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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
May 14, 2025
NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula
This pretty nebula lies some 1,500 light-years away, its shape and color in this telescopic view reminiscent of a robin's egg. The cosmic cloud spans about 3 light-years, nestled securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation of the Furnace (Fornax). Recognized as a planetary nebula, egg-shaped NGC 1360 doesn't represent a beginning, though. Instead, it corresponds to a brief and final phase in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible at the center of the nebula, the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in their mutually surrounding gaseous shroud. The blue-green hue inside of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Saudi CubeSat gets golden ticket on doomed SLS rocket
Wed 14 May 2025 // 13:26 UTC
NASA will launch a Saudi satellite aboard what could be its penultimate SLS rocket on the Artemis II mission following a deal announced in Riyadh by US President Donald Trump and de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump is keen to axe NASA's Moon rocket, but considering the $600 billion investment the Saudi government has announced, sticking a CubeSat in a spacecraft adapter seems small fry in comparison.
NASA launched ten shoebox-sized CubeSats on Artemis I. The satellites were held in the stage adapter on top of the second stage and deployed following the trans-lunar injection burn.
A week after Artemis I's launch on November 16, 2022, NASA reported that six CubeSats were "operational and working well."
As well as Saudi Arabia, NASA has agreements with the German space agency DLR and the Korea AeroSpace Administration for CubeSats to ride to space on Artemis II.
The CubeSats will be deployed after the Orion spacecraft, with its crew of four astronauts, is safely on its way to the Moon.
According to NASA: "The Saudi Space Agency CubeSats will collect data on space radiation, solar X-rays, solar energetic particles, and magnetic fields."
NASA has history with Saudi Arabia. Just under 40 years ago, it launched Sultan bin Salman Al Saud into space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G.
Al Saud became the first Arab and royal family member to fly into space.
He flew as a Payload Specialist or, as retired astronaut Mike Mullane put it in his autobiography, Riding Rockets, a "Part Timer" due to the lower levels of training required compared to a career astronaut.
More recently, Axiom Space flew two Saudi astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023.
The launch could mark one of the last hurrahs for NASA's SLS. If the proposed cuts in the US administration's "skinny" budget are passed, Artemis III will be the final mission launched on the SLS.
The monster rocket is slated for termination, and NASA has been directed to look at commercial alternatives.
Saudi Arabian science has also flown with SpaceX, on the Fram2 mission, which included an experiment to study the effect of microgravity on the human eye.
Previous satellites developed by the kingdom include SaudiSat 5A and 5B, a pair of imaging satellites launched from China in 2018. ®
https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/14/saudi_cubesat_sls/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2025/05/13/nasa-to-fly-saudi-arabia-cubesat-aboard-artemis-ii-test-flight/
Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing Project 2025 Spring Review
May 13, 2025
NASA and its partners in the Advanced Composites Consortium gathered at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on April 29-May 1, 2025.
Team members from 22 organizations in the public-private partnership are collaborating to increase the production rate of composite aircraft, reduce costs, and improve performance.
The team discussed results from the Technology Development Phase of NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project.
The project is evaluating concepts and competing approaches at the subcomponent scale to determine technologies with the greatest impact on manufacturing rate and cost.
The most promising concepts will be demonstrated on full-scale wing and fuselage components during the next four years.
Through collaboration and shared investment, the team is increasing the likelihood of technologies being adopted for next-generation transports, ultimately lowering costs for operators and improving the U.S. competitive advantage in the commercial aircraft industry.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/aavp/hicam/composite-aircraft-2025/
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/aavp/hicam/
NASA Hosts Industry, Government, Academia to Explore Partnerships
May 13, 2025
On April 29, more than 90 representatives from industry, U.S. federal labs, government agencies, and academia gathered at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley to learn about the center’s groundbreaking research and development capabilities.
The three-day event provided insight into the many ways to collaborate with NASA, including tapping into the agency’s singular subject matter expertise and gaining access to state-of-the-art facilities at NASA Ames and centers across the country.
Partnerships help the agency to advance technological innovation, enable science, and foster the emerging space economy.
Terry Fong, senior scientist for autonomous systems at NASA Ames, summed up the objective of the event when he noted, “I don’t believe anyone – government, academia, industry – has a monopoly on good ideas.
It's how you best combine forces to have the greatest effect.”
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/ames/nasa-hosts-industry-government-academia-to-explore-partnerships/
Take a Tour of the Cosmos with New Interactives from NASA’s Universe of Learning
May 13, 2025
Ready for a tour of the cosmos? NASA’s Universe of Learning has released a new, dynamic way for lifelong learners to explore NASA’s breathtaking images of the universe—ViewSpace interactive Image Tours.
ViewSpace has an established track record of providing museums, science centers, libraries, and other informal learning environments with free, web-based videos and digital interactives—like its interactive Image Sliders.
These new Image Tours are another unique experience from NASA’s Universe of Learning, created through a collaboration between scientists that operate NASA telescopes and experts well-versed in the most modern methods of learning.
Hands-on, self-directed learning resources like these have long been valued by informal learning sites as effective means for engaging and intriguing users with the latest discoveries from NASA’s space telescope missions—while encouraging lifelong learners to continue their passionate exploration of the stars, galaxies, and distant worlds.
