TYB
Quake Below Campi Flegrei, Solar Uptick Forecast | S0 News and space weather frens | earthquake edition
Mar.10.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1dqcQJhXOU
https://www.the-sun.com/news/16024818/earthquake-tonopah-test-range-area-52-nuclear/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/fr/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/297165/Volcano-earthquake-report-for-Tuesday-10-Mar-2026.html
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/campi-flegrei-earthquakes.html
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article314975046.html
https://www.gsherald.com.au/news/great-southern-herald/geoscience-australia-senior-seismologist-says-gnowangerup-earthquake-swarm-unlikely-to-lead-to-large-quake-c-21845050
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=21.41216,-129.99023&extent=52.1874,-60.0293
https://www.sci.news/astronomy/stellar-space-weather-radio-signals-extraterrestrial-civilizations-14607.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBmjZpH-r0E (Dutchsinse: 3/09/2026 Earthquake ALERT for Italy and Europe Deep M6.0 below Italy – BE PREPARED)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ2nIYtlZuY (Stefan Burns: Fireballs have Begun Raining Down Across the Globe…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykEH_xHRsFk (On the Pulse with Silki: ⚠️LARGE Earthquake Swarm hits Nevada near TOP-SECRET base used for testing nuclear weapons !)
https://x.com/StefanBurnsGeo/status/2031297198277656928
https://x.com/MrMBB333/status/2031185402946826385
https://x.com/SchumannBotDE/status/2031369653604233433
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/low-solar-activity-anticipated-during-week-9-13-march
https://spaceweather.com/
Are they delivering the beer for the parade?
https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/audiences/alma-detects-extremely-abundant-alcohol-in-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas/
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/q-a-about-3i-atlas-a-week-before-its-closest-approach-to-jupiter-2d41a2bcccfd
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/we-might-understand-how-the-cosmos-works-before-we-understand-how-life-works-ee3f7f4e5daf
https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/03/new-sungrazer-comet-c-2026-a1-maps-april/
https://x.com/ruspioner_ru/status/2031352356294574385
https://ruspioner.ru/sobranie/m/single/13691
ALMA Detects Extremely Abundant Alcohol in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
9 March, 2026
Methanol-rich interstellar comet offers a glimpse into planet formation beyond our Solar System
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected an unusually large amount of the organic molecule methanol in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing chemical conditions unlike those found in most comets of our own Solar System.
The observations show that 3I/ATLAS contains significantly more methanol than hydrogen cyanide, unlike nearly all previously studied comets. These findings provide a rare opportunity to study the chemistry of planetary systems beyond our own.
“Observing 3I/ATLAS is like taking a fingerprint from another solar system,” shares Nathan Roth, lead author on this research and a professor with American University.
“The details reveal what it’s made of, and it’s bursting with methanol in a way we just don’t usually see in comets in our own solar system.”
Using ALMA’s Morita Array (Atacama Compact Array - ACA) in Chile, the research team observed 3I/ATLAS on multiple dates in late 2025 as the comet approached the Sun.
As sunlight warmed its icy surface, the comet released gas and dust, forming a glowing halo—known as a coma—around its nucleus.
By analyzing the composition of this coma, astronomers were able to identify the chemical fingerprints of the material making up the comet and gain insights into the conditions under which it formed.
The team focused on the faint submillimeter signatures of two molecules: methanol (CH₃OH), an alcohol, and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a nitrogen-bearing organic molecule commonly observed in comets.
The ALMA data reveal that 3I/ATLAS is strongly enriched in methanol compared to hydrogen cyanide. On two observing dates, the researchers measured methanol-to-HCN ratios of about 70 and 120, placing 3I/ATLAS among the most methanol-rich comets ever studied.
These measurements suggest that the icy material making up 3I/ATLAS formed—or was processed—under conditions different from those that shaped most comets in our Solar System.
Previous observations with the James Webb Space Telescope had already shown that the comet’s coma was dominated by carbon dioxide when it was farther from the Sun.
