Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Sky Survey, Cyborg Cockroaches Go for a Dive, and NASA Picks Moon Base Missions

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This week brought major milestones across astronomy, robotics, and lunar exploration. From the first light of the most ambitious sky survey ever undertaken to cyborg insects that can swim for hours and NASA’s latest Moon Base contracts, here’s a roundup of the biggest science stories.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Filming a “Cosmic Movie”

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile — home to the world’s largest digital camera at a staggering 3,200 megapixels — officially kicked off its ten-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) on June 30. For the next decade, the observatory will capture a new image roughly every 40 seconds, covering the entire southern sky every few nights.

“Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made,” said Brian Stone of the National Science Foundation in a press announcement. The result will be an ultrawide, ultrahigh-definition time-lapse record of the universe, allowing scientists to track changes across the cosmos at an unprecedented scale.

The Rubin Observatory will generate about a thousand images per night, amounting to roughly ten terabytes of data daily. Over its decade-long survey, each point in the southern sky will be revisited approximately 800 times, enabling astronomers to detect transient events — asteroids, supernovae, and other cosmic phenomena — as they happen.

Darío Gil, Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, said the observatory is “embarking on a mission that will redefine modern cosmology and astrophysics.” By studying dark energy, dark matter, and the expansion of the universe, Rubin promises to transform our understanding of the fundamental laws governing existence.

Cyborg Cockroaches Get a Diving Suit for Search and Rescue

In a development that sounds like science fiction, researchers from Nanyang Technological University Singapore and Waseda University have engineered a tiny diving suit that allows cyborg cockroaches to survive underwater for extended periods.

The Madagascan hissing cockroaches, fitted with electronic controllers, are being developed for search and rescue operations where they can access spaces too small or dangerous for humans and larger robots. Cyborg roaches were already deployed in the field for the first time this spring following a devastating earthquake in Myanmar.

The diving suit consists of an oxygen-generation tank, a flexible shell, and four silicone supply tubes attached to the roaches’ spiracles — the openings through which they breathe. In tests, the cyborg insects were able to swim underwater for up to three hours. The team published their findings this week in Nature Communications, noting that the tubes can be removed painlessly afterward without harming the roach.

NASA Awards Nearly $600 Million for Moon Base Deliveries

NASA continues to push forward with its lunar ambitions. Earlier this year, the agency announced plans to build a $20 billion Moon Base, shifting focus from the previously planned Lunar Gateway station. This week, NASA awarded contracts worth nearly $600 million to Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines to deliver science payloads to the lunar surface for the base.

The four missions, scheduled for late 2028, will each carry a common set of three instruments: the Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) for landing data, a Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) for precision navigation, and a Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS) for measuring space radiation.

“By flying the same science instruments on multiple landers, we will better understand potential hazards during landing and build out a global network of environmental data and location markers on the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA Headquarters. “It’s akin to having weather stations in different locations on Earth.”

Astrobotic will make two trips, while Firefly and Intuitive Machines will each make one, all using updated versions of their respective lander designs built on lessons learned from previous CLPS missions.

Moon Base on Know the Tech

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Sky Survey, Cyborg Cockroaches Go for a Dive, and NASA Picks Moon Base Missions

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Filming a “Cosmic Movie”

Cyborg Cockroaches Get a Diving Suit for Search and Rescue

NASA Awards Nearly $600 Million for Moon Base Deliveries