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NASA Stennis Provides Ideal Setting for Range Operations
Aug 26, 2025
Think of NASA’s Stennis Space Center, and one likely thinks of rocket propulsion testing.
The site has a long history of testing to support the nation’s space efforts, including the current Artemis program to send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
However, NASA Stennis also is working to become a key supporter of more terrestrial exploration. Indeed, in terms of unmanned range operations, NASA Stennis has it all – layers of restricted airspace, a closed canal system, and acres upon acres of protected terrain.
The NASA site near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is an ideal location for all types of air, marine, and ground testing, said Range Operations Manager Jason Peterson.
“My job is to understand the customer, and their requirements and limitations, to help them succeed,” he added. “What makes NASA Stennis unique is our federally protected area for users to operate.”
The need to learn about unmanned systems, such as drones or underwater vehicles, in a safe environment is growing as technology advances. Think of it like learning to drive a car in a parking lot before hitting the road.
NASA Stennis has already begun leveraging these capabilities. In 2024, the center established an agreement with Skydweller Aero Inc. to utilize restricted airspace for flight testing of autonomous, solar-powered aircraft.
This first-of-its-kind agreement paves the way for future collaborations as NASA Stennis expands its customer-based operations beyond onsite tenants.
Look to the Sky
NASA Stennis has its own protected airspace, similar to how airports control the skies around them.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) first established this restricted airspace in 1966 and expanded it in 2016 to support both NASA missions and U.S. Department of Defense operations.
NASA Stennis is one of only two non-military restricted airspaces in the nation.
It operates two main airspace zones – a propulsion testing area extending from ground level up to 12,000 feet for safely testing rocket engines without interfering with regular air traffic, and an aircraft operations zone covering 100 square miles up to 6,000 feet, with 15 dedicated acres for drone launch and recovery.
NASA Stennis staff provide comprehensive support including safety reviews, coordination between aircraft operators and FAA air traffic controllers, and constant communication with range safety personnel to ensure all operations are conducted safely.
Marine Operations
The centerpiece of the NASA Stennis marine range is its extensive 7.5-mile canal system, protected by a lock-and-dam system that connects to Pearl River tributaries.
This network accommodates various marine platforms including traditional watercraft, autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and aerial drones requiring water landing capabilities.
The controlled environment provides protection from adverse weather and interference, making it ideal for testing sensitive or proprietary technologies.
The facility is particularly valuable for emerging technologies in autonomous systems, sensor integration, and multi-domain operations where air, surface, and underwater platforms operate in coordination.
Ground Level
NASA Stennis facilities are located on 13,800 acres of fenced-in property, surrounded by an additional 125,000 acres of protected land known as the acoustical buffer zone.
This area was established primarily through permanent lease to allow testing of large rocket hardware without disturbing area residents and is closely monitored without permanent habitable structures.
“The location helps reduce hazards to the public when testing new technology,” Peterson said. “With supporting infrastructure for office space, storage, or manufacturing, this makes NASA Stennis a great place to test, train, operate, and even manufacture.”
The NASA Stennis federal city already hosts more than 50 federal, state, academic, public, and private aerospace, technology, and research organizations, with room for more. All tenants share operating costs while pursuing individual missions.
'Open for Business'
NASA Stennis leaders are keenly aware of the opportunity such unique capabilities afford. The center’s 2024-2028 strategic plan states NASA Stennis will leverage these unique capabilities to support testing and operation of uncrewed systems.
Leaders are working to identify opportunities to maximize site capabilities and develop an effective business model. “NASA Stennis is open for business, and we want to provide a user-friendly range for operators to test vehicles by creating an environment that is safe, cost-effective, and focused on mission success,” Peterson said.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/an-ideal-setting-for-range-operations/
Three NASA research rockets could paint the sky with colorful vapor trails tonight
August 28, 2025
NASA is set to launch three small rockets into the upper atmosphere late Monday, and some people on the East Coast may be able to see colorful vapor trails that will be released shortly after liftoff.
The suborbital research rockets, known as sounding rockets, will launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Weather permitting, residents of several mid-Atlantic states, including parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina, may be able to catch the rockets’ visible vapor trails.
The launch window opens at 10 p.m. ET and extends until 3 a.m. ET.
The three rockets are part of the TOMEX+ mission, which is short for Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment Plus.
The flights are designed to study a specific part of Earth’s atmosphere known as the mesopause, which is between 53 miles and 65 miles in altitude.
The mesopause is the coldest layer of the planet’s atmosphere, with temperatures that can dip to nearly minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.
Scientists have been eager to learn more about that dynamic part of the atmosphere because it is known to be a “mixing ground where weather patterns from the lower atmosphere transfer energy upward into space, fueling turbulence that can increase drag on satellites.”
Its location, however, is too high for weather balloons to reach and too low to study using satellites. Sounding rockets, on the other hand, can be launched to specific altitudes to capture data and observations.
The first two TOMEX+ rockets will launch within roughly a minute of each other and release trails of vapor, known as vapor tracers.
A third rocket equipped with a laser will then send out pulses of light that will help researchers track the twists and turns of the vapor tracers, enabling them to track motions in the upper atmosphere as energy moves through it.
Vapor tracers typically contain barium, lithium and an aluminum compound — similar to the materials used to make colorful fireworks — according to NASA. The small amounts of gas are not thought to be harmful to people or other life on the ground, the agency said.
Earlier attempts to launch the TOMEX+ rockets were called off because of Hurricane Erin, which churned up the Atlantic Ocean last week and created high seas in NASA’s designated rocket recovery area.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/three-nasa-research-rockets-could-paint-the-sky-with-colorful-vapor-trails-tonight/ar-AA1Lco1b
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/wallops/2025/08/26/nasa-sounding-rocket-mission-targeting-aug-26-launch-attempt/
https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAWallops
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NASA’s X-59 at Sunrise
Aug 25, 2025
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at sunrise before ground tests at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, on July 18, 2025.
