TYB's
The Great Restructuring, is pretty great.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
July 1, 2025
Eye Sky a Dragon
What do you see when you look into this sky? In the center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running down the middle? Do you see the ruins of an abandoned outpost on a hill? (The outpost is on Askold Island, Russia.) Do you see a photographer with a headlamp contemplating surreal surroundings? (The featured image is a panorama of 38 images taken last month and compiled into a Little Planet projection.) Do you see a rugged path lined with steps? Or do you see the eye of a dragon?
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
NASA+ is Coming to Netflix This Summer
Jun 30, 2025
NASA announced Monday its latest plans to team up with a streaming service to bring space a little closer to home. Starting this summer, NASA+ live programming will be available on Netflix.
Audiences now will have another option to stream rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, mission coverage, and breathtaking live views of Earth from the International Space Station.
“The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 calls on us to share our story of space exploration with the broadest possible audience,” said Rebecca Sirmons, general manager of NASA+ at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
“Together, we’re committed to a Golden Age of Innovation and Exploration – inspiring new generations – right from the comfort of their couch or in the palm of their hand from their phone.”
Through this partnership, NASA’s work in science and exploration will become even more accessible, allowing the agency to increase engagement with and inspire a global audience in a modern media landscape, where Netflix reaches a global audience of more than 700 million people.
The agency’s broader efforts include connecting with as many people as possible through video, audio, social media, and live events.
The goal is simple: to bring the excitement of the agency’s discoveries, inventions, and space exploration to people, wherever they are.
NASA+ remains available for free, with no ads, through the NASA app and on the agency’s website.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-is-coming-to-netflix-this-summer/
July’s Night Sky Notes: Spy the Scorpion
Jul 01, 2025
As summer deepens in the Northern Hemisphere, a familiar constellation rises with the galactic core of the Milky Way each evening: Scorpius the Scorpion.
One of the twelve zodiacal constellations, Scorpius contains many notable objects, making it an observer's delight during the warmer months. Here are some items to spy in July:
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Antares: referred to as “the heart of the scorpion,” this supergiant has a distinct reddish hue and is visible to the naked eye. If you have good skies, try to split this binary star with a medium-sized telescope.
Antares is a double star with a white main-sequence companion that comes in at a 5.4 magnitude.
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Messier 4: one of the easiest globular clusters to find, M4 is the closest of these star clusters to Earth at 5,500 light years.
With a magnitude of about 5.6, you can spot this with a small or medium-sized telescope in average skies. Darker skies will reveal the bright core. Use Antares as a guide star for this short trip across the sky.
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Caldwell 76: If you prefer open star clusters, locate C76, also known as the Baby Scorpion Cluster, right where the ‘stinger’ of Scorpius starts to curve.
At a magnitude of 2.6, it is slightly brighter than M4, albeit smaller, and can be spotted with binoculars and the naked eye under good sky conditions.
Lastly, if you have an astrophotography set up, capture the Cat’s Paw Nebula near the stinger of Scorpius.
You can also capture the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex in the nearby constellation Ophiuchus. Brilliant Antares can be found at the center of this wondrous structure.
Manaiakalani
While many cultures tell tales of a ‘scorpion’ in the sky, several Polynesian cultures see the same stars as the demigod Māui's fishhook, Manaiakalani.
It is said that Māui didn’t just use his hook for giant fish in the sea, but to pull new islands from the bottom of the ocean. There are many references to the Milky Way representing a fish.
As Manaiakalani rises from the southeast, it appears to pull the great celestial fish across a glittering sea of stars.
Measure Your Darkness
While you can use smartphone apps or dedicated devices like a Sky Quality Meter, Scorpius is a great constellation to measure your sky darkness with! On a clear night, can you trail the curve of the tail?
Can you see the scorpion’s heart? Use our free printable Dark Sky Wheel, featuring the stars of Scorpius on one side and Orion on the other for measurements during cooler months.
You can find this resource and more in the Big Astronomy Toolkit.
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/july2025-night-sky-notes/
Rates like those should be punishable by death for crimes against humanity.
Sol 4578: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection
June 30, 2025
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 31 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 262 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north).
Curiosity took the images on June 23, 2025, Sol 4578 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 168, site number 117.
The local mean solar time for the image exposures was 4 PM. Each Navcam image has a 45 degree field of view.
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/sol-4578-right-navigation-camera-cylindrical-projection/
Crews Fill Day With Muscle, Heart, and Brain Research Before Cargo Mission Swap
June 30, 2025
The seven-member Expedition 73 crew wrapped up a weekend of housecleaning and relaxation then kicked off Monday with muscle and brain research aboard the International Space Station.
Their Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) counterparts worked throughout the weekend and began the week taking a closer look at muscle cells and exploring brain computer interfaces.
The public and private biology studies complement each other while the research data and hardware are supported by different organizations.
NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers joined each other in the Columbus laboratory module exploring electrical muscle stimulation as a supplement to space exercise.
McClain operated the biomedical gear from ESA (European Space Agency) that collected data from electrodes measuring the response of Ayer’s leg muscles to electrical signals.
Results may help offset space-caused muscle atrophy in combination with shorter, more effective workouts in microgravity.
McClain earlier took a set of tests helping researchers understand how an astronaut’s cognition, the ability to acquire and process knowledge, adapts to weightlessness.
Doctors hope to gain insights into potential adverse effects on a crew member’s brain structure and function while living and working in space.
Ayers began her day with NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim taking turns processing blood samples for a variety of biology experiments.
Ayers performed a blood draw on herself at the beginning of her shift, spun the sample in a centrifuge, then stowed the specimen in a science freezer for later analysis.
Kim collected blood samples from Ax-4 private astronauts Peggy Whitson and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski in Columbus for the Bone on ISS study, another ESA investigation, that is exploring space-induced bone loss.
Station Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) worked throughout Monday processing his blood and urine samples for cold stowage and upcoming analysis to understand how his body is adapting to long term weightlessness.
Onishi then worked inside the Kibo laboratory module servicing hardware that monitors particulate matter in the station’s atmosphere.
Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy, both Roscosmos cosmonauts, trained on a computer for the arrival and docking of the Progress 92 cargo craft to the Poisk module scheduled for July 5.
The duo also finished loading the Progress 90 cargo craft with trash and discarded gear and closed the spacecraft’s hatch before its undocking from Poisk on Tuesday.
Fellow cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov attached sensors to himself for a 24-hours session measuring his heart activity and blood pressure.
Peskov then set up the European robotic arm from inside the Nauka science module ahead of ground-controlled robotics tests.
The Ax-4 private astronauts had a science-packed Monday fulfilling research objectives for their home countries.
Whitson performed vein scans with the Ultrasound 2 device on Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu providing doctors from Budapest, his nation’s capital, insights into how space affects blood pressure, balance, and vision.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla filmed a video targeted to young Indian students discussing how the digestion system adapts to space.
Next, Shukla worked in Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox checking muscle stem cell cultures to learn how to maintain muscle health in space.
Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland wore a specialized headset from ESA to test a brain-controlled computer interface. He then joined Whitson and Shukla filming crew activities for the Astronaut Mental Health study.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/06/30/crews-fill-day-with-muscle-heart-and-brain-research-before-cargo-mission-swap/
NASA to Provide Coverage of Progress 92 Launch, Space Station Docking
Jun 30, 2025
NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft delivering approximately three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the Expedition 73 crew aboard the International Space Station.
The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 92 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 3:32 p.m. EDT, Thursday, July 3 (12:32 a.m. Baikonur time, Friday, July 4), on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Live launch coverage will begin at 3:10 p.m. on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
After a two-day, in-orbit journey to the station, the spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the orbiting laboratory’s Poisk module at 5:27 p.m. on Saturday, July 5.
NASA’s rendezvous and docking coverage will begin at 4:45 p.m. on NASA+.
The Progress 92 spacecraft will remain docked to the space station for approximately six months before departing for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.
Ahead of the spacecraft’s arrival, the Progress 90 spacecraft will undock from the Poisk module on Tuesday, July 1. NASA will not stream undocking.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth.
For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time.
The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under Artemis and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-provide-coverage-of-progress-92-launch-space-station-docking/
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/relocation-of-space-shuttle-discovery-may-hinge-on-big-beautiful-bill/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1403
Texas politicians make headway in effort to wrench space shuttle from Smithsonian
Jun 30, 2025 12:16 PM
A political effort to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space Center Houston has been merged with the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," a major economic and policy package now nearing a vote in the US Senate.
The "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act," first introduced by Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April, has now been added to the Senate's version of the bill championed by President Donald Trump.
While the latter legislation primarily focuses on tax cuts and spending increases, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, chaired by Cruz, added the retired orbiter's relocation as part of an additional $9.995 billion in funding for NASA's programs, including the return of astronauts to the Moon and sending humans to Mars.
"One of the things in the Big Beautiful Bill we're talking about, there's about a $10 billion appropriation for NASA," said Cornyn at a June 20 press conference at Space Center Houston.
"We're optimistic that bill that started out as a beautiful bill in the House will become even more beautiful in the Senate this week."
Out of that appropriations, $85 million is directed to carry out Cornyn's Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act, which calls for Discovery to be removed from its home of the past 13 years, the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, and put it on display at Space Center Houston, the official visitor complex for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas.
The Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill provides "no less than $5 million" for the "transportation of the space vehicle'' and the remainder to go towards the construction of a facility to house it.
Is $85 million even enough?
The original text of the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act called for the NASA administrator and the Smithsonian to jointly develop a plan for moving Discovery prior to appropriations being made by Congress.
It is unclear whether the total amount allocated by the Senate would be enough; the National Air and Space Museum provided Congress with an estimate of $200 million to $300 million for the move, according to the Houston Business Journal.
Others have pegged the cost between $5 million to upward of $1 billion. In 2012, when NASA's three retired orbiters and the prototype Enterprise were being moved to their current museum homes, each institution was responsible for paying $28.8 million for the preparation and transportation of the orbiter (a reduction from the $42 million that was first estimated).
However, the aircraft used to move the shuttle have since been retired.
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Congress waived the fee for the Smithsonian after the National Air and Space Museum said that its budget would not cover Discovery's delivery.
"Should the [NASA] Administrator determine that the Smithsonian Institution is an appropriate venue for an orbiter, such orbiter shall be made available to the Smithsonian at no or nominal cost," read the provision.
Cornyn said that the benefits of displaying Discovery in Houston—including economic and educational considerations for the local area—outweighed the prior actions that Congress has taken to support having NASA's most-flown spacecraft amongst the national collection.
"There's no question the Smithsonian is a national treasure, but it doesn't hold all the treasures that America has to show," said Cornyn, replying to a question from collectSPACE at the Space Center Houston briefing.
"It would be nice if there were more to go around, but since there are only four, we are going to get the one that we should have gotten back in 2010."
n 2011, the NASA Office of the Inspector General investigated the process that NASA went through and found "no evidence that the White House, politics, or any other outside force improperly influenced the selection decision."
The OIG did find one "significant error," but it would have benefited the National Museum of the US Air Force in Ohio, rather than Space Center Houston.
Don’t say Discovery
The language in the Senate bill avoids any mention of the Smithsonian, Space Center Houston, Discovery, or even the space shuttle.
It only stipulates that a "space vehicle" (defined as a vessel that carried people into space) be transferred within 18 months of enactment to a NASA center "involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew program" and put on public display "within the Metropolitan Statistical Area" of that center.
The bill directs that the NASA administrator (or acting administrator) identify the vehicle within 30 days of the bill becoming law.
Of the four retired orbiters, Enterprise in New York and Endeavour in California are owned by their display homes; Discovery and Atlantis, the latter on display in Florida, remain federal property.
The vagueness of the wording is an effort to avoid the provision being flagged by the Senate parliamentarian for violating the "Byrd rule,'' which keeps "extraneous matter" out of Senate reconciliation bills, including earmarks directed at a specific recipient, according to Roll Call.
The shuttle move, as originally phrased, was identified as being at risk.
Should the text remain and make it to a vote and the Senate passes the bill, then it still must return to the House of Representatives to be reconciled with its version passed in May.
Rep. Randy Weber, serving Texas' 14th District, said that he was prepared to enter Discovery's move into the House bill.
"We're working on it," said Weber at Space Center Houston, standing with Cornyn. "They are working on the Big Beautiful Bill; we'll get this done and, hopefully, we'll get this headed our way."
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New Deputy Chief of Staff: Jackie Jester
June 30, 2025
This message from Janet Petro was issued today:
I’m pleased to share that Jaclyn (Jackie) Jester has been selected as NASA’s deputy chief of staff, where she will help lead the coordination and execution of initiatives, programs, and policies for the administrator and agency leadership.
Jackie was most recently NASA’s associate administrator for the agency’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (OLIA) where she directed a staff responsible for managing and coordinating all communications with the U.S. Congress, as well as served as a senior advisor to agency leaders on legislative matters.
Marc Hone, OLIA’s deputy associate administrator, will serve as acting associate administrator for that office until a replacement is named.
Previously, Jester served as senior director of government affairs at Relativity Space, where she led the Government Affairs team in Washington, D.C. and guided policy engagement for the company with all branches and levels of government.
She served as a subject matter expert on space policy issues and was responsible for formulating and executing a legislative strategy aligned to company goals and objectives.
Prior to joining Relativity, Jester served as a policy advisor in OLIA, where she advised NASA leadership on various legislative and policy matters.
She also previously served as a policy advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advising the director on space policy issues, leading legislative affairs, and serving as co-chair of the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation interagency working group.
From 2015 to 2019, Jester served on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where she helped develop numerous pieces of legislation and performed oversight on various government agencies including the FAA and NASA. Her portfolio included aviation operations and safety policy, with a focus on unmanned aircraft systems, as well as civil and commercial space policy. She has also spent time in state government as the chief legislative aide to a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Jester is a graduate of Boston College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and minored in economics and international studies.
Embrace the Challenge,
Janet
https://nasawatch.com/ask-the-administrator/new-deputy-chief-of-staff-jackie-jester/
NASA Extends Efforts to Recontact Lunar Trailblazer Until Early July
June 30, 2025
NASA has extended recovery efforts of its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft from mid-June to early July.
Updated modeling of the spacecraft’s trajectory by the mission team indicates lighting conditions will continue to be favorable and may provide enough sunlight for the spacecraft’s solar panels to recharge its batteries to an operational state and turn on its radio.
If the ability to command Lunar Trailblazer is achieved during this extended monitoring period, NASA will hold a review to determine the future viability of the mission.
If a signal isn’t received by the end of the period, however, NASA will assess any remaining options, including closing out the mission.
Contact with the small satellite was lost the day after its Feb. 26 launch when Lunar Trailblazer entered a low power state.
Slowly spinning with its solar panels not correctly oriented toward the Sun, the spacecraft was likely generating insufficient power to charge its batteries.
Since then, ground-based optical and radio telescopes have tracked Lunar Trailblazer’s position and its rate of spin, providing observations that have been used to update the mission’s trajectory models and determine the likelihood of its solar panels receiving more sunlight.
Additionally, radio antennas belonging to various organizations around the world have provided time to listen for the spacecraft’s radio signal.
Should enough sunlight reach Lunar Trailblazer’s solar panels, the batteries may charge to a level that allows the spacecraft’s radio system to boot up.
But as Lunar Trailblazer travels farther away, it will soon be too distant to recover because its telecommunications signals to Earth will be too weak for the mission to receive telemetry and command.
The mission team has determined that if they can regain command of the spacecraft, the propulsion system isn’t frozen, and the instruments remain operable, the spacecraft may be able to achieve an elliptical lunar orbit and complete its lunar science objectives.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/lunar-trailblazer/2025/06/30/nasa-extends-efforts-to-recontact-lunar-trailblazer-until-early-july/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lunar-trailblazer/
Hubble Captures an Active Galactic Center
Jun 30, 2025
The light that the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope collected to create this image reached the telescope after a journey of 250 million years. Its source was the spiral galaxy UGC 11397, which resides in the constellation Lyra (The Lyre).
At first glance, UGC 11397 appears to be an average spiral galaxy: it sports two graceful spiral arms that are illuminated by stars and defined by dark, clumpy clouds of dust.
What sets UGC 11397 apart from a typical spiral lies at its center, where a supermassive black hole containing 174 million times the mass of our Sun grows.
As a black hole ensnares gas, dust, and even entire stars from its vicinity, this doomed matter heats up and puts on a fantastic cosmic light show.
Material trapped by the black hole emits light from gamma rays to radio waves, and can brighten and fade without warning. But in some galaxies, including UGC 11397, thick clouds of dust hide much of this energetic activity from view in optical light.
Despite this, UGC 11397’s actively growing black hole was revealed through its bright X-ray emission — high-energy light that can pierce the surrounding dust.
This led astronomers to classify it as a Type 2 Seyfert galaxy, a category used for active galaxies whose central regions are hidden from view in visible light by a donut-shaped cloud of dust and gas.
Using Hubble, researchers will study hundreds of galaxies that, like UGC 11397, harbor a supermassive black hole that is gaining mass.
The Hubble observations will help researchers weigh nearby supermassive black holes, understand how black holes grew early in the universe’s history, and even study how stars form in the extreme environment found at the very center of a galaxy.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/hubble-captures-an-active-galactic-center/
UC San Diego researchers test new cancer drug in space
July 1, 2025
UC San Diego scientists are testing a new potential cancer treatment in space.
Why it matters: The NASA-funded mission will analyze whether the drug rebecsinib works on ovarian cancer, metastatic breast cancer, leukemia and glioblastoma multiforme (an aggressive brain tumor).
Driving the news: Last week, a SpaceX rocket launched a collection of cancerous tumor samples donated by patients for testing aboard the International Space Station.
Axiom Space astronauts are conducting the research on board, marking UCSD's 16th successful mission to study stem cells in space.
What they're saying: "We can accelerate the development of drugs that target cancer" by working in microgravity, Catriona Jamieson, director of UCSD's Sanford Stem Cell Institute, told Axios.
Zoom in: The drug, discovered by UCSD researchers and developed by Aspera Biomedicines, showed in previous space missions that it could stop the growth of some cancerous cells.
Dubbed a "cancer kill switch," rebecsinib works by targeting a specific gene that fuels cancer's development and resistance to drugs.
