From Water Stress To Water Bankruptcy: Urban India’s New Hydrological Reality – Analysis

March 4, 2026 
Observer Research Foundation
By Dhaval Desai


As the world wrestles with the existential threats posed by climate change, water is no longer a matter of managing a natural resource. It is now about urgently addressing the systemic and structural vulnerabilities that have emerged from the misuse of water over the centuries, especially as the definitions of water scarcity, water stress, and water crises, used hitherto to identify and respond to water issues, may no longer adequately reflect the severity of current global hydrological concerns.

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health’s (UNU-INWEH) latest study has coined the term “water bankruptcy” to describe emerging trends in global water dynamics. The study, ‘Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era,’ defines water bankruptcy as the near-permanent erosion of the natural resilience and recovery of water ecosystems due to the exploitation of water beyond its renewable capacity.

This new analytical framework has far-reaching implications for India, a country already dealing with escalating water deficits and complex water governance challenges.

Defining Water Bankruptcy: Beyond Scarcity, Stress, and Risks

The study identifies water stress as conditions in which, although demand overshoots the limits of available and renewable water supply, the impact on overall water availability is mostly reversible. Water crises, on the other hand, are mainly episodic, acute shortages caused by droughts or infrastructure failures, which can be managed through emergency responses. However, it defines water bankruptcy as a persistent post-crisis state in which water use consistently exceeds renewable freshwater inflows and the safe limits of natural storage depletion.


Such water bankruptcy results in the severe depletion of both ‘checking accounts’ and ‘savings accounts’ of this natural resource. Checking accounts refer to the natural replenishment of rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs over time. However, as recharge of natural water sources is inconsistent, replenishment of checking accounts can show extreme fluctuations relative to the long-term average in wet and dry conditions. Conversely, the savings accounts refer primarily to groundwater sources, including soil moisture, shallow groundwater, glaciers, and aquifers, where the replenishment often occurs over several decades to even millennia. The shrinking of such savings accounts leads to disproportionate social, economic, and environmental costs.

Simultaneous evidence of the depletion of both checking and savings accounts signals a worrying worldwide breach of thresholds in basins and aquifers, leading to water bankruptcy. The UNU-INWEH thus defines water bankruptcy as the persistent post-crisis condition, in which:Withdrawal from surface and groundwater sources (the checking and savings accounts, respectively) exceeds the renewable freshwater inflows and the safe limits of extraction of water reserves, and
The resulting degradation of natural capital causes irreversible damage to water availability.

The frequent recurrence of droughts, which were earlier episodic, is a clear sign of water bankruptcy, a direct result of the degradation of hydrological conditions to a point where recovery of water levels becomes nearly impossible. The study calls for an urgent, fundamental reset of the global water agenda, from knee-jerk emergency responses to focused, sustained bankruptcy management, by acknowledging the limits, embracing transparent water accounting, setting enforceable depletion thresholds, and prioritising the protection of natural water generation through aquifers and wetlands.

Global Indicators of Water Bankruptcy

The evidence of water bankruptcy is stark across continents, with multiple indicators highlighting irreversible pressures. For example, with 70 percent of aquifers in steady decline, the current dependence of 50 percent of global domestic supply and 40 percent of irrigation water on groundwater could be severely threatened, pushing the world deeper into an era of severe water insecurity. Already, an estimated 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, and nearly 75 percent of the global population lives in countries that are either water-insecure or critically water-insecure.

With over half of all large freshwater lakes steadily shrinking since the 1990s, more than 25 percent of the global population depending on those lakes could face heightened water insecurity. Several rivers now also fail to reach the sea, indicating altered hydrological connectivity.

India’s Hydrological Reality: Stress Meeting Bankruptcy

A water-bankrupt world has enormous implications for India, given its high dependency on groundwater, burgeoning demand, and an uneven spatial distribution of renewable water sources. India has an extractable quantum of about 407.75 billion cubic metres (bcm) out of its total estimated annual groundwater recharge potential of 448.52 bcm. However, the country currently extracts around 247.22 bcm annually, representing more than 60 percent of the national extractable threshold.


Groundwater supports 62 percent of irrigation and up to 85 percent of domestic water use, making it the backbone of both food and drinking water security. Such overreliance on groundwater is driving Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains toward “irreversible overexploitation.”

Urban water systems, already grappling with an ever-increasing demand-supply gap, experience intensified stress. For example, the “day zero” scenario witnessed in Chennai in 2019 and the increasing reliance on groundwater, especially through the rampant, often unregulated digging of borewells, characterise the overexploitation of groundwater beyond sustainable limits. According to NITI Aayog’s 2019 Composite Water Management Index, the demand-supply gap in urban India is estimated to reach ~50 BCM by 2030. Already, five Indian cities — Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad — are among the world’s 20 most water-stressed cities. This situation could also pose a grave public health risk, with 8 million childrenunder 14 at risk due to poor water quality.

On the other hand, agriculture accounts for nearly 87 percent of all freshwater withdrawals. Water-intensive staples, especially paddy and wheat, promoted through subsidies and minimum support price (MSP) since the implementation of India’s Green Revolution in the mid-1960s, have contributed to this enormous demand. Consequently, emphasis on such water-guzzling crops in Punjab and Haryana, which are crucial to India’s food security and exports, has accelerated groundwater depletion.

Policy Imperatives for a Post-Crisis Water Era

The UNU-INWEH study calls for comprehensive legal, institutional, and policy changes to address the looming global era of water bankruptcy. Post-crisis water management, it insists, should: i) impose clear limits on withdrawal of groundwater, ii) target investments to restore natural water systems. These changes must also integrate new water realities into climate, food, and biodiversity policies. India must adapt these recommendations and urgently recalibrate its water governance.

First, India must reduce its focus on water-guzzling staples such as rice and wheat, and comprehensively transform its cropping patterns to include millets, the primary traditional staple for most Indians for centuries. Millets, with their high nutritional value, are often touted as a “one-stop solution” amid climate change, water scarcity, and drought. Millets need 70 percent less water than paddy. They grow about 50 percent faster than wheat. They also need 40 percent less energy to process. Channelling subsidies and raising MSP for millets can help India reduce groundwater extraction and strengthen overall resilience.

