>Did Q+ just call on anons to assume battle positions?
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
June 24, 2025
In the Center of Spiral Galaxy M61
Is there a spiral galaxy in the center of this spiral galaxy? Sort of. Image data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the European Southern Observatory, and smaller telescopes on planet Earth are combined in this detailed portrait of face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 (M61) and its bright center. A mere 55 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, M61 is also known as NGC 4303. It's considered to be an example of a barred spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way. Like other spiral galaxies, M61 also features sweeping spiral arms, cosmic dust lanes, pinkish star forming regions, and young blue star clusters. Its core houses an active supermassive black hole surrounded by a bright nuclear spiral – infalling star-forming gas that itself looks like a separate spiral galaxy.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA is flying planes at low altitudes in the Philly area this week
June 23, 2025
Planes may be seen flying unusually low in the skies in the Philadelphia region over the next several days, but there's no cause for alarm.
The flights are part of a NASA research program that helps train the next generation of scientists.
NASA is conducting low-altitude flights near Philly, Baltimore and the Virginia cities of Howell, Hampton and Richmond through Thursday.
The flights began Sunday, and are part of an eight-week summer internship program that trains rising college seniors in field research.
The internship, called the Student Airborne Research Program, or SARP, involves airborne data collection. Pilots fly the planes low to the ground along airport runways so students and their mentors can collect samples near the surface. They also conduct maneuvers like vertical spirals of 1,000 to 10,000 feet and hover above power plants, landfills and urban areas.
People on the ground might spy the P-3 Orion, a four-engine turboprop aircraft that operates out of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
It is equipped with specialty windows and ports to support scientific research into meteorology, soil science, atmospheric chemistry, oceanography and other disciplines.
A King Air B200 plane, which NASA contracts from Dynamic Aviation, will fly at the same time as the P-3 Orion.
The internship, called the Student Airborne Research Program, or SARP, involves airborne data collection.
Pilots fly the planes low to the ground along airport runways so students and their mentors can collect samples near the surface.
They also conduct maneuvers like vertical spirals of 1,000 to 10,000 feet and hover above power plants, landfills and urban areas.
People on the ground might spy the P-3 Orion, a four-engine turboprop aircraft that operates out of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
It is equipped with specialty windows and ports to support scientific research into meteorology, soil science, atmospheric chemistry, oceanography and other disciplines.
A King Air B200 plane, which NASA contracts from Dynamic Aviation, will fly at the same time as the P-3 Orion.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-low-altitude-planes-nasa-research/
NASA Shares Axiom Mission 4 Launch Update
June 23, 2025
NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting 2:31 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, June 25, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4.
The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The targeted docking time is approximately 7 a.m. Thursday, June 26. NASA will provide more details and its coverage information shortly.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/06/23/nasa-shares-axiom-mission-4-launch-update/
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=ax-4
Week Starts with Pharma Research, Earth Observations, and Videography
June 23, 2025
A pharmaceutical study, Earth observations, and vision checks kicked off Monday’s research schedule aboard the International Space Station.
The Expedition 73 crew also worked on housekeeping tasks and recorded training videos for future crews.
Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers continued her dayslong investigation into studying how proteins behave inside a fluid using surface tension to eliminate the effects of contacting solid walls.
She processed the samples swapping syringes containing the proteins and installed a test cell inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox.
Results may provide better models that predict the behavior of complex fluids benefitting pharmaceutical manufacturing and 3D printing on Earth and in space.
Regularly scheduled vision checks awaited Flight Engineers Jonny Kim of NASA and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos at the beginning of their shift.
The duo took turns reading characters off a standard eye chart found in a doctor’s office testing their clarity of vision and peripheral vision.
Doctors constantly monitor the astronauts’ eyes and vision to counteract potential space-caused symptoms.
Afterward, Kim partnered together with station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and resumed filming training, or day-in-the-life, videos to familiarize future crews with space station operations and systems.
They filmed and narrated activities inside the Quest airlock showing where spacesuits and spacewalking tools are stowed. The pair also filmed the location of safety hardware and configurations in the Harmony, Kibo, and Columbus modules.
Onishi also joined NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and reorganized cargo.
The pair moved items around the PMM creating more stowage space, documented lost or unknown items, and photographed the module’s layout for analysis by ground specialists.
