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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
May 1, 2025
MESSENGER's Last Day on Mercury
The first to orbit inner planet Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft came to rest on this region of Mercury's surface on April 30, 2015. Constructed from MESSENGER image and laser altimeter data, the projected scene looks north over the northeastern rim of the broad, lava filled Shakespeare basin. The large, 48 kilometer (30 mile) wide crater Janacek is near the upper left edge. Terrain height is color coded with red regions about 3 kilometers above blue ones. MESSENGER'S final orbit was predicted to end near the center, with the spacecraft impacting the surface at nearly 4 kilometers per second (over 8,700 miles per hour) and creating a new crater about 16 meters (52 feet) in diameter. The impact on the far side of Mercury was not observed by telescopes, but confirmed when no signal was detected from the spacecraft given time to emerge from behind the planet. Launched in 2004, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemisty and Ranging spacecraft completed over 4,000 orbits after reaching the Solar System's innermost planet in 2011.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Adding Dimension to Cassiopeia A
May 01, 2025
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 NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, 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.
Like with the Cygnus Loop, Chandra has provided a 3-dimensional (3D) printable model that can be used to explore the end stage of a star’s life.
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.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/adding-dimension-to-cassiopeia-a/
Amateur Radio Scientists Shine at the 2025 HamSCI Workshop
May 01, 2025
Love Ham Radio? The HamSCI project fosters collaboration between amateur radio operators and professional researchers.
Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities, encourage the development of modern technologies to support this research, and provide educational opportunities for the amateur community and the public.
HamSCI held its annual Workshop, 'HamSCI's Big Year', at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in late March.
Over 100 members of the HamSCI community attended: researchers, students (secondary through graduate level), and citizen scientist volunteers.
Over the two-day event, in-person and virtual participants experienced twenty-five talks on topics ranging from analysis of HamSCI's 2023/24 Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science events to space weather observations made during the May 10, 2024 geomagnetic superstorm.
The Workshop hosted a variety of Keynote and Invited Tutorial speakers, including distinguished scientists and leaders in the Amateur (ham) Radio community.
The Workshop concluded with a poster session, featuring current research, ongoing educational activities, and concepts for future events involving Sun-space-Earth science topics.
Posters were submitted from the US, Brazil, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.
Explore the workshop presentations and posters. Videos of conference presentations will be available at the HamSCI website in a few months.
HamSCI is supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) foundation.
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/amateur-radio-scientists-shine-at-the-2025-hamsci-workshop/
https://hamsci.org/hamsci-2025-program
NASA Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Prep Station for Future Solar Array
May 1, 2025
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers began a spacewalk at approximately 9:05 a.m. EDT to install a mounting bracket to prepare for the future installation of an additional set of International Space Station Rollout Solar Arrays.
The astronauts also will relocate a space station communications antenna.
NASA’s coverage continues on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms.
McClain is crew member 1, wearing the suit with red stripes. Ayers is spacewalk crew member 2, wearing the unmarked suit.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/05/01/nasa-astronauts-begin-spacewalk-to-prep-station-for-future-solar-array/
https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/u-s-spacewalk-93/#fullscreen-player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP9LyPsqI_g
Sols 4525-4526: The Day After Groundhog Day (Between Ghost Mountain and Texoli, Headed South)
Apr 30, 2025
Earth planning date: Monday, April 28, 2025
Curiosity is back on the road! For sols 4525 and 4526, we have an isolated nominal plan in which the communication pass timing works out in such a way that the rover can fit in fully targeted science blocks on both sols rather than just the first sol.
So in this power-hungry Martian winter season, we're in a good position to take advantage of the power saved up during the missed uplink.
The weekend drive went well and delivered the rover into a stable, arm-work-compatible position in a workspace with rock targets that we could brush with the DRT.
Happy days! The DRT/APXS/MAHLI measurements will bring us geochemical and rock texture data from local bedrock blocks “Bradshaw Trail” and “Sweetwater River.”
Further geochemical information will come from the ChemCam LIBS rasters on a more coarsely layered target, “Breeze Hill,” and an exposed layer expressing both polygonal features and a vein or coating of dark-toned material, “Laguna Mountain.”
Long-distance imaging with the ChemCam RMI included a mosaic to add to our coverage of the boxwork sedimentary features of the type Curiosity will soon be exploring in situ.
A second RMI mosaic was planned to cover a truncated sedimentary horizon on the Texoli butte that may provide further evidence of ancient aeolian scouring events.
Meanwhile, the “Morrell Potrero” Mastcam mosaic will provide some detail on the base of the boxwork-bearing “Ghost Mountain” butte and on a ridge nearby.
In the drive direction, the “Garnet Peak” mosaic will capture some potentially new rock textures and colors in the upcoming strata.
Nearer-field imaging in the plan includes Mastcam documentation of some troughs that provide evidence for sand and dust movement in response to the modern aeolian environment.
Additionally Mastcam mosaics went to “Breeze Hill” (covering the LIBS target) and “Live Oak” to document variations in bedding, color, and texture in the nearby bedrock.
A few observations of the modern environment were scheduled for the afternoon: a phase function sky survey to look for scattered light from thin water-ice clouds and a separate set of cloud altitude observations.
Finally, a Mastcam documentation image was planned for the AEGIS LIBS target from the weekend plan!
This reflects an update to the rover’s capability in which the AEGIS target can be determined and downlinked in time for the decisional downlink pass, so that we know where to look for it during the next planning cycle.