Second, India must immediately undertake sweeping reforms of its urban water systems and create a robust circular water economy by combining enhanced storage, wastewater recycling, and leakage reduction under an integrated water strategy. Cities must focus on demand-side management measures rather than solely investing in capital-intensive source-augmentation projects. For example, India generates over 72 billion litres of sewage daily but treats only about 28 percent of sewage. As a result, it discharges more than half (~52 billion) of untreated wastewater into waterbodies or allows seepage, polluting both surface water sources and groundwater aquifers. Supply-side measures to continuously augment the water supply will only worsen groundwater depletion and disbalance the surface water availability. India must use this situation to its advantage and adopt best practices from cities in developing economies, such as São Paolo (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Dakar (Senegal), and Arequipa (Peru), to explore circular economy solutions.


Third, India must urgently consider an Atal Bhujal Yojana-Urban to replicate the successes of the existing rural India-focused, participatory Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) to leverage community-led groundwater management efforts to address the fast-depleting aquifers in its cities. The absence of a coordinated, mission-mode response to this catastrophic trend has led to fragmented regulations, leaving cities with limited technical capacity. Designing ABY-Urban to address the unique complexities of cities, with robust regulatory frameworks, compulsory aquifer mapping and digital monitoring, participatory governance, performance-linked funding of central schemes and missions, and integrating groundwater management with AMRUT 2.0, can signal a proactive national commitment to sustainable cities.

Conclusion

Addressing water bankruptcy begins with recognising how much the hydrological landscape has changed and what these shifts mean for the choices societies must make. It requires India to re-examine long-standing assumptions about availability, revisit patterns of use, and build policies that reflect the limits of its natural water systems. The window for course correction is narrowing, and India must act decisively to secure its water future.

About the author: Dhaval Desai is a Senior Fellow and Vice President at the Observer Research Foundation.

Source: This article was published by the Observer Research Foundation.

Observer Research Foundation
ORF was established on 5 September 1990 as a private, not for profit, ’think tank’ to influence public policy formulation. The Foundation brought together, for the first time, leading Indian economists and policymakers to present An Agenda for Economic Reforms in India. The idea was to help develop a consensus in favour of economic reforms.

Israel Is Expanding Control in West Bank Under Guise of “Heritage Preservation”

New changes could undermine Palestinian sovereignty and pave the way for further illegal settlements in the West Bank.

By Theia Chatelle , 

Truthout

February 21, 2026

This picture taken on February 12, 2026, shows a view of the archaeological site of Sebastia, west of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Zain JAAFAR / AFP via Getty Images

Ramallah — On February 8, the Cabinet of Israel approved a slew of changes to further undermine Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

While still awaiting final approval by the Knesset, the changes, according to a statement released by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, “will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Under the Oslo Accords, Areas A and B of the West Bank — which together comprise 40 percent of the West Bank — fall under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

However, due to the new changes approved by the Cabinet of Israel this month, the Israeli Civil Administration, which is in charge of civil affairs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, will now claim jurisdiction in Areas A and B under the guise of environmental and archaeological protection.

Archaeological preservation of Jewish heritage in the West Bank has long been used as a justification for the assertion of Israeli sovereignty and the expansion of Israeli settlements there, which are illegal under international law.

Palestinians Displaced in West Bank by Israeli Settlers Ask: Where Can We Go?
Settlers have destroyed homes in the West Bank, forcibly displacing Palestinians from nearly 50 Bedouin communities. By Theia Chatelle , Truthout August 9, 2025

The Cabinet decisions build on the 2023 antiquities bill, which created a body called the Israel Antiquities Authority that was given expanded legal authority to extend into parts of the West Bank, in order to assert responsibility for archaeological sites there. Now, Israeli politicians are seeking to establish a new Israeli body called the West Bank Heritage Authority, which would have even more invasive power, regulating vast swaths of Palestinian territory and representing another step toward de facto annexation.

The Tomb of the Patriarchs, located in Hebron, and the Palestinian city of Sebastia, which independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel has reported on as emblematic of Israel’s use of religiously significant sites to justify expulsion and land theft, are two sites that have been subject to varying degrees of Israeli control; under new legal frameworks, including the antiquities bill and Israeli Cabinet decisions, they are increasingly incorporated into Israeli-managed heritage development.

The slew of changes by the Israeli Cabinet also opened the Palestinian land registries, which document land claims across the West Bank. These registries had previously been kept confidential due to concerns that Israeli settlers and settlement organizations would use the information to assert fraudulent claims to Palestinian land.


“Everywhere here has heritage. It’s just an excuse to expand settlements and take Palestinian land.”

Allowing, for the first time, Israelis to purchase land directly from Palestinians in Areas A and B could open up the potential for the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements in the middle of Palestinian cities like Ramallah, which have served as the last strongholds of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

Ubai Aboudi, the director of BISAN, a human rights organization based in Ramallah, told Truthout in an interview that the spate of Cabinet decisions is about continuing the farce of a legal regime enforced by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank that is meant to legitimize the settlement enterprise.

At face value, the changes might appear to be piecemeal and far from solidifying the path to legal annexation, as many headlines have proclaimed. But the changes, if nothing else, are just another step by the Israeli government to undermine Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank.

While the Oslo agreements created the framework of Palestinian self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the constant drumbeat of settlement expansion and Israeli military activity in the territory has shattered any hope of Palestinian self-rule in the short term, according to Shawan Jabarin, the director of Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization that has frequently been targeted by Israeli authorities, who joined Truthout for an interview at the organization’s offices in Ramallah.

He emphasized that this “farce” of a legal regime serves Israel’s interests in that it justifies expansion and violations of international law beyond simply expelling Palestinians from their land.

“For example, when it comes to house demolitions, they demolish the home because you did not get a permit. ‘But you did not give it to me,’” Jabarin said.

On February 15, the Israeli Cabinet also announced, for the first time since 1967, that it would begin a process of registering Palestinian land in Area C, which is under the civil and military control of Israel. Under this new change, invalid property claims, to be decided by the Israeli Civil Administration, will lead to “vacant” land being claimed as Israeli state property.

Allowing the Israeli Civil Administration jurisdiction in Area A, which per the Oslo Accords should be under the full civil and military control of the Palestinian Authority, not only undermines the limited degree of Palestinian self-rule in its fragmented scattering of municipalities but also legally justifies the almost constant intervention by Israeli forces within Area A — which includes escorting Israeli settlers into religious sites such as Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.

Jabarin said, “If you look at all of these things and put them together, you will see the complete picture: ‘We do not want Palestinians there. We do everything in our capacity in order to push them out and bring in settlers and replace the Palestinians with settlers.’”

For Aboudi, environmental and archaeological protection are simply a means to an end for Ministers Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to put into reality Israel’s Decisive Plan, which Smotrich published in 2017. It calls for a continual expansion of settlements and Jewish sovereignty in the West Bank, including the forcible expulsion of Palestinians.