The new ALMA observations add methanol to its unusual chemical inventory as another key component.
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ALMA’s high-resolution imaging also allowed astronomers to study how different molecules move away from the comet. Hydrogen cyanide appears to originate mainly from the comet’s nucleus, which is typical for Solar System comets.
Methanol, however, appears to be released both from the nucleus and from icy grains in the coma. These tiny particles act like miniature comets: as they are warmed by sunlight, the ice they contain turns into gas and releases methanol into the surrounding coma.
While similar behavior has been observed in some Solar System comets, this is the first time such detailed outgassing processes have been traced in an interstellar object.
Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor detected passing through our Solar System, following 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.
Observations of these rare objects continue to provide valuable clues about how planetary systems form and evolve across the Galaxy.
Additional Information
This research appears in the Astrophysical Journal Letters as "CH3OH and HCN in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Mapped with the ALMA Atacama Compact Array: Distinct Outgassing Behaviors and a Remarkably High CH3OH/HCN Production Rate Ratio" by N. Roth et al.
The original press release was issued by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) of the U.S., an ALMA partner on behalf of North America.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.
ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan, and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).
ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc.
(AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia.
The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of ALMA's construction, commissioning, and operation.
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Spacewalk Preps and Health Checks Using Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence
March 9, 2026 1:16PM
Spacewalk preparations are underway aboard the International Space Station as two astronauts check their spacesuits and review procedures.
The Expedition 74 crew also experimented with augmented reality and artificial intelligence to conduct health checks in space. Meanwhile, a U.S. cargo spacecraft nears it departure this week.
NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir and Chris Williams joined each other on Monday working on a pair of spacesuits and reviewing procedures for a spacewalk targeted for March 18.
The duo partnered up in the Quest airlock and cleaned the suit cooling loops that regulate an astronaut’s temperature during a spacewalk.
Meir and Williams also refilled suit components with water, inspected a suit helmet, and prepared Quest for the upcoming spacewalk operations.
The astronauts also reviewed the procedures they will use after they exit Quest in their spacesuits for a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.
Meir and Williams will install a modification kit and route cables on the port side of the orbital outpost for a future roll-out solar array.
The seventh roll-out solar array will be installed on a later spacewalk to augment the main solar arrays’ power generation capabilities.
Flight engineers Jack Hathaway of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) took turns performing augmented‑reality‑guided ultrasound scans using the EchoFinder-2 biomedical device inside the Columbus laboratory module.
After each crew member scanned the other’s abdomen and vascular system, artificial intelligence analyzed the ultrasound image and confirmed organ identification.
The objective of the human research study is to reduce reliance on ground support for medical procedures as a space crew flies farther away from Earth.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev teamed up on a pair of biology experiments Monday both observing the human circulatory system in weightlessness.
First, the station commander and flight engineer measured their blood pressure and more while wearing arm, wrist, and finger cuffs.
Afterward, the duo applied sensors to their forehead, fingers, and toes that sent their blood flow data by Bluetooth adaptor to a laptop computer where it was recorded for analysis.
Doctors will use the biomedical data to understand how living in space affects vascular health.
Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev primarily spent his day on life support maintenance throughout the orbital outpost’s Roscosmos segment.
During the first half of his shift, Fedyaev serviced the Elektron oxygen generator purging the device of nitrogen and repressurizing its components inside the Zvezda service module.
After lunchtime, he filtered and transferred water between tanks to ensure the station’s drinking‑water supply chain remains clean and uncontaminated.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft is due to depart the station Thursday, March 12, ending a near six-month stay that began on Sept. 18, 2025.
The astronauts will finalize packing Cygnus with trash and disposable cargo midweek then configure the spacecraft for its robotic removal from the Unity module.
