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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
August 1, 2025
Small Dark Nebula
A small, dark, nebula looks isolated near the center of this telescopic close-up. The wedge-shaped cosmic cloudlet lies within a relatively crowded region of space though. About 7,000 light-years distant and filled with glowing gas and an embedded cluster of young stars, the region is known as M16 or the Eagle Nebula. Hubble's iconic images of the Eagle Nebula include the famous star-forming Pillars of Creation, towering structures of interstellar gas and dust 4 to 5 light-years long. But this small dark nebula, known to some as a Bok globule, is a fraction of a light-year across. The Bok globule stands out in silhouette against the expansive background of M16's diffuse glow. Found scattered within emission nebulae and star clusters, Bok globules are small interstellar clouds of cold molecular gas and obscuring dust that also form stars within their dense, collapsing cores.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Live Coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 Mission is Underway
August 1, 2025
NASA just expanded its coverage of today’s launch, and the live broadcast of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is airing live on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Today’s liftoff is targeted for 11:43 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Crew-11 is the 11th crew rotation flight of the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov to the International Space Station.
Overall, the Crew-11 mission is the 16th crewed Dragon flight to the space station, which includes Demo-2 in 2020 and 11 operational crew rotations for NASA, as well as four private astronaut missions.
Once the crew arrives aboard the space station, they will undertake a brief handover period of a few days with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission.
Following handover, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will depart for a splashdown off the coast of California, completing their expedition aboard the microgravity laboratory.
You can also follow along on the mission blog, which originates from the NASA News Center here at Kennedy, a few miles from the launch pad.
On social media, follow launch day milestones on @NASAKennedy on X, or NASA Kennedy on Facebook.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew/2025/08/01/live-coverage-of-nasas-spacex-crew-11-mission-is-underway-2/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/crew-11/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ILMhbWHNQ
Meet the Crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11
August 1, 2025
Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017, Zena Cardman will conduct her first spaceflight.
The Williamsburg, Virginia, native holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in marine sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At the time of selection, she was pursuing a doctorate in geosciences.
Cardman’s geobiology and geochemical cycling research focused on subsurface environments, from caves to deep sea sediments.
Since completing initial training, Cardman has supported real-time station operations and lunar surface exploration planning. Follow @zenanaut on X and Instagram.
This will be Mike Fincke’s fourth trip to the space station, having logged 382 days in space and nine spacewalks during Expedition 9 in 2004, Expedition 18 in 2008, and STS-134 in 2011, the final flight of space shuttle Endeavour.
Throughout the past decade, Fincke has applied his expertise to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, advancing the development and testing of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Boeing Starliner spacecraft toward operational certification.
The Emsworth, Pennsylvania, native is a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and holds bachelors’ degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in both aeronautics and astronautics, as well as Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences.
He also has a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in California. Fincke is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with more than 2,000 flight hours in over 30 different aircraft. Follow @AstroIronMike on X and Instagram.
With 142 days in space, this will be Kimiya Yui’s second trip to the space station.
After his selection as a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut in 2009, Yui flew as a flight engineer for Expedition 44/45 and became the first Japanese astronaut to capture JAXA’s H-II Transfer Vehicle using the station’s robotic arm.
In addition to constructing a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, he conducted a total of 21 experiments for JAXA. In November 2016, Yui was assigned as chief of the JAXA Astronaut Group.
He graduated from the School of Science and Engineering at the National Defense Academy of Japan in 1992. He later joined the Air Self-Defense Force at the Japan Defense Agency (currently the Ministry of Defense).
In 2008, Yui joined the Air Staff Office at the Ministry of Defense as a lieutenant colonel. Follow @astro_kimiya on X.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission also will be Oleg Platonov’s first spaceflight.
Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, Platonov earned a degree in engineering from Krasnodar Air Force Academy in aircraft operations and air traffic management.
He also earned a bachelor’s degree in state and municipal management in 2016 from the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.
Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2021, he has experience in piloting aircraft, zero gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew/2025/08/01/meet-the-crew-of-nasas-spaAugust 1, 2025c
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/08/01/a-look-at-todays-launch-milestones-2/ex-crew-11-2/
Hubble Surveys Supernova-Rich Spiral
Aug 01, 2025
Rich with detail, the spiral galaxy NGC 1309 shines in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. NGC 1309 is about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.
This stunning Hubble image encompasses NGC 1309’s bluish stars, dark brown gas clouds, and pearly-white core, as well as hundreds of distant background galaxies.
Nearly every smudge, streak, and blob of light in this image is an individual galaxy, some shining through less dense regions of NGC 1309 itself.
The only exception to this extragalactic ensemble is a star near the top of the frame identified by its diffraction spikes. The star is positively neighborly at just a few thousand light-years away in the Milky Way galaxy.
