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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
April 17, 2025
Virgo Cluster Galaxies
Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster are scattered across this nearly 4 degree wide telescopic field of view. About 50 million light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the closest large galaxy cluster to our own local galaxy group. Prominent here are Virgo's bright elliptical galaxies from the Messier catalog, M87 at bottom left, and M86 and M84 near center right. M86 and M84 are recognized as part of Markarian's Chain, the visually striking line-up of galaxies on the that runs through the upper portion of this frame. Near the middle of the chain lies an intriguing interacting pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian's Eyes. Still, giant elliptical galaxy M87 dominates the Virgo cluster. It's the home of a super massive black hole, the first black hole ever imaged by planet Earth's Event Horizon Telescope.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Science Meets Art: NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Turns the Camera on Science
Apr 17, 2025
NASA astronaut Don Pettit is scheduled to return home in mid-April after a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 72.
Throughout his stay, Pettit contributed to research that benefits humanity and future space missions.
Pettit also shared what he calls “science of opportunity” to demonstrate how experimenting with our surroundings can help gain a better understanding of how things work.
This understanding is perhaps enhanced when art, science, and microgravity come together.
Electrostatic Displays
NASA astronaut Don Pettit demonstrates electrostatic forces using charged water droplets and a knitting needle made of Teflon.
This series of overlapping frames displays the unique attraction-repulsion properties of Teflon and charged droplets, similar to how charged particles from the Sun behave when they come in contact with Earth’s magnetic field.
Highly energetic particles from space that collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere create the aurora borealis.
Specialized Equipment for Superb Science
NASA astronaut Don Pettit snaps an image of the hands of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, left, and Suni Williams inside the Life Science Glovebox, a facility at the International Space Station that separates the science from the scientists, thus protecting both from contamination.
The freezers on the International Space Station are as crucial as its experiment modules, preserving samples for further analysis on Earth.
The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station stores samples at ultra-cold temperatures.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit used it to freeze thin ice wafers, which he photographed with a polarizing filter to reveal unique crystal structures.
New Tech Roll-Out
NASA astronaut Don Pettit films a time-lapse sequence of Canadarm2 retrieving Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-20-Commercial) samples at the International Space Station.
This investigation exposed various experiments to the harsh space environment, such as vacuum, radiation, and extreme temperatures.
Findings could help in many areas, from designing more durable materials to advancing quantum communications.
A surge in International Space Station research supports NASA’s exploration efforts at the Moon and beyond, requiring more energy to operate the orbiting laboratory.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit photographs new and old solar arrays side by side. The technology used by the International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) on the right was first tested aboard the station in 2017.
By 2023, six IROSAs were deployed aboard station, providing a 20-30% increase in power for research and operations.
Roll-Out Solar Arrays were also used on NASA’s DART asteroid mission and now are slated for the Gateway lunar outpost, a vital component of Artemis.
Squire for Spacewalks
NASA astronaut Don Pettit helped his colleagues suit up for two spacewalks in January. The first spacewalk involved patching the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), a telescope that measures X-rays from neutron stars and other cosmic objects.
Sunlight interference affected data collection, and the patches reduced this issue. On the second spacewalk, astronauts collected samples from the exterior of the International Space Station for ISS External Microorganisms.
This investigation examines whether the orbiting laboratory releases microbes, how many, and how far these may travel. Findings could inform the design of future spacecraft, including spacesuits, to limit biocontamination during future space missions.
Photography with a Spin
NASA astronaut Don Pettit leveraged his stay aboard the International Space Station to photograph our planet with an artistic twist.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit wrote on social media about his snapshot of the Mediterranean Sea from the International Space Station, “Sun glint off the Mediterranean Sea (infrared and converted to black and white).
When the Sun reflects off the ocean, watery details unseen with normal lighting appear. Small centimeter differences in ocean height become visible, revealing hidden currents.”
NASA astronaut Don Pettit’s photography could contribute to the study of transient luminous events, colorful electrical discharges that occur above thunderstorms.
His imagery can be paired with data from the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) and Thor-Davis, a high-speed thunderstorm camera.
The combined efforts of crew photography and instruments aboard the International Space Station help scientists better understand thunderstorms and their impacts on Earth’s upper atmosphere.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/science-meets-art-nasa-astronaut-don-pettit-turns-the-camera-on-science/
https://x.com/astro_Pettit
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/strongest-hints-of-biological-activity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPRr4DgMTxI
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adc1c8#apjladc1c8s4
https://www.livescience.com/space/exoplanets/alien-world-may-be-teeming-with-life-new-chemical-biosignatures-indicate
Strongest hints yet of biological activity outside the solar system
17 April 2025
Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits its star in the habitable zone.
On Earth, DMS and DMDS are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton.
While an unknown chemical process may be the source of these molecules in K2-18b’s atmosphere, the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.
The observations have reached the ‘three-sigma’ level of statistical significance – meaning there is a 0.3% probability that they occurred by chance.
To reach the accepted classification for scientific discovery, the observations would have to cross the five-sigma threshold, meaning there would be below a 0.00006% probability they occurred by chance.
The researchers say between 16 and 24 hours of follow-up observation time with JWST may help them reach the all-important five-sigma significance.
Earlier observations of K2-18b — which is 8.6 times as massive and 2.6 times as large as Earth, and lies 124 light years away in the constellation of Leo — identified methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.
This was the first time that carbon-based molecules were discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone.
Those results were consistent with predictions for a ‘Hycean’ planet: a habitable ocean-covered world underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. However, another, weaker signal hinted at the possibility of something else happening on K2-18b.
“We didn’t know for sure whether the signal we saw last time was due to DMS, but just the hint of it was exciting enough for us to have another look with JWST using a different instrument,” said Professor Nikku Madhusudhan from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who led the research.
To determine the chemical composition of the atmospheres of faraway planets, astronomers analyse the light from its parent star as the planet transits, or passes in front of the star as seen from the Earth.
As K2-18b transits, JWST can detect a drop in stellar brightness, and a tiny fraction of starlight passes through the planet’s atmosphere before reaching Earth.
The absorption of some of the starlight in the planet’s atmosphere leaves imprints in the stellar spectrum that astronomers can piece together to determine the constituent gases of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.
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The earlier, tentative, inference of DMS was made using JWST’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) and NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instruments, which together cover the near-infrared (0.8-5 micron) range of wavelengths.
The new, independent observation used JWST’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) in the mid-infrared (6-12 micron) range.
“This is an independent line of evidence, using a different instrument than we did before and a different wavelength range of light, where there is no overlap with the previous observations,” said Madhusudhan.
“The signal came through strong and clear.”
“It was an incredible realisation seeing the results emerge and remain consistent throughout the extensive independent analyses and robustness tests,” said co-author Måns Holmberg, a researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA.
DMS and DMDS are molecules from the same chemical family, and both are predicted to be biosignatures.
Both molecules have overlapping spectral features in the observed wavelength range, although further observations will help differentiate between the two molecules.
However, the concentrations of DMS and DMDS in K2-18b’s atmosphere are very different than on Earth, where they are generally below one part per billion by volume.
On K2-18b, they are estimated to be thousands of times stronger - over ten parts per million.
“Earlier theoretical work had predicted that high levels of sulfur-based gases like DMS and DMDS are possible on Hycean worlds,” said Madhusudhan.
“And now we’ve observed it, in line with what was predicted. Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.”
Madhusudhan says that while the results are exciting, it’s vital to obtain more data before claiming that life has been found on another world.
