TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
November 18, 2025
The Galactic Plane: Radio Versus Visible
What does the Milky Way look like in radio waves? To better find out, GLEAM surveyed the central band of our galaxy in high resolution radio light as imaged by the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia. As the featured video slowly scrolls, radio light (71 - 231 MHz) is seen on the left and visible light from the same field on the right. Differences are so great because most objects glow differently in radio and visible light, and because visible light is stopped by nearby interstellar dust. These differences are particularly apparent in the direction toward the center of our galaxy, seen about a third of the way through. Among the many features that appear in the radio, bright red patches are usually supernova remnants of exploded stars, while areas colored blue are stellar nurseries filled with bright young stars.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Core Earth Geodesy Breaking down | S0 News and related space weather
Nov.18.2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04uCi9F06h0
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWeAzqznGQ
https://www.space.com/live/aurora-forecast-will-the-northern-lights-be-visible-tonight
https://www.aol.com/northern-lights-possible-far-south-005909145.html
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://www.SpaceWeatherNews.com
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes
Nov 17, 2025
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions.
The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observatory on July 1, is only the third object ever identified as entering our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy.
While it poses no threat to Earth and will get no closer than 170 million miles to Earth, the comet flew within 19 million miles of Mars in early October.
The event will air on NASA+, the NASA app, the agency’s website and YouTube channel, and Amazon Prime.
Briefing participants include:
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division
Tom Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies
To participate virtually in the NASA Live event, members of the media must send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the event to Molly Wasser at: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov.
Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the broadcast, by using #AskNASA on social media.
Assets within NASA’s science missions give the United States the unique capability to observe 3I/ATLAS almost the entire time it passes through our celestial neighborhood, and study – with complementary scientific instruments and from different directions – how the comet behaves.
These assets include both spacecraft across the solar system, as well as ground-based observatories.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-share-comet-3i-atlas-images-from-spacecraft-telescopes/
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/3i-atlas/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A55SUq2eDXg
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/do-the-anomalies-of-3i-atlas-flag-alien-technology-or-an-unfamiliar-interstellar-iceberg-cc31269ba3a8
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6385211750112
https://medium.com/@liena.dreams/3i-atlas-after-perihelion-phenomenal-images-tell-a-different-story-f8f3d9481048
https://medium.com/@liena.dreams/3i-atlas-spectral-data-doesnt-look-like-a-comet-86d0976a5670
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/1990609974037524606
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/1990618468153164048
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh_-lusvA-U (MrMBB333: Are ALL of these comets stirring up DEBRIS Fields!? This came out of NOWHERE!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N730_LzSwE0 (The Real BPEarthWatch: The Atlas Fleet Update!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAzgaOaGkM8 Ray's Astrophotography: (Comet 3i Atlas is ROTATING BLANK - I took a picture)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUwZorBUWUE (Dobsonian Power: 3I/ATLAS IS AN INTELLIGENT PLASMA ORGANISM! NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDY!)
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/10/31/interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-c-2025-n1-atlas-online-observation-17-nov-2025/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krU8gN-J9gY
Do the Anomalies of 3I/ATLAS Flag Alien Technology or an Unfamiliar Interstellar Iceberg?
November 17, 2025
As I explained in an interview with Peter Doocy on “The Sunday Briefing” of Fox News yesterday (accessible here), the foundation of science is based on the humility to learn, not the arrogance of expertise.
When comet experts argued that 3I/ATLAS must be a familiar water-rich comet as soon as it was discovered on July 1, 2025, they behaved like artificial intelligence systems which reflect their training data sets.
For decades, the data set that established comet expertise included icy rocks in the solar system. My point is simple.
Humanity launched technological objects to space and we must add them to the training data set of comet experts when studying interstellar objects.
On January 2, 2025, the Minor Planet Center — officiated by the International Astronomical Union to catalog space objects, identified a “near-Earth asteroid”.
A day later, the officials realized that this “asteroid” follows the trajectory of the Tesla Roadster car, launched to space by SpaceX in 2018 as a dummy payload on the Falcon Heavy rocket.
They immediately removed the object from their asteroid catalog, realizing that it is not a rock but rather a car.
Elon Musk is probably not the most accomplished space entrepreneur in the Milky-Way over the past 13.8 billion years.
There are about a hundred billion stars like the Sun in the Milky-Way, and roughly a tenth of them host a habitable Earth-size planet.
If you roll the dice on billions of Earth-Sun analogs, surely you could get more accomplished space entrepreneurs on some exo-planets.
Most stars are billions of years older than the Sun, and during a billion years our Voyager spacecraft with its 1970s technologies can reach the opposite side of the Galactic disk.
This implies that there was plenty of time for interstellar artifacts, potentially more advanced than Voyager or the Tesla Roadster car, to reach the Solar system from interstellar space.
Would comet experts recognize these visitors as technological artifacts if their training data set includes only icy rocks?
I do not think so.
1/2
To broaden the perspective, I identified the following twelve anomalies of 3I/ATLAS:
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Its retrograde trajectory is aligned to within 5 degrees with the ecliptic plane of the planets around the Sun, with a likelihood of 0.2% (see here).
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During July and August as well as in early November of 2025, it displayed a sunward jet (anti-tail) that is not an optical illusion from geometric perspective, unlike familiar comets (see here).