The hope is that it could help fight 20 different types of cancer involving that gene by blocking the disease from recurring and metastasizing.
Clinical trials are set to begin this fall for patients with blood cancer.
Between the lines: Doing this lab work in space provides a time advantage because microgravity activates and accelerates the stressful environment that triggers cancer's growth.
Tumors triple in size in 10 days on the space station compared to 10 years on Earth, according to Jamieson.
Follow the money: These experiments are funded through state and federal grants, including from NASA.
The drug is named after philanthropist Rebecca "Becky" Moores, whose donations have been critical for UCSD cancer research.
The bottom line: The findings from the two-week mission could help guide future clinical trials.
What we're watching: Future planned launches will look into how scientists can make the drug cheaper and more accessible, like in a pill form instead of through an IV.
https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2025/07/01/ucsd-research-cancer-drug-treatment-space-nasa
https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-research-and-technology/in-space-production-applications/
NASA accidentally finds ‘city under the Arctic ice’ — It’s 30 meters under the ice
June 30, 2025
NASA has found something quite old in the extreme North of the planet. Neither the North nor the South Pole belongs to a country, which means that the land is free to explore, but it’s not that easy to study the most remote environments of the planet.
Its unpredictability and weather make the exploration of the Arctic difficult, but what was once thought not to be possible is now a reality, as the space agency unveiled the existence of something under the thick ice in Greenland that is slowly melting.
Is the ice on Earth hiding mysteries?
There are a couple of military bases, laboratories, and small cities in these Arctic environments, but life is very different from what we are used to, as they have to adapt to the winter weather the whole year.
NASA has been studying these areas for a while, trying to find anything that might hint at a new discovery in the universe – and it was worth it.
Inside the Arctic Ocean, there is a particle called a neutrino that traveled billions of light years until it hit Earth. There aren’t many, but the ones that labs around the world have identified are mostly in cold environments.
With this in mind, NASA explored the extreme North of the planet, until it found something hidden since the Cold War.
NASA found an abandoned military base in Greenland
In April, a team of NASA scientists surveying Greenland’s ice sheet came across an unexpected find: the long-abandoned site of Camp Century, a secret U.S. military base built during the Cold War.
According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the team was mapping the ice bed when the structure appeared in their data, puzzling researchers until they identified it as the historic site.
Although Camp Century had been spotted before in radar scans, those earlier flights used older equipment that couldn’t reveal much detail.
This time, NASA used an advanced form of radar – Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar – allowing the team to clearly make out buildings and other structures that had been hidden for decades.
Chad Greene, a cryospheric scientist at JPL who was on the flight, explained that the new data offered a view of the site unlike anything seen before.
Why was the base built in a remote place?
Originally built in 1959 deep within the Greenland ice, Camp Century was designed as a multipurpose site.
Its official role was to test construction techniques and host scientific research in the harsh conditions of the Arctic, but it also served a more covert mission: exploring the possibility of launching nuclear missiles from deep under the ice.
At its peak, the site housed between 85 and 200 soldiers and was powered by its own small nuclear reactor.
Although the base was abandoned in 1967 when the Army canceled its missile program, its legacy remained sealed within the ice.
According to William Colgan, a climate and glacier scientist at York University and research associate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), ice core samples taken from Camp Century continue to play a role in climate studies today.
Snow melting to reveal more of what’s underneath
The Army Corps of Engineers removed the reactor when the site was decommissioned, but much of the rest of the infrastructure and waste were left buried. Researchers now worry about what could happen as temperatures rise and ice melts.
Colgan explained that climate simulations point to a shift from net accumulation of snow to net melting as soon as 2090, which could expose buried waste.
Once that shift occurs, he warned, it would only be a matter of time before the waste starts to seep out, making the situation irreversible.
https://www.ecoportal.net/en/nasa-finds-city-30-meters-under-the-ice/9861/
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/shadows-orbit-unpacking-cosmos-2588-legal-uncertainty-space/
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=62904.msg2688245#msg2688245
Shadows in Orbit: Unpacking the Cosmos 2588 Amidst Legal Uncertainty in Space
Jul 1, 2025
On 23 May, 2025, Russia launched Cosmos 2588, the latest in its Cosmos series of military satellites, into low Earth orbit (LEO).
As first reported by independent satellite tracker Bart Hendrickx on the NASA SpaceFlight Forum, its orbital plane lies very close to that of a U.S. government reconnaissance satellite, USA 338.
Marco Langbroek, a Dutch astronomer, has noted that the launch of Cosmos 2588 marks the fourth time in five years that a Russian military satellite has been placed in close orbital proximity to a U.S. military optical reconnaissance satellite.
While the first case (Cosmos 2542/2543 in the orbital plane of USA 245) may have been an “inspector mission,” he argues that the more recent examples—including Cosmos 2588—likely represent a counterspace capability such as a o-orbital anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon.
Slingshot Aerospace, a U.S. satellite tracking company, shared an orbital image of Cosmos 2588 on LinkedIn.
The company noted that although Cosmos 2588 is classified as an inspection satellite, it is believed to be equipped with a kinetic weapon capability, a belief reinforced by the absence of official disclosure regarding its mission or behaviour
The recent launch of Cosmos 2588 has revived long-standing concerns about the potential deployment of ASAT capabilities and the broader issue of space weaponization.
This post explores the legal ambiguity surrounding ASAT technologies and raises the pressing question whether existing legal norms are sufficient to address the growing complexity of military activities in outer space.
Anti-Satellite Weapons and the Outer Space Treaty
A growing number of States are actively developing, testing, and deploying anti-satellite weapons, both kinetic and non-kinetic.
High profile demonstrations, such as China’s 2007 and Russia’s 2021 direct-ascent tests, have drawn serious international criticism due to the creation of space debris and their implications for the weaponization of outer space.
ASAT weapons generally fall into two categories:
– Co-Orbital ASATs: These are satellites placed into orbit that manoeuvre near a target to disable or destroy it in proximity, often using kinetic, mechanical, or electromagnetic means.
– Direct-Ascent ASATs: Launched from Earth, these missiles are designed to strike satellites in orbit directly from the Earth.
While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) remains the cornerstone instrument of space law, it leaves critical legal gaps when confronted with today’s emerging counterspace capabilities.
Article IV of the OST explicitly prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in orbit around the Earth.
But it remains silent on conventional weapons, creating a significant loophole when considering the legality of deployment of ASAT weapons.
This legal ambiguity is compounded by the increasingly dual-use nature of space technologies, where satellites designed for civilian or passive military functions also have inherent destructive potential, thereby blurring the boundary between peaceful use and potential threat.
As such, determining what constitutes a “peaceful” military presence in orbit is no longer straightforward. The case of Cosmos 2588 underscores these gaps.
If it does, in fact, possess kinetic ASAT capabilities, then its behaviour represents not just a technical challenge but a legal one, testing the limits of what the OST allows under the principle of “peaceful purposes.”
The Relevance of Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty
While legal commentators focus on Article IV of the OST, Article IX plays a vital role in regulating behaviour in orbit. It provides three interrelated legal obligations that bear directly on the deployment of ASAT capabilities.
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Due regard obligation: States shall conduct activities in outer space with “due regard” for the interests of other parties to the treaty.
In the context of co-orbital ASAT systems, this implies a responsibility to avoid actions—such as close orbital manoeuvres—that could endanger or destabilize another State’s space assets.
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Duty to avoid harmful contamination: Article IX also requires that space activities be carried out in a manner that prevents potentially harmful contamination. This obligation reflects environmental concerns and aims to preserve the scientific integrity of outer space.
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Consultation mechanism: When a State’s planned activity is reasonably expected to cause harmful interference with activities of other State parties, it must undertake prior international consultations with affected States.
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Crucially, the OST does not define key terms such as “due regard” or “harmful interference,” leaving significant room for interpretation.
States have, for the most part, refrained from articulating clear interpretations or positions on the scope and application of these obligations, further compounding the ambiguity.
Nonetheless, the spirit of Article IX suggests that behaviour such as co-orbital shadowing— especially if combined with suspected kinetic capability— may run counter to the treaty’s intent.
If Cosmos 2588 is indeed manoeuvring in close proximity to U.S. military satellite without notification, and with potential for physical interference, it arguably violates both the “due regard” obligation and the duty to consult, as articulated in Article IX of the OST.
Defining “Peaceful Purposes”: Between Principle and Practice
The case of Cosmos 2588, particularly its close co-orbital manoeuvring near a U.S. military satellite without prior consultation, raises a deeper legal issue. Namely, what exactly constitutes a “peaceful” activity in outer space?
The use of outer space for “peaceful purposes” has been a cornerstone principle of space law since the dawn of the space age.
Despite its centrality, the meaning of the term of “peaceful” is not defined in the Outer Space Treaty, to which both Russia and the United States are parties.
In this respect, two primary interpretations have emerged over time.
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The non-militarization doctrine: This view advocates for a complete prohibition on any military activities in outer space.
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The non-aggression doctrine: More commonly accepted in State practice, this interpretation allows for military uses of outer space so long as they do not involve the threat or use of force, as outlined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
Over time, State practice strongly indicates that the notion of “peaceful purposes” cannot be interpreted to exclude all military activities.
