Interstellar Updates

 

These are items of interest to the interstellar exploration community that we’ve found in our quest for information that will help us advance toward our goals.  If you know of anything we’ve overlooked, or any sources of such information we should monitor, or if you would like to be added to our IRG-updates mailing list and receive these updates in you email every weekday, please send that information to info@irg.space.

You can now search our database of interstellar updates and find items of interest to you.

April 07, 2026 updates

Spaceflight-Associated Epiphora Mechanisms and Countermeasures
https://asma.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/amhp/97/4/article-p272.xml

Protein Marker ST2 and Myocardial Mapping of Cosmonauts After Spaceflight
https://asma.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/amhp/97/4/article-p243.xml

Principles for Transitioning to Palliative Comfort Care in Exploration Spaceflight
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214552426000544

From Aeromedical Evacuation to Planetary Habitation: A PubMed-Based Historical Mapping Review of Aerospace Nursing (1946–2025)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.70098

Deep learning–driven hyperspectral imaging for drought stress detection in dragoon lettuce for space production
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168169925014279?via%3Dihub

Assessment of PLATO Science Performance
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04818

POSEIDON II: The Anti-Aligned Orbit of the Warm Neptune TOI-1710 A b
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03364

Influence of CO versus CH4 on organic haze formation in atmospheres of diverse terrestrial exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03575

Behavior of biomolecules under high-pressure torsion and its implications for astrobiology
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08957959.2026.2649865

A tension between dust and gas radii: The role of substructures and external photoevaporation in protoplanetary disks
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa54500-25/aa54500-25.html

Deciphering chemical heritage: Isotopic study of methanol and other complex organic molecules in a solar-type protostar NGC 1333 IRAS 4A2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214552425001324

Two-stage disruption of resonant chains
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05035

Lithium and the evolution of intermediate-mass T Tauri and Herbig stars. Rotation, accretion, and planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05040

Super-Solar Metallicity and Tentative Evidence for Photochemistry on WASP-96b from JWST and Ground-Based VLT Transmission Spectroscopy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05049

A Comprehensive Atmospheric Retrieval Analysis of 22 James Webb Space Telescope Spectral Energy Distributions of Cool Brown Dwarfs
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05104

Azimuthal Dust Polarization from Aerodynamically Aligned Grains as Evidence for the Streaming Instability in Protoplanetary Disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05122

Gas Giants Formed by Gravitational Instability May Accrete Atmospheres with Super-Stellar Carbon to Oxygen Ratios
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05178

The JWST Search for Earth-Luna Analogs: Upper Limits on Exomoons and Refined Ephemerides for TOI 700 d and e
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05235

Scientific Validation of the SPARC4 Pipeline: Multi-band Imaging, Polarimetry, and Photometric Time Series for Improved Characterization of Transiting Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05305

Investigation of Transit Timing and an Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-11 b
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05570

The Transit Timing and Transmission Spectrum of Hot Jupiter WASP-43 b from a decade of Multi-band Transit Follow-up Observations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05570

Star-planet magnetic interactions in photoevaporating exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06064

A cohort intervention to boost space health grant funding success for researchers from historically minoritized groups: 2022–2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-026-00564-6

Stability and transformation of interstellar amino acid precursors under simulated meteorite parent body conditions
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/stability-and-transformation-of-interstellar-amino-acid-precursors-under-simulated-meteorite-parent-body-conditions/5F16575CB78DC10060D2B6CAD3366D7E

Machine learning isotope shifts in molecular energy levels
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022285226000160

Ponderomotive Ratchet Architecture for Interplanetary and Interstellar Transport: A Falsifiable Roadmap for Propellantless Propulsion
https://zenodo.org/records/19426803

Civilization Supply Theory (CST): Supply Chain Constraints on Interplanetary and Interstellar Expansion
https://zenodo.org/records/19422196

Geometric Origin of Rotational Anomalies in Interstellar Object 31/ATLAS: A 600-Cell Polytope Model
https://zenodo.org/records/19234009

The Spectral Architecture of Trojan Motion: Orbital Families, Invariant Tori, and the Future of Dust-Cloud Dynamics
https://zenodo.org/records/19342247

Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Management in Spacecraft Cabin Atmospheres
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A36564

Analytical Scaling of Relativistic Drag in the Interstellar Medium
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00041

The Response of Planetary Atmospheres to the Impact of Icy Comets. III. Impact Driven Atmospheric Escape
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae5062

April 06, 2026 Updates

High-resolution Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of SVS13-A with EXES/SOFIA: The Surprisingly High CH3OH/H2O Ratio in the Planet-forming Zone of a Solar Mass Protostar
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae5487

Asteroseismic Diagnostics for Red Giants with Kepler: Measuring ϵ and Small Frequency Separations in 16,000 Stars
https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag643/8586477

What Are Pulsar Companions Made of? Using Gravitational Tides to Probe Their Compositions
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02725

Parametric SED Modelling of Protoplanetary Discs: Validation and Application to an Unstudied YSO
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03211

April 03, 2026 updates

Three Thousand Motion-Confirmed L and T Dwarf Candidates from the Backyard Worlds:~Planet 9 Citizen Science Project
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01323

Hot Rocks Survey V: Secondary Eclipse Photometry of GJ 3473 b with JWST/MIRI
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02332

Masses of Potentially Habitable Planets Characterized by the Habitable Worlds Observatory
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11146

PDRs4All: XVIII. JWST-NIRCam photometric properties of protoplanetary disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58551-25/aa58551-25.html

