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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
January 30, 2025
Hydrogen Clouds of M33
Gorgeous spiral galaxy Messier 33 seems to have more than its fair share of glowing hydrogen gas. A prominent member of the local group of galaxies, M33 is also known as the Triangulum Galaxy and lies a mere 3 million light-years away. The galaxy's central 60,000 light-years or so are shown in this sharp galaxy portrait. The portrait features M33's reddish ionized hydrogen clouds or HII regions. Sprawling along loose spiral arms that wind toward the core, M33's giant HII regions are some of the largest known stellar nurseries, sites of the formation of short-lived but very massive stars. Intense ultraviolet radiation from the luminous, massive stars ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas and ultimately produces the characteristic red glow. In this image, broadband data were combined with narrowband data recorded through a filter that transmits the light of the strongest visible hydrogen and oxygen emission lines.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-asteroid-bennu-sample-reveals-mix-of-lifes-ingredients/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzhL3qDqsjY
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08495-6
NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life’s Ingredients
Jan 29, 2025
Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine.
The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do suggest the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system, increasing the odds life could have formed on other planets and moons.
“NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission already is rewriting the textbook on what we understand about the beginnings of our solar system,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“Asteroids provide a time capsule into our home planet’s history, and Bennu’s samples are pivotal in our understanding of what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth.”
In research papers published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy, scientists from NASA and other institutions shared results of the first in-depth analyses of the minerals and molecules in the Bennu samples, which OSIRIS-REx delivered to Earth in 2023.
Detailed in the Nature Astronomy paper, among the most compelling detections were amino acids – 14 of the 20 that life on Earth uses to make proteins – and all five nucleobases that life on Earth uses to store and transmit genetic instructions in more complex terrestrial biomolecules, such as DNA and RNA, including how to arrange amino acids into proteins.
Scientists also described exceptionally high abundances of ammonia in the Bennu samples.
Ammonia is important to biology because it can react with formaldehyde, which also was detected in the samples, to form complex molecules, such as amino acids – given the right conditions.
When amino acids link up into long chains, they make proteins, which go on to power nearly every biological function.
These building blocks for life detected in the Bennu samples have been found before in extraterrestrial rocks.
However, identifying them in a pristine sample collected in space supports the idea that objects that formed far from the Sun could have been an important source of the raw precursor ingredients for life throughout the solar system.
“The clues we’re looking for are so minuscule and so easily destroyed or altered from exposure to Earth’s environment,” said Danny Glavin, a senior sample scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and co-lead author of the Nature Astronomy paper.
“That’s why some of these new discoveries would not be possible without a sample-return mission, meticulous contamination-control measures, and careful curation and storage of this precious material from Bennu.”
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While Glavin’s team analyzed the Bennu samples for hints of life-related compounds, their colleagues, led by Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and Sara Russell, cosmic mineralogist at the Natural History Museum in London, looked for clues to the environment these molecules would have formed.
Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists further describe evidence of an ancient environment well-suited to kickstart the chemistry of life.
Ranging from calcite to halite and sylvite, scientists identified traces of 11 minerals in the Bennu sample that form as water containing dissolved salts evaporates over long periods of time, leaving behind the salts as solid crystals.
Similar brines have been detected or suggested across the solar system, including at the dwarf planet Ceres and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Although scientists have previously detected several evaporites in meteorites that fall to Earth’s surface, they have never seen a complete set that preserves an evaporation process that could have lasted thousands of years or more.
Some minerals found in Bennu, such as trona, were discovered for the first time in extraterrestrial samples.
“These papers really go hand in hand in trying to explain how life’s ingredients actually came together to make what we see on this aqueously altered asteroid,” said McCoy.
For all the answers the Bennu sample has provided, several questions remain. Many amino acids can be created in two mirror-image versions, like a pair of left and right hands.
Life on Earth almost exclusively produces the left-handed variety, but the Bennu samples contain an equal mixture of both.
This means that on early Earth, amino acids may have started out in an equal mixture, as well. The reason life “turned left” instead of right remains a mystery.
“OSIRIS-REx has been a highly successful mission,” said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA Goddard and co-lead author on the Nature Astronomy paper.
“Data from OSIRIS-REx adds major brushstrokes to a picture of a solar system teeming with the potential for life. Why we, so far, only see life on Earth and not elsewhere, that’s the truly tantalizing question.”