To date, passive military uses such as surveillance, reconnaissance, early warning systems, and satellite navigation have become routine and widely accepted.
These functions, while military in nature, are generally not seen as violating the peaceful purposes principle.
However, Cosmos 2588 complicates this framework. Unlike passive systems, it shows manoeuvrability, co-orbital positioning, and suspected kinetic capabilities.
Thus, Cosmos 2588 serves as a practical test case for the boundaries of the non-aggression doctrine. Can a space system that does not attack but appears to prepare for offensive action still be considered “peaceful”?
Yet, the deliberate proximity of systems like Cosmos 2588 to U.S. satellites raises pressing questions about when such positioning crosses the threshold into a prohibited threat—a question explored in the following section.
“Threat to Use Force” in Outer Space: Applying Article 2(4)
The blurred distinction between peaceful and hostile space activities—as illustrated by Cosmos 2588— leads naturally to a critical legal question. At what point does a satellite’s behaviour constitute a “threat to use force” under international law?
This question is addressed by Article 2(4) of the UN Charter which states, “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
Article 2(4) applies to any activity in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance with Article III of the OST.
This provision mandates that all space activities be carried out in accordance with international law and the UN Charter. As such, the “peaceful purposes” principle must be interpreted in light of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
In the 1996 Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, the International Court of Justice emphasized that a threat to use force is unlawful if the actual use of force would itself be unlawful.
Similarly, as highlighted in the Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations—a non-binding but authoritative guide developed by legal experts—a threat to force is not defined by capability alone.
Rather, it requires conduct that, in context, signals an intention to unlawfully use force. This includes factors like proximity, timing, and geopolitical tension.
2/3
In the case of Cosmos 2588, although no force has been used, the satellite’s close co-orbital positioning near a U.S. military asset—combined with its manoeuvrability and suspected kinetic capability—may be seen as a calculated display of force readiness.
Moreover, the broader context matters. The long-standing strategic rivalry between the United States and Russia, rooted in Cold War mistrust and increasingly manifesting in orbital manoeuvring, strengthens the perception that these behaviours are not benign.
Legal Certainty in Orbit: Future of Space Governance
As Cosmos 2588 illustrates, the legal frameworks governing space have not kept pace with the speed and complexity of counterspace technologies. Despite international efforts to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes, the rapid evolution of space technology and the growing dependence on satellites for both military and civilian applications have positioned outer space as a critical arena for strategic competition among nations.
The absence of clear and binding legal restrictions against peacetime deployment of counterspace technologies—particularly ASAT weapons—poses a vital challenge to maintain international peace and security. Given this legal ambiguity, while binding treaty regulations remain essential for ensuring predictability and legal stability in orbit, the pace of technological innovation—coupled with geopolitical tensions—makes comprehensive legal regulation increasingly difficult.
The Role of Soft Law
In this sense, soft law instruments can be adopted as a practical alternative to new treaties without limiting the development of emerging space technologies.
A range of non-binding initiatives has emerged in recent years to promote responsible conduct in space and mitigate the risks posed by ASAT technologies. These include:
– The 2013 UN Group of Governmental Experts recommendations on Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures;
– The European Union’s International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities;
– The Russia-China proposed Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, which notably does not prohibit ground-based ASAT weapons; and
– The work of the ongoing Open-Ended Working Group on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, operating under the auspices of the UN General Assembly.
Although these instruments lack binding legal authority, soft law instruments help bridge regulatory gaps and foster mutual understanding, specifically with dual-use technologies.
Over time, soft law norms—if widely accepted and consistently applied—can evolve into customary international law and binding legal obligations through incorporation into national legislation.
Conclusion
The growing militarization of outer space, as illustrated by the case of Cosmos 2588, demonstrates the widening gap between technological capabilities in space and the legal frameworks meant to regulate them.
Its behaviour—marked by close proximity to a U.S. military satellite, suspected kinetic capabilities, and a lack of transparency—exposes how current regulatory frameworks under the OST struggle to address the realities of modern counterspace operations.
Key legal principles such as “peaceful purposes,” “due-regard,” and “threat of force” remain vague and open to conflicting interpretation, especially when applied to dual-use, manoeuvrable satellites.
In the absence of progress on binding legal instruments, soft law initiatives stand as the most useful tools for shaping responsible conduct in space.
Still, their success depends entirely on political will and consistent State practice. Ultimately, Cosmos 2588 reminds us that space security is no longer a theoretical issue.
The legal certainty in orbit will require more than aspirational principles, before today’s grey zones become tomorrow’s battlegrounds.
3/3
37 Years Of Experience: Boeing Appoints Veteran Executive As Defense, Space & Security CEO
July 1, 2025
Change is afoot in Boeing's executive leadership team. The US planemaker announced the appointment of its new Chief Financial Officer yesterday, with this news being followed today by the unveiling of the new President and Chief Executive Officer of its Defense, Space & Security division.
The company has opted to appoint Steve Parker to this position, a veteran executive of almost four decades at Boeing.
This is a position that Parker will already be intimately familiar with, having already been serving as the interim leader of the division for nearly a full year.
During this time, Parker has been credited with bringing much-needed stability to this area of Boeing's diverse operations, building on decades of experience at the US planemaker that have seen him take on an increasingly wide variety of roles.
Steve Parker Is Boeing's New Head Of Defense, Space & Security
As announced earlier today in a statement released by the US planemaker, Boeing has appointed Steve Parker to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of its Defense, Space & Security (BDS) division with immediate effect.
This follows the departure of Ted Colbert from the role in September 2024, which, as Reuters reported at the time, was Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg's first big management change.
Since then, Parker has been serving as the interim President and Chief Executive Officer of the BDS unit, but, now, he has been given the role on a permanent, immediate basis.
He will be responsible for "overseeing all aspects of the company's business unit that provides technology, products, and solutions for defense, government, space, and intelligence customers worldwide," with Ortberg stating:
Parker Has Worked For Boeing Since The 1980s
In Parker, Boeing has chosen someone for the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the BDS division who knows the US firm like the back of his hand.
According to the American planemaker's statement, he joined Boeing 37 years ago, back in 1988, and has since served a variety of different roles in the company. Initially, per his LinkedIn, he served as a Program Manager in the US and Australia.
This role saw him work with the Royal Australian Air Force on projects with aircraft such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport plane and the F/A-18 Hornet fighter/attack jet.
Two decades into his Boeing career, Parker became the company's Vice President & General Manager of Network & Space Systems, before transitioning to become the Chief Operating Officer of Boeing Defence Australia.
Since then, Parker has served as the Vice President and Program Manager for multiple different fixed-wing and rotary military aircraft from the Boeing stable, such as the H-47 Chinook, the F-15 Eagle, and the T-7A Red Hawk.
After also serving as the VP and GM of Boeing's Vertical Lift (Philadelphia) and Bombers & Fighters (St Louis) divisions, his move into the BDS unit (initially as the COO) came in 2022.
This Is Boeing's Second Executive Appointment In As Many Days
As it happens, Parker is not the only Boeing executive who has been the subject of a high-profile appointment this week. Indeed, just yesterday, as reported by Simple Flying at the time, the company also unveiled its new Chief Financial Officer.
Boeing's choice for this role, which opened up following the promotion of former CFO Brian West to Senior Advisor for Kelly Ortberg, was Jesus 'Jay' Malave. Unlike Parker, this appointment is not immediate, with Malave stepping in in mid-August.
While Malave also has a considerable aviation pedigree, he is not a Boeing 'lifer,' having instead come from fellow US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. There, he also served as the Chief Financial Officer, making him a good fit for the role.
https://simpleflying.com/boeing-appoints-new-defense-space-security-ceo/
https://investors.boeing.com/investors/news/press-release-details/2025/Boeing-Names-Stephen-Parker-as-CEO-of-Defense-Space–Security/default.aspx
China's Tianwen 2 Sends Stunning Images Of Earth And Moon From Deep Space: See Pics
Jul 01, 2025 18:41 pm IST
Currently, the probe is reportedly around 12 million kilometres away from Earth. It has spent more than 33 days in space so far.
The mission aims to collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 (or 469219 Kamo'oalewa) and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which would help provide insights into the early solar system's formation and evolution.
As per the report, the space agency published the stunning pictures, taken by the spacecraft's narrow-field-of-view navigation sensor, when it was about 590,000 kilometres away from the Blue Planet.
What is the future of the Tianwen 2 mission?
The mission is expected to return samples to Earth by November 2027, with the probe collecting between 0.2 and 1 kilogram of soil from the asteroid.
The Tianwen-2 mission is planned to last around 10 years. During the given period, the probe would visit the asteroid and comet, and return samples to Earth.
The mission will help scientists understand the composition, formation, and evolutionary history of the solar system's early materials. If successful, the probe would also provide insights into the origins of water on Earth.
China has several important missions planned for the coming years. Beijing plans to send Chinese astronauts to the Moon before 2030 and establish a permanent base there, as part of its ambitious "space dream" under Xi Jinping's leadership.
https://www.ndtv.com/science/chinas-tianwen-2-sends-stunning-images-of-earth-and-moon-from-deep-space-see-pics-8808491
https://twitter.com/WLR_2678/status/1939842059612950725
https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6759533/c10684432/content.html
US-based lawyer becomes first Nigerian to travel to Space
1st July 2025
A Nigerian-born lawyer and politician, Owolabi Salis, has become the first Nigerian to travel to space.
