About Author
A creative professional with forays into all kinds of artistic pursuits, Pranjal's knack for meticulousness when it comes down to telling stories about space is rooted in his existential fascination. Aspects of his creative writing stem from a range of influences—be it the excellent authorship of Carl Sagan in Cosmic Connection, or in Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. From an early age, the works of astronomy iconoclasts Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler helped him develop a scientific temper in the face of prevailing traditions, and this has pervaded into Pranjal's current works on spaceflight and skywatching. With him joining Starlust.org’s brilliant team of writers, he can realize his dream of perhaps awakening the curiosity of a fellow stargazer, the same way his own interests were piqued many moons ago.
Latest From Pranjal Pranit
Space weekly recap, September 12–18, 2026: Key stories you may have missed
From progress in NASA's moon mission to discoveries about black holes, here's what happened this week.
Russia's Progress 96 spacecraft finally departs for International Space Station after long delay. What's next?
The unmanned spacecraft is carrying about 3 tons of cargo to the orbital laboratory.
U.S. admits to deploying weapons in space for first time: Is it violating international space law?
It was a bit of an open secret already, but an explicit admission by the U.S. has stirred up a storm nonetheless, drawing criticism from both Russia and China.
Aurora alert: Northern lights could be visible Wednesday night in Montana, Alaska and more U.S. states
The visual spectacle can be best viewed around midnight under clear and darkened skies.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirms Flight 15 will be caught; Flight 14 to launch on September 22, 2026
Elon Musk also mentioned reflying Starship in a few months' time, creating a fully reusable rocket.
What is the planetary K-index? How is it related to auroras and geomagnetic storms?
Denoted by Kp, the planetary K-index shows the intensity of disturbance in Earth's magnetosphere.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope can now easily run for 22 years instead of 10. Here's how
The telescope was designed for a 10-year mission, including a five-year extension on top of a five-year primary mission.
Northern U.S. could get to see the aurora on September 15-16, says NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center
Combined effects of coronal hole high-speed streams and coronal mass ejections could see the geomagnetic field reach G1 (minor) storm levels today and tomorrow.
SpaceX hoists Starship upper stage on chopstick arms: Could Flight 15 finish with a tower catch?
Flight 15's Ship 42 underwent chopstick testing on September 11 and 12 at SpaceX's facilities in Starbase, Texas.
Space weekly recap, September 5–11, 2026: Key stories you may have missed
New rockets for NASA, discovery of new cosmic objects, and some watchdog reports round out the week.
"Never encountered objects that act like this": NASA’s Chandra reveals a new class of cosmic objects
The scientists found these sources among objects that appeared in the lowest X-ray-energy images in the Chandra archive but disappeared in higher-energy images.
Could the Moon be hiding signs of ancient alien technology? SETI scientist proposes how we might find them
The research, led by a SETI scientist, takes a completely different approach to the existing efforts of searching for life beyond our planet.
The Sun was about to unleash a coronal mass ejection—but it didn't. Scientists now know why
The four different spacecrafts that were observing the Sun at that time have finally provided the data that helped scientists reach a conclusion.
Source of gravitational waves from a black hole merger weighing 230 suns may have been an illusion
The possibility of lensing appears to be the most convincing yet in describing the unusual source.
Aurora alert: Northern lights to become prominent over several U.S. states on September 9. Check list here
The aurora will extend farther south than usual, but viewing opportunities will be gone by Thursday.
Artemis IV: NASA just asked Axiom to revise spacesuits for 2028 Moon landing. Here's why
The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuits are being created to keep astronauts safe and comfortable for up to eight hours of EVAs on the Moon mission.
Rescue spacecraft LINK will de-orbit within 3 weeks after failing to execute NASA's Swift Boost mission
The spacecraft has been put on the same orbit as Swift, but will be kept miles away from it.
Northern U.S. states could see aurora as NOAA predicts geomagnetic storm on September 8
The geomagnetic storm is understood to be a result of an C9-class solar flare that hurled a coronal mass ejection towards Earth.
From September 14-20, the Moon can help you find the Milky Way center: Here's how
Conditions must be ideal, with dark skies, for one to spot the galactic center.
NOAA’s alert about a Type II radio emission from the Sun could signal an incoming CME
If a CME does arrive, we could experience a geomagnetic storm, with auroras becoming visible.
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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is in space now: See stunning pics from its launch
The most advanced space telescope ever launched is set to uncover some of the age-old mysteries of the universe. After the lift-off on August 30, 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is enroute to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), about 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet.
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SpaceX Crew-13 seen training for the first time post NASA announcement
The upcoming batch of humans to go to space with SpaceX Commercial Crew-13, who will later form part of Expedition 75 aboard the Space Station, train at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. NASA’s Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency’s Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov will form part of the crew. Only Commander Watkins has been in space before.
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President Trump welcomes the Artemis II crew to the White House after their historic Moon mission
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the Artemis II crew in the Oval Office of the White House on April 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. The crew consisted of Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.
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Jordan becomes 63rd Artemis Accords signatory
NASA and the US Department of State and seven other initial signatory nations established the Artemis Accords in 2020. With many countries and private companies conducting missions and operations around the Moon, the Artemis Accords provide a common set of principles to enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space.
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Artemis II in photos: Humanity’s historic mission around the Moon and back
NASA's Artemis II mission returned humans to the Moon for the first time in over five decades. Thanks to the photographs captured by the crew, people across the globe can now view pictures of the lunar far side, the Earth in its entirety, and a rare solar eclipse.
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Latvia becomes the 62nd country to join US-led Artemis Accords
Representatives from the Republic of Latvia, including Minister of Education and Science Dace Melbārde, agreed to join the Artemis Accords. These are a set of governing principles that outline an ideal of cooperative nature of space exploration for all member nations. The event, making the European nation the 62nd signatory, was held on April 20, 2026 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.