Infinity trips infinitely chekt
TYB
New Island Emerges In Alaska As Glacier Rapidly Retreats, NASA Satellite Imagery Shows
September 11, 2025
Global warming is a tricksy beast. In some places, it’s transforming once-lush environments into barren deserts;
in others, it’s doing essentially the opposite – albeit through an irony-fueled, monkey’s paw kind of interpretation of “re-green the Earth’s deserts”.
Now, a new set of photos from NASA has laid bare a striking example of the latter effect – and it’s right on our doorstep.
Alaska, it turns out, has a new island – not thanks to new land rising up through the seas, but because of glacial melt so dramatic that it has surrounded a piece of land previously connected to the mainland.
“Along the coastal plain of southeastern Alaska, water is rapidly replacing ice,” NASA announced in an Earth Observatory Image of the Day post this week.
“Glaciers in this area are thinning and retreating, with meltwater forming proglacial lakes off their fronts. In one of these growing watery expanses, a new island has emerged.”
“The Alsek Glacier once encircled a small mountain known as Prow Knob near its terminus,” they explain. “In summer 2025, the glacier lost contact with Prow Knob, leaving the approximately 2-square-mile (5-square-kilometer) landmass surrounded by the water of Alsek Lake.”
The melting of the Alsek Glacier happened slowly, until it didn’t.
In 1894 – the earliest observations of the glacier on record – the ice basically covered what’s now Alsek Lake;
reports from 1907 described it as being “anchored to a nunatak,” according to a US Geological Survey review from 2005 – the term refers to a rocky island surrounded by flowing glacier ice rather than water – with an iceface “as much as 50 m[eters, 164 feet] high.”
But “by 1948, the glacier had retreated 1.5 to 2.5 km,” the survey continues. “By 25 August 1960, retreat was as much as 5 km.”
By the late 1970s, the glacier, now much reduced in size and reach, seemed like it was about to separate into two ice tongues; two decades later, it had done precisely that, and “by 2003, the terminus separated into three distinct ice tongues,” the authors write.
All of these changes can be seen in the images published this week by NASA – but it’s the most recent couple, from 2018 and 2025, which are most striking.
In the space of just seven years – a short enough time that you probably think of yourself as not having aged at all throughout it – Alsek Lake has grown from abutting most of Prow Knob to entirely surrounding it.
At the same time, the ice has retreated, melting into the lake and calving away from itself as soaring temperatures make it warmer and less stable.
It’s a trend that’s likely to continue, NASA warns – and one that’s becoming all too familiar in the once-icy Arctic state.
Along with the Yakutat and Grand Plateau Glaciers, the melting of Alsek has resulted in lakes almost double the sizes they once were – not in times long past, but within living memory.
“The lakes that are forming in this region are immense,” Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist at Nichols College, told NASA in November last year.
“Starting at the mountains and spreading toward the coast,” the waters coming from these melting glaciers likely represent the fastest lake growth in the US this century, he believes.
Alaska now is “a new lake district,” he said. “[One] that is unique in our nation.”
https://www.iflscience.com/new-island-emerges-in-alaska-as-glacier-rapidly-retreats-nasa-satellite-imagery-shows-80773
Hubble Surveys Cloudy Cluster
Sep 12, 2025
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a cloudy starscape from an impressive star cluster.
This scene is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.
With a mass equal to 10–20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small galaxies that orbit our galaxy.
The Large Magellanic Cloud is home to several massive stellar nurseries where gas clouds, like those strewn across this image, coalesce into new stars.
Today’s image depicts a portion of the galaxy’s second-largest star-forming region, which is called N11. (The most massive and prolific star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula, is a frequent target for Hubble.)
We see bright, young stars lighting up the gas clouds and sculpting clumps of dust with powerful ultraviolet radiation.
This image marries observations made roughly 20 years apart, a testament to Hubble’s longevity.
The first set of observations, which were carried out in 2002–2003, capitalized on the exquisite sensitivity and resolution of the then-newly-installed Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Astronomers turned Hubble toward the N11 star cluster to do something that had never been done before at the time: catalog all the stars in a young cluster with masses between 10% of the Sun’s mass and 100 times the Sun’s mass.
The second set of observations came from Hubble’s newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3.
