NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

September 25, 2025

Saturn Opposite the Sun

This year Saturn was at opposition on September 21, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. At its closest to Earth, Saturn was also at its brightest of the year, rising as the Sun set and shining above the horizon all night long among the fainter stars of the constellation Pisces. In this snapshot from the Qinghai Lenghu Observatory, Tibetan Plateau, southwestern China, the outer planet is immersed in a faint, diffuse oval of light known as the gegenschein or counter glow. The diffuse gegenschein is produced by sunlight backscattered by interplanetary dust along the Solar System's ecliptic plane, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Like a giant eye, on this dark night Saturn and gegenschein seem to stare down on the observatory's telescope domes seen against a colorful background of airglow along the horizon.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

>>23652021

https://documents.latimes.com/jan-29-1934-lizard-people/

United Launch Alliance Propels Amazon’s Project Kuiper to Enhance Broadband Access to Connect the World

September 25, 2025

Atlas V precisely delivers 27 operational broadband satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation

• ULA Atlas V 551 launched 27 operational broadband satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation, bringing the total number of satellites launched by ULA to 81.

• 43 missions carrying thousands of satellites manifested for future launches.

• With a total of 47 launches between ULA’s Atlas and Vulcan vehicles, ULA is launching the majority of Amazon’s initial satellite constellation.

• ULA’s Atlas V and Vulcan rockets are catalysts to connecting the world, one launch at a time.

• Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., (Sept. 25, 2025) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Kuiper 3 mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper lifted off on Sept. 25 at 8:09 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This mission demonstrates the strong partnership between ULA and Amazon to accurately and rapidly launch and deliver innovation solutions for global connectivity.

“We are proud to collaborate with Amazon and advance their mission to provide fast, reliable internet to communities around the world,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs.

“Our mission is to launch critical payloads for our customers and serve as the catalyst to help Amazon build this global broadband constellation aligning us with one of our core missions of connecting the world.”

The Kuiper 3 launch deployed another batch of operational Project Kuiper satellites into low Earth orbit.

There are five remaining Kuiper missions on the Atlas V rocket, building up to 38 high-cadence, rapid fire launches on the next-generation Vulcan rocket.

ULA will deliver more than half of the Project Kuiper constellation’s 3,200 satellites, through the world’s largest commercial launch agreement.

ULA’s next launch is ViaSat-3, planned to launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

https://newsroom.ulalaunch.com/releases/united-launch-alliance-propels-amazons-project-kuiper-to-enhance-broadband-access-to-connect-the-world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqC7WsiYNcw

>>23652207

There's so many references in everything.

Countless.

NASA Names Glenn’s Steven Sinacore to Lead Fission Surface Power

Sep 25, 2025

NASA leadership has named NASA Glenn Research Center’s Steven A. Sinacore as the agency’s program executive for Fission Surface Power with Lindsay Kaldon as deputy program executive.

Sinacore will lead a team within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate dedicated to advancing fission surface power technology in support of lunar exploration, providing high power energy generation on Mars, and strengthening national security.  

Sinacore has more than 20 years of leadership and project management experience.

Most recently, he served as director of Aeronautics at NASA Glenn in Cleveland. Prior to that, he was deputy project manager of the Gateway Power and Propulsion Element.

After joining NASA Glenn in 2005, Sinacore held numerous systems engineering, project management, and mission operations positions, and he has been instrumental in developing and executing intergovernmental partnerships. 

His strong background leading cross-agency teams, combined with NASA Glenn’s longstanding expertise in space power technology development, will equip the agency to further advance U.S. competition and lunar surface leadership under the Artemis campaign.

Last month, NASA declared its intent to put a system that would provide at least 100 kilowatts of electrical power on the Moon by fiscal year 2030. NASA then surveyed industry for their interest and feedback on an announcement for partnership proposals.

This new effort builds on previous Glenn-led work to advance fission surface power technology development and concept designs.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/nasa-names-glenns-steven-sinacore-to-lead-fission-surface-power/

NASA Veteran John Lee Resigns as Korea Space Agency Head

Updated 2025.09.25. 22:04

John Lee, head of the Korea AeroSpace Administration’s Space Aviation Mission Division, expressed his intention to resign on the 25th. This sudden resignation comes before he has even completed half of his three-year term.

