupling, linking changes in the accretion disk to jet ejection on large scales.

💡 It offers the clearest single‑system evidence yet of how rapid accretion variations directly trigger powerful jets, a key mechanism that regulates star formation and galaxy growth.

thequantuminsider.com · Oct 12

WISeSat.Space Develops Post-Quantum Security for Satellite Communications

WISeSat.Space announced a strategy to embed post‑quantum cryptography (PQC) into its satellite‑communications and IoT architecture, leveraging SEALSQ’s QS7001 and QVault TPM platforms that support NIST‑approved ML‑KEM and ML‑DSA algorithms. The company plans to deploy this quantum‑resilient security across its existing nine low‑Earth‑orbit satellites and aims for a sovereign 100‑satellite constellation by 2033, contingent on financing, regulatory approval, and launch availability. The initiative aligns with U.S. Executive Order 14412, which mandates federal systems to adopt PQC by 2030–31.

💡 By integrating PQC early, WISeSat.Space positions itself to meet upcoming federal security mandates, potentially securing government contracts for quantum‑safe satellite communications.

space.com · Oct 12

SpaceX launching 6,300 pounds of cargo to the ISS on Oct. 13:…

SpaceX will launch the CRS‑35 cargo mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 6:33 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the Dragon spacecraft, loaded with 6,300 pounds (2,860 kg) of supplies, including the final International Space Station Roll‑Out Solar Arrays that will increase the station’s power budget. The capsule is slated to dock autonomously with the Harmony module on Oct. 15 around 11 a.m. EDT, delivering hardware for artificial‑retina manufacturing, 3‑D heart‑tissue models, new glass formation studies, and brain‑organoid experiments targeting Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. After about a month attached to the station, Dragon will successfully return to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific, and remains the only reusable freighter capable of down‑mass delivery.

💡 The payload’s energy‑boosting panels and cutting‑edge biomedical research exploit microgravity to fast‑track solutions that can improve power availability and health outcomes on Earth.

teslarati.com · Oct 12

Elon Musk drops a Thanksgiving hint about Starship’s biggest test yet

Elon Musk announced at SpaceX’s X Takeover event in Texas that the upcoming Starship Flight 15, slated for roughly four to six weeks from the briefing and likely before Thanksgiving, will attempt the first full‑orbital‑class rocket recovery by catching the upper stage with the launch‑tower’s mechanical arms. Musk said the schedule has slipped from an earlier October 19 target due to numerous incremental upgrades, some requiring work inside the vehicle’s tank. SpaceX has already demonstrated booster catches, but the ship’s capture would enable complete reuse of both stages. He outlined a subsequent Flight 16 goal to reflights both booster and ship, a step aimed at drastically lowering launch costs, supporting large Starlink V3 deployments, and meeting NASA’s rapid‑turnaround tanker requirements.

💡 Successful ship capture would prove true full‑reusability, unlocking the ultra‑low‑cost, high‑frequency launch cadence SpaceX needs for its next‑gen satellite constellations and lunar missions.

space.com · Oct 12

UAE unveils lander for bold 7-asteroid mission set to launch in 2028…

The United Arab Emirates unveiled a half‑scale model of its lander for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA), slated to launch in March 2028 from Japan. The autonomous probe will accompany the MBR Explorer, named after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al‑Maktoum, and conduct flybys of six asteroids before orbiting and landing on the crimson 269 Justitia. The mission, designed by the Technology Innovation Institute, will use gravity assists from Venus, Earth, and Mars to travel roughly 3 billion miles, aiming to study water‑rich, organic‑laden material from the outer solar system.

💡 By targeting 269 Justitia, the UAE seeks to access pristine samples that could reveal how water and organics were delivered to early planets, offering a unique window into the solar system’s formative processes.