These images focused on the dusty clouds that permeate the cluster, providing us with a new perspective on cosmic dust.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-surveys-cloudy-cluster/
JSC Notification To American Federation of Government Employees
September 11, 2025
NASA JSC Center Director Vanessa Wyche sent a letter to the AFGE Union President president saying “On August 28, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14343, titled, “Further Exclusions from The Federal Labor-Management Relations Program” (EO 14343).
This is notification that NASA intends to fully implement this Executive Order which excludes the agency from the Federal Service Labor Management Statute.” Full text below.
September 11, 2025
AA-25-003
Bridget Broussard-Guidry
Union President
American Federation of Government Employees
Dear Ms. Guidry:
On August 28, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14343, titled, “Further Exclusions from The Federal Labor-Management Relations Program” (EO 14343).
This is notification that NASA intends to fully implement this Executive Order which excludes the agency from the Federal Service Labor Management Statute.
NASA’s implementation of EO 14343 will include:
-
No longer recognizing the International Federation of Professional & Technical
Engineers (IFPTE) and the American Federation of Government Employees
(AFGE) as exclusive representatives for any group of NASA employees.
-
The termination, abrogation, or repudiation of collective bargaining agreements
(CBAs) with labor unions.
-
Stopping NASA’s collection of union dues on behalf of labor unions.
-
Reclaiming any agency space, furniture, equipment (e.g., computers, phones), and
other resources that have been provided to labor unions for representational
activities.
-
Ceasing the processing of existing grievances filed under collective bargaining
agreements.
-
Withdrawing from any scheduled arbitrations and disregarding any newly filed
grievances.
-
Ceasing and withdrawing from any current negotiations with labor unions.
-
Prohibiting union representatives from using taxpayer-funded union time.
-
Implementing any new management-initiated changes without delay.
Ceasing union representatives’ participation in formal discussions and Weingarten
meetings.
-
Ceasing the processing of union requests for information.
-
Informing the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) that NASA unions no
longer have standing to file a charge or to ask the FLRA to issue a complaint.
During NASA’s implementation of EO 14343, stakeholders will be notified as
appropriate.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Wyche
Vanessa E. Wyche
Center Director
https://nasawatch.com/personnel-news/jsc-notification-to-american-federation-of-government-employees/
https://nasawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/JSCUnionLetter.pdf
Flooding in Pakistan
Sept. 11, 2025
Pakistan has endured heavy monsoon rains since late June 2025.
The comparison above shows a false-color corrected reflectance image (Bands M11-I2-I1) of flooding in Pakistan on September 11, 2025, on the left "A" side; on the right "B" side is the Flood 3-day window composite.
These images are from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard joint NASA/NOAA NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 platforms.
Swipe the bar back and forth to see how the dark blue floodwaters in the left image coincide with the red flood pixels shown on the right side.
The Flood 3-day window composite is created following three key steps: 1) water detection algorithm applied to each VIIRS observation; 2) compositing of these water detections over time to reduce errors and more rigorously identify water; and 3) differentiating flood from expected surface water.
Click on the image to open the full version of Worldview in a new browser tab.
To learn more about the flood products, register to join us on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EDT (-04:00 UTC) to learn how to discover, access, and use NASA's near real-time global flood products.
Visit Worldview to visualize near real-time imagery and historical imagery from NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS); find more imagery in our Worldview weekly image archive.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/worldview-image-archive/flooding-pakistan
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/webinars/discover-access-nasas-near-real-time-global-flood-products
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/jason-cs-sentinel-6/sentinel-6b/new-u-s-european-sea-level-satellite-will-help-safeguard-ships-at-sea/
https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/jason-cs-sentinel-6/summary/
New U.S.-European Sea Level Satellite Will Help Safeguard Ships at Sea
Sep 11, 2025
Sea surface height data from the Sentinel-6B satellite, led by NASA and ESA, will help with the development of marine weather forecasts, alerting ships to possible dangers. Because most global trade travels by ship, accurate, timely ocean forecasts are essential.
These forecasts provide crucial information about storms, high winds, and rough water, and they depend on measurements provided by instruments in the ocean and by satellites including Sentinel-6B, a joint mission led by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) that will provide essential sea level and other ocean data after it launches this November.
The satellite will eventually take over from its twin, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which launched in 2020.
Both satellites have an altimeter instrument that measures sea levels, wind speeds, and wave heights, among other characteristics, which meteorologists feed into models that produce marine weather forecasts.
