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https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter/nasa-orbiter-shines-new-light-on-long-running-martian-mystery/
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL118537
NASA Orbiter Shines New Light on Long-Running Martian Mystery
Nov 25, 2025
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has revisited and raised new questions about a mysterious feature buried beneath thousands of feet of ice at the Red Planet’s south pole.
In a recent study, researchers conclude from data obtained using an innovative radar technique that an area on Mars suspected of being an underground lake is more likely to be a layer of rock and dust.
The 2018 discovery of the suspected lake set off a flurry of scientific activity, as water is closely linked with life in the solar system.
While the latest findings indicate this feature is not a lake below the Martian surface, it does suggest that the same radar technique could be used to check for subsurface resources elsewhere on Mars, supporting future explorers.
The paper, published in Geophysical Research Letters on Nov. 17, was led by two of MRO’s Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument scientists, Gareth Morgan and Than Putzig, who are based at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and Lakewood, Colorado, respectively.
The observations were made by MRO with a special maneuver that rolls the spacecraft 120 degrees. Doing so enhances the power of SHARAD, enabling the radar’s signal to penetrate deeper underground and provide a clearer image of the subsurface.
These “very large rolls” have proved so effective that scientists are eager to use them at previously observed sites where buried ice might exist.
Morgan, Putzig, and fellow SHARAD team members had made multiple unsuccessful attempts to observe the area suspected of hosting a buried lake.
Then the scientists partnered with the spacecraft’s operations team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads the mission, to develop the very large roll capability.
Because the radar’s antenna is at the back of MRO, the orbiter’s body obstructs its view and weakens the instrument’s sensitivity.
After considerable work, engineers at JPL and Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, which built the spacecraft and supports its operations, developed commands for a 120-degree roll — a technique that requires careful planning to keep the spacecraft safe — to direct more of SHARAD’s signal at the surface.
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Bright signal
On May 26, SHARAD performed a very large roll to finally pick up the signal in the target area, which spans about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) and is buried under a slab of water ice almost 1 mile (1,500 meters) thick.
When a radar signal bounces off underground layers, the strength of its reflection depends on what the subsurface is made of. Most materials let the signal slip through or absorb it, making the return faint.
Liquid water is special in that it produces a very reflective surface, sending back a very strong signal (imagine pointing a flashlight at a mirror).
That’s the kind of signal that was spotted from this area in 2018 by a team working with the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument aboard the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express orbiter.
To explain how such a body of water could remain liquid under all that ice, scientists have hypothesized it could be a briny lake, since high salt content can lower water’s freezing temperature.
“We’ve been observing this area with SHARAD for almost 20 years without seeing anything from those depths,” said Putzig.
But once MRO achieved a very large roll over the precise area, the team was able to look much deeper. And rather than the bright signal MARSIS received, SHARAD detected a faint one.
A different very-large-roll observation of an adjacent area didn’t detect a signal at all, suggesting something unique is causing a quirky radar signal at the exact spot MARSIS saw a signal.
“The lake hypothesis generated lots of creative work, which is exactly what exciting scientific discoveries are supposed to do,” said Morgan.
“And while this new data won’t settle the debate, it makes it very hard to support the idea of a liquid water lake.”
Alternative explanations
Mars’ south pole has an ice cap sitting atop heavily cratered terrain, and most radar images of the area below the ice show lots of peaks and valleys.
Morgan and Putzig said it’s possible that the bright signal MARSIS detected here may just be a rare smooth area — an ancient lava flow, for example.
Both scientists are excited to use the very large roll technique to reexamine other scientifically interesting regions of Mars.
One such place is Medusae Fossae, a sprawling geologic formation on Mars’ equator that produces little radar return.
While some scientists have suggested it’s composed of layers of volcanic ash, others have suggested the layers may include heaps of ice deep within.
“If it’s ice, that means there’s lots of water resources near the Martian equator, where you’d want to send humans,” said Putzig.
“Because the equator is exposed to more sunlight, it’s warmer and ideal for astronauts to live and work.”