Salis was one of six passengers on Blue Origin’s NS-33 mission, which launched from West Texas on Sunday.
His fellow crew members were Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno Jr., and Jim Sitkin.
The suborbital flight, operated by Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, lasted 10 minutes and reached a peak altitude of 105.2 kilometres, crossing the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space.
Speaking before the flight, Salis said, “This mission is more than just a trip into space, it’s a spiritual journey, a call to inspire future generations.”
He also expressed hope that his journey would encourage interest in space exploration across Africa.
Born in Ikorodu, Lagos, Salis is a chartered accountant and attorney licensed to practise in both Nigeria and the United States.
He is also the author of Equitocracy, a book that promotes fairness and equity in democratic governance.
Salis was the first Black African to visit both the Arctic and Antarctic in the same season.
He is also known in Nigerian politics, having contested several elections, including as the Alliance for Democracy’s governorship candidate in Lagos in 2019.
https://punchng.com/us-based-lawyer-becomes-first-nigerian-to-travel-to-space/
Stunning cloud vortices swirl off 6 different Atlantic islands — Earth from space
July 1, 2025
This striking satellite photo shows multiple examples of a rare meteorological phenomenon, known as "von Kármán vortices," swirling off at least six different islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
Very rarely have so many of these swirling cloud trails been seen at once and over such a large area.
Von Kármán vortices occur when a prevailing wind encounters a landmass, disturbing the airflow and creating "a double row of vortices which alternate their direction of rotation," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
These vortices then propagate downstream of the landmass and become visible when clouds get caught up in them.
In this photo, giant cloud swirls collectively cover an area of around 260,000 square miles (670,000 square km), making this one of the most widespread examples of concurrent vortices ever seen, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
The most intricate swirls in the photo are seen in the vortices off Madeira, a Portuguese archipelago, at the top of the image (see below). Here, the high concentration of clouds reveals the detailed movements of the disturbed air in exceptional detail.
Less-defined swirling trails are also seen trailing off the Spanish Canary Islands. From left to right, these are: La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
If you look closely (see below), you can see that the vortices from La Gomera and Tenerife interfere with each other, almost canceling them out completely.
Madeira and the Canary Islands are among the best places on Earth to see von Kármán vortices, according to the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
This is because they have high peaks, high temperatures and are reasonably separated from their respective continents.
These swirls are also commonly spotted coming from Guadalupe, a group of six French-owned islands in the Caribbean, on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
On rare occasions, the swirls have also coincided with other phenomena, such as a warped "double rainbow."
While the vortices mostly occur in tropical climates, they can also be seen in the Arctic, such as on Svalbard's Bear Island, where they can sometimes appear alongside swirling algal blooms.
On average, a pair of von Kármán vortices is created somewhere on Earth every eight hours, according to EUMESTAT.
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/weather/stunning-cloud-vortices-swirl-off-6-different-atlantic-islands-earth-from-space
US photographer captures International Space Station against fiery Sun in ‘once in a lifetime shot’
Jul 01, 2025 12:41 PM IST
The photographer shared stunning ISS transit photos and a quick video on Instagram, calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime shot” as the station zipped past the Sun.
A US photographer incredibly managed to capture the exact moment the International Space Station (ISS) passed in front of the Sun – right as a sunspot group flared up – creating a visually stunning and rare spectacle.
He shared the breathtaking images and a short video of the ISS transit on his Instagram, where the station appears to zoom past the Sun in a flash. No surprise he described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime shot.”
Alongside the images, he wrote: “While waiting for the ISS to transit the sun, a sunspot group started flaring, leading to this once-in-a-lifetime shot.
The most detailed solar transit photo I’ve ever done, and one I’m thrilled to release as a limited edition print for a short time.
I’ll have it available in two versions, one like this and another that is a wide panorama with the ISS against the full sun, showing just how small mankind’s largest spacecraft is against the more distant sun.
I call the piece ‘Kardashev Dreams’, representing our first steps to being a much greater civilization.”
He added that he carefully examines the fine details of each shot to ensure they’re worthy of print – a process that takes time.
He described the image as one of his all-time favourites due to the rarity of capturing both a solar flare and an ISS transit in a single frame.
“See the still photos or get the print in one of two versions through the weekend only if I don’t run through the limited editions,” he added.
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a collaborative global project that brings together international astronauts, various launch systems, training centers, mission control facilities, and a global network of researchers. It serves as a cutting-edge microgravity laboratory advancing science, education, and technology for the benefit of humanity. The programme received official approval from President Ronald Reagan in 1984, with funding from the US Congress.
Soon after, NASA Administrator James Beggs invited international partners to join. Canada, Japan, and several European Space Agency (ESA) nations came on board early, followed by Russia in 1993 during a major redesign phase.
Construction of the ISS components began in the late 1980s across the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe. Since its first crewed mission in 2000, the ISS has transformed from a basic outpost to a highly advanced research hub.
Now in its third decade of continuous human presence, the ISS plays a crucial role in hosting scientific experiments, technological demonstrations, and international collaboration.
Indian astronaut on ISS
Indian astronaut, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, serving as the Mission Pilot for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:21 am ET on June 25.
Shukla piloted the Dragon spacecraft, which successfully performed an automated docking with the International Space Station (ISS) at 4:05 pm IST on June 26—well ahead of schedule.
The spacecraft attached to the space-facing port of the ISS’s Harmony module.
Upon arrival, the Ax-4 crew was greeted by the seven-member Expedition 73 team and participated in a safety orientation.
The Ax-4 mission crew includes NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, ISRO astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, and European Space Agency astronauts Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
They are expected to remain aboard the ISS for up to 14 days.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-photographer-captures-international-space-station-against-fiery-sun-in-once-in-a-lifetime-shot-101751350099968.html
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLF-Haqy57-/
'Never been seen before': First images from new ISS solar telescope reveal subtle 'fluctuations' in sun's outer atmosphere
June 30, 2025
A mini solar telescope strapped to the side of the International Space Station (ISS) has captured its first images, revealing subtle changes in our home star's outer atmosphere that have never been seen before.
NASA's Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) is a small solar telescope attached to the outside of the ISS.
It is a coronagraph, meaning that it blocks out the solar disk to allow the telescope to focus on the sun's atmosphere, or corona, in unprecedented detail — mimicking the way the moon blocks the sun's visible surface during a total solar eclipse on Earth.
The occulting disk blocking out the sun's light is around the size of a tennis ball and it is held in place by three metal arms at the end of a long metal tube, which also cast distinctive shadows in the resulting images.
CODEX arrived on the ISS on Nov. 5, 2024, on board a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, Live Science's sister site Space.com previously reported. It was affixed onto the station's hull by the robotic arm, Canadarm2, on Nov. 9, according to NASA.
The first photos from CODEX were released on June 10 at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, Alaska.
They include footage of temperature fluctuations in the outer corona, captured over the span of several days, and a photo of giant "coronal streamers" shooting out of the sun.
"The CODEX instrument is doing something new," Jeffrey Newmark, a heliophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and the principal investigator for CODEX, said in a statement.
"These are brand new observations that have never been seen before, and we think there's a lot of really interesting science to be done with it."
The main goal of the new telescope is to discover how the superhot particles constantly streaming out of the sun, known as the solar wind, interact with the sun's outer atmosphere.
"Previous coronagraph experiments have measured the density of material in the corona, but CODEX is measuring the temperature and speed of material in the slowly varying solar wind flowing out from the Sun," Newmark said.
Mission scientists also want to understand how solar wind gets heated to such high temperatures — up to 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), which is around 175 times hotter than the sun's surface, according to Space.com.
To do this, the telescope measures the sun using four narrow-band filters, two for temperature and two for speed. "By comparing the brightness of the images in each of these filters, we can tell the temperature and speed of the coronal solar wind," Newmark said.
The researchers hope that better understanding the solar wind will help predict dangerous space weather events, particularly those that originate from gigantic "coronal holes" that spew streams of particularly fast solar particles toward Earth.
In the last few weeks, Earth has experienced two significant geomagnetic storms, which were both triggered by coronal holes:
First, on June 13, when a sizeable storm triggered auroras in up to 18 U.S. states; and more recently on June 25, when a slightly weaker disturbance briefly lit up the night skies.
This flurry of activity is the result of solar maximum, the most active phase of the sun's roughly 11-year sunspot cycle. This chaotic peak is now likely coming to an end, meaning less explosive outbursts in the future.
However, some experts believe that solar wind could remain unpredictable for several years as the sun's localized magnetic fields vie for dominance in a period dubbed the "solar battle zone."
Therefore, the CODEX instrument has likely switched on at the optimal time. "We really never had the ability to do this kind of science before," Newmark said. "We're excited for what's to come."
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/never-been-seen-before-first-images-from-new-iss-solar-telescope-reveal-subtle-fluctuations-in-suns-outer-atmosphere
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/codex/
US set new record with 21 commercial launches in June, FAA says
July 1, 2025
Private spaceflight continues its upward trajectory.
American companies launched 21 commercial space missions in June 2025, which was a new record for a single month, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The old record of 20 was set in November 2024.