Lee explained on the same day, “When I joined the space agency, I considered working for about a year, and personally, I believe I have achieved all the goals I initially planned, which is why I have expressed my intention to resign.”

It is known that his last working day has been set for the 24th of next month.

Lee, a space aviation expert, worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for 29 years starting from 1992. As a Korean-American, he also served as a budget manager at the U.S. White House Office of Management and Budget.

The Yoon Suk-yeol government recruited him as the first head of the Space Aviation Mission Division, responsible for overseeing research and development (R&D), offering him a groundbreaking annual salary of 250 million Korean won when the space agency was launched last year.

The term for the head of the Space Aviation Mission Division is originally three years.

There are also reactions within the Korea AeroSpace Administration that Lee’s sudden resignation is perplexing. Most of the major projects pursued by the space agency are currently stalled.

The “Next-Generation Launch Vehicle” project, under development to launch a lunar lander in 2023, has yet to pass the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s re-review of business appropriateness.

The launch schedule for the Korean-style Satellite Navigation System (KPS) has also been delayed. This is why there are criticisms that the space agency has failed to produce tangible results more than a year after its launch.

Amid this, the decision by a key figure to resign after just one year and five months is seen as irresponsible.

There is also analysis suggesting that Lee, a U.S. national, may have felt burdened by criticism regarding his obligation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to regularly report his activities to the U.S.

The space agency previously clarified that the content Lee is required to register with the U.S. government is not classified when it was revealed that he must report his activities to U.S. authorities.

Additionally, as the controversy grew, the agency belatedly announced the formation of a security review committee and plans to differentiate employees’ access to confidential information based on their roles.

It is also controversial that Lee is reportedly planning to attend the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia next week.

On the same day, Democratic Party of Korea Representative Choi Min-hee stated, “A head of division who is about to resign attempting to go on a business trip funded by taxpayers’ money is like preparing for a graduation trip.”

https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2025/09/25/TRXMHPYHKRGPLKF7ARU5Q4QDNY/

>>23652328

NASA Lab Builds New Aircraft to Support Complex Flight Research

Sep 24, 2025

NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is building a new subscale aircraft to support increasingly complex flight research, offering a more flexible and cost-effective alternative to crewed missions.

The aircraft is being built by Justin Hall, chief pilot at NASA Armstrong’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory, and Justin Link, a small uncrewed aircraft pilot.

The duo is replacing the center’s aging MicroCub subscale aircraft with a more capable platform that will save time and reduce costs. The new aircraft spans about 14 feet from wingtip to wingtip, measures nine-and-a-half feet long, and weighs about 60 pounds.

The subscale laboratory accelerates innovation by using small, remotely piloted aircraft to test and evaluate new aerodynamic concepts, technologies, and flight control systems.

Named after aerospace pioneer Dale Reed, the lab enables rapid prototyping and risk reduction before transitioning to full-scale or crewed flight testing.

Its work plays a key role in increasing technology readiness to support NASA’s missions on Earth and beyond.

Hall and Link are modifying an existing subscale aircraft kit by adding a more powerful engine, an autopilot system, instrumentation, and a reinforced structure.

The aircraft will offer greater flexibility for flight experiments, enabling more frequent and affordable testing compared to crewed aircraft.

One example of its potential is the Robust Autonomous Aerial Recapture project, which uses sensors and video with advanced programming to learn and adapt for mid-air capture.

The system relies on a magnetic connection mechanism integrated onto the two aircraft.

This capability could support future science missions in which a mothership deploys drones to collect samples, recharge, and redeploy for additional missions, saving fuel, reducing cost, and increasing efficiency.

Aerial recapture work is funded by the NASA Armstrong Center Innovation Fund and the Space Technology Mission Directorate.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-lab-builds-new-aircraft-to-support-complex-flight-research/

NASA’s Astrobee Robots Advance Through Strategic Partnership

Sep 24, 2025

NASA is continuing the Astrobee mission through a collaboration with Arkisys, Inc., of Los Alamitos, California, who was awarded a reimbursable Space Act Agreement to sustain and maintain the robotic platform aboard the International Space Station.