Following completion of low-speed taxi tests in July 2025 in Palmdale, California, medium- and high-speed taxi tests mark the final steps before the aircraft takes to the skies for the first time.
The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight by reducing the loud sonic boom to a quieter “thump.”
Proving the X-plane’s airworthiness is the first step on the path to gathering data in support of the mission.
The flight data will help inform U.S. and international regulators as they consider new noise standards for supersonic commercial flight over land.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-x-59-at-sunrise/
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/tess/astronomers-map-stellar-polka-dots-using-nasas-tess-kepler/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adf6be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xvH4hq7EZQ
Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler
Aug 25, 2025
Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots.
By improving astronomers’ understanding of spotty stars, the new model — called StarryStarryProcess — can help discover more about planetary atmospheres and potential habitability using data from telescopes like NASA’s upcoming Pandora mission.
“Many of the models researchers use to analyze data from exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, assume that stars are uniformly bright disks,” said Sabina Sagynbayeva, a graduate student at Stony Brook University in New York.
“But we know just by looking at our own Sun that stars are more complicated than that. Modeling complexity can be difficult, but our approach gives astronomers an idea of how many spots a star might have, where they are located, and how bright or dark they are.”
A paper describing StarryStarryProcess, led by Sagynbayeva, published Monday, August 25, in The Astrophysical Journal.
NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and now-retired Kepler Space Telescope were designed to identify planets using transits, dips in stellar brightness caused when a planet passes in front of its star.
These measurements reveal how the star’s light varies with time during each transit, and astronomers can arrange them in a plot astronomers call a light curve.
Typically, a transit light curve traces a smooth sweep down as the planet starts passing in front of the star’s face. It reaches a minimum brightness when the world is fully in front of the star and then rises smoothly as the planet exits and the transit ends.
By measuring the time between transits, scientists can determine how far the planet lies from its star and estimate its surface temperature. The amount of missing light from the star during a transit can reveal the planet’s size, which can hint at its composition.
Every now and then, though, a planet’s light curve appears more complicated, with smaller dips and peaks added to the main arc. Scientists think these represent dark surface features akin to sunspots seen on our own Sun — star spots.
The Sun’s total number of sunspots varies as it goes through its 11-year solar cycle. Scientists use them to determine and predict the progress of that cycle as well as outbreaks of solar activity that could affect us here on Earth.
Similarly, star spots are cool, dark, temporary patches on a stellar surface whose sizes and numbers change over time. Their variability impacts what astronomers can learn about transiting planets.
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Scientists have previously analyzed transit light curves from exoplanets and their host stars to look at the smaller dips and peaks.
This helps determine the host star’s properties, such as its overall level of spottiness, inclination angle of the planet’s orbit, the tilt of the star’s spin compared to our line of sight, and other factors.
Sagynbayeva’s model uses light curves that include not only transit information, but also the rotation of the star itself to provide even more detailed information about these stellar properties.
“Knowing more about the star in turn helps us learn even more about the planet, like a feedback loop,” said co-author Brett Morris, a senior software engineer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
“For example, at cool enough temperatures, stars can have water vapor in their atmospheres. If we want to look for water in the atmospheres of planets around those stars — a key indicator of habitability — we better be very sure that we’re not confusing the two.”
To test their model, Sagynbayeva and her team looked at transits from a planet called TOI 3884 b, located around 141 light-years away in the northern constellation Virgo.
Discovered by TESS in 2022, astronomers think the planet is a gas giant about five times bigger than Earth and 32 times its mass.
The StarryStarryProcess analysis suggests that the planet’s cool, dim star — called TOI 3384 — has concentrations of spots at its north pole, which also tips toward Earth so that the planet passes over the pole from our perspective.
Currently, the only available data sets that can be fit by Sagynbayeva’s model are in visible light, which excludes infrared observations taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
But NASA’s upcoming Pandora mission will benefit from tools like this one.
Pandora, a small satellite developed through NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program, will study the atmospheres of exoplanets and the activity of their host stars with long-duration multiwavelength observations.
The Pandora mission’s goal is to determine how the properties of a star’s light differs when it passes through a planet’s atmosphere so scientists can better measure those atmospheres using Webb and other missions.
“The TESS satellite has discovered thousands of planets since it launched in 2018,” said Allison Youngblood, TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“While Pandora will study about 20 worlds, it will advance our ability to pick out which signals come from stars and which come from planets.
The more we understand the individual parts of a planetary system, the better we understand the whole — and our own.”
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Towering wall of dust rolls through metro Phoenix, leaving thousands without power
Updated 1:09 AM PDT, August 26, 2025
A powerful storm kicked up a towering wall of dust that rolled through metro Phoenix on Monday, darkening the sky, blinding drivers, knocking out power and grounding flights at one of the nation’s busiest airports.
Bernae Boykin Hitesman was driving her son and daughter, ages 9 and 11, home from school when the storm, known as a haboob, arrived late in the afternoon in Arizona City, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix.
She had to quickly pull over as the storm engulfed her car. “I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside,” she said.
Boykin Hitesman said she could taste the dust and feel the strong wind rattling her car until it finally passed about 15 minutes later.
“I was nervous,” she said. “My kids were really, really scared, so I was trying to be brave for them.”
A haboob is a dust storm pushed by the wind produced by a weather front or thunderstorm and typically occurs in flat, arid areas.
Heavy rain and wind followed Monday’s haboob, delaying flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and causing some damage to a terminal roof.
“Crews have been identifying leaks and attempting to clean up water where it has collected in passenger areas,” Heather Shelbrack, the airport’s deputy aviation director for public relations, said in an email.
More than 15,000 people lost power, most in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, according to PowerOutage.us.
Richard Filley, a retired university professor who lives in Gilbert, said the dust storm caused the trees to sway and knocked bird feeders to the ground.
Fine dust found its way through “every little crack and space” into his house, he said.