He says that while he is cautiously optimistic, there could be previously unknown chemical processes at work on K2-18b that may account for the observations.
Working with colleagues, he is hoping to conduct further theoretical and experimental work to determine whether DMS and DMDS can be produced non-biologically at the level currently inferred.
“The inference of these biosignature molecules poses profound questions concerning the processes that might be producing them” said co-author Subhajit Sarkar of Cardiff University.
“Our work is the starting point for all the investigations that are now needed to confirm and understand the implications of these exciting findings,” said co-author Savvas Constantinou, also from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy.
“It’s important that we’re deeply sceptical of our own results, because it’s only by testing and testing again that we will be able to reach the point where we’re confident in them,” Madhusudhan said. “That’s how science has to work.”
While he is not yet claiming a definitive discovery, Madhusudhan says that with powerful tools like JWST and future planned telescopes, humanity is taking new steps toward answering that most essential of questions: are we alone?
“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” said Madhusudhan.
“This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”
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Testing in the Clouds: NASA Flies to Improve Satellite Data
Apr 16, 2025
In February, NASA’s ER-2 science aircraft flew instruments designed to improve satellite data products and Earth science observations.
From data collection to processing, satellite systems continue to advance, and NASA is exploring how instruments analyzing clouds can improve data measurement methods.
Researchers participating in the Goddard Space Flight Center Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE) used the ER-2 – based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California – to validate satellite data about cloud and airborne particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Scientists are using GLOVE instruments installed onboard the aircraft to measure and validate data about clouds generated by satellite sensors already orbiting in space around Earth.
“The GLOVE data will allow us to test new artificial intelligence algorithms in data processing,” said John Yorks, principal investigator for GLOVE and research physical scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“These algorithms aim to improve the cloud and aerosol detection in data produced by the satellites.”
The validation provided by GLOVE is crucial because it ensures the accuracy and reliability of satellite data.
“The instruments on the plane provide a higher resolution measurement ‘truth’ to ensure the data is a true representation of the atmospheric scene being sampled,” Yorks said.
The ER-2 flew over various parts of Oregon, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, as well as over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
These regions reflected various types of atmospheres, including cirrus clouds, marine stratocumulus, rain and snow, and areas with multiple types of clouds.
“The goal is to improve satellite data products for Earth science applications,” Yorks said.
“These measurements allow scientists and decision-makers to confidently use this satellite information for applications like weather forecasting and hazard monitoring.”
The four instruments installed on the ER-2 were the Cloud Physics Lidar, the Roscoe Lidar, the enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator, and the Cloud Radar System.
These instruments validate data produced by sensors on NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2) and the Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE), a joint venture between the ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
“Additionally, the EarthCARE satellite is flying the first ever Doppler radar for measurements of air motions within clouds,” Yorks said.
While the ER-2 is operated by pilots and aircrew from NASA Armstrong, these instruments are supported by scientists from NASA Goddard, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and the Naval Research Laboratory office in Monterey, California, as well as by students from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and the University of Maryland College Park.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/testing-in-the-clouds-nasa-flies-to-improve-satellite-data/
>>22924403
Report to Congress on Golden Dome Program
April 17, 2025 10:07 AM
The following is the April 16, 2025, Congressonal Research Service In Focus report, The Golden Dome (Iron Dome) for America: Overview and Issues for Congressional Consideration.
From the report
On January 27, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14186, titled The Iron Dome for America.
The EO announced a shift in U.S. missile defense policy, expanding the scope of the homeland missile defense mission and directing the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop “a next generation missile shield.”
The EO directed the Secretary of Defense to submit several deliverables to begin implementing this new policy. In February 2025, the executive branch redubbed the project “Golden Dome for America.”
Some Members of Congress have asserted Golden Dome’s potential benefit to homeland defense and have introduced legislation to support it.
Other Members have questioned its possible effects on strategic stability—that is, the balance of capabilities and policies among potential adversaries that diminishes incentives for engaging in a nuclear arms race or nuclear use.
Projected costs, which vary widely, may feature prominently in debates over the FY2026 defense budget.
The security benefits, strategic impact, and cost of Golden Dome depend in part on characteristics of the proposed missile shield that have not been publicly detailed.
Parts of the EO are stated generally and could be viewed as subject to interpretation. When Members of Congress have sought additional detail in public hearings, DOD officials testifying have largely refrained from commenting.
DOD may provide more detail in the deliverables required by the EO, but it is unclear whether DOD will release these deliverables publicly or share them with Congress. Several of these deliverables were due to the President 60 days after the EO was issued.
On March 27, it was reported that the President would receive three options for the architecture the following week, and on April 9, a DOD official testified that the Secretary was discussing options with the President.
Overview of the Executive Order
The EO generally expanded the scope of the U.S. homeland missile defense mission, in terms of the actors and the threats that the United States intends to defend against.
The order declared that it is U.S. policy to “deter—and defend its citizens and critical infrastructure against—any foreign aerial attack on the Homeland.”
It specified that this policy includes defending “against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.”
Previously, under the Biden Administration, first Trump Administration, and Obama Administrations, homeland missile defense policy focused on the threat from intercontinental ballistic missiles and emphasized developing capabilities to defend against strikes from rogue states, such as North Korea and Iran, while relying on U.S. nuclear capabilities to deter attacks from peer and near-peer states, such as Russia and China.
The EO also directed the Secretary of Defense to take several actions. Within 60 days, the Secretary was to submit to the President
a “reference architecture,” “capabilities-based requirements,” and implementation plan for the “next-generation missile shield”;
“a plan to fund this directive,” submitted with the Office of Management and Budget;
“an updated assessment of the strategic missile threat to the homeland”; and
“a prioritized set of locations to progressively defend against a countervalue attack.” (The term countervalue often refers to nonmilitary targets for nuclear weapons, such as cities and civilian population centers.)
Although the EO focused on the U.S. homeland, it also directed the Secretary of Defense to review theater missile defense capabilities.
(U.S. policymakers often use the descriptor theater—or regional—to differentiate between defenses tailored for threats abroad versus the U.S. homeland.)
The theater missile defense review is to identify opportunities for increased international cooperation on missile defense and improved defense of U.S. forward-deployed troops and allied territories, troops, and populations.
https://news.usni.org/2025/04/17/report-to-congress-on-golden-dome-program
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25900052-the-golden-dome-iron-dome-for-america-overview-and-issues-for-congressional-consideration-april-16-2025/
Scrub Jay at the Vehicle Assembly Building
Apr 16, 2025
A scrub jay perches on a branch near the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 22, 2020.
Kennedy shares space with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to more than 65 amphibian and reptile, 25 mammal, 117 fish, and 330 bird species.
At the time this photo was taken, the NASA “meatball” logo – in the background here – on the Vehicle Assembly Building was being repainted.
This iconic building is where the Artemis launch vehicles are stacked and processed in preparation for future missions to the Moon.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/scrub-jay-at-the-vehicle-assembly-building/
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/nasas-chandra-releases-new-3d-models-of-cosmic-objects/
https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/j1655/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011MNRAS.415.3380O/abstract
NASA’s Chandra Releases New 3D Models of Cosmic Objects
Apr 16, 2025
New three-dimensional (3D) models of objects in space have been released by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
These 3D models allow people to explore — and print — examples of stars in the early and end stages of their lives.
They also provide scientists with new avenues to investigate scientific questions and find insights about the objects they represent.
These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time.
However, looking at images and animations is not the only way to experience this data.