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NASA’s TROPICS Completes Storm-Studying Mission
November 25, 2025
A NASA mission that studied the interior of hurricanes collected its final data on Nov. 12, as the last two CubeSats in its fleet were powered down prior to re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission originally consisted of four identical, milk carton-sized satellites that launched in May 2023.
Although the TROPICS mission has reached its natural end of life, researchers will continue to use mission data to improve their understanding of tropical cyclones and how they intensify.
Each CubeSat carried a microwave radiometer to detect the temperature, moisture, and precipitation of a storm, allowing scientists to better understand how storms form and intensify.
While other satellites could make similar observations of a storm every six to 12 hours, the four CubeSats of the TROPICS mission together collected data about once an hour, providing more insights into the evolution of tropical cyclones and helping to improve forecasts.
In June 2023, the first images from the mission were released of Hurricane Adrian, and TROPICS ultimately gathered approximately 11 billion observations during its lifetime.
Observations of Hurricane Melissa making landfall as a Category 5 hurricane over Jamaica on Oct. 28 rounded out the mission’s final days.
With a prime mission originally intended to last for one year, mission operations were extended to cover both the 2024 and 2025 North American hurricane seasons.
The data collected by TROPICS were used by forecasters at the National Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to improve their forecasts.
These data allowed forecasters to see the instantaneous structure of the storms, as well as how they evolved.
TROPICS is an Earth Venture Instrument mission led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, with a team including researchers from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and several universities and commercial partners.
Technology developed by the TROPICS mission continues on in commercial weather satellite instruments.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/smallsatellites/2025/11/25/nasas-tropics-completes-storm-studying-mission/
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/tech-from-nasas-hurricane-hunting-tropics-flies-on-commercial-satellites/
Sol 4671: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection
November 25, 2025
Historical Date September 27, 2025
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 31 images in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic.
The seam-corrected mosaic provides a 360-degree cylindrical projection panorama of the Martian surface centered at 119 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north).
Curiosity took the images on September 27, 2025, Sol 4671 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 486, site number 119.
The local mean solar time for the image exposures was 1 PM. Each Navcam image has a 45 degree field of view.
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/sol-4671-right-navigation-camera-cylindrical-projection/
Crew Works Wide Variety of Research and Awaits New Arrivals
November 25, 2025
High intensity exercising and droplets teeming with particles were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday.
The Expedition 73 crew is also preparing to welcome three new crewmates this week while another trio gets ready to return to Earth next month.
Crew health monitoring and fitness evaluations are a crucial part of an astronaut’s stay aboard the orbital outpost.
The long-duration missions in microgravity affect the crew member’s body in numerous ways and daily exercise helps keep crews fit and healthy while living in weightlessness.
Doctors constantly monitor the crew with a variety of checkups, sensors, questionnaires, and more to ensure mission success off the Earth.
NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman took part in one portion of the CIPHER human research study looking at how the cardiovascular system adapts to space.
Cardman scanned Kim’s chest with the Ultrasound 2 device while electrodes recorded his cardiac activity. Doctors on the ground monitored in real-time to understand how his heart is adapting to living in space.
Next, Kim pedaled on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle while attached to sensors and breathing gear that monitored his heart and lung activity.
Doctors will use the data collected from the hardware to evaluate aerobic capacity, or the bodies’ ability to deliver and use oxygen during strenuous physical activity in space.
Afterward, he rejoined Cardman and reviewed procedures, tools, and communications necessary for a medical emergency aboard the space station.
NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fincke set up a fluorescence microscope inside Destiny and installed sample hardware so scientists on the ground could view how particles behave inside fluids.
The fluid physics study may inform commercial in-space manufacturing techniques and improve optical materials and pollution removal operations.
Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) spent the first half of his shift reorganizing cargo inside the Kibo laboratory module to make space for upcoming activities.
Later, Yui measured the airflow inside of his crew quarters located inside the Harmony module. The measurements help protect health and promote comfort for the crew.