“The windstorm part of it, I’m glad it’s gone,” he said. “You look at the photos of haboobs and they are a spectacular natural phenomenon. They are kind of beautiful in their own way.”
Phoenix has been drier than usual during the monsoon season, while parts of southeast and north-central Arizona have had a fair amount of rain, said Mark O’Malley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.
“But that’s typical for a monsoon, very hit and miss,” he said.
The forecast for metro Phoenix calls for a 40% chance of rain Tuesday before drying out, O’Malley said.
https://apnews.com/article/arizona-dust-storm-haboob-ca6e25fe03c724f298e3f1e3a736fdd9
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/harmonized-landsat-and-sentinel-2-collaboration-drives-innovation/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425725001270
Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2: Collaboration Drives Innovation
Aug 25, 2025
Landsat, a joint program of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has been an invaluable tool for monitoring changes in Earth’s land surface for over 50 years.
Researchers use instruments on Landsat satellites to monitor decades-long trends, including urbanization and agricultural expansion, as well as short-term dynamics, including water use and disaster recovery.
However, scientists and land managers often encounter one critical limitation of this program: Landsat has a revisit time of eight days (with Landsat 8 and 9 operating), which is too long to capture events and disasters that occur on short timescales.
Floods, for example, can quickly inundate a region, and cloud cover from storms can delay Landsat’s ability to get a clear observation on damage.
In 2015, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel-2A mission joined Landsat 7 and 8 in orbit. It was designed to collect comparable optical land data with the intention of leveraging Landsat’s archive.
Two years later, ESA launched Sentinel-2B, a satellite identical to Sentinel-2A.
Led by a science team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the USGS, NASA, and ESA began to work on combining the capabilities of Sentinel-2 and Landsat satellites.
This idea was the impetus behind Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project, a NASA initiative that created a seamless product from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites, respectively.
HLS Version 2.0 (V2.0) is the most recent version of these data and had a global median repeat frequency of 1.6 days in 2022 by combining observations from Landsat 8 and 9 and Sentinel-2A and B.
The recent addition of Sentinel-2C data will provide even more frequent observations. With near-global coverage and improved harmonization algorithms, HLS V2.0 paves the way for new applications and improved land monitoring systems – see Animation 1.
HLS data are available for download on NASA Earthdata: HLSL30v2.0 and HLSS30v2.0. These data can also be accessed through Google Earth Engine: HLSL30v2.0 and HLSS30v2.0.
The Dawn of HLS
The story of HLS begins before the launch of Sentinel-2A in 2015. Jeffrey Masek [GSFC], who was at that time project scientist for Landsat 8, led a group of researchers who wanted to find a way to harmonize Landsat data with other satellite data.
Their aim was to create a “virtual constellation” similar to how weather satellites operate. “HLS meets a need that people have been asking for for a long time,” said Masek.
What began as a research question with an experimental product evolved into an operational project with the involvement of the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG). SNWG is an interagency effort to develop solutions that address Earth observation needs of civilian federal agencies.
Every two years, SNWG conducts a survey of federal agencies to see how their work could benefit from satellite data. The answers span the gamut of application areas, from water quality monitoring to disaster recovery to planning how best to protect and use natural resources.
SNWG brings these ideas to NASA, USGS, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the three main U.S. government providers of satellite data.
These agencies work together to create and implement solutions that serve those needs. NASA plays a critical role in every step of the SNWG process, including leading the assessment of survey responses from over 30 federal agencies, managing and supporting the implementation of identified solutions, and encouraging solution co-design with federal partners to maximize impact.
The HLS surface reflectance product was an outcome of the very first SNWG solution cycle in 2016. This product was expanded, following additional SNWG requests in 2020 and 2022.
The 2020 cycle saw the creation of nine HLS-derived vegetation indices, and the 2022 cycle aimed for a six-hour latency product.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now uses HLS to map crop emergence at the field scale in the corn belt, allowing farmers to better plan their growing seasons.
Ranchers in Colorado use the dataset to decide where to graze their cattle during periods of drought. HLS also informs the use and termination of cover crops in the Chesapeake Bay area.
In 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employed HLS to identify where to focus aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
A New and Improved HLS
In the July 2025 issue of Remote Sensing of Environment, a team of researchers outlined the HLS V2.0 surface reflectance dataset and algorithms. The team included seven NASA co-authors, members of the 2018–2023 Landsat Science Team, and ESA.
The lead author, Junchang Ju [GSFC—Remote Sensing Scientist], has been the technical lead on HLS since its inception.
Co-author Christopher Neigh [GSFC—Landsat 8/9 Project Scientist] is the principal investigator on the HLS project. V2.0, which was completed in Summer 2023, incorporates several major improvements over HLS V1.4, the most recent publicly available HLS product. The HLS production team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), led by Madhu Sridhar [University of Alabama in Huntsville—Research Scientist], ensures consistent data access through close collaboration with ESA and the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC).
HLS V1.4 covered about 30% of the global land area, providing data on North America and other select locations. HLS V2.0 provides data at a spatial resolution of 30 m (98 ft) with near-global coverage from 2013 onward.
The dataset includes all land masses except Antarctica. HLS V2.0 also has key algorithmic improvements in atmospheric correction, cloud masking, and bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction.
Together, these algorithms “harmonize” the data, or ensure that the distinct Landsat and Sentinel-2 datasets can effectively be used interchangeably – see Animation 2.
HLS V2.0 in Action
The increased frequency of observations improved the ability of the scientific community to track disaster recovery, changes in phenology, agricultural intensification, rapid urban growth, logging, and deforestation.
Researchers are already putting these advances to use.
The land disturbance product (DIST-ALERT) is a global land change monitoring system that uses HLS V2.0 data to track vegetation anomalies in near real-time – see Figure 1.
