TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
May 8, 2025
M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab
Cataloged as M1, the Crab Nebula is the first on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab Nebula is now known to be a supernova remnant, an expanding cloud of debris from the death explosion of a massive star. The violent birth of the Crab was witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. Roughly 10 light-years across, the nebula is still expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometers per second. You can see the expansion by comparing these sharp images from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. The Crab's dynamic, fragmented filaments were captured in visible light by Hubble in 2005 and Webb in infrared light in 2023. This cosmic crustacean lies about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Dave Gallagher Named 11th Director of JPL as Laurie Leshin Steps Down
May 7, 2025
The change in leadership will take place at the start of June.
Laurie Leshin has decided to step down as director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Sunday, June 1.
David Gallagher, who has been serving as the Lab’s associate director for Strategic Integration, has been selected by Caltech to lead the federally funded research and development center. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
A distinguished geochemist, Leshin was named by Caltech to lead the lab in early 2022. Her career has spanned academia and senior positions at NASA.
Several NASA missions managed by JPL have launched under her leadership, including EMIT, SWOT, Psyche, PREFIRE, Europa Clipper, and SPHEREx, with the NASA-Indian Earth satellite NISAR set for a June launch.
In addition, JPL has advanced the development of NASA’s asteroid-hunting NEO Surveyor mission as well as the trio of CADRE lunar rovers, and it delivered the Coronagraph Instrument, a technology demonstration with NASA’s forthcoming Roman Space Telescope.
“I am proud of the many things JPL has accomplished over the past three years,” said Leshin.
“In addition to the long list of missions that have launched or moved toward launch during that time, we saved Voyager more than once and flew into history on Mars with Ingenuity.
We have made more amazing scientific discoveries than I can name, including finding potential ancient Martian biomarkers with Perseverance.
And we’ve driven the forefront of technology on Earth and in space. I know those achievements will continue under Dave’s capable leadership.”
Leshin, who has also served as Caltech vice president, is stepping down for personal reasons and will remain a Bren Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science at Caltech.
“While we respect Laurie’s decision to step away from her leadership position at JPL, we will miss her drive, compassion, and dedication,” Caltech President Thomas Rosenbaum said.
“At the same time, we are grateful to Dave Gallagher for his devotion to JPL and his continuing leadership and partnership going forward.
Dave’s experience working across multiple government and private sector entities will help secure ongoing support for America’s agenda in space, with JPL continuing to play an essential role.”
Gallagher will draw on his deep experience at JPL to lead the lab into the future. He arrived at JPL 36 years ago, in 1989, and went on to hold numerous leadership positions.
Along with having served as the director and deputy director for Astronomy, Physics, and Space Technology, he was manager of JPL’s Advanced Optical Systems Program Office.
An electrical engineer, Gallagher also managed the Spitzer Space Telescope and, among other roles, led the team that built and tested the Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 (WF/PC-2) — a critical instrument that corrected the spherical aberration on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
“Laurie has made a significant impact on energizing and focusing the lab, guiding it back on track after the Covid-19 pandemic.
I wish her great success in this next chapter of her career, and I look forward to a very smooth transition at the lab,” said Gallagher.
“We have exciting opportunities ahead helping to advance our nation’s space agenda and a fantastic team to help realize them.”
Founded by Caltech faculty and students in 1936, JPL has been managed by Caltech on behalf of NASA since 1958.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/dave-gallagher-named-11th-director-of-jpl-as-laurie-leshin-steps-down/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-statement-on-appointment-of-new-jpl-director/
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_jpl_director_quits/
NASA Statement on Nomination of Matt Anderson for Deputy Administrator
May 07, 2025
Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro issued the following statement regarding the nomination by President Donald Trump of Matt Anderson Wednesday to serve as the agency’s deputy administrator:
“As a retired United States Air Force colonel and executive of the Space Force Association, Matt Anderson brings extensive knowledge of space operations, aeronautics expertise, and industry experience.
If confirmed, he would join NASA’s leadership team at a time when partnerships and a sharpened focus on mission are essential to our continued success.
Along with President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman, he will strengthen collaboration across sectors and help NASA advance exploration, serve the American people, and deliver results for the benefit of all.”
Throughout his over 24-year tenure in the U.S. Air Force, Anderson culminated his career as the U.S. Transportation Command’s senior liaison officer to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), and U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM).
He retired as a colonel Oct. 1, 2021. Anderson is currently a vice president and Space Force & Air Force client executive at CACI. He also serves as the chief growth officer at the Space Force Association.
An alum of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Anderson holds degrees in biology, aeronautical science, and leadership & counseling.
In 2024, Anderson was named by the Washington Exec as one of their “Top Space Execs to Watch.”