“Everywhere here has heritage. It’s just an excuse to expand settlements and take Palestinian land,” Aboudi said.

The Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, which advocates for access to religious sites for both Palestinians and Israelis, said in a statement, “Taken together, these developments constitute a fundamental turning point. Empowering an Israeli civilian authority to carry out enforcement measures, expropriations, and excavations deep inside Palestinian Authority Areas B and A effectively dismantles the framework established under the Oslo II Accords.”

At least 1,050 Palestinians, including at least 230 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank between October 7, 2023, and January 27, 2026, according to a UNRWA situation report. Israeli forces on Feb. 17 invaded a village just south of Jenin, chasing local Palestinian journalists with a military vehicle.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “The ministry stresses that these measures amount to de facto annexation of Palestinian land and directly contradict the declared position of U.S. President Donald Trump rejecting annexation and settlement expansion.”

Whether the Trump administration would put that relationship in jeopardy during what appears to be an increasingly likely conflict with Iran — as the U.S. reportedly shifts military assets into the Gulf — is unlikely.

At play is also a careful calculus on the part of the Israeli government to continue the project outlined by Smotrich, but without drawing the ire of the Trump administration, which has stated that it opposes Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

But on the ground in Ramallah, many Palestinian residents who spoke with Truthout did not appear concerned about the Israeli cabinet decisions, with many stating that these changes do little to change the reality for most Palestinians.

The Palestinian economy is on the brink. Since October 7, 2023, Palestinians have been largely banned from working inside Israel, cutting out a significant source of income, with daily wages in the West Bank hovering at 125 shekels instead of 250 in Israel.

With the start of Ramadan on Tuesday, festivities are muted. Where there would typically be lights dangling from apartments in downtown Ramallah al-Tahta, this year, despite the ceasefire in Gaza, which one resident described as “in name only,” celebrations remain subdued.

These changes by the Israeli Cabinet are just another step that cements what Jabarin called “a complete war on Palestinian life on the West Bank meant to kill any hope for self-determination.”


This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

Theia Chatelle  is a conflict correspondent based between Ramallah and New Haven. She has written for The Intercept, The Nation, The New Arab, etc. She is an alumnus of the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Rory Peck Trust.

CHRISTIAN ZIONISM

Trump's Israel ambassador ignites international firestorm with 'deranged' 

new remarks

Huckabee has appeared to endorse the idea of “Greater Israel”  referring to the territorial aspirations of some Israelis to significantly expand the nation’s borders.

Alexander Willis
February 22, 2026 

RAW STORY

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during an interview with Reuters in Jerusalem, September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee ignited an international firestorm this weekend after appearing to endorse the idea of Israel taking control of the entire Middle East, remarks that prompted a swift response from more than a dozen Arab nations, including the United States’ own allies.

Huckabee sat down with conservative media figure Tucker Carlson recently for a lengthy interview that was published on Saturday, during which, Carlson pressed the former Arkansas governor on specifically what regions in the Middle East he believed Israel to be Biblically entitled to.

“Does Israel have the right to that land?” Carlson asked, making reference to what he described as “basically the entire Middle East,” including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and sizable portions of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee responded.

The comments drew an immediate backlash from more than a dozen Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa, all of which signed onto a joint statement condemning the remarks as “extremist and lacking any sound basis,” NBC News reported Sunday.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, described Huckabee’s remarks as “extremist rhetoric,” and Egypt called them a “flagrant breach” of international law, NBC News reported.

Huckabee has appeared to endorse the idea of “Greater Israel” in the past, with “Greater Israel” referring to the territorial aspirations of some Israelis to significantly expand the nation’s borders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes last year – said as recently as last August that he “absolutely” subscribed to a “vision” for “Greater Israel.”“I don’t think we have fully [realized] how deranged the people driving US policy truly are,” wrote Bruno Macaes, an author, writer and geopolitical analyst, in a social media post on X Sunday in response to Huckabee’s remarks.

Battered by Gaza war, Israel’s tech sector in recovery mode


By AFP
February 20, 2026


US chip giant Nvidia said in December it would create a massive research and development centre in northern Israel - Copyright AFP Idrees MOHAMMED
Delphine MATTHIEUSSENT

Israel’s vital tech sector, dragged down by the war in Gaza, is showing early signs of recovery, buoyed by a surge in defence innovation and fresh investment momentum.

Cutting-edge technologies represent 17 percent of the country’s GDP, 11.5 percent of jobs and 57 percent of exports, according to the latest available data from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), published in September 2025.

But like the rest of the economy, the sector was not spared the knock-on effects of the war, which began in October 2023 and led to staffing shortages and skittishness from would-be backers.

Now, with a ceasefire largely holding in Gaza since October, Israel’s appeal is gradually returning, as illustrated in mid-December, when US chip giant Nvidia announced it would create a massive research and development centre in the north that could host up to 10,000 employees.

“Investors are coming to Israel nonstop,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

After the war, the recovery can’t come soon enough.

“High-tech companies had to overcome massive staffing cuts, because 15 to 20 percent of employees, and sometimes more, were called up” to the front as reservists, IIA director Dror Bin told AFP.

To make matters worse, in late 2023 and 2024, “air traffic, a crucial element of this globalised sector, was suspended, and foreign investors froze everything while waiting to see what would happen”, he added.

The war also sparked a brain drain in Israel.

Between October 2023 and July 2024, about 8,300 employees in advanced technologies left the country for a year or more, according to an IIA report published in April 2025.

The figure represents around 2.1 percent of the sector’s workforce.

The report did not specify how many employees left Israel to work for foreign companies versus Israeli firms based abroad, or how many have since returned to Israel.



– Rise in defence startups –



In 2023, the tech sector far outpaced GDP growth, increasing by 13.7 percent compared to 1.8 percent for GDP.

But the sector’s output stagnated in 2024 and 2025, according to IIA figures.

Industry professionals now believe the industry is turning a corner.

Israeli high-tech companies raised $15.6 billion in private funding in 2025, up from $12.2 billion in 2024, according to preliminary figures published in December by Startup Nation Central (SNC), a non-profit organisation that promotes Israeli innovation.

Deep tech — innovation based on major scientific or engineering advances such as artificial intelligence, biotech and quantum computing — returned in 2025 to its pre-2021 levels, according to the IIA.

The year 2021 is considered a historic peak for Israeli tech.

The past two years have also seen a surge in Israeli defence technologies, with the military engaged on several fronts from Lebanon and Syria to Iran, Yemen, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Between July 2024 and April 2025, the number of startups in the defence sector nearly doubled, from 160 to 312, according to SNC.

