“With wildfires burning north-west of Athens, Greece is testing whether a new fleet of thermal satellites can give firefighters earlier warning and a clearer view of the blazes that are becoming harder to contain in a warming climate.

The Hellenic Fire System, a constellation of four compact, low-flying thermal satellites, transmitted its first images to Earth in June. The system is due to become fully functional in September, with firefighters still being trained to use it.

But it is already providing data to authorities, including about devastating fires that ripped across popular Greek island resorts and the region of Attica near Athens in recent weeks.”

From Financial Times.

“A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying three of AST SpaceMobile's massive direct-to-cell BlueBird satellites launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:50 a.m. EDT (0650 GMT) on Wednesday, minutes after the opening of its 96-minute window.

Today's launch further expands AST SpaceMobile's constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO), which will beam internet service directly to unmodified smartphones once operational.

The newcomers bring the total number of BlueBird spacecraft launched to 13 and marks a significant milestone toward getting the constellation fully up and running, according to AST SpaceMobile.”

From Space.com.

“Starlink has enjoyed a robust expansion in recent years, with subscribers rising to 8.9 million by the end of 2025. The subscriber count jumped almost 16% between then and the end of March. The latest tally represents a 17% gain from that quarter.

Revenue per Starlink subscriber during the latest quarter held steady at $66 from the first three months of 2026, though it was down from $85 per subscriber for the year-earlier period. The company has said it expects this measurement to decline as it signs up customers outside of North America and adds lower-priced service plans.”

From Wall Street Journal.

“Mr. Mwebaze, 47, is one of thousands of developers across Africa who have turned to Chinese A.I. models in the past year. In Kenya, entrepreneurs are using the models to streamline legal and business services. In Nigeria, they have made educational tools that teach high school students. In Ghana, developers are building local chatbots.

China’s A.I. is surging, especially in developing countries, as people look for the best possible system at the lowest possible cost. Unlike models made by the leading American A.I. companies OpenAI and Anthropic — which are closed and charge fees — the Chinese systems are publicly available to download and modify without payment or approval.”

From New York Times.