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-statement-on-nomination-of-matt-anderson-for-deputy-administrator/
https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/141/4
New Visualization From NASA's Webb Telescope Explores Cosmic Cliffs
May 07, 2025 2:00PM
In July 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope made its public debut with a series of breathtaking images. Among them was an ethereal landscape nicknamed the Cosmic Cliffs.
This glittering realm of star birth is the subject of a new 3D visualization derived from the Webb data.
The visualization, created by NASA’s Universe of Learning and titled “Exploring the Cosmic Cliffs in 3D,” breathes new life into an iconic Webb image.
It is being presented today at a special event hosted by the International Planetarium Society to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first public planetarium in Munich, Germany.
The landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” known as the Cosmic Cliffs is actually a portion of the nebula Gum 31, which contains a young star cluster called NGC 3324.
Both Gum 31 and NGC 3324 are part of a vast star-forming region known as the Carina Nebula Complex.
Ultraviolet light and stellar winds from the stars of NGC 3324 have carved a cavernous area within Gum 31. A portion of this giant bubble is seen above the Cosmic Cliffs. (The star cluster itself is outside this field of view.)
The Cliffs display a misty appearance, with “steam” that seems to rise from the celestial mountains. In actuality, the wisps are hot, ionized gas and dust streaming away from the nebula under an onslaught of relentless ultraviolet radiation.
Eagle-eyed viewers may also spot particularly bright, yellow streaks and arcs that represent outflows from young, still-forming stars embedded within the Cosmic Cliffs.
The latter part of the visualization sequence swoops past a prominent protostellar jet in the upper right of the image.
Produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) with partners at Caltech/IPAC, and developed by the AstroViz Project of NASA’s Universe of Learning, this visualization is part of a longer, narrated video that provides broad audiences, including youth, families, and lifelong learners, with a direct connection to the science and scientists of NASA’s Astrophysics missions.
That video enables viewers to explore fundamental questions in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves.
“Bringing this amazing Webb image to life helps the public to comprehend the three-dimensional structure inherent in the 2D image, and to develop a better mental model of the universe,” said STScI’s Frank Summers, principal visualization scientist and leader of the AstroViz Project.
More visualizations and connections between the science of nebulas and learners can be explored through other products produced by NASA’s Universe of Learning including a Carina Nebula Complex resource page and ViewSpace, a video exhibit that is currently running at almost 200 museums and planetariums across the United States.
Visitors can go beyond video to explore the images produced by space telescopes with interactive tools now available for museums and planetariums.
NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory.
Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.
Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
NASA’s Universe of Learning is part of the NASA Science Activation program, from the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
The Science Activation program connects NASA science experts, real content and experiences, and community leaders in a way that activates minds and promotes deeper understanding of our world and beyond.
Using its direct connection to the science and the experts behind the science, NASA’s Universe of Learning provides resources and experiences that enable youth, families, and lifelong learners to explore fundamental questions in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves.
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-123#heading-full-article
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFaZeXHBpsA
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-pinpoints-roaming-massive-black-hole/
NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole
May 08, 2025
Like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, astronomers using NASA telescopes have found “Space Jaws.”
Lurking 600 million light-years away, within the inky black depths between stars, there is an invisible monster gulping down any wayward star that plummets toward it.
The sneaky black hole betrayed its presence in a newly identified tidal disruption event (TDE) where a hapless star was ripped apart and swallowed in a spectacular burst of radiation.
These disruption events are powerful probes of black hole physics, revealing the conditions necessary for launching jets and winds when a black hole is in the midst of consuming a star, and are seen as bright objects by telescopes.
The new TDE, called AT2024tvd, allowed astronomers to pinpoint a wandering supermassive black hole using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, with similar supporting observations from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the NRAO Very Large Array telescope that also showed that the black hole is offset from the center of the galaxy.
The paper will be published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Surprisingly, this one million-solar-mass black hole doesn’t reside exactly in the center of the host galaxy, where supermassive black holes are typically found, and actively gobble up surrounding material.
Out of approximately 100 TDE events recorded by optical sky surveys so far, this is the first time an offset TDE has been identified. The rest are associated with the central black holes of galaxies.
In fact, at the center of the host galaxy there is a different supermassive black hole weighing 100 million times the mass of the Sun.
Hubble’s optical precision shows the TDE was only 2,600 light-years from the more massive black hole at the galaxy’s center. That’s just one-tenth the distance between our Sun and the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole.
This bigger black hole spews out energy as it accretes infalling gas, and it is categorized as an active galactic nucleus.
Strangely, the two supermassive black holes co-exist in the same galaxy, but are not gravitationally bound to each other as a binary pair.