Afterward, robotics controllers will remotely command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to uninstall Cygnus from Unity then release it into Earth orbit for a fiery, but safe reentry above the South Pacific Ocean.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/03/09/spacewalk-preps-and-health-checks-using-augmented-reality-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronauts-to-answer-questions-from-students-in-new-york-3/
NASA’s Van Allen Probe A to Re-Enter Atmosphere
Mar 09, 2026
NASA’s Van Allen Probe A is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere almost 14 years after launch.
From 2012 to 2019, the spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, flew through the Van Allen belts, rings of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field, to understand how particles were gained and lost.
The belts shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms, and the constantly streaming solar wind that are harmful to humans and can damage technology, so understanding them is important.
As of March 9, 2026, the U.S. Space Force predicted that the roughly 1,323-pound spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere at approximately 7:45 p.m. EDT on March 10, 2026, with an uncertainty of +/- 24 hours.
NASA expects most of the spacecraft to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, but some components are expected to survive re-entry. The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low — approximately 1 in 4,200.
NASA and Space Force will continue to monitor the re-entry and update predictions.
Originally designed for a two-year mission, the Van Allen Probes A and B launched on Aug. 30, 2012, and gathered unprecedented data on Earth’s two permanent radiation belts — named for scientist James Van Allen — for almost seven years.
NASA ended the mission after the two spacecraft ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.
The Van Allen Probes were the first spacecraft designed to operate and gather scientific data for many years within the belts, a region around our planet where most spacecraft and astronaut missions minimize time in order to avoid damaging radiation.
The NASA mission, managed and operated by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, made several major discoveries about how the radiation belts operate during its lifetime, including the first data showing the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity.
When the mission ended in 2019, analysis found that the spacecraft would re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in 2034. However, those calculations were made before the current solar cycle, which has proven far more active than expected.
In 2024, scientists confirmed the Sun had reached its solar maximum, triggering intense space weather events. These conditions increased atmospheric drag on the spacecraft beyond initial estimates, resulting in an earlier-than-expected re-entry.
Data from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission still plays an important role in understanding space weather and its effects.
By reviewing archived data from the mission, scientists study the radiation belts surrounding Earth, which are key to predicting how solar activity impacts satellites, astronauts, and even systems on Earth such as communications, navigation, and power grids.
By observing these dynamic regions, the Van Allen Probes contributed to improving forecasts of space weather events and their potential consequences.
Van Allen Probe B, the twin of the re-entering spacecraft, is not expected to re-enter before 2030.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/van-allen-probes/nasa-van-allen-probe-a-to-re-enter-atmosphere/
https://www.space-track.org/auth/login
Woytek to leave NASA after 48 years
March 9, 2026 4:45 pm
Joanne Woytek, the program director of the NASA SEWP program, which reached $12 billion in sales last year, has led the contracting effort since 1999.
Joanne Woytek, the program director of the NASA SEWP program, is leaving after more than 48 years of federal service.
Federal News Network has learned that Woytek will step down on Oct. 17.
Woytek, who joined NASA in 1977 as a software developer and technical lead, said she is not formally retiring, but looking for some non-NASA opportunities that she would find interesting and be useful in.
As for why now, Woytek said in a draft blog post which Federal News Network obtained, “The NASA SEWP program is entering a major transition with the sixth iteration to start, hopefully, prior to October.
I am proud with the work done by myself, the SEWP staff and our NASA team. This is a perfect time to hand the reins over to carry-on that transition and tradition.”
NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) is reviewing bids for the sixth iteration of the governmentwide acquisition vehicle. Some experts estimate that NASA may have received over 1,000 bids on the solicitation, which closed February 2025.
The SEWP program office is asking its vendors to extend the SEWP V ordering period for another seven months through April 30, 2027. The current ordering period is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30.
“SEWP VI source selection activities are nearing completion as planned; however, due to the significant volume of proposals received, additional time is needed to make selection and award.
NASA intends to seek this extension of the SEWP V contracts to support an orderly transition between SEWP V and SEWP VI,” the program office posted on its website.
NASA also is facing several protests of SEWP VI, which could delay initial awards and require SEWP V to remain viable for a bit longer.