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4525-4526-the-day-after-groundhog-day-between-ghost-mountain-and-texoli-headed-south/
Station Maneuvers to Avoid Orbital Debris
April 30, 2025
The Progress 91 thrusters were fired at 6:10 p.m. EDT Wednesday for 3 minutes, 33 seconds, to raise the orbit of the International Space Station to provide an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris from a fragment of a Chinese Long March rocket launched in 2005.
The pre-planned Debris Avoidance Maneuver was coordinated by NASA, Roscosmos, and other space station partners.
Without the maneuver, NASA estimated the fragment could have come within around .4 miles of the station.
There is no impact to operations aboard the space station and it will not affect U.S. spacewalk 93 on Thursday, May 1, with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/04/30/station-maneuvers-to-avoid-orbital-debris/
Blackout in Andalusia
May 1, 2025
A widespread power outage on April 28, 2025, disrupted the daily lives of tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.
Trains came to a halt, hospitals relied on generators, and phone and internet connections failed. In Spain, more than half of the electricity lost around midday was restored by evening, according to news reports.
But in the country’s south, darkness lasted through at least the night.
The sustained power outages in Andalusia, an autonomous community in southern Spain, are visible in these maps.
They show nighttime light emissions across the area before the outage (left) and during the event (right) in the early morning hours of April 28 and April 29, respectively.
The maps are from NASA’s Black Marble product, provided by Ranjay Shrestha and Zhuosen Wang of the Black Marble science team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
They are based on data collected by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite.
The Black Marble team calibrates the measurements to account for variations in the landscape, the atmosphere, and the Moon phase, as well as to remove stray light from non-electric sources.
On April 29, clouds were primarily offshore and did not obscure many ground-based light sources. The grayed-out areas on the map below indicate where data were lacking due to clouds.
Analyzing data from the Black Marble product, Shrestha noticed that lights had appeared to return to most urban areas across the Iberian Peninsula by April 29.
He noted, though, that rural areas—especially in Andalusia and the southern and eastern parts of the Granada region shown above—remained dark.
“These prompt observations of nighttime lights are invaluable for rapidly assessing the extent and progression of such outages, especially in areas where ground reporting may be delayed,” Shrestha said.
Analyses of Black Marble data collected after disasters in other parts of the world have revealed that people in rural areas frequently have to wait longer than those in urban areas for power to be restored.
Miguel Román, the deputy director for atmospheres and data systems at NASA Goddard, and colleagues observed the phenomenon in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
“It creates a major dilemma since most rural areas are populated by at-risk populations, like the elderly,” Román said.
“The April 28 blackout across Spain and Portugal highlights the importance of accessible tools like Black Marble in enhancing disaster response and resilience planning.”
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154238/blackout-in-andalusia
The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins
Apr 30, 2025
Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from the regions around black holes in the centers of galaxies?
It sounds a little contradictory, but it’s true! They may not look bright to our eyes, but satellites have spotted oodles of them across the universe.
One of those satellites is NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi has found thousands of these kinds of galaxies since it launched in 2008, and there are many more out there!
Black holes are regions of space that have so much gravity that nothing — not light, not particles, nada — can escape.
Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers, and these black holes are hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of our Sun.
In active galactic nuclei (also called “AGN” for short, or just "active galaxies") the central region is stuffed with gas and dust that's constantly falling toward the black hole.
As the gas and dust fall, they start to spin and form a disk. Because of the friction and other forces at work, the spinning disk starts to heat up.
The disk's heat gets emitted as light, but not just wavelengths of it that we can see with our eyes.
We detect light from AGN across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the more familiar radio and optical waves through to the more exotic X-rays and gamma rays, which we need special telescopes to spot.
About one in 10 AGN beam out jets of energetic particles, which are traveling almost as fast as light.
Scientists are studying these jets to try to understand how black holes — which pull everything in with their huge amounts of gravity — somehow provide the energy needed to propel the particles in these jets.
Many of the ways we tell one type of AGN from another depend on how they’re oriented from our point of view.
With radio galaxies, for example, we see the jets from the side as they’re beaming vast amounts of energy into space.
Then there’s blazars, which are a type of AGN that have a jet that is pointed almost directly at Earth, which makes the AGN particularly bright.
Fermi has been searching the sky for gamma ray sources since 2008. More than half of the sources it has found have been blazars.
Gamma rays are useful because they can tell us a lot about how particles accelerate and how they interact with their environment.
So why do we care about AGN? We know that some AGN formed early in the history of the universe.
With their enormous power, they almost certainly affected how the universe changed over time.
By discovering how AGN work, we can understand better how the universe came to be the way it is now.
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/the-universes-brightest-lights-have-some-dark-origins/
YSU professor contributes to groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope research published in “Nature” By YSU Communications
May 1, 2025 10:52 AM
A Youngstown State University professor is helping uncover how some of the universe’s densest star clusters are formed, in research just published in “Nature”, one of the world’s top science journals.
Patrick Durrell, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at YSU, is part of an international team of astronomers that used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture rare images showing star clusters in dwarf galaxies merging together, something Durrell says scientists have long believed happens, but had never clearly seen until now.
“These are some of the clearest images ever captured of this process actually taking place,” Durrell said. “We’ve known this could happen, but now we have direct visual evidence.”
The study, “Evidence of star cluster migration and merger in dwarf galaxies,” shows that smaller star clusters can gradually move toward the center of a galaxy and combine into what’s called a nuclear star cluster or a dense group of stars packed into the galaxy’s core.
Durrell helped lead the planning and setup of the Hubble observations that made the discovery possible. The research was part of a special Hubble program that uses short observing ‘snapshots’ to collect data between other, larger scientific programs.