As the agency returns astronauts to the Moon, robotic helpers like Astrobee could one day take over routine maintenance tasks and support future spacecraft at the Moon and Mars without relying on humans for continuous operation.

In March, the agency issued a call for partnership proposals to support its ongoing space research initiatives.

Arkisys was selected to maintain the platform and continue enabling partners to use the Astrobee system as a means to experiment with new technologies in the microgravity environment of the space station.

NASA launched the Astrobee mission to the space station in 2018.

Since then, the free-flying robots have marked multiple first-in-space milestones for robots working alongside astronauts to accomplish spacecraft monitoring, alert simulations, and more in partnership with researchers from industry and academia.

The Astrobee system includes three colorful, cube-shaped robots – named “Bumble,” “Honey,” and “Queen” – along with software and a docking station for recharging.

The mission has advanced NASA’s goal of developing robotic systems and technologies that can perform tasks and support exploration, maintenance, and monitoring as humans venture further into space for longer durations.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation enabling research not possible on Earth.

For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, where astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time.

The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in human exploration at the Moon and Mars.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-astrobee-robots-advance-through-strategic-partnership/

NASA Aircraft Coordinate Science Flights to Measure Air Quality

Sep 24, 2025

Magic is in the air.

No wait… MAGEQ is in the air, featuring scientists from NASA centers across the country who teamed up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and several other university and government partners and collaborators.

This summer, six planes collectively flew more than 400 hours over the mid-Atlantic United States with a goal of gathering data on a range of objectives, including air quality, forestry, and fire management.

This was part of an effort called MAGEQ, short for Mid-Atlantic Gas Emissions Quantification.

Rather than one mission, MAGEQ consists of several individual missions across more than a dozen organizations and agencies, along with university students.

Over the course of around six weeks, aircraft flew over cities, wetlands, farms, and coal mining areas.

"Each aircraft team is comprised of highly skilled and motivated people who understand how to fly their particular plane to achieve the science they want," said Glenn Wolfe, research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and project lead for MAGEQ.

"The complexity comes in identifying how each platform can complement or supplement the others."

Coordinating flights required both advanced planning and flexibility to get the best outcome. Weather proved to be a primary challenge for the team, as members worked around cloudy days, wind, and storms to ensure safe flights.

The six aircraft had different objectives and requirements. For example, some carried instruments that needed to fly high to simulate a satellite’s view of the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface and could not measure through clouds.

Others were equipped with instruments that directly measured the air particles and could work under the clouds, provided there was no rain.

Despite weather challenges, flight teams worked together to coordinate as many multi-aircraft flight days as possible, meeting the overall objective of the MAGEQ campaign.

“It’s been inspiring to see how everybody worked together,” said Lesley Ott, research meteorologist and lead carbon cycle modeler for NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA Goddard.

“By collecting data together, not only can we do a better job as scientists in having more complete understanding, we can also do a better job making usable data sets that meets the needs of different stakeholders.”

State resource managers in North Carolina and Virginia, for example, could benefit from this data as they monitor the health of wetlands, which provide resilience to storms, absorb carbon from the atmosphere and support local tourist industries.

The data could also help operators at energy-producing facilities detect methane leaks or equipment failures quickly. Faster detection could speed up intervention and minimize waste, as well as lessen environmental impacts.

Stakeholders were an integral part of the planning process, Ott said. They made suggestions about measurement sites and data needs that informed the flight planning.

Scientists will also use the measurements to verify satellite data from both public and commercial data providers.

Satellites like the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument collect similar data. Scientists can compare the airborne and satellite data to get a more complete picture of the atmosphere.

They also will use MAGEQ data to evaluate atmospheric chemistry modeling from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model, which connects atmospheric, oceanic, and land data to help create a more comprehensive picture of Earth science.

“Every aircraft does something different and contributes a different type of data,” said Steve Brown, leader of the tropospheric chemistry and atmospheric remote sensing programs at the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

“We're going to have a lot of work to do at the end of this to put all these data sets together, but we will make the best use of all these measurements.”