With these new ViewSpace Image Tours, visitors can take breathtaking journeys through space images that contain many exciting stories.
The “Center of the Milky Way Galaxy” Tour, for example, uses breathtaking images from NASA’s Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra X-ray telescopes and includes eleven Tour Stops, where users can interact with areas like “the Brick”—a dense, dark cloud of hydrogen molecules imaged by Spitzer. Another Tour Stop zooms toward the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, offering a dramatic visual journey to the galaxy’s core.
In other tours, like the “Herbig-Haro 46/47” Tour, learners can navigate through points of interest in an observation from a single telescope mission.
In this case, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provides the backdrop where lifelong learners can explore superheated jets of gas and dust being ejected at tremendous speeds from a pair of young, forming stars.
The power of Webb turns up unexpected details in the background, like a noteworthy distant galaxy famous for its uncanny resemblance to a question mark.
Each Interactive Image Tour allows people to examine unique features through videos, images, or graphical overlays to identify how those features have formed in ways that static images alone can’t convey.
These tours, which include detailed visual descriptions for each Tour Stop, illuminate the science behind the beauty, allowing learners of all ages to develop a greater understanding of and excitement for space science, deepening their engagement with astronomy, regardless of their prior experience.
Check out the About the Interactives page on the ViewSpace website for a detailed overview of how to use the Image Tours.
ViewSpace currently offers three Image Tours, and the collection will continue growing:
Center of the Milky Way Galaxy:
Peer through cosmic dust and uncover areas of intense activity near the Milky Way’s core, featuring imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Herbig-Haro 46/47:
Witness how a tightly bound pair of young stars shapes their nebula through ejections of gas and dust in an image from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The Whirlpool Galaxy:
Explore the iconic swirling arms and glowing core of a stunning spiral galaxy, with insights into star formation, galaxy structure, and more in a Hubble Space Telescope image.
“The Image Tours are beautiful, dramatic, informational, and easy to use,” explained Sari Custer, Chief of Science and Curiosity at Arizona Science Center.
“I'm excited to implement them in my museum not only because of the incredible images and user-friendly features, but also for the opportunity to excite and ignite the public's curiosity about space.”
https://science.nasa.gov/learning-resources/science-activation/take-a-tour-of-the-cosmos-with-new-interactives-from-nasas-universe-of-learning/
https://universe-of-learning.org/home
NASA Curiosity Rover
Sol 4530: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection
May 13, 2025
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 25 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic.
The seam-corrected mosaic provides a 360-degree cylindrical projection panorama of the Martian surface centered at 256 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north).
Curiosity took the images on May 05, 2025, Sol 4530 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2436, site number 115. The local mean solar time for the image exposures was 3 PM.
Each Navcam image has a 45 degree field of view.
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/sol-4530-right-navigation-camera-cylindrical-projection/
Sols 4539-4540: Back After a Productive Weekend Plan
May 13, 2025
Curiosity was back to work Monday, picking up where it left off from Friday’s plan. Tosol's plan started with an APXS analysis on the target “Jeffrey Pine,” though the DRT was kept on the sidelines this time.
Curiosity then proceeded to image Jeffrey Pine and “Canyon Oak” with MAHLI while simultaneously executing a DAN passive analysis. Mastcam documented “Santiago Peak" as well as Canyon Oak, prior to a ChemCam 5-spot analysis on the latter.
Following a drive of about 30 meters (about 98 feet), Curiosity rounded out the two-sol plan with untargeted and environmental monitoring activities, including Navcam dust-devil and cloud-shadow movies.
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4539-4540-back-after-a-productive-weekend-plan/
Sols 4536-4538: Dusty Martian Magnets
May 13, 2025
I was on downlink today for SA-SPaH, our robotic arm team. We successfully completed a number of fun arm activities, including a DRT brushing and APXS observations of a bedrock target, and also completed a traverse of about 25 meters (about 82 feet). Exciting!
Today, our uplink team planned three sols of activities. On Sol 4536, we are using the arm to do some inspection imaging of the MAHLI magnet using Mastcam.
This magnet allows us to determine whether or not the MAHLI cover has successfully opened or closed. These magnets accumulate a lot of Martian dust particles, so we periodically take imaging to inspect the quantity of dust and get a better understanding of the state of the hardware.
I’ve included above an image of the MAHLI instrument, from our last inspection on Sol 4291. After the magnet inspection, we’ll do some more typical arm activities, which include some APXS placements, DRT brushing, and MAHLI imaging on targets of interest.
In this workspace, we are interested in targets characterizing the pale layered sulfate unit we’ve been driving on, as well as a target in the new ridge-forming unit.
Beyond our arm activities, we’ll do additional science observations of the surface using Mastcam and ChemCam.
On Sol 4537, we’ll focus on driving! Prior to our drive, we’ll take some more scientific observations, including a Navcam cloud movie, Mastcam documentation of some geological units, and ChemCam LIBS on a ridge-forming unit.
We have then planned a 21-meter drive (about 69 feet) to take us to a bedrock area of scientific interest. We’re excited because the terrain looks pretty benign, so we’re hoping it all goes smoothly!
Post-drive, we’ll take some Mastcam survey imaging of clasts and soils along the traverse. Finally on Sol 4538, we’ll aim our focus upwards and take a number of observations of the sky.