Of the more than 300 emerging companies collaborating with the research and development department of Israel’s defence ministry, “over 130 joined our operations during the war”, Director General Amir Baram said in December.

Until then, the ministry had primarily sourced from Israel’s large defence firms, said Menahem Landau, head of Caveret Ventures, a defence tech investment company.

But he said the war pushed the ministry “to accept products that were not necessarily fully finished and tested, coming from startups”.

“Defence-related technologies have replaced cybersecurity as the most in-demand high-tech sector,” the reserve lieutenant colonel explained.

“Not only in Israel but worldwide, due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and tensions with China”.

 

Quantum Computing Can Solve the Hardest Port Scheduling Problems

Courtesy Port of Los Angeles

Published Feb 17, 2026 4:41 PM by Simon Fried

 

Maritime shipping is inherently a real-time optimization challenge. Vessel schedules shift mid-voyage. Ports operate under tight labor and equipment constraints. Weather, congestion and geopolitical disruption ripple across global networks. Even decisions that appear local to a terminal or fleet propagate across rail, trucking, warehousing and customer delivery commitments.

The industry has responded with better analytics and more computing power. Yet many of the most valuable planning problems remain difficult in a way that can’t be solved by adding more servers. In practice, planners narrow the scope, reduce the number of scenarios and/or accept “good enough” answers because fully exploring the decision space is computationally unrealistic.

This is where quantum computing shines – not as a replacement for classical systems, but as a complementary tool for tackling the hardest optimization bottlenecks in maritime logistics. The near-term reality is hybrid. Classical platforms manage data and workflows. Quantum routines are applied selectively to the most complex, constraint-heavy decisions.

The core challenge is not data volume

Maritime logistics handles vast amounts of data. The harder problem is how quickly the number of possible decisions burgeon as constraints accumulate.

Common maritime problems such as vehicle routing with time windows, multi-depot fleet scheduling, berth allocation, crane sequencing and container loading all fall into this category. Each is manageable in simplified form. Each becomes significantly more complex when real-world constraints are introduced, including tides, labor rules, fuel limits, emissions targets, yard congestion, and downstream intermodal capacity.

As variables increase, the time required to search for optimal solutions grows exponentially. Classical platform decisionmaking tools remain essential, but they impose limits. When disruption occurs, planners frequently face a tradeoff between solution quality and response time.

Quantum computing is directly applicable because it explores optimization landscapes differently. In hybrid workflows, quantum solvers can be used to evaluate candidate solutions or subproblems that are particularly difficult for classical methods, improving decision quality under time pressure.

Where quantum computing maps cleanly to maritime operations

Quantum’s early value in maritime applications comes from problems that share three characteristics: dense constraints, many interacting assets and clear operational costs when decisions are suboptimal.

Drayage route and fleet optimization are prime examples. Vehicle routing with multiple depots and delivery windows extends naturally to feeder coordination, drayage assignment and rail appointment planning. Even small improvements in these areas can reduce fuel use, improve on-time performance and lower operational friction.

Port operations are another strong fit for quantum computing. Berth allocation and crane scheduling directly affect vessel turnaround times and yard congestion. These scheduling problems involve sequencing tasks across constrained resources, a structure that aligns well with quantum optimization formulations.

Container loading and yard utilization also stand out for quantum applicability. Optimizing stowage to reduce wasted capacity while respecting stability, safety and regulatory constraints is computationally demanding, particularly when plans must adapt to late changes.

Example: Replanning under pressure

A container vessel is six hours from berth when conditions change. High winds reduce crane productivity. A yard equipment failure blocks access to key import stacks. At the same time, a rail operator advances its departure cutoff.

In a traditional workflow, planners simplify. They freeze parts of the schedule, reduce constraint sets and re-run heuristics. The resulting plan works, but often increases re-handles, extends truck turn times and/or pushes cargo into dwell.

In a hybrid quantum-classical workflow, the terminal’s digital twin still runs on classical infrastructure. But the hardest subproblem, combined crane, yard, and gate sequencing under the new constraints, is passed to a quantum optimization routine. The output is not a single answer, but a set of high-quality candidate schedules that are then validated against business and safety rules.

Momentum in ports and logistics hubs

Maritime shipping is not waiting for fault-tolerant quantum computers to begin experimentation. Ports and logistics hubs are well suited to early pilots because optimization outcomes can be measured directly in throughput, turn times, and asset utilization.

In Los Angeles, a public initiative at Pier 300 combined quantum computing with AI to optimize terminal operations. In Dubai, logistics leaders such as DP World have publicly acknowledged exploring quantum technologies as part of broader smart trade and digital infrastructure strategies.

The emergence of maritime-focused quantum forums in the UAE further reflects growing ecosystem engagement endeavors. These efforts are not about immediate large-scale deployment, but about building familiarity, technical fluency and realistic expectations.

Why abstraction matters for shipping teams

One of the biggest barriers to quantum adoption is not hardware maturity. It is software accessibility.

Many quantum frameworks still require developers to work at the gate or circuit level, which requires effort and specialized skills. For maritime organizations, this is impractical. Operations teams need to express routing, scheduling and loading constraints in a way that reflects business intent. Model-based approaches address this gap by letting the developer model the problem in an accessible language, then translating the resulting code into a format that a quantum computer can use. This reflects traditional developer practice and helps future-proof early investments.

What maritime technology leaders should do now

Quantum computing will mature incrementally. The most effective strategy today is structured preparation.

First, identify optimization-heavy workflows where current methods consistently rely on simplifications or slow re-optimization cycles. Second, plan explicitly for integration with existing TMS, WMS, ERP and port operating systems. Third, invest in modeling skills rather than gate-level quantum expertise. Finally, leverage partnerships across software providers, cloud platforms and hardware vendors to reduce risk and accelerate learning.

Conclusion

Maritime shipping operates in a world of constant constraints. As networks grow more interconnected, optimization challenges become harder, not easier. That reality makes the sector a natural candidate for quantum-assisted decision-making.

The value proposition is practical: faster replanning under disruption, better asset utilization, and more reliable service commitments. Early initiatives in ports such as Los Angeles and Dubai show that the industry is engaging deliberately and pragmatically.

For maritime leaders, the question is not when quantum computing will replace existing systems. It is how to position your organization so that, as the technology matures, you are ready to apply it where it delivers measurable operational advantage.