The smaller black hole may eventually spiral into the galaxy’s center to merge with the bigger black hole. But for now, it is too far separated to be gravitationally bound.
A TDE happens when an infalling star is stretched or “spaghettified” by a black hole’s immense gravitational tidal forces. The shredded stellar remnants are pulled into a circular orbit around the black hole.
This generates shocks and outflows with high temperatures that can be seen in ultraviolet and visible light.
“AT2024tvd is the first offset TDE captured by optical sky surveys, and it opens up the entire possibility of uncovering this elusive population of wandering black holes with future sky surveys,” said lead study author Yuhan Yao of the University of California at Berkeley. “Right now, theorists haven't given much attention to offset TDEs.
“I think this discovery will motivate scientists to look for more examples of this type of event.”
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A Flash in the Night
The star-snacking black hole gave itself away when several ground-based sky survey telescopes observed a flare as bright as a supernova.
But unlike a supernova, astronomers know that this came from a black hole snacking on a star because the flare was very hot, and showed broad emission lines of hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, and silicon.
The Zwicky Transient Facility at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, with its 1.2-meter telescope that surveys the entire northern sky every two days, first observed the event.
“Tidal disruption events hold great promise for illuminating the presence of massive black holes that we would otherwise not be able to detect,” said Ryan Chornock, associate adjunct professor at UC Berkeley and a member of the ZTF team.
“Theorists have predicted that a population of massive black holes located away from the centers of galaxies must exist, but now we can use TDEs to find them.”
The flare was seemingly offset from the center of a bright massive galaxy as cataloged by Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey.
To better determine that it was not at the galactic center, Yao’s team used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to confirm that X-rays from the flare site were also offset.
It took the resolving power of Hubble to settle any uncertainties. Hubble’s sensitivity to ultraviolet light also allows it to pinpoint the location of the TDE, which is much bluer than the rest of the galaxy.
Origin Unknown
The black hole responsible for the TDE is prowling inside the bulge of the massive galaxy.
The black hole only becomes apparent every few tens of thousands of years when it “burps” from capturing a star, and then it goes quiet again until its next meal comes along.
How did the black hole get off-center? Previous theoretical studies have shown that black holes can be ejected out of the centers of galaxies because of three-body interactions, where the lowest-mass member gets kicked out.
This may be the case here, given the stealthy black hole’s close proximity to the central black hole.
“If the black hole went through a triple interaction with two other black holes in the galaxy’s core, it can still remain bound to the galaxy, orbiting around the central region,“ said Yao.
An alternative explanation is that the black hole is the surviving remnant of a smaller galaxy that merged with the host galaxy more than 1 billion years ago.
If that is the case, the black hole might eventually spiral in to merge with the central active black hole sometime in the very far future. So at present, astronomers don’t know if it’s coming or going.
Erica Hammerstein, another UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher, scrutinized the Hubble images as part of the study, but did not find any evidence of a past galaxy merger.
But she explained, “There is already good evidence that galaxy mergers enhance TDE rates, but the presence of a second black hole in AT2024tvd’s host galaxy means that at some point in this galaxy’s past, a merger must have happened.”
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NASA Mars satellite uncovers markings 'like paint dripping down a wall' on Martian surface
May 7, 2025
High-resolution satellite images have revealed dripping paint-like patterns on Mars that match those found on Earth, according to a new study.
The familiar soil patterns suggest that Mars and Earth were shaped by similar forces. On Earth, the patterns form on the slopes of cold, mountainous regions where soils freeze and thaw throughout the year.
If Mars once had the same icy, wet conditions, then these patterns could be a good place to explore the role that liquid water may have had in shaping the Red Planet and its potential to harbor signs of life.
"Understanding how these patterns form offers valuable insight into Mars' climate history, especially the potential for past freezing and thawing cycles, though more work is needed to tell if these features formed recently or long ago," study lead author JohnPaul Sleiman, a doctoral student in the department of Earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester in New York, said in a statement.
"Ultimately, this research could help us identify signs of past or present environments on other planets that may support or limit potential life," Sleiman added.
On Earth, soil patterns like this are known as solifluction lobes. They form when a sheet of frozen ground partially thaws and loosens, causing soil to creep downhill.
The effect creates wave-like patterns on the side of hills in cold regions. Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, and typically much colder, but the Martian lobes only occur at high latitudes.
Some previous studies have suggested that Mars' high-latitude regions may have experienced freeze-thaw conditions in the planet's recent climate history, which would explain why it has similar lobes.
However, there are many unanswered questions surrounding the Martian lobes, including why they appear to be significantly larger than those on Earth, according to the study.