Peskov spent his shift on video and photography duties first filming his crewmates going about their daily tasks including space research, lab maintenance, and exercise.
Next, he pointed a camera out a window in the Zvezda service module and photographed landmarks such as Pacific islands and volcanos, the South China Sea region, and geological features across Australia.
Veteran cosmonaut and three-time station resident Sergey Ryzhikov worked throughout Monday servicing the Elektron oxygen generator and reorganizing stowage space and documenting inventory in the Zarya module.
First time space-flyer Alexey Zubritskiy assisted Ryzhikov with the life support maintenance duties in Zvezda then replaced dust filters in the Roscosmos segment’s ventilation system.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/06/23/week-starts-with-pharma-research-earth-observations-and-videography/
AppEEARS QGIS Plugin Now Available
June 23, 2025
The AppEEARS QGIS Plugin enables further exploration of geospatial data by allowing users to browse previously completed requests from the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) and load cloud-optimized GeoTIFF output files directly into QGIS without downloading the files locally.
Currently, the plugin only works on Windows because it uses features requiring Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) >= 3.7.
About AppEEARS
AppEEARS offers a simple and efficient way to perform data access and transformation processes by enabling users to download only the data they need.
AppEEARS provides access to a wide range of geospatial data from multiple federal archives, including the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, Daymet gridded weather parameters, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3, population information from the Gridded Population of the World (GPW) collection, and more.
A complete listing of data products available in AppEEARS can be found on the Available Products list.
Additional resources for using AppEEARS are available on the LP DAAC Learning Resources page and on the AppEEARS Data Resources Github Repository.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/appeears-qgis-plugin-now-available
https://github.com/nasa/AppEEARS-Data-Resources
NASA’s SLS Solid Rocket Boosters: What is DM-1?
Jun 23, 2025
Demonstration Motor-1 (DM-1) is the first full-scale ground test of the evolved five-segment solid rocket motor of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.
The event will take place in Promontory, Utah, and will be used as an opportunity to test several upgrades made from the current solid rocket boosters.
Each booster burns six tons of solid propellant every second and together generates almost eight million pounds of thrust.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-sls-solid-rocket-boosters-what-is-dm-1/
Curiosity's First 360-Degree View of Boxwork Patterns
June 23, 2025
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree view after arriving at a region crisscrossed by hardened low ridges called boxwork patterns.
The panorama is stitched together from 291 individual images the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, captured between May 15 and May 18, 2025 (the 4,451st Martian day, or sol, of the mission and the 4,454th sol).
The color in these images has been adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth.
Click here to explore the scene in a 360-degree video.
When viewed from space, the boxwork patterns look a bit like spiderwebs.
They have fascinated scientists since before Curiosity's 2012 landing on the Red Planet and are believed to have formed from groundwater trickling through rock cracks billions of years ago.
Minerals left behind by the water hardened like cement within the rock; after eons of sandblasting by wind, the rock was carved away, revealing networks of resistant ridges within.
Curiosity's tracks can be seen in the middle of the image. In the distance to the right is a butte nicknamed "Texoli."
Far in the distance at the top center of the image is the rim of Gale Crater. Since 2014, Curiosity has been exploring the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain within the crater.
Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California.
JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26559-curiositys-first-360-degree-view-of-boxwork-patterns/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26559-curiositys-first-360-degree-view-of-boxwork-patterns/science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svVZBDru0Nc
Clay Minerals From Mars’ Most Ancient Past?
Jun 23, 2025
Recent detections of clay-bearing bedrock on Jezero’s crater rim have the Perseverance Science Team excited and eager to sample.
Since finishing its exploration of spherule-rich stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau, a relatively low-lying terrain on the outer slopes of the crater rim.
It was in these rocks where the SuperCam instrument began detecting signatures of clay-minerals. These minerals, also known as “phyllosilicates,” are an exciting find as they primarily form by extensive interactions between basaltic rocks and liquid water.
Phyllosilicates are also excellent at preserving organic materials, if present, by adsorbing them or encapsulating them within their mineral structure.
What’s more, it’s possible that these clay-bearing rocks may be some of the most ancient rocks explored by Perseverance, dating back to a time when Mars may have been warmer and wetter than the present day.
Clay-bearing rocks are abundant in the regions around Jezero, and are thought to date to Mars’ Noachian period, around 4 billion years ago. Needless to say, the Science Team were keen to investigate (and eventually sample) these materials.
