TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
May 7, 2025
Galaxy Wars: M81 versus M82
In the upper left corner, surrounded by blue arms and dotted with red nebulas, is spiral galaxy M81. In the lower right corner, marked by a light central line and surrounded by red glowing gas, is irregular galaxy M82. This stunning vista shows these two mammoth galaxies locked in gravitational combat, as they have been for the past billion years. The gravity from each galaxy dramatically affects the other during each hundred-million-year pass. Last go-round, M82's gravity likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. But M81 left M82 with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays. This big battle is seen from Earth through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy. In a few billion years, only one galaxy will remain.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Human Landing Systems
Updated May 6, 2025
NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) Program is working with two U.S. companies to develop landers that will safely carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back throughout the agency’s Artemis campaign: SpaceX for Artemis III and Artemis IV, and Blue Origin for Artemis V.
Beginning with Artemis III, the lander will be launched uncrewed to lunar orbit to wait for the crew.
Launching atop NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft will bring the astronauts from Earth to the lander in lunar orbit. A crew of two will transfer to the lander from Orion and descend to the Moon’s surface.
For later crewed missions, astronauts will use NASA’s Gateway
lunar space station for crew transfer.
For early Artemis missions, the landers will also serve as living quarters for the astronauts while on the Moon. The crew will collect samples, perform science experiments, test new technologies, and observe the Moon’s environment.
When the surface mission concludes, the crew will return to lunar orbit in the lander to meet up with their crewmates and head home to Earth in Orion.
Partnering with U.S. industry bolsters the American space economy and industrial base while reducing costs to taxpayers.
NASA shares its knowledge and expertise with both SpaceX and Blue Origin and maintains oversight of safety while the companies develop, test, and mature their lander designs.
NASA also formally collaborates with industry through task agreements that provide engineering expertise and unique facilities to help solve some of human spaceflight’s most challenging issues.
Leveraging NASA’s unique and historic experience in lunar exploration, paired with the speed and innovation of industry, the HLS Program is providing the key lunar landing capability for Artemis to achieve a long-term human presence in deep space.
Innovative Landing Systems
NASA is working with SpaceX to develop a lunar lander version of the company’s Starship to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back during Artemis III. For this mission, the Starship HLS will dock directly with Orion in lunar orbit.
For the Artemis IV mission, NASA is working with SpaceX to further develop the Starship HLS to meet an extended set of requirements, such as docking with Gateway for crew transfer and landing more mass on the lunar surface.
In order to ensure a robust landing capability, NASA is also working with Blue Origin to develop a crewed lunar version of the company’s Blue Moon lander.
The Blue Moon HLS will be used during the Artemis V mission and will meet the same set of requirements as the Starship HLS for Artemis IV.
Large Cargo Delivery Landers
In addition to the landers that will be used for astronauts, the HLS program is also working with its industry providers to develop cargo versions of their crew landers to deliver large pieces of equipment and infrastructure, such as rovers and habitats, to the Moon’s surface in support of exploration.
https://www.nasa.gov/reference/human-landing-systems-2/
NASA Live Coverage, Original Content Now Streaming on Prime Video
May 06, 2025
NASA’s on-demand streaming service, NASA+, launched a FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) channel on Prime Video Tuesday, giving viewers another way to watch the agency’s aeronautics, human spaceflight, science, and technology missions unfold on screen.
As the agency continues to improve life on Earth and inspire new generations through innovation, exploration, and discovery, NASA+ is dedicated to sharing stories through live launch coverage, original documentaries, family-friendly content, and more.
“Streaming NASA+ on multiple platforms allows the agency to more efficiently share its missions, from launching astronauts to the International Space Station, to going behind the scenes with the team that defends Earth against asteroids, to showcasing new, high-definition images of the cosmos,” said Wes Brown, acting associate administrator for the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“NASA provides an up-close look at how the agency explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all by ensuring content is easily accessible and widely available to the public.”
In addition to the FAST channel, NASA+ is available to download without a subscription on most major platforms via the NASA App on iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices, as well as streaming media players like Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV.
Users also may stream online at: https://plus.nasa.gov/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-live-coverage-original-content-now-streaming-on-prime-video/
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-progresses-toward-crewed-moon-mission-with-spacecraft-rocket-milestones/
NASA Progresses Toward Crewed Moon Mission with Spacecraft, Rocket Milestones
May 06, 2025
Engineers, technicians, mission planners, and the four astronauts set to fly around the Moon next year on Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission, are rapidly progressing toward launch.
At the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams are working around the clock to move into integration and final testing of all SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft elements.
Recently they completed two key milestones – connecting the SLS upper stage with the rest of the assembled rocket and moving Orion from its assembly facility to be fueled for flight.
“We’re extremely focused on preparing for Artemis II, and the mission is nearly here,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, assistant deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Moon to Mars Program, who also will chair the mission management team during Artemis II.
“This crewed test flight, which will send four humans around the Moon, will inform our future missions to the Moon and Mars.”
On May 1, technicians successfully attached the interim cryogenic propulsion stage to the SLS rocket elements already poised atop mobile launcher 1, including its twin solid rocket boosters and core stage, inside the spaceport’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
This portion of the rocket produces 24,750 pounds of thrust for Orion after the rest of the rocket has completed its job.
Teams soon will move into a series of integrated tests to ensure all the rocket’s elements are communicating with each other and the Launch Control Center as expected.
The tests include verifying interfaces and ensuring SLS systems work properly with the ground systems.
Meanwhile, on May 3, Orion left its metaphorical nest, the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Facility at Kennedy, where it was assembled and underwent initial testing.
There the crew module was outfitted with thousands of parts including critical life support systems for flight and integrated with the service module and crew module adapter.
Its next stop on the road to the launch pad is the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, where it will be carefully fueled with propellants, high pressure gases, coolant, and other fluids the spacecraft and its crew need to maneuver in space and carry out the mission.