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Its nucleus is about a million times more massive than 1I/`Oumuamua and a thousand times more massive than 2I/Borisov, while moving faster than both, altogether with a likelihood of less than 0.1% (see here and here).
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Its arrival time was fine-tuned to bring it within tens of millions of kilometers from Mars, Venus and Jupiter and be unobservable from Earth at perihelion, with a likelihood of 0.005% (see here).
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Its gas plume contains much more nickel than iron (as found in industrially-produced nickel alloys) and a nickel to cyanide ratio that is orders of magnitude larger than that of all known comets, including 2I/Borisov, with a likelihood below 1% (see here).
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Its gas plume contains only 4% water by mass, a primary constituent of familiar comets (see here).
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It shows extreme negative polarization, unprecedented for all known comets, including 2I/Borisov, with a likelihood below 1% (see here).
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It arrived from a direction coincident with the radio “Wow! Signal” to within 9 degrees, with a likelihood of 0.6% (see here).
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Near perihelion, it brightened faster than any known comet and was bluer than the Sun (see here).
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It exhibits sunward and anti-solar jets which require an unreasonably large surface area in order to absorb enough sunlight needed to sublimate enough ice to feed the mass flux of these jets (as calculated here).
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Near perihelion it exhibits non-gravitational acceleration which requires massive evaporation of at least 13% of its mass (as calculated here), whereas preliminary images indicate that the object maintained its integrity and did not break up (as discussed here).
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Its tightly-collimated jets maintain orientation across a million kilometers in multiple directions relative to the Sun despite its measured rotation.
In ignoring these anomalies, comet experts miss two important opportunities.
First, the public loves to view science as work in progress rather than a finished product. Collecting evidence is a learning experience akin to the work of a detective.
It sometimes unravels a sobering truth that was not anticipated since nature is more imaginative than we are.
This was certainly the case when quantum mechanics was discovered a century ago and revealed a physical reality that was counterintuitive to Albert Einstein.
Despite lessons from history, present-day scientists minimize the risk to their reputation by not sharing error-corrections from data and conversing with the public only once they know the final answer.
In this risk-averse intellectual climate, they inform the public of their final findings in press conferences where they behave like lecturers in the classroom. The audience is made aware of what it needs to know.
By minimizing the risk to their reputation, scientists promote the impression that science is an occupation of the intellectual elite.
But the truth is that the mainstream of science is routinely wrong. Einstein argued between 1935 and 1940 that quantum mechanics does not have “spooky action at a distance” and that black holes or gravitational waves do not exist.
The popular idea of supersymmetry was ruled out by CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. In addition, after four decades of occupying centerstage in mainstream theoretical physics — string theory is no closer to making unique predictions that can be tested experimentally.
Through my communications about 3I/ATLAS, I convey the notion that science is work in progress. Anomalies offer a multitude of interpretations that are tested by new data that can rule out all but one of them.
I receive hundreds of emails from fans every day and many parents write that their children wish to become scientists after seeing me speak in podcasts or on television.
Second, the mainstream defined the search for microbes as the highest priority in the 2020 US Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics, converging on the allocation of more than ten billion dollars to the Habitable World Observatory and sidelining the search for technological signatures.
Even if microbes are far more abundant on exoplanets, it might be easier to identify technological signatures.
It therefore makes most sense to hedge our bets and invest billions of dollars in the simultaneous search for both technological and primitive lifeforms.
2/3
The public is much more passionate about the search for aliens than the search for microbes. Taxpayers fund science and scientists should not sideline the public’s interest when defining research priorities.
Remarkably, interstellar objects offer a new opportunity for both the search for primitive and technological lifeforms.
We can land on an interstellar rock and return a sample of it to Earth, just as the OSIRIS-REx mission did with the asteroid Bennu.
The returned sample may reveal the building blocks of life from another star. But in case the interstellar object happens to be a technological artifact, our learning opportunities would be far greater.
The fundamental question after landing on a spacecraft with buttons on its surface would be whether to press any of these buttons.
3/3
Comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS fragmentation: new image with likely a new piece and animation
18 Nov. 2025.
The image above comes from the sigma-clipping combination of 7, 60-second unfiltered exposures, remotely taken with the Celestron C14+Paramount ME+SBIG ST-10XME robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy.
We had just the time to captures that handful of frames before clouds covered the whole sky.
We clearly see the main fragments we tracked earlier, but with hints of a possible fourth piece, as indicated below.
We also managed to update our animation, including our 11, 12, 13, 14 and 18 Nov. data, see below.
On 25 Nov., we will show this comet live: join us from the comfort of your home!
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/11/18/comet-c-2025-k1-atlas-fragmentation-new-image-with-likely-a-new-piece-and-animation-18-nov-2025/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krU8gN-J9gY
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/3i-atlas-and-nasa-did-the-world-just-complete-a-planetary-defense-exercise/
3I/ATLAS and NASA — Did the World Just Complete a Planetary-Defense Exercise?
Nov 18, 2025, 5:58 PM
In recent days, major international science and news outlets have shifted the way they describe the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. Leading publications — including BBC Sky at Night, Newsweek and others — now refer to it as a “planetary-defense test case.”
At the same time, the European Space Agency (ESA) quietly released an official statement, almost in passing, noting that the monitoring of 3I/ATLAS served as a “rehearsal for planetary defense.”