Perseverance performed an initial toe-dip into this clay-bearing unit back in April, creating the Strong Island abrasion patch, before returning back upslope to Witch Hazel Hill to sample some spherule-bearing rocks.
Since then, Perseverance has started exploring this clay-bearing unit more extensively, creating the Laknes abrasion (pictured) on Sol 1526.
Initial data collected by Perseverance suggests that the clay signature may be variable across the Krokodillen plateau.
Next, the Science Team plan to rove around to establish a clear geologic context for these rocks, as well as locating a good site for sampling!
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/clay-minerals-from-mars-most-ancient-past/
OSTP Memo: Gold Standard Science
June 23, 2025
According to this memo: “As directed by President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14303, “Restoring Gold Standard Science” (May 23, 2025), this memorandum provides guidance to Federal departments and agencies (agencies) on implementing Gold Standard Science in the conduct and management of all aspects of their scientific activities, from research design to public communication.
By adopting these standards, agencies will strengthen scientific inquiry, rebuild public trust, and ensure the United States continues as the global leader in rigorous, evidence-based science.
As directed by the EO, each agency shall report to me the actions they are taking to implement this Guidance within 60 days (by August 22, 2025).
More details on the contents of this required report are outlined in Section 3 of this memorandum.” Full memo below.
https://nasawatch.com/policy/ostp-memo-gold-standard-science/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/ostp-issues-agency-guidance-for-gold-standard-science/
https://whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/OSTP-Guidance-for-GSS-June-2025.pdf
NASA Tests New RS-25 Engine
Jun 23, 2025
NASA tested RS-25 engine No. 20001 on June 20, at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Test teams fired the engine for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines fire during a launch of an SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon.
The Artemis campaign will explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
Four RS-25 engines, built by contractor L3Harris Technologies (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne), help power each SLS launch, producing up to 2 million pounds of combined thrust.
During the test, operators also fired engine No. 20001 up to the 111% power level, the same amount of thrust needed to launch an SLS rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft, to orbit.
The full-duration “hot fire” was the first test since NASA completed certification testing for new production RS-25 engines in 2024.
All RS-25 engines are tested and proven flightworthy at NASA Stennis.
The test was conducted by a team of operators from NASA, L3Harris, and Syncom Space Services, prime contractor for site facilities and operations.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/new-rs-25-engine/
Parker Solar Probe Completes 24th Close Approach to Sun
June 23, 2025
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 24th close approach to the Sun on Thursday, June 19, matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the solar surface.
Following this flyby — the last of the spacecraft’s baseline mission plan — Parker Solar Probe will remain in orbit around the Sun and continue making observations until next steps for the mission are formally reviewed in 2026.
Parker Solar Probe checked in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland — where it was also designed and built — on Sunday, June 22, reporting that all systems are healthy and operating normally.
The spacecraft was out of contact with Earth and operating autonomously during the close approach.
During this flyby, the spacecraft also equaled its record-setting speed of 430,000 miles per hour (687,000 km per hour) — a mark that, like the distance, was set and subsequently matched during close approaches on Dec. 24, 2024, and March 22, 2025.
This close to the Sun, the spacecraft relied on its innovative carbon foam shield, known simply as the Thermal Protection System, to protect itself from the intense heat.
Spacecraft operators expect the shield faced temperatures of between 1,600 to 1,700 F (870 to 930 C) at closest approach.
During the solar encounter — which began June 14 and ends June 24 — Parker’s four scientific instrument packages are gathering unique observations from inside the Sun’s corona.
The flyby, as the third at this distance and speed, is allowing the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled measurements of the solar wind and solar activity while the Sun is in a more active phase of its 11-year cycle.
Parker’s observations of the solar wind and solar events, such as flares and coronal mass ejections, are critical to advancing humankind’s understanding of the Sun and the phenomena that drive high-energy space weather events that pose risks to astronauts, satellites, air travel and even power grids on Earth.
Understanding the fundamental physics of space weather enables more reliable prediction of astronaut safety during future deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars.
“Parker Solar Probe remains in excellent health, with both the spacecraft and its instruments ready to continue their groundbreaking mission,” said Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“The spacecraft will keep exploring the solar atmosphere as the Sun enters the declining phase of its 11-year cycle, providing a unique opportunity to study how solar activity evolves and shapes the heliosphere during this pivotal period.”