By analyzing high-resolution satellite imagery of the Martian surface taken by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the research team saw that the wave-like landforms followed the same basic geometric pattern as those in Earth's Rocky Mountains, Arctic and other cold mountainous regions, according to the statement.
Study co-author Rachel Glade, an assistant professor in the department of Earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester, likened the landforms to patterns seen in fluids.
These patterns "are large, slow-moving, granular examples of common patterns found in everyday fluids, like paint dripping down a wall," Glade said in the statement.
The team also confirmed that the Martian lobes were larger than Earth's — around 2.6 times taller on average.
To explain this, they proposed that Mars has taller lobes because its gravity is weaker, which allows waves of accumulating sediment to grow taller before collapsing, according to the study.
The findings reinforce previous suspicions that Mars' lobes are — or were — linked to ground ice, with their patterns resembling what would be expected from fluid-like instabilities.
However, the researchers couldn't be certain that liquid water was involved just from the satellite data.
The authors suggested that future laboratory experiments could explore whether ice and liquid water are both required for the wave-like patterns to form.
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/nasa-mars-satellite-uncovers-markings-like-paint-dripping-down-a-wall-on-martian-surface
https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/wave-like-mars-surface-patterns-resemble-earth-651082/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103525001277
Nasa is not attending the global space meet in Delhi. Here's why
May 8, 2025
The global space exploration conference underway in New Delhi has delegates from 35 countries across the world, except one.
The American space agency, Nasa, has not sent delegates to the global space meet being hosted by India where thirty-five countries, space agency officials from China, Japan, Canada and Europe, 1,700 delegates and ten astronauts representing various countries are huddled in New Delhi.
When asked about Nasa's absences, officials noted that it was likely to a transition at the American space agency with US President Donald Trump rolling out a new Nasa budget and slashing manpower.
Donald Trump's newly proposed budget for Nasa, unveiled as part of the White House's 2026 "skinny budget," marks the largest single-year cut to the agency in American history, slashing top-line funding by 24%-from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion.
The move has alarmed space experts and advocates, who warn that the cuts will have severe repercussions for US space exploration and could hand China a decisive advantage in the modern race to the Moon.
The GLEX-2025 is organised by the International Astronautical Federation and the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Inaugurating the global conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said for India, space was about exploration as well as empowerment, and listed out plans to set up the Bharatiya Anatariksh 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.
An Indian astronaut will travel to space as part of a joint Isro-Nasa Mission to the International Space Station.
The Axiom-4 mission is stated for launch on May 29 and Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others will undertake a 14-day sojourn to the orbital laboratory.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/nasa-is-not-attending-the-global-space-meet-in-delhi-here-s-why/ar-AA1Ent2C
NASA Stennis Releases First Open-Source Software
May 08, 2025
NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has released its first-ever open-source software, a peer review tool to facilitate more efficient and collaborative creation of systems applications, such as those used in its frontline government and commercial propulsion test work.
“Everyone knows NASA Stennis as the nation’s premier rocket propulsion test site,” said David Carver, acting chief of the Office of Test Data and Information Management.
“We also are engaged in a range of key technology efforts. This latest open-source tool is an exciting example of that work, and one we anticipate will have a positive and widespread impact.”
The new NASA Data Acquisition System Peer Review Tool was developed over several years, built on lessons learned as site developers and engineers created software tools for use across the center’s sprawling test complex.
It is designed to simplify and amplify the collaborative review process, allowing developers to build better and more effective software applications.
The new NASA Stennis Peer Review tool was developed using the same software processes that built NDAS.
As center engineers and developers created software to monitor and analyze data from rocket propulsion tests, they collaborated with peers to optimize system efficiency.
What began as an internal review process ultimately evolved into the open-source code now available to the public.
“We refined it (the peer review tool) over a period of time, and it has improved our process significantly,” said Brandon Carver (no relation), a NASA Stennis software engineer.
“In early efforts, we were doing reviews manually, now our tool handles some of these steps for us. It has allowed us to focus more on reviewing key items in our software.”
Developers can improve time, efficiency, and address issues earlier when conducting software code reviews. The result is a better, more productive product.
The NASA Stennis tool is part of the larger NASA Data Acquisition System created at the center to help monitor and collect propulsion test data.
It is designed to work with National Instruments LabVIEW, which is widely used by systems engineers and scientists to design applications.
LabVIEW is unique in using graphics (visible icon objects) instead of a text-based programming language to create applications. The graphical approach makes it more challenging to compare codes in a review process.
“You cannot compare your code in the same way you do with a text-based language,” Brandon Carver said.
“Our tool offers a process that allows developers to review these LabVIEW-developed programs and to focus more time on reviewing actual code updates.”
LabVIEW features a comparison tool, but NASA Stennis engineers identified ways they could improve the process, including by automating certain steps.