Hubble turned its attention toward NGC 1309 several times; previous Hubble images of this galaxy were released in 2006 and 2014.
Much of NGC 1309’s scientific interest derives from two supernovae, SN 2002fk in 2002 and SN 2012Z in 2012.
SN 2002fk was a perfect example of a Type Ia supernova, which happens when the stripped-down core of a dead star (a white dwarf) explodes.
SN 2012Z, on the other hand, was a bit of a renegade. It was classified as a Type Iax supernova: while its spectrum resembled that of a Type Ia supernova, the explosion wasn’t as bright as expected.
Hubble observations showed that in this case, the supernova did not destroy the white dwarf completely, leaving behind a ‘zombie star’ that shone even brighter than it did before the explosion.
Hubble observations of NGC 1309 taken across several years also made this the first time astronomers spotted a star system that later produced an unusual supernova explosion of a white dwarf.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-surveys-supernova-rich-spiral/
Nigerian Egusi seeds makes historic journey to space aboard NASA mission
August 1, 2025
Egusi (melon) seeds, a cornerstone of West African cuisine, are poised for an unprecedented journey to outer space.
This pioneering scientific experiment, spearheaded by Nigerian space scientist and Federal University of Technology, Akure alumnus, Temidayo Oniosun, aims to evaluate the nutritional and functional suitability of Egusi seeds for extended human space exploration.
The historic launch is scheduled for July 31st at 12:09 PM EDT (5:09 PM Nigerian time), aboard NASA’s Crew-11 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This groundbreaking initiative, according to a statement jointly signed by Space In Africa’s Queen Dare and Temitayo Oniosun, on Wednesday, marks the first time that seeds from Nigeria will be sent to space, a testament to global cooperation in space research, facilitated by collaborations with The Karman Project and Jaguar Space LLC. Temidayo Oniosun, a prominent voice in Africa’s burgeoning space tech community, expressed the profound significance of the moment.
The statement quoted Oniosun as saying, “I am sending Egusi seeds to outer space to assess their suitability for nutritional and functional applications in long-term human space exploration. “This is the first time in history that seeds from Nigeria will be going to space.”
The Egusi seeds, carefully sourced from Oyo State, will share the payload with other experimental items under the supervision of NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Jonny Kim.
Upon their return to Earth, the Egusi seeds will undergo a rigorous battery of experimental analyses in partnership with Dr. Wagner Vendrame, a distinguished Professor at the University of Florida.
This post-spaceflight research will delve into various aspects, including in vitro germination for morphological and physiological changes, spectral imaging for viability, respiration tests to assess metabolic activity, and molecular analysis to identify genetic variations. Oniosun further emphasized,
“This research goes beyond agriculture; it’s about food security, adaptability, and scientific sovereignty in space exploration.
“If Egusi can survive and thrive after exposure to space conditions, it opens new doors for indigenous crops in extra-terrestrial agriculture”, Oniosun said.
This bold step not only highlights Nigerian scientific prowess but also paves the way for a more diverse and resilient approach to food production in the final frontier.
“This research goes beyond agriculture; it’s about food security, adaptability, and scientific sovereignty in space exploration.
If egusi can survive and thrive after exposure to space conditions, it opens new doors for indigenous crops in extra-terrestrial agriculture,” Oniosun noted.
Temidayo Oniosun’s work is being widely celebrated as a monumental achievement for Nigerian science, academia, and innovation.
A graduate of FUTA and an advocate for Africa’s representation in global space discussions, Oniosun’s space experiment places Nigeria on the world map in the realm of astro-agriculture.
The Vice Chancellor of FUTA, Professor Adenike Oladiji, is thrilled by the development and the role of one of the institutions alumni.
He said, “As the countdown begins, the world watches not just a rocket launch, but a symbol of African innovation hurtling beyond Earth’s atmosphere, seeded by home-grown potential, nurtured by academic excellence at the Federal University of Technology Akure Nigeria, and now touching the stars.”
Oniosun graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Meteorology from the Federal University of Technology, Akure in 2016 and has a master’s degree in satellite applications from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Delaware. In May 2015, as a student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, he led the University space club to launch a balloon to space in a contest.
In 2016, he was the recipient of the International Astronautical Federation Emerging Space Leadership Award for his work in the space industry.
He was elected the regional coordinator for Africa for the Space Generation Advisory Council in February 2017 and re-elected for a second term in 2019.
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/nigeria/nigerian-egusi-seeds-makes-historic-journey-to-space-aboard-nasa-mission/ar-AA1JBTXd
Russian and US space agencies agree to extend cooperation (Video)
31 Jul, 2025 20:21
Russia and the US have agreed to continue space cooperation, extending joint operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS), according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
On Thursday, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov met acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy in Houston, Texas. The meeting marked the first in person talks between the heads of the two space agencies in eight years.