After fueling is complete, the four astronauts flying on the mission around the Moon and back over the course of approximately 10 days, will board the spacecraft in their Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits to test all the equipment interfaces they will need to operate during the mission.
This will mark the first time NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will board their actual spacecraft while wearing their spacesuits.
After the crewed testing is complete, technicians will move Orion to Kennedy’s Launch Abort System Facility, where the critical escape system will be added.
From there, Orion will move to the VAB to be integrated with the fully assembled rocket.
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NASA also announced its second agreement with an international space agency to fly a CubeSat on the mission.
The collaborations provide opportunities for other countries to work alongside NASA to integrate and fly technology and experiments as part of the agency’s Artemis campaign.
While engineers at Kennedy integrate and test hardware with their eyes on final preparations for the mission, teams responsible for launching and flying the mission have been busy preparing for a variety of scenarios they could face.
The launch team at Kennedy has completed more than 30 simulations across cryogenic propellant loading and terminal countdown scenarios.
The crew has been taking part in simulations for mission scenarios, including with teams in mission control.
In April, the crew and the flight control team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston simulated liftoff through a planned manual piloting test together for the first time.
The crew also recently conducted long-duration fit checks for their spacesuits and seats, practicing several operations while under various suit pressures.
Teams are heading into a busy summer of mission preparations.
While hardware checkouts and integration continue, in coming months the crew, flight controllers, and launch controllers will begin practicing their roles in the mission together as part of integrated simulations.
In May, the crew will begin participating pre-launch operations and training for emergency scenarios during launch operations at Kennedy and observe a simulation by the launch control team of the terminal countdown portion of launch.
In June, recovery teams will rehearse procedures they would use in the case of a pad or ascent abort off the coast of Florida, with launch and flight control teams supporting.
The mission management team, responsible for reviewing mission status and risk assessments for issues that arise and making decisions about them, also will begin practicing their roles in simulations.
Later this summer, the Orion stage adapter will arrive at the VAB from NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and stacked on top of the rocket.
Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
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Crew Spends Tuesday Focused on Health Research
May 6, 2025
A full suite of human health research kept the Expedition 73 crew busy Tuesday aboard the International Space Station.
Current station commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started the day powering on and setting up the Ultrasound 2 device to assist NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim with an eye exam that looks at optic nerve health.
Following the exam, Kim donned a lightweight thigh cuff while Onishi guided a cardiovascular ultrasound scan to measure Kim’s vision and blood flow changes.
This ongoing health research is helping scientists better understand if wearing a device like the thigh cuff could prevent upward blood and fluid shifts.
Onishi then moved on to collect and process water samples from the Potable Water Dispenser before continuing to unpack a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft which arrived to the station April 22.
Meanwhile, Kim photographed tomato plants for a space agricultural study before assisting NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain with additional health research.
McClain spent her morning on Dragon cargo operations then focused the rest of her day on a collection of human health research for the CIPHER study, or the Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research.
CIPHER takes a full-body approach to investigate how multiple systems of the body react to spaceflight, which could help prepare future crews on missions to the Moon and beyond.
McClain collected biological samples for analysis by ground teams, then received an ultrasound scan guided by Kim that looks at the health of the back of her eye.
In the Columbus Laboratory Module, NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers set up and donned the Bio-Monitor, a garment and headband she’ll wear for the next 48 hours to investigate the effect of microgravity on the cardiovascular system.
Later on, she removed and replaced cable arm ropes on the orbital lab’s Advanced Resistive Exercise Device before moving on to Dragon cargo operations.
In the Roscosmos segment, Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky took inventory of storage areas then continued yesterday’s work with Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov to install hardware for an experiment that will examine the station’s aerodynamic force.
Their colleague, Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov, spent the day inventorying a variety of items including hygiene products, food, and more.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/05/06/crew-spends-tuesday-focused-on-health-research/
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/nasas-nicer-maps-debris-from-recurring-cosmic-crashes/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adb972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBzL97Dh4xA
NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes
May 06, 2025
For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions.
Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions.
A system astronomers have nicknamed Ansky is the eighth QPE source discovered, and it produces the most energetic outbursts seen to date.
Ansky also sets records in terms of timing and duration, with eruptions every 4.5 days or so that last approximately 1.5 days.
“These QPEs are mysterious and intensely interesting phenomena,” said Joheen Chakraborty, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
“One of the most intriguing aspects is their quasi-periodic nature. We’re still developing the methodologies and frameworks we need to understand what causes QPEs, and Ansky’s unusual properties are helping us improve those tools.”
Ansky’s name comes from ZTF19acnskyy, the moniker of a visible-light outburst seen in 2019.
It was located in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. This event was the first indication that something unusual might be happening.
A leading theory suggests that QPEs occur in systems where a relatively low-mass object passes through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black hole that holds hundreds of thousands to billions of times the Sun’s mass.
When the lower-mass object punches through the disk, its passage drives out expanding clouds of hot gas that we observe as QPEs in X-rays.
Scientists think the eruptions' quasi-periodicity occurs because the smaller object’s orbit is not perfectly circular and spirals toward the black hole over time.
Also, the extreme gravity close to the black hole warps the fabric of space-time, altering the object’s orbits so they don’t close on themselves with each cycle.
Scientists’ current understanding suggests the eruptions repeat until the disk disappears or the orbiting object disintegrates, which may take up to a few years.
“Ansky’s extreme properties may be due to the nature of the disk around its supermassive black hole,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal Research and Technology to Explore Supermassive Black Holes, the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, and University of Valparaíso in Chile.
“In most QPE systems the supermassive black hole likely shreds a passing star, creating a small disk very close to itself. In Ansky’s case, we think the disk is much larger and can involve objects farther away, creating the longer timescales we observe.”
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Hernández-García, in addition to being a co-author on Chakraborty’s paper, led the study that discovered Ansky’s QPEs, which was published in April in Nature Astronomy and used data from NICER, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton space telescope.