A small sentence — with significant implications.
Assessment: The European publication reveals that the exercise was already underway — and may not be over.
Based on known patterns of cooperation among global space agencies, ESA’s wording strongly suggests that the exercise was still active, and that most participating agencies remained under communication restrictions.
This may explain:
NASA’s prolonged silence in recent weeks
The absence of a UN-affiliated report
The visible confusion in Israel, India, and China
The limited scientific data available until now
And the unusually cautious and minimalistic tone of ESA’s announcement
The formal framework: A UN-managed exercise, not one led by NASA or ESA
When ESA uses the term “Rehearsal for Planetary Defense,” it automatically activates two international bodies:
IAWN — International Asteroid Warning Network
SMPAG — Space Mission Planning Advisory Group
Both operate under:
UNOOSA — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
Such frameworks require:
Coordinated decision-making
Unified messaging
Strict communication discipline
And clear separation between operational agencies and the scientific community
Which countries were inside the exercise? — An assessment based on system structure
United States
NASA, JPL, US Space Force, NRO — deep-space monitoring + official planetary-defense mandate.
Europe (ESA)
Led the first public disclosure; coordinated Mars-based data.
Japan (JAXA)
Subaru Telescope and advanced SSA (Space Situational Awareness) systems.
India (ISRO)
DSN infrastructure; partial awareness but public statements were restricted.
United Arab Emirates (MBRSC / Hope Mars Orbiter)
Full technical partner; aligned with both NASA and ESA.
China (CNSA)
Independent tracking; scheduled a public release for 19 December — timing that strongly implies international coordination.
Russia (Roscosmos + SKKP)
Official member of IAWN/SMPAG; critical deep-space tracking capabilities.
Israel
Not a formal IAWN member, but recognized as a cooperating state with SSA capabilities and established information channels with the US; therefore likely receiving filtered data as part of the coordinated effort.
The beginning: late September — when 3I/ATLAS approached Mars
Around 20 September, as 3I/ATLAS neared its closest approach to Mars — approximately 29 million km — a broad, multinational monitoring effort began.
It was a rare event: an interstellar object passing close to a planet surrounded by active research spacecraft.
1/2
During those days, NASA and ESA announced that they would redirect cameras, telescopes, and orbital/ground-based instruments toward the object to maximize the observation window.
According to our assessment, additional planetary-defense actors also joined, each through their own detection and tracking systems.
Why did NASA speak only after ESA? — Analytical reasoning, not inside information
Based on long-established coordination patterns between NASA and ESA:
When a central partner breaks partial silence during an active exercise, the other partners must respond quickly to maintain aligned public messaging.
Meaning:
ESA cracked the communication silence carefully
The exercise likely had not yet concluded
NASA was required to issue a complementary statement
Otherwise a public perception of “information gaps” or “concealment” could emerge
This is standard behavior in sensitive, multinational rehearsals.
Why did scientists receive data so late?
In every UNOOSA-coordinated exercise:
Space agencies receive priority access
Military space systems release data to scientists only after an initial monitoring phase
Mars-based data is limited during active operations
China and the U.S. never share real-time intelligence
The scientific community receives information only when a segment of the exercise concludes
This explains why the scientific “awakening” around ATLAS began only this week.
India and China: the two most revealing responses
India
Appeared to be in a state of “controlled pressure”: aware of participation, but without public authorization to confirm it.
China
The planned 19 December release indicates a clearly coordinated, international timetable.
Why has the UN not released an official report yet?
Because — according to our assessment — the exercise may still be ongoing.
When such scenarios are active:
UNOOSA does not publish
NASA avoids full disclosure
ESA releases only minimal phrasing
Russia and China remain silent
India stays in a gray zone
Israel receives information but does not comment
And scientists wait for the system to exit “locked phase”
A formal report will come only after complete mission debriefing.
Conclusion
3I/ATLAS is no longer just an interstellar object.
It has become the trigger for what appears to be the largest planetary-defense rehearsal ever conducted — and it may still be underway.
NASA’s press conference scheduled for Wednesday — dedicated to the data collected during the U.S. government funding freeze — may shed light on whether 3I/ATLAS was indeed part of this global exercise.
The world is waiting for the official report.
2/2
NASA Is Tracking a Vast Anomaly Growing in Earth's Magnetic Field
18 November 2025
For years, NASA has monitored a strange anomaly in Earth's magnetic field: a giant region of lower magnetic intensity in the skies, stretching out between South America and southwest Africa.
This vast, developing phenomenon, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, has intrigued and concerned scientists for decades, and perhaps none more so than NASA researchers.
The space agency's satellites and spacecraft are particularly vulnerable to the weakened magnetic field within the anomaly, and the resulting exposure to charged particles from the Sun.
Related: Sunken Continents Near Earth's Core Could Unbalance Our Magnetic Field
Likened by NASA to a 'dent' in Earth's magnetic field, or a kind of 'pothole in space', the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) has expanded by around half the size of continental Europe since 2014, while its magnetic intensity weakens, according to the latest data.
It generally doesn't affect life on Earth, but the same can't be said for orbital spacecraft (including the International Space Station), which pass directly through the anomaly as they loop around the planet in low-Earth orbit.