The two discussed ongoing ISS operations, future lunar missions, and joint deep-space exploration projects. “The dialogue went well,” Bakanov told reporters after the meeting.
“We agreed to continue operating the ISS until 2028,” he said, adding that discussions also covered deorbiting the station by 2030.
The ISS, the largest space station ever built, has orbited Earth since 1998, serving as a unique platform for international scientific research.
Despite political tensions over the Ukraine conflict, the ISS remains one of the few spheres of continued cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
Russia had previously indicated it might withdraw from the program after 2024 but later signaled a willingness to continue.
Bakanov said he had invited Duffy to attend a November launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome that will carry an American astronaut. The NASA chief agreed to attend.
A day earlier, the Roscosmos head met with members of NASA’s Crew-11 team, who are preparing to fly to the ISS.
The crew includes Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, and Japan’s Kimiya Yui.
Their launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center had been scheduled for Thursday but was postponed just over a minute before liftoff until Friday due to weather conditions.
https://www.rt.com/news/622347-russia-us-space-cooperation-iss/
Monroe Canyon Fire Intensifies
July 28, 2025
The Monroe Canyon fire in central Utah grew quickly in late July 2025 amid a stretch of hot, dry, and windy weather.
The blaze, burning near the communities of Richfield, Monroe, and Koosharem, began its rapid expansion the afternoon of July 25, when firefighters reported wind gusts exceeding 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour.
Its extent would more than double to 23,265 acres (9,415 hectares) by the morning of July 28.
The fire continued to rage that day, when the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image.
A smoke plume from the blaze drifted hundreds of miles to the northeast, creating hazy skies and degrading air quality in areas downwind.
Fire activity prompted officials to close a portion of Fishlake National Forest and issue evacuation notices for residences within that area.
Several buildings have been destroyed, according to news reports, and firefighters were working to prevent additional structures from being lost. About 1,000 personnel were involved in the firefighting response.
The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured the false-color image above, showing the Monroe Canyon fire on July 28.
This combination of shortwave infrared, near infrared, and visible light (bands 6-5-3) makes it easier to identify unburned, vegetated areas (green) and the recently burned landscape (brown).
Bright orange indicates the infrared signature of active burning.
Over the past decade, the USDA Forest Service has used prescribed burns and mechanical thinning in and around Monroe Canyon to promote aspen regeneration and reduce accumulated brush and dead vegetation.
NASA’s FireSense project collected airborne data before, during, and after one such prescribed burn in the area in October 2023, toward its goal of improving science resources delivered to operational fire agencies.
According to Utah’s Department of Natural Resources, the intensity of the Monroe Canyon fire decreased near the edge of these treatment areas.
This helped firefighters add more blackline around the southeastern perimeter of the fire and increase containment on that side.
By the morning of July 31, the fire had grown to 45,964 acres (18,600 hectares) with 11 percent containment.
In addition to the fire-conducive weather, officials stated that “record-breaking low fuel moistures” contributed to the intense fire activity.
A red flag warning was in effect for central and southern Utah, with low relative humidity and breezy conditions expected to continue.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154620/monroe-canyon-fire-intensifies
https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-publication/utfif-monroe-canyon/monroe-canyon-fire-daily-update-07-30-2025
https://thedebrief.org/nasa-unveils-hidden-cave-entrances-to-the-moons-secret-underworld/
https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272593/1-s2.0-S0019103525X00130/1-s2.0-S0019103525002222/main.pdf
NASA Unveils ‘Hidden’ Cave Entrances to the Moon’s Secret Underworld
July 31, 2025
Welcome to this installment of The Intelligence Brief…
This week, a groundbreaking new study using NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified over a dozen newly confirmed pit craters on the Moon that could serve as natural entrances to underground environments—some of which may be ideal for future astronaut shelters.
In our analysis, we’ll explore 1) how these lunar pits differ from ordinary surface depressions, 2) why locations like Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Ingenii stand out as particularly promising candidates, 3) how these formations could offer both scientific value and radiation-shielded environments for long-term habitation, and 4) why this discovery marks a pivotal step toward building lunar outposts using the Moon’s own geology.
Windows into the Lunar Underground
The Moon and its mysterious surface have long fascinated us.
From its massive craters to its expansive maria plains and mysterious “far side,” lunar features visible from Earth, as well as those discovered by past crewed missions and current satellite reconnaissance, continually add to the wonder we hold for Earth’s mysterious natural satellite.
Now, recent data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is providing high-resolution lunar imagery that scientists have used to help uncover potential gateways to hidden underground environments on the Moon.