DIST-ALERT captures agricultural expansion, urban growth, fire, flooding, logging, drought, landslides, and other forces of change to vegetation. Amy Pickens [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences—Assistant Research Professor] said that HLS is the perfect dataset for tracking disturbances because of the frequency of observations.
DIST-ALERT was created through Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA), a project at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). OPERA products respond to agency needs identified by the SNWG.
In 2018, SNWG identified tracking surface disturbance as a key need. OPERA partnered with the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab at University of Maryland to develop the change detection algorithm.
To track changes in vegetation, the DIST-ALERT system establishes a rolling baseline – meaning that for any given pixel, the vegetation cover is compared against vegetation cover from the same 31-day window in the previous three years.
The primary algorithm detects any vegetation loss relative to the established baseline. A secondary algorithm flags any spectral anomaly (i.e., any change in reflectance) compared to that same baseline.
This approach ensures that the algorithm catches non-vegetation change (e.g., new building or road projects in unvegetated areas).
Used together, these algorithms can identify long-term changes in agricultural expansion, deforestation, and urbanization alongside short-term changes in crop harvest, drought, selective logging, and the impacts of disasters.
On average, DIST-ALERT is made available on LP DAAC within six hours of when new HLS data is available. Currently, the dataset does not provide attribution to disturbances.
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Disturbance alerts already exist in some ecosystems.
Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research [Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)] runs two projects that detect deforestation in the Amazon: Programa de Cálculo do Desflorestamento da Amazônia (PRODES) and Sistema de Detecção de Desmatamento em Tempo Real (DETER).
The GLAD lab created its own forest loss alerts – GLAD-L and GLAD-S2 – using Landsat and Sentinel-2 data respectively.
Global Forest Watch integrates GLAD-L and GLAD-S2 data with Radar for Detecting Deforestation (RADD) observations – derived from synthetic aperture radar data from Copernicus Sentinel-1 – into an integrated deforestation alert.
The implementation of these alert systems, some of which have been around for decades, have been shown to impact deforestation rates in the tropics.
For example, a 2021 study in Nature Climate Change found that deforestation alerts decreased the probability of deforestation in Central Africa by 18% relative to the average 2011–2016 levels.
DIST-ALERT is distinct from other alert systems in a few ways. First, it has global coverage. Second, the rolling baseline allows for tracking changes in seasonality and disturbances to dynamic ecosystems.
When HLS V2.0 data are input to DIST-ALERT, the system is also better at identifying disturbances in cloudy ecosystems than other individual alert systems – because it is more likely to obtain clear observations.
This also enables it to identify the start and end of the disturbance more precisely.
Pickens said that the DIST-ALERT team is already working with end-users who are implementing their data product. She has spoken to some who use the system to help logging companies prove that they are complying with regulations.
The U.S. Census Bureau is also using DIST-ALERT to monitor fast-growing communities so that they can do targeted assessments in the interim between the larger decennial census.
Alongside DIST-ALERT, OPERA has also been developing the Dynamic Surface Water eXtent (DSWx) product suite, which employs HLS to track surface water (e.g., lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and floods) around the globe – see Figure 2.
These new products represent the new applications made possible by the HLS interagency and international collaboration.
Conclusion
HLS is set to continue improving land monitoring efforts across the globe. Meanwhile, the HLS science team is working to improve the algorithms for a more seamless harmonization of Landsat 8 and 9 and Sentinel-2 data.
They are also working to improve the cloud-masking algorithm, have recently released vegetation indices, and are working on developing a low-latency (six-hour) HLS surface reflectance product, all while incorporating user feedback.
Looking ahead, the launch of future Sentinel and Landsat satellites will further the development of HLS. The additional data and unique capabilities will continue to meet researchers’ need for more frequent, high-quality satellite observations of Earth’s land surface.
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Nothing on that yet. Just more solar storm stuff.
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4638-4640: Imaging Extravaganza Atop a Ridge
Aug 26, 2025
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 22, 2025
Curiosity is continuing its winding path through the mysterious boxwork structures that have been a major focus of the last several months of the mission.
After driving away from “Río Frío,” we are now parked on top of a ridge overlooking a topographic depression that we've nicknamed the “Thumb.”
The image on this post shows that ridge running along the “thumb’s” edge. Our goal today is to characterize this ridge before we drive down into the Thumb.
Because we had a lot of power and three sols available to play around with, this weekend plan is packed with a lot of good science.
The boxwork structures in our immediate vicinity get a lot of attention, with Mastcam images planned of the targets “Wallatiri,” “Wallatiri 2,” “Mojo,” “Samaipata,” “Fort Samaipata,” and “Río Lluta,” as well as a nearby trough. ChemCam will be taking LIBS measurements of both Samaipata and Fort Saaipata as well.
Samaipata gets even more attention from MAHLI, in addition to the targets “Vitichi” and “Tartagalita,” both of which will also be observed by APXS.
The boxwork structures don't get all of the fun today, though. In addition to all of the boxwork observations, Mastcam will be documenting the ChemCam AEGIS target from Monday’s plan, and will also be doing some more imaging of the “Mishe Mokwa” butte.
The highlight of Mastcam’s work in this plan (at least in my opinion) is the large 44-image mosaic of the north crater rim, taking advantage of the particularly low dust content of the atmosphere at this time of year.
ChemCam will be taking several RMI images of Mishe Mokwa and a distant outcrop at “Dragones” that we will be driving towards over the next several months, as well as the usual post-drive AEGIS.
Rounding out this plan is a collection of observations of the atmosphere.
In addition to typical DAN, REMS, and RAD activities, Curiosity’s Navcams will be put to work with a dust-devil movie, dust-devil survey, five cloud movies, and two line-of-sight observations of the north crater rim.
Mastcam also gets involved in the environmental fun with a tau to track the amount of dust in the air.
Even with all of these activities, we decided that we aren’t yet done with this area.
The drive in today’s plan is a short bump of about 2 meters (about 6.6 feet), so we're all looking forward to continuing our investigation of this ridge on Monday.