We’ll start with a Navcam large dust-devil survey, a Mastcam tau measurement of the atmospheric optical depth, and a ChemCam passive sky observation to study atmospheric composition.
Early the following morning, we’ll take some additional Navcam observations of clouds, and complete another Mastcam tau measurement of optical depth.
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4536-4538-dusty-martian-magnets/
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webbs-titan-forecast-partly-cloudy-with-occasional-methane-showers/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02537-3
Webb’s Titan Forecast: Partly Cloudy With Occasional Methane Showers
May 14, 2025
Saturn’s moon Titan is an intriguing world cloaked in a yellowish, smoggy haze. Similar to Earth, the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and has weather, including clouds and rain.
Unlike Earth, whose weather is driven by evaporating and condensing water, frigid Titan has a methane cycle.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, supplemented with images from the Keck II telescope, has for the first time found evidence for cloud convection in Titan’s northern hemisphere, over a region of lakes and seas.
Webb also has detected a key carbon-containing molecule that gives insight into the chemical processes in Titan’s complex atmosphere.
Titan’s Weather
On Titan, methane plays a similar role to water on Earth when it comes to weather. It evaporates from the surface and rises into the atmosphere, where it condenses to form methane clouds.
Occasionally it falls as a chilly, oily rain onto a solid surface where water ice is hard as rocks.
“Titan is the only other place in our solar system that has weather like Earth, in the sense that it has clouds and rainfall onto a surface,” explained lead author Conor Nixon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The team observed Titan in November 2022 and July 2023 using both Webb and one of the twin ground-based W.M. Keck Observatories telescopes.
Those observations not only showed clouds in the mid and high northern latitudes on Titan – the hemisphere where it is currently summer – but also showed those clouds apparently rising to higher altitudes over time.
While previous studies have observed cloud convection at southern latitudes, this is the first time evidence for such convection has been seen in the north.
This is significant because most of Titan’s lakes and seas are located in its northern hemisphere and evaporation from lakes is a major potential methane source. Their total area is similar to that of the Great Lakes in North America.
On Earth the lowest layer of the atmosphere, or troposphere, extends up to an altitude of about 7 miles (12 kilometers).
However, on Titan, whose lower gravity allows the atmospheric layers to expand, the troposphere extends up to about 27 miles (45 kilometers).
Webb and Keck used different infrared filters to probe to different depths in Titan’s atmosphere, allowing astronomers to estimate the altitudes of the clouds.
The science team observed clouds that appeared to move to higher altitudes over a period of days, although they were not able to directly see any precipitation occurring.
Image A: Titan (Webb and Keck Image)
Titan’s Chemistry
Titan is an object of high astrobiological interest due to its complex organic (carbon-containing) chemistry.
Organic molecules form the basis of all life on Earth, and studying them on a world like Titan may help scientists understand the processes that led to the origin of life on Earth.
The basic ingredient that drives much of Titan’s chemistry is methane, or CH4.
Methane in Titan’s atmosphere gets split apart by sunlight or energetic electrons from Saturn’s magnetosphere, and then recombines with other molecules to make substances like ethane (C2H6) along with more complex carbon-bearing molecules.
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Webb’s data provided a key missing piece for our understanding of the chemical processes: a definitive detection of the methyl radical CH3.
This molecule (called “radical” because it has a “free” electron that is not in a chemical bond) forms when methane is broken apart.
Detecting this substance means that scientists can see chemistry in action on Titan for the first time, rather than just the starting ingredients and the end products.
“For the first time we can see the chemical cake while it’s rising in the oven, instead of just the starting ingredients of flour and sugar, and then the final, iced cake,” said co-author Stefanie Milam of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Image B: Chemistry in Titan's Atmosphere
The Future of Titan’s Atmosphere
This hydrocarbon chemistry has long-term implications for the future of Titan.
When methane is broken apart in the upper atmosphere, some of it recombines to make other molecules that eventually end up on Titan’s surface in one chemical form or another, while some hydrogen escapes from the atmosphere.
As a result, methane will be depleted over time, unless there is some source to replenish it.
A similar process occurred on Mars, where water molecules were broken up and the resulting hydrogen lost to space. The result was the dry, desert planet we see today.
“On Titan, methane is a consumable. It’s possible that it is being constantly resupplied and fizzing out of the crust and interior over billions of years.
If not, eventually it will all be gone and Titan will become a mostly airless world of dust and dunes,” said Nixon.
Complementing the Dragonfly Mission
More of Titan’s mysteries will be probed by NASA’s Dragonfly mission, a robotic rotorcraft scheduled to land on Saturn’s moon in 2034.
Making multiple flights, Dragonfly will explore a variety of locations. Its in-depth investigations will complement Webb’s global perspective.
“By combining all of these resources, including Webb, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and ground-based observatories, we maintain continuity between the former Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and the upcoming Dragonfly mission,” added Heidi Hammel, vice president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and a Webb Interdisciplinary Scientist.
This data was taken as part of Hammel’s Guaranteed Time Observations program to study the Solar System.
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Biotech, Fire Safety Research and Station Maintenance topped Tuesday’s Schedule for the Expedition 73 Crew
May 13, 2025
Biotechnology research exploring DNA-inspired nanomaterials and researching how fire behaves in microgravity to expand on station fire safety topped the science schedule for the Expedition 73 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday.
The crew also scheduled in time for more station maintenance.