“The NASA SEWP staff is an unbelievably dedicated, hard-working, customer-focused group of people of whom I have full faith can continue the success of the SEWP program,” Woytek said.
Woytek has been part of the NASA SEWP program since 1992 and the program manager since 1999. She led the program’s growth from an initial GWAC for specific agency needs to one that is among the most popular and successful contracts over the last 25-plus years.
The program initially was a single award. Now 30 years later, the fifth version of SEWP has 147 contract holders, more than 11,000 products and services and awards more than $12 billion a year in total contracts.
In December, Woytek told Off the Shelf with Roger Waldron that in the last two years, SEWP V has done $12 billion in sales through more than 40,000 orders and modifications with about 80% of all dollars going to small firms.
Since NASA awarded SEWP V in 2015, Woytek said more than $86 billion has gone through SEWP.
SEWP VI is expected to be bigger and broader than previous versions, with an increased scope and bigger entry into services for cloud and cybersecurity.
There are ongoing discussions between the General Services Administration and NASA about moving SEWP VI to GSA.
During her career leading SEWP, Woytek became synonymous with innovation, driving not only the program’s expansion, but using data to drive improvements.
For example, SEWP was among the first programs to use data to ensure supply chain security. Under the SEWP VI solicitation, the move into services came from requests from agency users of the contract.
“Data has become much more important in what we were doing, and we greatly increased how we gather data and how we reported it.
Just a little note we just sent out to industry partners, to providers, not contract holders, but companies that work with our providers are all getting reports now from us about how their products are being used.
Through our contracts, we’re able to get to that detail and provide them with that. We’re very proud of the information we’re able to give both government [and] industry,” Woytek told Off the Shelf. “CIOs and other decision makers are getting reports from us on their agency usage.”
NASA also has made adding new products or services and modifying existing contracts, as well as adding new vendors to the program, much easier over the years.
Woytek said the program office adds 15 to 25 new companies to the contract every week.
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2026/03/woytek-to-leave-nasa-after-48-years/
NASA Armstrong Director Brad Flick to Retire After 40 Years of Service
Mar 09, 2026
On Monday, NASA announced Bradley Flick, director of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, will retire Thursday, March 19, after a nearly 40-year career advancing aeronautics and flight research.
Flick began his NASA journey in 1986 as a flight systems engineer and rose through the ranks to lead the center.
His career spanned historic achievements by NASA, bookended by the groundbreaking X‑29 forward-swept wing aircraft and the first flight of the X‑59 quiet supersonic technology aircraft and including many other experimental flight research and airborne science projects in support of NASA and the nation.
“Brad’s career reflects the kind of disciplined engineering and steady leadership NASA relies on to tackle difficult problems,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
“For nearly four decades, he contributed to some of the agency’s most challenging flight research efforts—from the X-29 through the first flight of the X-59—and helped strengthen the team and capabilities at Armstrong along the way.
NASA is grateful for his service and the example he’s set for the next generation of engineers and flight test professionals.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Clarkson University, Flick joined NASA, working on the F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle project.
In 1988, he moved to the Operations Engineering branch, where he played a lead role in developing experimental systems including thrust vectoring control, emergency electrical and hydraulic systems, and the spin recovery parachute system.
He also served as mission controller for about 100 HARV research flights.
He later earned a master’s degree in engineering management from Rochester Institute of Technology, which supported his progression through increasingly responsible leadership roles.
Before his appointment as center director on Dec. 5, 2022, following a period as acting director, Flick held leadership positions spanning engineering and operations, including Flight Systems branch chief, acting associate director for Flight Operations, center chief engineer (where he chaired the Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review Board), deputy director and director for Research and Engineering, and deputy center director.
Flick’s leadership and technical expertise shaped flight research at NASA. His work advanced aeronautics and pushed the boundaries of aviation technology.
As NASA continues to lead innovations in sustainable aviation and supersonic flight, his contributions will remain an integral part of that legacy.