Originally, the team set out to simply catalog star clusters in dozens of smaller galaxies. “But when we started looking closely at the images, we saw something unexpected,” Durrell said.
“Some of these galaxies had strange-looking structures in their centers, what looked like the leftovers from two star clusters smashing into each other.”
To confirm the theory, the team ran computer simulations showing what such a collision would look like and the results matched the Hubble images. “It’s like a cosmic demolition derby,” Durrell said.
“When two clusters collide and merge, you expect to see a bit of a mess. And that’s exactly what we saw.”
This finding supports a long-standing theory in astronomy: that nuclear star clusters can form not just from new stars being born at the galaxy’s center, but also from older clusters slowly migrating inward and merging over time.
Until now, scientists had little direct proof of that second scenario. Durrell has worked with this research group for more than a decade, contributing to multiple space-based and ground-based astronomy projects.
For this study, he coordinated the technical planning for more than 70 Hubble galaxy observations.
“This kind of discovery shows how astronomers at universities like YSU are contributing to big, international science,” he said.
“It’s exciting to see something we’ve theorized for years actually show up so clearly in images.”
The discovery also highlights the important work happening at YSU’s Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology, and Environmental Science, where faculty are involved in real-time scientific discoveries that reach far beyond the classroom.
https://www.mahoningmatters.com/news/local/article305476426.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08783-9
https://www.space.com/astronomy/solar-system/evidence-of-controversial-planet-9-uncovered-in-sky-surveys-taken-23-years-apart
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.17288
Evidence of controversial Planet 9 uncovered in sky surveys taken 23 years apart
May 1, 2025
The best candidate yet for the elusive Planet Nine has been spotted in two deep infrared surveys taken 23 years apart.
If this mystery object really is Planet Nine, it would have a mass greater than Neptune, and currently be about 700 times farther from the sun than Earth is.
The possibility of additional planets in our solar system has been proposed many times, going under names such as "Planet X," because experts thought the concept of an extra planet in our vicinity of the cosmos could explain a perceived regularity in mass extinctions on Earth.
Perhaps, they said, the periodic influx of comets that impact Earth are pushed our way by an unseen planet. However, the supposed periodicity in mass extinctions has not held up to scrutiny, and so the need for that particular Planet X has gone away.
This brings us to Planet Nine.
Planet Nine is unrelated to the Planet X concept, and rather put forward in 2016 by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin of the California Institute of Technology to explain an unusual bunching of orbits of some objects in the Kuiper Belt, such as Sedna.
This proposed Planet Nine would be more massive than Earth, and orbit on a highly eccentric path that takes it hundreds of astronomical units from the sun (one astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun).
That far away, it would be extremely difficult to detect.
However, the expectation is that Planet Nine would appear brighter in mid- and far-infrared light than it would in visible light.
Now, a team led by astronomer Terry Long Phan of the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has delved into the archives of two far-infrared all-sky surveys in search of Planet Nine — and incredibly, they have found something that could possibly be Planet Nine.
The Infrared Astronomy Satellite, IRAS, launched in 1983 and surveyed the universe for almost a year before being decommissioned.
Then, in 2006, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched AKARI, another infrared astronomy satellite that was active between 2006 and 2011.
Phan's team were looking for objects that appeared in IRAS's database, then appeared to have moved by the time AKARI took a look.
The amount of movement on the sky would be tiny — about three arcminutes per year at a distance of approximately 700 astronomical units (AU). One arcminute is 1/60 of an angular degree.
But there's an extra motion that Phan's team had to account for. As the Earth orbits the sun, our view of the position of very distant objects changes slightly in an effect called parallax.
It is the same phenomenon as when you hold your index finger up to your face, close one eye and look at your finger, and then switch eyes — your finger appears to move as a result of you looking at it from a slightly different position.
Planet Nine would appear to move on the sky because of parallax as Earth moves around the sun.
On any particular day, it might seem to be in one position, then six months later when Earth is on the other side of the sun, it would shift to another position, perhaps by 10 to 15 arcminutes — then, six months after that, it would seem to shift back to its original position.
To remove the effects of parallax, Phan's team searched for Planet Nine on the same date every year in the AKARI data, because on any given date it would appear in the same place, with zero parallax shift, every year.
They then also scrutinized each candidate object that their search threw up on an hourly basis. If a candidate is a fast-moving, nearby object, then its motion would be detectable from hour to hour, and could therefore be ruled out.
This careful search led Phan's team to a single object, a tiny dot in the infrared data.
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It appears in one position in IRAS's 1983 image, though it was not in that position when AKARI looked.
However, there is an object seen by AKARI in a position 47.4 arcminutes away that isn't there in the IRAS imagery, and it is within the range that Planet Nine could have traveled in the intervening time.
In other words, this object has moved a little further along its orbit around the sun in the 23 or more years between IRAS and AKARI.
The knowledge of its motion in that intervening time is not sufficient to be able to extrapolate the object's full orbit, therefore it's not yet possible to say for certain whether this is Planet Nine. First, astronomers need to recover it in more up-to-date imagery.
"Once we know the position of the candidate, a longer exposure with the current large optical telescopes can detect it," Phan told Space.com.
"However, the follow-up observations with optical telescopes still need to cover about three square degrees because Planet Nine would have moved from the position where AKARI detected it in 2006.
This is doable with a camera that has a large field of view, such as the Dark Energy Camera, which has a field of view of three square degrees on the Blanco four-meter telescope [in Chile]."