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-aircraft-coordinate-science-flights-to-measure-air-quality/

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-data-powers-new-tool-to-protect-water-supply-after-fires/

https://hydroflame.anvilcloud.rcac.purdue.edu/tools

NASA Data Powers New Tool to Protect Water Supply After Fires

Sep 24, 2025

When wildfires scorch a landscape, the flames are just the beginning. NASA is helping communities across the nation foresee and prepare for what can follow: mudslides, flash flooding, and contaminated surface water supplies.

A new online tool called HydroFlame, built with support from NASA’s Earth Science Division, relies on satellite data, hydrologic modeling, and artificial intelligence to predict how wildfires could affect water resources, from tap water to the rivers and streams where people fish.

The project is being developed with the University of Texas at Arlington, Purdue University, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other partners.

For now, the tool includes data only for Montana’s Clark Fork Basin, where it is being piloted. But new applications are underway in California and Utah.

Researchers will soon begin fieldwork in Los Angeles County to collect on-the-ground data to refine HydroFlame’s predictive approach — an important step toward expanding it beyond the pilot site.

“As wildfires intensify across the country, so do their ripple effects on regional water resources,” said Erin Urquhart, program manager for NASA’s water resources program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

“HydroFlame could help communities in the U.S. see what’s coming and plan for it, before a fire becomes a water crisis.”

That kind of foresight is exactly what local officials are looking for.

“For someone managing a trout fishery or drinking water supply, knowing when a stream might be overwhelmed with debris after a fire can mean the difference between preparedness and a crisis,” said Morgan Valliant, who is part of the project’s advisory group and the associate director of ecosystem services for Missoula Parks and Recreation in Montana.

“This tool could let us move from reacting to planning.”

When fire reshapes land

In the wake of a wildfire, charred hillsides are often unstable.

With the protective blanket of plants burned away, rain that once soaked gently into the soil can race downhill, sending ash, debris, and sediment into rivers and reservoirs. That runoff can trigger flash floods and contaminate drinking water.

Severe wildfires can also bake soil into a water-repelling crust. With less absorption, the same slopes can swing from drought to destructive floods, and those runoff risks can persist for decades.

HydroFlame, developed by a team led by Adnan Rajib at the University of Texas at Arlington, is built to anticipate those extremes.

"NASA is constantly pushing the boundaries when it comes to sensing and predicting fire," Rajib said. "But there is still a huge gap when it comes to translating that fire information in terms of water. That’s where HydroFlame comes in."

The tool will include three components:

a historical viewer that maps past fire impacts on streamflow and sediment

a “what-if” scenario builder to simulate future fires

a predictive tool that generates weekly forecasts using near-real-time satellite data as initial conditions

When a wildfire is identified, the tool will identify how severely areas are burned across watersheds and track shifts in vegetation, soil wetness, and evapotranspiration, or the release of water from the land and plants to the atmosphere.

HydroFlame uses data from satellite missions and instruments including MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), Landsat, and SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive).

Those observations, combined with stream records from gauged rivers, feed into simulations of possible fire-driven changes in water flow and quality.

A machine-learning component will fill in where gauges are absent, making it possible to predict impacts up to two weeks in advance.

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>>23652522

The historical viewer, which is publicly accessible, lets users explore how past fires altered streamflow and sediment levels across the basin.

The other components are still in development: The prototype of the “what-if” scenario builder tool is expected to launch in December 2025, with the full version planned for May 2026.

HydroFlame's ability to capture compounding factors — drought before a fire, flooding afterward — and simulate their cascading effects on water systems is what makes it different from other tools, Rajib said.

“Many traditional models treat each fire as a one-off,” he said. “HydroFlame looks at the bigger picture.”

Just as important, the tool is built for people who aren’t experts in satellite data.

“It’s a practical starting point for scenario planning,” said Kelly Luis, associate program manager for NASA’s water resources program and an aquatic ecosystem scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

The tool’s “what-if” function, she explained, will let water managers, city planners, and other officials apply their local knowledge. For example, they might zero in on the rivers and streams most important to a city’s water supply.

“That kind of insight is essential for building solutions that are both scientifically grounded and locally relevant.”

For watershed organizations or local and state agencies with limited staff and resources, that ease of use is crucial — saving time and effort while helping keep costs down.

“These groups need holistic ways to understand potential impacts of fires to their rivers and streams and plan, without always having to bring in someone from the outside,” said Amy Seaman, the executive director of the Montana Watershed Coordination Council.

