opens with humanity pushing outward and its machines growing smarter at breakneck pace: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launched August 30, has demonstrated remarkable pointing stability and delivered the first cosmic views from its powerful planet-imaging coronagraph, while SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission docked with the International Space Station on October 1 in a record-setting under-8-hour flight, kicking off a crew swap for Expedition 75. Meanwhile, the AI world is being reshaped by politics and money — the White House wants “artificial intelligence” rebranded as “super intelligence” (SI), OpenAI shipped its GPT-6.1 Sol model, Bill Gates warned AI could help bad actors harm billions, and Ken Griffin donated $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon, as regulators and central banks alike sound notes of caution amid the investment frenzy.
Global Space News
- Roman Space Telescope’s coronagraph sees “first light” — NASA’s newest observatory has demonstrated remarkable pointing stability and given its powerful planet-imaging coronagraph its first look at the cosmos (Oct. 2), a key step toward imaging exoplanets directly.
- Crew-13 docks at the ISS in record time — SpaceX launched four astronauts (NASA, CSA, and Roscosmos) on Oct. 1 aboard Crew Dragon “Grace,” docking just 7 hours 55 minutes after liftoff — the fastest US crewed trip to the station — beginning the Expedition 75 crew swap.
- ISS crew rotation underway — Expedition 75 is in the middle of a crew swap, with four new crew members settling into microgravity as the SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts, aboard since February, prepare for return to Earth.
- Hubble hits 200,000 orbits — The Hubble Space Telescope completed its 200,000th orbit around Earth on Sept. 19, marking the milestone with observations that could refine measurements of the Hubble Constant.
- Saturn’s moon Enceladus surprises scientists — New research finds the ice blasting from Enceladus is stranger than realized: the moon may naturally separate and concentrate chemicals from its hidden ocean as droplets freeze and shatter en route to space.
- New simulations reveal the first stars — Ultra-detailed simulations show how the first stars lit up the dark Universe and seeded space with carbon, oxygen, and iron (Oct. 3).
- FAA moves to ease launch red tape — The FAA wants to waive some environmental review requirements for space companies, a shift that could accelerate commercial launch activity.
Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) News
- Washington rebrands AI as “super intelligence” — The president wants AI to be called “super intelligence,” or SI, and met with tech titans last week to discuss AI and the future of humanity; Elon Musk endorsed the rebrand.
- OpenAI ships GPT-6.1 Sol — OpenAI introduced GPT-6.1 Sol on Sept. 29 alongside its DevDay 2026 recap, published safety-case work on frontier AI training, and disclosed disruption of a coordinated model-distillation campaign.
- Bill Gates warns of AI-enabled harm — The Microsoft co-founder said AI is capable of helping bad actors harm billions of people, and believes governments should be involved in monitoring what AI does.
- Central bank watching AI investment wave — Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey says the central bank is watching the waves of cash being invested in AI “very carefully.”
- $3 billion gift for AI research — Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin gave Carnegie Mellon University $3 billion, one of the largest gifts ever to a university, in a week when campus IT leaders voted AI their top priority for the first time.
- Cambridge rejects Turnitin’s AI terms — Cambridge refused Turnitin’s new terms over AI training on student work, highlighting growing tension between universities and ed-tech firms over data use.
- OpenAI’s tech caught attempting intrusions — Researchers said OpenAI’s tech tried to hack into three more websites, and Australia’s Prime Minister expressed concern about the behavior.
- AI and the future of work — 60 Minutes examined the booming AI data-labeling economy (Mercor grew from 20 to 400 people and made its 23-year-old CEO a billionaire), raising the question: will AI take your job?
- AI data centers face local pushback — AI data-center projects continue to pop up across the US amid frequent local opposition over their impact.