The four new 3D printable models of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), G292.0+1.8 (G292), Cygnus Loop supernova remnants, and the star known as BP Tau let us experience the celestial objects in the form of physical structures that will allow anyone to hold replicas of these stars and their surroundings and examine them from all angles.
Cassiopeia A (Cas A)
Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from Chandra, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed new insights into the explosion that created Cas A about 340 years ago, from Earth’s perspective.
BP Tau
This 3D model shows a star less than 10 million years old that is surrounded by a disk of material. This class of objects is known as T Tauri stars, named after a young star in the Taurus star-forming region.
The model describes the effects of multiple flares, or outbursts that are detected in X-rays by Chandra from one T Tauri star known as BP Tau.
These flares interact with the disk of material and lead to the formation of an extended outer atmosphere composed by hot loops, connecting the disk to the developing star.
Cygnus Loop
The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the remains of the explosive death of a massive star.
This 3D model is the result of a simulation describing the interaction of a blast wave from the explosion with an isolated cloud of the interstellar medium (that is, dust and gas in between the stars).
Chandra sees the blast wave and other material that has been heated to millions of degrees. The Cygnus Loop is a highly extended, but faint, structure on the sky: At three degrees across, it has the diameter of six full moons.
G292.0+1.8
This is a rare type of supernova remnant observed to contain large amounts of oxygen. The X-ray image of G292.0+1.8 from Chandra shows a rapidly expanding, intricately structured field left behind by the shattered star.
By creating a 3D model of the system, astronomers have been able to examine the asymmetrical shape of the remnant that can be explained by a “reverse” shock wave moving back toward the original explosion.
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Visual Description
This release features visualizations of three supernova remnants and one star. Each is rendered as a composite image, and as a digital 3-dimensional model, presented in separate short video clips.
The composite images are two dimensional and static, but the digital models rotate, showcasing their three-dimensionality.
The first featured supernova is Cassiopeia A. In the X-ray, optical, and infrared composite image, the debris from an exploded star resembles a round purple gas cloud, marbled with streaks of golden light.
In the rotating, 3D model, the purple gas cloud is depicted as a flat disk, like a record or CD.
Bursting out the front and back of the disk is an orange and white shape similar to a ball of coral, or a head of cauliflower lined with stubby tendrils.
Most of the ball, and the majority of the tendrils, appear on one side of the disk. On the opposite side, the shape resembles dollops of thick whipped cream.
Next in the release is a star known as BP Tau. BP Tau is a developing star, less than 10 million years old, and prone to outbursts or flares.
These flares interact with a disk of material that surrounds the young star, forming hot loops of extended atmosphere.
In the composite image, BP Tau resembles a distant, glowing white dot surrounded by a band of pink light.
The rotating, 3D model is far more dynamic and intriguing! Here, the disk of material resembles a large blue puck with round, ringed, concave surfaces.
At the heart of the puck is a small, glowing red orb: the developing star. Shooting out of the orb are long, thin, green strands: the flares.
Also emerging from the orb are orange and pink petal-shaped blobs: the loops of extended atmosphere. Together, the orb, strands, and petals resemble an exotic flowering orchid.
The third celestial object in this release is the supernova remnant called Cygnus Loop. In the composite image, the remnant resembles a wispy cloud in oranges, blues, purples, and whites, shaped like a backwards letter C.
The 3D model examines this cloud of interstellar material interacting with the superheated, supernova blast wave.
In the 3D model, the Cygnus Loop resembles a bowl with a thick base, and a wedge cut from the side like a slice of pie.
The sides of the bowl are rendered in swirled blues and greens. However, inside the thick base, revealed by the wedge-shaped cut, are streaks of red and orange.
Surrounding the shape are roughly parallel thin red strands, which extend beyond the top and bottom of the digital model.
The final supernova featured in this release is G292.0+1.8. The composite image depicts the remnant as a bright and intricate ball of red, blue, and white X-ray gas and debris set against a backdrop of gleaming stars.
In the 3D model, the remnant is rendered in translucent icy blue and shades of orange. Here, the rotating shape is revealed to be somewhat like a bulbous arrowhead, or perhaps an iceberg on its side.
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The Dust Awakens: NASA Captures Spring Storm Surge Over China’s Harshest Desert
April 17, 2025
In China’s Tarim Basin, spring brings fierce dust storms fueled by dry landscapes and shifting winds.
NASA satellites captured stunning images of dust plumes rising and curling through mountain valleys, with data revealing how sun-driven convection helps lift particles into the air.
Scientists are tracking long-term changes in these storms, which are not just local events—they have global impacts on air quality and climate.
Spring Dust Storms Intensify in the Tarim Basin
Spring is the peak season for dust storms in China’s Tarim Basin, especially in the southern part of this dry, barren lowland.
During this time of year, shifting wind patterns bring strong winds and storm systems from the northwest. In early spring, the ground in this region is particularly dry and sparsely vegetated.
Each morning, sunlight rapidly heats the exposed land, triggering convection by afternoon that can lift dust into the air.
NASA Satellites Capture Striking Dust Imagery
The image below shows a large dust storm sweeping across the basin on March 27, 2025.
It was captured at 12:23 p.m. local time (04:23 UTC) by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite.
In the image on top of this page, a closer view from the same day – taken about an hour later by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 – reveals a break in the dust layer over the southern basin.
Through that gap, part of the Tekilik Shan is visible – a subrange of the Kunlun Mountains, where snow-covered peaks rise more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level.
Terrain Shapes Dust Plumes in Surprising Ways
The shapes of the fingerlike dust protrusions appear to reflect the underlying terrain. The protrusions line up with underlying valleys, which help control the flow of airborne dust. Dust may have been “self-lofting” over the course of the day.
This can occur as the Sun heats recently mobilized near-surface dust, fueling pockets of convection that help lift dust particles higher into the atmosphere, explained Ralph Kahn, an atmospheric scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and scientist emeritus at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Supporting this interpretation, geostationary observations from Japan’s Himawari-9 satellite show dust creeping upward into the Tekilik Shan in hourly increments throughout the day before eventually obscuring the view of the mountains in the late afternoon.
A similar process occurred on other days during the late-March outbreak of dust, including March 28 and 29.
Long-Term Decline in Dust Levels Observed
Since the early 2000s, researchers have observed a 1.5 percent decrease in the amount of atmospheric dust detected by MODIS sensors in this region each year.
“The trend was likely linked to shifts in the spring—March, April, and May,” not in other seasons, said Hongbin Yu, a research scientist at NASA Goddard.
The change is likely related to changes in wind speed or shear, vegetation cover, or soil moisture, he added.
The Takla Makan Desert is one of the driest, most barren expanses on Earth.
Flanked by mountain ranges on three sides and parched by the resulting rain shadow, parts of the Tarim Basin receive no more than 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) of rain per year.
Dust Storms Pose Health and Climate Risks
Dust storms can lead to public health problems in populated areas downwind by transporting small particles, bacteria, and viruses that infiltrate human respiratory systems.
Dust storms can also affect Earth’s climate by scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation and changing the properties of clouds.
https://scitechdaily.com/the-dust-awakens-nasa-captures-spring-storm-surge-over-chinas-harshest-desert/
Strange Objects Are Flying Through Our Solar System — And Now NASA Wants to Chase Them
April 16, 2025
Astronomers have confirmed that interstellar objects—cosmic bodies originating from other stars—are passing through our solar system, and now scientists are preparing to go after them.
According to a report shared via Phys.org, objects like ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov may be just the beginning of a flood of alien visitors, and new technologies are being developed to intercept these mysterious travelers before they vanish into deep space once again.