Parker Solar Probe was developed as a part of NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.
The LWS program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
APL manages Parker Solar Probe for NASA and designed, built, and operates the mission.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-solar-probe/2025/06/23/parker-solar-probe-completes-24th-close-approach-to-sun/
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/501257/rts-professionals-support-nasa-mission
RTS professionals support NASA mission
06.24.2025
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – A U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command team played an important behind-the-scenes role in supporting NASA’s Sporadic-E Electro Dynamics sounding rocket mission.
NASA launched a Sporadic-E Electro Dynamics, or SEED, sounding rocket from Roi Namur, Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands during a test June 20.
During the mission, SEED was tracked by sensors at Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, or RTS, at Kwajalein.
“It’s been a privilege for SMDC and the Reagan Test Site to support NASA’s SEED missions here on the Kwajalein Atoll,” said Army Lt. Col. Casey Rumfelt, RTS range director.
“Our role is to provide the precision tracking, telemetry and safety oversight that enable these cutting-edge atmospheric and ionospheric science missions to succeed.
Supporting partners like NASA isn’t just a technical responsibility, it’s a commitment to advancing global scientific understanding, one mission at a time.”
As a Department of Defense Major Test Range Facility Base, RTS radars, imaging systems, data collection capabilities, and personnel have supported hundreds of missile tests ranging from validation of concepts and designs for intercontinental ballistic missiles to anti-satellite systems to ballistic missile defense systems for more than 50 years.
“These collaborations reflect the unique capabilities of RTS and the incredible professionalism of our workforce,” Rumfelt said.
“From engineers and radar crews to mission planners and logistics staff, together we make world-class science possible from one of the most remote launch sites on Earth.”
Reagan Test Site’s two tracking radars, ARPA Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar, or ALTAIR, and Target Resolution and Discrimination Experiment, or TRADEX, support tests, as well as the two imaging radars, the ARPA Lincoln C-Band Observables Radar, or ALCOR, and the Millimeter Wave, or MMW.
The RTS Operation Center – Huntsville, or ROC-H, provided command and control for the test mission despite being more than 6,500 miles from Kwajalein, which is located halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
ROC-H is the mission control center for RTS. All the radars at RTS are controlled and operated from ROC-H.
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The optics and telemetry sites on Kwajalein Atoll are managed by the controllers in ROC-H. The data upon mission completion is sent to ROC-H for analysis and distribution to the customer.
Michael Savage, RTS’ SEED range control officer, said RTS provides NASA with launch location and support services on Roi Island, Kwajalein Atoll that allows them to safely launch two sounding rockets into the broad ocean area where they plan to measure upper air atmospheric conditions utilizing the suite of RTS instrumentation.
The objective of the NASA SEED mission is to collect the first simultaneous multipoint spatial and temporal observations of low-latitude Sporadic-E layers.
He added this will be accomplished with a range of onboard instrumentation and Tri-Methyl Aluminum, or TMA, puff releases.
After release of the TMA, the thermosphere winds will be measured by optically tracking the TMA clouds via camera sites deployed at Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, and Rongelap.
“The ultimate goal of these collections is to characterize and predict ionospheric disturbances that could disrupt the communication paths from earth ground stations and devices to satellites causing outages in communications,” Savage said.
“If we were able to predict when and where these outages could occur, alternate communication paths could be established.
NASA has conducted these types of experiments around the world, including multiple experiments done in the RMI, to help characterize and predict ionospheric disturbances.”
Savage said RTS utilizes four telemetry ground stations, two on Roi-Namur and two on Kwajalein, to collect health and status of the sounding rocket and payload.
The primary purpose of this data is to provide the Principal Investigator with the diagnostic data downlinked from the payload which is used to characterize the ionospheric environment.
RTS also provides mandatory scan data, both UHF and VHF, from the ALTAIR large beam radar on Roi-Namur characterizing the ionospheric disturbances in the upper atmosphere due to solar activity.
He said three transponder tracking radars, ALCOR, and two MPS-36 radars, are utilized to track the main rocket body and payload in the event of loss of telemetry data and this data is utilized to measure and predict the trajectory of all objects from launch to impact in the broad ocean area.
“RTS has supported NASA in these science experiments to provide for long term solutions to communication outages due to ionospheric disturbances,” Savage said.