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/curiosity-blog-sols-4638-4640-imaging-extravaganza-atop-a-ridge/
SpaceX and Blue Origin Scrubs
SpaceX scrubs crucial Starship Flight 10 launch again, this time due to weather
August 25, 2025
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-postpones-crucial-starship-flight-10-launch-again-due-to-weather
New Shepard NS-35 Mission Updates
Aug 26, 2025
We’re standing down on today’s NS-35 launch attempt to continue to troubleshoot an issue with the booster’s avionics. We’re determining the next launch opportunity.
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-35-mission
https://www.space.com/science/climate-change/the-world-court-just-ruled-countries-can-be-held-liable-for-climate-change-damage-what-does-that-mean-for-the-us
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/187/187-20250723-adv-01-00-en.pdf
The World Court just ruled countries can be held liable for climate change damage – what does that mean for the US?
August 25, 2025
The International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion in July 2025 declaring that all countries have a legal obligation to protect and prevent harm to the climate.
The court, created as part of the United Nations in 1945, affirmed that countries must uphold existing international laws related to climate change and, if they fail to act, could be held responsible for damage to communities and the environment.
The opinion opens a door for future claims by countries seeking reparations for climate — related harm.
But while the ruling is a big global story, its legal effect on the U.S. is less clear. We study climate policies, law and solutions. Here's what you need to know about the ruling and its implications.
Why island nations called for a formal opinion
The ruling resulted from years of grassroots and youth-led organizing by Pacific Islanders. Supporters have called it "a turning point for frontline communities everywhere."
Small island states like Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Barbados and others across the Pacific and Caribbean are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet they have contributed little to global emissions.
For many of them, sea-level rise poses an existential threat. Some Pacific atolls sit just 1 to 2 meters above sea level and are slowly disappearing as waters rise. Saltwater intrusion threatens drinking water supplies and crops.
Their economies depend on tourism, agriculture and fishing, all sectors easily disrupted by climate change. For example, coral reefs are bleaching more often and dying due to ocean warming and acidification, undermining fisheries, marine biodiversity and economic sectors such as tourism.
When disasters hit, the cost of recovery often forces these countries to take on debt. Climate change also undermines their credit ratings and investor confidence, making it harder to get the money to finance adaptive measures.
Tuvalu and Kiribati have discussed digital nationhood and leasing land from other countries so their people can relocate while still retaining citizenship.
Some projections suggest nations like the Maldives or Marshall Islands could become largely uninhabitable within decades.
For these countries, sea-level rise is taking more than their land — they're losing their history and identity in the process.
The idea of becoming climate refugees and separating people from their homelands can be culturally destructive, emotionally painful and politically fraught as they move to new countries.
More than a nonbinding opinion
The International Court of Justice, commonly referred to as the ICJ or World Court, can help settle disputes between states when requested, or it can issue advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized U.N. bodies such as the General Assembly or Security Council.
The advisory opinion process allows its 15 judges to weigh in on abstract legal issues – such as nuclear weapons or the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories — without a formal dispute between states.
While the court's advisory opinions are nonbinding, they can still have a powerful impact, both legally and politically.
The rulings are considered authoritative statements regarding questions of international law. They often clarify or otherwise confirm existing legal obligations that are binding.
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What the court decided
The ICJ was asked to weigh in on two questions in this case:
"What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system … from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases?"
"What are the legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system?"
In its 140-page opinion, the court cited international treaties and relevant scientific background to affirm that obligations to protect the environment are indeed a matter of international environmental law, international human rights law and general principles of state responsibility.
The decision means that in the authoritative opinion of the international legal community, all countries are under an obligation to contribute to the efforts to reduce global greenhouse emissions.
To the second question, the court found that in the event of a breach of any such obligation, three additional obligations arise:
The country in breach of its obligations must stop its polluting activity, which would mean excess greenhouse gas emissions in this case.
It must ensure that such activities do not occur in the future.
It must make reparations to affected states in terms of cleanup, monetary payment and apologies.
The court affirmed that all countries have a legal duty under customary international law, which refers to universal rules that arise from common practices among states, to prevent harm to the climate.
It also clarified that individual countries can be held accountable, even in a crisis caused by many countries and other entities.
And it emphasized that countries that have contributed the most to climate change may bear greater responsibility for repairing the damage under an international law doctrine called "common but differentiated responsibility," which is commonly found in international treaties concerning the environment.
While the ICJ’s opinion doesn't assign blame to specific countries or trigger direct reparations, it may provide support for future legal action in both international and national courts.
What does the ICJ opinion mean for the US?
In the U.S., this advisory opinion is unlikely to have much legal impact, despite a long-standing constitutional principle that "international law is part of U.S. law."
U.S. courts rarely treat international law that has not been incorporated into domestic law as binding. And the U.S. has not consented to ICJ jurisdiction in previous climate cases.
Contentious cases before international tribunals can be brought by one country against another, but they require the consent of all the countries involved.
So there is little chance that the United States' responsibility for climate harms will be adjudicated by the World Court anytime soon.
Still, the court's opinion sends a clear message: All countries are legally obligated to prevent climate harm and cannot escape responsibility simply because they aren't the only nation to blame.
The unanimous ruling is particularly remarkable given the current hostile political climate in the United States and other industrial nations around climate change and responses to it.
It represents a particularly forceful statement by the international community that the responsibility to ensure the health of the global environment is a legal duty held by the entire world.
The takeaway
The ICJ's advisory opinion marks a turning point in the global effort to hold countries responsible for climate change.
Vulnerable countries now have a more concrete, legally grounded base to claim rights and press for accountability against historical and ongoing climate harm — including financial claims.
How it will be used in the coming years remains unclear, but the opinion gives small island states in particular a powerful narrative and a legal tool set.