The NASA Stennis tool makes it easier to post comments, pictures, and other elements in an online peer review to make discussions more effective.
The result is what NASA Stennis developers hope is a more streamlined, efficient process. “It really optimizes your time and provides everything you need to focus on right in front of you,” Brandon Carver said.
“That’s why we wanted to open source this because when we were building the tool, we did not see anything like it, or we did not see anything that had features that we have.”
“By providing it to the open-source community, they can take our tool, find better ways of handling things, and refine it,” Brandon Carver said.
“We want to allow those groups to modify it and become a community around the tool, so it is continuously improved.
Ultimately, a peer review is to make stronger software or a stronger product and that is also true for this peer review tool.
“It is a good feeling to be part of the process and to see something created at the center now out in the larger world across the agency,” Brandon Carver said.
“It is pretty exciting to be able to say that you can go get this software we have written and used,” he acknowledged. “NASA engineers have done this. I hope we continue to do it.”
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/stennis-first-open-source-software/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/stennis-software-built-for-future-growth/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/stennis-tool-enables-unified-collection-of-test-data/
https://github.com/nasa/NDAS
https://www.earth.com/news/nasas-new-underwater-map-reveals-nearly-100000-hidden-ocean-mountains-seamounts/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079661115001391
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads4472
NASA's new underwater map reveals nearly 100,000 hidden mountains beneath the ocean
05-07-2025
Scientists have come up with a new high-resolution map of the ocean floor. The newly released findings show nearly 100,000 underwater mountains that were previously unknown.
David Sandwell from Scripps Institution of Oceanography contributed to this research and credits advanced satellite observations for the detailed results.
The SWOT mission, launched in December 2022, is central to collecting the critical data that enabled this mapping effort.
How satellites outpace ships
Mapping the ocean floor with ships takes time, fuel, and money. Even with sonar, a single vessel might only cover a narrow strip of seafloor each day.
Satellites like SWOT cover about 90% of the Earth every 21 days. They don’t match the detail of sonar, but they make up for it with speed, scale, and frequency of observation.
Why seafloor maps matter
Ships equipped with sonar instruments can survey the ocean bottom directly, but only about one-quarter of the seafloor has been charted in this way. That knowledge gap spurred scientists to turn to satellite-based data for a bigger picture.
“Seafloor mapping is key in both established and emerging economic opportunities, including rare-mineral seabed mining, optimizing shipping routes, hazard detection, and seabed warfare operations,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer at the end of a NASA statement.
Accurate mapping has practical uses for navigation and cable-laying, and it also shapes our understanding of ocean processes.
Hidden ocean mountains
Seamounts are underwater mountains that rise from the ocean floor but do not break the surface. These features were once hard to detect if they measured less than about 3,300 feet in height.
The new satellite map can sense seamounts less than half that tall. By zeroing in on tiny gravitational “bumps” on the water’s surface, the data predict the position of these newly discovered peaks, boosting known seamount counts from 44,000 to nearly 100,000.
The technique behind the map depends on gravity – not cameras. Since seamounts and abyssal hills have more mass than the surrounding seafloor, they tug slightly more on the ocean above them.
That tug creates tiny rises in the water’s surface, sometimes only a few centimeters high. The SWOT satellite detects those subtle changes and translates them into detailed maps that outline what’s below.
Influence of abyssal hills
“Abyssal hills are the most abundant landform on Earth, covering about 70% of the ocean floor,” said Yao Yu at the end of a recent study. Scientists also looked at abyssal hills, which are smaller mounds covering much of the deep sea.
These rolling ridges can be just a few miles wide, making them difficult to observe from previous satellites. Any shifts in tectonic plates over time leave patterns on these hills, creating a geological record that is now clearer than ever.
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Ocean mountains, currents, and tides
Seafloor structures direct deep-sea currents that move heat and nutrients across the globe. Currents flowing over steep slopes can drive pockets of marine life to gather near the slopes, forming biodiversity hotspots.
Understanding these dynamics leads to better insights about how ocean patterns impact climate and marine ecosystems.
Oceanographers look at everything from tidal movements to nutrient exchange in these areas and plan to refine that analysis further with ongoing data collection.
Life thrives in hidden places
Underwater mountains and hills create slopes where currents slow down just enough to drop nutrients. These nutrient-rich zones become gathering spots for plankton, fish, and deep-sea corals.
Even in the darkest parts of the ocean, these formations act like magnets for life. Mapping them helps scientists locate fragile ecosystems that may need protection from deep-sea mining and trawling.
Bridging the knowledge gap
Mapping isn’t the main purpose of the SWOT satellite, but its radar altimeter collects precise measurements of water heights.