"Operations during the record month include 21 launches conducted by four operators: Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance," FAA officials said in an emailed statement.
"These occurred in California, Florida, Texas and New Zealand, and involved orbital, suborbital and commercial human spaceflight missions," they added. (California-based Rocket Lab's primary launch site is on New Zealand's North Island.)
SpaceX was by far the busiest of the four operators, launching 15 of the month's 21 missions. Twelve of those 15 flights were devoted to building out the company's Starlink broadband megaconstellation in low Earth orbit.
June continued a very active 2025 for SpaceX, which has launched 81 missions so far this year. The company is therefore on pace to break its single-year record of 134 orbital liftoffs, which was set in 2024.
(Those numbers don't count the suborbital test flights of SpaceX's new Starship megarocket, which launched four times in 2024 and has flown three times so far this year.)
SpaceX was also responsible for one of June's two human spaceflight missions — Ax-4, which sent four private astronauts toward the International Space Station on June 25.
The month's other crewed mission was NS-33, a suborbital tourist flight by Blue Origin that launched and landed on June 29.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/us-set-new-record-with-21-commercial-launches-in-june-faa-says
https://www.space.com/37341-july-full-moon.html
July full moon 2025: The Buck (the system) Moon joins Mars and Saturn
July 1, 2025
The full moon of July, also called the Buck Moon, will rise on July 10.
A full moon occurs when the moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the sun; the night side Earth sees a fully-illuminated moon.
Generally the moon rises near the time of sunset, and that will vary with latitude and season. The exact moment of full moon occurs at 4:37 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2037 UTC) on July 10, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
In New York City, moonrise is at 8:54 p.m. EDT on July 10; sunset is at 8:28 p.m. on that day. In the northern mid-latitudes (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris or Tokyo) the days are longer, so the moon rises later (and the sun sets later).
The time the moon is above the horizon is also shorter, because in the summer months the full moon is in the sun's wintertime position – low in the sky. In New York, moonset is at 5:57 a.m. on July 11 – putting the moon above the horizon nine hours and three minutes.
The situation is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere. In Melbourne, Australia, for example, the full moon occurs at 6:37 a.m. on July 11.
July is during the winter months there, so the moon rises early – at 5:26 p.m. on that day. Moonset is at 8:40 a.m. the next morning, which means the moon is visible for 15 hours and 14 minutes.
The varying length of time the moon is above the horizon also affects how high in the sky it gets – in New York, when the moon crosses the meridian at 12:28 a.m. July 11 (and is basically due south) it will reach an altitude of 20 degrees, whereas in Melbourne (and cities of similar latitude such as Cape Town or Santiago, Chile) the moon will reach 79 degrees above the horizon at 12:14 a.m. July 11 – nearly directly overhead.
On the evening of July 10, from the latitudes of New York City, Mars will be moving towards the southwestern horizon.
In New York the planet sets at 11:09 p.m.; civil twilight (when the sun is six degrees or less below the horizon) ends at 9:01 p.m., but Mars won't be easily visible until a bit later (how much later depends on the weather; clearer skies offer easier spotting).
By 10 p.m. Mars is setting in the west, about 12 degrees high.
The next visible planet is Saturn, which rises at 11:51 p.m. in New York. It reaches the meridian – and its highest altitude – after sunrise at 5:50 a.m. July 11.
Saturn is relatively easy to spot because the region of sky it is in has few bright stars; in darker sky locations one can see the "Circlet" – an asterism made up of five fainter stars that is one of the fish in the constellation Pisces, the Fishes.
Venus rises on July 11 at 2:49 a.m. in New York. It doesn't get far above the horizon until about 4 a.m., when it is 12 degrees high in the east.
The planet will form a pair with Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, the Bull, and from mid-northern latitudes it will appear to be above the star. Aldebaran is distinctly orange-red, so distinguishing the two is relatively easy to do.
Jupiter follows at 4:39 a.m. Eastern but from the Northern Hemisphere it is lost in the glare of the sun, which comes up less than an hour later; by sunrise (5:39 a.m) Jupiter is only about 8 degrees high.
Mercury is above the western horizon at sunset, but only barely so at the latitude of New York City.
For those watching the sky from further south, some planets are easier to see.
Mercury, which is effectively unobservable from New York, is slightly more visible in Miami, where at sunset is at 8:16 p.m. Eastern; civil twilight ends there at 8:41 p.m. on July 10 and Mercury will be 12 degrees high in the west; Mercury sets there at 9:39 p.m.
If one has a clear horizon and the weather is clear one can just catch it.
1/3
In Honolulu, Mercury sets earlier, at 8:44 p.m., but sunset is also earlier, at 7:17 p.m., and civil twilight ends at 7:48 p.m. By 8 p.m. Mercury is 8 degrees high in the west and can be faintly seen against the darkening sky.
Once one gets to the equator prospects improve even more; in Singapore, Mercury sets at 8:53 p.m. July 11, and sunset is at 7:15 p.m. By 8 p.m. the innermost planet is still 12 degrees high in the west and should be distinct as the stars and constellations around it (the planet is in Cancer) are relatively faint.
From further south, as in Melbourne, Australia, Mercury is slightly closer to the horizon but still easier to see than in the Northern Hemisphere.
At sunset (5:17 p.m. on July 11) Mercury is 20 degrees high in the west; by about 6 p.m. it is about 13 degrees high and will be just visible against the twilight sky. The planet sets in Melbourne at 7:20 p.m.
With the longer nights Mars and Saturn are both higher in the sky than in New York, and thus visible longer.
From Melbourne, Mars is still 37 degrees high at 6 p.m., and does not set until 9:45 p.m., keeping it above the horizon for a full four and a half hours, as opposed to two and a half hours in New York.
Saturn rises in Melbourne at 11:05 p.m. July 11, and crosses the meridian at 5:11 a.m. at an altitude of 53 degrees; more than halfway up to the zenith from the horizon at due north.
In the Southern Hemisphere the planet is above the Circlet in Pisces, and by 7:00 a.m. as sunrise approaches (it is at 7:34 a.m. July 12) Saturn is still at 45 degrees.
Venus rises at 4:26 a.m. July 12 in Melbourne, and by sunrise is 27 degrees above the northeastern horizon.
As in the Northern Hemisphere it forms a pair with Aldebaran, though it will appear to be below and to the left of the star as opposed to above it due to the "flipped" orientation of the sky.
Jupiter, as for Northern Hemisphere observers, will be lost in the solar glare; it will emerge in the coming months.
Constellations
By 10 p.m. in the mid-northern latitudes, one will see summer constellations near the moon; the moon itself is in Sagittarius, and bright enough that the stars of said constellation may be hard to spot, but look to the right of the moon and one might be able to see the "teapot" shape that marks the constellation.
From the continental U.S. or Europe at 10 p.m. the moon won't be more than seven to 10 degrees high, so Sagittarius will be similarly low in the sky.
Turning further to the right (southwards) one encounters Scorpius, the Scorpion, recognizable by the bright reddish star Antares. At 10 p.m. Antares is almost due south; from New York its altitude is about 22 degrees.
On the right side of Antares one can see the three fainter stars in a vertical line that are the claws, looking slightly left and down one can follow a curving line of stars to the tail.
Looking to the east, above and to the left of the moon, is the Summer Triangle, an asterism consisting of Vega, or Alpha Lyrae, Deneb (Alpha Cygni) and Altair (Alpha Aquilae).
Vega is the highest of the three; at about 10 p.m. it is 63 degrees high in the east. Go down and to the left and the next bright star one sees – it will be about two thirds as high as Vega – is Deneb, the tail of Cygnus the Swan.
Look to the right (imagine a right triangle with Deneb at the 90 degree corner) and one will see Altair, which will be about a third of the way up to the zenith from the horizon.
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Turn left of Deneb and you are facing north; Deneb is almost exactly northeast. The Big Dipper will be on the left side of the sky – the end of the handle will be pointing upwards, with the bowl downwards from there.
One can use the "pointers" of the Dipper's bowl to find Polaris, the Pole star, and if one continues towards the right and downward one touches the "W" shape of Cassiopeia, the Queen, which will be close to the horizon on the right side of Polaris.
One can use the handle of the Big Dipper to "Arc to Arcturus", the brightest star in Boōtes, the Herdsman, which will be some 54 degrees high in the southwest.
Arcturus is recognizable because it looks slightly reddish or orange. Look left of Arcturus (eastwards) and one can see a bright circlet of stars, this is Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown.
Keep going left – towards Vega – and one encounters a group of four medium-bright stars in a square, which is the "keystone" – the center of the constellation Hercules.
Continuing the "arc" from Arcturus ends at Spica, the alpha star of Virgo, which is nearly setting at this point in the year.
In the mid-southern latitudes, the sky will be dark by 7 p.m. and one will see the moon in the east, with Antares above it and slightly to the left.
Sagittarius will be above the moon, and Scorpius above that; Antares is some 53 degrees high in the east from the latitudes of Melbourne or Santiago, Chile.
Looking to the southwest, one can see Canopus, the brightest star in Carina, the Keel of the Ship about 15 degrees high.
Turning almost due south (left) and two thirds of the way to the zenith one can spot the Southern Cross, which points to the southern celestial pole (though there is no equivalent of Polaris to mark it).