NICER’s position on the International Space Station allowed it to observe Ansky about 16 times every day from May to July 2024. The frequency of the observations was critical in detecting the X-ray fluctuations that revealed Ansky produces QPEs.
Chakraborty’s team used data from NICER and XMM-Newton to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the observed QPEs in unprecedented detail by studying variations in X-ray intensity during the rise and fall of each eruption.
The researchers found that each impact resulted in about a Jupiter’s worth of mass reaching expansion velocities around 15% of the speed of light.
The NICER telescope’s ability to frequently observe Ansky from the space station and its unique measurement capabilities also made it possible for the team to measure the size and temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as it expanded.
“All NICER’s Ansky observations used in these papers were collected after the instrument experienced a ‘light leak’ in May 2023,” said Zaven Arzoumanian, the mission’s science lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Even though the leak – which was patched in January – affected the telescope’s observing strategy, NICER was still able to make vital contributions to time domain astronomy, or the study of changes in the cosmos on timescales we can see.”
After the repair, NICER continued observing Ansky to explore how the outbursts have evolved over time. A paper about these results, led by Hernández-García and co-authored by Chakraborty, is under review.
Observational studies of QPEs like Chakraborty’s will also play a key role in preparing the science community for a new era of multimessenger astronomy, which combines measurements using light, elementary particles, and space-time ripples called gravitational waves to better understand objects and events in the universe.
One goal of ESA’s future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, in which NASA is a partner, is to study extreme mass-ratio inspirals — or systems where a low-mass object orbits a much more massive one, like Ansky.
These systems should emit gravitational waves that are not observable with current facilities. Electromagnetic studies of QPEs will help improve models of those systems ahead of LISA’s anticipated launch in the mid-2030s.
“We’re going to keep observing Ansky for as long as we can,” Chakraborty said. “We’re still in the infancy of understanding QPEs. It’s such an exciting time because there’s so much to learn.”
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Indian astronauts' footprints will be on Moon; Mars, Venus also on radar: PM Modi
May 07, 2025 05:19 pm IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) that India was marching ahead with renewed confidence in the field of space exploration and its astronauts' footprints will be on the Moon.
Mars and Venus were also on the country's radar for exploration missions, he stressed, in a pre-recorded message for the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) 2025.
PM Modi said for India, space was about exploration as well as empowerment, and listed out plans to set up the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the Moon by 2040.
"India's space journey is not about racing others. It is about reaching higher together.
Together, we share a common goal to explore space for the good of humanity," he said in the video message that was recorded on Tuesday (May 6, 2025.)
He said India has launched a satellite for the South Asian nations and the G20 satellite, announced during its presidency of the grouping, will be a gift to the Global South.
"Our first human space-flight mission, 'Gaganyaan', highlights our nation's rising aspirations," PM Modi said referring to the mission planned for early 2027 launch.
"By 2035, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station will open new frontiers in research and global cooperation. By 2040, an Indian's footprints will be on the Moon. Mars and Venus are also on our radar," he said.
He recalled that India's space journey started with the launch of a small rocket in 1963 and became the first nation to land near the South Pole of the Moon.
"Our journey has been remarkable. Our rockets carry more than payloads.
They carry the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians. India's achievements are significant scientific milestones. Beyond that, they are proof that the human spirit can defy gravity," Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that in the coming weeks, an Indian astronaut will travel to space as part of a joint Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-NASA Mission to the International Space Station.
The Axiom-4 mission is scheduled for launch on May 29, and Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others will undertake a 14-day sojourn to the orbital laboratory.
The GLEX 2025 is organised by the International Astronautical Federation and the ISRO.
"Space is not just a destination. It is a declaration of curiosity, courage, and collective progress. India's space journey reflects this spirit," Mr. Modi said.
He said India made history by reaching Mars on its first attempt in 2014, Chandrayaan-1 helped discover water on the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 gave the world the highest-resolution images of the Moon, and Chandrayaan-3 increased the understanding of the lunar South Pole.
"We built cryogenic engines in a record time. We launched 100 satellites in a single mission. We have launched more than 400 satellites for 34 nations on our launch vehicles.
This year, we docked two satellites in space, a major step forward," PM Modi said.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indian-astronauts-footprints-will-be-on-moon-mars-venus-also-on-radar-pm-modi/article69548755.ece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WZlbaKui84
Mysterious substance spotted swirling across the surface of the Baltic Sea — Earth from space
May 7, 2025
This striking false-color satellite image shows masses of organic material swirling along the Polish coastline.
When the photo was taken, the composition of these giant swirls was unknown, but surprising research has since revealed what they are made of.
In 2000, satellite imagery revealed the presence of previously unknown, near-invisible films of organic material, or "slicks," periodically appearing on the ocean surface in and around the Gulf of Gdańsk — a section of the Baltic Sea surrounding the city of Gdańsk on Poland's north coast.
The best example of this intriguing phenomenon occurred in May 2018, when the swirls reached more than 130 miles (210 kilometers) from the coastline, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
The photos of this event (see above and below) have been altered to highlight the wavelengths of light coming from the mystery substance, which also makes the land surrounding Gdańsk appear red.
Scientists were initially unsure what these slicks were made of. They formed similar patterns to photosynthetic algae blooms that get swirled across the ocean surface by wind and ocean currents.
However, such blooms are normally clearly visible to the naked eye in most satellite photos, and often emerge several months earlier than when the slicks kept appearing.
Some researchers later proposed that the material could be "sea snot" — a slimy substance produced by some plankton, which can stick to boats and along the coastline.
However, locals have never reported any sea snot outbreaks in the area. But during a 2023 study into the slicks, researchers finally realized what they were made of: tree pollen.
Using data collected by NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, the study team revealed that similar slicks had appeared 14 times between 2000 and 2001.
The timing of these slicks, which often appear between May and June, closely matched the pollen cycle of pine trees (Pinus sylvestris), suggesting that the trees' pollen was being blown out to sea and settling on the ocean's surface.
A further analysis of the light reflected off the slicks confirmed this hypothesis.