Watch the following video for a summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQX1vumsJms
During these encounters, the reduced magnetic field strength inside the anomaly means technological systems onboard satellites can short-circuit and malfunction if they become struck by high-energy protons emanating from the Sun.
These random hits may usually only produce low-level glitches, but they do carry the risk of causing significant data loss, or even permanent damage to key components – threats obliging satellite operators to routinely shut down spacecraft systems before spacecraft enter the anomaly zone.
Mitigating those hazards in space is one reason NASA is tracking the SAA; another is that the mystery of the anomaly represents a great opportunity to investigate a complex and difficult-to-understand phenomenon, and NASA's broad resources and research groups are uniquely well-appointed to study the occurrence.
"The magnetic field is actually a superposition of fields from many current sources," geophysicist Terry Sabaka from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center explained in 2020.
The primary source is considered to be a swirling ocean of molten iron inside Earth's outer core, thousands of kilometers below the ground. The movement of that mass generates electrical currents that create Earth's magnetic field, but not necessarily uniformly, it seems.
A huge reservoir of dense rock called the African Large Low Shear Velocity Province, located about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the African continent, is thought to disturb the field's generation, resulting in the dramatic weakening effect – which is aided by the tilt of the planet's magnetic axis.
"The observed SAA can be also interpreted as a consequence of weakening dominance of the dipole field in the region," said NASA Goddard geophysicist and mathematician Weijia Kuang in 2020.
"More specifically, a localized field with reversed polarity grows strongly in the SAA region, thus making the field intensity very weak, weaker than that of the surrounding regions."
While there's much scientists still don't fully understand about the anomaly and its implications, new insights are continually shedding light on this strange phenomenon.
For example, one study led by NASA heliophysicist Ashley Greeley in 2016 revealed the SAA slowly drifts around, which was confirmed by subsequent tracking from CubeSats in research published in 2021.
It's not just moving, however. Even more remarkably, the phenomenon seems to be in the process of splitting, with researchers in 2020 discovering that the SAA appeared to be dividing into two distinct cells, each representing a separate center of minimum magnetic intensity within the greater anomaly.
Just what that means for the future of the SAA remains unknown, but there's evidence to suggest that the anomaly is not a new appearance.
A study published in July 2020 indicated the phenomenon is not a freak event of recent times, but a recurrent magnetic event that may have affected Earth since as far back as 11 million years ago.
If so, that could signal that the South Atlantic Anomaly is not a trigger or precursor to the entire planet's magnetic field flipping, which is something that actually happens, if not for hundreds of thousands of years at a time.
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-is-tracking-a-vast-anomaly-growing-in-earths-magnetic-field
https://www.sciencealert.com/vast-anomaly-in-earths-magnetic-field-keeps-growing-satellites-reveal
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031920125001414?
NASA Invites Media to Attend Crewed Artemis II Moon Mission Launch
Nov 17, 2025
Media accreditation is open for the launch of the first crewed Moon mission under NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Targeted to launch in early 2026, the Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
The crew will lift off from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft on the agency’s powerful (SLS) Space Launch System rocket to help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration.
International media without U.S. citizenship must apply to view the launch by Sunday, Nov. 30. U.S. media must apply by Monday, Dec. 8. Journalists who already have annual badges to NASA Kennedy also must apply.
Those who are accredited to attend the Artemis II launch also will be accredited to attend pre-launch events, including rollout of the integrated rocket and spacecraft several weeks before launch. Additional details about launch dates will be provided later.
Media may submit accreditation requests online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov
Due to high interest, space is limited to attend launch activities. Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval, along with additional information about pre-launch and launch activities.
NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, Artemis will pave the way for new U.S.-crewed missions on the lunar surface in preparation toward the first crewed mission to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-attend-crewed-artemis-ii-moon-mission-launch/
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii
Monday’s Research Studies Ways to Protect Eyes and Lungs in Space
November 17, 2025
Expedition 73 kicked off the week exploring how to prevent space-caused vision problems and what happens to the respiratory system in microgravity.
The International Space Station residents also worked on combustion research and Earth observation gear, organized food and cargo inventory, and serviced life support systems.
NASA Flight Engineers Mike Fincke and Jonny Kim spent their day studying ways to pull body fluids back toward the feet similar to Earth’s gravity.
In space, the headward fluid shifts can lead to health issues including changes to an astronaut’s eye structure and vision.
The duo tested a thigh cuff that may pull fluids toward the lower body and keep them there reducing brain and eye pressure.
Fincke led the investigation on Monday collecting Kim’s blood pressure and scanning his veins with the Ultrasound 2 device while he wore the thigh cuff.
Next, Kim peered into medical imaging gear for an eye exam as doctors on the ground monitored in real time. Results, may provide simple tools and less-invasive countermeasures to protect future crews travelling to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky, both Roscosmos cosmonauts, wore sensors and nose clips on Monday and exhaled forcefully for a human research experiment to understand how living in space affects respiratory function including lung volume and airflow rate.
Afterward, Ryzhikov started a 24-hour blood pressure monitoring session and filled out a questionnaire to document his interactions with international crews and mission controllers.
Zubritsky transferred water from the Progress 92 cargo spacecraft into station tanks then took the same international interactions questionnaire as Ryzhikov.
Flight Engineers Zena Cardman of NASA and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) began their day reorganizing cargo inside the Kibo laboratory module making more stowage space.