Based on the candidate object's brightness in the IRAS and AKARI images, Phan estimates that the object, if it really is Planet Nine, must be more massive than Neptune. This came as a surprise, because he and his team were searching for a super-Earth-size body.
Previous surveys by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have ruled out any Jupiter-size planets out to 256,000 AU, and any Saturn-size planets out to 10,000 AU, but a smaller Neptune or Uranus-size world could still have gone undetected.
Phan told Space.com that he had searched for his candidate in the WISE data, "but no convincing counterpart was found because it has moved since the 2006 position," and without knowing its orbit more accurately, we can't say where it has moved to.
Another mystery is how Planet Nine, if it is real, ended up on an orbit that potentially brings it as close as 280 AU and as distant as 1,120 AU, which is far beyond the realm of the other planets.
For comparison, the outermost planet, Neptune, is 30 AU (2.8 billion miles, or 4.5 billion kilometers) from the sun. At 700 AU, Planet Nine would be 65 billion miles (105 billion kilometers) from the sun.
"One possibility is that Planet Nine formed closer to the sun, perhaps near the region where Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune formed, and was later gravitationally scattered outward by one or more of these giant planets during the early days of the solar system," said Phan.
Alternatively, perhaps it was a rogue planet picked up by the sun, maybe early in the history of the solar system when the sun was still close to its siblings and planets could be ejected and captured by different systems.
This is not the first time that a candidate for Planet Nine has been found in infrared data.
In 2021, astronomer Michael Rowan–Robinson of Imperial College, London, found an object in the IRAS data that had an estimated three to five Earth masses, and was much closer to the sun at about 225 AU.
However, the detection has not been confirmed, and has not been made in any other dataset, such as by AKARI. Phan believes his candidate has a much better claim to being Planet Nine because it was detected by both IRAS and AKARI.
Whether it really is Planet Nine, only time will tell. With the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope soon to launch to perform high-resolution deep surveys of the sky, and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory set to see first light this year, as well as the prowess of the already-established Dark Energy Camera, then if Planet Nine exists it is running out of places to hide.
The candidate object is reported by Phan's team in a paper accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
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These are the sharpest images yet of planets being born around distant stars
April 30, 2025
Astronomers have captured the sharpest, most detailed images yet of young solar systems where planets are just beginning to take shape.
Exquisite snapshots released on Monday (April 28) provide a rare glimpse into the earliest stages of planet formation in more than a dozen star systems, revealing where planets emerge, how quickly they form and what materials they're made from.
Scientists say the data could help refine computer models of planetary formation and evolution, as well as shed new light on how these infant systems compare to the myriad of mature exoplanets already discovered.
The high-resolution, science-packed images come thanks to advanced imaging techniques courtesy of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.
These techniques reduce distortions and sharpen clarity, boosting astronomers' ability to map out the planet formation process with greater precision by revealing finer structures within the protoplanetary disks — the swirling gas and dust surrounding young stars, according to a statement.
The newly developed techniques "are like switching from reading glasses to high-powered binoculars," Richard Teague of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who serves as the principal investigator of the project, said in the statement.
"They reveal a whole new level of detail in these planet-forming systems."
Using ALMA, Teague's team captured images of 15 young star systems sprinkled in space between a few hundred to 1,000 light-years from Earth.
Rather than rely on direct detection of a young planet's faint light, Teague's team looked for the subtle clues these infant worlds imprint on their surroundings — such as gaps and rings in dusty disks, swirling gas motions caused by a planet's gravity, and other physical disturbances that hint at a planet's presence.
To uncover these signatures, the researchers used ALMA to map the motion of gas within over a dozen protoplanetary disks.
"It's like trying to spot a fish by looking for ripples in a pond, rather than trying to see the fish itself," Christophe Pinte, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Planetary sciences and Astrophysics in France, who was also a principal investigator of the project, said in the statement.
Initial analysis of the images, detailed in 17 newly published papers, clearly shows that these protoplanetary disks with still-forming planets are highly dynamic, chaotic places that already harbor complex structures, the team says.
Among the key findings are fresh insights into how large dust grains are gathered into rings — precursors to planets — and subtle signs of the disks' gravitational influence, providing astronomers with a new way to gauge the mass available for forming planets.
"We're seeing evidence of hugely perturbed and dynamic disks, highly suggestive of young planets shaping the disks they're born in," Teague said.
A particularly notable aspect of the project, according to the research team, is that early-career scientists took the lead — authoring 12 of the 17 published papers, with more expected to follow later this year.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/these-are-the-sharpest-images-yet-of-planets-being-born-around-distant-stars
https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-releases/exoalma-survey-reveals-incredible-images-of-structures-in-protoplanetary-disks/
https://iopscience.iop.org/collections/Focus-on-exoALMA
Superhero self-healing polymer can protect satellites from fast-flying space debris
Updated: May 01, 2025 09:57 AM EST
Space debris is becoming an overwhelming problem.
Between 2019 and 2023, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites made more than 50,000 collision avoidance maneuvers in low Earth orbit (LEO).
In LEO, objects fly at speeds of roughly 8 kilometers per second – faster than a bullet.
As collision avoidance becomes more challenging, scientists are increasingly looking at alternative methods for combating the space debris problem.
One team of material scientists at Texas A&M University has developed a polymer with a unique self-healing property.
When struck by space debris, it would stretch enough to allow the object to pass through without causing major structural damage.
A unique new space material
The team called their material a Diels-Adler Polymer (DAP) due to its dynamic covalent bond networks that can break and reform.
“While other Diels-Adler networks have been reported in the scientific literature, DAP’s specific chemistry, topology and self-healing quality are novel,” the scientists explained a press statement.