A Bio-Monitor garment and headband were donned by NASA astronaut Anne McClain as part of an experiment that monitors astronauts’ psychological responses before, during, and after a mission to the International Space Station to assess the effect of space travel on heart health.
McClain and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers experimented with the Life Sciences Glovebox and the DNA Nano Therapeutics Mission 2 which produces a special type of molecule formed by DNA-inspired nanomaterials.
Together these flight engineers were mixing mRNA and/or protein solutions as part of the nanomaterials mixing operations. This investigation could help identify the best formulations and methods for cost-effective in-space production.
These nanomaterials also could be used to create new ways of targeting therapy delivery that improve patient outcomes with fewer side effects.
Ayers continued her work with the Life Sciences Glove Box and worked to plug-in the spectrophotometer to perform light wave measurements as part of the DNA Nano Therapeutics Mission 2 Spectrophotometer setup.
Throughout her day she also checked and charged the batteries in the Astrobees, which are cube-shaped robots designed to help scientists and engineers develop and test technologies for use in microgravity and to assist astronauts with routine chores, and give ground controllers additional eyes and ears on the space station.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim worked on installing the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) experiment mist hardware used to extinguish flames.
He also worked with the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) which enables investigators to perform combustion research to understand the fundamentals of the combustion process, understand fire safety, and methods for suppression of fires in space.
Station commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) performed work in the Japanese Experiment Module with fire safety as well as some station maintenance.
Onishi worked with the Solid Combustion Experiment Module (SCEM) exchanging gas bottles in the Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack to perform leak checks as well as exchanged samples.
Onishi also worked on orbital plumbing installing recycle tanks and configuring drain valves.
Maintenance was at the forefront of the station’s three cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy, and Kirill Peskov’s day while working in the Russian segment.
Zubritskiy removed Russian cargo, completed replacing and repairing thermal sensors as well and verifying a flow sensor installation position.
Peskov completed an ethernet cables audit as well as worked on the intermodular ventilation system that connects the Russian module to the U.S. module.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/05/13/biotech-fire-safety-research-and-station-maintenance-topped-tuesdays-schedule-for-the-expedition-73-crew/
Lightning in Southeast Asia
May 13, 2025
A flash of lightning shines brighter than the lights of nearby cities in this Oct. 29, 2024, image taken by astronaut Don Pettit while aboard the International Space Station.
At the time of this photograph, little to no moonlight illuminated the scene. This allows astronauts to see and photograph a variety of light sources with a high degree of contrast against the dark land and water surfaces.
Bright light associated with lightning is a common occurrence during the monsoon season across Southeast Asia.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/lightning-in-southeast-asia/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154280/lights-of-southeast-asia
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/nasa-enables-construction-technology-for-moon-and-mars-exploration/
https://www.nasa.gov/space-technology-mission-directorate/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6afj68fLMJI
NASA Enables Construction Technology for Moon and Mars Exploration
May 13, 2025
One of the keys to a sustainable human presence on distant worlds is using local, or in-situ, resources which includes building materials for infrastructure such as habitats, radiation shielding, roads, and rocket launch and landing pads.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is leveraging its portfolio of programs and industry opportunities to develop in-situ, resource capabilities to help future Moon and Mars explorers build what they need.
These technologies have made exciting progress for space applications as well as some impacts right here on Earth.
The Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) project, funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development program and managed at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is exploring applications of large-scale, robotic 3D printing technology for construction on other planets.
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but demonstrations using simulated lunar and Martian surface material, known as regolith, show the concept could become reality.
With its partners in industry and academic institutions, MMPACT is developing processing technologies for lunar and Martian construction materials.
The binders for these materials, including water, could be extracted from the local regolith to reduce launch mass. The regolith itself is used as the aggregate, or granular material, for these concretes.
NASA has evaluated these materials for decades, initially working with large-scale 3D printing pioneer, Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of civil, environmental and astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Khoshnevis developed techniques for large-scale extraterrestrial 3D printing under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
One of these processes is Contour Crafting, in which molten regolith and a binding agent are extruded from a nozzle to create infrastructure layer by layer.
The process can be used to autonomously build monolithic structures like radiation shielding and rocket landing pads.
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Continuing to work with the NIAC program, Khoshnevis also developed a 3D printing method called selective separation sintering, in which heat and pressure are applied to layers of powder to produce metallic, ceramic, or composite objects which could produce small-scale, more-precise hardware.
This energy-efficient technique can be used on planetary surfaces as well as in microgravity environments like space stations to produce items including interlocking tiles and replacement parts.
While NASA’s efforts are ultimately aimed at developing technologies capable of building a sustainable human presence on other worlds, Khoshnevis is also setting his sights closer to home.
He has created a company called Contour Crafting Corporation that will use 3D printing techniques advanced with NIAC funding to fabricate housing and other infrastructure here on Earth.
Another one of NASA’s partners in additive manufacturing, ICON of Austin, Texas, is doing the same, using 3D printing techniques for home construction on Earth, with robotics, software, and advanced material.
The ICON company was among the participants in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, which aimed to advance the technology needed to build housing in extraterrestrial environments.
In 2021, ICON used its large-scale 3D printing system to build a 1,700 square-foot simulated Martian habitat that includes crew quarters, workstations and common lounge and food preparation areas.