Those forecasts provide information on the state of the ocean as well as the changing locations of large currents like the Gulf Stream. Dangerous conditions can result when waves interact with such currents, putting ships at risk.
“Building on NASA’s long legacy of satellite altimetry data and its real-world impact on shipping operations, Sentinel-6B will soon take on the vital task of improving ocean and weather forecasts to help keep ships, their crews, and cargo safe”, said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, lead program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and Sentinel-6B are part of the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission, the latest in a series of ocean-observing radar altimetry missions that have monitored Earth’s changing seas since the early 1990s.
Sentinel-6/Jason-CS is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, the European Union, EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
The European Commission provided funding support, and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) contributed technical support.
Keeping current
“The ocean is getting busier, but it’s also getting more dangerous,” said Avichal Mehra, deputy director of the Ocean Prediction Center at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
He and his colleagues produce marine weather forecasts using data from ocean-based instruments as well as complementary measurements from five satellites, including Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich.
Among those measurements: sea level, wave height, and wind speed. The forecasters derive the location of large currents from changes in sea level.
1/2
One of the planet’s major currents, the Gulf Stream is located off the southeastern coast of the United States, but its exact position varies.
“Ships will actually change course depending on where the Gulf Stream is and the direction of the waves,” said Mehra.
“There have been instances where, in calm conditions, waves interacting with the Gulf Stream have caused damage or the loss of cargo containers on ships.”
Large, warm currents like the Gulf Stream can have relatively sharp boundaries since they are generally higher than their surroundings.
Water expands as it warms, so warm seawater is taller than cooler water. If waves interact with these currents in a certain way, seas can become extremely rough, presenting a hazard to even the largest ships.
“Satellite altimeters are the only reliable measurement we have of where these big currents can be,” said Deirdre Byrne, sea surface height team lead at NOAA in College Park.
There are hundreds of floating sensors scattered about the ocean that could pick up parts of where such currents are located, but these instruments are widely dispersed and limited in the area they measure at any one time.
Satellites like Sentinel-6B offer greater spatial coverage, measuring areas that aren’t regularly monitored and providing essential information for the forecasts that ships need.
Consistency is key
Sentinel-6B won’t just help marine weather forecasts through its near-real-time data, though.
It will also extend a long-term dataset featuring more than 30 years of sea level measurements, just as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich does today.
“Since 1992, we have launched a series of satellites that have provided consistent sea level observations from the same orbit in space.
This continuity allows each new mission to be calibrated against its predecessors, providing measurements with centimeter-level accuracy that don’t drift over time,” said Severine Fournier, Sentinel-6B deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
This long-running, repeated measurement has turned this dataset into the gold standard sea level measurement from space — a reference against which data from other sea level satellites is checked.
It also serves as a baseline, giving forecasters a way to tell what ocean conditions have looked like over time and how they are changing now. “This kind of data can’t be easily replaced,” said Mehra.
2/2
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/commercial-resupply/ng-crs/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-23-infographics-hardware/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XZGhnTCl88
NASA’s Northrop Grumman CRS-23 Infographics & Hardware
Sep 11, 2025
NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23, will deliver more than 11,000 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station.
This mission will be the first flight of the Cygnus XL, the larger, more cargo-capable version of the company’s solar-powered spacecraft.
The Cygnus XL will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Following arrival, astronauts aboard the space station will use the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus XL before robotically installing the spacecraft to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading.
Stream live launch and arrival coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, YouTube.
Mission Hardware
IDA Planar Reflector – This is a reflective element used by visiting spacecraft during docking. The spacecraft bounces a laser off the reflector to compute relative range, velocity, and attitude on approach to the International Space Station. Due to degradation found on the installed reflector, this unit will launch to support a future spacewalk to replace the damaged reflector.
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Distillation Assembly – The urine processor on the space station uses filtration and distillation to separate water from wastewater to produce potable water. This unit is launching as a spare.
Reactor Health Sensor – Part of the Environmental Control and Life Support System – Water Processing Assembly, includes two sensors with inlet and outlet ports to measure reactor health. This unit is being launched as a spare.
Pressure Management Device – This is an intravehicular activity system for performing pressurization and depressurization of the space station vestibules between the space station hatch and the hatch of a visiting spacecraft or other module, like the NanoRacks Airlock. During depressurization, most of the air will be added to the space station cabin air to save the valuable resource.