The DAP structure consists of long polymer chains containing double carbon bonds. These break when subjected to great heat and force, but they quickly reform when cooled – though this may be in a different configuration.
The team, who published their findings in the journal Materials Today, believe the new material has great potential for space applications. It’s worth noting that they have only tested it in a laboratory setting at the nanoscale.
“This is the first time a material at any scale has displayed this behavior,” Dr. Svetlana Sukhishvili, a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Materials Science and Engineering, explained in the statement.
“Besides being very cool, the new polymer will likely have many applications, including making the windows of space vehicles more resilient to the onslaught of micrometeoroids,” Materials science and engineering professor Dr. Edwin Thomas added.
Potential space and military applications
For their research, the Texas A&M University team set out to develop a material that could protect structures such as orbital satellites and space vehicles from micrometeoroids and debris.
Having tested the material, they believe it could also be used for body armor and other military applications on Earth.
“Polymers are amazing materials, especially DAP materials,” Thomas explained.
“Because at low temperatures, they are stiff and strong; then at higher temperatures, they become elastic; and at still higher temperatures, they become an easily flowing liquid. That’s a huge range of property behavior.”
The team subjected their polymer to a new, state-of-the-art form of ballistic testing called LIPIT (laser-induced projectile impact testing).
This method laser-launches a tiny silica 3.7 micrometer-diameter projectile at the target polymer. This was recorded using an ultrahigh-speed camera with a 3-nanosecond exposure time at 50 nanosecond intervals.
A ‘self-healing’ polymer
To begin with, the scientists thought the projectile might have missed the polymer during testing, as they didn’t see any perforations. In truth, they had discovered the materials “self-healing” properties.
To be precise, the team had found that their new solid polymer film melts when impacted by a laser-launched high-speed projectile. After the impact, it then cools down and snaps back into its original shape.
According to the team’s statement, the polymer absorbs “much of the kinetic energy generated by the projectile, causing the film to stretch and liquify as the projectile continues its journey, finally piercing the film.
Once pierced, the polymer quickly cools, its covalent bonds reform, and it returns to its original solid state, leaving a tiny hole.”
https://interestingengineering.com/space/new-self-healing-satellite-material
https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2025/04/new-self-healing-polymer-possesses-a-quality-never-before-seen-at-any-scale.html
NASA investigating problem with Psyche electric thrusters
April 30, 2025
NASA is investigating a problem with the electric propulsion system on its Psyche asteroid spacecraft, but an agency official said it is not currently a major concern.
In a statement posted by NASA on an agency website April 29, but not widely publicized until April 30, NASA said the electric thrusters on the Psyche spacecraft shut down April 1 when pressure fell in a line that feeds xenon propellant to the thrusters.
The pressure dropped from 36 pounds per square inch (248 kilopascals) to 26 pounds per square inch (179 kilopascals), NASA said, causing the thrusters to stop.
NASA did not disclose how quickly the pressure dropped or other details about the problem.
Psyche launched in October 2023 on a mission to the main belt asteroid of the same name.
The spacecraft turned on its Hall effect thrusters in May 2024 that, along with a Mars flyby in May 2026, will allow the spacecraft to arrive at Psyche in August 2029.
Speaking at a meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group April 30, Louise Prockter, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said teams at JPL were studying the thruster issue.
“The team at JPL is doing a great job figuring out exactly which part is the problem and what’s going on with that,” she said.
Both the electric propulsion system and the spacecraft bus were provided by what is now Maxar Space Systems.
NASA said that Psyche can continue to coast until the middle of June before there is a significant effect on its trajectory. Solutions could include switching to a backup propellant line.
“This kind of thing happens and that’s why we build redundancy into our missions,” Prockter said. “We don’t have any concerns at the moment about it but we’re obviously keeping tabs on it.”
Psyche had been working well since its launch on a Falcon Heavy in October 2023, but suffered problems in its development.
That included software testing delays late in its development that pushed back its launch from August 2022 and increased the mission’s cost from $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
An investigation into the Psyche problems revealed broader institutional issues at JPL caused by a heavy workload and exacerbated by communications problems within the lab.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-investigating-problem-with-psyche-electric-thrusters/
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/psyche/2025/04/29/nasas-psyche-mission-looking-into-propulsion-system/
SpaceX Starlink Mission
May 1 2025, 9:51 p.m. ET
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, May 1 for a Falcon 9 launch of 28 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The four-hour launch window opens at 9:51 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 1:51 a.m. ET on Friday, May 2.
If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Friday, May 2 starting at 9:25 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX.
You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, NG-21, and 11 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-6-75
AIR DROP | Minister warned prisoners could be delivered guns in ‘pressing’ drone fears
May 1, 2025 09:12
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has been warned first hand that ‘there is nothing to stop’ criminals who use drones to fly drugs, alcohol and phones into Ireland’s prisons from also sending in a firearm.
Addressing the Minister at the Prison Officer Association’s Annual Delegates Conference in Galway this morning, General Secretary Karl Dalton also said the flow of contraband into Ireland’s prison is now so bad, prisoners are having to stockpile drugs.
“The level of contraband in our prisons is at unprecedented levels,” he said, “to the extent that prisoners are now storing drugs and phones, such is the level of contraband already in circulation.
“Drone incursions into our prisons are, at the very least, a daily occurrence. “The current netting that covers a lot of our prison yards is not sufficient, it has failed.
“These nets have been burnt through by firebombs dropped by the drones; in some cases, they have collapsed under the weight of snow leaving some prisons without exercise yards for prisoners.