To the left of the Cross are Hadar and Rigil Kentaurus, or Alpha Centauri; Hadar is closer to the Cross while Alpha Centauri is level with it and further to the left.
Full Moon lore
In the Old Farmer's Almanac, the full moon of July is also referred to as the Thunder Moon, reflecting the fact that in much of North America thunderstorms are more common in the hotter months.
While the full moon names are sometimes adapted from local Native peoples that the settlers encountered, many Native nations don't use the same terms at all — the Ojibwe people, would call it the Raspberry Moon.
The Woodland Cree call the July lunation the Feather Molting Moon.
In the Chinese lunar calendar the July full moon is in the sixth month, called Lotus Month or Héyuè.
The Chinese lunar calendar adds what is known as a leap month every few years to keep the lunar calendar in line with the seasons of the year; this means that the August full moon will also be in the sixth month.
For some Hindus, Buddhists and Jainists, the July full moon is the festival of Guru Purnima, in the lunar month of Ashadha, which celebrates spiritual teachers (called gurus); it is also a time for academics and scholars to pay respects to their own mentors and teachers.
For some Buddhists, it is a day to honor the Buddha, who gave his last sermon on this day. Jainists see this day as starting a four-month period of special devotion to teachers and gurus, and in Nepal the day is used to honor teachers.
In Laos, the full moon will start the Boun Khao Phansa Festival, which is the beginning of a three-month period of devotion for monks (which also corresponds with the rainy season).
Many people will leave small necessities at Buddhist temples for the monks; it is also a period when many novice monks are initiated.
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https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/06/30/air-force-and-space-force-hit-recruiting-goals-3-months-early-following-other-service-branches.html
Air Force and Space Force Hit Recruiting Goals 3 Months Early, Following Other Service Branches
June 30, 2025 at 5:58pm ET
The Department of the Air Force hit its 2025 goal of recruiting new airmen and Space Force Guardians three months ahead of schedule, the latest service branch to turn the tide from a post-pandemic slump.
Military.com reported earlier this month that the Department of the Air Force was set to hit its goal by the end of the month. On Monday, the Air Force and Space Force announced their recruiting success in a news release.
"I am excited that both the Air Force and the Space Force have met their fiscal year 2025 recruiting goals three months early," Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a news release.
"Congratulations to the recruiting service on ensuring we have the best talent ready to join the Department of the Air Force and defend this great nation."
The Air Force and Space Force announced they had hit their recruiting targets shortly after the Navy and the Army had reached their benchmarks for bringing in new sailors and soldiers.
In recent years, the services had all been down to the wire, often just barely hitting their goals before the end of the fiscal year. It was not immediately clear where the Marines were with their current recruiting numbers.
It's a notable turnaround for the service branches after many either missed or just barely hit their recruiting goals during a recruiting slump following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Air Force, for example, had missed its goal in 2023 for the first time since the 1990s.
Taren Sylvester, a research assistant for the National Security Human Capital Program at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told Military.com on Monday that it marks the first time since 2018 that the services hit their goals, but it's too soon to tell the cause of the recent trends.
"The change we're seeing now is too early to tell whether or not the administration change is really the driving force behind it," Sylvester said, saying various initiatives and changes that have encouraged people to meet the necessary military standards are a key player.
"It's a lot of different work in the recruiting forces and in how recruiting is set up that is making an impact today."
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The Department of the Air Force officially hit its fiscal 2025 goals on June 27 and has "sent nearly 25,000 of the 30,000 contracted recruits to Basic Military Training," with the rest scheduled to be sent by the end of September.
Military.com previously reported that the Air Force did have to reduce its recruiting goals by roughly 3,000 airmen due to an ongoing continuing resolution – a stopgap congressional measure put in place instead of an annual budget that holds funding to the same amount as the year prior.
The Air Force had started to turn the tide from its historic goal slip in 2023 by hiring more recruiters, changing policies such as body fat percentage allowed and tattoo restrictions, as well as substantially growing its Delayed Entry Program, which now stands at more than 14,000 recruits.
By comparison, the Space Force never had an issue with recruiting its relatively small and highly specialized force.
Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna told Military.com in an emailed statement that he was proud of the recruiters' efforts in bringing in the latest Guardians.
"Thanks to their efforts, we're proud to welcome the newest Guardians into our ranks as they lead the Space Force into the future," Bentivegna said.
"Each one reflects the very best of our nation, and their decision to serve speaks volumes about the talent, drive and potential they bring to our mission."
In statistics from last month shared with Military.com, the average age of the latest Guardian recruits is just shy of 23 years old, and upward of 93% of them scored above average on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.
One in five holds a college degree as well.
While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been quick to attribute the recruiting successes to the change in presidential administrations, experts have told Military.com for years that the effects are most likely due to numerous long-standing policy changes in the wake of the pandemic.
But some services are also directly claiming President Donald Trump is the reason for the shift. The Navy announced June 18 that it was set to send more than 40,600 future sailors to Recruit Training Command by September.
While the Navy pointed to "the Future Sailor Preparatory Course to improve accession success, streamlined medical waiver reviews, and identified and removed barriers to recruiter productivity" as reasons for hitting the goal early, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan also praised Trump.
"The world is more complex and contested than it has been in decades, and our ability to respond starts with our greatest asset, our people," Phelan said in a news release.
"Since November, Navy recruiting has skyrocketed, a testament to President Trump's leadership and the dedication of our dynamic Navy recruiters."
Earlier this month, the Army also reached its annual goal of recruiting 61,000 active-duty soldiers.
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https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5015/1
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/
Guardians on the West Coast: The Space and Missile Technology Center and Vandenberg museum
Monday, June 30, 2025
On June 24, a new space and missiles museum opened in California. The Space and Missile Technology Center is located at Marshallia Ranch, on the former golf course of Vandenberg Air Force Base, now known as Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The museum features exhibits, models, photographs, and artifacts about the history of Vandenberg, which was first established in the late 1950s as a missile test and rocket launch site, and in recent years has become much more active as SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets launch over the Pacific into high-inclination orbits.
Vandenberg was formerly Camp Cooke, an Army training base during World War II and Korea that was mostly shuttered by the mid-1950s when the Air Force came looking for a location to shoot rockets and missiles over long distances of open water.
The only notable economic activity in the area is a federal prison and agriculture, including flower growing. Throughout the 1960s Vandenberg expanded, acquiring new land and adding new launch sites.
But by the 1980s and later it had become rather sleepy, with only a few launches per year. The launch rate is much higher now, bringing new energy and tourism to the area, and hopefully the museum will benefit from that attention.
Vandenberg long had a museum on base known as the Vandenberg Space & Missile Heritage Center, located at the historic Space Launch Complex 10 site only a few hundred meters from the coast.
“Slick-10” was where the Air Force launched weather satellites in the 1970s, and where the Royal Air Force practiced launching Thor intermediate range ballistic missiles in the early 1960s.
It is only a short distance from the former SLC-1 and SLC-2 pads, the first rocket launch sites at Vandenberg where dozens of CORONA reconnaissance satellites were sent into orbit starting in the late 1950s.
Slick-2 later became NASA’s pad for launching Delta II rockets—the last Delta II lifted off there in 2018—and is now used by Firefly Aerospace. The SLC-10 site includes the former blockhouse, rocket preparation building, and support buildings which held artifacts and displays.
But SLC-10 is on an active military facility and access was restricted to people who had clearance to be on the base.
Getting a publicly accessible museum location has been the goal of museum director Jay Prichard, a former missile technician who has run the museum since the 1990s.
Prichard, along with Colonel Mark Shoemaker, commander of Space Launch Delta 30, cut the ribbon to open the new museum on June 24.
Prichard sought numerous times to get a retired government building outside of Vandenberg’s security perimeter so that the public could visit and learn the history of Vandenberg.
(In the late 1990s, he showed me a former GPS building outside the gate that he wanted for the museum, but that site was not available.)
Finally, in early 2023, Prichard received approval to use the retired golf course, which had been shuttered for nearly a decade.
The on-site buildings, including the former clubhouse and a nearby VIP quarters, were in remarkably good condition. Technically, the golf course is on Space Force property and is patrolled by the military police, although visitors do not need to pass through a security gate to visit.
Some other parts of the golf course may be redeveloped for other uses. Falcon 9 launches can be seen rising above a ridge line only a few kilometers to the west. Drone flights are strictly forbidden.
Prichard spent over two years clearing brush from the grounds, tearing out old lockers and unneeded furniture, painting and sprucing up, and moving displays from SLC-10 to the new location—in between giving tours at SLC-10.
He was occasionally assisted by base personnel and local volunteers. But Prichard is a force of nature and even on weekends could be found out at the location gleefully driving a tractor removing scrub grass.
The museum is located in the former golf course clubhouse and divided into two sections, the missiles gallery and the space gallery. Both have long histories at Vandenberg.
In the 1950s and later, Vandenberg was the test site for Thor intermediate range, and Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, and MX/Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles.
They were fired out over the Pacific, eventually to Kwajalein Atoll. Even after Atlas was retired as an ICBM it was used to test ballistic reentry vehicles.
After development of new missiles ceased, Vandenberg was used for operational tests of ICBMs in the active inventory.