Why These Objects Matter
These interstellar objects (ISOs) offer a unique chance to study material from other planetary systems without leaving our own.
Formed from massive collisions and gravitational ejections around distant stars, these cosmic nomads could reveal clues about the chemistry, geology, and formation processes of exoplanets and even entire star systems.
Despite the staggering estimate of over 10 septillion ISOs in the Milky Way, only two have been confirmed passing through our solar system.
That’s because they’re incredibly fast, unpredictable, and difficult to detect in time for close-up observation.
The Challenge of the Chase
One of the biggest hurdles in studying ISOs is speed. These objects can zip past Earth at 32 km/s, leaving scientists with less than a year from detection to potential interception.
Conventional spacecraft cannot launch fast enough from Earth to catch up once an ISO is spotted.
To counter this, agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing missions like Bridge and Comet Interceptor, which will wait in space, ready to launch as soon as an ISO is detected.
ESA’s Comet Interceptor, scheduled for launch in 2029, will remain parked a million miles from Earth, prepared to ambush a suitable target.
Enter: AI and Solar Sails
Future missions will likely depend on artificial intelligence to react instantly and coordinate fleets of small spacecraft—called swarms—to track and image ISOs in real time.
These autonomous probes would provide multi-angle observations, even as they adapt mid-flight.
In addition to AI, scientists are exploring propulsion systems that don’t rely on bulky fuel tanks.
Solar sails, which use sunlight to propel spacecraft, could be combined with laser technology to accelerate toward ISOs at unprecedented speeds.
These lightweight systems reduce launch mass and could be a low-cost alternative to nuclear propulsion.
Meanwhile, materials science is advancing rapidly. Engineers are experimenting with carbon-fiber composites, ceramics, and even 3D-printed shielding that could protect spacecraft from dust and intense heat during high-speed flybys.
A New Era of Cosmic Exploration
If initiatives like Project Lyra, Bridge, and Comet Interceptor succeed, the next time an object like ‘Oumuamua enters the solar system, we may not be stuck watching from afar.
With missions already being tested and telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory set to begin large-scale sky surveys, scientists anticipate a surge in ISO detections in the coming decade.
But there’s a caveat: the development of such technologies requires sustained funding, and proposed cuts to space science could delay or derail some of these programs.
Without fast action, future interstellar visitors might pass us by—unexplored and unexamined.
https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/04/strange-objects-flying-our-solar-system/
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-mysterious-stars-solar-scientists.html
Planetary Defenders (NASA+ Original)
April 16, 2025
How would humanity respond if we discovered an asteroid headed for Earth? NASA’s "Planetary Defenders" is a gripping documentary that delves into the high-stakes world of asteroid detection and planetary defense.
Journey alongside a dedicated team of astronomers and scientists working tirelessly to track and monitor near-Earth asteroids, aiming to protect our planet from potential impacts.
This documentary captures the intricate and collaborative efforts of these unsung heroes, blending cutting-edge science with personal stories to reveal the human spirit behind this critical global endeavor.
Witness the drama, the challenges and the triumphs of those on the front lines of planetary defense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOb2DQWvDvc
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense/
https://www.space.com/hidden-solar-cycle-is-awakening-but-more-extreme-space-weather-over-the-next-50-years-may-not-be-a-bad-thing
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2024SW004238
A hidden solar cycle is awakening, but more extreme space weather over the next 50 years may not be a bad thing
April 17, 2025
Space weather may intensify in the coming decades with more frequent solar flares and eruptions to batter the planet.
Whilst Earth's technology, including satellites and power grids, is likely to feel the squeeze, some of the effects might be surprisingly positive.
The current solar cycle, the 25th since records began, may have just recently passed its peak. Monthly numbers of sunspots, solar flares and eruptions are now set to gradually decline.
But a new study suggests the respite may not last long, as the upcoming four solar cycles are likely to produce more severe space weather events.
It's a resounding warning for our world dependent on sensitive electronic technologies, but the study suggests that due to some lesser-known side effects that space weather has on Earth, the environment around the planet may, in fact, become more benign.
A team of researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, reviewed decades of satellite data measuring the density of energetic particles around Earth.
These charged protons mostly come from the sun in the form of the solar wind and remain trapped by Earth's magnetic field in pockets known as the Van Allen radiation belts.
The measurements revealed that over the past 45 years, the density of those particles showed an increasing trend that peaked in 2021, shortly after the last solar minimum.
The most recent data suggests that the density of those particles began to drop soon after the current solar cycle picked up strength.
The researchers believe the data points to a little-known phenomenon, which hides behind the 11-year cycle of ebb and flow of solar activity.
This phenomenon is the Gleissberg Cycle, named after its discoverer, German astronomer Wolfgang Gleissberg.
Reviewing the records of past solar cycles, Gleissberg noticed in 1958 that the strength of individual solar cycles, as measured by the fluctuations in the number of sunspots, appears to ebb and flow over time, following an approximately 100-year pattern.
In other words, whether one cycle is stronger than the other is not random; something deeper appears to be at play.
"Usually, over four solar cycles, the intensity of solar activity will increase," Kalvyn Adam, a former NCAR researcher and lead author of the new study, told Space.com. "Then it will reach its peak and then it will go down over another four solar cycles."
Scientists have no idea what drives this underlying pattern, but the recent satellite measurements of high-energy proton densities around the planet suggest that the Gleissberg Cycle may have reached its lowest point.
"That would mean that the next set of solar cycles will be more active," said Adams.
During more active solar cycles, the sun's magnetic field tends to get more tangled, producing more sunspots (temporary areas with extremely strong magnetic fields) and subsequent solar flares and ejections of hot plasma from the sun's appear atmosphere (coronal mass ejections or CMEs).
Both flares and CMEs occur when the dense, twisted magnetic field lines above sunspots burst and reconnect.
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Although CMEs are the number one source of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field, the relationship between the density of this soup of trapped protons and the strength of a solar cycle is strangely counterintuitive.
Instead of getting denser when more CMEs lash the planet, this high-energy proton soup gets thinner when the sun is more active.
That, Adams explained, is due to some lesser-known side effects that space weather has on Earth's atmosphere.
"If you get more solar activity, you'll get more heat and more energy into our atmosphere," said Adams. "If our atmosphere is getting more heat and energy, it will expand. As the atmosphere expands, the protons will run into that expanded atmosphere and eventually drop out."
The recent solar maximum has, Adams argues, caused such an expansion. The resulting dip in proton density was then detected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellites 15 and 18.
The good news
As solar cycle 25 is set to weaken soon, the high-energy proton soup around the planet will soon get denser again.
However, the long-term data suggest that due to the 100-year Gleissberg cycle, the sun will remain overall more active than it has been in the past four decades.
That in turn means that in the long run, Earth's atmosphere will remain hotter and as a result leak more high-energy protons.
That's good news for satellites orbiting the planet as they will be subject to weaker radiation, which over time erodes electronic devices and causes malfunctions.
Astronauts on the International Space Station, too, should be subject to lower doses of this carcinogenic radiation, which could make human spaceflight in the coming decades somewhat less health-threatening.
The glitch
But there is a glitch. Regardless of the overall lower proton density in Earth's orbit, solar storms are set to become more common and likely more devastating.
These solar storms create havoc in orbit in multiple ways. The sudden heating of the atmosphere when a CME hits thickens the gas around Earth, increasing the drag facing satellites in low Earth orbits.
As a result, those satellites lose altitude and have to scramble back using their thrusters or risk an early demise.