Cardman then collected food packs from inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module and stowed them inside the Unity module where the station’s galley, or kitchen, is located.
Yui called down to Earth and spoke with Japanese elementary, middle, and high school students to talk about science and engineering topics.
Finally, he swapped out a camera inside Kibo’s Solid Combustion Experiment Module that studies how materials burn in weightlessness to improve fire safety on spacecraft.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov kicked off his shift on life support maintenance replacing the Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system located inside the Zvezda service module.
During the last half of Platonov’s shift, he worked on water transfers and installed a specialized camera to photograph Earth landmarks in a wide variety of wavelengths.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/11/17/mondays-research-studies-ways-to-protect-eyes-and-lungs-in-space/
NASA, Industry Weave Data Fabric with Artificial Intelligence
Nov 17, 2025
One of the biggest goals for companies in the field of artificial intelligence is developing “agentic” or autonomous systems. These metaphorical agents can perform tasks without a guiding human hand.
This parallels the goals of the emerging urban air mobility industry, which hopes to bring autonomous flying vehicles to cities around the world. One company got a head start on doing both with some help from NASA.
Autonomy Association International Inc. (AAI) is a public benefit corporation based in Mountain View, California, near NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.
In 2022, AAI signed a Space Act Agreement with Ames to support the agency’s Data and Reasoning Fabric project, which aimed to support the transportation of people and cargo to areas previously unserved or underserved by aviation, and to provide reliable, accurate, and current data for aeronautic decision-making.
“Inspiration to lean into data fabric to solve certain complexities came from our NASA partnership,” said AAI cofounder and the project’s industry principal investigator Greg Deeds.
“Working on this project was a great experience. Working with NASA engineers and leaders gave us experience that we’ll carry forward in all of our products.”
Similar to how clothing fabric is made of intertwined threads, a data fabric comprises intertwined data sources.
While a data fabric built by a tech company may include data from a few different cloud service providers, NASA’s Data and Reasoning Fabric can also use information provided by local governments and other service providers.
By viewing airspace as a large data fabric, an autonomous vehicle can take in data and requests from the cities and towns it flies over and prioritize responses between them.
Working with Ken Freeman, principal investigator of the project at Ames, AAI and NASA performed four testing adaptations of the data fabric technology in the air over Arizona.
Using hardware and software developed by AAI, the flights tested advanced air mobility passenger flights and the use of a drone for rapid delivery of medical supplies from urban to rural areas and back, while sending new tasks to the aircraft in flight.
A helicopter stood in for the drone and air taxi, flying over towns, universities, tribal lands, and the airspace around Phoenix Sky Harbor airport and obtaining data and programs given to it from different places.
“We’re focusing on the digital infrastructure building blocks of smart cities and regions of the future,” said Jennifer Deeds, chief operating officer and cofounder of AAI.
In the years since the original NASA project, the company has cultivated relationships and customers abroad, including companies in agriculture, real estate development, and industrial food production using its system to aggregate and manage data.
Released in 2024, the company’s Digital Infrastructure Platform uses the same technology originally designed for the NASA flight test. A new, “agentic” version followed not long after, able to retrieve necessary AI programs with minimal interaction.
As AI unlocks innovation across American industries, NASA is equipping its commercial partners with the keys, using proven technology to generate breakthrough solutions.
https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/nasa-industry-weave-data-fabric-with-artificial-intelligence/
Bale Dalton, Navy Veteran and Former NASA Chief of Staff, Announces Campaign for Congress in Florida’s 7th District
November 17, 2025
Dalton is challenging scandal-plagued extremist Cory Mills, who has been investigated for assaulting a young woman, had a restraining order issued against him for harassing another, and is currently under investigation for ethics violations related to profiting from the sale of arms to undisclosed foreign governments
Sanford, FL – Today, Bale Dalton – a distinguished Naval Aviator and former Chief of Staff of NASA – announced his candidacy for Congress in Florida’s 7th District.
After decades of service in the Navy and at NASA, Bale Dalton is challenging scandal-plagued extremist Cory Mills to put country over politics and restore mission-first leadership in Washington.
“I’m running for Congress because Floridians deserve leaders who know what real service looks like. It’s courage, sacrifice, and putting the American people first,” said Bale Dalton.
“I will put people ahead of politics to lower costs and deliver results. I’m tired of politicians who are only in it for themselves.”
Bale’s life has been defined by a deep commitment to service, and a belief that leadership means taking responsibility when stakes are high.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Bale served in the Navy and Navy Reserve for 23 years, 13 on active duty, as a Naval Aviator with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and the Pacific.
As a Navy helicopter pilot, Bale flew medical evacuation missions in Kuwait, delivered relief after Hurricane Katrina, supported special operations in Iraq and Africa, and directed combat air support in Afghanistan.
Following active duty, Bale worked at the State Department and as a Military Legislative Assistant for former Senator Bill Nelson.
Bale returned to active duty as commanding officer of the Navy’s special operations support squadron, then used his military background to improve efficiency and operations at an aerospace company in the private sector.
As NASA Chief of Staff, he managed 16,500 employees and helped run one of the federal government’s most effective agencies.
After a lifetime of service, Bale Dalton is fed up with politicians like scandal-plagued extremist Cory Mills who have turned their backs on American families and put themselves ahead of the people they serve.
