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.

May 26th 2026 updates

Silicate cosmic dust grain collisions in the interstellar medium: A molecular dynamics study
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.22225

PIC simulations of nonrelativistic high-Mach-number oblique shocks propagating in a turbulent medium
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.21986

The Search for Technosignatures: a Review of Possibilities
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.21093

ExoMol line lists – LXVIII: Rotation-vibration-electronic spectroscopy of Potassium Hydride (KH)
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag979

Producing planetary debris exterior to white dwarf Roche radii through sublimative rotational fission
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag978

Cloudy mornings and clear evenings on a gas giant exoplanet
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adx5903

ASTRA Framework for Enhancing Human Performance and Safety in Analog Missions: A Pathway to Optimizing Analog Astronaut Selection
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/6.2026-3000

Computational and Experimental Investigation of Nozzle Plume Impingement for Detumbling Orbital Debris
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A36421

May 22, 2026 Updates

The Search for Technosignatures: a Review of Possibilities
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.21093

False negatives in the search for extraterrestrial life
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02863-0

Cloudy mornings and clear evenings on a gas giant exoplanet
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx5903

Methane on the Temperate Exo-Saturn TOI-199 b
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae4fba

Kardashev’s Conundrum: Statistical Falsification of the Standard Kardashev Model and the Kardashev–Sagan–Nakamoto Resolution
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403908256_titleKardashev’s_Conundrum_Statistical_Falsification_of_theStandard_Kardashev_Model_and_the_Kardashev–Sagan–Nakamoto_Resolution

Star-planet interaction in the Proxima system
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22925

JWST-DECO: The Impact of Accretion on Mid-Infrared Observable Water in Planet-forming Disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22926

Towards Doppler eclipse mapping of hot Jupiters. An observational perspective on WASP-33 b with SPIRou
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.22931

TOI-7154b: A Close-in Massive Brown Dwarf in an Eccentric Orbit
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23469

Modeling (Sub-)millimeter Scattering Properties of Fractal and Consolidated Porous Particles: Applications to Protoplanetary Disks
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23680

New substellar candidates identified through deep learning in the F150 sample of the large-scale SHINE direct imaging survey
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23700

A Wavelet-Integrated Search Pipeline for Narrowband Technosignatures in FAST Observations of 33 Exoplanet Systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23739

The Inward Transition: Computational Optimization and the Fermi Paradox
https://www.academia.edu/146191620/The_Inward_Transition_Computational_Optimization_and_the_Fermi_Paradox

May 21, 2026 Updates

Dynamic Challenges and Future Trends in Large-Aperture Space Optical Systems
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S009457652600353X

The Era of Extremely Large Optical Telescopes The ELT
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20305

Probabilistic graphical models in astronomy: Application to exoplanetary systems
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213133726000715

Coupled Photochemical-Climate Modeling of Plausible Tenuous Outgassed Atmospheres on the TRAPPIST-1 Planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14101

The Role of Formation Location in Shaping Sulfur-, Nitrogen-, and Carbon-Bearing Species in Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Atmospheres
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15170

Fizzy water ice in space: CO adsorption, binding energies and its fate in a protoplanetary disk
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13308

Best practice and validation for interatomic potentials of molecular dynamics modeling of ice in planetary science
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927025626002600

Experimental and computational study on flattening and punching of deployable composite shells for space applications
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259012302602075X

Interplanetary frontiers: terraforming from an invasion science perspective
https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oik.11683

May 20, 2026 Updates

The Changing Concept of Habitability on Earth, the Solar System, and Beyond
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/16/5/190

Methodological Synergies between Technosignature and UHE Neutrino Searches
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.19482

The Nulling Interferometry Cryogenic Experiment (NICE): Architecture, requirements, and preliminary warm precursor results
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.02279

Artificial Intelligence for Planetary Exploration: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Analog Field Tests
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/133/1/152

Spinning out of focus: The challenge of rotational line broadening in exoplanet reflection spectroscopy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16491

Inferring stellar metallicity and elemental abundances from kinematic and spectroscopic data using machine learning – Implications for exoplanet host stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18131

A Revised Mass and Period for the Habitable Zone super-Earth GJ 3378b: A Planet Straddling the Cosmic Shoreline
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16499

Beyond Conventional Systems: How Solid-State Batteries Empower Energy Storage and Microgrid Development in Extraterrestrial Extreme Environments
https://www.mdpi.com/2313-0105/12/5/173

Active Galactic Nucleus Tori: Potential Birthplace to Millions of Planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.19241