MichiganRegister.com

The Council of the European Union gave final approval to three legislative acts covering defence investment, permitting, procurement and transfers between member states.

The U.S. National Science Foundation and UK Research and Innovation announced plans to cooperate on metascience, applying research methods to the institutions and processes that organize scientific work.

Canada introduced Bill C-40 to convert the Defence Investment Agency from a special operating agency into a Crown corporation within the National Defence portfolio. Its legal name would be the Canadian Corporation for Defence Investment, while it would continue using the DIA name publicly.

The Council of the European Union agreed on the key elements of its negotiating position for a market integration and supervision package intended to make capital flow more readily across national borders.

Canada announced that it plans to issue a new 10-year Canadian-dollar green bond during the week of October 7, subject to market conditions. The government did not state the size or final pricing in the launch notice.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Agriculture launched a joint request for information on agricultural equipment manufacturing and distribution. The inquiry follows complaints received by USDA about obstacles farmers face when buying equipment or obtaining the services needed to keep it operating.

The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development arm reported nearly $25 billion in loans and grants during fiscal 2026. The largest categories were $10.9 billion for rural housing programs and $9.7 billion for electric infrastructure.

NASA outlined its contributions to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Martian Moons eXploration mission, which is scheduled to launch from Tanegashima Space Center on October 19 Eastern time, or October 20 in Japan.

The Department of Energy announced 12 Phase II Genesis Mission awards totaling $159 million and six additional Phase I projects. The selections bring the Phase II portfolio to 14 projects.

NASA reported that the Crew-12 Dragon splashed down off Los Angeles, California, at 11:34 a.m. Eastern, or 8:34 a.m. Pacific, on October 8. Recovery teams then began securing the capsule and preparing to lift it onto the recovery ship.

NASA and the Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding that organizes end-to-end cooperation on nuclear power and propulsion for civil space missions. The agreement is scheduled to take effect November 1.

The Department of Energy selected four National Laboratory-led projects aimed at making robotics and automation reusable across scientific facilities rather than limiting the work to isolated demonstrations.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev undocked from the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. Eastern on October 7. Their Dragon spacecraft left the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

The European Space Agency signed a contract with Hungarian spacecraft company C3S to develop FLOTTA, a microsatellite platform intended for communications constellations. The design range covers spacecraft weighing from 50 to 150 kilograms.

NASA concluded its fall scientific-balloon campaign with an October 5 flight from Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The mission carried the CORSAIR solar coronagraph on the Wallops Arc Second Pointer, known as WASP, after an earlier attempt on September 19 was ended shortly after launch.

Canada announced a C$2 billion, eight-year program intended to support one million home-energy retrofits. The largest component is a heat-pump rebate designed to reach as many as 820,000 households.

NASA Earth Observatory compared Landsat 8 images of the Lubbock region from September 2025 and September 2026. The newer scene shows far less green vegetation, more vacant plots and many playa lakes without visible water.

Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum on September 12 at an estimated 4.6 million square kilometers, or 1.78 million square miles. NASA’s October 7 review says the measurement ties the minimums recorded in 2008, 2010 and 2025 for tenth-lowest since continuous satellite monitoring began.

A new assessment from NASA’s Sea Level Change Team and the United Nations Environment Programme examines what would happen if global temperatures temporarily rose above 1.5 degrees Celsius and later declined. The central finding is that cooling the atmosphere would not quickly reverse changes already underway in the ocean and ice sheets.