Troy Asher will serve as acting center director, effective Friday, March 20. Asher previously served as director, Flight Operations, at NASA Armstrong.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-armstrong-director-brad-flick-to-retire-after-40-years-of-service/
NASA to Share Artemis II Flight Readiness Review Update
Mar 09, 2026
NASA will host a news conference at 3 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 12, to highlight progress toward the Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon.
The media briefing will take place from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the conclusion of an Artemis II Flight Readiness Review.
The news conference will stream live on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media, as available.
NASA participants include:
Administrator Jared Isaacman
Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
John Honeycutt, chair, Artemis II Mission Management Team
Shawn Quinn, manager, Exploration Ground Systems Program
Norm Knight, director, Flight Operations Directorate
This event is open in-person for media previously credentialed at NASA Kennedy for the Artemis II launch.
To participate virtually, media must RSVP for call details no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the event to the newsroom at NASA Kennedy: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media credentialing policy is online.
NASA is continuing work on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft in NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building before a second rollout to the launch pad later this month ahead of a potential launch in April.
As part of Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-share-artemis-ii-flight-readiness-review-update/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfwzi1rJ00
We may need to perform some tests to check if she's human or not
Shades of a Lunar Eclipse
Mar 10, 2026
On March 3, 2026, Earth lined up directly between the Moon and the Sun, casting its shadow on the full Moon. The total lunar eclipse was visible throughout the Americas, East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific.
Skygazers in those parts of the world may have witnessed a “Blood Moon,” when the dimmed lunar surface temporarily turned an orange-red color.
Meanwhile, satellites observed the effect of the darkened Moon on Earth’s surface.
Changes in the amount of moonlight reflected back to Earth as the eclipse progressed appear in this composite image, composed of nighttime observations made by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-21 satellite.
The satellite collected these images of the Arctic about every 100 minutes, with earlier swaths toward the right and later swaths to the left.
The VIIRS day-night band detects nighttime light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, reflected moonlight, and auroras.
The darkest swath was acquired at 11:20 Universal Time (2:20 a.m. Alaska Standard Time), about 15 minutes after the total phase had begun.
With very little moonlight reaching Earth, ribbons of light from the aurora borealis shine through, along with specks of artificial light from settlements in the Yukon and eastern Alaska.
When the satellite passed over western Alaska and the Bering Strait, at 13:00 Universal Time (4:00 a.m. Alaska Standard Time), the eclipse was in the partial phase.
The scene is noticeably brighter than the earlier one, and light from the partially shaded Moon illuminates snow-covered topography and offshore clouds.
The brightest swaths on the far right and left sides were acquired before and after the eclipse, respectively, with light from the full Moon.
The next chance to view a total lunar eclipse will occur on December 31, 2028, when it will add a dash of astronomical flair to New Year’s Eve celebrations in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/shades-of-a-lunar-eclipse/
dino hunting
Global Views of ICESat-2 Data
Monday, March 9, 2026
NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is an Earth-observing laser altimeter mission designed to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, forests, and other surfaces with remarkable precision and accuracy.
Launched on September 15, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, ICESat-2 carries a single instrument:
the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), which was designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) with contributions from industry partners.
Satellite laser altimetry is the only technique with sufficient canopy penetration and vertical accuracy to map the 3D structure of Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems and ice surface topography.
ATLAS uses a green-wavelength (532 nm) photon-counting laser that splits its pulses into six beams arranged in three pairs. The satellite’s near-polar orbit enables it to take measurements across nearly the entire globe.
ICESat-2 is a follow-on to the original ICESat mission (2003–2009) and continues NASA's long-term record of cryospheric and surface elevation change, at higher spatial coverage.
With multi-beam sampling, ICESat-2 has improved coverage across key ecosystems and cryosphere zones, enabling process detection and modeling at higher spatial resolutions and mapping change over time.
ICESat-2 is a multifunction instrument that produces a range of science data products to serve diverse research communities and applications.
