Japan’s MMX Begins Phobos Journey & Euclid Finds Its First Comet - Space News (Oct 20, 2026)

Support The Automated Daily directly: 15 free episodes a day, 5 editions, 3 languages, about $4 a day to produce. A coffee keeps it going: theautomateddaily.com/support Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Invest Like the Pros with StockMVP - https://www.stock-mvp.com/?via=ron - SurveyMonkey, Using AI to surface insights faster and reduce manual analysis time - https://get.surveymonkey.com/tad - Discover the Future of AI Audio with ElevenLabs - https://try.elevenlabs.io/tad Today's topics: Japan’s MMX Begins Phobos Journey - Japan’s MMX spacecraft successfully began its journey toward Phobos, where it will attempt to collect material and complete the first round trip to the Martian region. Keywords: JAXA, MMX, Mars, Phobos, sample return. [151] Euclid Finds Its First Comet - ESA’s Euclid telescope discovered C/2026 S1, the first previously unknown comet found in its images. The unexpected detection shows how a dark-universe observatory can also uncover nearby Solar System objects. Keywords: Euclid, comet, C/2026 S1, ESA, astronomy. [331] Webb Maps Metal-Rich Galactic Gas - James Webb observations revealed metal-rich gas around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central black hole. Its composition may preserve evidence of stellar explosions and the shared history of stars and gas in the galactic center. Keywords: JWST, Sagittarius A*, black hole, Milky Way, metals. [271] Starfall Flies Again on Bandwagon - The Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission carried dozens of spacecraft, including the second Starfall return-capsule flight. The mission highlights growing efforts to bring research and manufactured materials home from orbit. Keywords: Starfall, Bandwagon-5, Falcon 9, reentry, space manufacturing. [181] Rocket Debris Lands Near Indonesians - Indonesian authorities are investigating large debris found near homes and plantation work sites in Central Kalimantan. Preliminary tracking suggests it may have come from a Chinese Zhuque-2E rocket. Keywords: space debris, Indonesia, Zhuque-2E, reentry, safety. [316] Minor Solar Storm Watch Today - NOAA forecasts a possible minor G1 geomagnetic storm as fast solar wind from a coronal hole reaches Earth. High-latitude auroras may become more active, although storm conditions are not guaranteed. Keywords: solar storm, aurora, space weather, coronal hole, NOAA. [406] Episode Transcript Japan’s MMX Begins Phobos Journey Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft, better known as MMX, has successfully started its journey toward Mars. An H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center, and Japan’s space agency later confirmed that the probe had separated as planned, established contact and was operating normally. MMX is heading for Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two small moons. After reaching the Martian system, it will study both Phobos and Deimos, deploy a small rover and attempt to collect material from Phobos for return to Earth. If the full mission succeeds, it will complete the first round trip to the region around Mars. The samples could reveal whether Phobos formed from debris after a major impact on Mars or began as an asteroid later captured by the planet. That distinction matter