Station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov from Roscosmos worked inside the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft that he, Kim, and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky will return to Earth in next month.
Ryzhikov first checked the Soyuz’ electronics and communications systems then continued loading cargo inside the spacecraft for the ride back to Earth.
Zubritsky began his shift collecting his blood, saliva, and hair samples for analysis to understand how the brain and immune system adapt to weightlessness.
He then spent the rest of his day checking the Roscosmos segment’s ventilation system and collecting station water samples for analysis to protect crew health.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov photographed and treated microbe samples collected on the station. Researchers will use the observations to learn how microbes survive in space and prevent contamination on spacecraft.
Back on Earth, three new crew members are counting down to their launch aboard the Soyuz MS-28 crew spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev are scheduled to lift off inside the Soyuz at 4:27 a.m. EDT (2:27 p.m. Baikonur time) on Thursday, Nov. 27.
They will orbit Earth twice before docking to the Rassvet module at 7:38 a.m. the same day to begin an eight-month space research mission. Live launch coverage begins 3:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/11/25/crew-works-wide-variety-of-research-and-awaits-new-arrivals/
Invisible seen: Scientists claim first ‘direct’ detection of dark matter from gamma rays
Nov 25, 2025 06:02 PM EST
Dark matter has long been the universe’s most profound ghost, its existence confirmed only by the gravitational havoc it wreaks on visible galaxies.
Now, a team from the University of Tokyo suggests they may have gathered “direct evidence” of dark matter, which could mean that humanity has, for the very first time, effectively “seen” the unseen.
The observations came from data collected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, a satellite specifically designed to hunt for the universe’s most energetic light.
Interestingly, the gamma rays observed in the data perfectly matched those predicted by the annihilation model for theoretical dark matter particles.
“If this is correct, to the extent of my knowledge, it would mark the first time humanity has ‘seen’ dark matter,” said Professor Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy at Tokyo University.
Intense gamma-ray
To delve deeper into this new study, let’s first rewind a bit.
The entire concept of dark matter dates back to the early 1930s, when Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed that galaxies in the Coma cluster were moving far too fast.
What was most surprising was that there wasn’t enough visible mass to hold them together. He suggested that some “dunkle Materie,” or dark matter, was providing the missing gravitational glue, working like “invisible scaffolding” to keep galaxies together.
Years later, scientists came to accept the existence of dark matter, estimating that it makes up 85% of the universe’s mass. But direct proof remained elusive.
We can’t observe dark matter directly because it doesn’t interact with light — it neither absorbs, reflects, nor emits it. The prevailing hypothesis suggests dark matter is composed of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).
Theoretically, when two WIMPs collide, they instantly annihilate each other, releasing a shower of other particles, including high-energy gamma-ray photons.
In this new work, the team targeted the center of the Milky Way, a region where dark matter is expected to be highly concentrated.
The analysis revealed an unexpected surge of high-energy light. Specifically, the study detected gamma rays with an immense photon energy of 20 gigaelectronvolts (20 GeV) emanating from the galactic core.
“We detected gamma rays with an extremely large amount of energy, extending in a halolike structure toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
The gamma-ray emission component closely matches the shape expected from the dark matter halo,” said Totani.
More validation required
The detected energy spectrum perfectly matches the theoretical prediction for WIMP annihilation, suggesting the particles have a mass about 500 times that of a proton. This is huge. It is a precise fingerprint.
Moreover, the researchers note that this specific radiation pattern is not readily explained by other astronomical phenomena, such as supernovae or rapidly spinning pulsars. Therefore, the data represent a “strong indication of gamma-ray emission from dark matter.”
“And it turns out that dark matter is a new particle not included in the current standard model of particle physics. This signifies a major development in astronomy and physics,” said Totani.
The scientific community is excited but cautious. The finding now enters a period of intense scrutiny. Other research groups must perform independent analysis to verify the signals.
Tohani himself asserts that more data is needed to validate the findings.
Additional proof would come from detecting the same 20 GeV gamma-ray signal from other dark matter-rich locations, such as dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way.