Several times a year a Minuteman III ICBM is pulled out of a silo in the Midwest, shipped to Vandenberg, instrumented, and shot downrange.
Usually the missiles work as designed, but occasionally something goes wrong.
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Vandenberg is also the location of one of two Ground-Based Midcourse Defense sites in the United States (the other is Fort Greely, Alaska). Four interceptors are based at Vandenberg.
The program is administered by the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Operational control is provided by the Army, and support functions provided by the Space Force and Air Force.
Starting in the late 1950s, Vandenberg became the site of rocket launches to polar orbit.
Thor rockets carried CORONA reconnaissance satellites under the cover of the Discoverer science and engineering program. The program suffered numerous failures before achieving success in the summer of 1960.
Other programs, such as Samos and later GAMBIT and HEXAGON, also launched from Vandenberg, taking advantage of its unique geography that allowed launches to the south into polar orbits without overflying land.
Whereas Florida was used for launches into relatively low inclination orbits, Vandenberg was the launch site for missions that required orbits of the poles, including photo-reconnaissance, signals intelligence, and meteorology.
As the lifetimes of these satellites increased (some have remained in orbit up to 20 years), the launch rate dropped, to the point where it was rare for Vandenberg to launch a reconnaissance or weather satellite.
The museum exhibits include models of rockets and missiles launched at Vandenberg, a model of an ICBM silo, as well as former launch control consoles and photographs and artifacts of payloads launched from Vandenberg over nearly seven decades of operation.
Some of the models are large and impressive, such as a gantry for the former Titan IV launch pad at SLC-4, and a tabletop model of the sprawling SLC-6 complex originally built for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, modified for the space shuttle, and then modified again to launch Delta IV rockets.
The new space is open to civilians by appointment. It will expand visiting hours in the near future. Right now, the galleries are mostly suited to guided tours, with an expert explaining the importance and history of the artifacts and displays.
At the moment, the museum lacks an overall narrative telling the history of the base, the history of the programs developed there, and their importance. That will be added later, and storyboards explaining it have already been created.
This was more of a soft opening, getting the museum established outside the gate, enabling new activities like recruiting volunteers and docents to provide tours, and allowing the museum to acquire 501(c)(3) non-profit status so it can accept donations and funding from outside sources.
There is still much more history to tell. Currently, some programs, like CORONA (1959–1972), are well-represented.
Others like GAMBIT (1963–1984), and HEXAGON (1971–1986)—known on the base then as “the big bird”—which included the largest explosion ever at Vandenberg, are not discussed.
There are models of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory on display, but no explanation of that program or its significant impact on the history of Vandenberg, which led to a major expansion of the base to the south and a legal battle with a powerful land owner.
The museum will eventually include explanation of the history of the local Chumash tribes, who occupied the land for thousands of years before the military showed up.
The museum is still a work in progress, and has a big challenge to explain the base, its programs, its people and their history, as well as their context for a public that increasingly has no knowledge of the Cold War that shaped these developments.
Currently several large artifacts remain at SLC-10. These include a Thor Agena rocket like that used for the CORONA program, an Agena upper stage, and a Minuteman training vehicle that was equipped to dispense decoys to fool missile interceptors.
These are heavier objects that could not be included in the current location and some will eventually be displayed in a separate building at the ranch. The museum may also acquire a Minuteman missile to stand guard at the entrance.
On the other side of the country, just outside the gate to Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, is the newly renovated Sands Space History Center.
That museum tells the history of Air Force missile and space operations at the base. The museum also has a large collection of missile and space artifacts housed on the base, as well as a substantial document and video archive.
The Vandenberg museum has been long needed to tell the public the story of the important but often overlooked space and missiles development and operations on the west side of the country.
Now, due to Prichard’s hard work and perseverance, Vandenberg can step up to the public stage.
Part 2 will include more photos of the museum.
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SpOC Family Mourns Loss of Teammate
June 30, 2025
It is with deep sadness that we share the news of Brig. Gen. Chandler Atwood’s passing on June 29, 2025.
“Fulcrum,” as many knew him, left an undeniable mark on our command, our service, and everyone he touched.
We were incredibly fortunate to have him lead within Space Operations Command from its very beginning in 2020.
He stood-up Space Delta 7, guided the S2, and served as our Field Command deputy commander before serving as the U.S. Space Command J2.
This is a profound loss, and our deepest sympathies are with his family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.
Fulcrum led with grace, mission focus and commitment to this team. Space Operations Command will carry on that tradition moving forward as we carry on his legacy.
Brig Gen Atwood’s family shared a quote that resonates deeply with us: “If you don’t remember them out loud, they die twice. Honor your grief, for it is sacred. It is a testament to the depth of your heart.
And in time, through the pain, you will find healing – not because you have forgotten, but because you have learned how to carry both love and loss together.” We will remember him.
In line with family wishes, we will provide further details, as appropriate, when they become available.
For extended military families who would like additional healing resources, please visit www.militaryonesource.mil.
For those stationed on Peterson SFB or Schriever SFB, local resources are available at SBD 1 Resources.
https://www.spoc.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4230491/spoc-family-mourns-loss-of-teammate
>Fulcrum
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2025/Q3/space-force-partnerships-open-new-research-graduate-opportunities/
https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives/
Space Force partnerships open new research, graduate opportunities
July 1, 2025
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University, already known as the Cradle of Astronauts, is now establishing itself among the academic leaders for the U.S. Space Force with research and initiatives pushing the newest military branch toward the final frontier.
Space always has been part of the Purdue legacy, including engineering alumnus Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon and continuing to the present day with the latest education and innovation supporting Space Force.
Purdue engineers now are adapting manufacturing for zero-gravity space and developing technological solutions to manage the cislunar space where increasingly more objects orbit the Earth.
Dan DeLaurentis, Purdue’s executive vice president for research, has been part of the ongoing efforts since Purdue was among the first academic institutions to join the U.S. Space Force University Partnership Program in September 2021.
“Purdue’s reputation in space is that we make things happen, historically and currently, through both the students we graduate and our ongoing research work,” he said.
“Working with the Space Force generates new research advancements and cultivates a technically experienced workforce.”
Purdue Engineering research initiatives are focused on being resilient and capable of operating in the contested environment of space, not only for military collaborations but the anticipated vibrant commercial opportunities.
The U.S. Space Force was established Dec. 20, 2019, with the National Defense Authorization Act. Since then, Purdue has bolstered the University Partnership Program by working to recruit students, both civilian and service, as well as taking on challenges through the program’s research consortium.
The consortium has resulted in large, multiuniversity space and strategic technology initiatives. Purdue Engineering is a major component in two of them:
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Space domain awareness with Purdue research represented by Kathleen Howell, the Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
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Space manufacturing and operations technologies with Ajay Malshe, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as a central figure in the work
Additional research on campus is focused on several Space Force initiatives. Sorin Matei, professor of communication and associate dean of research and graduate education, is conducting dedicated deep-tech infusion workshops on artificial intelligence.
Mark Ward, professor of statistics and director of Purdue’s Data Mine, and Dan Hirleman, professor of mechanical engineering and director of The Data Mine of the Rockies, have several ongoing Space Force data analytics projects.
DeLaurentis said the extent and depth of the partnership between Purdue and the Space Force is among the best — particularly in areas not usually connected with space travel, such as autonomous operations, logistics, supply chains and additive manufacturing.
“Everything that we currently do on the sea, land and in the air — sense, maneuver, communicate, defend — we must do in space as well,” he said. “Our nation needs to be able to do more in space and extend beyond the capabilities of astronauts up there.”
That ability requires a next-generation civilian workforce as well as military officers that Purdue already has a big stake in providing.
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Purdue is the largest Space Force cohort in the University Partnership Program, and Space Force participated in the Purdue Summer Engineering Experience with its Data Mine program in 2024.
The university also was a joint host for an inaugural summer program in 2023 as well as the Giant Leaps Summit: National Defense in Space in February 2024.
Both events provided students with a unique opportunity to engage with air- and space-focused experts, further solidifying Purdue’s status as a leader in aerospace education and innovation.
Purdue Air Force ROTC Detachment 220 is the 15th largest detachment in the nation, with more than 200 future Air Force and Space Force leaders.
Remarkably, it boasts the second-highest enrollment of future Space Force Guardians among all 145 detachments nationwide.
Reflecting this commitment, Purdue has organized its Space Force cadets into a space delta within the cadet wing, highlighting the distinct identity and mission focus of these future Guardians.
DeLaurentis said Purdue’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 220 attracts more Space Force applicants because the military branch doesn’t have its own detachments at this point. ROTC and the Purdue Military Research Institute were a focus when signing on to the University Partnership Program.
“Space Force wanted to get more officers going through that program, and I think there’s progress being made there,” he said.
“And then our graduates who are going to go serve in the civilian ranks of the Space Force, including on the R&D side, are growing as well.”
DeLaurentis said students interested in the Space Force have a prime example to focus on. Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen is a Purdue alumna who graduated in 2000.
She is one of the Space Force generals who serves as Purdue’s partnership liaison. Panzenhagen leads the steering committee for this year’s Space Policy, Science, and Technology Symposium @ Purdue.
The October event brings together industry, government and academia to shape space policy for the nation and the world. It is co-sponsored by Purdue Policy Research Institute and the College of Engineering.
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