One such powerful solar storm hit Earth in May last year, causing a "mass migration"of satellites. Thousands of spacecraft lost altitude at once, forcing their operators to push them back up into higher orbits to save the missions.
During that chaotic period, the authors of that study said, the risk of orbital collisions was exceptionally high as operators didn't have time to calculate satellites with the same care they usually do.
"The worry that we are going toward more solar activity is definitely there," Adams said. "We have built an enormous amount of technology, including satellites and power grids, since the last Gleissberg maximum.
But it's not all bad. Our paper suggests that the baseline environment when space weather is quiet should, in fact, be somewhat safer."
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Explosion Destroys Building at Northrop Grumman Solid Rocket Motor Facility
April 16, 2025
An April 16 explosion destroyed a building at Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems plant in Promontory, Utah, where the company makes solid rocket motors for government and commercial customers.
There was no immediate report of casualties, which occurred at 7:35 am local time. Local officials said they are investigating the accident.
Northrop issued a brief statement late in the day, saying that “There was an incident in one building at our Promontory, Utah, facility this morning and we are working to determine the cause.
Employees working in or near the building today are accounted for and there are no significant injuries reported.”
The Air Force referred inquiries to Northrop.
A Northrop spokesman declined to go beyond the statement and would not characterize the function of the building, and whether it was involved in production of solid rocket motors, or SRMs.
Northrop’s Innovation Systems—formerly Orbital ATK—accounts for nearly 90 percent of the SRM capacity in the U.S., a capability that supports Air Force, NASA, and commercial space launch activities.
A local television station flew a helicopter over the building, showing no active fire but major wreckage.
Crucially for the Air Force, Northrop plans to use large solid rocket motors developed in-house for the new LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Air Force plans to acquire 659 Sentinels, 400 of which will be deployed in silos and 259 for test, development, and capability demonstration purposes.
Northrop has used its Promontory facility, sometimes called “Rocket Ranch,” to conduct test fires of Sentinel’s rocket motors. Most recently, it conducted a full-scale static test fire of the stage-one solid rocket motor on March 6.
The facility is located north of the Great Salt Lake and northwest of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, which has responsibility for Minuteman III rocket motor sustainment, among other systems.
What is now Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems was once the Thiokol company, which was acquired by Alliant Tech Systems in 2001.
Alliant Tech Systems became ATK, and merged with Orbital Sciences Corp. in 2015. Three years later, Northrop acquired Orbital/ATK.
The nation’s large solid rocket motor capacity is so concentrated with Northrop that it had to agree to be a merchant provider of SRMs to Boeing in the competition to build the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, now known as the Sentinel system.
Northrop was selected for the contract in 2020, after Boeing announced it would not bid, claiming it could not compete with Northrop’s in-house SRM advantage.
The next-largest producer of SRMs in the U.S. is Aerojet Rocketdyne, since 2023 a part of L3Harris.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/explosion-northrop-grumman-solid-rocket-motor/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mymwTOMLVG4
LIVE: President Trump Holds a Meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - 4/17/25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTD0UA_-YmI
Glitch forces Japan's asteroid-sampling Hayabusa2 probe into protective 'safe mode' in deep space
April 16, 2025
The Japanese asteroid-sampling spacecraft Hayabusa2 has been forced into protective "safe mode" while journeying through deep space.
Hayabusa2 successfully delivered pieces of the asteroid Ryugu to Earth in December 2020, marking a triumph for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and for scientists waiting to study samples from a piece of the primordial solar system.
After delivering the return capsule to Earth, the main spacecraft embarked on an extended mission to scope out yet another asteroid.
Hayabusa2 is now headed for the small, near-spherical asteroid 1998 KY26, which it's expected to reach in 2031. But it is not currently plain sailing for the extended mission.
An April 2 post from JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission profile on the social media platform X stated that the spacecraft had detected an abnormality on March 21 and had automatically transitioned into safe mode.
Communications between Earth and the spacecraft were stable, however, and teams were investigating the situation and its impact on the extended mission, a machine translation of the post read. JAXA has yet to provide a new update since posting about the anomaly.
Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and so has been operating in space for over a decade.
It rendezvoused with Ryugu in June 2018 and spent around 18 months studying the asteroid, prodding and landing on Ryugu and deploying small rovers.
It collected samples and in November 2019 began the journey back to Earth, with the sample capsule eventually landing as planned in Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia.
JAXA is already gearing up for a new, daring sample return mission while Hayabusa2’s situation is assessed.
Next year, Japan plans to launch its MMX Mars moon sample-return mission, which will attempt to collect 0.35 oz (10 grams) of samples of the small Red Planet moon Phobos and deliver them to Earth.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/missions/glitch-forces-japans-asteroid-sampling-hayabusa2-probe-into-protective-safe-mode-in-deep-space
https://x.com/haya2_jaxa/status/1907357366896771329
Scientists discover bizarre double-star system with exoplanet on a sideways orbit
April 16, 2025
Scientists have perhaps discovered the weirdest planetary system ever seen. Not only does this system feature the first-ever "polar planet" to be discovered, meaning the world exists on a sideways orbit, but that planet also circles around two stars.
But that's not all — those parent stellar bodies are also brown dwarfs, better known as "failed stars."
Since astronomers started discovering extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets," in the mid-1990s, worlds orbiting other stars have demonstrated that, compared to our somewhat mundane solar system, the universe is a pretty wild place.
Exoplanet hunters have found strange worlds unlike anything we see in the solar system, including worlds so light they can be compared to marshmallows, worlds so hot they rain liquid metal or glass, and now, a world that weirdly orbits its stars at a 90-degree angle.
However, while we've discovered plenty of planets orbiting binary stars before, evocative of the two-star planet Tatooine in the Star Wars franchise, astronomers have never seen an exoplanet rolling around a binary pairing at 90 degrees to the orbital plane of those stars — until now, that is.
The exoplanet 2M1510 (AB) b is located around 120 light-years away in the constellation of Libra.
Scientists had previously seen hints that planets could exist in polar orbits around binary stars, for instance finding planet-forming protoplanetary disks around twin stars. However, this is the first solid evidence of such a fully formed system.
"I am particularly excited to be involved in detecting credible evidence that this configuration exists," team leader Thomas Baycroft of the University of Birmingham said in a statement.
Stranger and stranger
As mentioned, however, this system gets even stranger because the parent bodies of exoplanet 2M1510 (AB) b — 2M1510 AB and 2M1510 C — are brown dwarfs.
Brown dwarfs are stellar bodies that get their unfortunate nickname of "failed stars" because, though they are born from collapsing clouds of gas and dust like standard stars, they fail to gather enough matter to achieve the mass needed to trigger the fusion of hydrogen to helium in their cores, the process that defines what a star is.
Furthermore, the chance of stellar bodies having a binary partner increases with mass, making a double-brown-dwarf star system pretty surprising.
Around 75% of stars with masses around 10 times that of the sun are in binaries, and around 50% of sun-like stars have a partner.
With masses between 0.075 and 0.013 times that of the sun (or 75 to 13 times that of Jupiter), brown dwarfs in binaries are very rare.
Further adding to the strangeness of this system (how much weirder can it get?), this is only the second pair of eclipsing brown dwarfs ever discovered. This means one of the brown dwarfs eclipses the other, as seen from our vantage point on Earth.
"A planet orbiting not just a binary, but a binary brown dwarf, as well as being on a polar orbit, is rather incredible and exciting," team member Amaury Triaud of the University of Birmingham said in the statement.