“Drones are so sophisticated nowadays that the only way to stop the steady flow of contraband into our prisons is to stop the drones from flying past the perimeter walls of a prison in the first place.
“Prison officers are simply not able to intervene to what is essentially an external threat”. Mr. Dalton described the dangers posed to prison officers by drones as ‘unquantifiable.’
“Officers are putting their own health and safety at risk to retrieve this contraband on a daily basis.
“Minister, I am not here to sensationalise this issue but if drugs, phones, alcohol, and even weapons(knives) can be sent in by drone then what’s to stop them sending in firearms?
“What is it going to take to ensure that the Department of Justice takes some sort of meaningful action to address this most serious issue.
“If it takes a legislative change and a review of interventions in other jurisdictions Minister, then it is your department’s responsibility to make that change, irrespective of cost”.
Addressing delegates in relation to the drone issue, Minister O’Callagan said €5 million had been allocated for the erection of steel ‘drone proof’ nets.
“I am pleased to say,” he said “that €5 million has been allocated by government for the installation of steel netting capable of withstanding fire-bombing by drones.
“This new netting has already been installed in Mountjoy prison and will be installed in Wheatfield prison shortly.
“I am aware that one of the most pressing issues affecting the security of yourselves and those under your care is the flow of contraband into prisons.
“You are dealing with the impact of this every day, and the Government, along with the Irish Prison Service and POA, are committed to doing what we can to reduce this flow.”
Minister O’Callaghan also highlighted the effectiveness of ‘Operation Throwover’ which has resulted in the arrest and prosecution of multiple drug smuggling drone operators.
“The Irish Prison Service continues to work closely with An Garda Síochána on initiatives including Operation Throwover, which has had a lot of success in its goal to disrupt, interdict and prosecute attempts to introduce contraband into prisons,” he said.
“Earlier this week, I was pleased to witness the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the Director General of the IPS Caron McCaffrey and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.
“This MOU will enable both agencies to collaborate more effectively across a range of areas including prison security, intelligence gathering, evidence preservation and data sharing.
“This collaboration will significantly help to prevent contraband entering prisons.”
https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/minister-warned-prisoners-could-be-delivered-guns-in-pressing-drone-fears/a1423057464.html
Drone video shows multiple semi trucks, horse trailers, and more toppled in 106 mph winds across north Texas
May 1, 2025
Multiple semi trucks, trailers, buildings, and more were toppled by hurricane force winds in north Texas earlier this week.
The rain and high winds hit Baylor County, Texas on Tuesday, April 29th. Seymour, Texas reported a top wind gust of 106 mph, while 5 inch hail fell in Guthrie, Texas farther west.
Drone video of the scene shows a semi truck toppled on a highway, a horse trailer overturned and separated from a pickup, a damaged business with a flipped tractor trailer, and a semi truck stopped in the middle of a roadway with front end damage after striking some sort of heavy equipment that appears to have been blown into the road.
The driver in the first truck was able to escape the wrecked rig on his own by climbing out of the passenger side, but he fell as he exited.
A storm chaser who filmed the incident was able to help the truck driver get bandaged up and drove him to a hospital, reported Fox Weather.
https://cdllife.com/2025/drone-video-shows-multiple-semi-trucks-horse-trailers-and-more-toppled-in-106-mph-winds-across-north-texas/
https://www.facebook.com/100063470173950/videos/672836758669160/
https://www.youtube.com/@StormChaserJordanHall
U.S. House Armed Services Committee - Tactical Air and Land Forces Hearing: Small UAS and Counter-Small UAS: Gaps, Requirements, and Projected Capabilities
Thursday, May 01, 2025 | 09:00 | 2212 RHOB
Witnesses:
Mr. Doug Beck
Director
Defense Innovation Unit
Beck Testimony
https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/diu_statement_for_hasc-talf_suas_cuas_final.pdf
Lieutenant General Eric Austin, USMC
Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Capabilities Development and Integration and Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command
Lieutenant General Austin Testimony
https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ltgen_austin_statement_for_hasc-talf_suas_csuas_hearing_final.pdf
Lieutenant General Robert Collins, USA
Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) and Director, Army Acquisition Corps
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army
Lieutenant General Collins Testimony
https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/lieutenant_general_collins.pdf
Major General David Stewart, USA
Director
Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office
Major General Stewart Testimony
https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/mg_stewart.pdf
https://armedservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=5066
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBhK8WNCl4
RAF Typhoons Joined U.S. Forces in Joint Attack on Houthi Drone Factory
May 1, 2025 at 1:14 PM
As the U.S. continues its combat operations, the UK Ministry of Defence announced on Apr. 30, 2025 that RAF Typhoons conducted new airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
These airstrikes are the first announced combat operations undertaken by the UK against the Houthis since January, and the first since the inauguration of President Trump.
RAF Typhoons had previously joined with U.S. operations against the Houthis throughout 2024 flying from their forward base at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Defence John Healey detailed that “intelligence analysis identified a cluster of buildings 15 miles south of Sanaa used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and in the gulf of Aden.”
He added that the operation involved the use of Paveway IV precision guided bombs, and was supported by Voyager air-to-air refueling aircraft.
RAF Voyagers have been noted providing refueling support to U.S. Navy aircraft on several occasions during anti-Houthi sorties.
A detachment of Typhoon FGR4s has been based at RAF Akrotiri with the 903 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) since 2015, when the UK Parliament voted in favour of extending airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq across the border into Syria.
The force’s primary role has remained supporting Operation Shader – the UK’s effort against ISIS – although with evolving defence requirements and the overall weakening of ISIS they have assumed additional responsibilities.