Air Selector Valve – This electro-mechanical assembly is used to direct airflow through the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly. Two units are launching as spares.
Major Constituent Analyzer Mass Spectrometer Assembly – This assembly monitors the partial pressure levels of nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide aboard station. This unit is launching as a contingency spare.
Major Constituent Analyzer Mass Sample/Series Pump Assembly – This contains plumbing and a pair of solenoid valves to direct sample gas flow to either of the redundant sample pumps. It draws sample gas from the space station’s atmosphere into the analyzer. This unit is launching as a contingency spare.
1/2
Major Constituent Analyzer Sample Distribution Assembly – This isolates the gas sample going to the Mass Spectrometer Assembly. The purpose is to distribute gas samples throughout the analyzer. This unit is launching as a contingency spare.
Charcoal Bed – The bed allows the Trace Contaminant Control System to remove high molecular weight contaminants from the station’s atmosphere. This unit is launching as a spare.
Common Cabin Air Assembly Heat Exchanger – This assembly controls cabin air temperature, humidity, and airflow aboard the space station. This unit is launching as a spare.
Sequential Shunt Unit – This regulates the solar array wing voltage when experiencing high levels of direct sunlight; in doing so, it provides usable power to the station’s primary power system. This unit is launching as a spare.
Solid State Lighting Assembly – This is a specialized internal lighting assembly aboard station. NASA will use one lighting assembly to replace a failed unit and will keep the others as spares.
Remote Power Control Module Type V – This module distributes 120V/DC electrical power and provides current-limiting and fault protection to secondary loads aboard the orbiting laboratory. This module is launching as a spare.
Treadmill Isolator Assembly – The Upper, X, Y, and Z Isolator Assemblies are launching as spares for the space station’s treadmill, where they work together to reduce vibration and force transfer when astronauts are running.
Pump Fan Motor Controller – The controller is an electronic controller to modulate the power to the motor windings, which are coils of conductive wire that are wrapped around its core carrying electric current to drive the motor. Windings are commonly used in household appliances, cars (power steering), pumps, and more.
Quick Don Mask Assembly – This mask is used by the crew, along with the Pre-Breath Assembly, in emergency situations. This unit is launching to replace a unit aboard station.
Anomaly Gas Analyzer – This analyzer senses various gases, like oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and others, along with cabin pressure, water vapor and temperature. Two units are launching as an upgrade to the current analyzer system used on board.
Nitrogen, Oxygen Resupply Maintenance Kit – One tank of nitrogen and one tank of oxygen used for gas replenishment aboard the space station are launching to maintain gas reserves.
Crew and Equipment Translation Aid Luminaire – This is a lighting unit used aboard station to illuminate the astronauts’ equipment cart and surrounding work areas during spacewalks.
2/2
https://www.nasa.gov/general/artemis-ii-crew-both-subjects-and-scientists-in-nasa-deep-space-research/
Artemis II Crew Both Subjects and Scientists in NASA Deep Space Research
Sep 11, 2025
With Artemis II, NASA is taking the science of living and working in space beyond low Earth orbit.
While the test flight will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration, the crew also will be serving as both scientists and volunteer research subjects, completing a suite of experiments that will allow NASA to better understand how human health may change in deep space environments.
Results will help the agency build future interventions, protocols, and preventative measures to best protect astronauts on future missions to the lunar surface and to Mars.
Science on Artemis II will include seven main research areas:
ARCHeR: Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness
NASA’s Artemis II mission provides an opportunity to explore how deep space travel affects sleep, stress, cognition, and teamwork — key factors in astronaut health and performance.
While these effects are well-documented in low Earth orbit, they’ve never been fully studied during lunar missions.
Artemis II astronauts who agreed to be part of the study will wear wristband devices that continuously monitor movement and sleep patterns throughout the mission.
The data will be used for real-time health monitoring and safety assessments, while pre- and post-flight evaluations will provide deeper insights into cognition, behavior, sleep quality, and teamwork in the unique environment of deep space and the Orion spacecraft.
The findings from the test flight will inform future mission planning and crew support systems, helping NASA optimize human performance for the next era of exploration on the Moon and Mars.