Among numerous scandals, Mills has been investigated by law enforcement for assaulting a young woman, and was issued a restraining order by a judge for harassing another.
He is currently under investigation for ethics violations related to profiting from the sale of arms to undisclosed foreign governments. Allegations have been raised about the veracity of Mills’ claims regarding his military service.
Cory Mills has shown repeatedly that he will always look out for his own interests at the expense of helping the Floridians he claims to represent.
“During 23 years serving this country, I’ve seen real leaders put mission over ego and people over politics. That’s the kind of leadership Florida needs,” Dalton said.
“Families in Central Florida want lower costs, safer communities, opportunities to thrive, and a representative who works for them – not himself.”
Florida’s 7th Congressional District includes all of Seminole County and the southern half of Volusia County.
https://baledalton.com/bale-dalton-navy-veteran-and-former-nasa-chief-of-staff-announces-campaign-for-congress-in-floridas-7th-district/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GiWigDU5pM
S. Korea, UAE sign MOUs on AI, nuclear energy and space at summit
Nov. 18, 2025 - 19:38:17
South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed seven memorandums of understanding on Tuesday to expand cooperation in advanced industries during a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the presidential office said.
The preliminary agreements were signed during Lee's state visit to the UAE, aimed at boosting trade and investment and strengthening collaboration in strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace and nuclear energy.
Among the documents were a strategic cooperation framework on AI, as well as MOUs on space cooperation and global partnerships in next-generation nuclear technologies and AI, the office said.
The two sides also signed MOUs related to the implementation of the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed last year, as well as enhanced cooperation in intellectual property rights, it noted.
CEPA is a type of free trade agreement that emphasizes a broader scope of economic cooperation and exchanges in addition to market opening, which requires parliamentary ratification to take effect.
The UAE is the first Middle Eastern nation to sign a free trade deal with South Korea. (Yonhap)
https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10618743
https://economymiddleeast.com/news/uae-and-south-korea-sign-key-deals-ai-space-biohealth-and-energy/
Iran plans first launch from Chabahar space center as three satellites near liftoff
November 18, 2025
Iran said on Tuesday it will soon launch three Earth-observation satellites and carry out the first test launch from its new Chabahar space center, signaling a further expansion of its space program amid Western concerns over the dual-use nature of Iranian rocket technology.
Hassan Salarieh, head of the Iranian Space Agency, told a media event in Semnan that the Zafar-2, Paya and the second batch of Kosar imaging satellites are ready for launch.
He said Iran’s space sector had advanced to the point where “satellites with one-meter and sub-five-meter imaging resolution are now under construction.”
Salarieh said the first experimental launch from the Chabahar Space Center – a coastal site under development in Iran’s southeast – will take place next year.
“Chabahar is becoming one of the most important launch centers in West Asia,” he said, adding that its construction began in 2023 and that the site is designed to support heavier, liquid-fuel launch vehicles.
His comments come as Iran accelerates work on Chabahar’s second development phase. In April, the agency said the facility would eventually handle semi-heavy liquid-fuel rockets and serve as Iran’s main space gateway, with a geographic position suited for placing satellites into sun-synchronous and geostationary orbits.
Salarieh said Iran had also signed its first private-sector contracts for satellite constellations, including the narrow-band Kosar system intended for emergency data transfer, and highlighted recent milestones such as the launch of private-built satellites on a Russian rocket, the successful 2023 flight of the solid-fuel Sorayya launcher, and the deployment of the Nahid-2 communications satellite in 2025.
Iran has long said its space program is civilian and scientific, though Western governments argue that technologies used for orbital launches can advance long-range ballistic missile capabilities.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran’s missile and space work supports national deterrence, while Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has said Tehran could eventually offer launch services to allied states.
Salarieh said domestic expertise had raised Iran’s launch capacity to “several hundred kilograms” and that efforts in propulsion, solid-fuel and liquid-fuel systems had advanced in parallel over the past three years.
Iran’s space program has picked up pace since the 2009 launch of the Omid satellite, with universities and state-linked research centers producing a series of experimental spacecraft.
In 2023 and 2024, Iran also carried out multiple sub-orbital tests, launched reconnaissance satellites via foreign rockets and unveiled new satellite buses and transfer stages, including the Saman-1 upper stage designed for higher-altitude orbits.
Salarieh said the government sees space as a strategic industry with economic, security and industrial implications.
“We have strong human capital and significant infrastructure,” he said. “The development of space capability will continue rapidly.”
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202511188585
https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/secretive-spacex-satellites-operated-by-us-government-are-shooting-disruptive-radio-signals-into-space-astronomer-accidentally-discovers
Secretive SpaceX satellites operated by US government are shooting disruptive radio signals into space, astronomer accidentally discovers
November 18, 2025
SpaceX's secretive "Starshield" government-operated intelligence satellites are deliberately emitting radio signals the "wrong way around," and outside of the frequency ranges designated by international authorities, a new paper has revealed.
The signals, which were accidentally discovered by an amateur astronomer, may have the potential to negatively impact other spacecraft around them, NPR recently reported.
Starshield satellites are an offshoot of SpaceX's ever-expanding Starlink constellation that have been specially built for and operated by branches of the U.S. government.