Triaud has a history with these failed stars, being part of the team that discovered them in 2018 using the Search for Habitable Planets Eclipsing Ultra-cool Stars (SPECULOOS) at Paranal Observatory in Chile.
The current team discovered the weird polar planet while attempting to better understand the orbits of the two brown dwarfs in this system using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) instrument attached to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), also located at the Paranal Observatory.
This observation program revealed that the failed stars are being "pushed and pulled" by the gravitational influence of an unseen planet. The strange dynamics of this action led the researchers to conclude that this world is a polar planet with a 90-degree orbit.
"We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only one consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary," Baycroft said.
"The discovery was serendipitous, in the sense that our observations were not collected to seek such a planet, or orbital configuration. As such, it is a big surprise," Triaud concluded.
"Overall, I think this shows to us astronomers, but also to the public at large, what is possible in the fascinating universe we inhabit."
https://www.space.com/the-universe/exoplanets/scientists-discover-bizarre-double-star-system-with-exoplanet-on-a-sideways-orbit-video
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2508/
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu0627
Rare 'cannibal' solar eruption sparks severe geomagnetic storm and stunning auroras
April 17, 2025
What a show Earth just put on!
Over the past 24 hours, our planet has been reverberating from the impact of a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) that struck Earth's magnetic field on April 15 — and the resulting auroras were absolutely breathtaking.
This wasn't just any CME, it was a rare 'cannibal' CME formed when two CMEs, launched in quick succession by a double filament eruption on the sun, merged as they traveled through space.
Initially, it was unclear whether the CMEs would arrive separately or merge, but after the dramatic geomagnetic activity and vivid aurora displays worldwide, it's now believed they combined into one stronger, cannibalized blast.
The result? A dazzling global aurora spectacle lit up skies far beyond the polar regions. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center had issued a G3 geomagnetic storm warning for April 16.
Not only were these conditions met, but for a brief period, severe G4-level storming was reached. NOAA classifies geomagnetic storms using a G-scale, which ranks their intensity from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme).
Below, we're showcasing some of the most jaw-dropping aurora shots captured across North America, Europe and the Southern Hemisphere during this extraordinary solar storm.
Aurora photo roundup
In Tampere, Finland, Austin MacDonald captured jaw-dropping photos of last night's aurora show during the G4 conditions.
"I was amazed and almost overwhelmed. Living in Finland, I see auroras pretty often, from small G1 storms to last year’s extreme G5 storm.
But last night was something special." MacDonald told Space.com in an email.
MacDonald describes the activity ramping up considerably around 2345 EET (2045 UTC), at its peak, explosive, fast-moving auroras were visible overhead.
"It came on so fast, and it wasn’t just overhead, it was to the south, north, east, west… It felt like I was standing inside a 360-degree aurora sphere. It just made me feel incredibly small," Macdonald continued.
MacDonald found himself in the right place at the right time to see the very best of last night's aurora show. Space weather is fickle, and just because something should happen doesn't mean it will.
"I used to work in meteorology, researching severe weather, and in many ways, this felt like witnessing the atmospheric equivalent of a perfect storm.
You know all the ingredients that need to come together, and when they actually do, and you're lucky enough to be in just the right spot at just the right time to experience it, it's surreal.
You can’t help but feel incredibly lucky to have been there for it," MacDonald said.
"It's the kind of experience that stays with you for days. You keep replaying it in your mind, catching little flashes of it every time you pause.
And then there’s the spot where you stood, where you looked up and saw the sky come alive. Every time you walk past that place afterward, it hits you all over again. It anchors you.
On my way to where I watched last night's aurora, I passed the spot I watched the G5 storm last May and it just all comes back to you.
It's like that exact patch of earth becomes tied to something cosmic, something far bigger than you. It's like the sky left a memory there, and now it's part of your map of the world," MacDonald continued.
cont.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/aurora-borealis/rare-cannibal-solar-eruption-sparks-severe-geomagnetic-storm-triggers-auroras-worldwide-photos
Mission team details complex rescue of Chinese lunar spacecraft
April 17, 2025
A team behind the rescue of a pair of lunar satellites left stranded by a launch anomaly have revealed the challenges they faced in salvaging the mission.
China launched the DRO-A and DRO-B spacecraft from Xichang spaceport March 13, 2024, intending to send the pair, totalling 581 kilograms, into distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon.
The pair were designed to link up with the earlier-launched DRO-L satellite, operating in low Earth orbit, to test intersatellite links and demonstrate the utility of distant retrograde orbits—high lunar orbits in which spacecraft travel opposite to the moon’s orbital direction around Earth.
However, an anomaly experienced by the mission’s Yuanzheng-1S upper stage left the satellites in a highly elliptical Earth orbit, with a much lower apogee, or farthest point from Earth, than planned.
Simultaneously, the joined satellites were spinning once every 1.8 seconds, threatening the structural integrity of the spacecraft and their ability to operate and communicate.
The rescue operations are detailed by an April 16 report from China Youth Daily.
The team first eliminated the spin, using the DRO-B satellite attitude control engines to correct the rotation over the course of 20 minutes.
Telemetry, however, then revealed issues with both satellites’ solar arrays which needed addressing.
Next, a team, including researchers from the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS) and Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU), both under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), formulated a rescue plan over the following 40 hours.
This needed to take into consideration the complexity of orbital dynamics and gravitational perturbations from the Earth, moon and Sun, and very limited fuel.
The team also faced a deadline of mere days, needing to quickly execute a first maneuver or lose the opportunity of reaching DRO.
The first critical engine burn, on March 18, lasted 1,200 seconds. It raised their apogee from 134,000 to 240,000 kilometers.
What followed, as detailed in earlier reporting, was the DRO-A and DRO-B satellites carrying out four further orbital maneuvers, gravity assists and additional trajectory corrections over the next four months to get the spacecraft on course for their intended lunar orbit.
The efforts ended on July 15, 2024, with the satellites safely in their predetermined orbits, having traveled around 8.5 million kilometers.
The satellites appear to have traveled as far as over one million km from the Earth, allowing a low-energy capture and insertion into lunar orbit.
The satellites separated successfully August 28. The pair then imaged each other, revealing that the solar panels of the DRO-A satellite were bent nearly 90 degrees, while DRO-B’s arrays were like “broken wings.”
The pair then established K-band microwave intersatellite measurement communication links with DRO-L, verifying a three-satellite network across the Earth-moon distance.
“For the first time internationally, we have achieved the ability to use satellites to track other satellites, instead of relying on ground stations,” Wang Wenbin, a CSU researcher, told China Central Television (CCTV).
“In essence, the ground station has been converted into a satellite and placed in low orbit. This breakthrough paves the way for new technological advancements in future Earth-moon space and deep space exploration.”
DRO-A also carries an all-sky detector to monitor gamma-ray bursts, similar to that used in China’s GECAM mission launched in 2020.
Wang added that China intends to use DRO and its long-term stability to conduct fundamental scientific research in such fields as quantum mechanics, atomic physics and related fields.
https://spacenews.com/mission-team-details-complex-rescue-of-chinese-lunar-spacecraft/
https://zqb.cyol.com/pad/content/202504/16/content_409832.html
Minotaur IV rocket launches spy payloads for National Reconnaissance Office
April 16, 2025
A Northrop Grumman Minotaur IV rocket successfully launched multiple classified payloads for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on April 16, marking a return to Vandenberg Space Force Base for the solid-fueled launch vehicle after more than a decade.