That information can be converted into a topographic map of the sea surface, which mirrors the contours of the bottom.
This helps researchers chart terrain in places where ship-based sonar data remain sparse. It also complements efforts by the Seabed 2030 project to fully survey the global seafloor by the end of this decade.
Unexpected military and climate benefits
Improved seafloor maps don’t just help scientists and sailors. Defense agencies use them to detect submarines, design sonar strategies, and assess undersea terrain for stealth operations.
The same data also play a role in climate modeling. Accurate bathymetry helps researchers trace heat flow in the ocean, a major factor in predicting long-term weather patterns and identifying areas vulnerable to sea level changes.
What’s next for these ocean mountains?
Scientists plan to measure the depth of each feature more precisely next. They have squeezed out nearly all possible details about seafloor shapes from the first year of SWOT data, which could revolutionize future marine research.
Even with the best technology, complete sonar-based coverage of Earth’s ocean will still take time. However, satellite missions like SWOT will speed up progress and ensure more sections of the ocean floor are understood.
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These Satellites Just Nailed the Most Precise Formation Flight in Space History
May 8, 2025
The European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission has achieved something no other mission—or synchronized swimmer—has before: autonomous, precision formation flying in space with millimeter accuracy.
ESA’s Proba-3 satellites—the Occulter and the Coronagraph, respectively—maintained a steady 492-foot (150-meter) distance from one another in a highly elliptical orbit, simulating a single massive instrument.
The same principle is used by satellite constellations and planned space telescopes to capitalize on the laws of physics and the relatively noiseless environment of space to collect more data than otherwise possible.
But Proba-3’s goal is unique: to align the spacecraft in such a way that one (the Occulter) can block out the Sun’s glare, while the other (the Coronagraph) can take a clean look at its wispy outer atmosphere—the solar corona.
For this to work, the two spacecraft can’t just drift around together—they must stay aligned with millimeter-level (0.04-inch) precision, with no micromanagement from Earth.
Specifically, the instruments need to be aligned such that there’s nearly 500 feet (152.4 m) between them, and a 4.6-foot (1.4-m) disc on the Occulter casts a 2-inch (5-centimeter) shadow on the Coronagraph—that’s all the latter needs to be sheltered from the Sun’s brilliance and image its faint, ethereal corona.
After initial positioning by ground control, the satellite duo’s autonomous system of cameras, LEDs, and laser rangefinders brings the two spacecraft closer together, leveraging an algorithm to ensure that the Coronagraph stays safely in the Occulter’s shadow.
The Fine Lateral and Longitudinal Sensor (FLLS)—a laser system that detects position shifts—ensures the two spacecraft remain precisely aligned; constant measuring of laser light is the same technology that will keep LISA, the next-generation gravitational wave observatory from NASA and ESA, in alignment at much greater distances, 10 years from now.
Proba-3’s achievement marks a level of orbital choreography that’s never been accomplished before.
“We are talking about millimetric accuracy in range, and sub-millimetric in the lateral position,” said project manager Damien Galano in an ESA release.
“We can’t wait to see the completion of the instrument calibration and the first processed image of the Sun’s corona.”
The solar science will be a remarkable feat in itself, but Proba-3’s technology demonstration also helps prove out the precision measurements that will be crucial for future multi-spacecraft missions, such as LISA.
It’s marvelously precise science that sets the stage for astronomy’s future. For now, ESA’s Proba-3 will prepare for its research campaign—tethered by lasers in a Kubrickian waltz, getting ready to stare straight into the Sun.
https://gizmodo.com/these-satellites-just-nailed-the-most-precise-formation-flight-in-space-history-2000599575
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Proba-3_achieves_precise_formation_flying
IonQ Announces Plans for First Space-Based Quantum Key Distribution Network
May 7, 2025 4:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time
COLLEGE PARK, Md.– a leading commercial quantum computing and networking company, today announced plans to launch a global space-to-space and space-to-ground satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) network, highlighting its ambitions to be the first company to have both a quantum network and quantum computer in space.
To facilitate development of this network, IonQ has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Capella Space Corporation, a signals platform leader for top-secret government and commercial applications.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.
Building on IonQ’s recent acquisition of Qubitekk, a leading quantum networking company, and ID Quantique, SA, a global leader in quantum-safe networking and quantum detection systems, and IonQ’s recently announced memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Intellian Technologies, Inc., a global provider of satellite communication antennas and ground gateway solutions, the acquisition of Capella will deepen and accelerate IonQ’s quantum networking leadership.
The acquisition will also expand IonQ’s quantum computing partnerships with US top-secret agencies through Capella’s Facility Security Clearance.