The breakthrough discoveries, detailed in a recent study in the journal Icarus, identified more than a dozen new examples of mysterious lunar features known as “pit craters,” which may offer natural access points to subsurface lunar environments, and may even provide future shelter for astronauts, in addition to scientific treasures that have remained protected from the Moon’s harsh surface conditions.
Into the Pit
Pit craters are steep-walled, mostly circular depressions on the Moon that are formed when surface areas collapse into a subsurface void, sometimes because of the presence of lava tubes or caves in these areas.
Unlike simple depressions or collapse pits, which tend to collect light uniformly, true pit craters with subsurface access exhibit telltale shadows that behave differently over time.
These shadows are visible in images collected by the LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera and suggest large overhangs or openings that exist beneath the surface.
In a recent study detailing these findings, nearly 15 years of combined imaging data from the LRO were subjected to refined image processing and shape-from-shading techniques.
This allowed researchers to determine the existence of more than 100 pit craters, sixteen of which could be candidates for entrances into further subsurface lunar voids.
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Natural Entrances to the Moon’s Underworld
“What we’re seeing are natural entrances, some with floors deep in shadow even at high Sun angles,” the researchers explain in their recent paper.
Intriguingly, some of the most promising candidates from the research exist in well-known locations, which include the famous Mare Tranquillitatis, home of the first lunar landing base, and Mare Ingenii.
In addition to being well-characterized areas and even locations of past crewed visits, they are also compelling because their surrounding terrain consists of ancient volcanic plains.
These make them ideal for forming and preserving lava tubes that the newly identified pit caves could provide access to.
Beyond Shelter: A Science and Safety Opportunity
Although the idea of exploring the lunar underworld is itself very intriguing, there are far more practical reasons that scientists want to study pit caves. Primarily, their value is in their potential usefulness in long-duration missions.
Intact subsurface lava tubes, for instance, could offer shielding for astronauts, as well as sensitive scientific equipment, from radiation and other extreme environmental effects encountered during Moon missions.
Such lunar cave environments also offer protection from micrometeorite impacts, which frequently impact the Moon after passing through its meager atmosphere.
Within these lava tube caves, astronauts would not only be protected from external dangers but would also find more stable temperatures, as well as an environment where undisturbed lunar material may exist, offering a pristine archive of the Moon’s geologic history.
“These environments could prove critical not only for scientific study but as infrastructure for human habitation,” the study notes.
Next Steps Toward Exploration
According to the study, the most promising pits in the current batch are those that possess consistent internal shadowing and favorable terrain. These, they argue, should be prioritized as potential landing or robotic exploration sites during future missions.
In the years ahead, initial exploration of these features could be undertaken with targeted scouting using future lunar orbiters and landers, which may be able to confirm whether these entrances do indeed lead to more extensive underground networks.
Offering the most detailed analysis of these mysterious features yet documented, the new study significantly expands our knowledge of lunar pit caves and marks a crucial first step toward transforming natural features on the Moon into functional outposts for future exploration.
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Space hurricanes are real, and scientists just confirmed the first one
July 31, 2025
Though it sounds like something out of science fiction, space hurricanes are real, and they don't come with lightning or roaring winds. Instead, these storms unfold in silence, swirling clouds of charged plasma high above the North Pole, glowing with eerie auroral light.
A new study published this month in Space Weather confirms the existence of these previously unknown storms—massive, spiral-shaped structures in Earth's upper atmosphere.
The first recorded example appeared in data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) on Aug. 20, 2014.
It looked uncannily like a terrestrial hurricane, complete with spiral arms and a calm, glowing "eye." But unlike most space weather events, this storm didn't follow a solar flare or magnetic outburst.
"The space hurricane formed during very quiet conditions," says lead author Sheng Lu of Shandong University in China. That challenges the long-held belief that space storms are driven solely by high solar activity.
The DMSP F17 satellite flew directly through the eye of the storm, followed 10 minutes later by ESA's SWARM B satellite, which crossed its outer edge.
Their combined data revealed a true electrodynamic storm: charged particles rotating at speeds over 2,237 mph, funneling energy into the upper atmosphere.
Even without a solar trigger, the storm had measurable effects. GPS signals traveling through its edge showed strong phase scintillations—a flickering that can disrupt navigation accuracy.
At the same time, ground-based magnetometers in Greenland recorded magnetic shifts up to 400 nonteslas, comparable to a low-level (G1-class) geomagnetic storm.
Notable, the storm formed while the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was tilted northward—a configuration traditionally viewed as quiet and uneventful.
This finding calls into question standard forecasting models, which focuses on southward-tilting IMF as a storm driver.
Space hurricanes, it turns out, are stealth storms, hidden from traditional alerts, but still capable of disrupting Earth's magnetic field.