For now, however, the universe’s greatest secret may have finally begun to shine.
https://interestingengineering.com/space/dark-matter-direct-detection-nasa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OaK_c9cLF4
Indian Researchers Decode Early Lives Of Young Stars Using NASA Satellite Data
November 26, 2025 in Science & Tech
New Delhi: A team of researchers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), has decoded the early lives of young stars called Young Stellar Objects (YSO) using a decade of data from NASA satellites Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and its extended mission NEOWISE, the Ministry of Science & Technology said on Wednesday.
ARIES is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST),
The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, revealed that stellar infancy is far more turbulent and variable than previously thought.
YSO are stars in the earliest stages of their lives where stars stably fuse hydrogen in their cores.
This is the stage before the stars enter the main sequence of what is called the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram — a plot showing stars in various stages of evolution based on their temperature and brightness.
In the study, Neha Sharma and Saurabh Sharma from the ARIES analysed light curves for over 22,000 YSOs across various massive star-forming regions in our galaxy.
These regions serve as natural laboratories for understanding how stars are born and evolve.
Analysing over a decade of WISE/NEOWISE infrared observations at 3.4 and 4.6 microns, they also classified YSO variability into six main categories:
linear (steady brightening or fading), curved (nonlinear trends), periodic (repeating patterns tied to rotation or disk orbit), burst (sudden brightening), drop (abrupt dimming), and irregular (erratic, chaotic changes).
“The team found that as the dense molecular clouds contracts under their own gravity, at their centre forms a protostar — a hot, dense core surrounded by a rotating disk of material.
The protostar emits light not from fusion but from the heat generated by gravitational collapse and mass accretion,” the Ministry said.
With time, material from the surrounding disk continues to deposit onto the protostar, feeding its growth. This process is inherently unstable, with sudden bursts and lulls in accretion that can lead to rapid and unpredictable changes in brightness.
Eventually, the radiation pressure from the growing star can expel the remaining cloud material, halting accretion and leaving behind a young, pre-main-sequence star.
“These dynamic processes are what make YSOs such rich subjects for infrared monitoring. Infrared light penetrates the thick dust shrouds surrounding YSOs — offering a unique window into the otherwise hidden early evolution of stars,” the Ministry said.
https://ommcomnews.com/science-tech/indian-researchers-decode-early-lives-of-young-stars-using-nasa-satellite-data/
Celebrating Thanksgiving in space
Updated 8:14 AM today
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will celebrate Thanksgiving with a special meal in orbit, continuing a tradition which began in 1973 when Skylab 4 astronauts enjoyed double dinners after 6.5-hour spacewalk.
NASA Expedition 73 astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Jonny Kim, along with JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui shared a Thanksgiving message on YouTube reflecting on the holiday and giving viewers a look at the festive foods they'll be enjoying in orbit.
This year’s menu features plenty of familiar comfort foods like turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Cardman expressed appreciation for NASA's Space Food Systems Lab in Houston, which prepared a few special treats for the crew, including crab, salmon, and even some lobster.
Preparing food for space
If you prepare some of your Thanksgiving dishes a few days in advance, you are already cooking the NASA way.
Every holiday meal in space is prepared months before Thanksgiving Day and long before the launch of the cargo missions that deliver food and other supplies to the station.
This week’s feast arrived on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft launched on September 14, along with about 11,000 pounds of additional cargo.
All food served aboard the ISS must have a minimum shelf life of one year. Future planetary missions will require a minimum shelf life of five years.
Many foods used for both the Shuttle program and the ISS are freeze dried and packaged in vacuum sealed bags or cups.
When it is time to eat, astronauts attach the pouch to the station’s water reclamation system, which injects a precise amount of hot water to rehydrate the meal.
The packaging is designed to be easily crushed so that trash can be compacted more efficiently.
What about the Tang?
Yes, Tang is really something astronauts drink in space.
Tang was originally created by General Foods for the U.S. military as a shelf-stable source of vitamins A and C.