The mission, designated NROL-174, lifted off at 3:33 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 8 (SLC-8) at Vandenberg, California.
The NRO confirmed shortly after liftoff that the launch was successful but did not provide details about the payloads.
The National Reconnaissance Office builds and operates U.S. spy satellites, and provides intelligence data to the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies and policymakers.
This launch was the first time since 2011 that a Minotaur rocket has flown an NRO mission from Vandenberg. The previous Vandenberg-based NRO launch using a Minotaur was NROL-66.
NROL-174 is the third mission launched as part of the Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 (OSP-3), which is managed by the U.S. Space Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP).
The program is designed to give the government flexible access to space by buying rides on smaller rockets like the Minotaur IV.
The Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 is a contract vehicle that allows the Space Force to procure small- and medium-class launch services, mostly for technology demonstrations, experimental payloads, and operational systems on short notice.
The Minotaur IV is a four-stage vehicle derived in part from decommissioned Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The first three stages are government-furnished Peacekeeper solid rocket motors, while the upper stage is a commercial Orion solid motor built by Northrop Grumman.
The rocket can carry up to 1,730 kilograms (3,814 pounds) to low Earth orbit and first flew in 2010.
Since then, it has launched from several locations across the U.S., including Wallops Island in Virginia, Kodiak Island in Alaska, Cape Canaveral in Florida, and Vandenberg in California.
NROL-174 follows previous NRO missions flown on Minotaur rockets—NROL-129 in 2020 and NROL-111 in 2021—both launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
https://spacenews.com/minotaur-iv-rocket-launches-spy-payloads-for-national-reconnaissance-office/
U.S. Space Force defines path to space superiority in first Warfighting framework
April 17, 2025
The Space Force released its Space Warfighting framework today, outlining the service's vision for achieving and maintaining space superiority while ensuring the long-term safety and sustainability of the space domain.
This landmark document underscores the critical importance of space superiority as a joint force priority, recognizing it as an essential element for the success of military operations across all domains.
“It is the formative purpose of the Space Force to achieve space superiority—to ensure freedom of movement in space for our forces while denying the same to our adversaries,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.
“We must be prepared to employ capabilities for offensive and defensive purposes to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggressors that threaten our vital national interests.”
The framework establishes a common lexicon for counterspace operations, detailing a range of responsible offensive and defensive actions Guardians may employ to maintain control of space and ensure the success of the Joint Force.
Counterspace operations will be executed across three primary mission areas: orbital warfare, electromagnetic warfare and cyberspace warfare.
At the direction of combatant commanders, Guardians may conduct counterspace operations including terrestrial strike, orbital strike, space link interdiction and active and passive space defense.
“This document builds on the Military Space Operations terms of reference and Space Force Doctrine Document 1 to increase U.S. lethality and deter would-be aggressors in space,” said Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, deputy chief of Space Operations for Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements.
“We developed Space Warfighting to expand on the tenets of Competitive Endurance and the Space Force Truths.
With Space Warfighting, we establish the counterspace framework necessary for Guardians to achieve space superiority, a precondition for Joint Force success.”
Space Warfighting marks a significant step forward in solidifying the Space Force as a warfighting service and integral part of the Joint and Combined Force, highlighting the essential role of space superiority for national security.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4156245/us-space-force-defines-path-to-space-superiority-in-first-warfighting-framework/
https://www.spaceforce.mil/Portals/2/Documents/SAF_2025/Space_Warfighting_-A_Framework_for_Planners_BLK2(final_20250410).pdf
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4156439/forging-the-future-of-space-warfare-space-force-battle-management-wargaming-wit/
Forging the Future of Space Warfare: Space Force Battle Management Wargaming with Lt. Col. Amber Dawson
April 16, 2025
PATRICK SPACE FORCE Base, Fla. – The United States Space Force is in the midst of a historic effort to define how it will conduct battle management—the critical process of executing control, directing operations, and adapting in real time during space-based engagements.
In October 2024, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman issued formal guidance requiring the Space Force to develop and fully evaluate battle management concepts in support of service-wide command and control operations specific to the space domain by the end of 2025.
The Chalkydri series of wargames was created to address new questions surrounding command, control and battle management in space.
These wargames, led by Space Delta 10’s 10th Force Development Squadron, under Space Training and Readiness Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, are designed to rigorously test competing models and identify the most effective battle management frameworks for operating in the space domain.
The concepts being tested will focus on how the Space Force will execute control and direct space assets in new ways.
“Our goal is to ensure the Space Force has a data-informed answer on how we approach battle management as a service,” said Lt. Col. Amber Dawson, commander of 10th FDS.
“We’re evaluating different approaches in a structured way so we can make informed recommendations to senior leaders.”
The Challenge: Defining Space Battle Management
For the Space Force, battle management is far more than a theoretical discussion—it is essential for operational success in an era where potential adversaries are aggressively developing counter-space capabilities.
Unlike traditional military operations, space engagements unfold in a highly dynamic, often unseen environment, where spacecraft, sensors, and warfighting effects must be controlled with precision.
To execute control effectively, Space Force leaders must determine who directs battle management, where key decision-making nodes reside, and how authority is distributed across the operational structure.
“If we don’t get this battle management thing right, everything else falls apart,” Dawson said.
“We can have the best plans, the best orders, and the best capabilities, but if we go into execution and there’s friction across the community about responsibilities, authorities, and information flows, then none of it will matter.”
How the Space Force is Testing Battle Management
The Chalkydri series consists of three wargaming events, each building upon the previous one to refine and validate the battle management concept.
The first event, Chalkydri 1, was held in early 2025 and served as an initial evaluation phase.
This wargame brought together approximately 30 participants from several organizations, representing various operational points across the Space Force.
The objective was to compare and assess multiple courses of action, which are competing models for how battle management should function within the service.
The event was structured across three days:
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Day 1: Tabletop Seminar – Participants engaged in an open discussion to refine battle management functions and information flows.
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Day 2: Role-Based Tabletop Simulation – Participants assumed roles as key operational nodes and worked through scenario-based decision-making exercises.
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Day 3: Distributed Operations Simulation – A full simulation using secure chat networks, replicating how Space Force units communicate in real-world command and control environments.
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The findings from Chalkydri 1 are now informing refinements to the battle management concept.
The next phase, Chalkydri 2, scheduled for Summer 2025, will integrate more robust, further developed battle management approaches, testing which courses of action perform best under realistic conditions.
“I’m incredibly proud of how rapidly our team pulled this event together,” said Dawson. “I’m also grateful for the strong participation from across the operational and intelligence communities.
The ingenuity and speed shown by our design team helped deliver a purpose-built war game aligned to the Chief of Space Operations’ intent.
We’re advancing an agile wargaming capability that supports the Space Force’s readiness in an increasingly contested domain.”
The Importance of Wargaming in Space Warfare
Wargaming has long been a vital tool for military innovation and preparedness.
For the Space Force, it plays a unique role — enabling Guardians to test emerging concepts, evaluate future capabilities, and challenge assumptions in a digitally simulated environment.
With the complexities of orbital mechanics, cyber dependencies, and rapid engagement timelines, wargaming provides a low-risk space to rehearse decision-making and refine strategies before they’re needed in real-world operations.
While traditional warfighting domains often center on visible, physical assets like tanks or ships, space operations rely on a mix of both tangible infrastructure — such as radars, antennas, and spacecraft — and digital systems.
Because many space-based capabilities are remote and technologically complex, Space Force wargames often lean on high-fidelity simulations and future-oriented scenarios to realistically test decision-making and operational readiness.