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/space-hurricane-confirmed-20795888.php
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025SW004435
Out-of-this-world cosmic shots from the International Space Station
Aug. 1, 2025, 9:01 a.m. ET
NASA astronaut, Donald Pettit, has gained a distinguished reputation for his show-stopping photography from the International Space Station.
Now safely returned to Earth, the spaceman has taken time to reveal more of his incredible pictures.
Pettit has completed four spaceflights, accumulating a total of 590 days in space, making him one of NASA’s most experienced astronauts.
His last mission saw him spend 220 days on the station, before landing in Kazakhstan on April 20, which was also his 70th birthday.
(more pics)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/01/science/out-of-this-world-cosmic-shots-from-the-international-space-station-photos/
3D printing in space passes industry testing milestone for fabrication of spacecraft and associated equipment — promising future for zero gravity 3D printing
August 1, 2025
The world of 3D printing has opened us up to an entirely new era of manufacturing.
We can print objects at home using the best budget 3D printers and it's amazing how far we've come yet you'll still be hard pressed to find examples of 3D printing in space.
This is mainly due to the volatility of 3D printed materials and a need for extreme reliability in aerospace.
But, Horizon Microtechnologies, has recently passed testing standards, put in place to ensure the reliability of materials used in the space industry — bringing us one step closer to introducing more 3D printing components in space.
The 3D printed materials were put through outgassing tests. The materials must meet specific requirements to be cleared for space travel in accordance with ECSS-Q-ST-70-02C, a material screening standard set by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization.
"This Standard describes a thermal vacuum test to determine the outgassing screening properties of materials proposed for use in the fabrication of spacecraft and associated equipment, for vacuum facilities used for flight hardware tests and for certain launcher hardware."
The company accomplished this impressive feat by coating the 3D printed components.
Horizon Microtechnologies CEO Andreas Frölich expressed enthusiasm for the successful results, remarking at the significance of their development.
The coating process ensures the 3D printed structures are able to meet the rigorous standards put into place to ensure safety during space travel.
The outgassing testing process in particular is used to determine how much, if any, volatile material is released and/or reabsorbed by the given component being tested.
This testing process is also looking out for any cross contamination with nearby items that might be able to absorb any released particles.
By coating their 3D printed components using its own purpose developed coating method, Horizon Microtechnologies was able to successfully pass the standard requirements for the outgassing tests.
This means we'll likely see more 3D-printed hardware in wide variety of future space technology, including vessels, satellite hardware and more.
Recently, tests were carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) which saw astronauts on the ISS 3D print objects in micro-gravity.
This uses low-temperature plastics instead of traditional filament, as all sources of heat and fire are strictly controlled on the ISS.
The benefits of 3D printing in space are chiefly the ability to fabricate a part without the expense of a launching a rocket to the station. Just open up a spool of filament, load up your slicer and print that vital part.
If the thought of using 3D printing in the space industry sounds appealing, you're not alone.
There's tons of potential to be had between the two but you'd better get a good foothold on 3D printing first.
If you're new to 3D printing, check out our list of best 3D printers to see which ones we recommend for everyone from beginners with little experience to pros looking for an upgrade.
https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/3d-printing-in-space-passes-industry-testing-milestone-for-fabrication-of-spacecraft-and-associated-equipment-promising-future-for-zero-gravity-3d-printing
Big lake in Quebec suddenly disappears, satellite finds
Aug 1, 2025
In May 2025, residents living around Lac Rouge discovered a washed-out road near the lake, triggering investigations that revealed the lake had completely emptied almost overnight, an extremely rare and puzzling event for the area.
Using both ground and air searches, experts found that the land around the lake had collapsed on itself, causing the lake to drain.
What is it?
Lac Rouge is a small lake, only about a 0.86 square miles (1.4 square kilometers) around. According to the European Southern Observatory, it was used by the Cree First Nation based in the nearby community of Waswanipi for fishing, hunting, and trapping.
Where is it?
Lac Rouge is based in the the Lac-Walker region of Sept-Rivières in Quebec, Canada.
Why is it amazing?
According to a statement from the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, the cause of the lake draining is still unknown.
Possible theories suggest wildfires, recent rainfall or snowmelt may have been involved. Wildfires raged near the lake in both 2019 and 2023 which could have weakened the soil.
While the Landsat 9 satellite, hovering in low-Earth orbit, captured images before and after Lac Rouge was drained, the actual timing of the draining is not known, with experts guessing it happened between April 29 and May 14, 2025.
According to ESO, the lake emptied by flowing to smaller ponds and rivers against its usual outflow path, where the water finally reached Lac Doda, around 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.
Residents and visitors are worried that the draining will affect the local wildfire, such as moose and sturgeon.
