Houston

On 27 Aug, NASA successfully flew an Alta‑X drone equipped with the SPLICE payload through simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers, raising the technology readiness level for future robotic and crewed missions. The flight took place over Rogers Dry Lake near the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. During the test the payload produced high‑resolution digital elevation maps to evaluate landing safety and was programmed to divert the drone to an alternate site if hazards were detected.

The CHAPEA crew completed its simulated Mars journey on 31 Oct 2026, ending a 378‑day isolation in a 158‑square‑metre 3D‑printed habitat. The four astronauts—Matthew Montgomery, James Spicer, Ross Elder and medical officer Ellen Ellis—entered the sealed facility on 19 Oct 2025 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and performed tasks such as growing crops in simulated Martian soil and communicating with NASA under delayed transmission conditions. Over the next two weeks they will undergo debriefings and evaluations with NASA scientists. NASA says the data will inform future lunar bases and crewed missions to Mars in the 2030s.

Personal details of more than 41,000 employees and contractors at the US Department of Homeland Security were published online after a hacker stole them. The exposed records include names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses and office locations. About 21,000 relate to Customs and Border Protection staff and roughly 10,000 to Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, with the rest from CISA, USCIS and HSI. The hacking group Department of Peace says it gained access through the Okta single sign-on service used by DHS, while Okta says it has no evidence its systems were compromised. DHS says it is aware of a potential breach and is working to address it.