It first flew on Mercury missions in the 1960s and continued to appear in the programs that followed, including Gemini and Apollo.
It even showed up from time to time on Shuttle flights and still makes occasional appearances on the International Space Station.
Its strong flavor helps mask the slightly metallic taste of the recycled water used on every space mission.
Tang is not universally loved by astronauts, despite what 1960s advertising claimed. In 2013, Buzz Aldrin proclaimed "Tang sucks" while presenting at an awards show.
Astronauts have to add a few chairs at the table too
Cardman, Fincke, Kim, and Yui arrived at the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule in August, along with cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
They joined NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, who had traveled to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft in April.
The station’s population will rise to 13 on Thanksgiving with the arrival of NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev aboard Soyuz MS-28.
NASA provided live coverage of the launch on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube, with coverage beginning at 3:30 a.m. ET. Launch is scheduled for 4:27 a.m. ET. Docking is scheduled for shortly at 10 a.m.
Just in time for lunch.
https://www.wral.com/news/local/thanksgiving-space-november-2025/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWPMM2-xt6w
Scientists discover ancient magnetic fossils of unknown creature with internal GPS
November 26, 2025
Animals like birds and sea turtles navigate using a "biological GPS" called magnetoreception.
We now actually know that many animals use this method to connect with Earth's magnetic field so they know where to go — but scientists don't really understand how the whole process works yet.
As such, researchers at Cambridge University and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have been studying tiny ancient fossils littering ocean floors to learn more about magnetoreception.
And sure enough, the team says they've discovered that these "magnetofossils" indeed exhibit magnetoreception.
Because they found the magnetofossils in sediments that date back 97 million years, their work could be the first time we've had direct evidence that animals have been navigating the world like this for a very long time.
"Whatever creature made these magnetofossils, we now know it was most likely capable of accurate navigation," Rich Harrison of Cambridge’s Earth Sciences Dept., and research co-leader, said in a statement.
A new way of sensing
The researchers used a new technique that relies on magnetic tomography — a way of visualizing the internal structures of objects using magnetic fields.
Previously, scientists had trouble looking inside larger magnetofossils like the newly discovered ones because more standard X-rays were unable to penetrate the outer layers.
That's why the study's co-author, Claire Donnelly from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, developed this new technique to peer inside.
Because the fossils are rather large compared to magnetic receptors used by bacteria, for instance, the researchers refer to them as "giant" magnetofossils.
"That we were able to map the internal magnetic structure with magnetic tomography was already a great result, but the fact that the results provide insight into the navigation of creatures millions of years ago is really exciting!" Donnelly said in the release.
The team used Donnelly's technique at the Diamond X-ray facility in Oxford. They found that the arrangements of tiny magnetic fields generated by spinning elections — or magnetic moments, to be precise — pointed to magnetoreception in whatever animals these fossils came from.
"It's fantastic to see our method being used for the first time to study natural samples," Jeffrey Neethirajan, a Ph.D. student in Donnelly’s lab, said in the release.
The mystery creature
Oddly enough, while the team thinks these fossils signify navigation via magnetoreception, they don't know what animals created them.
"This tells us we need to look for a migratory animal that was common enough in the oceans to leave abundant fossil remains," Harrison said.
Eels might be a good candidate, Harrion speculates, as they evolved around 100 years ago, and they're able to navigate waterways across the globe.
"Giant magnetofossils mark a key step in tracing how animals evolved basic bacterial magnetoreception into highly-specialized, GPS-like navigation systems," Harrison said.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/scientists-discover-ancient-magnetic-fossils-of-unknown-creature-with-internal-gps
See the Butterfly Nebula like never before in this spectacular Gemini South telescope image
November 26, 2025
The Gemini South telescope is turning 25, and astronomers are celebrating its birthday with a dazzling new image of the Butterfly Nebula.
Also cataloged as NGC 6302, this planetary nebula is located in the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. Its precise distance is unclear, but astronomers think it's between 2,500 and 3,800 light-years away.