As the Landsat 9 satellite was designed to study the Earth's processes, its ability to capture events like this show how serious the effects of climate change can be on our environment.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/big-lake-in-quebec-suddenly-disappears-satellite-finds-space-photo-of-the-day-for-august-1-2025
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1279417780857152
https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/exotic-blazar-is-part-of-most-extreme-double-black-hole-system-ever-found-crooked-jet-suggests
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/08/aa54929-25/aa54929-25.html
Exotic 'blazar' is part of most extreme double black hole system ever found, crooked jet suggests
Aug 1, 2025
A beam of particles speeding away from the vicinity of a monstrous black hole has been found to be severely kinked, providing compelling evidence that the black hole is actually part of the most extreme binary system known.
The black hole and its crooked jet are found in a blazar known as OJ 287, located about four billion light-years away.
A blazar is a quasar seen head-on, and a quasar is the active core of a galaxy where the resident supermassive black hole is pulling in huge amounts of matter.
That matter spirals around the black hole, forming what’s called an accretion disk, and there’s so much matter that the accretion disk becomes a bottleneck.
Rather than flowing into the black hole’s maw, the infalling matter piles up in the disk, the density and temperature dramatically increasing such that it shines so brightly that it can be seen across the universe.
Magnetic fields wrapped up in the accretion disk are able to funnel some of the charged particles in the matter away from the black hole, collimating them and accelerating them in two opposing jets that blast away from the black hole for thousands of light-years at close to the speed of light.
Because we see blazars almost head-on, they appear even brighter than regular quasars.
However, OJ 287 is not your ordinary blazar. Astronomers have been tracking its cycles of brightness variations for about 150 years — from even before they knew what kind of object it is.
There’s a long cycle of approximately 60 years, and a shorter cycle with a period of variation of just 12 years.
This short cycle has been attributed to a companion black hole with about 150 million times the mass of the sun orbiting the main black hole, which has been claimed to have a mass equivalent to a whopping 18.35 billion suns.
Both black holes are gargantuan compared to Sagittarius A*, which is the 4.1-million-solar-mass black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.
The less massive black hole moves on an elongated, elliptical orbit. Every 12 years, it plows through the accretion disk of the more massive black hole.
As it does so, it steals some of the matter from the disk and forms its own temporary accretion disk, with a temporary jet. For a short time, the OJ 287 system turns into a double quasar.
At least, that’s the hypothesis. Previous observations seem to support the idea.
For example, in 2021, as predicted, the OJ 287 system dramatically increased in brightness in just 12 hours as the second black hole encountered the primary’s disk and lit up as a quasar, releasing more energy in that short time than 100 average galaxies put together.
Now, the most detailed image ever of the permanent jet blasting away from the more massive black hole, taken by a network of radio telescopes on Earth and in space, strongly supports the binary black hole model.
"We have never before observed a structure in the OJ 287 galaxy at the level of details seen in the new image," said radio astronomer Efthalia Traianou of Heidelberg University in Germany, who led the observations, in a statement.
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The radio observations were performed by combining the 10 radio telescopes of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) across the United States with the RadioAstron 10-meter antenna on the Russian Spektr-R satellite.
The observations were made between 2014 and 2017, and the mission itself ended in 2019, before Russia invaded Ukraine and was subjected to sanctions.
Combined, the ground-to-space radio telescope network formed an interferometer with a baseline (i.e., its virtual aperture) that was five times the diameter of Earth, and this enabled sensational resolving power.
The resulting image zooms in on the center of OJ 287, showing a region just a third of a light-year across. The radio-wavelength image shows that the black hole’s jet is not straight, but is crooked with three distinct bends.
The observations between 2014 and 2017 further revealed that the angle of the jet varied by about 30 degrees, and this image proves that the reorientation of the jet takes place very close to its point of origin.
This severe reorientation could be the result of the gravity of the orbiting second black hole pulling on the jet, causing it to bend and precess about its axis.
The radio wavelength images also captured a shock wave forming as the result of a new jet component.
As this shock wave propagated up the jet, it released a torrent of high-energy gamma rays that were detected by the likes of NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope and Swift mission.
Some parts of the jet seem to radiate at an incredible 10 trillion degrees Celsius. Such a temperature seems unimaginable in human experience, and indeed this temperature is too hot to be true.
It is an illusion in which we are seeing the effect of a phenomenon called relativistic beaming, where the Doppler effect boosts the luminosity of things that are moving toward us at close to the speed of light.
As a potential binary black hole, OJ 287 has other important uses too.
"Its special properties make the galaxy an ideal candidate for further research into merging black holes and the associated gravitational waves," said Traianou.
Although the two proposed black holes in the OJ 287 system will collide and merge eventually, this titanic event won’t take place any time soon.
However, their inevitable in-spiral into each other is releasing constantly weak gravitational waves.