“We have an exceptional opportunity to accelerate our vision for the quantum internet, where global Quantum Key Distribution will play a foundational role in enabling secure communications,” said Niccolo de Masi, CEO of IonQ.
“Through our announced acquisitions of Lightsynq and Capella today, and the work we’ll do with Intellian, IonQ is well positioned to lead the next-generation quantum internet.”
QKD secures communications by leveraging quantum technologies to ensure that encryption keys cannot be intercepted or copied without detection. Historically, QKD has been limited to deployment at smaller distances.
By leveraging long-distance quantum repeaters from Lightsynq combined with Capella’s top-secret signals capabilities, IonQ expects to build global quantum-secure networks.
“Space is the next frontier for IonQ’s leadership in quantum computing, quantum networking, and ultra-secure environments,” said Frank Backes, CEO of Capella.
“Quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionize space-based operations by enabling ultra-secure communications that transmit data to and from platforms with unmatched security.
Capella’s advanced platform and proven constellation will integrate with IonQ’s quantum capabilities to enhance analytics, sensors, and security to bolster commercial applications and global defense and intelligence missions.”
This acquisition will strengthen IonQ’s position in advancing quantum networking technologies that are essential for building the quantum internet and supporting infrastructure development in the space economy.
It will also build on recent defense and intelligence momentum, including a quantum networking contract with the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) and agreements with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to deploy a quantum networking system at its Rome, New York, facility.
Additionally, IonQ recently signed a $22 million partnership with EPB, a leading energy and communications provider in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to launch the nation’s first quantum computing and networking hub.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250507863312/en/IonQ-Announces-Plans-for-First-Space-Based-Quantum-Key-Distribution-Network
ESA feeling weightless and unwanted amid proposed NASA cuts
Thu 8 May 2025 // 08:28 UTC
NASA's "skinny" budget has rattled its allies. After years of close cooperation, the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking jilted, while others describe the US space scene as adrift in gloom and doubt.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher reacted cautiously to the proposed 24 percent annual budget cut, which has yet to make its way through US Congress.
He noted that ESA "remains open to cooperation with NASA on the programs earmarked for a reduction or termination."
However, Aschbacher also said the agency was assessing the potential impact with its member states.
The budget changes could hit ESA hard. The European Service Module (ESM) is used by the Orion crew capsule to provide power, life support, and propulsion on Artemis missions.
According to ESA contractor Airbus, ESM-2 and 3 are awaiting their upcoming missions, while ESM-4 through 6 are under construction in Bremen, Germany.
If the budget overhaul goes through as planned, and the Space Launch System is canceled, there is unlikely to be much call for ESMs past ESM-3 unless alternative uses are found for the components.
The same goes for the lunar Gateway, for which ESA was to contribute three key elements – the Lunar International Habitation Module (Lunar I-HAB), and the two-part European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) service module, comprising the Lunar Link and Lunar View subsystems.
ESA and NASA's relationship goes back decades, although it has not always run smoothly.
Regarding the near loss of the joint SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) probe, NASA's reaction was "forget it!" while ESA's Director of Science, Dr Roger Bonnet, was determined to "bring back" the mission.
SOHO remains operational nearly 30 years after launch.
Aschbacher described ESA as not only a reliable partner, "but a strong and desirable partner."
On the other hand, a space agency insider told The Register in March that NASA was being treated "as an abusive spouse who could lash out at any moment in unpredictable ways."
Aschbacher pointed out that the spending bill had many hurdles before being passed by the US House and Senate, which would be true in normal times.
However, these are not normal times, and "while some questions still remain about the full repercussions, follow-up meetings are already taking place with NASA."
Although there has been no official statement from within NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be hit hard if the Mars Sample Return Mission is scrapped, former Voyager scientist Garry Hunt told The Register the mood inside was one of "unhappiness."
"Many of them hold EU passports, and therefore, returning home is an option they're all investigating," he said.
Hunt was part of the brain drain from the UK and EU to the US decades ago. "I think now we're going to see the brain drain reversed."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_budget_reaction/
‘I Never Said That!’ Marjorie Taylor Greene Denies ‘Jewish Space Lasers’ Conspiracy in Testy Exchange With Cenk Uygur
May 7th, 2025, 10:23 am
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blamed a 2021 “hit piece” for kickstarting the “lie” that she explicitly said “Jewish space lasers” were behind devastating California fires in a 2018 Facebook post.
In the now-deleted post, Greene speculated on internet reports of “lasers or blue beams of light causing the fires,” as well as the possibility that the 150,000-acre Camp Fire in California – which killed 85 people – may have been caused by “space solar generators” launched by businesses funded by the Rothschild investment group to clear space for a Democratic high speed rail project in the state.