Ocean pollen
Pine trees are the most common tree in Poland, making up around 60% of the country's forests, which in turn cover one-third of the nation's landmass, according to State Forests Poland.
Previous research had already shown that the pollen of these trees could end up in the Baltic Sea. But until the 2023 study, there was no indication that this was happening on such a large scale, according to the Earth Observatory.
Due to pollen's high organic carbon content, researchers believe follow-up studies are needed to fully assess the role it plays in marine ecosystems across the globe.
"If we can track pollen aggregation in different places, this may provide useful data for fisheries studies," Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanographer at the University of South Florida who led the 2023 study, previously told the Earth Observatory.
The amount of pollen reaching the world's oceans is also likely increasing as a result of human-caused climate change:
A 2021 study in North America revealed that annual pollen levels increased by 21% between 1990 and 2018, and that the pollen season lasted for around 20 days longer on average.
This is the result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, which allows plants to produce more pollen — and is happening around the world.
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/mysterious-substance-spotted-swirling-across-the-surface-of-the-baltic-sea-earth-from-space
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425722004436
China calls for stronger international cooperation on peaceful space use, better global governance
2025-05-07
(ECNS) – China has called for stronger international cooperation on the peaceful use of outer space and for continued improvement in global space governance.
Li Song, permanent representative of China to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, made the remarks at the 64th Session of Legal Subcommittee, Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), on Monday, local time.
Li pointed out that today, space technology is reshaping humanity's exploration of the cosmos at an unprecedented pace.
From revolutionary satellite communications to precision global navigation, from deep-space exploration to commercial spaceflight, breakthroughs expand human horizons while presenting new governance challenges, he said.
It was noted that the international community must uphold true multilateralism, reject unilateralism and all bullying practices, and reinforce the role of the Legal Subcommittee (LSC) and Scientific & Technical Subcommittee (STSC).
"We must adhere to the fundamental principles of space law established by the Outer Space Treaty, strengthen international cooperation on the peaceful use of outer space and continuously improve global space governance," the representative said.
China consistently upholds the international order based on space law, fulfills its obligations under space treaties in good faith, actively promotes the rule of law in outer space, and advances the improvement of global space governance, Li said.
He added that the country actively engages in international space cooperation, sharing its achievements with the world.
Besides, the first batch of international experiments selected in collaboration with UNOOSA is now underway aboard the China Space Station.
"China remains committed to making greater contributions to the peaceful use of outer space and global governance, fostering a community with a shared future in outer space, and ensuring that space exploration will benefit all humanity — especially people of the Global South," he concluded.
https://www.ecns.cn/m/news/cns-wire/2025-05-07/detail-iherfyrs7207536.shtml
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-method-tracking-ocean-carbon-space.html
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL113707
Researchers develop new method for tracking ocean carbon from space
May 6, 2025
The ocean plays a large role in cycling carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Determining how much carbon is locked away in the ocean is critical to understanding Earth's changing climate.
However, measuring and monitoring oceanographic processes on a massive scale poses a challenge to scientists.
MBARI researchers and collaborators from Florida State University have developed a new method for analyzing satellite data to better predict the export of carbon.
The team recently published their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "We urgently need tools to monitor the ocean-carbon connection on a global scale.
By leveraging diverse sets of data, we've identified a new path forward to improve carbon export estimates from space," said Monique Messié, a senior research specialist who leads MBARI's Data Integration and Interdisciplinary Oceanography Team and was lead author on the recent study.
The ocean and its inhabitants are critical parts of Earth's carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, and marine life converts it into organic material that later sinks into the deep sea.
Together, these processes can lock away, or sequester, carbon from the atmosphere in the ocean's depths, a process known as carbon export.
Direct measurements of carbon export are scarce, so scientists have to rely on models and satellite data to understand large-scale patterns in the ocean-carbon connection.
Tiny plant-like phytoplankton in the ocean's surface waters convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon via photosynthesis. Scientists can use satellite ocean color data to estimate phytoplankton productivity.
However, existing satellite-based models often do not capture what happens below the ocean's surface.
Coastal upwelling in the California Current—a cool, nutrient-rich current running from British Columbia to Baja California—creates a boom of productivity.
Ocean currents can carry phytoplankton hundreds of kilometers offshore. Marine life consumes phytoplankton, transporting carbon through the food web as food and waste.
Dead phytoplankton and carbon-rich waste ultimately sink to the depths below, part of a biological pump that can lock carbon away in the deep sea for thousands of years.
MBARI's Data Integration and Interdisciplinary Oceanography Team works to understand ocean processes by leveraging diverse datasets from various disciplines, from physics to ecosystems.
The team is particularly interested in addressing which processes drive patterns of biological communities throughout the water column over time.
These relationships are especially challenging to decipher because they are not always direct.
For example, because plankton are displaced by currents, what we observe in one location may be the result of past conditions tens of kilometers away.
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The Data Integration and Interdisciplinary Oceanography Team develops models to untangle these effects and uncover which processes drive biological communities, describe how they occur, and quantify their impact.
MBARI has deployed a suite of advanced technologies at Station M, a research site offshore of Central California, to monitor the abyssal seafloor.
The trove of data from this long-term observatory has helped researchers understand how carbon is cycled from the surface to the deep sea.
MBARI researchers and collaborators had previously observed pulses of carbon to the deep seafloor that could not be explained by existing satellite-based algorithms of carbon export.
Those algorithms model ocean physics and biogeochemistry, but do not consider the lag in both time and space between phytoplankton productivity at the surface and carbon export to the deep sea.
Messié and a team of MBARI researchers and collaborators sought to identify a new avenue to improve estimates of carbon export.
The team developed a Lagrangian growth-advection satellite-derived model that maps plankton succession and export onto surface oceanic circulation following coastal upwelling.
The model was initially designed to track biological hotspots where marine life congregates.
Instead of relying on ocean color data to estimate carbon export, this new approach incorporates the offsets between production and export, the role of zooplankton, and advection of plankton blooms by ocean currents.