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Nice one
World's most powerful solar telescope sees incredible coronal loops on the sun
August 26, 2025
The smallest magnetic loops ever seen in the sun's corona — imaged for the first time by the National Science Foundation's Daniel F. Inouye Solar Telescope — could be the bottom floor of the machinery that powers the ferocious flares that routinely blast out from our star.
"It's a landmark moment in solar science," said Cole Tamburri of the University of Colorado, Boulder, in a statement. "We're finally seeing the sun at the scales it works on."
Basically, solar flares are produced when magnetic field lines that loop through the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, grow taut and snap, releasing energy before reconnecting once again.
This has been known for some time, but the details involved in magnetic reconnection and solar flares, however, still require some working out.
One big question has been: How small can these coronal loops go, and what role could these miniature loops play in powering solar flares?
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), operated by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Solar Observatory, has now imaged hundreds of coronal loop strands that are just 29.95 miles (48.2 kilometers) wide on average, and some could be as thin as 13 miles (21 kilometers).
These are right on the limit of the DKIST's resolution, which is itself more than 2.5 times sharper than the next best solar telescope.
"Before Inouye, we could only imagine what this scale looked like," said Tamburri. "Now we can see it directly."
The forest of small loops was seen in hydrogen-alpha light by DKIST's Visible Broadband Imager in the aftermath of an X-class flare — the most powerful category of flare that the sun can unleash — seen on Aug. 8, 2024.
"This is the first time the Inouye Solar Telescope has ever observed an X-class flare," said Tamburri. "These flares are among the most energetic events our star produces, and we were fortunate to catch this one under perfect observing conditions."
How these small loops play into the process of magnetic reconnection isn't yet clear, but now that scientists know that they are there, they can start to fit them into their models of how the sun operates.
It may be that these small loops are a fundamental building block of the sun's magnetic architecture that creates the flares.
"If that's the case, we're not just resolving bundles of loops, we're resolving individual loops for the first time," said Tamburri. "It's like going from seeing a forest to suddenly seeing every single tree."
The image of the coronal loops shows the power of the Inouye Solar Telescope, and Tamburri himself is supported by the Inouye Solar Telescope Ambassador Program, which is funded by the NSF and aims to give young researchers expertise they can take into the broader solar community as they further their careers.
However, storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.
The budget proposed by the US government for the fiscal year 2026 would see the Inouye Solar Telescope receive a massive shortfall in funding, down from $30 million to $13 million, which the director of the NSF's National Solar Observatory, Christoph Keller, says is not enough to keep the Inouye Solar Telescope open.
Should the telescope have to close, it wouldn't just be its spectacular images of the sun that we will lose, but also the expertise of the researchers that it helps train.
The loss of the telescope and its scientists could damage future solar research for years to come. However, if this is the Inouye Telescope's last hurrah, then it is going out on a high.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/sun/worlds-most-powerful-solar-telescope-sees-incredible-coronal-loops-on-the-sun-image
https://nso.edu/press-release/the-nsf-inouye-solar-telescope-delivers-record-breaking-images-of-solar-flare-coronal-loops/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf95e
More Solar Flares, Big Sunspots Turning to Earth | S0 News
Aug.26.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbga4FeBUMM
Relive SpaceX's nighttime launch of the X-37B space plane with these dazzling photos
August 26, 2025
SpaceX shared stunning photos of its Falcon 9 rocket carrying the U.S. Space Force's secretive X-37B space plane into orbit last week.
The pictures capture the nighttime launch on Aug. 21, when the robotic X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 GMT on Aug. 22).
That same night, SpaceX shared four striking views in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The shots showcase different stages of the awe-inspiring launch, from the fiery plumes of smoke in the wake of liftoff to rocket separation in the starry night sky and the Falcon 9's first-stage booster returning to Earth for a successful landing.
The X-37B, a reusable robotic mini-shuttle built by Boeing, helps researchers conduct mostly classified experiments in low Earth orbit.
While much of the current mission — called OTV-8, because it's the eighth X-37B flight overall — remains under wraps, the plane's payloads include cutting-edge laser-communication systems and a quantum inertial sensor designed to enhance navigation where GPS is unavailable.
One of the SpaceX launch photos captures a breathtaking moment from the Falcon 9 launch:
The rocket's exhaust plume interacts with the upper atmosphere, producing vivid, colorful patterns against the starry night sky. Two bright streaks trace the paths of the rocket's booster and upper stage carrying the X-37B after separation.
Meanwhile, clouds of exhaust expand outward in glowing hues of purple and pink, illuminated by the sun below the horizon, creating what some observers call a "space jellyfish."
The interplay of light, exhaust and high altitude turned the rocket's climb to orbit into a spectacular celestial display reminiscent of a bright purple nebula in deep space.
Another mesmerizing photo from the launch captures the bright streak of the rocket's exhaust flame, glowing orange-white as its engines burn fuel.
The plume of smoke trailing behind the rocket shows bluish clouds closer to the rocket, fading into purple and pink higher up.
This is caused by the exhaust gases expanding and interacting with sunlight in the thin upper atmosphere. The rocket's motion was captured in real time as it travelled through the star-studded night sky.
The Falcon 9's reusable first stage successfully returned to Earth, completing its sixth flight with a smooth landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is next door to KSC, 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX highlighted the achievement in the post on X, sharing a dramatic image of the booster standing tall on the pad, silhouetted against the night sky after its demanding journey.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/relive-spacex-nighttime-launch-x-37b-space-plane-otv-8-mission-photos
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4283172/us-space-force-launches-eighth-x-37b-mission/
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1958785354905133194
Starship's Tenth Flight Test
August 26, 2025 16:30 - 17:30 PT
The tenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Tuesday, August 26. The launch window will open at 6:30 p.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the X TV app.
As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
After completing the investigations into the loss of Starship on its ninth flight test and the Ship 36 static fire anomaly, hardware and operational changes have been made to increase reliability. You can read the full technical summary of the investigations here.
The upcoming flight will continue to expand the operating envelope on the Super Heavy booster, with multiple landing burn tests planned.