Our current gravitational-wave detectors cannot detect these gravitational waves because they are too weak and their wavelength is too great.
Potentially, pulsar timing arrays, in which the timing of the regular-as-clockwork pulses from spinning pulsars become disrupted as gravitational waves pass between us and the pulsars, could detect the gravitational waves from OJ 287.
Further into the future, the European Space Agency’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, which is hoped to launch in the mid-2030s, could detect the eventual mergers of such binary supermassive black holes, which produce gravitational waves with wavelengths too long for Earth-bound detectors to spot.
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https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/astronaut-savors-the-moment-and-shares-a-stunning-aurora-shot-on-the-international-space-station-july-28-aug-1-2025
https://x.com/AstroAnnimal/status/1951028387452956798
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXcCBO61xTc (Astronaut Discusses Life In Space With Air Force Research Laboratory Scholars– Monday, July 28, 2025)
Astronaut savors the moment and shares a stunning aurora shot
Aug 1, 2025
As their time on the International Space Station winds down, the Expedition 73 crew continued science and maintenance activities while also preparing for the arrival of the crewmates who will take their place.
Anne McClain was not planning to take any photographs. The Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut had taken a moment to herself in the space station's Cupola when she felt compelled to capture the auroral glow out the window.
"As we get close to leaving the International Space Station, I find myself wanting to savor every moment and every view. None of us are guaranteed to get to do this again, and every minute spent in space is a special one," McClain wrote on social media.
"I dropped into the Cupola to look out the window and just be in the moment, not taking photos or looking for anything in particular. Well, when this view presented itself, I changed my mind … I had to pick up a camera to share this with all of you. Wow!" she wrote.
Science status
Among the research that was conducted by the Expedition 73 crew aboard the space station this week was:
CIMON — Expedition 73 commander Takuya Onishi set two robots free to play hide and seek in a demonstration of future AI-powered crew assistants.
CIMON, or the Crew Interactive MObile companioN, took control of a free-flying camera to search out items that were hidden throughout the Kibo laboratory module.
Muscle Stimulation — Astronauts on the space station exercise every day to protect against bone and muscle loss.
Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers this week continued tests of a possible alternative countermeasure to muscular atrophy. McClain attached electrodes and sent electrical impulses into Ayers' leg muscles.
Drain Brain 2.0 — In a separate study, Ayers also wore electrodes on her abdomen and shoulders to measure how blood flows from her heart to her brain in microgravity. She also wore a heart monitor while exercising using a treadmill and a resistive device.
Cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov spent some time assessing new freeze-dried food packs, while Alexey Zubritsky and Kirill Peskov tested a suit that can measure the vibrations generated aboard the space station while running on a treadmill.
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Station keeping
Much of the Expedition 73 crew's time devoted this week to maintaining the space station's systems focused on the upcoming arrival of SpaceX's Crew-11 astronauts and cosmonauts and the departure of the Crew-10 members.
Seats set-up — Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, two of the home-bound crewmates, helped fellow NASA astronaut Jonny Kim re-install the crew chairs aboard the Dragon spacecraft that will soon depart. They also stowed emergency equipment inside the capsule.
Staging supplies — Kim worked on gathering the items the incoming new crew will initially need aboard the space station. Sleep stations — McClain, Ayers, and Onishi cleaned out the air ducts leading into their crew quarters in the Harmony module.
McClain then configured a temporary sleeping bag inside her Dragon ride home while Ayers outfitted an extra sleep station in the European Columbus laboratory. These extra "bunks" will be used during the handover period between the new and outgoing crew members.
Astronaut activity
On Monday (July 28), Expedition 73 flight engineer Jonny Kim of NASA was interviewed live by the participants in the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Scholars Program at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
"Space has been a humbling environment in so many different ways," said Kim, beginning a reply to a question about how his experience as a flight surgeon might have set up false assumptions about what he has now experienced in space.
"Having a background in medicine, dating back to my early days as a combat medic on the SEAL teams to later being a physician, was having an understanding of how our bodies work, the human physiology."
"We've evolved over a long period of time to use gravity. We depend on gravity for our circulatory system [and] our muscular-skeletal system, so when we go into space, a lot of those things change," he said.
"So that basis in physiology has helped me appreciate why we do countermeasures … why we have to go on a bike or run every single day or lift weights for an hour and a half, it is to counteract a lot of the — in terms of terra firma — maladapted changes."
By the numbers
As of Friday (Aug. 1), there are 7 people aboard the International Space Station: Expedition 73 commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA, Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers and Jonny Kim of NASA and Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky of Roscosmos, all flight engineers.
There are two docked crew spacecraft: SpaceX's Dragon "Endurance" attached to the forward port of the Harmony module and Roscosmos' Soyuz MS-27 attached to the Earth-facing port of the Prichal node.