Dynamics of Y dwarf atmospheres
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa56972-25/aa56972-25.html

Unusually Hot Interiors Could Reconcile the Missing Methane Problem for Warm-to-Hot Exoplanets with Hydrogen Atmospheres
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01672

Semianalytical Accretion-Tracer Emission: Forming Planets Are Intrinsically Faint
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00138

Toward a Physics of the Ceiling: Structural Limits on the Evolution of Advanced Civilizations and the Emergence of Compact Final Forms
https://bis-space.com/shop/product/jbis-079-02-0044/

We the Living: There is absolutely nothing wrong with the species-level perspective on space settlement
https://bis-space.com/shop/product/jbis-079-01-0021/

Orbit to Interstellar: A Kevlar Tether Deployment System
https://bis-space.com/shop/product/jbis-079-03-0074/

Laser-ZPE Interstellar Propulsion Revisited
https://bis-space.com/shop/product/jbis-079-02-0040/

Activity of the K4 Dwarf HAT-P-11 and Mass Loss of the Atmosphere of Its Exoplanet HAT-P-11 b
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1063772926700095

No thick atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1 b and c from JWST thermal phase curves
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02806-9

Modeling the risk of airborne transmission of respiratory viruses in microgravity
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-026-00590-4

Bridging Solar and Stellar Physics: Role of SDO in Understanding Stellar Active Regions and Atmospheric Heating
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11207-026-02634-0

HATPI Preperihelion Time-series Photometry of the Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae4a99

NASA’s Pandora SmallSat Mission: Simulated Modeling and Retrieval of Near-infrared Exoplanet Transmission Spectra
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae4d3c

Topography-induced Stationary Waves and the Onset of Nightside Warming on Rocky Planets around M Dwarf Stars
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4485

High-resolution Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of SVS13-A with EXES/SOFIA: The Surprisingly High CH3OH/H2O Ratio in the Planet-forming Zone of a Solar Mass Protostar
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae5487

Modeling Wind-Driven Waves on Other Planets: Applications to Mars, Titan, and Exoplanets
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JE009490

Deciphering the “Missing Xenon Paradox” in Celestial Bodies: A Multifaceted Perspective Toward Demystifying This Enigma
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JE009110

Better origin(s) of life research through collaboration across disciplines
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666386426001268

What it takes to solve the origins of life: An integrated review. Part 2: Theoretical methods and emerging trends
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666386426001177

Molecular Geometry as Projection: Water, Proteins, and the Cosmic Distribution of Pre-Biotic Chemistry
https://zenodo.org/records/19411087

April 2, 2026 updates

Geographic Information Systems for Space Science Education: A Review
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42330-026-00422-3

The Science of the Einstein Telescope
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2026/03/081

Differentiable Optics with dLux II: Optical Design Maximising Fisher Information
https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.08704v4

Beyond Beryllium: AI-Accelerated Materials Discovery for Interstellar Spacecraft Shielding
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00571

From Space Dust to Protocells: Micrometeorites in Early Cellular Evolution
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15311074261434670

Chemical Routes to Primitive Membranes: Prebiotic Lipid Formation at the Origin of Life
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/16/3/497

Spiral formation caused by late infall onto protoplanetary disks
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa58773-25/aa58773-25.html

High-resolution Spectroscopic Atmospheric Studies of Five Hot Jupiters Across the Edge of the Neptune Desert
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae4de5

Information content of JWST transmission spectroscopy of the exoplanet HAT-P-12b from the optical to the mid-infrared
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01219

Focal plane wavefront control with model-based reinforcement learning
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00993

Long-term activity cycles in planetary M stars observed with SOPHIE
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/04/aa56087-25/aa56087-25.html

TESS Planet Occurrence Rates Reveal the Disappearance of the Radius Valley Around Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.23364

Exploring hidden cosmic highways: stability and orbital dynamics of quasi-Lagrangian points in the Kepler-1625 exoplanetary system
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12036-026-10141-8

April 1, 2026 updates

The biodesign framework: professional biodesign practices
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/ae54ef

An innovative alternative to traditional funding streams for extragalactic astronomy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29340

The Influence of Clouds and Deuterium-burning on Brown Dwarf Habitable Zones
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4fb0

On the importance of laboratory experiments for interpreting exoplanet observations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24809

New Constraints on the M Dwarf Cosmic Shoreline from a Galaxy Far, Far Away
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29743

Homogeneous stellar parameters for 717,807 TESS FGK stars using Gaia DR3
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29817

Data-driven discovery of dynamo cycle equations
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29079

Protoplanetary Disk Evolution in a Low-Metallicity Environment: JWST’s First Mid-Infrared Census of Low-Mass Stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29007

Where to Search For Life: Evidence from narrative sources with established predictive efficacy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.28883

First Detection of Exoplanetary Cannabinoids: Evidence for THC and CBD in the Atmosphere of K2-18b
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29700

Antimatter Propulsion for Interstellar Travel via Positron Production from Potassium-40 Rich Biological Matter
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29635

The SPHEREx Instrument: Calibration, testing and performance measurements of the NIR 2 spectroscopic surveyor from the laboratory to in-orbit commissioning
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29835

AI Cosplaying as Astrophysicists: A Controlled Synthetic-Agent Study of AI-Assisted Astrophysical Research Workflows
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29039

The WEAVE acquisition and guiding software: pattern recognition-based acquisition and multi-fibre guiding
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.30044