Immune Biomarkers
Saliva provides a unique window into how the human immune system functions in a deep space environment.
Tracing changes in astronauts’ saliva from before, during, and after the mission will enable researchers to investigate how the human body responds to deep space in unprecedented ways.
Dry saliva will be collected before, during, and after the mission. It will be blotted onto specialized paper in pocket-sized booklets since equipment needed to preserve wet spit samples in space – including refrigeration – will not be available due to volume constraints.
To augment that information, liquid saliva and blood samples will be collected before and after the mission.
With these wet and dry saliva samples, scientists will gain insights into how the astronauts’ immune systems are affected by the increased stresses of radiation, isolation, and distance from Earth during their deep space flight.
They also will examine whether otherwise dormant viruses are reactivated in space, as has been seen previously on the International Space Station with viruses that can cause chickenpox and shingles.
The information gathered from this study, when combined with data from other missions, will help researchers develop ways to keep crew members safe and healthy as we explore farther and travel for longer periods on deep space missions.
AVATAR: A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response
AVATAR is another important component of NASA’s strategy to gain a holistic understanding of how the deep space environment affects humans.
Scientists plan to use organ-on-a-chip technology during Artemis II, marking the first time these devices will be used beyond the Van Allen belts.
Roughly the size of a USB thumb drive, the chips will measure how individual astronauts respond to deep space stressors, including extreme radiation and microgravity.
The organ chips will contain cells developed from preflight blood donations provided by crew members to create miniature stand-ins, or “avatars,” of their bone marrow.
Bone marrow plays a vital role in the immune system and is particularly sensitive to radiation, which is why scientists selected it for this study.
A key goal for this research is to validate whether organ chips can serve as accurate tools for measuring and predicting human responses to stressors.
To evaluate this, scientists will compare AVATAR data with space station findings, as well as with samples taken from the crew before and after flight.
1/3
AVATAR could inform measures to ensure crew health on future deep space missions, including personalizing medical kits to each astronaut. For citizens on Earth, it could lead to advancements in individualized treatments for diseases such as cancer.
AVATAR is a demonstration of the power of public-private partnerships. It’s a collaboration between government agencies and commercial space companies:
NASA, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences within the National Institutes of Health, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Space Tango, and Emulate.
Artemis II Standard Measures
The crew also will become the first astronauts in deep space to participate in the Spaceflight Standard Measures study, an investigation that’s been collecting data from participating crew members aboard the space station and elsewhere since 2018.
The study aims to collect a comprehensive snapshot of astronauts’ bodies and minds by gathering a consistent set of core measurements of physiological response.
The crew will provide biological samples including blood, urine, and saliva for evaluating nutritional status, cardiovascular health, and immunological function starting about six months before their launch.
The crew also will participate in tests and surveys evaluating balance, vestibular function, muscle performance, changes in their microbiome, as well as ocular and brain health.
While in space, data gathering will include an assessment of motion sickness symptoms. After landing, there will be additional tests of head, eye, and body movements, among other functional performance tasks.
Data collection will continue for a month after their return.
All this information will be available for scientists interested in studying the effects of spaceflight via request to NASA’s Life Sciences Data Archive.
The results from this work could lead to future interventions, technologies, and studies that help predict the adaptability of crews on a Mars mission.
Radiation Sensors Inside Orion
During the uncrewed Artemis I mission, Orion was blanketed in 5,600 passive and 34 active radiation sensors.
The information they gathered assured researchers Orion’s design can provide protection for crew members from hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions.
That doesn’t mean that scientists don’t want more information, however.
Similar to Artemis I, six active radiation sensors, collectively called the Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessors, will be deployed at various locations inside the Orion crew module.
Crew also will wear dosimeters in their pockets. These sensors will provide warnings of hazardous radiation levels caused by space weather events made by the Sun.
If necessary, this data will be used by mission control to drive decisions for the crew to build a shelter to protect from radiation exposure due to space weather.
Additionally, NASA has again partnered the German Space Agency DLR for an updated model of their M-42 sensor – an M-42 EXT – for Artemis II.
The new version offers six times more resolution to distinguish between different types of energy, compared to the Artemis I version.
This will allow it to accurately measure the radiation exposure from heavy ions which are thought to be particularly hazardous for radiation risk. Artemis II will carry four of the monitors, affixed at points around the cabin by the crew.