For land ice, ICESat-2 measures the surface elevation of ice sheets and glaciers, enabling scientists to track mass loss and contributions to global sea level rise.
For sea ice, the mission provides estimates of freeboard – the height of ice floes above the waterline – which is used to derive sea ice thickness and volume across the Arctic and Antarctic.
For sea surface height, the mission captures open-water elevation in leads and polynyas between sea ice floes, offering valuable data for oceanographic and geodetic studies.
For land and canopy elevation, ICESat-2 maps bare ground topography as well as the height and vertical structure of forest canopies, supporting ecology and carbon stock assessments.
Finally, for cloud fraction, ICESat-2's photon-counting lidar detects the presence and vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, providing data products that characterize cloud occurrence and optical properties along the satellite's ground track.
For more information about ICESat-2, see: https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5616/
About Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities (FDC) Project
Mar 09, 2026
The FDC project conducts complex integrated small-scale flight research to validate the benefits of new technologies.
By modifying aircraft from FDC’s support fleet, the project enables aggressive, success-oriented flight campaign schedules. While many technologies are at mid-levels of technology readiness, the FDC project supports all phases of technology maturation.
FDC’s support aircraft fleet enables safety chase and in-flight experimental measurements for a variety of NASA missions.
The project collaborates with academia, industry, and government organizations to leverage flight opportunities, and engages with NASA researchers and university students to bring innovative concepts to flight.
The FDC project operates, sustains, and enhances other national flight research capabilities that enable complex high-risk flight research for both NASA and the aviation industry.
These capabilities are located at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, and includes the Aeronautics Test Data Portal, Flight Loads Laboratory, the Dryden Aeronautical Test Range, and a suite of flight simulators.
The project leverages collaborative opportunities for flight testing from across the aeronautical industry.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/iasp/fdc/about-fdc/
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/iasp/sfd/about-sfd/
Below the Surface: Tracking Groundwater from Space
March 9, 2026
This training offered by NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) program covers applicable data sources for assessing groundwater change.
Overextraction, drought, and contamination are fueling global concern about groundwater stocks.
Rapid depletion, particularly due to agriculture, exceeds natural recharge rates in many places, leading to dry wells, land subsidence, and saltwater intrusion (in coastal areas).
In the United States, groundwater accounts for approximately 29% of total freshwater usage; about two-thirds of it is used for irrigation (National Groundwater Association).
NASA has several data products that are relevant to groundwater studies and monitoring.
Datasets from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE, 2002–2017) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO, 2018–present) mission provide monthly estimates of changes in terrestrial water storage.
In addition, the Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) provides surface displacement products (DISP) for North America that can indicate land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal.
NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) assimilates GRACE/GRACE FO data into a land surface model along with other, higher resolution inputs producing daily outputs on a 0.25° (~25 km) grid.
NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training program (ARSET) is offering advanced, live online training on April 23, 28, and 30, 2026. Participants will receive hands-on experience with accessing and analyzing GRACE/GRACE-FO, OPERA-DISP, and GLDAS data.
The no-cost training is open to the public and recommended for water resource professionals, drought and flood managers, and irrigation managers, both domestically and internationally.
Learn more and register: Monitoring Groundwater Changes for Water Resources Management.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/below-surface-tracking-groundwater-from-space
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/trainings/monitoring-groundwater-changes-water-resources-management
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/projects/arset
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/science-enabling-technology/technology-highlights/developing-robust-electronics-that-can-withstand-harsh-conditions-on-cold-planetary-bodies/
https://techport.nasa.gov/projects/97174
Developing Robust Electronics That Can Withstand Harsh Conditions on Cold Planetary Bodies
Mar 10, 2026
A NASA-sponsored team has developed electronics that can operate reliably in the harsh radiation and temperature conditions found on distant planetary bodies like Europa, an ocean world orbiting Jupiter.
Not only could this new technology enable autonomous sensors and robotic exploration of distant ocean worlds, it could also support NASA’s goal to establish human outposts on the Moon and Mars by enabling electronic systems to function in those cold regions with reduced heating requirements.