At the heart of the Butterfly Nebula is a white dwarf radiating at an incredible 250,000 degrees Celsius (450,000 degrees Fahrenheit). It was once a normal star that was a bit more massive than the sun.
But when it began to reach the end of its life, it expanded to become a red giant, which then cast off its outer layers to form the nebula. What remained was its hot core in the form of the white dwarf with a mass two-thirds that of the sun.
This is the fate of all stars with less than eight times the sun's mass.
Slower-moving material was ejected from the red giant's equatorial zone, forming the dark, dusty belt in the body of the butterfly in this image.
The wings were then formed by faster-moving perpendicular outflows and sculpted further by a hot wind of radiation that signaled the star's final gasps.
That radiation wind energized the material in the nebula, heating it to 36,000 F (20,000 C) and ionizing the gas there.
The red in the image indicates ionized hydrogen, and blue shows ionized oxygen. In about 5 billion years, the sun will also turn into a white dwarf surrounded by a pretty planetary nebula.
The Butterfly Nebula was chosen as the target for the 8.1-meter (26.6 feet) Gemini South telescope's 25th anniversary image by Chilean school students taking part in the Gemini First Light Anniversary Image Contest.
Located atop Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes, the Gemini South telescope is one-half of the International Gemini Observatory, which also incorporates its twin, Gemini North, on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Both telescopes are operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, with funding from Brazil, Canada, Chile and the United Kingdom.
The Gemini telescopes were the brainchild of astronomer Fred Gillett.
The aim of the telescopes was to provide continuous coverage of the sky from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, using identical telescopes with adaptive optics and the capability to conduct near-infrared wide-field surveys.
First light on Gemini North took place in June 1999, and on Gemini South in November 2000. Gillett died only a few months later, and Gemini North is named the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope in his honor.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/see-the-butterfly-nebula-like-never-before-in-this-spectacular-gemini-south-telescope-image
https://noirlab.edu/public/education/imaging-contest/
https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2025/11/27/JHTHPR5KSBFD3N3Q42C33BLSGU/
Private-Led Nuri Launch Deploys 13 Satellites, Marks New Space Era
Published 2025.11.27. 00:56
The fourth launch of Nuri, a space launch vehicle developed with purely domestic technology, marked the first time it was led by the private sector.
During the third launch, the government, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), led the production and assembly of Nuri, with Hanwha in a supporting role.
This time, Hanwha took over nearly all tasks—from manufacturing the launch vehicle to assembly—after receiving technology transfer.
Although KARI is responsible for the actual launch, Hanwha Aerospace engineers also participated in the preparation and launch processes to learn the technology and know-how.
The fourth mission of Nuri is to safely deploy a primary satellite and 13 Cube (miniature) satellites into a 600 km orbit. This opens the era of so-called "space delivery," where the private sector provides space launch services.
It signifies that South Korea has entered the "New Space" (private-led) era, moving beyond "Old Space" (state/government-led), and now possesses the technology to send satellites worldwide using domestically developed rockets.
KARI Director Lee Sang-cheol stated, "The fourth Nuri launch demonstrates whether the private sector has the capability to provide space launch services" and added, "It will be an opportunity to secure space sovereignty and leap forward as an advanced nation."
◇Will the private space era begin?
South Korea’s history of launch vehicle development is not long. The country’s first space launch vehicle, Naro, reached its target orbit in January 2013 after three attempts.
At the time, Naro used a first-stage rocket and engine imported from Russia. Based on the experience of launching Naro, South Korea invested approximately 2 trillion Korean won to complete Nuri, a domestically developed launch vehicle.
Its name derives from the Korean word "nuri," meaning "world" or "universe."
In the first launch in 2021, Nuri carried a 1.5-ton mock satellite but failed to place it into orbit.
The second Nuri in 2022 successfully deployed a 1.3-ton performance verification satellite and four Cube (miniature) satellites into the target orbit. However, these were verification satellites, not operational ones.
On May 25, 2023, the third Nuri successfully placed the Next-generation Small Satellite 2 and a private Cube satellite into orbit for the first time.