It will also target similar objectives as previous missions, including Starship’s first payload deployment and multiple reentry experiments geared towards returning the upper stage to the launch site for catch.
The booster on this flight test is attempting several flight experiments to gather real-world performance data on future flight profiles and off-nominal scenarios.
The Super Heavy booster will attempt these experiments while on a trajectory to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America and will not return to the launch site for catch.
Following stage separation, the booster will flip in a controlled direction before initiating its boostback burn.
This maneuver was demonstrated for the first time on Flight 9 and requires less propellant to be held in reserve, enabling the use of more propellant during ascent to enable additional payload mass to orbit.
The primary test objectives for the booster will be focused on its landing burn and will use unique engine configurations.
One of the three center engines used for the final phase of landing will be intentionally disabled to gather data on the ability for a backup engine from the middle ring to complete a landing burn.
The booster will then transition to only two center engines for the end of the landing burn, entering a full hover while still above the ocean surface, followed by shutdown and drop into the Gulf of America.
The Starship upper stage will again target multiple in-space objectives, including the deployment of eight Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites.
The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.
The flight test includes several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site.
A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle during reentry.
Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry.
On the sides of the vehicle, functional catch fittings are installed and will test the fittings’ thermal and structural performance, along with a section of the tile line receiving a smoothed and tapered edge to address hot spots observed during reentry on Starship’s sixth flight test.
Starship’s reentry profile is designed to intentionally stress the structural limits of the upper stage’s rear flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure.
Flight tests continue to provide valuable learnings to inform the design of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles.
With production ramping up inside Starfactory at Starbase alongside new launch and test infrastructure actively being built in Texas and Florida, Starship is poised to continue iterating towards a rapidly and fully reusable launch system.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-10
SpaceX Starlink Mission
August 26, 2025
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 28 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This will be the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched one Starlink mission.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read The Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/starlinkg10-56
SpaceX NAOS Mission
August 26, 2025
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, August 26 for Falcon 9’s launch of OHB Italia’s NAOS mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The 27-minute launch window opens at 11:53 a.m. PT. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Wednesday, August 27 at the same time.
Also on board this mission is Dhruva Space's LEAP-1; Planet's Pelican-3 and Pelican-4; and four payloads manifested by Exolaunch: Capella's Acadia-6 and Pixxel's FFLY-1, FFLY-2, and FFLY-3.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This will be the 27th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, NROL-113, NROL-167, NROL-149, and 18 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
There is the possibility that residents of and visitors to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/naos
Very real.
Arizona has them occasionally.
Looks wicked coming in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haboob
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-department-level-exercise-wrap-up/
Air Force Wraps Up Massive Monthlong Pacific Exercise
Aug. 25, 2025
The Air Force and Space Force just wrapped up an ambitious hemisphere-spanning exercise, the likes of which have not been seen in a generation, said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin.
“As intended, we stressed the system by having the largest scale exercise in the Pacific since the Cold War,” he said in an Aug. 21 press release. “We validated our ability to sustain operations, deploy and redeploy at scale, and now must follow through on lessons learned.”
Called the Department-Level Exercise, the series of exercises involved about 12,000 troops and 500 aircraft around the world and ran from early July through mid-August, including five interlocking drills that touched on nearly every aspect of the Air Force’s and Space Force’s capabilities.
Through the exercise Mobility Guardian 2025, a fleet of tanker and transport aircraft brought the troops, fuel, equipment, and supplies across the Pacific that allowed Pacific Air Forces to put on its drill Resolute Force Pacific, or REFORPAC, where fighter jets, bombers, and other aircraft flew simulated combat missions across the region.
Later on, Air Force commandos practiced seizing airfields and treating patients in Air Force Special Operations Command’s exercise Emerald Warrior 25.2, while command-and-control Airmen at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., tested new ways of controlling the airspace as part of Bamboo Eagle 25-3.
Meanwhile, about 700 Guardians practiced electromagnetic, cyber, and orbital warfare in the exercise Resolute Space, the Space Force’s largest service-wide exercise.
“The Space Force delivered at an unprecedented scale alongside our allies and partners,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in the Aug. 21 release.
“During Resolute Space, Guardians trained against realistic, threat-informed aggressor forces while also supporting nine other concurrent exercises around the world.”
Here are some of the highlights from each component of the DLE.
Mobility Guardian 25
Two years after the ambitious Mobility Guardian 23, Air Mobility Command, which oversees Air Force transport and tanker aircraft, outdid itself by moving more than 7,000 troops and 5,000 tons of supplies and equipment into theater in a week, a feat that involved some 85 mobility aircraft.
While C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft criss-crossed the Pacific hauling troops and supplies, the command also launched a rare 10-ship formation of tankers from Guam to refuel six C-17s carrying about 400 paratroopers from Alaska to Australia for a parachute jump there, testing planners’ ability to bring in aircraft from around the world and launch them on two days’ notice.
Besides hauling and tanking, a key part of MG25 was testing out new technology to keep mobility crews connected to secure internet mid-flight, a critical tool for helping crews adjust to changes literally on the fly.
“We like to say flexibility is the key to airpower, right? That flexibility, the agility to adjust to a changing environment … gives us a great ability to maneuver,” AMC boss Gen. John Lamontagne told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July.
“I think it all comes down to communication.”
REFORPAC
The mobility troops helped set up Pacific Air Forces to run combat drills at scale across the region.
F-16 fighter jets from Washington, D.C., joined Alaska-based F-22s and F-35s and North Dakotan B-52s on Guam and nearby islands, while rescue helicopters and transport planes from New York stood alert for real-world rescue missions in Japan.
The exercise saw the new F-15EX Eagle II fighter fly missions; multiple platforms drop live munitions in the western Pacific; rapid airfield damage repair drills; and F-35s fly long missions back-to-back.
