Science & Technology — August 21, 2026

NASA images crater from SpaceX rocket crash. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed a roughly 60-foot-wide crater left when a discarded Falcon 9 stage struck the moon Aug. 5.

Science Daily · Read more →

NASA abandons Swift telescope rescue. NASA ended the commercial mission meant to lift its Swift gamma-ray observatory; the telescope is expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere later this year.

Scientific American · Read more →

Nevada approves 8,000 robotaxis. State regulators granted permits allowing Tesla, Uber, and Waymo to deploy up to 8,000 paid robotaxis across Nevada over the next 12 months.

TechCrunch · Read more →

Moderna cancer vaccine prevents melanoma recurrence. Final-stage trial results show the personalized mRNA vaccine stops melanoma from returning; researchers say the approach could extend to other tumor types.

Coverage since the initial readout has centered on expert analysis rather than new data, according to Nature, which reports no materially new findings beyond this week's results. Attention is now turning to what comes next for personalized treatments, with researchers examining whether the individualized mRNA strategy validated in this trial can be adapted to target cancers beyond the one studied.

Nature · Read more →