The unique location of Kwajalein offers NASA the opportunity to launch sounding rockets near the equator, and characterize upper atmospheric disturbances.
In partnership with NASA, RTS supports the advancement of science and its application to improving communications systems around the world.”
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https://www.iflscience.com/cannabis-and-human-remains-sent-to-space-go-missing-after-returning-to-earth-on-spacex-mission-79741
https://www.celestis.com/launch-schedule/perseverance-flight/
https://martiangrow.com
Cannabis And Human Remains Sent To Space Go Missing After Returning To Earth On SpaceX Mission
June 24, 2025
On Monday (June 23), Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket into low-Earth orbit from the Space Launch Complex at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The dedicated rideshare mission contained 70 payloads, including a few unusual and notable experiments, as well as human remains.
Unfortunately for researchers and families of the deceased, the mission was not a complete success, and both cannabis and human remains are now missing and presumed lost.
Traveling inside one of the payloads, Genoplant's biological incubator – MayaSat-1 – were over 980 biological samples to be put into an unusual low-Earth orbit, taking it over the planet's poles.
"Once in space, the Falcon 9 will deploy [the Mission Possible re-entry capsule] into low Earth orbit at an altitude above 500 km, where it will complete three orbits, passing through charged polar zones," Genoplant explained ahead of the mission.
"After completing its orbit, the capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and perform a splashdown near Hawaii. A rescue team will retrieve the capsule, securing the samples for in-depth post-mission analysis."
Along with other experiments aimed at assessing the impact of radiation on biological systems was an interesting payload from open-source citizen science project Martian Grow.
This crowdfunded project, which says it aims to "break down the walls, challenge the gatekeepers, and democratize science—not for profit, but for the pursuit of knowledge itself" placed cannabis seeds and plant matter into the incubator.
"Cannabis is resilient, multipurpose, and biologically complex," the project explains in its website, "making it ideal for studying how life adapts to extreme environments like space or Mars."
This isn't the first time that cannabis has been sent into space. No, despite Internet rumors, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are not up there ripping bongs. But in 2019, plant matter was sent to the ISS for study.
“On Earth, plants are constantly working to defy gravity in order to rise above the ground, but since they were not utilizing this energy in zero-gravity conditions, we were able to observe where different biological changes started to occur,” Dr Jonathan Vaught, CEO of hemp and cannabis genetics platform company Front Range Biosciences, explained to Boulder Weekly in 2021.
“The results of the research could help growers and scientists identify new varieties or chemical expressions in the plant.”
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Unfortunately, as so often happens in space travel, Monday's mission did not go entirely to plan. "Our spacecraft Mission Possible achieved partial success (partial failure)," The Exploration Company explained in a statement.
"The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out.
But it encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splash down. We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon," the company added.
"We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads."
That means space cannabis is somewhere on the planet (and likely in the ocean), though we don't quite know where.
Among other payloads delivered by SpaceX was one by space-burial company Celestis. The company sends human remains into space, and was responsible for sending hair from four US presidents into space in 2023.
This latest mission was supposed to be the first to return human remains to families after they had orbited the Earth, but unfortunately, the payload suffered the same fate as the space cannabis.
"The Perseverance Flight carrying the ashes and DNA of 166 participants successfully launched and reached orbit today, Monday, June 23, 2025 aboard The Exploration Company’s Nyx Mission Possible spacecraft," Celestis said in a statement.
"The spacecraft completed two orbits around Earth, meeting our criteria for a successful Earth Orbit service, and then initiated its return trajectory, as planned, to complete the Earth Rise service intended.
However, we regret to share that an anomaly occurred during reentry, specifically, the parachute system failed, resulting in the Nyx capsule impacting the Pacific Ocean and dispersing its contents at sea."
"As a result of this unforeseen event, we believe that we will not be able to recover or return the flight capsules aboard.
We share in the disappointment of our families, and we offer our sincerest gratitude for their trust." The team says that they will reach out to family members in the coming days.
"Though we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules," they add, "we hope families will find some peace in knowing their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched into space, orbited Earth, and are now resting in the vastness of the Pacific, akin to a traditional and honored sea scattering."
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Mysterious Space Signal Traced to Long-Dead NASA Satellite
Jun 24, 2025 at 10:21 AM EDT
Abrief but extremely powerful radio signal thought to have coming from deep space has now been traced to a dead NASA satellite in Earth orbit.