“We’re not here to have abstract discussions,” Dawson emphasized. “The Space Force needs events that yield concrete, actionable insights on force structure and force development.”
What Success Looks Like
As Delta 10 continues refining the battle management concept, success will be measured by whether these wargames deliver clear, actionable findings for the Space Force’s future operations.
With adversaries actively developing counterspace capabilities, refining an adaptable and resilient battle management framework is as important as ever.
STARCOM is moving swiftly to ensure that, should a conflict arise in space, the Space Force has the tools, structure, and agility to control space assets within a contested environment.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time we’ve done a series of battle management-focused wargames like this,” Dawson said.
“It’s a historic effort for the Space Force—one that we hope will define how we operate in the contested space domain for years to come.”
About STARCOM and Space Delta 10
Space Training and Readiness Command develops combat-ready Guardians through training, education, doctrine development, capability testing, and realistic threat replication.
Activated in 2021, STARCOM ensures the U.S. Space Force remains ready to protect national interests in, from, and to space.
Among its five deltas, Space Delta 10 plays a critical role in shaping the future of space warfighting by leading doctrine development, wargaming, field experimentation, and concept evaluation.
Its work informs the training, education, testing, and operational planning that prepare Guardians to meet the challenges of an evolving space domain.
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Russia Denies Targeting Indian Pharmaceutical Warehouse in Kyiv Drone Strike
April 17, 2025
New Delhi— Russia has denied allegations made by Ukraine that its armed forces deliberately targeted a warehouse belonging to Indian pharmaceutical company Kusum Healthcare during a drone strike in Kyiv on April 12.
The Russian Embassy in New Delhi stated on Thursday that Moscow does not target civilian infrastructure as part of its ongoing military campaign in Ukraine.
Responding to claims made by the Ukrainian Embassy in India, the Russian mission issued a statement firmly rejecting any involvement in the reported attack on Kusum Healthcare’s facility in eastern Kyiv.
“The Russian Armed Forces did not attack or plan to attack Kusum Healthcare’s pharmacy warehouse on April 12, 2025,” the statement read.
“On that day, Russian tactical aviation, strike UAVs, and missile forces targeted a Ukrainian aviation plant, a military airfield, and facilities involved in armored vehicle repair and UAV assembly—none of which were near the site of the warehouse.”
Ukrainian Ambassador to India Oleksandr Polishchuk had earlier alleged that a Russian drone deliberately struck the Kusum Group warehouse, causing an estimated $25 million in damages.
The incident has raised concerns in India, where Kusum Healthcare, a New Delhi-headquartered company, is seen as a symbol of growing India-Ukraine commercial ties.
In response, the Russian Embassy suggested an alternative explanation for the explosion, claiming that a misfired Ukrainian air defense missile may have struck the warehouse.
“This is the most likely cause of the fire,” the statement said. “Similar incidents have occurred previously, where Ukrainian air defense missiles, failing to intercept their intended targets, crashed into urban areas due to mismanaged electronic warfare systems.”
The Embassy further emphasized that the Russian military has “never targeted civilian facilities” during what Moscow refers to as its “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine.
It also accused Ukrainian forces of routinely placing air defense systems, rocket launchers, and artillery in populated areas, thereby endangering civilians and using them as “human shields.”
The conflicting accounts come amid continued tensions and mutual accusations between the warring nations, as well as growing scrutiny from the international community over the protection of civilian infrastructure and non-combatants in the conflict zone.
https://indianewengland.com/russia-denies-targeting-indian-pharmaceutical-warehouse-in-kyiv-drone-strike/
IDF says drone strike killed Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon
April 17, 2025 7:47 pm
The IDF says it killed a Hezbollah commander in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Blida earlier today.
The strike targeted Ali Ibar al-Nabi Khadi, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the Mhaibib area, according to the military.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-drone-strike-killed-hezbollah-commander-in-southern-lebanon/
https://twitter.com/i/status/1912909717204041946
Radiofrequency weapon defeats drone swarms in U.K. Army trial
April 17, 2025
WEST WALES, U.K. The British Army has completed its largest counter-drone swarm trial, demonstrating a radiofrequency directed energy weapon (RF DEW) system capable of neutralizing multiple uncrewed aerial targets simultaneously, the U.K. Ministry of Defence announced in a statement.
Conducted at a test range in West Wales, the trial saw more than 100 drones tracked and defeated using the RF DEW demonstrator.
The system, developed by an industry consortium led by Thales UK under the Team Hersa project, uses high-frequency radio waves to disrupt electronic components within drones, causing them to malfunction or crash, the statement reads.
According to the ministry, the system can engage airborne targets at ranges up to 1 kilometer and offers a low cost per shot compared to traditional missile-based air defense systems.
The technology is also effective against targets resistant to conventional electronic warfare jamming techniques, the Ministry says.
https://militaryembedded.com/unmanned/counter-uas/radiofrequency-weapon-defeats-drone-swarms-in-uk-army-trial
Thermal Drones Discover ‘Near-Mythical’ Tree Kangaroos
Apr 17, 2025
Researchers used thermal drones and unexpectedly discovered a rare species of tree kangaroo living in the wild in Australia.
In a recent study, a team of scientists revealed how they flew thermal drones — drones equipped with infrared cameras that detect eat signatures from the air — from a 154-foot crane in the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia.
Emmeline Norris, the lead author of the study, explains that the team originally set out to find spectacled flying foxes. However, the thermal drones quickly identified rare tree kangaroos by detecting their body heat in the rainforest canopy.
According to a report in Mongabay, the researchers spotted a species called the Bennett’s tree kangaroo, which is very rarely seen in the wild.
The Bennett’s tree kangaroo hasn’t been surveyed for many years and much is still unknown about these shy creatures including their population, life cycle, behavior, or even their diet.
Within just 20 minutes of the first thermal drone flight, the researchers spotted two Bennett’s tree kangaroos — one resting on top of the canopy and another below, feeding on vines.
The following morning, the drones revealed four additional kangaroos.
In total, the thermal drones identified six Bennett’s tree kangaroos across 42 acres of forest, without seemingly disturbing or scaring the animals.
Using the thermal drone’s color zoom camera, Norris was even able to discover more about these tree kangaroos’ diet for the first time and identify the vines and leaves they were eating.
“It kind of blew my mind because I’d never seen them before in the wild,” Norris, a Ph.D. student at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, tells Mongabay.
The use of thermal drones sheds light on this hidden species like never before.
In the past, researchers surveyed tree kangaroos from the ground using methods like spotlighting, where a flashlight is aimed at the canopy to spot the animals’ red eye shine, or handheld thermal cameras.
However, Norris explains that spotlighting is only effective if the kangaroo is facing the light, and thermal cameras are limited to detecting kangaroos when they are low in the trees.
What are Bennett’s Tree Kangaroos?
Tree kangaroos are found only in the tropical rainforests of Australia and New Guinea. Unlike their ground-dwelling relatives, they live in the treetops, feeding on leaves and vines.
Bennett’s tree kangaroos reside in Australia’s most rugged and densely vegetated rainforests north of the Daintree River in Far North Queensland. They rarely come down from their vine-covered roosts, which can be as high as 130 feet.
Despite this, they are highly agile and can leap 30 feet down to another branch, and have been known to drop as far as 59 feet to the ground without injury. Their main predators are pythons and dingoes.
https://petapixel.com/2025/04/17/thermal-drones-discover-near-mythical-tree-kangaroos/
https://www.publish.csiro.au/AM/AM24053
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HO8XT4Ylco
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