Numerous bodies in our solar system are believed to contain water in the form of ice, vapor, or liquid on or below the surface.
These ocean worlds include planetary moons like Jupiter’s Europa and Ganymede, and Satern’s Enceladus and Titan; the dwarf planet Pluto; and even comets and Uranus.
The liquid water beneath ice crusts on ocean worlds can offer insights about the origins of our solar system and provide clues that could enable us to discover life elsewhere in the universe.
Unfortunately, exploring these locations is challenging. Ocean world environments are very harsh, with high radiation levels (5 Mrad of ionizing radiation, which is 50 times more than is lethal to humans) and extremely low temperatures (-180°C).
Missions to explore these destinations require electronics for sensing, control, and communications that can function under such unforgiving conditions.
It would be particularly advantageous if these electronic systems could operate not only on the surfaces of these worlds, but also underwater or in bores drilled through ice caps.
In addition, such systems will need to meet very low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements to enable their accommodation in missions traveling to such distant locations.
NASA is sponsoring a promising effort to develop the electronics infrastructure needed to explore distant ocean worlds.
A team at Georgia Tech in Atlanta led by Professor John D. Cressler and assisted by personnel at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is working to develop and demonstrate robust silicon-germanium (SiGe) electronics that can survive both the intense radiation and low temperatures found on ocean worlds.
Previous missions to the Moon and Mars have necessarily enclosed their electronic systems in protective “warm boxes” to shield them from radiation exposure and maintain Earth-like temperatures to ensure robust operation, but this approach for ocean worlds is not viable due to the severe SWaP-C constraints imposed.
For ocean world missions, the envisioned electronics should be commercially available; flexible, supporting various application needs like communications, instrumentation, and control; highly integrated, supporting digital, analog, and radio frequency (RF) functions in a small form factor; and low-cost.
These electronic systems should also provide order-of-magnitude improved SWaP-C advantages without requiring a power-hungry, heavy, and bulky protective warm box.
The Georgia Tech-led team has demonstrated that silicon-germanium (SiGe) technology can satisfy these needs, achieving robust operation down to -180ºC, with simultaneous radiation exposure as high as 5 Mrad.
However, this SiGe technology requires additional development before it becomes commercially available.
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Transistors are the fundamental building blocks of electronics, enabling useful functionalities such as on/off switching and amplification.
The ability of SiGe transistors to operate reliably and with higher speeds at extremely cold temperatures is a direct consequence of the internal physics of the device.
SiGe transistors incorporate a nanoscale SiGe alloy, which acts to accelerate electrons moving through the transistor as it switches on and off, and this effect is amplified as the temperature drops, yielding faster operation when cold.
Furthermore, since the transistor’s physical structure incorporates the SiGe alloy, the portions of the transistor that are typically made from radiation-soft oxides (materials that experience significant degradation when exposed to radiation) are dramatically minimized, improving overall radiation tolerance of the device.
The result is a win-win for operating SiGe transistors at cold temperatures in a high-radiation environment, as is found on ocean worlds and in other extremely cold environments in the solar system.
Cressler’s team developed ocean-worlds-ready transistor models for electronic circuit design and used them to create and test analog and RF electronic SiGe building blocks that would not require containment in a warm-box to operate on ocean worlds, thus reducing the system’s size, weight and power requirements.
They used a component library (analog, digital, and RF circuit building blocks) to create an integrated circuit (IC) prototype as proof-of-concept, validating it to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5/6 (i.e., validation and demonstration on Earth in an environment that simulates the conditions on an ocean world as closely as possible).
A major milestone for the project was the conception, design, and demonstration of a power-efficient X-band (8-12 GHz) SiGe RF communications link that is less than 10 mm2 in size (see the above image on the lower right) and operates flawlessly, while pumping modulated RF data at -180ºC and being simultaneously exposed to 5 Mrad of radiation.