Relay 2 was one of a pair of experimental communications satellites, the first launched in 1962 and the second in 1964.
The signal from the decommissioned satellite was picked up in June last year—and it lasted less than 30 nanoseconds.
Despite the fleeting nature of the burst, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope. managed to trace it back to its origin.
Radio signals from space are not an uncommon occurrence; in fact, telescopes pick up signals all the time coming from pulsars, black holes, massive galaxies, stars and various other cosmic phenomena.
But far from being from a distant cosmic source, researchers determined that the fast radio burst (FRB) actually came from the 60's satellite in Earth orbit.
Relay 2 operated for just over a year and a half, at which point the only facility equipped to communicate with it—the Mojave Desert Ground Station—was retasked to a different satellite program.
The transponders onboard Relay 2 stopped responding to radio signals in June 1967, after which point the satellite went silent—until last June.
According to the researchers, Relay 2 did not miraculously come back online to send a signal to Earth. Instead, they believe that either an electrostatic discharge (ESD) or a plasma discharge following a micrometeoroid impact could have set off the burst.
"Our observation opens new possibilities for the remote sensing of ESD, which poses a serious threat to spacecraft, and reveals a new source of false events for observations of astrophysical transients", the researchers say.
With limited fuel capacity and subject to wear and tear caused by outer space, satellites don't last forever. But what happens to them after they stop working?
The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, says that satellites orbiting closer to Earth are typically de‑orbited to burn up in Earth's atmosphere within 25 years, as per the "25‑year rule."
However, this is only allowed when operators can show that the probability of injury or property damage is less than 1 in 10,000.
When this is not the case, a controlled de-orbit directs the satellite into a remote ocean area, known as the "Spacecraft Cemetery".
Satellites that lack sufficient fuel for re‑entry are sent into a graveyard orbit, where their instruments and subsystems are shut down, the remaining fuel is depleted and they are left to orbit indefinitely.
https://www.newsweek.com/mysterious-space-signal-came-dead-nasa-satellite-2089848
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ade3d3
Greece’s Flag in Space: First National Satellite Successfully Launched
June 24, 2025
Greece has officially launched its first-ever national satellite, DUTHSat-2, marking a historic leap into the space age.
On Monday, June 23, 2025, the 7-kilogram CubeSat soared into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the USA, riding aboard a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket as part of the Transporter-14 mission.
This monumental achievement was made possible with the vital support of the European Space Agency (ESA).
DUTHSat-2 satellite: Born in Greece
DUTHSat-2 was meticulously designed and built by a dedicated scientific team from the Democritus University of Thrace, working hand-in-hand with innovative Greek companies.
After an hour-long journey on the Falcon-9, DUTHSat-2 was precisely deployed into orbit at an altitude of 510 kilometers above sea level. This initial success will be followed by a crucial phase of orbit stabilization and system activation.
Within an estimated six months of establishing full communication, DUTHSat-2 will begin its operational mission, performing in-orbit validation of brand-new experimental Earth observation devices, including advanced optical cameras, and secure telecommunication systems.
Eyes in the sky
The primary goal of DUTHSat-2 is to significantly bolster Greece’s capabilities in vital areas like Earth observation and secure space communication.
Specifically, the satellite will provide invaluable images and measurements to monitor:
Soil moisture: Crucial for agriculture and understanding drought conditions.
Marine pollution: Its specialized cameras and spectral recording frequencies are designed to detect environmental threats such as oil spills and pollution from ship ballast water discharge.
Additionally, DUTHSat-2 will test a new “black box” equivalent for satellites – the Essential Telemetry and Housekeeping (ETM) unit.
This innovative system will provide critical insights into the satellite’s health and operational status, even if the main subsystems fail, ensuring robust monitoring.
The DUTHSat-2 mission is part of Greece’s ambitious plan aiming to leverage space technologies to enhance the country’s ability to respond to natural disasters, monitor the environment, and strengthen civil protection efforts.
This mission is the first in a series of upcoming Greek microsatellite launches, with two more CubeSats, developed by consortia of Greek companies, already slated for launch in November.
This National Microsatellite Program, overseen by the Ministry of Digital Governance and funded by the Recovery and Resilience Fund, represents a strategic investment in Greece’s innovation, national sovereignty, resilience, and technological independence.
