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Hackaday Links: September 6, 2026

Isar Aerospace successfully launched the upper stage of its Spectrum rocket into low Earth orbit, marking a first for a European company and a launch from continental Europe. The two-stage rocket is designed for payloads up to 1,000 kg into LEO, with a target cost of €10,000 per kilogram. The company plans to produce up to 40 rockets annually.

The BepiColombo mission has entered its final approach to Mercury, jettisoning its ion propulsion module after a nearly decade-long journey. Launched in 2018, the mission carries two spacecraft, the ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study the planet independently after separating in December.

A community of hackers has revived the Spotify Car Thing, developing a full Linux distribution that allows it to run apps, check weather, integrate with Home Assistant, and play music. A contest is underway to encourage the development of new open-source software for the device.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has joined Bluesky, acknowledging it as a lesser evil compared to platforms like X or Facebook due to its federated nature and open-source components. However, the FSF cannot recommend the service because its signup process requires non-free JavaScript. They joined to reach a wider audience, complementing their Mastodon presence.

Hackaday maintains a presence on Bluesky, Mastodon, Facebook, and an IRC channel on libera.chat, in addition to a Discord server.

The ColorChecker, a tool used for color reference in photography and videography, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Calibrite has published a timeline detailing its evolution from its inception in 1976 to its adaptation for the digital age, including trivia and the original purpose of its 24 color blocks.

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