Very little is known about the Starshield program, which was first announced in 2023, including where the satellites are positioned around Earth, what their mission parameters are, or how they differ from standard Starlink satellites, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com.
SpaceX has launched dozens of Starshield batches into space so far. They likely total more than 200 individual satellites, although the exact number is unclear.
The majority of the satellites are operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), while a small number are controlled by the U.S. Space Force.
In total, the U.S. government has paid an estimated $1.8 billion for the Starshield network, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On Oct. 17, Scott Tilley, an amateur astronomer and citizen scientist who has previously tracked China's mysterious space plane and rediscovered a lost NASA satellite, released a new paper describing a series of anomalous satellite signals.
Tilley initially came across these signals by mistake, after switching his equipment to a frequency range that is almost never used by satellites, and he was initially unsure what was causing them.
"It was just a clumsy move at the keyboard," Tilley told NPR. "I was resetting some stuff and then all of a sudden I'm looking at the wrong antenna, the wrong band."
After comparing the signals to data collected from other amateur astronomers, he realized that they were likely coming from Starshield satellites, which he "wasn't expecting at all." (Tilley's findings have not yet been peer-reviewed.)
The new signals have frequencies between 2,025 and 2,110 megahertz, which are normally used for "uplink" signals, sent from Earth-based operators up into space.
But in this case, these frequencies are being used to send "downlinks," or messages from satellites back to the planet's surface.
As a result, the signals do not fall within the downlink frequencies approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) — a United Nations agency that coordinates the use of the radio spectrum across the globe and in space.
"These signals seem to be intentionally emitted by Starshield satellites, but outside of permitted frequency ranges," Benjamin Winkel, a radio astronomer at the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Germany, told Live Science.
But it is unclear why they are using uplink signals instead of standard downlink frequencies, he added.
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In addition to potentially revealing the satellites' classified locations, Tilley warned that the Starshield signals could disrupt other spacecraft:
"Nearby satellites could receive radio-frequency interference and could perhaps not respond properly to commands — or ignore commands — from Earth," he told NPR.
But not everyone is convinced. "I think it [the signals] is definitely happening," Kevin Gifford, a computer science professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who specializes in radio interference from spacecraft, told NPR.
However, it is too soon to tell if these signals interfere with other spacecraft, and no such incidents have been reported so far, he added.
Tilley detected signals coming from 170 different Starshield satellites, hinting that the downlinks are probably being used by the entire constellation.
This further suggests that the signals are being emitted on purpose, which some experts find unsurprising.
"SpaceX is smart and savvy," Gifford said. It's possible they decided to just "do it and ask forgiveness later," he added.
Neither SpaceX nor the NRO has commented on the newly discovered signals so far.
Disruptive SpaceX signals
This is not the first time SpaceX has run into issues regarding radio signals.
In 2023, a group of astronomers revealed that Generation 1 Starlink satellites are accidentally leaking a large amount of radio pollution, known as unintended electromagnetic radiation (UEMR), into space — and that the frequencies of these signals overlap with those used by radio astronomers.
A follow-up study, in 2024, also revealed that Generation 2 Starlinks are leaking even more UEMR than their Generation 1 counterparts.
This problem is likely to get much worse as the number of private satellites increases. For example, SpaceX recently launched its 10,000th Starlink satellite into orbit.
And while not all of those satellites remain operational, those that do represent around 60% of the roughly 12,000 active satellites currently orbiting our planet. Some experts also predict that we could end up with around 100,000 satellites by 2050.
Earlier this year, Live Science revealed that, if left unchecked, the UEMR from these future satellites could eventually disrupt all forms of ground-based radio astronomy, significantly handicapping our ability to study the cosmos.
Initial observations suggest that the new Starshield signals will not have a major impact on radio astronomy, Winkel said. However, like every other private satellite, they will likely be emitting some form of UEMR, he added.
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SpaceX Starlink Mission
November 18, 2025
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is targeting the launch of 29 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 X TV app.
This will be the 12th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-S1, and five Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-6-94
U.S. Space Force establishes Combat Forces Command, welcomes new FLDCOM commander
Nov. 17, 2025
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – In a ceremony held at Peterson Space Force Base, Nov. 3, 2025, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman officially redesignated Space Operations Command (SpOC) as United States Space Force Combat Forces Command (CFC), marking a significant shift in the command's focus toward enhanced combat readiness and integrated space defense.
U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon assumed command of the newly renamed CFC, succeeding U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. David N. Miller, Jr., the SpOC commander.
The redesignation reflects the command's commitment to aligning with its core purpose of forging combat-ready Space Forces for America and its allies, and with the evolution of the United States Space Force as a warfighting service.
"As we continue to evolve into the warfighting service that the joint force and the nation demands, Combat Forces Command stands ready to generate and present combat-ready units of action, providing combat-credible space solutions to the joint force’s toughest operational problems," said Saltzman.
The change builds upon the Space Force's strategic vision for deterring aggression, fighting and winning in the space domain. CFC is responsible for generating and presenting combat-ready intelligence, cyber, space and combat support forces.
During the ceremony, Miller and Chief Master Sgt. Michael Rozneck, CFC senior enlisted leader, furled the former SpOC command flag, symbolizing the inactivation of SpOC and transference of its legacy to CFC.
Later in the ceremony, Gagnon and Rozneck unfurled the CFC command flag for the first time.