Seaman works with community watershed organizations across Montana and is also part of the project’s advisory group.

This effort is part of a broader NASA focus on understanding how fire reshapes water systems and what that means for American communities.

A real-world trial in Los Angeles

Rajib’s team put HydroFlame’s predictive capabilities to the test during the January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles.

As fires burned through the region, researchers ran real-time model simulations using NASA satellite data, tracking changes in vegetation, soil moisture, and burn severity almost as they happened.

By the end of the month, the team had generated forecasts for mud and debris flows expected in February.

Those predictions turned out to be accurate. In early February, mudflow events struck the areas of Altadena and Sierra Madre in Los Angeles County, following the Eaton Fire.

HydroFlame had been run specifically for that fire and flagged both neighborhoods as at risk, Rajib said. “It wasn’t a formal, data-verified result because we didn’t have ground sensors in place,” Rajib said.

“But it was a practical validation. The timing and severity of what we modeled lined up with what occurred.”

Rajib’s team is now working with NASA JPL, the University of California, Merced and Los Angeles County to formally test and expand the tool in the Los Angeles area. The team plans to begin collecting on-the-ground data no earlier than Friday, Sept. 26.

That work will include installing stream sensors to measure sediment levels in the county’s streams during California’s rainy season and integrating those data into the tool — a step toward building an early-warning system.

HydroFlame invites those interested in the tool to share their ideas and feedback, and to get involved, through a web form available on the project’s Explore Tools webpage.

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Help Map the Moon’s Molten Flows!

Sep 24, 2025

When asteroids hit the Moon, the impacts carve out craters and with enough energy and pressure, melt parts of the rocky surface.

Often, the white hot, gooey melt (it’s like lava, except that it doesn’t erupt from underground) sloshes around the new crater and surrounding regions.

The molten rock cools and hardens into vast rock features called impact melt flow deposits. These flow deposits are sculpture-like abstract art with beautiful lines and textures.

Now, scientists at the Lunar Melt citizen science project are asking for your help mapping these flows.

You’ll be marking rocks, measuring the lengths of boulders, and outlining craters and melt deposits in images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

Your contributions will help reveal how impact melt has changed the Moon’s surface, especially around Little Lowell Crater and Tycho Crater, and help scientists use impact melt flows to learn about the moon’s interior.

Help planetary scientists map the geology of lava-like flows on the Moon! Sign up at mappers.psi.edu, and tell your friends!

https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/help-map-the-moons-molten-flows/

https://mappers.psi.edu/

Cutting Edge Medical Studies Look at Crew Fitness and Vision

September 24, 2025

Fitness research and vision studies once again topped the science schedule aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday helping doctors ensure the crew remains healthy on orbit.

The Expedition 73 crewmates also worked throughout the day inspecting lab module hatches, installing research cables, and testing robotic communications.

NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman split their shift on Tuesday exercising while wearing sensors and breathing gear providing data to help scientists understand how the human body adapts to weightlessness.

The lack of gravity accelerates muscle and bone loss in a crew member that doctors seek to understand and prevent as NASA and its international partners plan longer human missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Kim began his day pedaling on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle as the biomedical hardware measured his heart and breathing rate.

An astronaut’s aerobic and cardiovascular health is critical to ensure readiness for strenuous physical tasks such as a spacewalk or the return to Earth’s gravity after several months, or even years, in space.

Cardman worked out in the Tranquility module jogging on the treadmill then doing deadlifts, curls, bench presses, and other exercises on the advanced resistive exercise device (ARED).

She was wearing the sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband measuring her health data for the exercise portion of the CIPHER suite of 14 human research studies.

Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) led an eye exam and operated medical imaging gear that NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fincke peered into as personnel on the ground monitored in real time.

Doctors are studying how microgravity affects the eye structure including the lens, retina, and optic nerve to understand potential vision issues during space missions and after the return to Earth.

Earlier, Yui worked in the Kibo laboratory module on CubeSat hardware while Fincke replaced components on the ARED in Tranquility.

Fincke then spent half-an-hour checking and replacing hatch seal segments in the Destiny lab. Kim and Cardman joined in the hatch work at the end of their shift inspecting hatch seals in Destiny and the Unity modules.