This habitat prototype, called Mars Dune Alpha, is part of NASA’s ongoing Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, a series of Mars surface mission simulations scheduled through 2026 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
With support from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, ICON is also developing an Olympus construction system, which is designed to use local resources on the Moon and Mars as building materials.
The ICON company uses a robotic 3D printing technique called Laser Vitreous Multi-material Transformation, in which high-powered lasers melt local surface materials, or regolith, that then solidify to form strong, ceramic-like structures.
Regolith can similarly be transformed to create infrastructure capable of withstanding environmental hazards like corrosive lunar dust, as well as radiation and temperature extremes.
The company is also characterizing the gravity-dependent properties of simulated lunar regolith in an experiment called Duneflow, which flew aboard a Blue Origin reusable suborbital rocket system through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program in February 2025.
During that flight test, the vehicle simulated lunar gravity for approximately two minutes, enabling ICON and researchers from NASA to compare the behavior of simulant against real regolith obtained from the Moon during an Apollo mission.
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NASA Safely Ends Second Super Pressure Balloon Test Flight
May 13, 2025
The second test flight of NASA’s 2025 New Zealand Super Pressure Balloon Campaign was safely terminated at 1:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 13 (U.S. Eastern Time) over Argentina. The mission remained in flight for 9 days, 6 hours, and 36 minutes.
Balloon operators from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas, sent flight termination commands separating the 18.8-million-cubic-foot (532,000-cubic-meter) balloon from the payload.
The football-stadium-sized balloon rapidly deflated and safely floated back to Earth. The payload, equipped with a parachute, gently floated back to the ground, landing about 25 nautical miles northwest of Estancia Los Alamos, Argentina.
“This mission concludes a successful campaign from our launch site in New Zealand,” said Andrew Hamilton, deputy chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
“We are proud of all the hard work the team has put in, and we are grateful to all of our international partners in New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile that made this a success.”
Although the balloon performed well and the mission successfully met its minimum requirements toward qualification of the balloon system, an issue with the power system aboard the balloon gondola prompted the team to terminate the mission early as a precaution.
The team had been monitoring a power failure in one of the redundant charging systems since May 8.
“Despite the loss of one of the redundant charging systems, the remaining power system was performing very well and still able to sustain the batteries and electrical equipment over the course of the mission,” said Hamilton.
“However, to be cautious, the team opted to end the flight early to get the equipment back, so we can do a full failure analysis.”
After identifying a safe area and coordinating with Argentinian officials, the flight was safely terminated. Recovery of the balloon and payload is in progress.
While the primary goal of the flight was to further test and qualify the super pressure balloon technology, the balloon was also carrying several smaller scientific instruments and technology demonstrations.
“A complex campaign like this involved a myriad of support from organizations around the world,” said Hamilton. “Our team at CSBF is the premier balloon launching program, and this campaign showed, once again, how good they are.
The Balloon Program Office is fully appreciative of all the support we’ve had from our colleagues in the State Department that assisted with coordination, as well as all our international partners that enabled a successful launch and recovery of the mission. This is truly a global team effort.”
NASA will further investigate the cause of the anomaly.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/wallops/2025/05/13/nasa-safely-ends-second-super-pressure-balloon-test-flight/
https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons/
Sun Releases Strong Solar Flare
May 13, 2025
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare is classified as an X1.2 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/solar-cycle-25/2025/05/13/sun-releases-strong-solar-flare-21/
https://www.spaceweather.gov/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEp-Ad_5avE
Congress Examines NASA’s Planetary Protection Duty
May 13, 2025
NASA and academic officials will head to Capitol Hill this week to testify before Congress on what many Americans consider to be the agency’s top priority: making sure a giant asteroid whizzing through space doesn’t wipe out life on Earth.
The House space and aeronautics subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday morning on NASA’s planetary defense strategy, including testimony from:
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Nicola Fox, NASA’s associate administrator of the science mission directorate;
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Amy Mainzer, a professor at UCLA who leads JPL’s NEO Surveyor mission;
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Matthew Payne, the director of the Minor Planet Center, located at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. .
What is it? NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, established in 2016 to manage ongoing planetary defense work, is charged with discovering, tracking, and (if needed) redirecting asteroids that may threaten Earth.
The office oversaw the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which launched in 2021 on a one-way mission to intentionally collide with Dimorphos, an asteroid moonlet.
The high-speed bump in 2022 successfully changed the path of Dimorphos, suggesting the agency could redirect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
The George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey Act—which passed Congress as part of the 2005 NASA authorization bill—directed the space agency to find at least 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140m (459 feet) in diameter, within 15 years of the bill’s passage.
If you do the math, NASA is pretty far behind schedule—and learning how to catch up is a top question for lawmakers, according to the hearing charter. Members are also expected to dig into delays in the NEO Surveyor program that’s expected to help close the gap.
Top priority: Late last year, astronomers spotted a large asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, that was initially pegged with a 1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032.
In February, as more observations of its pathway gradually came in, the probability of a serious Earth collision skyrocketed to 3.1% and then was revised down to .0004%.
(While this is an extreme case of probability changes, such collision calculations often do change as our understanding of the space rock’s pathway improves.)
Lawmakers are wondering—how did this asteroid fly under the radar for so long?
“The public concern [2024 YR4] generated reminded us that planetary defense is not science fiction nor a distant curiosity, but a matter of national preparedness,” Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), who chairs the subcommittee, said in a statement.