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>>22463370 PB
NASA Astronauts Begin Spacewalk for Maintenance and Science
January 30, 2025
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore began a spacewalk at approximately 7:43 a.m. EST to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collect samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to see whether microorganisms may exist on the exterior of the orbital complex, and prepare a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
NASA’s coverage continues on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Williams is crew member 1, wearing a suit with red stripes. Wilmore is spacewalk crew member 2, wearing an unmarked suit.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2025/01/30/nasa-astronauts-begin-spacewalk-for-maintenance-and-science/
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/watch-nasa-astronauts-suni-williams-and-butch-wilmore-perform-spacewalk-outside-the-iss-today-video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQD4fTDScPE
NASA Tracking Truck-Sized Asteroid Approaching Earth
Jan 30, 2025 at 7:51 AM EST
NASA is tracking a truck-sized asteroid which is set to hurtle by Earth today at many times the velocity of a speeding bullet.
The space rock—dubbed "2025 BV5"—is estimated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to be some 26 feet across.
It is predicted to make its closest approach to our planet at around 14.43 ET on January 30, at a minimum distance of around 264,000 miles.
Relative to the Earth, 2025 BV5 will be moving at some 9,194 miles per hour; fortunately it is not on a collision course. It will make another pass by Earth in mid-April, and won't cross our path again until 2031.
Asteroids are rocky, airless bodies left over from the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. They are primarily found orbiting the sun, between the paths of Mars and Jupiter, in the main asteroid belt.
However, gravitational interactions (typically with Jupiter) can sometimes send asteroids flying out of the belt, potentially bringing them into the inner solar system and even near Earth.
"Scientists continuously monitor Earth-crossing asteroids, whose paths intersect Earth's orbit, and near-Earth asteroids that approach Earth's orbital distance to within about 28 million miles and may pose an impact danger," NASA states on its website.
Asteroids are known to range in size from around 329 miles in diameter (i.e. Vesta, which accounts for 9 percent of the total mass of all asteroids) down to a matter of feet across, like today's truck-scale passer-by.
While it will pass by the closest to use, 2025 BV5 is not the only asteroid metaphorically buzzing the Earth today.
A 110-feet-wide body known as "2025 BU3" is set to come within 812,000 miles of us; this is more than three times the distance to the moon.
And much further out, at its closest distance of 3,630,000 miles, will pass "2025 BJ2", which is likely similarly sized at an estimated 130 feet across.
While these three space rocks are set to pass by without causing concern, the same cannot be said of the 196-foot asteroid "2024 YR4", first spotted by NASA on December 25 last year.
The space agency's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has warned that it has around a one percent chance of hitting Earth in late 2032.
https://www.newsweek.com/asteroid-approching-earth-nasa-2025-bv5-2023424
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2025%20BU3
6 NASA Experiments on Materials, Benefitting Space and Earth
Jan 29, 2025
Did you know that NASA conducts ground-breaking research in space on materials like metals, foams, and crystals?
This research could lead to next-generation technology that both enables deep-space exploration and benefits humanity.
Here are six studies scientists have conducted on the International Space Station that could have profound implications for future space travel and also improve products widely used on Earth:
01
Advancing construction and repairing techniques with liquid metals
Researchers are looking at the effects of microgravity on the liquid metals formed during brazing, a technology used to bond materials at temperatures above 450 degrees Celsius.
The Brazing of Aluminum alloys In Space (BRAINS) experiment aboard the International Space Station studies how alloys join with a range of other materials, such as ceramics or other metals.
In space, brazing could be used to construct vehicles, habitats, and other systems needed for space missions, and repair them if damaged.
Advanced brazing technologies discovered in space may also be used in the construction and repair of structures on Earth.
02
Improving materials used for high-powered lasers
Another study on the space station is looking at the growth of semiconductor crystals based on Zinc selenide (ZnSe) in microgravity.
ZnSe is an important semiconductor used on Earth for optical devices and infrared lasers.
Researchers are investigating the impact of microgravity on the growth of these crystals and comparing the results to those grown on Earth.
A better understanding of the impact of microgravity on crystal growth could open the door to expanded commercial use of space.
03
Researching ways to make stronger metal
Metal alloys, which are created by combining two or more metallic elements, are used in everything from hardware to kitchen appliances, automobiles, and even the space station itself.
Alloys are created by cooling a liquid metal until it hardens into a solid.
Researchers on the space station are investigating how metal alloys melt and take shape in a controlled microgravity environment.
While brazing aims to repair or bond two separate materials, this experiment looks at casting or molding things from liquid metals.
In metal castings, the solid grows by forming millions of snowflake-like crystals called dendrites. The shape of the dendrites affects the strength of the metal alloys.
Findings are expected to significantly impact our ability to produce metals with greater strength, for both space and on Earth applications.
04
Exploring stability and mechanics of foams and bubbly liquids
Studying how foams and bubbly liquids evolve in microgravity over time is another important NASA investigation.