This method performed as well as models that rely on ocean color or long-term monitoring of carbon raining down on the abyssal seafloor.
The team's success demonstrates that export can be well represented from space without ocean color, using a plankton model and satellite-derived tracks of oceanic currents.
These results provide new insights into what controls carbon export, how to represent it from space, and its spatiotemporal patterns in a productive oceanic region.
MBARI's Data Integration and Interdisciplinary Oceanography Team will leverage this new model to better understand how deep-sea carbon fluxes are connected to surface processes.
Next year, incoming MBARI Postdoctoral Fellow Théo Picard will work with Messié to explore what mechanisms drive the unexplained intense pulses observed in MBARI's long-term monitoring at Station M.
In addition to refining the Lagrangian growth-advection model of surface carbon export, Picard will use machine learning to build upon previous analyses to estimate surface area catchment at Station M and work with MBARI's Carbon Flux Ecology Team to investigate the role of biological community composition.
"A complex web of physical and biological factors influence the oceanic carbon cycle.
Using satellite data about winds and currents shows promise for estimating ocean carbon export, offering a complementary perspective to models that use ocean color visible from space.
We hope the marine research community can build upon our work to better represent complex oceanographic processes from satellite data," said Messié.
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In a first, physicists spot elusive 'free-range' atoms — confirming a century-old theory about quantum mechanics
May 7, 2025
For the first time, scientists have observed solo atoms floating freely and interacting in space.
The discovery helps to confirm some of the most basic principles of quantum mechanics that were first predicted more than a century ago but were never directly verified.
Individual atoms are notoriously difficult to observe due to their quantum nature. Researchers cannot, for example, know both an atom's position and its velocity at the same time, due to quantum weirdness.
But using certain laser techniques, they have captured images of clouds of atoms.
"It's like seeing a cloud in the sky, but not the individual water molecules that make up the cloud," Martin Zwierlein, a physicist at MIT and co-author of the new research, said in a statement.
The new method goes one step further, allowing scientists to capture images of "free-range" atoms in free space. First, Zwierlein and his colleagues corralled a cloud of sodium atoms in a loose trap at ultracold temperatures.
Then, they shot a lattice of laser light through the cloud to temporarily freeze the atoms in place. A second, fluorescent laser then illuminated the individual atoms' positions.
The observed atoms belong to a group called bosons. These particles share the same quantum mechanical state and, as a result, behave like a wave, bunching together.
This concept was first proposed by French physicist Louis de Broglie in 1924 and has subsequently become known as a "de Broglie wave."
Sure enough, the bosons Zwierlein and his team observed displayed de Broglie wave behavior. The researchers also captured images of lithium fermions — a type of particle that repels similar particles rather than bunching together.
The results were published May 5 in the journal Physical Review Letters. Two other groups reported using a similar technique to observe pairs of bosons and fermions in the same issue of the journal.
"We are able to see single atoms in these interesting clouds of atoms and what they are doing in relation to each other, which is beautiful," Zwierlein said.
In the future, the team plans to use the new technique — called "atom-resolved microscopy" — to investigate other quantum mechanical phenomena.
For example, they may use it to try observing the "quantum Hall effect," in which electrons sync up under the influence of a strong magnetic field.
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/quantum-physics/in-a-first-physicists-spot-elusive-free-range-atoms-confirming-a-century-old-theory-about-quantum-mechanics
https://news.mit.edu/2025/mit-physicists-snap-first-images-free-range-atoms-0505
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.183402
Dan Sullivan Explodes At Dem Colleagues, Accuses Ex-Senator Jon Tester Of 'Screwing Veterans'
May 6, 2025
At today's Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) for not doing enough to stop law firms from profiting from Camp Lejeune settlements over veterans.
https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mSrpx5uIlg
SpaceX's Starbase becomes a new Texas city after landslide election
May 6, 2025
Update for 2:45 p.m. ET on May 6: Voters decided to incorporate Starbase as a city on Saturday (May 3), by a count of 212 to six.
SpaceX could soon have its own city in South Texas.
In December, Elon Musk's company submitted a petition requesting an election to potentially incorporate its Starbase site — the manufacturing and launch hub for its new Starship megarocket — as a city.
And now the time has come: The election will be held on Saturday (May 3).
If you're expecting some late-night vote-counting drama, you'll probably be disappointed.
"The election is likely to go Musk’s way. That’s because most of the voters work for him," wrote Lauren McGaughy of The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration of public radio stations in the Lone Star State.
"The Texas Newsroom obtained a list of the 283 voters eligible to cast a ballot in the Starbase special election," McGaughy added.
"More than 3 in 5 work for SpaceX, according to an analysis of LinkedIn profiles and social media posts documenting their employment.
An additional 20 were among the dozens of people who signed a petition calling for the incorporation vote."
So at least two-thirds of the folks eligible to vote in Saturday's election "either work for SpaceX or have already indicated their support for the new City of Starbase," she wrote. "The number could be much higher."
Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, and it's designed to be fully and rapidly reusable.
SpaceX thinks the vehicle will make Mars settlement — a long-held dream of Musk's — economically feasible at long last.
Making Starbase a city is a step along that ambitious path as well, according to the company.
"To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community," SpaceX said in the December 2024 petition, which was addressed to Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr.
"Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world-class place to live — for hundreds already calling it home, as well as for prospective workers eager to help build humanity's future in space," the company added.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/will-spacexs-starbase-become-a-city-voters-will-decide-on-may-3
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/welcome-starbase-population-283-rcna204214
Venus, Saturn and Neptune align in the predawn sky this week: Here's how to spot them
May 7, 2025
Venus will partner up with the giant planets Saturn and Neptune to form a line up in the pre-dawn sky on May 8, with fleet-footed Mercury remaining nearby close to With Mercury sticking low to the horizon in the hour preceding
To find the planetary line-up, stargazers should look to the eastern sky below the head of the western great fish represented in the constellation Pisces a few hours before sunrise on May 8, which will occur for viewers in New York at 5:46 a.m. (0946 GMT).