“With an estimated 14,000 hazardous asteroids still undetected and critical systems like NEO Surveyor facing delays, our responsibility is clear.”
Other questions: Lawmakers are also likely to ask about many other planetary protection priorities in the hearing, including:
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Budget: NASA’s planetary defense mission could “absolutely” face trouble under proposed budget cuts, according to one space policy source.
It falls under NASA’s planetary science division within the science mission directorate, which is facing major cutbacks under the Trump administration’s “skinny budget” plan being considered by Congress.
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NEO Surveyor: The asteroid-hunting space telescope has been in progress for nearly 20 years.
While that sort of timeline isn’t atypical in space, lawmakers will likely press for answers on why the telescope launch was delayed and what can be done to put it on track.
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Dark skies: Until NEO Surveyor launches, scientists will mainly rely on ground-based observations to find and track asteroids.
This task is made more difficult by the rise of mega constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink or Amazon’s Kuiper, whose bright satellites add complications for tracking faint objects in the sky.
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What’s next: Amid the sluggish government acquisition process, what happens if astronomers do find a life-ending asteroid heading Earth’s way?
DART proved out kinetic tech, but it’s unclear if government and industry could rally to quickly build an impactor.
“If it takes 20 years to get through everything [for NEO Surveyor] how long will it take us if we need an impactor?” the space policy source said.
“If we do discover a dinosaur killer…humans are squishy bags of water; it’s not great to get hit by big rocks.”
https://payloadspace.com/congress-examines-nasas-planetary-protection-duty/
https://science.house.gov/2025/5/from-detection-to-deflection-evaluating-nasa-s-planetary-defense-strategy
https://republicans-science.house.gov/_cache/files/b/e/beffa8f5-34f2-4346-b531-8ddb4c9b1382/5C7F03DD6698A92137DC93756D432E668F3379A52009EAEA46B66ACC6C3FEBEC.sst-hearing-charter—from-detection-to-deflection-evaluating-nasas-planetary-defense-strategy.pdf
World-first lab tests 3D space prints to help astronauts ‘dodge a bullet’ in orbit
Updated: May 14, 2025 04:24 AM EST
There’s a growing buzz around space-based 3D printing.
Many experts see space-based 3D printing as the next major leap forward in our ability to operate and build in space. But a key challenge is ensuring that these space-made structures can withstand the harsh realities of space.
A potential solution comes in the form of the NextSpace Testrig, a newly established facility in Glasgow, Scotland.
The facility, built by the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, is said to be the first of its kind globally. This is a dedicated test to evaluate the durability of 3D-printed materials intended for use in space or those manufactured there.
“The NextSpace TestRig is open to academic colleagues, researchers and commercial clients from around the world to help them ensure that any materials they plan to 3D print in space will work safely,” said Dr. Gilles Bailet, one of the facility’s developers.
Ensuring 3D-printed material stability
Since getting supplies delivered to space like an Amazon Prime order isn’t an option, 3D printers are incredibly useful for astronauts.
It offers the potential for on-demand creation of tools, parts, and even habitats using lunar resources.
The idea of using 3D printers in space is not recent; as per NASA, the International Space Station has been equipped with one since 2014.
In recent years, we’ve already seen successful experiments with 3D printers in space.
For instance, the first successful in-space metal 3D printing on a space station happened in 2024. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus achieved this in-orbit milestone of 3D printing a small stainless steel S-curve.
This marked a major advancement beyond the plastic printing that had been ongoing for several years.
Previously, there hasn’t been a research facility specifically focused on guaranteeing the durability of polymers, ceramics, and metals 3D-printed for the harsh conditions of space.
Most importantly, the facility could help guarantee that a key space technology doesn’t result in dangerous space junk.
The harsh conditions of space – extreme temperature changes and vacuum – can worsen flaws in poorly made 3D-printed materials, causing them to break apart.
And that’s where the danger lies. Objects in orbit travel at incredible speeds.
“If a piece of a poorly-made structure breaks off, it will end up circling the Earth with the velocity of a rifle bullet,” Bailet explained.
“If it hits another object like a satellite or a spacecraft, it could cause catastrophic damage, as well as increase the potential of cascading problems as debris from any collisions causes further damage to other objects.”
Extreme temperatures of space
The NextSpace Testrig is designed to prevent space debris. This unique facility recreates the extreme conditions of space right here on Earth.
Its vacuum chamber can simulate temperatures ranging from a frigid -150°C (-238°F) to a scorching +250°C (500°F).
Interestingly, it can also apply immense force – up to 20 kilonewtons, equivalent to the weight of 2,000 kilograms – to test the structural integrity of 3D-printed samples under these simulated space conditions.
Furthermore, a unique magazine system allows for the automated testing of multiple samples in a single cycle, making the process incredibly efficient.
“Our facility will help augment the capabilities of future spacecraft assembled in orbit, ensuring that the UK space sector can be more competitive internationally,” Bailet noted in the press release.
The development of the NextSpace TestRig received financial support from the UK Space Agency’s Enabling Technology Programme.
With the successful adoption of 3D-printing technology, there could be a future when astronauts build large, complex structures like solar reflectors on the Moon’s terrain.