Simon Fried is Vice President of Corporate Communications at Classiq.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 SPACE/COSMOS

Europe's quick-fit spacesuit to be tested aboard ISS by France's Adenot

A prototype European space suit designed to be slipped on in under two minutes is set for testing aboard the International Space Station, where French astronaut Sophie Adenot, now in orbit for her first long-duration mission, will try it out in microgravity.


Issued on: 16/02/2026 - RFI

EuroSuit, a prototype intra-vehicular space suit developed with Decathlon that French astronaut Sophie Adenot will test aboard the International Space Station. © Decathlon

The prototype, known as the EuroSuit, is designed to protect astronauts inside spacecraft while making suits faster and easier to put on.

The project brings together the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), start-up Spartan Space, the space medicine institute Medes and sporting goods company Decathlon, which developed the textile and ergonomic elements.

Adenot reached the ISS on Saturday after a roughly 34-hour journey from Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard a SpaceX spacecraft. The capsule docked with the station, orbits about 400 kilometres above Earth, at 9:15pm Paris time.

“I am proud to bring France and Europe along on this incredible adventure that transcends borders. Count on me to share every step with you and bring a sparkle to the eyes of the French people,” Adenot said shortly afterwards.

Meet French astronaut Sophie Adenot

Two-minute challenge

The 43-year-old – the second French woman to reach space – will test the EuroSuit prototype in microgravity by putting it on alone against the clock in less than 120 seconds.

She will then handle small objects while wearing it, use a touchscreen tablet to assess grip and dexterity, then remove the suit before providing feedback.

Adenot did not wear the EuroSuit for launch because SpaceX provides the suit astronauts wear for take-off. Instead, the prototype will be tested in microgravity aboard the station during the mission.

The CNES is coordinating the microgravity testing for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Spartan Space is leading the work as prime contractor, while Medes is developing real-time monitoring equipment.

Alongside the suit work, Adenot will also test a system that uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to help astronauts carry out their own medical ultrasounds.

Andrei Fedyaev, Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and Sophie Adenot in SpaceX suits ahead of their mission to the International Space Station. © SpaceX via AP

From sportswear to spacesuits

For Decathlon, founded in 1976 and based in Villeneuve-d’Ascq in northern France, the project marks a step beyond sports and leisure equipment into astronaut clothing.

The company was a partner of the Paris Olympic Games, but this time it is working on equipment with far tighter technical constraints.

The teams focused in particular on helmets adapted to each astronaut’s body shape and on ways to adjust the suit’s length to match the way the human body stretches in microgravity.

“About 40 people worked on it,” Sébastien Haquet, head of Decathlon’s advanced innovation division and the project lead, told RFI.

“Engineers, designers, textile specialists, 3D printing experts and mechanical engineers. Passion took hold of everyone. When the project arrived on our desks, it was quite easy to recruit people. We even had to select a ‘dream team’.”

Europe’s future missions

The partnership took shape from the end of 2023, Haquet said, when Spartan Space approached Decathlon. They then spent 2024 learning how to work together with CNES before moving into a more intensive design phase.

“From the end of January 2025, we launched a creative sprint, brought the talent together around a table and started designing. We are taking on space standards. We met that challenge by designing a suit in 10 months,” Haquet said.

He added that ESA does not have a design charter for astronaut suits, only a graphic charter, and that defining the aesthetic spirit of the suit was part of Decathlon’s mandate.

ESA is also working with Pierre Cardin on other projects, and NASA is working with Prada.

“It’s interesting to see Decathlon measure itself against long-established luxury brands, when it comes to the strength of its in-house designers,” Haquet said.

EuroSuit is being tested in microgravity to improve astronaut safety, comfort and speed during critical phases of a mission. © Decathlon

Under the suit, Adenot will wear a base layer described as a kind of “layer zero” pyjama made with a seamless process, using a single thread knitted from trousers to top. “You don’t give off any sweat smell with this garment as it absorbs them,” Haquet said.

Being able to suit up independently and shape a suit in under two minutes “does not exist today in the space sector”, he added. “Our suit isn’t yet functional.”

The wider question is how far ESA wants to go on autonomous human spaceflight.

“By relying on the exceptional expertise of our partners, we are preparing them, when the time comes, to provide this type of suit,” said Sébastien Barde, deputy head of human spaceflight exploration at CNES.

A joint statement from the project partners said the aim is “to imagine the protective and comfort equipment for the European astronauts of tomorrow”.

The suit is designed to improve comfort and speed, and above all to protect the astronaut during “critical phases”. Ground tests are planned through next year and for now the goal is to validate the design and ergonomics.

This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Igor Gauquelin

Mars’ “young” volcanoes were more complex than scientists once thought

Geological Society of America

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Visualization of the studied volcanic system (Pavonis fissure). Image courtesy Bartosz Pieterek.

view more 

Credit: Image courtesy Bartosz Pieterek.

Contributed by Kea Giles, Managing Editor, Geology
 

Boulder, Colo., USA: What appears to be a single volcanic eruption is often the result of complex processes operating deep beneath the surface, where magma moves, evolves, and changes over long periods of time. To fully understand how volcanoes work, scientists study the volcanic products that erupt at the surface, which can reveal the hidden magmatic systems feeding volcanic activity.

New research published recently in Geology shows that this complexity also applies to Mars. Recent high-resolution morphological observations and mineral analyses provided from orbit revealed that some of the planet’s youngest volcanic systems experienced a far more intricate eruptive history than scientists once thought. Rather than forming during single, short-lived eruptions, these volcanoes were shaped by long-lasting and evolving magma systems beneath the martian surface.

An international research team, including scientists from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability (SEES) at the University of Iowa, and the Lancaster Environment Centre, investigated a long-lived volcanic system located south of Pavonis Mons—one of Mars’ largest volcanoes. By combining detailed surface mapping with orbital mineral data, the team reconstructed the volcanic and magmatic evolution of this system in unprecedented detail.

“Our results show that even during Mars’ most recent volcanic period, magma systems beneath the surface remained active and complex,” says Bartosz Pieterek of Adam Mickiewicz University. “The volcano did not erupt just once—it evolved over time as conditions in the subsurface changed.”

The study shows that volcanic system developed through multiple eruptive phases, transitioning from early fissure-fed lava emplacement to later point-source activity that produced cone-forming vent. Although these lava flows appear different on the surface, they were supplied by the same underlying magma system. Each eruptive phase preserved a distinct mineral signature, allowing scientists to trace how the magma changed through time.

“These mineral differences tell us that the magma itself was evolving,” Pieterek explains. “This likely reflects changes in how deep the magma originated and how long it was stored beneath the surface before erupting.”