Station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky, both from Roscosmos, spent the first half of their shift inside the Nauka science module routing cables for an experiment studying semiconductor manufacturing in space.

After lunchtime, the cosmonauts prepared research hardware for a biology investigation they will work on Thursday to explore how microgravity affects the digestion system.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov kicked off his shift in the Zvezda service module working on ventilation system maintenance.

Platonov also collected radiation measurements from sensors throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment.

He also tested remote control communications between the European robotic arm and mission controllers in Moscow.

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/09/24/cutting-edge-medical-studies-look-at-crew-fitness-and-vision/

NASA Highlights Space Innovation, Exploration at Space Conference

Sep 24, 2025

Led by acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, an agency delegation will participate in the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, Australia, from Sunday, Sept. 28 to Friday, Oct. 3.

The IAC, organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), is hosted this year by the Space Industry Association of Australia.

During the congress, NASA will highlight America’s leadership in human exploration to the Moon and Mars, responsible exploration under the Artemis Accords, and support for the commercial space sector in the Golden Age of innovation and exploration.

To view select events, visit the IAF YouTube channel, onsite at International Convention Centre Sydney, and across social media channels, including NASA updates on @SecDuffyNASA and @NASA X accounts.

Sunday, Sept. 28

11:45 p.m. EDT (Monday, Sept. 29, 1:45 p.m. AEST): “One-to-One with Global Space Leaders” plenary featuring Duffy

Monday, Sept. 29

11:45 p.m. EDT (Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1:45 p.m. AEST): “Learning to Live on Another World: The International Community’s Return to the Moon” plenary featuring Nujoud Merancy, deputy associate administrator of the Strategy and Architecture Office, NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate

8:15 p.m. EDT (Sept. 30, 10:15 a.m. AEST): “From Low Earth Orbit to Lunar: Delivering Sustainable Innovation in Space” forum featuring Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program

8:15 p.m. EDT (Sept. 30, 10:15 a.m. AEST): “Early Warnings for All – From Satellites to Action” special session featuring Karen St. Germain, division director, Earth Science Division, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate

Tuesday, Sept. 30

1 a.m. EDT (3 p.m. AEST): “The Artemis Accords: Safe, Sustainable, and Transparent Space Exploration” special session featuring NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails

Wednesday, Oct. 1

7 p.m. EDT (Thursday, Oct. 2, 9 a.m. AEST): “Space Sustainability: Regional Priorities, Global Responsibility” plenary featuring Alvin Drew, lead, NASA space sustainability and acting director, Space Operations Mission Directorate’s Cross-Directorate Technical Integration Office

Thursday, Oct. 2

9:35 p.m. EDT (Friday, Oct. 3, 11:35 a.m. AEST): “25 Years of the International Space Station: Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow” special session with Robyn Gatens, director, International Space Station and acting director, Commercial Spaceflight division, Space Operations Mission Directorate

A full agenda for this year’s IAC is available online.

Members of the media registered for IAC will have an opportunity to meet with NASA leadership. To register, media must apply through the IAC website.

Monday, Sept. 29

3:15 a.m. EDT (5:15 p.m. AEST): Artemis Accords media briefing with Duffy, Head of Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo, and UAE Minister of Sports and Chairman of UAE Space Agency Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi

In addition to the events outlined above, NASA will have an exhibit featuring the agency’s cutting-edge contributions to space exploration, including its science and technology missions.

NASA will host subject matter expert talks throughout the week at the exhibit.

NASA’s exhibit booth number is 132, and will be located in hall one of the International Convention Centre Sydney.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-highlights-space-innovation-exploration-at-space-conference/

NASA claims aliens might be listening in to our space signals as they 'phone home'

September 25, 2025

Scientists believe extraterrestrials could intercept our radio communications - and through that same technology, we might be able to track them down.

A fresh study indicates that transmissions to our spacecraft and rovers could be captured by alien civilizations.

To operate a Mars rover from Earth, researchers must broadcast high-powered signals toward nearby planets in our Solar System. Consequently, the destination planet doesn't capture all the radio waves directed toward it.

Portions of the transmission would travel deeper into space, vanishing permanently. Nevertheless, those continuously expanding radio transmissions could be detected by distant solar systems and intercepted by extraterrestrial beings.