There are two docked cargo spacecraft: Roscosmos' Progress MS-30 (91P) attached to the aft port of the Zvezda service module, and Progress MS-31 (92P) docked to the space-facing port of the Poisk module.
As of Friday, the space station has been continuously crewed for 24 years and 9 months.
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Milestone sensor upgrade enhances Space Force identifying, tracking capability
July 31, 2025
U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command, in partnership with U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, approved the operational acceptance of a milestone upgrade to the Ground-Based Optical Sensor System at the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance site in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
SpOC is now in the integrated testing phase of an upgrade to its Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance site in Maui, which will upgrade to GBOSS upon operational acceptance.
The Space Force continues to invest in capabilities like GBOSS to advance Space Domain Awareness capabilities that offer timely, relevant, and actionable understanding of the operational environment that allows military forces to plan, integrate, execute and assess space operations.
GBOSS improves on the U.S. Space Force’s ability to map the space operating environment for Guardians to conduct defensive and offensive operations in response to threats and close protect and defend kill chains.
“The GBOSS upgrade represents a leap forward in capability for the joint warfighter,” said U.S. Space Force Colonel Barry Croker, Commander of SpOC Mission Delta 2 – Space Domain Awareness.
“This upgrade further enhances the SDA data Mission Delta 2 Guardians provide to inform decision making, orient fires and enable maneuvers across all military service domains.”
Weapon system modernization is a top priority for SpOC and SSC. These changes were necessary to upgrade critical capabilities that have existed on site since the 1980’s.
To continue to meet the U.S. Space Force’s Space Surveillance Network mission needs, GBOSS was built to increase SDA by more accurately identifying and tracking objects in space.
The upgrade not only improves search and revisit rates, capacity and sensitivity, but it also furthers integration with commercial data to more rapidly address SDA requirements while lowering sustainment costs.
"Space Systems Command is excited to deliver the first system upgrade under the GBOSS program,” said Ms. Shannon Pallone, SSC Program Executive Officer for Battle Management, Command, Control, Communication, and Space Intelligence.
“The small team, comprised of acquirers, operators and contractors, demonstrated a strong technical understanding of requirements, skillful program management, and seamless execution of this major system upgrade.
We look forward to another seamless installation in Maui."
Ground-based optical sensors play a vital role in detecting and tracking objects at altitudes above 10,000 kilometers above Earth.
The Space Force continues to invest in capabilities like GBOSS to advance space domain awareness capabilities that offer timely, relevant, and actionable understanding of the operational environment that allows military forces to plan, integrate, execute and assess space operations.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4261327/milestone-sensor-upgrade-enhances-space-force-identifying-tracking-capability/
Trump modifies global tariffs hours before deadline
1 Aug, 2025 00:23
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order extending a self-imposed August 1 deadline for introducing tariffs by a week.
The sweeping measure adjusts tariffs for dozens of countries, with some seeing increases, while select nations secured last-minute reprieves.
In a statement on Thursday night, the White House said the action reflects whether countries have “agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments.”
Nations that failed to engage in talks or that offered terms which “do not sufficiently address imbalances” will be hit with elevated tariffs on August 7.
India will face 25% tariffs after Trump announced additional penalties on Wednesday over its continued trade with Russia.
He said the tariffs were imposed partly because of India’s membership in BRICS, and partly due to what he called a “tremendous” trade deficit with New Delhi.
There appear to be some discrepancies in the list, such as Brazil facing a 10% tariff – even though Trump had hiked it to 50% the day before, claiming the country poses a threat to “the national security, foreign policy, and economy” of the US.
Trump also previously threatened an additional 10% tariff on all BRICS nations, accusing the bloc of trying to “destroy the dollar as the global standard.”
Trump also abruptly raised tariffs on Canada to 35% from 25%, citing Ottawa’s “continued inaction” in curbing fentanyl trafficking into the US.
Tensions between Washington and Ottawa escalated in recent weeks after Trump criticized Canada for supporting Palestinian statehood, saying it would “make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”
Meanwhile, Mexico avoided a tariff hike after reaching an agreement with Washington earlier on Thursday.
The White House confirmed that the 25% tariff on certain Mexican goods will remain in place for another 90 days, postponing a planned increase to 30%.
The EU, South Korea, and Japan are facing a 15% rate after securing trade agreements with Washington in recent weeks.
Some of the highest adjusted tariffs include Syria (41%), Laos and Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%), Iraq and Serbia (35%), and Algeria, Libya, and South Africa (30%).
The White House said the “universal” baseline tariff for goods entering the US will remain at 10% for countries with a trade surplus, and 15% for countries with which the US has a trade deficit.
https://www.rt.com/news/622352-trump-tariffs-list-deadline/