China's Tianwen-2 reached asteroid Kamo'oalewa on July 4 after a 400-day trip. It will scout for a year before China's first asteroid sample return in 2027.
Japan's Hayabusa2 probe flew within 800 meters of asteroid Torifune on July 5, 2026, in a precision-trajectory test of planetary defense technology.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has begun its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, scanning the southern sky with the world's largest digital camera.
After forty years of underground searches, no dark matter particle has been directly confirmed. The LZ detector's December 2025 results mark a turning point.