All three of the tightly packed worlds will have risen above the horizon by 4:15 a.m., with Venus (magnitude -4.38) on the left, and Saturn (magnitude 1.18) on the right.
Neptune will make for a trickier viewing target, given that it is the only major planet in our solar system that is not visible to the naked eye.
The ice giant's relative dimness comes as a result of its far flung orbit, which takes it over 30 times further from our sun than the average distance between our star and Earth, according to NASA.
In order to spot Neptune, stargazers will need to get their hands on a good pair of binoculars or a telescope, which will reveal the reclusive world as a blueish point of light.
On the morning of May 8, Neptune will be particularly easy to find sitting around half way between Venus and Saturn.
The pre-dawn hour will see the planetary trio crammed into a 10 degree patch of sky (about as wide as your fist at arm's length), making them a tempting target for the astrophotography community.
Planet Mercury will also peek its head above the horizon shortly before the sun rises.
As always astronomy enthusiasts must always take care to never point binoculars or any telescopic equipment towards the rising sun, and to avoid staring in its direction with the naked eye, as doing so can lead to permanent loss of vision.
This configuration of planets will hold relatively stable from the perspective of Earth for the following two nights.
However, by May 11 it will become apparent that Neptune and Saturn are growing ever more distant from brighter Venus.
As the month wears on, Venus will remain relatively close to the eastern horizon, while its two planetary siblings drift maintain a close formation as they drift to a more south easterly position, and rise ever higher in the morning sky.
Interested in seeing the planets of the solar system for yourself? Then be sure to check out our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals available in 2025.
Those looking to create a permanent record of their stargazing sessions should also read our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography, and best lenses for astrophotography can lenses to help you focus in on your next celestial target.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/venus-saturn-and-neptune-align-in-the-predawn-sky-this-week-heres-how-to-spot-them
Japan's Resilience moon lander arrives in lunar orbit ahead of historic touchdown try
May 6, 2025
A private Japanese lunar lander is now in orbit around the moon.
The Resilience spacecraft, which was built by the Tokyo-based company ispace, arrived at the moon on schedule Tuesday (May 6), keeping it on target for a historic touchdown try a month from now.
"First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that the Resilience lander successfully reached lunar orbit as planned today," Takeshi Hakamada, ispace's founder and CEO, said in a statement.
"We will continue to proceed with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing."
Resilience launched Jan. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with another private moon lander — Blue Ghost, which was built and operated by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace.
Blue Ghost took a more direct route to the moon, arriving in lunar orbit on Feb. 13 and touching down on Earth's nearest neighbor on March 2.
That was a historic moment; Blue Ghost became just the second private spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, after Intuitive Machines' Odysseus craft in February 2024.
Resilience, by contrast, took its time, taking a low-energy, fuel-conserving path that featured a close lunar flyby on Feb. 14.
If all goes according to plan, Resilience will touch down on June 5 within Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold"), a basaltic plain in the moon's northern hemisphere.
A successful landing would be the second for Japan, whose national space agency put a spacecraft called SLIM ("Smart Lander for Investigating Moon') down in January 2024.
Resilience is carrying five science and tech payloads. One of them is a miniature rover named Tenacious, which was built by ispace's Luxembourg-based subsidiary.
Tenacious will collect some moon dirt under a contract with NASA. And the little rover is carrying a payload of its own — "Moonhouse," a project by artist Mikael Genberg, which sits on Tenacious' front bumper.
The June 5 landing try will be the second for ispace, which aims to help open the moon for further exploration and resource exploitation.
The company's first lunar lander successfully reached orbit in March 2023 but failed during its touchdown try that April.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/japans-resilience-moon-lander-arrives-in-lunar-orbit-ahead-of-historic-touchdown-try
https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=7327
Volume is a little too low in that particular video
FAA gives environmental approval for increased Starship launch rate
May 6, 2025
The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to perform as many as 25 Starship launches a year from its Texas site, five times the previous limit.
The FAA issued a record of decision May 6 on an environmental assessment regarding an increase in launches from SpaceX’s Starbase facility at Boca Chica, Texas.
The assessment evaluated a request by SpaceX to conduct up to 25 Starship/Super Heavy launches annually from Starbase, along with up to 25 landings each of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage.
That assessment resulted in what is formally known as a mitigated finding of no significant impact (FONSI), which means the proposed increase in launches would not result in significant environmental effects requiring a more thorough environment impact statement.
“The FAA has determined that the Proposed Action is a reasonable, feasible, practicable, and prudent alternative for a federal decision in light of the established goals and objectives,” the FAA stated in the record of decision.
The approval comes with it an extensive list of conditions, some continued from prior environmental approvals and others new requirements.
They notably include conditions regarding wastewater discharges from its launch deluge system, after allegations that the company had used the system without required permits.
The FAA’s decision came after a public comment period that included two in-person public meetings in Brownsville, Texas, and one virtual public meeting in January.
The FAA stated it received 12,303 comments on the draft of the environmental assessment.
At the virtual public meeting, held Jan. 13, a majority of participants said they opposed the plan.
Many expressed opposition to the proposals in the environmental assessment for potential Starship landings in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, something SpaceX has not attempted to date and would be unlikely to do frequently as it plans ultimately to land Starship back at Starbase.
One change in the final environmental assessment is that any Starship landings in the Pacific would be outside of the 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometer) exclusive economic zone surrounding Hawaii, with an additional buffer zone around a marine national monument in the region.
The FAA stated it made the change based on public comments.
Even those who said at the virtual public meeting they support Starship launches expressed some reservations.
“We’re excited by what SpaceX does,” said David Dixon, who said he owns properties on South Padre Island, north of Starbase, but worried about the effect vibrations from the launches had on buildings.
“I know it’s doing long-term damage.”
The Starbase assessment is one of several environmental reviews regarding new or increased SpaceX launch activities at several locations.