At the time and since, the post has been mocked and widely criticized as anti-Semitic for its inclusion of the Rothschilds trope. As the story spread it became paraphrased as the “Jewish space lasers” conspiracy theory.
Since then, Greene has been forced to deny the reports several times in exchanges with journalists, including as recently as Wednesday, when the congresswoman was quick to put down the claim she’d ever used those particular words in a testy exchange with The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur.
After the host raised “space lasers”, Greene replied: “I never said Jewish space lasers. That’s a lie. Yeah, it’s a lie and I really am tired of people perpetuating the lie.”
“So what do you mean you didn’t say it? I’m trying to clear it up,” Ugyur pressed.
Greene replied: “I’ve never said that. I never said that statement in my life but there was someone that wrote an article and that was the headline and that’s what they created.
It was early January of 2021 when I first came into Congress. So it was an entire hit piece against me and it was a statement I had never said in my life. Until I saw it trending on Twitter attached to my name.”
“So that was not your Facebook account?” the host asked.
Greene continued: “Of course that was my Facebook account but I never said ‘Jewish space lasers’ and I never blamed Jewish people or Israel for anything in my Facebook post.
And you can read my Facebook post and it’s clear and obvious.”
The defense is one that Greene has made before, accusing a “leftist journalist” of manufacturing the term to attack her.
While she has never named the journalist or the publication responsible, the apparent earliest article headlined with the phrase in question, as described by Greene, is one by Intelligencer columnist Jonathan Chait, who ran an article on January 28, 2021, titled “Marjorie Taylor Greene Blamed Wildfires on Secret Jewish Space Laser.”
Moving on in the interview, Uygur wasn’t finished and used the “space laser” line to segue to what he said was the “adjacent topic” of President Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defense system.
“Are you worried about Elon’s space lasers these days?” he jibed, a line that Greene laughed out loud at.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/marjorie-taylor-greene-blames-2021-hit-piece-for-starting-lie-about-jewish-space-lasers-conspiracy-in-testy-exchange-with-cenk-uygur-i-never-said-that/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bczOUFwv0CA
A stadium-sized asteroid will fly past Earth on May 9, and you can watch it live
May 8, 2025
On May 9, a stadium-sized potentially hazardous asteroid will pass by Earth, and you can watch the flyby happen in real time courtesy of a livestream from The Virtual Telescope Project.
The main belt asteroid 612356 2002 JX8 is estimated to have a diameter of 950 feet (290 meters) according to NASA, and will pose absolutely no threat to Earth during its 2025 flyby.
The Virtual Telescope Project's YouTube channel will go live at 4:30 p.m. EDT (20:30 GMT) on May 9, just a few hours before 2002 JX8 makes its closest approach to Earth at (11:02 GMT).
The stream will also show views of the asteroid Vesta, which reached opposition on May 2, and is still relatively bright in the night sky.
"We did follow-up observations of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (612356) 2002 JX8, slowly approaching our planet: on 9 May 2025, it will safely come as close as 4.2 millions of km [(2.6 million miles)] from us, 10.9 times the average lunar distance," wrote Gianluca Masi, founder of The Virtual Telescope Project in a recent blog post. "We will show it live!"
Masi's organization has successfully captured several images of 2002 JX8 in the run up to its May 9 flyby, in which the asteroid appears as a distinct dot of light that could be seen shifting position relative to the stars behind it.
The Virtual Telescope Project offers free online observing sessions for the public for asteroid flybys and similar events, as well as access to individual robotic telescopes.
Potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) such as 2002 JX8 are categorized as such based on their brightness (magnitude +22.0 or lower/brighter) and their ability to perform a "threatening close approach to Earth," according to NASA, which is defined as coming within within 0.05 astronomical units, or 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet.
For reference, 1 AU is the equivalent to 93 million miles (150 million km), which is the average distance separating Earth and the sun.
NASA scientists believe that there are around 4,700 PHAs whizzing around our solar system, based on observations from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. However, we will likely never see one actually impact our planet's surface.
The agency estimates that an asteroid with a diameter of around 500 ft (140 m) impacts Earth just once every 20,000 years, while an asteroid with a diameter of 3,000 ft (1,000 m) collides with our planet once every 700,000 years.
Scientists at the Center for Near Earth Object Studies responsible for tracking the long term potential orbits of near-Earth objects have also stated that it is unlikely that a large asteroid capable of causing widespread damage will strike Earth in the next 100 years.
That leaves you plenty of time to get to know the night sky! If you want to catch a glimpse of a solar system planet or globular cluster for yourself, then be sure to check out our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals in 2025.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/a-stadium-sized-asteroid-will-fly-past-earth-on-may-9-and-you-can-watch-it-live-video
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coKf8P8-Vs8
Imagine being afraid of a little information