“The First Greek Flag in Space!”
Dimitris Papastergiou, the Minister of Digital Governance, celebrated this landmark achievement: “We now have the first Greek ‘flag’ satellite in space!
The successful launch of DUTHSat-2, as part of our National Microsatellite Program, is a testament to what can be achieved when the Greek scientific community collaborates effectively with industry.”
He extended congratulations to everyone involved, emphasizing, “This is just the beginning of the Greek presence in space.
The National Microsatellite Program will strengthen our country’s capabilities in critical areas such as civil protection, environmental monitoring, and secure communication.
“By expanding our capabilities, we are also actively creating a thriving domestic space ecosystem, connecting our scientists, institutions, research centers, universities, and Greek companies with the latest international developments in technology and innovation.”
Greece has had orbital presence through Hellas Sat satellites (e.g., Hellas Sat 2, Hellas Sat 3, Hellas Sat 4).
These are large telecommunications satellites that occupy Greece and Cyprus’s orbital position. While a Greek-Cypriot company, Hellas Sat, operates them and provides services, these satellites were manufactured by major international aerospace companies.
https://greekreporter.com/2025/06/24/greece-first-national-satellite-successfully-launched/
Final photo from iconic US satellite shows how Las Vegas has 'doubled' in size over the last 25 years — Earth from space
June 24, 2025
The last image captured by the recently decommissioned Landsat 7 satellite shows the sprawling mass of Las Vegas flowering in the heart of the Mojave Desert.
The final photo also mirrors one of the satellite's first-ever shots, highlighting how "Sin City" has rapidly expanded during the iconic spacecraft's 25-year lifespan.
Landsat 7 is an Earth-observing satellite co-owned by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that orbits our planet roughly every 99 minutes.
It was launched on April 15, 1999, and has since taken more than 3.3 million images of Earth's surface, covering almost every square inch of the globe.
On June 4, the satellite received its final transmission from operators, marking the official end of its mission after a year-long decommissioning process that took the spacecraft out of the path of other satellites before it ran out of fuel.
Landsat 7 will now drift in space for around 55 years before eventually reentering and burning up in the atmosphere, according to a USGS statement.
The satellite's final image was captured on May 28, 2024. It shows the Las Vegas metropolitan area, including towns such as Henderson, Paradise and Spring Valley, sprawled across the Nevada desert.
The final image was taken from the same distance and angle as one of the satellite's first shots of the city, taken on July 4, 1999. Comparing the two side-by-side shows how much the city has expanded — nearly doubling in size.
Between 2000 and 2023, the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area went from 1.38 million to 2.33 million, which is an increase of around 69%, according to USGS. In 2025, an estimated 2.4 million live in the area.
Lake Mead, an artificial reservoir of the Colorado River created by the Hoover Dam, can also be seen in both satellite images. The lake is noticeably smaller in the latest image, possibly due to increased water consumption in the region it serves or the effects of human-caused climate change.
However, the lake's size naturally fluctuates, both seasonally and annually, making it hard to tell how it is being impacted by anthropogenic factors, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
Landsat 7
Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite in the Landsat program, which has been continuously capturing images of Earth's surface since 1972.
It was a serious upgrade from previous iterations and was particularly good at photographing urban areas, which was its primary focus.
The spacecraft played a major role in the development of mapping services, including Google Maps, and also captured unique perspectives of some iconic moments in recent history, including the 9/11 terror attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The satellite was only designed to operate for five years, but it has far exceeded this target, despite suffering a significant instrument failure in 2003, which was later fixed. NASA previously reconsidered refueling the satellite in orbit to extend its lifespan, but this first-of-its-kind maneuver was never attempted.
There are now only two operational Landsat satellites circling our planet: Landsat 8, which has been in orbit for more than 12 years; and Landsat 9, which launched in September 2021.
The 10th Landsat satellite, named Landsat Next, was supposed to be launched by 2031. However, its funding is now uncertain thanks to the drastic cuts to NASA's budget proposed by the Trump administration, and mission experts are now "assessing alternate mission architectures," according to the Landsat Next homepage.
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/final-photo-from-iconic-us-satellite-shows-how-las-vegas-has-doubled-in-size-over-the-last-25-years-earth-from-space
https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/news/a-final-farewell-landsat-7