Along with anti-Houthi strikes, they have also contributed to air policing measures instituted following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and regularly provide RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft with defensive cover over the Black Sea following a 2022 close encounter.
The drawdown of Operation Shader was announced in 2024, and was expected to be completed during 2025, however it is possible that many deployed assets will remain in the region under a new operational name that reflects the additional taskings now placed upon them.
Akrotiri is the most convenient location for forward based aircraft to support all of these taskings from one location, and being UK administered territory likely simplifies diplomatic clearance processes, although for operations against the Houthis it does mean a lengthy 3,000 mile round trip along the Red Sea.
The relatively small force of Typhoons and tankers at Akrotiri also means, while aircraft are participating in these long-distance raids, there is little availability for any other taskings.
With the Prince of Wales carrier strike group (CSG) now in the Mediterranean Sea and eventually bound for a Red Sea transit, it is possible that we will see F-35B Lightning IIs from the aircraft carrier join future airstrikes.
A similar situation happened in 2021, when F-35Bs from HMS Queen Elizabeth joined Operation Shader as the carrier passed through the region.
Carrier-based F-35s will share the advantage utilised by the U.S. Navy in being able to position their floating airfields within an optimal striking distance of intended targets, although this also places the ships at increased risk of attack.
We saw a case of this on Apr. 28 when an inbound attack led to the USS Harry S. Truman taking evasive maneuvers, causing an embarked F/A-18E Super Hornet to be lost overboard.
https://theaviationist.com/2025/05/01/raf-typhoons-joined-us-attack-houthi-drone-factory/
https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1917581786638389729
https://twitter.com/WarshipCam/status/1917191461184979210
India closes airspace to Pakistan-linked aircraft
1 May, 2025 07:00
ndia has closed its airspace to all Pakistan-linked aircraft, including military flights, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors continue to mount following a deadly terrorist attack in the Indian-administrated Jammu and Kashmir.
The move comes in response to last week’s decision by Islamabad to bar Indian-owned or operated airlines from Pakistani airspace.
A Notice to Air Missions, which was published by New Delhi on Wednesday, said: “Indian airspace [is] not available to Pakistan registered aircraft and aircraft operated or leased by Pakistan airlines. These include military flights.”
The announcement means that India and Pakistan have now blocked their airspace to each other until at least May 23.
The only Pakistani carrier currently operating routes through India is Pakistan International Airlines, which flies to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The escalation between India and Pakistan started after the April 22 terrorist attack in India’s Jammu and Kashmir federal territory, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists.
New Delhi blamed the incident on Islamabad, accusing the neighboring country’s government of supporting cross-border terrorism and insurgency.
Islamabad denied the allegations, calling for an impartial investigation into the incident and accusing New Delhi of backing “terrorist networks” operating on Pakistani soil.
The two countries have a long-standing dispute over Kashmir, which is de facto divided by the Line of Control established after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.
Since the attack, India has ordered the expulsion of all Pakistanis from the country, the closure of the border between the two nations, and the suspension of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.
Pakistan responded by suspending all bilateral trade, including through third countries, halting special South Asian visas issued to Indian nationals, along with other tit-for-tat measures.
https://www.rt.com/news/616604-india-pakistan-airspace-kashmir/
Detainees at immigration facility in Texas form SOS message in front of Reuters drone
Wed, April 30th 2025 at 5:44 PM
A group of detainees at an immigration detention facility in Texas formed an SOS message this week that was captured by a Reuters drone as some fear deportation to a notorious El Salvador prison, video released by the news agency on Wednesday showed.
Thirty-one men detained at Bluebonnet Detention Facility in the small town of Anson, Texas, formed the letters in the dirt field after spotting the drone on Monday.
Video shows the men in red and orange jumpsuits waving to the camera, and one person making the "peace" hand sign, before forming the message.
The S-O-S message, meaning "save our souls," is an international code signifying extreme distress and used as a plea for help.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, located roughly 200 miles west of Dallas and 24 miles north of Abilene, has been a target of the Trump administration and its use of the Alien Enemies Act to target those they claim are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The Supreme Court on April 19 temporarily blocked the deportation of any Venezuelans held at the facility after a last-minute plea from several lawyers of men who claim they were suddenly accused of being TdA members, according to the Associated Press.
The families of seven such men told Reuters that they were not gang members and refused to sign any such documentation.
The Trump administration has repeatedly used a rarely-used law from the 1700s to justify deporting detainees, some without trials, to prisons outside the country, like El Salvador's notorious CECOT.
The prison once held deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose deportation before a trial warranted concerns from several federal judges, the Supreme Court, and democratic lawmakers despite the administration's efforts to keep him and many others overseas.
https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/gallery/detainees-texas-migrants-immigration-reuters-drone-sos-save-our-souls-anson-texas-red-orange-jumpsuits-dallas-abilene-alien-enemies-act-legal?photo=1
Judicial Watch: Customs and Border Protection Seize Drones Flying Meth, Heroin, Fentanyl Across U.S. Borders
April 30, 2025
Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 14 pages of records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that show border agents seized drones transporting methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl across the U.S. southern and northern borders.
The records were produced in response to a March 16, 2022, FOIA request for:
Any and all records maintained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security concerning
(1) drones recovered or seized along the United States and Mexico Border
(2) type and quantity of any illegal drugs seized from those drones recovered or seized drones
(3) location where drones were seized or recovered
(4) arrests or convictions resulting from illegal drugs being transported across the United States border via any type of drone
(5) confirmed or suspected incidents where decoy drones were used to draw agents to a fake drug drop site.