This marked the first step toward becoming a "space power," using a domestically developed rocket to launch South Korean satellites from South Korean soil with technology developed jointly by the government and private sector.
Two and a half years later, in November 2025, Nuri embarked on its fourth space mission.
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◇Increased to 13 satellites… The beginning of the "space delivery" era
The primary mission of Nuri’s fourth launch is to safely deploy the Next-generation Medium Satellite 3, the main payload, and 12 Cube satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600 km. With 13 satellites aboard, this is the largest-scale mission to date.
The satellites will perform various observation and experimental tasks in space. The main payload, the Next-generation Medium Satellite 3, built by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), weighs 516 kg—roughly the size of a large cow.
It will observe auroras and airglow and measure cosmic magnetic fields. Observing auroras is akin to monitoring how harsh space weather is beyond Earth.
This data can correct GPS errors and reduce location inaccuracies in navigation, aircraft operations, and autonomous vehicles.
The satellite carries three instruments: IMaP, which measures cosmic magnetic fields and plasma to predict space weather; Rokits, a camera to capture auroras and airglow; and Bio Cabinet, which will test growing stem cells and creating biological tissues using a 3D printer in space.
Twelve Cube satellites are also aboard. Cosmic, built by domestic company Uzuro Tech, will test space debris disposal technology by autonomously leaving its orbit and decommissioning after completing its mission.
Bicheon (BEE-1000), developed by Space Lintec, will experiment with growing proteins needed for anticancer drugs in crystal form in space—the first step in space-based drug development.
Twin Cube satellites built by Seoul National University students will repeatedly separate and rejoin in orbit to conduct 3D observations of Earth’s atmosphere.
KAIST’s K-Hero is a Cube satellite equipped with a small electric propulsion system to test maneuverability required for coordinated satellite operations.
With the increased number of satellites, the ejection process requires extra attention. During the third launch, the third satellite of the Toyosat series failed to separate properly, but the onboard camera did not detect it.
To prevent this, two additional cameras were installed inside the fourth launch vehicle to more accurately capture the moment satellites are deployed into space.
The number of drive motors that open the ejection tube cover was also increased from one to two.
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China unveils plan to boost commercial space development
2025-11-26 17:22 Last Updated At：21:57
China's space agency has released an action plan to promote high-quality development and high-level security in commercial aerospace over the next two years.
The document, released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Tuesday, specifically provides for the development of an efficiently coordinated commercial aerospace industry ecosystem by 2027, featuring secure and orderly scientific-technological research and production, a remarkably enlarged industrial scale, remarkably enhanced vigor and vitality of innovation and creativity, realization of coordinated capacity building and efficient utilization of resources, and a remarkably upgraded industrial governance capacity, to basically realize high-quality development of the commercial aerospace undertaking.
To achieve these goals, the action plan sets out a package of 22 key measures in five aspects, including enhancing the driving forces for innovation and creativity, efficiently utilizing capacities and resources, promoting the development and expansion of industries, doing a good job of industry management service provision, and strengthening security supervision over the entire chain.
The agency will open civil aerospace research plans and basic research projects to commercial players, and encourage them to actively participate in civil aerospace projects and in research and development under national-level major projects.
In the action plan, the agency pledges to expand commercial access to its national network of civilian tracking, telemetry and control (TT and C) stations, data-receiving sites, calibration ranges and validation fields, as well as to large test assets such as rocket-engine test stands and space-environment simulation facilities, under the premise of guaranteeing security.
The document also encourages commercial entities to expand in corresponding links in the aerospace industry chain, such as the manufacturing of satellites and rockets, application services, and measurement and control operation, so as to promote high-quality development of the aerospace industry.
Priority support will be given to commercial firms in exploring new technologies, new products, and new application scenarios, the agency said.
Notably, the action plan calls for efforts to cultivate patient capital. The CNSA said it will improve the investment and financing system and mechanism for the commercial space sector, and establish a national development fund.