It comes as a report claims that the 'Government invented UFOs to hide military stealth tech secrets'.

Pennsylvania State University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory examined this hypothesis and determined that alien civilizations have a 77% probability of being positioned within range of radio waves transmitted into the universe.

Pinchen Fan, astronomer at Penn State, stated in the research: "Based on data from the last 20 years, we found that if an extraterrestrial intelligence were in a location that could observe the alignment of Earth and Mars, there's a 77% chance that they would be in the path of one of our transmissions - orders of magnitude more likely than being in a random position at a random time."

The research team examined multiple decades of records from NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), which facilitates communication with rovers in space.

Because our Solar System's planets orbit within a plane, extraterrestrials situated in a location that aligns with the edge of that plane would have the best shot at eavesdropping.

Intriguingly, scientists believe we could reverse this scenario, implying Earth could intercept alien signals emanating from the solar system.

Experts suggest there is a feasible way to test this by observing neighboring planets that occupy the same plane.

Here, scientists could scrutinize radio waves to see if they can pick up communications from alien civilizations.

The study went on to say: "However, because we are only starting to detect a lot of exoplanets in the last decade or two, we do not know many systems with two or more transiting exoplanets.

"With the upcoming launch of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, we expect to detect a hundred thousand previously undetected exoplanets, so our potential search area should increase greatly".

https://www.newsbreak.com/express-u-s–316349130/4255957220736-nasa-claims-aliens-might-be-listening-in-to-our-space-signals-as-they-phone-home

NASA’s Webb Explores Largest Star-Forming Cloud in Milky Way

Sep 24, 2025

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a colorful array of massive stars and glowing cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, the most massive and active star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy.

“Webb’s powerful infrared instruments provide detail we’ve never been able to see before, which will help us to understand some of the still-elusive mysteries of massive star formation and why Sagittarius B2 is so much more active than the rest of the galactic center,” said astronomer Adam Ginsburg of the University of Florida, principal investigator of the program.

Sagittarius B2 is located only a few hundred light-years from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy called Sagittarius A*, a region densely packed with stars, star-forming clouds, and complex magnetic fields.

The infrared light that Webb detects is able to pass through some of the area’s thick clouds to reveal young stars and the warm dust surrounding them.

However, one of the most notable aspects of Webb’s images of Sagittarius B2 are the portions that remain dark.

These ironically empty-looking areas of space are actually so dense with gas and dust that even Webb cannot see through them.

These thick clouds are the raw material of future stars and a cocoon for those still too young to shine.

The high resolution and mid-infrared sensitivity of Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) revealed this region in unprecedented detail, including glowing cosmic dust heated by very young massive stars.

The reddest area on the right half of MIRI’s image, known as Sagittarius B2 North, is one of the most molecularly rich regions known, but astronomers have never seen it with such clarity. (Note: North is to the right in these Webb images.)

The difference longer wavelengths of light make, even within the infrared spectrum, are stark when comparing the images from Webb’s MIRI and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instruments.

Glowing gas and dust appear dramatically in mid-infrared light, while all but the brightest stars disappear from view.

In contrast to MIRI, colorful stars steal the show in Webb’s NIRCam image, punctuated occasionally by bright clouds of gas and dust.

Further research into these stars will reveal details of their masses and ages, which will help astronomers better understand the process of star formation in this dense, active galactic center region.

Has it been going on for millions of years? Or has some unknown process triggered it only recently?

Astronomers hope Webb will shed light on why star formation in the galactic center is so disproportionately low.

Though the region is stocked with plenty of gaseous raw material, on the whole it is not nearly as productive as Sagittarius B2. While Sagittarius B2 has only 10 percent of the galactic center’s gas, it produces 50 percent of its stars.

“Humans have been studying the stars for thousands of years, and there is still a lot to understand,” said Nazar Budaiev, a graduate student at the University of Florida and the co-principal investigator of the study.

“For everything new Webb is showing us, there are also new mysteries to explore, and it’s exciting to be a part of that ongoing discovery.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory.

Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-explores-largest-star-forming-cloud-in-milky-way/

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_explores_largest_star-forming_cloud_in_our_galaxy

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/