Collectively, sensor data will paint a full picture of radiation exposures inside Orion and provide context for interpreting the results of the ARCHeR, AVATAR, Artemis II Standard Measures, and Immune Biomarkers experiments.
2/3
Lunar Observations Campaign
The Artemis II crew will take advantage of their location to explore the Moon from above.
As the first humans to see the lunar surface up close since 1972, they’ll document their observations through photographs and audio recordings to inform scientists’ understanding of the Moon and share their experience of being far from Earth.
It’s possible the crew could be the first humans to see certain areas of the Moon’s far side, though this will depend on the time and date of launch, which will affect which areas of the Moon will be illuminated and therefore visible when the spacecraft flies by.
Spacecraft such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been surveying and mapping the Moon for decades, but Artemis II provides a unique opportunity for humans to evaluate the lunar surface from above.
Human eyes and brains are highly sensitive to subtle changes in color, texture, and other surface characteristics.
Having the crew observe the lunar surface directly – equipped with questions that scientists didn’t even know to ask during Apollo missions – could form the basis for future scientific investigations into the Moon’s geological history, the lunar environment, or new impact sites.
It will also offer the first opportunity for an Artemis mission to integrate science flight control operations.
From their console in the flight control room in mission control, a science officer will consult with a team of scientists with expertise in impact cratering, volcanism, tectonism, and lunar ice, to provide real-time data analysis and guidance to the Artemis II crew in space.
During the mission, the lunar science team will be located in mission control’s Science Evaluation Room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Lessons learned during Artemis II will pave the way for lunar science operations on future missions.
CubeSats
Several additional experiments are hitching a ride to space onboard Artemis II in the form of CubeSats – shoe-box-sized technology demonstrations and scientific experiments.
Though separate from the objectives of the Artemis II mission, they may enhance understanding of the space environment.
Four international space agencies have signed agreements to send CubeSats into space aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, each with their own objectives.
All will be released from an adapter on the SLS upper stage into a high-Earth orbit, where they will conduct an orbital maneuver to reach their desired orbit.
-
ATENEA – Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales will collect data on radiation doses across various shielding methods, measure the radiation spectrum around Earth, collect GPS data to help optimize future mission design, and validate a long-range communications link.
-
K-Rad Cube – The Korea Aerospace Administration will use a dosimeter made of material designed to mimic human tissue to measure space radiation and assess biological effects at various altitudes across the Van Allen radiation belt.
-
Space Weather CubeSat – The Saudi Space Agency will measure aspects of space weather, including radiation, solar X-rays, solar energetic particles, and magnetic fields, at a range of distances from Earth.
-
TACHELES – The Germany Space Agency DLR will collect measurements on the effects of the space environment on electrical components to inform technologies for lunar vehicles.
Together, these research areas will inform plans for future missions within NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
3/3
ESA Director General's opening remarks at the General Assembly on Defence, Space & Cybersecurity
12/09/2025
Watch the replay of ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher’s opening Remarks of the ‘General Assembly Defence, Space and Cybersecurity’ held in ESA, ESRIN on 12 September 2025.
The European Parliament and the European Commission, in collaboration with ESA, organised the ‘General Assembly Defence, Space and Cybersecurity’ to promote dialogue between European and national decision-makers, and industry representatives in the context of the unprecedented challenges that European Union is facing since the postwar period in an increasingly complex geopolitical context.
For this reason, Europe must work to strengthen its strategic autonomy in key sectors such as space, cybersecurity, and defence, within the broader context of the Atlantic Alliance.
Acting at the European level in these areas, as demonstrated by projects like Galileo, EGNOS, and Copernicus, brings extraordinary added value in terms of innovation, industrial competitiveness, economies of scale, and spending efficiency, as well as for the security of citizens and the protection of critical infrastructure.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2025/09/ESA_Director_General_s_opening_remarks_at_the_General_Assembly_on_Defence_Space_Cybersecurity
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corporate/Opening_Address_ESA_DG_ESRIN_12Sept25_FINAL_DG-OS-media.pdf
Columbus: 100 000 orbits and counting
12/09/2025
Today, the Columbus laboratory aboard the International Space Station completes its 100 000th orbit around Earth—a remarkable achievement for Europe’s science module in space.
Since its launch in 2008, Columbus has been a hub of research and innovation, orbiting at 28 800 km/h and approximately 400 km above Earth.