"Our power is our people. You are our most important weapon system in Combat Forces Command," said Gagnon in his first address to the Guardians and Airmen of CFC. “You are, in fact, power. Space power.”
CFC will focus on generating and presenting combat-ready units of action, maturing the Space Force generation model, strengthening Mission Deltas, and elevating combat-focused training and qualifications across the force.
It will empower leaders at every level and integrate multiple mission sets into cohesive combat squadrons, while treating installations as warfighting platforms.
The command's vision is for America’s Space Warfighters to be “Always Ready, Always Innovative, Always Above.”
"In this command, we believe in the mission, and we believe in each other," said Miller. In his parting words, Miller expressed his confidence that Gagnon would take the command to greater heights.
Saltzman and Gagnon both acknowledged the heritage of the organizations that came before CFC. The command has a long history, beginning in its early days as Air Force Space Command and later becoming SpOC in October 2020.
CFC comprises approximately 12,000 Guardians, Airmen and civilian personnel across 11 Deltas, 82 squadrons and 25 units of action.
The redesignation comes shortly before the sixth anniversary of the Space Force, which will occur in December 2025.
The ceremony concluded with a pass in review, during which members of CFC’s Deltas marched, demonstrating teamwork and unity.
Gagnon closed his remarks with, “Chapter Two begins like this: although protect and defend is necessary, it is insufficient to win in war. We must protect, defend, and attack—Combat Forces Command, let’s roll!”
The mission of CFC is to protect America and its allies in, from, and to space… now and into the future.
https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/News/Display/Article/4333984/us-space-force-establishes-combat-forces-command-welcomes-new-fldcom-commander/
NATO nation’s top general tells population to prepare for attack
18 Nov, 2025 10:35
Poland faces a potential attack from an “adversary,” Chief of the General Staff General Wieslaw Kukula claims, referencing a series of alleged cyberattacks and acts of sabotage.
In an interview with Radio Jedynka on Monday, Kukula responded to remarks by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who compared the current global landscape to the pre-World War II era and the height of the Cold War in 1981.
“That’s a very good comparison because everything today depends on our attitude – whether we can deter the enemy or, conversely, encourage their aggression,” Kukula said.
He claimed that “the adversary has begun preparing for war” by creating the “conditions favorable to potential aggression on Polish territory,” though he did not specify which country he was referring to.
His comments follow an incident on the Warsaw-Lublin railway line in the direction of Ukraine, where a track was damaged twice within 24 hours on Monday.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the incident an act of sabotage, though the Interior Ministry declined to confirm this.
Spokesperson Karolina Galecka said there is no evidence to suggest deliberate action by third parties, adding in a post on X on Sunday: “Speculation can cause unnecessary emotions and a sense of threat.”
This incident fits into a broader pattern. Last month, Tusk announced the detention of eight individuals suspected of planning sabotage.
The Polish authorities previously reported that they foiled alleged plots claimed to have been orchestrated “on behalf of foreign intelligence services.”
In August, Tusk’s government accused Russia of recruiting citizens from Ukraine and Belarus for sabotage operations on Polish soil.
Tensions between Moscow and Warsaw intensified in September after the Polish authorities accused Russia of conducting drone incursions.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied having any intention of targeting Poland and offered to hold consultations with the Polish military on the matter, but Poland did not respond.
Politicians among the NATO states have increasingly spoken of a “Russian threat.” Moscow has denied harboring any aggressive intentions towards member states, but has warned of a harsh response if attacked.
https://www.rt.com/news/627933-poland-adversary-attack/
Western leaders ‘only care about corrupt Nazis’ in Ukraine – Roger Waters
18 Nov, 2025 15:37
Western politicians are focused only on exploiting Ukraine’s far-right-allied government for personal and geopolitical gain and have no concern for the country’s ordinary citizens, musician and human-rights activist Roger Waters has said.
Speaking to RIA Novosti on Tuesday, the Pink Floyd co-founder accused senior Western officials, particularly in the UK, of helping to prolong the conflict with Russia.
Waters argued that members of the political establishment are not expected to “do anything sensible” because they are primarily “out to fill their pockets.”
“Does [former UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson or [current UK Prime Minister] Keir Starmer or [US President] Donald Trump care about… Ukrainian soldiers? No, of course they don’t,” he said.
”They don’t make any pretense that they care about them or anybody in Ukraine, except the corrupt Nazis who will help them strip the country of all its assets and stuff the money into their pockets. That’s what it’s about,” Waters added.
Johnson has been widely accused of pressuring Kiev in 2022 to reject a negotiated settlement with Moscow in favor of continuing the fight.
The Guardian reported last month that after stepping down as prime minister, Johnson received a £1 million ($1.3 million) donation from businessman Christopher Harborne, a major shareholder in a UK defense firm who later joined him on a private trip to Kiev.
Russian officials have repeatedly accused London of playing a leading role in fueling the conflict, arguing that the UK uses the hostilities to distract its own population from domestic failures.
Earlier this month, a major corruption scandal erupted in Ukraine when businessman Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky, was charged with masterminding a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector.
Western governments, including Germany, have been sending large sums of money to support Ukraine’s power grid, with Berlin announcing a new tranche just days after the charges became public.
https://www.rt.com/news/627944-waters-elites-ukraine-conflict/