Because direct sampling of Martian volcanoes is currently not possible, studies like this provide rare insight into the structure and evolution of the planet’s interior. The findings highlight how powerful orbital observations can be in revealing the hidden complexity of volcanic systems—on Mars and on other rocky planets.

 

CITATION: Pieterek, B., et al., 2026, Spectral evidence for magmatic differentiation within a martian plumbing system, https://doi.org/10.1130/G53969.1

About the Geological Society of America

The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a global professional society with more than 18,000 members across over 100 countries. As a leading voice for the geosciences, GSA advances the understanding of Earth's dynamic processes and fosters collaboration among scientists, educators, and policymakers. GSA publishes Geology, the top-ranked “geology” journal, along with a diverse portfolio of scholarly journals, books, and conference proceedings—several of which rank among Amazon’s top 100 best-selling geology titles.
 

# # #

---

Journal

Geology

Article Title

Spectral evidence for magmatic differentiation within a Martian plumbing system

Chinese scientists develop distributed intercity quantum sensor network to expand dark matter research

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Constraints on axion dark matter by distributed intercity quantum sensors

view more 

Credit: Image by USTC

Ordinary visible matter accounts for only about 4.9 percent of the universe, while dark matter makes up about 26.8 percent. Axions are hypothetical, extremely light particles—with field-like properties—that may help us understand dark matter. Researchers speculate that axion fields formed topological defects during phase transitions in the early universe. In turn, these defects are expected to interact with nuclear spins and induce signals as the Earth crosses them. Detecting these signals could thus be key to understanding dark matter; however, such signals are extremely weak and of short duration.

In order to identify such signals, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators developed the first intercity nuclear-spin-based quantum sensor network, thereby experimentally exceeding astrophysical observation constraints on dark matter associated with axion topological defects. The study was published in Nature on January 28.

In this experiment, the researchers developed a nuclear-spin quantum precision measurement that "stores" microsecond-scale axion-induced signals in a long-lived nuclear-spin coherent state, enabling a readout signal on the scale of minutes. Based on a self-developed quantum spin amplification technique, they enhanced the weak dark-matter signal by at least 100-fold and increased the sensitivity of spin rotation to about 1 μrad, about four orders of magnitude higher than previous techniques.

Furthermore, the researchers created the first intercity nuclear-spin based quantum sensor network to discriminate dark matter signals. This network consisted of five nuclear-spin quantum sensors geographically distributed across Hefei and Hangzhou with a baseline distance of approximately 320 km, which were synchronized using Global Positioning System (GPS) time.

Although no statistically significant topological-defect-crossing event was recorded during two months of observation, the researchers set the most stringent constraints on axion–nucleon coupling across an axion mass range from 10 peV to 0.2 μeV, achieving 4.1 × 1010 GeV at 84 peV.

This study provides the first laboratory experiment to exceed astrophysical constraints on axion topological-defect dark matter, opening up the possibility of examining unexplored parameter space. It provides a new way to probe topological-defect dark matter as well as a new direction for searches on broad beyond-Standard Model physics such as axion stars and axion strings.

---

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-10034-w 

Article Title

Constraints on axion dark matter by distributed intercity quantum sensors

Scientists capture the clearest view yet of a star collapsing into a black hole

Columbia University

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

In 2014, a NASA telescope observed as the infrared light emitted by a massive star in the Andromeda galaxy gradually grew brighter. The star glowed more intensely with infrared light for around three years before fading dramatically and disappearing, leaving behind a shell of dust. Although a telescope captured the phenomenon at the time, it took years for scientists to notice it.

Now, a research team led by Kishalay De, a Columbia astronomy professor, has an explanation of what they saw: It was a star collapsing and giving birth to a black hole—an event that astronomers have anticipated for decades, but have had limited convincing observational evidence for. The findings were published today in the journal Science. 

The star appears to have undergone direct collapse, turning into a black hole without first exploding and becoming a supernova, long-believed to be a common way for stars to become black holes.

“This has probably been the most surprising discovery of my life,” De said. “The evidence of the disappearance of the star was lying in public archival data and nobody noticed for years until we picked it out.”

The star, a massive, hydrogen-depleted supergiant, named M31-2014-DS1, was in the Andromeda galaxy, which is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, and about 2.5 million light years from earth. When newly formed, the star was around 13 times the weight of the sun. At the time of its death, it was close to five times the mass of the sun., having shed most of its mass via powerful winds during its life.

“The dramatic and sustained fading of this star is very unusual, and suggests a supernova failed to occur, leading to the collapse of the star’s core directly into a black hole,” De said.

“Stars with this mass have long been assumed to always explode as supernovae,” De said. "The fact that it didn’t suggests that stars with the same mass may or may not successfully explode, possibly due to how gravity, gas pressure, and powerful shock waves interact in chaotic ways with each other inside the dying star.”

The manner in which the star turned into a black hole suggests that at the end of its life, its inner core was not pushed out in a normal supernova explosion and instead underwent a complete inward collapse.

The process of direct collapse may have been seen once before, in around 2010, in the galaxy NGC 6946, which is about 10 times further away than this star. But its exact nature has been unclear and debated, because it was 100 times fainter and there was not as high quality data about it.

“We've known that black holes must come from stars. With these two new events, we're getting to watch it happen, and are learning a huge amount about how that process works along the way,” said Morgan MacLeod, a lecturer on astronomy at Harvard, who was De’s co-author on the paper.

Black holes were first theorized more than 50 years ago, and today we know of dozens in our own galaxy and hundreds of such sources detected from gravitational wave observations in the distant universe. However, scientists still do not have any clear consensus on what stars turn into black holes and how that process plays out. This discovery provides the clearest insights into this and indicates that this kind of stellar collapse may happen more often than scientists had thought.

The team discovered the star by analyzing archival data from NASA’s NEOWISE mission. They used a prediction from the 1970s that theorized that when a star underwent direct collapse, it would leave behind a faint infrared glow caused by the dying gasp of the star shedding its outer layers and becoming enshrouded in dust.

They conducted the largest study of variable infrared sources ever done, tracking every star in the Milky Way and other local galaxies to look for these events, and eventually came across M31-2014-DS1. Further analysis showed that the star fit their predictions perfectly. 

“Unlike finding supernovae which is easy because the supernova outshines its entire galaxy for a few weeks, finding individual stars that disappear without producing an explosion is remarkably difficult,” De said.

“It comes as a shock to know that a massive star basically disappeared (and died) without an explosion and nobody noticed it for more than five years,” De said. “It really impacts our understanding of the inventory of massive stellar deaths in the universe. It says that these things may be quietly happening out there and easily going unnoticed.”