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/world-first-lab-3d-space-prints-test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H95O_zbYZk
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/antarctica/nasa-satellites-show-antarctica-has-gained-ice-despite-rising-global-temperatures-how-is-that-possible
https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-second-warmest-april-globally-global-temperature-still-more-15degc-above-pre-industrial
NASA satellites show Antarctica has gained ice despite rising global temperatures. How is that possible?
May 13, 2025
Antarctica has gained ice in recent years, despite increasing average global temperatures and climate change, a new study finds.
Using data from NASA satellites, researchers from Tongji University in Shanghai tracked changes in Antarctica's ice sheet over more than two decades.
The overall trend is one of substantial ice loss on the continent, but from 2021 to 2023, Antarctica gained some of that lost ice back.
However, this isn't a sign that global warming and climate change have miraculously reversed. Picture a long ski slope with a small jump at the end.
That's what a line through the Antarctic ice sheet data looks like when plotted on a graph. While there have been some recent ice gains, they don't even begin to make up for almost 20 years of losses.
Most of the gains have already been attributed to an anomaly that saw increased precipitation (snow and some rain) fall over Antarctica, which caused more ice to form.
Antarctica's ice levels fluctuate from year to year, and the gains appear to have slowed since the study period ended at the beginning of 2024.
The levels reported by NASA thus far in 2025 look similar to what they were back in 2020, just before the abrupt gain.
The ice sheet covering Antarctica is the largest mass of ice on Earth.
Bigger than the whole of the U.S., the sheet holds 90% of the world's fresh water, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, an environmental non-governmental organization.
Antarctica is also surrounded by sea ice (frozen ocean water), which expands in the winter and retreats to the Antarctic coastline in the summer.
This latest study, published March 19 in the journal Science China Earth Sciences, analyzed data from NASA's Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On satellites that have been monitoring this ice sheet since 2002.
Studying changes to the sheet is important because any melt releases water into the ocean, which is a major driver of rising sea levels.
The satellite data revealed that the sheet experienced a sustained period of ice loss between 2002 and 2020.
The ice loss accelerated in the latter half of that period, increasing from an average loss of about 81 billion tons (74 billion metric tons) per year between 2002 and 2010, to a loss of about 157 billion tons (142 billion metric tons) between 2011 and 2020, according to the study.
However, the trend then shifted.
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The ice sheet gained mass from 2021 to 2023 at an average rate of about 119 billion tons (108 metric tons) per year. Four glaciers in eastern Antarctica also flipped from accelerated ice loss to significant mass gain.
"This isn't particularly strange," said Tom Slater, a research fellow in environmental science at Northumbria University in the U.K. who wasn't involved in the study.
"In a warmer climate the atmosphere can hold more moisture — this raises the likelihood of extreme weather such as the heavy snowfall which caused the recent mass gain in East Antarctica," he told Live Science in an email.
A 2023 study documented Antarctica's unprecedented mass gain between 2021 and 2022. That study, written by many of the same authors behind the new study, found that a high precipitation anomaly was responsible for the gain in ice.
The latest study suggests that the trend continued until at least 2023. Slater noted that researchers expect the ice gains to be temporary.
"Almost all of Antarctica's grounded ice losses come from glaciers elsewhere which are speeding up and flowing into the warming ocean," Slater said.
"This is still happening — while the recent snowfall has temporarily offset these losses, they haven't stopped so it's not expected this is a long-term change in Antarctica's behaviour."
A warming world
Climate change doesn't mean that everywhere on Earth will get hotter at the same rate, so a single region will never tell the whole story of our warming world.
Historically, temperatures over much of Antarctica have remained relatively stable, particularly compared to the Arctic, which has cooked four times faster than the rest of the globe.
Antarctica's sea ice has also been much more stable relative to the Arctic, but that's been changing in recent years.
In 2023, Antarctic sea ice hit record lows, which researchers concluded was extremely unlikely to happen without climate change.
Meanwhile, global sea ice cover is consistently dropping to record lows or near-record lows, while global temperatures are consistently at record or near-record highs.
In 2015, world leaders signed the Paris Agreement, an international treaty promising to limit global warming to preferably below 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) and well below 3.6 F (2 C).
However, that first promise is on the line: April 2025 was the 21st out of the last 22 months to breach the 2.7 F limit, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
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Australia's first ever home-grown orbital rocket ready for debut launch today
May 14, 2025
Gilmour Space is gearing up for the launch of the first Australian-designed and manufactured orbital rocket that could lift off from Australian soil for the first time.
The Australia-based company announced Tuesday (May 13) that the Eris-1 rocket passed its launch readiness review (LRR) and had secured its launch license from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
Now, Eris-1 waits at the launchpad to begin the countdown for its first test flight. "LRR was the last major review of rocket, payload, range & weather," the company said in an online post.
Eris-1 will liftoff from Gilmour's Bowen Orbital Spaceport in northern Queensland, during a 10-hour launch window beginning May 14 at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT; 7:30 a.m. local time, May 15).
Gilmore had previously targeted March 15 for Eris-1's debut, but the development of Tropical Cyclone Alfred leading up to that date prevented the first attempt.
Since its opening in 2015, Gilmour Space has grown to over 200 employees supporting their operations on Queensland's Gold Coast, where the company developed its spaceport and launch vehicle almost entirely from domestic resources, touting an Australian supply chain network of over 300 companies.