Over the course of 6427 days, it has travelled more than 4.26 billion kilometres, hosted astronauts from over 20 countries, and supported hundreds of experiments that explore everything from human health to advanced materials.
Built for space
Columbus was designed and built by Airbus, a major engineering feat involving multiple European sites. The module is a highly complex system with thousands of parts that had to work together and then integrate with the even larger, multinational Space Station.
This required coordination across all engineering disciplines and marked a milestone in European space collaboration and capability.
Built to endure the harsh conditions of space, Columbus was engineered for long-term human habitation. It had to withstand extreme temperatures—from +120°C in direct sunlight to -150°C in shadow—as well as protect against radiation and micrometeoroid impacts.
Inside its 7-metre-long, 4.5-metre-wide structure are 10 experiment racks, each functioning as a mini-laboratory. These facilities allow scientists to conduct research in microgravity—an environment that reveals phenomena impossible to observe on Earth.
Science in orbit
From cold plasma and 3D metal printing to studies on bone loss and brain function, the science conducted in Columbus has real-world applications that benefit both astronauts and people on the ground.
The module has supported more than 250 experiments to date, with many more planned. Today, 21 experiments are active—13 from ESA and eight from NASA—and during the current mission phase (Increment 73), over 50 experiments have been planned or executed.
Most experiments are a mix of automated and crew-operated procedures, with ground teams working around the clock to monitor and coordinate activities.
Code, crew and control rooms
Columbus has also played a role in education and outreach. Programmes like AstroPi have allowed over 163 000 students to run their own code aboard the Space Station, inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Behind the scenes, operations are managed 24/7 by dedicated teams at the Columbus Contol Centre close to Munich in Germany who have run more than 19 000 shifts since Columbus was installed.
These teams ensure the module remains safe, efficient and scientifically productive, coordinating everything from system checks to astronaut support.
16 ESA astronauts, as well as astronauts from non-European nations including the United States, Canada, Japan and others, have worked inside Columbus. Some have even used the module as a temporary living space, sleeping inside the CASA crew quarter.
As Columbus reaches this milestone, it stands as a symbol of European excellence in space—more than just a module, it is a laboratory, a classroom and a collaborative platform whose technologies inspired other major European space programmes, including the Orion European Service Module, propelling humanity to the Moon as part of the Artemis programme.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Columbus_100_000_orbits_and_counting
US House Appropriations Committee saves NASA budget, Prez holds the veto pen
Fri 12 Sep 2025 // 13:00 UTC
The US House Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that would maintain NASA's budget at the same level as last year. However, lawmakers missed an opportunity to strike out the proposed $85 million relocation of a space vehicle to Houston.
The approval contains amendments to restore some of the science that was set to be cut, including the New Horizons mission, Juno, and the Chandra X-ray observatory.
The Senate Appropriations Committee went further, but it is clear that neither committee agrees with the downward funding direction of the US President's budget request for the space agency, particularly when it comes to the proposed axing of a large chunk of the agency's science programs.
Notably absent from the list of amendments was more funding for the Mars Sample Return mission, which is currently set for termination.
The House Appropriations Committee bill could leave the project on life support, with millions to keep the lights on, if not the billions needed to move ahead with the mission.
Getting samples back from Mars for analysis has taken on a new urgency after evidence hinting at possible life on the planet was unveiled earlier this week.
This isn't the end of the US budget process. More steps remain, and the final funding bill will still need to be signed by the US President – or vetoed.
Severe cuts to NASA's budget were proposed by the current US administration earlier this year, with science particularly badly hit and the Space Launch System set to be cancelled after the Artemis III Moon landing mission.
Reconciliation text released by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, restored some of NASA's budget, although mainly for human exploration, and included $85 million to relocate a space vehicle to Houston, widely believed to be a demand to move Space Shuttle Discovery from its current location at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
Earlier this week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors took a vote in which it opposed a move of Discovery from the Smithsonian.
(The Virginia space museum that currently houses Discovery is part of the Smithsonian.) The vote is significant, since any relocation of the space shuttle is likely to require the cooperation of the county.
Assuming Discovery is to be transported by water, it would need to be towed through the county to reach a navigable portion of the Potomac River.
