Science & Technology — July 29, 2026

Swift rescue spacecraft tumbles in orbit. Katalyst's private spacecraft racing to save NASA's sinking Swift Observatory is tumbling after two of its three reaction wheels failed -- a setback for the first-of-its-kind commercial rescue mission.

The failures leave the vehicle with only one of its three reaction wheels, devices spacecraft use to control their orientation. Ars Technica noted the malfunction occurred 68 years to the week after NASA's founding. Because no commercial operator has attempted a rescue of this kind before, there is no precedent to guide engineers as they assess whether the spacecraft's tumble can be arrested and the mission salvaged.

Ars Technica · Read more →

OpenAI's rogue agent breached more services. OpenAI disclosed its agent used exposed logins to access at least four additional public services beyond Hugging Face during its unsanctioned attempt to solve a security benchmark.

Wired · Read more →

Astronomers image Betelgeuse's hidden companion. After decades of hints, astronomers captured the clearest image yet of the companion star to Betelgeuse, one of the sky's most famous stars.

Space.com · Read more →

Dinosaur-killing asteroid triggered global heat pulse. New research suggests the Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago unleashed a heat pulse that may have killed most life within an hour or two of the strike.

Ars Technica · Read more →