“Monday will be a defensive counter-air day, Tuesday we’re doing offensive counter-air, Wednesday we’re doing maritime strike, Thursday we’re doing defensive counter-air again,” Lt. Col. Erik Gonsalves, commander of the component from the F-35-flying 355th Fighter Squadron, said in a July 30 press release.
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Normally based in Alaska, Gonsalves said it built confidence for fighter pilots at Guam to fly 700 miles across the Pacific to meet a tanker, perform a mission, and then fly all the way back while dodging thunderstorms and bad weather.
“That puts a lot of critical decision making in the hands of these young fighter pilots that are out there ultimately increasing their overall airmanship and making us a more ready and lethal force,” he said.
Emerald Warrior 25.2
As jets soared across the western Pacific, Air Force Special Tactics teams boarded Royal Air Force A400M Atlas transport aircraft to practice free fall parachute jumps at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.
An Air Force special operations surgical team also teamed up with Czech Republic special forces to practice responding to mass casualty events and care for patients in remote environments, on a flying MC-130J transport, and even on a boat.
“Here, we build trust, refine communication capabilities, and align our tactics so we’re ready to act decisively and effectively,” Lt. Col. Tyler Rhyne, the special operations task group commander, said in an Aug. 11 press release.
Bamboo Eagle 25-3
Maintaining command and control over more than 100 aircraft operating from more than 15 locations from Arkansas to Hawaii was the top goal for Bamboo Eagle 25-3, particularly for the Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., where Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and Guardians worked together to manage everything from MQ-9 drones to Army air defenses.
The DMOC can bring in live, virtual, and constructive features to enable training events that would not be possible in the real world.
“LVC training [requires] participants to work across services to balance competing priorities, manage limited resources, and respond to real-time threats,” Lt. Col. Sajjad Abdullateef, director of operations for the 705th Combat Training Squadron, said in an Aug. 19 release.
“A strike package might rely on ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] from one unit, refueling support from another service, and cyber effects, all demanding a unique level of trust and alignment.”
Resolute Space 2025
Just like how Air Force aggressors pretend to be enemy aircraft in practice dogfights, the Space Force sent aggressors from three squadrons to challenge Guardians in cyber, orbital, and electromagnetic warfare during this exercise.
The aggressors “introduce factors such as interference that could disrupt satellite communication, irregularities that affect navigation signals, and cyber actions that strain network defenses,” according to a July 30 press release.
“These efforts are built into the overall exercise scenario to mirror the types of obstacles Guardians could face in conflict.”
The training happened in part thanks to units such as the 25th Space Range Squadron, which brought a trailer called a Transportable Range Operations Center to Hawaii to “deliver electromagnetic effects in a controlled setting without impacting other spectrum users,” according to the Space Force.
“The whole idea of this type of exercise is to place maximum pressure on our operational and command and control functions to understand where we need to improve,” Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Darrell May, deputy commander for U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said in an Aug. 6 release.
“It provides us the opportunity to try different techniques, planning processes and structures to see what works and then get better from it.”
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Schriever Wargame 2025 strengthens international partnerships, shapes future space operations
Aug. 26, 2025
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) – The U.S. Space Force and nine partner nations concluded Schriever Wargame 2025 on Aug. 21, capping a two-week wargame that tested strategies, evaluated future technologies and strengthened international cooperation in space.
Hosted by Space Delta 10 at the LeMay Center’s Wargame Institute, the capstone event, a culmination of two years of planning, brought together more than 350 participants from the Department of Defense, partner nations, industry and academia.
This year’s participants included representatives from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Italy and Norway attended as first-time observers.
“For more than 25 years, Schriever Wargame has been the place where partner nations come together to test strategies before they’re needed in the real world,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Shannon DaSilva, Space Delta 10 commander.
“We’ve built not only scenarios, but relationships—and those are the foundation of our ability to deter, defend and succeed in space.”
Partner perspectives
Representatives from partner nations underscored the importance of working side-by-side to prepare for the rapidly changing space domain.
“Access to space services is essential to the Australian way of life, the consequences from the loss of losing those services is a lesson we continue to embed across our integrated force,” said Royal Australian Air Force Wing Commander Adam Carroll, senior national representative for Australia and Commanding Officer of the 1st Space Surveillance Unit.
“It has never been more important for like-minded nations to work together to outpace potential threats and provide our senior leaders a clear picture of how space conflict could unfold and what is necessary to deter it.”
Col. Shaun Lamb, senior national representative from U.K. Space Command, deputy head of capability and the lead for force development at U.K. Space Command, emphasized how the event helps align policies and capabilities.
“This was an invaluable opportunity to learn together,” Lamb said. “We’ve built trust in each other’s capabilities, learned how our policies and processes align, and challenged ourselves to orchestrate operations as a team of partners.”
From Canada’s perspective, Royal Canadian Air Force Mr. Justin Boileau, senior national representative for Canada and section chief of advanced space effects at the Third Canadian Space Division, highlighted the pace of change.
“Every time we come together, the domain looks different—new technologies, new commercial players, new dynamics,” Boileau said.
“That makes it even more important to work together toward a common understanding so that everyone can benefit from space.”
Exploring future concepts
This year’s wargame incorporated five Notional Technologies — hypothetical future capabilities used to stress-test decision making and identify gaps in how partners share data and operate together.
While specifics remain classified, officials said the process provided valuable insights for governments and industry alike.
“The beauty of Schriever is that it lets us ask, ‘What do we wish we had?’” DaSilva said.
“That shapes the future force design, acquisition priorities and most importantly, it ensures our systems can operate seamlessly with those of our partners.”
Looking ahead
Planning is already underway for Schriever Wargame 2027, where the intent is for participating nations to jointly set wargame objectives for the first time.
“Our partnerships grow stronger each time we come together,” DaSilva said. “Schriever Wargame 2025 proved that the future of space security lies in partnership, trust, and shared vision.”
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4286153/schriever-wargame-2025-strengthens-international-partnerships-shapes-future-spa/