The three-stage Eris rocket stands 82 feet (25 meters) tall and is designed to deliver up to 474 pounds (215 kilograms) to sun-synchronous orbit.
The rocket's maiden voyage, designated TestFlight1, will be the first of several for the launch vehicle, as Gilmour Space qualifies its systems and propulsion technology.
"Whether we make it off the pad, reach max Q, or get all the way to space, what's important is that every second of flight will deliver valuable data that will improve our rocket's reliability and performance for future launches," Gilmour Space co-founder and CEO Adam Gilmour in a press release in February.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/australias-first-ever-home-grown-orbital-rocket-ready-for-debut-launch-today
https://www.youtube.com/@GilmourSpace
Astronaut sees 'Flower Moon' from orbit
May 14, 2025
The May 2025 full moon, dubbed the "Flower Moon," is seen above Earth's horizon in a photo taken by NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 crew member Nichole Ayers aboard the International Space Station.
What is it?
Rising above Earth's blue horizon like a bright white bloom opening above a field of green grass, the full moon is captured beautifully in this photo taken by Ayers from a window on the space station.
"I'm still in awe of our view of the world and beyond. Today was the Flower Moon and it did NOT disappoint!" Ayers posted on social media on May 12, 2025.
Originating from Native American tribes, the May full moon is called the "Flower Moon" as it generally coincides with the blooming of flowers on Earth.
Ayers, aboard the International Space Station, was about 260 miles (418 kilometers) above Earth when she took this photo.
She was approximately 240,000 miles (384,000 km) away from the moon at the time.
Why is it amazing?
Depending on the lens used, Ayers was able to make the full moon appear large or small, as well as pick up surface details.
"These were shot from a few different lenses for perspective. I love how you can see the texture in the clouds and on the moon itself," she wrote.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/astronaut-sees-flower-moon-from-orbit-space-photo-of-the-day-for-may-13-2025
https://x.com/Astro_Ayers/status/1922092581686571346
A tiny glass bead from the moon offers clues to its hidden interior
May 14, 2025
A tiny glass bead retrieved by China's Chang'e-5 lunar mission is offering scientists a glimpse into the moon's hidden depths and providing insight into the violent forces that helped shape the cratered landscape.
The bead, just a fraction of an inch wide, was among the 3.7-pound (1.7-kilogram) cache of rock and soil collected by the Chang'e-5 lander in 2020 from Oceanus Procellarum, or the "Ocean of Storms," a vast lava plain on the moon's near side.
Scientists analyzing the samples have identified the glass bead as a remnant of high-temperature lunar activity dating back to roughly 68 million years ago.
What sets the bead apart is its unusual chemistry: it's exceptionally rich in magnesium oxide, in stark contrast to the volcanic rocks that dominate the region, a team of scientists led by Chen-Long Ding of Nanjing University in China report in a new study.
The findings suggest the bead likely formed from material excavated by a massive asteroid impact — possibly one that struck the moon with enough force to unearth rock from the upper mantle and fling it to the surface.
"This is a big step forward in understanding how the moon evolved internally," Tim Johnson, a professor of geology at Curtin University in Australia and a co-author of the new study, said in a statement.
"If these samples really are pieces of the mantle, it tells us that impacts can excavate otherwise inaccessible mantle material to the surface."
The plateau surrounding Chang'e-5's landing site is dotted with over 100,000 craters larger than 328 feet (100 meters) in size, making it a challenge for scientists to match glass droplets with their specific crater of origin.
One particularly compelling theory links the bead's origin to the nearby Imbrium Basin, a massive impact site that formed nearly 4 billion years ago.
Remote sensing has shown the area around the basin's edge contains minerals that match the chemical signature of the glass bead.
That basin's formation — one of the most cataclysmic in the moon's history — may have punched deep into the lunar crust, excavating material from the upper mantle and scattering it across the surface, including the area later sampled by the Chang'e-5 mission.
Billions of years later, a smaller impact — occurring around 68 million years ago — likely struck this area again, re-melting some of that ancient, mantle-derived debris. The intense heat from this second collision fused the material into glass, forming glass beads like the one studied.
"This is exciting, because we've never sampled the mantle directly before," Alexander Nemchin, a professor of applied geology at Curtin University said in the same statement. "The tiny glass beads offer us a glimpse of the moon's hidden interior."
China recently opened access to its Chang'e-5 lunar samples, which are the first to be brought to Earth since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission in 1976.
Seven intitutions across six countries have been loaned small portions of the material, including two in the U.S. and one each in France, Germany, Japan and Pakistan.
Chinese researchers, in collaboration with international teams, have already made several discoveries from the samples, including the surprising finding that the material is much younger than that from the Apollo missions, suggesting volcanic activity on the moon occurred as recently as 120 million years ago.
This raises the question of what fueled the volcanism in the absence of water and hot radioactive elements to generate subsurface magma.
Foreign scientists now receiving samples are optimistic their specialized equipment will help answer this and other lunar mysteries.
"We look forward to scientists worldwide making more scientific discoveries, jointly expanding human knowledge and benefiting all of humanity," Shan Zhongde, head of the Chinese Space Agency, said on April 24 at a ceremony in Shanghai celebrating China's annual Space Day.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/a-tiny-glass-bead-from-the-moon-offers-clues-to-its-hidden-interior
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv9019