In March, the FAA approved a request from SpaceX to increase the number of Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Space Launch Complex (SLC) 4 from 36 per year to 50.
The Department of the Air Force has started another environmental review to allow SpaceX to perform up to 100 Falcon launches a year from both SLC-4 and SLC-6, which SpaceX is converting to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.
At Cape Canaveral, the FAA is conducting an environmental assessment for additional Falcon 9 launches from SLC-40, which includes a virtual public meeting May 8.
The FAA is performing a separate environmental review for Starship launches from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, while the Department of the Air Force is doing its own review of potential Starship launches from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-37, previously used by the Delta 4, or a proposed new SLC-50.
https://spacenews.com/faa-gives-environmental-approval-for-increased-starship-launch-rate/
https://www.faa.gov/media/94336
House Democrats seek information from NASA and the Pentagon on Musk conflicts of interest and SpaceX foreign investment
May 7, 2025
Democratic leaders of two House committee are asking NASA and the Defense Department to investigate claims that SpaceX takes investment from Chinese sources as well as broader conflict-of-interest concerns.
The May 6 letter, from the ranking members of the House Armed Services Committee and its strategic forces subcommittee, as well as the ranking members of the House Science Committee and its space subcommittee, is the latest to highlight what they perceive to be conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX who has also been a senior adviser to President Trump.
“Because SpaceX performs significant work for the federal government across the national security and civil space architectures, even the perception of a conflict of interest is very troubling, and Mr. Musk’s influence over the agencies awarding large contracts to his company goes far beyond mere perception,” the letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro states.
“These convergent interests should be immediately evaluated to determine whether SpaceX has been, or could be, given special treatment due to the position that its CEO holds within the Trump Administration.”
The letter also mentions a report by ProPublica March 26 that found evidence that SpaceX took money from Chinese investors through offshore accounts, such as in the Cayman Islands.
The report raised questions about foreign influence on the company, although the report stated that the investments were structured to limit the information the Chinese investors received and that the amount invested was “well under $100 million,” a tiny fraction of the company’s estimated $350 billion valuation.
“SpaceX may be reluctant to publicly disclose the full extent of Chinese investment into the company’s privately held ownership structure.
In light of the extreme sensitivity of SpaceX’s work for DoD and NASA, this lack of transparency raises serious questions,” the members wrote.
Jared Isaacman, the nominee to be NASA administrator, was asked about the ProPublica report in a question for the record from Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) published after the hearing. Isaacman said he was not familiar with the report.
“That said, I would hope that NASA—and the broader U.S. government—have implemented the appropriate safeguards to ensure open, fair competition while also protecting against influence from geopolitical adversaries,” he wrote.
The House members requested information from both NASA and the DOD on how they assess conflicts of interest and SpaceX’s compliance with regulations about them, as well as any reviews they have performed of foreign investment in SpaceX.
The letter set a May 20 deadline for providing that information.
Series of letters
The letter is the latest in a series from Democratic members of Congress highlighting concerns they have about Musk’s role in the administration, including as the de-facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has sought access to many government agencies and worked to cancel what it considered to be wasteful contracts.
That included an April 8 letter from House Science Committee Democratic leadership to NASA, the latest in a series seeking information about DOGE’s role at NASA.
The agency told the House members that “DOGE-associated persons” were working at NASA as civil servants, serving as advisers to senior agency leadership, but provided few other details about their activities.
In that April letter, House members complained about “a lack of comprehensive and transparent responses and disclosures” by NASA about the work of DOGE there, including the names of the DOGE-associated personnel, their roles and level of access to agency information.
They said that “the agency has provided few direct and straightforward answers in response to our questions, and our request for a briefing from the DOGE team was ignored.”
The letter requested a briefing from NASA by April 22 about the role of DOGE at the agency. The committee’s Democratic caucus has not provided an update since then.
https://spacenews.com/house-democrats-seek-information-from-nasa-and-the-pentagon-on-musk-conflicts-of-interest-and-spacex-foreign-investment/
https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-spacex-allows-china-investment-cayman-islands-secrecy
https://democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/doc/SST%20RM%20Lofgren%20Foushee%20Sykes%20-%20Letter%20to%20Acting%20Administrator%20Petro%20-%20DOGE%20Team%20Access%20-%204.8.25.pdf
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/13EEBAAD-3523-45C8-BB97-EB1031A01741
third time's a charm
Ashworth, Allvin and Saltzman outline fiscal 2026 budget priorities to congressional panel
May 7, 2025
The three most senior civilian and military officials from the Department of the Air Force told a congressional panel May 6 that “the strategic landscape has shifted dramatically” and that the Air Force and Space Force need the resources and creative thinking, along with modern capabilities, to meet emerging threats.
That message, along with others, was delivered to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense by Acting Secretary of the Air Force Gary Ashworth, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, and Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.
The joint appearance before the subcommittee is an annual rite of passage for Department leaders to spell out priorities and answer questions as the lengthy budget writing process gets started.
While there is currently no specific budget number presented for the Department or any federal agency, on May 2 the White House released a broad overview of what it wants for the new budget.
As part of that document, it said the Department of Defense needs $1 trillion. Included were a set of priorities that includes continued development of the F-47 fighter, a “down payment” on the Golden Dome missile defense system, money to ensure “space dominance,” and spending to modernize nuclear deterrence. There were no specifics, however, for each service.
As a result, members of the subcommittee could only ask general questions.
“The Department of the Air Force is at an inflection point,” Ashworth told the subcommittee in his opening statement.
“We are engaged in a fast-paced race for technological superiority against a well-resourced strategic opponent. However, we simultaneously face personnel and platform challenges affecting our immediate readiness.
We must balance our requirement to generate readiness and project power today with the imperative to rebuild our military and develop capabilities so that we can continue deterring our adversaries tomorrow.”
Allvin and Saltzman echoed Ashworth in their remarks.
“The strategic landscape has shifted dramatically,” Allvin told the subcommittee in his opening statement.