---

Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adt4853 

Method of Research

Observational study

Article Title

Disappearance of a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy due to formation of a black hole

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2026

New method could reveal hidden supermassive black hole binaries

University of Oxford

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Gravitationally lensed starlight (orange) by a supermassive black hole binary. The Einstein ring is shown in blue. Image credit: Image created by Hanxi Wang.

view more 

Credit: Hanxi Wang

Researchers at Oxford University and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) are proposing a new way to observe tightly bound supermassive black hole binaries. Formed naturally when galaxies merge, only widely separated systems have confidently been observed to date. In a paper published today in Physical Review Letters, the researchers suggest hunting down the hidden systems by searching for repeating flashes of light from individual stars lying behind the black holes as they are temporarily magnified by gravitational lensing as the binary orbits. 

Supermassive black holes reside at the centres of most galaxies. When two galaxies collide and merge, their central black holes eventually form a bound pair, known as a supermassive black hole binary. These systems play a crucial role in galaxy evolution and are among the most powerful sources of gravitational waves in the Universe. While future space-based gravitational-wave observatories will be able to probe such binaries directly, researchers are now showing that they may already be detectable using existing and upcoming electromagnetic surveys.

‘Supermassive black holes act as natural telescopes,’ said Dr Miguel Zumalacárregui from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics. ‘Because of their enormous mass and compact size, they strongly bend passing light. Starlight from the same host galaxy can be focused into extraordinarily bright images, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.’

For a single supermassive black hole, extreme lensing occurs only when a star lies almost exactly along the line of sight. In contrast, a supermassive black hole binary acts as a pair of lenses. This produces a diamond-shaped structure, known as a caustic curve, along which stars can experience dramatic magnification. In theory, the magnification becomes infinite for a point-like source; in practice, it is limited by the finite size of the star.

‘The chances of starlight being hugely amplified increase enormously for a binary compared to a single black hole,’ said Professor Bence Kocsis from the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics and a co-author of the study.

A further key difference is that black hole binaries are not static. The pair orbits under gravity, and according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the system slowly loses energy by emitting gravitational waves. As a result, the binary separation shrinks over time and the orbit gradually speeds up.

Graduate student Hanxi Wang is in Professor Kocsis’ group and led the study: ‘As the binary moves, the caustic curve rotates and changes shape, sweeping across a large volume of stars behind it. If a bright star lies within this region, it can produce an extraordinarily bright flash each time the caustic passes over it. This leads to repeating bursts of starlight, which provide a clear and distinctive signature of a supermassive black hole binary.’

The researchers show that the timing and brightness of these bursts are not random. As the binary inspirals, gravitational-wave emission subtly alters the caustic structure, imprinting a characteristic modulation in both the frequency and peak brightness of the flashes. By measuring these patterns, astronomers could infer key properties of the underlying black hole binary, including its masses and orbital evolution.

With powerful wide-field surveys coming online such as the Vera C Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, researchers are optimistic that such repeating lensing bursts could be observed in coming years.

‘The prospect of identifying inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries years before future space-based gravitational wave detectors come online is extremely exciting,’ concludes Professor Kocsis. ‘It opens the door to true multi-messenger studies of black holes, allowing us to test gravity and black hole physics in entirely new ways.’

Notes to editors:

For media enquiries and interview requests, contact Hanxi Wang hanxi.wang@physics.ox.ac.uk

The study ‘Black holes as telescopes: Discovering supermassive binaries through quasi-periodic lensed starlight’ has been published today (12 February) in Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/1sfl-87t4

About the University of Oxford

Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth year running, and ​number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.

Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing around £16.9 billion to the UK economy in 2021/22, and supports more than 90,400 full time jobs.

 

---

Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/1sfl-87t4 

Article Title

Black holes as telescopes: Discovering supermassive binaries through quasi-periodic lensed starlight

Article Publication Date

12-Feb-2026

VLITE marks 11 years of listening to a changing radio sky

Naval Research Laboratory

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

The Very Large Array Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) team, Namir Kassim, left, Emil Polisensky, Simona Giacintucci, Joe Helmboldt and Tracy Clarke, pose for a group photo at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, Feb. 10, 2026. VLITE is marking its 11th year of operation, recording the low-frequency radio sky across an entire solar cycle and providing Naval Research Laboratory scientists with long-term ionospheric data. (U.S. Navy photo by Sarah Peterson)

view more 

Credit: Sarah Peterson

For 11 years, the VLA Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment, known as VLITE, has quietly recorded the low-frequency radio sky every time the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array (VLA) observes.

A collaboration between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), VLITE operates alongside the VLA without interrupting its primary science mission. While astronomers study distant galaxies and black holes, VLITE collects a parallel stream of low-frequency data, building one of the most extensive continuous records of the dynamic radio sky.

The data has practical implications. Variations in space weather can affect satellite communications, GPS, radar and long-distance radio systems.
Originally conceived as an opportunistic add-on, VLITE has become a sustained observing program with both scientific and operational value.

“VLITE was designed to take advantage of opportunity,” said Tracy Clarke, Ph.D., an NRL research astronomer and VLITE lead. “We thought it might last a few years, but eleven years later it’s still ongoing. The longer it ran the more valuable it became. Time reveals scientific discoveries that you can’t anticipate.”

Monitoring the Ionosphere Across a Solar Cycle

Because VLITE observes at low radio frequencies, its signals are shaped both by distant astrophysical sources and by Earth’s ionosphere, the charged upper atmosphere that affects radio propagation.

Over 11 years, VLITE has recorded data spanning an entire solar cycle, capturing periods of both high and low solar activity.

“There are disturbances that occur when the sun is quiet and others that occur when it’s active,” said Joe Helmboldt, Ph.D., an ionospheric scientist in NRL’s Remote Sensing Division. “If you want reliable statistics, you have to observe across that full range of conditions.”

That extended coverage has enabled researchers to move beyond isolated case studies.

“We’ve gone from studying single events to identifying the physical processes that generate those disturbances,” Helmboldt said. “Short-term experiments show what’s happening at a moment in time. VLITE shows how the ionosphere behaves over years.”

Precision Sources and Navigation Potential

VLITE also monitors millisecond pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit extremely stable radio pulses.

“Millisecond pulsars are among the most precise natural timing sources known,” said Emil Polisensky, NRL Ph.D., who supports VLITE’s transient detection and cataloging efforts. “Long-term monitoring helps us better understand their stability and potential applications.”