These experiments will provide guidance for how to control the flow and separation of bubbly liquids.
This knowledge is crucial for developing a water recovery and recycling device for future space exploration to Mars.
On Earth, foams are found in everything from food and cosmetics to paper and petroleum. A better understanding of their stability and mechanics is important for creating sustainable, more efficient processes and improved materials.
05
Improving performance and lowering cost of “superglass”
Scientists are conducting experiments on supercooled metal oxides (space soil and rock) to better understand how molten materials can be processed in microgravity.
Manufacturing new products in space is critical to long-term efforts to develop habitats in space and on other planets. It will require the use of available resources in space, including soil and rocks.
Data from the research also has far-reaching implications on Earth. It could help improve the performance and lower the cost of materials that are used in the production of cell phone displays, lasers, and glass for automobiles.
06
Advancing 3D printing and manufacturing through “soft matter” research
Space exploration to Mars and beyond will require astronauts to have the ability to build new equipment and materials in space.
To make that a reality, space station researchers conducted a number of experiments looking at the behavior of colloids, or “soft matter,” in a microgravity environment.
This research could have a variety of applications on Earth, including the development of chemical energy, improvements to communications technologies, and enhancements to photonic materials used to control and manipulate light.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/biological-physical-sciences/6-nasa-experiments-on-materials-benefitting-space-and-earth/
https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/
NASA, Partners to Welcome Fourth Axiom Space Mission to Space Station
Jan 29, 2025
NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Space’s fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, launching from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than spring 2025.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot.
The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
“I am excited to see continued interest and dedication for the private astronaut missions aboard the International Space Station,” said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“As NASA looks toward the future of low Earth orbit, private astronaut missions help pave the way and expand access to the unique microgravity environment.”
The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and travel to the space station.
Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities.
The mission will send the first ISRO astronaut to the station as part of a joint effort between NASA and the Indian space agency.
The private mission also carries the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station.
“Working with the talented and diverse Ax-4 crew has been a deeply rewarding experience,” said Whitson.
“Witnessing their selfless dedication and commitment to expanding horizons and creating opportunities for their nations in space exploration is truly remarkable.
Each crew member brings unique strengths and perspectives, making our mission not just a scientific endeavor, but a testament to human ingenuity and teamwork.
The importance of our mission is about pushing the limits of what we can achieve together and inspiring future generations to dream bigger and reach farther.”
The first private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 1, lifted off in April 2022 for a 17-day mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.
The second private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 2, also was commanded by Whitson and launched in May 2023 with four private astronauts who spent eight days in orbit.
The most recent private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission 3, launched in January 2024; the crew spent 18 days docked to the space station.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth.
For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time.
The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy.
NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy in low Earth orbit where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity.
NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit will provide the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-partners-to-welcome-fourth-axiom-space-mission-to-space-station/
https://www.axiomspace.com/missions/ax4
Commerce Nominee: Space Data “Fundamental” to US Leadership
January 30, 2025
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of commerce, committed to supporting the commercial space sector in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“Space and the data we can collect from space is fundamental to America,” he told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
“But they’ve got to be American companies. It’s vital that these are American companies, controlled by America, part of our oversight.”
The conversation about space came in response to a question posed by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), a leader on the committee’s space panel.
“This is a real race with China. They’re serious about this, they’re playing meaningfully in space,” Schmitt said.
“If we didn’t have the competition we have in the private sector, we wouldn’t be talking about going to Mars in five years.”
Spectrum rights: Lutnick also faced questions about whether he would support opening up commercial access to spectrum—an effort that’s also included in a bill from Sens.
Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Thune (R-SD) that would create a pathway for companies to have more access to mid-band spectrum.
“You gotta ask me a tougher question than that. Absolutely yes,” he said. “For our country to really reach the scale that it can be, for it to be successful, we need to be the leader in the world for 5G and 6G.”
Future of NOAA: Lutnick said he supported keeping NOAA together as a single entity, saying “I have no interest in separating it. It’s not on my agenda.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a policy plan drafted by key Trump advisors though not formally affiliated with the new administration, called for the new president to “break up” the office and eliminate many of its programs to study climate change.
Out of context: The hearing (like the portfolio of the committee) was wide-ranging, covering everything from AI to tariffs to semiconductors.
But the most bizarre quote came during an exchange with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), who talked about cutting the domestic sale of international seafood from Russia and China to benefit US fisheries.
“We gotta get rid of those communist fish,” Lutnick responded.
https://payloadspace.com/commerce-nominee-space-data-fundamental-to-us-leadership/
Saved, ty