It also urges local governments, financial institutions and private capital to jointly set up platforms to guide long-term, strategic and value investment.
https://www.bastillepost.com/global/article/5404720-china-unveils-plan-to-boost-commercial-space-development
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202511/1349105.shtml
Exclusive: China pioneers in AI satellite deployment in space: program leader
Published: Nov 26, 2025 06:11 PM
The concepts of orbital data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) satellites have become a heated topic recently, following US startup Starcloud's successful deployment of a refrigerator-sized satellite containing a powerful NVIDIA H100 graphics processing unit (GPU) into orbit via a rideshare mission by the SpaceX Falcon 9 in early November.
The feat came just days after US tech billionaire Elon Musk said his SpaceX could be capable of deploying data centers as early as next year through its Starlink program.
According to NBC News on November 20, while discussing the future of the AI computing industry, Musk said again that "perhaps in the four or five-year time frame, the lowest-cost way to do AI compute will be with solar-powered AI satellites."
He made the remarks while sharing a stage with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha.
The CEO of xAI and Tesla announced a massive new data center project in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
China deployed its first homegrown AI-enabled satellite Dongfang Huiyan Gaofen 01 as early as December 2024, preceding US and laying the groundwork for a future space-based supercomputing center, said Han Yinhe, the program leader and a research professor at the Research Center for Intelligent Computing Systems of the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in an exclusive interview with the Global Times.
The AI large-scale model onboard the Chinese satellite is codenamed JigonGPT. "We have taken the lead globally by achieving on-orbit generative remote-sensing analysis capabilities and pioneering the validation of satellite-ground intelligent interaction," Han said.
For example, the "Weibo Digital Human," powered by the onboard JigonGPT large vision-language model (LLM) can engage in real-time conversations with other users on social media platforms.
This breakthrough has demonstrated both the feasibility of deploying generative LLMs in orbit and highlights their potential in ultra-low-latency response scenarios.
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Han also noted that "this is not simply stacking of chips; instead, it focuses on building multi-GPU array architectures with domestically developed, high-efficiency GPUs to achieve an exponential leap in computing power per satellite - an indigenous innovation accomplished under the US chip embargo.
"Our solution places greater emphasis on modular design, system-level integration, and overcoming extreme challenges in thermal management and power consumption.
The ultimate goal is to lay the foundation for future space-based supercomputing centers," he noted.
When asked to comment on the US startup's development, Han said that the Starcloud directly leverages the existing US technology ecosystem.
"It relies on the mature NVIDIA H100 chip supply chain and delivers high peak performance per card. However, in essence, it is merely a transplantation of existing US technology into space, lacking architectural redesign," Han said.
"Our technical path is fundamentally different. At its core is a breakthrough in a fully indigenous 'single-satellite, multi-GPU array' space-based supercomputing architecture," he said.
Explaining why computing power and AI systems should be placed in outer space, Han said the goal is to eliminate the bottleneck of satellite-to-ground data transmission, especially in scenarios requiring ultra-low latency responses, such as disaster monitoring and early warning.
Han said China upholds the principle of open cooperation, and our achievements are fully worthy of sharing and should be shared.
China can share the benefits with the international community by participating in joint scientific exploration missions, providing low-latency space data products and services and promoting interoperability and compatibility of technical standards, according to the program leader.
According to Han, the construction of space AI being pursued by the world's major spacefaring powers by no means a simple technological competition, but rather a struggle over who gets to set the standards for the next-generation space information infrastructure, the significant of which is no less profound than the global positioning satellite competition decades ago.
Han explained that whoever first masters mature on-orbit real-time capabilities in perception (seeing), cognition (understanding) and decision-making will seize the strategic initiative in the space era, a contest that directly affects national security and the right to shape future development.
In 2026, Han's team will carry out the orbital launch and in-orbit validation of the "single-satellite, multi-GPU array" space-based supercomputing technology demonstration platform.
The team will also complete the tape-out and full validation of radiation-hardened, high-efficiency, domestically developed space-grade computing chips.
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