Because some pulsars are more stable than atomic clocks, they can serve as natural navigation beacons.

“You can use them analogously to GPS satellites,” Polisensky said. “In principle, a spacecraft could navigate around Earth, the Moon or even deeper into the solar system using pulsars.”

As the number of VLITE antennas expands from 18 to 23 by the end of this year, the system’s sensitivity will increase, improving its ability to detect rare and faint objects.
“Greater sensitivity means we can find more exotic sources,” Polisensky said.

Turning Signals into Science

Each time VLITE collects data, Wendy Peters’ computer code goes to work. She is an NRL data processing and imaging pipeline developer. The custom code she developed automatically processes incoming signals, calibrates them, and prepares them for archiving.

Within about 48 hours, the data are stored and made available to researchers at a pace that requires constant monitoring as observations continue around the clock.

“The system doesn’t stop,” Peters said. “As new data comes in, the code has to keep up processing, organizing, and ensuring everything is accessible and reliable.”

Over 11 years, that steady flow has grown into a vast, searchable archive, sustained through continuous refinement and disciplined software engineering.

A Model of Efficient Collaboration

VLITE operates through a long-running partnership between NRL and NRAO. While the VLA conducts its primary observations, VLITE collects low-frequency data simultaneously, an approach known as commensal observing.

“The beauty of commensal observing is efficiency,” Clarke said. “We’re expanding scientific return from existing infrastructure. We’ve maintained it and invested in it. The VLITE approach is being evaluated internationally as a framework for similar systems.”

Over more than a decade, VLITE has accumulated tens of thousands of hours of observing time and repeatedly imaged nearly the entire sky visible to the VLA. The resulting archive includes millions of processed data products that support studies of astrophysical transients, ionospheric structure and celestial reference frame source stability.

Training the Next Generation

VLITE has also provided research opportunities for students, including a Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program participant who contributed to the discovery of a millisecond pulsar.

“As a scientist, you want to pass on what you’ve learned,” Peters said. “Helping students experience discovery firsthand is one of the most rewarding parts of this work.”

Students working with VLITE gain experience analyzing large datasets, writing code and conducting original research.

Looking Ahead

The VLITE team is now developing polarization imaging capabilities, which would enhance detection of certain transient events and pulsars.

“There are many transient phenomena that are highly polarized,” Polisensky said. “Polarization imaging would make searching for new millisecond pulsars significantly more effective.”

VLITE demonstrates how sustained engineering and collaboration can expand scientific insight without competing for observing time.

“We’ve built something that continues to deliver value year after year,” Helmboldt said. “That consistency is what makes it powerful.”

After 11 years VLITE continues to listen, capturing a dynamic universe in motion and reinforcing the value of long-term vision, sustained collaboration and quiet innovation.

“We’ve got a small team, but they are a remarkable group of people that have been able to make this a success.” said Clarke, “I’m really proud of that.”

About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL, located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.

NRL offers several mechanisms for collaborating with the broader scientific community, within and outside of the Federal government. These include Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), LP-CRADAs, Educational Partnership Agreements, agreements under the authority of 10 USC 4892, licensing agreements, FAR contracts, and other applicable agreements.

For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at NRLPAO@us.navy.mil.

---

Method of Research

Observational study

 

Two component self-interacting dark matter model explains both dwarf galaxy cores and strong gravitational lensing puzzles

Science China Press

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Projected dark matter density distribution and the induced strong lensing critical curves in a two-component self-interacting dark matter model.

view more 

Credit: ©Science China Press

Dark matter is one of the most important and most mysterious questions in modern astronomy. Although dark matter cannot be seen or touched, it profoundly influences the formation and evolution of galaxies through gravity. For a long time, scientists have widely adopted the “cold dark matter” model to describe how cosmic structures form. However, as observational precision has improved, a number of small-scale phenomena have emerged that do not fully align with the predictions of this classical framework.

For example, in some dwarf galaxies, dark matter appears unusually “diffuse,” with a relatively low central density. In contrast, observations of strong gravitational lensing have revealed extremely dense dark matter substructures whose compactness far exceeds what traditional models would predict. These two types of phenomena have long coexisted, yet they are difficult to explain with a single physical mechanism.

Recently, a new study by physicists from Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS, has offered an intriguing answer: dark matter may not be a single component, but instead consist of particles with different masses.

The researchers propose a “two-component self-interacting dark matter” model. In this scenario, dark matter includes at least two types of particles—one heavier and one lighter—which interact not only through gravity but can also undergo direct collisions. It is this additional interaction that gives rise to a process known as “mass segregation.”

Put simply, over time, heavier dark matter particles tend to sink toward the centers of galaxies, while lighter particles preferentially diffuse outward. This process is analogous to what happens in star clusters, where massive stars migrate inward and low-mass stars move to larger radii.

Using high-resolution numerical simulations and detailed theoretical modeling, the research team found that this mass-segregation effect can naturally reproduce a wide range of observational results. In dwarf galaxies, it leads to dark-matter cores with low central densities, consistent with the latest observations of galaxy clustering. In more complex and denser environments, some dark matter halos gradually become more compact, forming high-density structures capable of producing strong gravitational lensing effects. More importantly, the model can significantly enhance the probability of small-scale gravitational lensing. Mass segregation increases the concentration of dark matter in key regions, making dark-matter substructures more effective at “magnifying” the light from background galaxies. This helps alleviate the long-standing problem that observations seem to show too many small-scale strong lensing events.

The researchers emphasize that their work suggests several seemingly contradicting small-scale cosmological anomalies may, in fact, point to the same conclusion: the internal properties of dark matter are richer and more complex than previously assumed.

As future astronomical surveys and gravitational lensing observations reach ever higher precision, scientists may be able to use these “cosmic magnifying glasses” to further test whether dark matter is truly composed of multiple components. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, our understanding of dark matter will undergo a pivotal transformation.

This study represents the second work by the Purple Mountain Observatory research team on two-component self-interacting dark matter and was recently published in Science Bulletin. In an earlier study, the team systematically investigated the impact of mass segregation on the diversity of core density distributions in dwarf galaxies, with the results published in Physical Review D. The authors of the paper include: Daneng Yang, Yi-Zhong Fan, Siyuan Hou, and Yue-Lin Sming Tsai.

Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of China’s leading institutions for dark matter research. It undertakes national research missions in the field of indirect dark matter detection based on the DAMPE (Wukong) satellite and has long been engaged in astrophysics and cosmology research, with significant impact in areas such as dark matter and galaxy evolution.

---

Journal

Science Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.scib.2026.01.077