The newly obtained records include a September 21, 2022, Customs and Border Protection “Significant Incident Report,” describing activity in New York:
At approximately 0200hrs on 09/21/22, Agents of [redacted] Station in conjunction with [redacted] were notified that [redacted] identified a DJI M300 drone originating in the United States had entered Canada.
The drone landed and spent approximately 10 minutes in Canada. The drone returned to the United States to [redacted] NY where agents were waiting and observed the drone and an attached package, land in the back yard.
Agents entered the property and encountered the drone pilot and an unknown number of additional subjects. At that time, all subjects fled the yard and entered the house. Agents in hot pursuit, entered the house and took the pilot into custody.
An unknown number of subjects absconded from the house into the surrounding neighborhood and 2 additional subjects were later taken into custody. All subjects were identified as Chinese nationals, claiming U.S. citizenship.
The house was cleared for potential people and no evidence was seized at that time. At this time, the house is secured pending a search warrant from federal district court to enter the residence and seize evidence.
At this time, there is a potential to seize a house, 2 vehicles, the package of suspected narcotics, several drones and associated hardware and an unknown quantity of cash.
The suspected narcotics were field tested using the [redacted] and tested positive for the properties of methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) with a weight of 3123 grams [6.88 lbs.].
An October 7, 2021, Customs and Border Protection “Evolving Situation Report” on “Drug Seizure” describes activity in California:
9:28 AM….
[A]t approximately 0840 hrs., a drone [redacted] made an incursion in [redacted] west of [redacted] POE [point of entry]. Agents on the ground observed the drone drop a white package as it hovered over a parking lot west of the [redacted] California POE, [redacted]….
12:29 At approximately 0850, agents on the ground were able to seize the drone along with a small package filled with a white powder substance at the following location [redacted].
2 USC’s [likely referring to U.S. citizens] were arrested in connection with the drone and transported to [redacted]. Agents from [redacted] responded to interview the subjects.
The white powder will be transported to the [redacted] checkpoint to be identified utilizing a [redacted] narcotics analyzer….
17:15 The white powder was tested and determined to be methamphetamine with a weight of .26 kilograms [over ½ lb] and a street value of $1500. The drone and meth have been transported to [redacted] and placed into the [redacted].
An April 29, 2020, Customs and Border Protection “Significant Incident Report” describes activity in Arizona:
[A]t approximately 1705 hours [redacted] Border Patrol Agents (BPAs) in the field notified the [redacted] Border Patrol Station Duty Desk [redacted] regarding a downed drone containing possible narcotics. Supervisory Boder Patrol Agents … arrived on scene and photographed the evidence.
BPAs seized and transported the drone and possible narcotics to [redacted] Station. The Yuma Sector Evidence Team … was notified and responded to the [redacted] Station for testing and fingerprinting.
cont.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/cbp-seize-drones-meth-border/
CIA document exposes truth about Area 51 and UFO sightings - but debate rages on
UPDATED: 04:06 ET, Thu, May 1, 2025
Since it burst onto the conspiracy theory scene in 1989, Area 51 has been shrouded in secrecy, sparking heated debates about its true purpose behind those imposing, barbed wire-topped fences.
The CIA didn't officially confirm the site's existence until 2013. In a resurgence of interest, a hefty 400-page CIA report has people buzzing all over again as it spreads across X.
The document reveals the base's pre-1974 operations, including secret U-2 spy plane tests that seem to explain many UFO sightings misinterpreted by the public.
The report stated: "High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect - a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
"Once U-2s started flying at altitudes above 60,000 feet, air-traffic controllers began receiving increasing numbers of UFO reports.
"At times, when a U-2 pilot made a turn, the sunlight reflecting off the U-2's silver wings would cause a series of glints or flashes. This caused airliner pilots to report seeing a bright object high above them."
Originally constructed in July 1955, Area 51 was pretty basic, equipped with little more than a runway, some housing, water wells, and a scant amount of hangar and shop space.
The next month saw the CIA embark on their clandestine Project AQUATONE, which aimed to bring the Lockheed U-2 strategic reconnaissance aircraft to life.
The aircraft was crafted to keep an eye on the Soviet Union from afar, aiding in intelligence gathering during the Cold War era.
After these initial test flights, the base kicked off the OXCART program in 1960, which led to the creation of the A-12 reconnaissance plane.
This cutting-edge aircraft was designed for missions where speed and stealth were crucial, operating for five years over politically sensitive territories.
"In early 1962, CIA officials became concerned about the possibility that the Soviet Union might learn about the OXCART program through overhead reconnaissance," the document revealed.
To assess this risk, they had Area 51 snapped by a U-2 and later by a CORONA reconnaissance satellite.
Yet, astronauts aboard America's maiden space station also captured images of the site.
Despite explicit orders to avoid it, Skylab astronauts accidentally took photos of the Groom Lake testing grounds.
The report came to light following a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2005, but it has faced criticism.
"The notion that the U-2 explains most sightings at that time is utter rot and baloney," declared self-styled Ufologist Stanton Friedman in 2013.
"Can the U-2 sit still in the sky? Make right-angle turns in the middle of the sky? Take off from nothing?".
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/170418/cia-document-exposes-truth-about-area-51-ufo-sightings-everyone-convinced
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14660899/Little-known-CIA-document-reveals-Area-51s-TRUE-purpose.html
Securing the Skies or Hiding the Truth?
Apr 30, 2025
What did we learn from yesterday's Congressional hearing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIO7Ep9ZWGQ