Getting Space Shuttle Endeavour through Los Angeles was a logistical nightmare. A move of Discovery will similarly need the support of local and state authorities.
This is assuming that Discovery is the lucky Space Shuttle. NASA has selected a vehicle should the relocation go ahead, but isn't saying which one. ®
https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/12/nasa_science_gets_a_boost/
https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/committee-approves-fy26-commerce-justice-science-and-related-agencies
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/6/chairman-cruz-releases-budget-reconciliation-text
SC native, astronaut remembers seeing September 11 attacks from space
Sep. 11, 2025 at 8:06 PM PDT
GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Frank Culbertson, a South Carolina native, had a unique perspective on the September 11 attacks as he was the only American citizen not on earth at that time.
Culbertson was the commander of the International Space Station in September 2001 and captured video of the aftermath of the attacks from space, showing smoke above Manhattan.
He later learned that his friend Captain Charles ‘Chic’ Burlingame died in the attacks. He played taps from space in a day that followed in honor of his friend.
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2025/09/12/sc-native-astronaut-remembers-september-11-attacks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJNCDULoGo
Oak Ridge is teaching NASA’s nuclear rockets how to behave
September 10, 2025
How do you control a nuclear space propulsion system? Very carefully.
To help with this, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has built a simulated nuclear reactor test bed to develop the engines that could send astronauts to Mars and beyond.
Perhaps the greatest bottleneck for humanity exploring the Solar System in person or even with swarms of highly sophisticated robots is the lack of the means to get from one celestial body to another.
Historically, getting into space and sending heavy payloads across or out of the Solar System has relied on chemical rockets.
They do the job, and very well, but they suffer from the fact that even when the first German V2 flew into space in 1944, these rockets were already operating at near their theoretical limits.
True, a lot of progress has been made since then, but it's mainly been in the realm of tweaking the system and cutting down on weight.
Because of this, a very limited manned mission to Mars is just about the absolute limit for a chemical rocket engine.
In practical terms, chemical rockets require about 16 tons of fuel to place one tonne of payload into orbit and to reach the Moon requires 1,000 tonnes of fuel for each tonne of payload.
That's the reason why an Apollo Saturn V with the Apollo spacecraft was the size of a skyscraper when it left Earth, but only about as big as a garden shed when the Command Module returned.
For going beyond the vicinity of Earth or even being able to move quickly and cheaply around the area between the Earth and the Moon, something with a lot more oomph is needed. That something is nuclear propulsion.
Essentially, a nuclear rocket engine is a reactor that has hydrogen running through it as a propellant, which is heated to an astonishing 3,000 K (2,727 °C, 4,940 °F), giving it almost twice the efficiency in terms of thrust and specific impulse as a chemical rocket.
However, there are two major problems with nuclear rockets. First, the heat generated has to be carefully controlled if you don't want the engine to end up simply melting.
The other is how to control the rocket, given that it's in a compact, highly radioactive package out in space where no technician, even if they're aboard the ship, can get to it.
Add to this, a rocket needs to be able to switch on and off as well as throttle, so controlling it is much trickier than handling an earthbound power plant.
Many people may not be aware of it, but nuclear rockets have been under development for the past 80 years – longer if you count speculation after Einstein proved how much energy is locked up in a teaspoon of matter.
In fact, it was only shortly after the detonation of the first atomic bomb that the concept of nuclear engines became a serious research topic.
Since then, there have been a number of NASA projects to build a practical nuclear engine, so we already have the basic design of such a device nailed down.
At the core of a NASA's nuclear engine design is a cylindrical core holding the uranium-235 fuel elements, pierced with a number of channels for the hydrogen to flow through.
Around this core is wrapped a layer of beryllium, which reflects the neutrons emitted by the core to cause the nuclear reaction. Inside this layer are a ring of drums. One side of the drums is coated with beryllium, the other with boron.
Turn to the beryllium side and the neutrons are reflected. Turn to the boron side and the neutrons are absorbed, shutting down the reactor. Turn the drum only part way and the reaction can be throttled to the desired level.
In tests run in the 1960s on such engines, such as NASA's NERVA rocket, controlling the engine was through a preprogrammed script – much like a common bread machine.
A timed sequence ran and the settings on the reactor shifted in accordance with the schedule.
https://newatlas.com/space/control-nuclear-rocket-engine/
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/16/4439
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b18HtG0DOCM