“We now operate in a world where the [People’s Republic of China] is not only rapidly modernizing its military but is doing so with a clear intent to coerce its neighbors and reshape the international order.
In parallel, we are seeing unprecedented threats to our homeland, and a PRC nuclear ‘breakout’ that demands unmatched nuclear deterrence capabilities,” he said.
Saltzman described a similar circumstance – and similar challenges – in space.
“Space gives us an incredible strategic advantage, but any advantage can become a vulnerability when held at risk,” Saltzman told the subcommittee.
“In the future, defending the homeland will demand that we first defend the satellites that make that defense possible.
To be successful in this effort we must be able to control the space, protecting our capabilities in space while denying an adversary the ability to use space against us. That, in essence, is why we have a Space Force.”
“Despite the dramatic rise in space threats and the increasing importance of space, over the last few budget cycles the Space Force has experienced shrinking resources.
This disconnect between value and investment creates risk for our nation.” Saltzman said. “It is the job of a military service to achieve superiority in its domain, and that’s what we do for space.
But if we want a Space Force that can secure our nation’s interests in, from, and to space, then we must resource it accordingly.”
Unlike previous years when specific budget proposals were offered for each service and the discussion was based on detailed questions about program costs, trade-offs and choices, the conversation this year was far more general.
For example, Ashworth was asked to name the Department’s three priorities. He named the Trump Administration’s focus – protecting the homeland and deterrence which Ashworth said for the Air Force meant continued development of the B-21 bomber, the Sentinel land-based nuclear modernization.
The third priority was what the White House is calling Golden Dome, the ambitious nationwide missile defense shield.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4177167/ashworth-allvin-and-saltzman-outline-fiscal-2026-budget-priorities-to-congressi/
https://spacenews.com/space-force-chief-makes-case-for-increased-funding-before-house-panel/
> >>23003668, >>23003726 Dan Sullivan Explodes At Dem Colleagues, Accuses Ex-Senator Jon Tester Of 'Screwing Veterans'
Can you change the second link whenever you get a chance, please?
Volume was still too low.
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-inexpensive-drone-technology-community-forest.html
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0322099
Inexpensive drone technology shows promise for community forest restoration and funding
May 7, 2025
Accessing carbon and nature payments from governments and other organizations often requires robust measurements to quantify restoration's positive impact, but these can be beyond the capacity of community organizations.
New research, led by the University of Bristol, could provide an answer to this challenge. Its findings show how small, inexpensive drones combined with free, open source software can be used by community forest organizations to calculate and monitor the amount of carbon stored in their forests.
The study results, published in PLOS One, demonstrate that carbon measurements gathered in this way are sufficiently accurate for establishing ongoing restoration monitoring, while being much simpler and cheaper than alternative methods, such as satellites and field-based surveys.
Lead author Dr. Ben Newport, Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol's Cabot Institute for the Environment, said, "Our findings are exciting because they outline a clear and cost-effective workflow for upscaling accurate, transparent forest carbon monitoring from small field plots to tens of hectares—a scale that aligns well with community forests.
"This could potentially enable community forest groups around the world to engage with restoration funding schemes that would otherwise be beyond their technical capacities and, importantly, democratizes data collection and ownership."
The international research team, including scientists from Cardiff University and the Danau Girang Field Centre in Malaysia, used a single lightweight, consumer-grade drone to take around 600 images of a community forest restoration site in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, covering 2 hectares of selectively logged peat swamp forest.
These images were processed using a technique called Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry, which produces 3D point clouds from sets of overlapping 2D images, allowing the forest canopy height to be calculated.
From this the tree biomass was calculated using "allometric" equations and converted into the aboveground carbon currently stored within the restoration site.
The results showed that the drone-based carbon calculations were comparable in accuracy to those derived from field-based measurements.
Dr. Newport added, "Importantly, these measurements were produced using only a single drone and data collection took just one afternoon. However, care needs to be taken to select appropriate, regionally calibrated allometric equations to ensure the most accurate results."
There are tens of thousands of community-scale forest restoration projects globally and evidence suggests that these initiatives are more likely to endure than larger scale reforestation schemes.
"The drone we used can be bought for under £300 second-hand, making this a relatively accessible method for community groups who might have limited funds, especially when considering its repeatability," Dr. Newport explained.
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"In addition to carbon measurements, communities across Borneo have also used these drones to document illegal mining occurring in their forests, support land tenure claims, and collect imagery to promote ecotourism businesses, so a drone can be an incredibly useful investment.
"But there are potential barriers to using a drone such as permit applications, training, and local opposition to drone flights that mustn't be overlooked, both for this method and other uses.
"In Borneo, local NGOs and research institutes can provide help and assistance in some cases, but there needs to be awareness that technology may not be so 'accessible' for different groups and in different locations."
Study co-author Professor Joanna House, Professor in Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Bristol, added, "The findings are very encouraging because restoring forests at a community level can significantly boost carbon storage and biodiversity gain, particularly when it empowers indigenous and rural communities through inclusion in forest monitoring and management.
Experience has shown time and again that community involvement is critical to successful and ethical climate mitigation."
The research publication follows the recent Government announcement that three new national forests will be created to help meet a legally-binding target of achieving 16.5% woodland cover in England by 2050.
The first, called The Western Forest, will be made up of new and existing woodlands across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, the Cotswolds and the Mendips as well as in urban areas such as Bristol, Swindon and Gloucester.
In addition to enhancing existing woodlands, 20 million trees will be planted to drive forward net zero goals, promote economic growth, and help slow the decline of wildlife species.
Dr. Newport, who is also a Land & Habitat Officer for the charity Avon Needs Trees and works to restore woodland and biodiversity across the Avon catchment, said, "It will be interesting to see how these methods can be adapted to involve landowners and stakeholders in the monitoring of forest restoration across the West of England.
"There is huge potential for the inclusion of citizen science in these projects. I'm also very excited to see how the methods outlined in our paper might allow communities in other locations, where funding is more limited, to also better monitor and protect their forests."
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