Design and test of a system with these unique capabilities had never been accomplished before. This type of SiGe RF communications link could enable ocean worlds missions by serving as an electronic data interface to distributed sensor networks, a lander, an orbiter, or ice cap boring machinery and submersibles.
Outputs of this project include design files for the SiGe component library and an associated electronic design ecosystem (transistor models, test results, documentation, best practices for design and testing, etc.).
These products are available for NASA reuse and can be directly infused into future NASA missions. These new SiGe elements could support a wide variety of electronic needs for ocean world missions and other missions that need to function in cold temperatures, including communications systems, sensors, instruments, control systems, etc., each of which could operate without protection in an autonomous fashion.
Given that ocean worlds represent the worst-case environmental conditions found in the solar system in terms of the combination of radiation and cold temperatures, SiGe components developed during this project also have direct and immediate applicability for use on the Moon, on Mars, and even in Earth orbit.
For instance, to enable lunar exploration and eventual human settlement, SiGe electronics could operate autonomously on the lunar surface (which features modest radiation exposure, but very cold temperatures), boosting infrastructure and exploration capabilities.
For example, SiGe radar sensors and communications links could operate unprotected on the boom of a lunar rover during nighttime traverses near the equator and with reduced heating requirements when operating in the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon, thereby enhancing mission capabilities.
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CU Boulder scientists chosen for NASA task force
March 9, 2026 at 4:10 PM MDT
David Brain and Dolon Bhattacharyya will help develop strategy for astrobiology
NASA has selected two scientists from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder to be part of an astrobiology task force.
Astrobiology is the interdisciplinary study of life in the universe, including microbiology, astronomy, geology and chemistry, to answer questions about life on and off Earth.
CU Boulder’s David Brain and Dolon Bhattacharyya will join NASA’s Decadal Astrobiology Research and Exploration Strategy Task Force 2, continuing the work of the program’s Task Force 1.
The task force is a multi‑year effort to develop a strategy for astrobiology that will inform future NASA missions, research programs and technology development priorities.
It will develop the next roadmap for studying the origins, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe, according to NASA.
Brain, the chair of CU Boulder’s Department of Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences, studies the atmospheres and plasma environments of rocky planets, including Mars, Venus, Earth and exoplanets.
A goal of his research is to determine the conditions that could lead to habitable atmospheres for life. Bhattacharyya is a research scientist at LASP, focusing her research on the loss of gases from a planet’s upper atmosphere into space, such as water loss from Mars.
She also studies the long‑term evolution of planets and satellites in Earth’s solar system and other solar systems, and is extending her research to study planetary atmospheric evolution related to habitable worlds.
“We’re proud to see LASP scientists helping to shape the nation’s long-term strategy for astrobiology,” LASP Director Bethany Ehlmann said in a release.
“It is a reflection of the connectedness of our scientific work and the depth of our expertise in understanding the behavior of stars like our sun, atmospheric evolution, planetary habitability, and the search for life beyond Earth.”
The task force includes experts across planetary science, chemistry, biology, geology, astrophysics and mission design selected through a competitive open call that drew more than 160 applications.
https://www.coloradohometownweekly.com/2026/03/09/cu-boulder-lasp-nasa-task-force/
Big wing bird: NASA’s WB-57 gets grounded
Monday, March 9, 2026
On January 27, 2026, NASA 927, a big-winged WB-57F with an elegant white and blue paint scheme, performed a gear-up landing at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, trailing sparks and smoke as it slid down the runway, making a horrible sound until it slid to a stop.
The WB-57F is not the easiest aircraft to land, because its wings generate so much lift that it wants to be in the air, not on the ground, but fortunately both crew members onboard survived with no injuries. The aircraft, N927NA, sustained significant damage and remains grounded.
NASA operates three WB-57Fs, high-altitude scientific research aircraft that have long had many connections to the agency’s space programs. The planes are the legacy of a mysterious Cold War era program that in some ways owed its existence to the U-2 spyplane.
The Canberra
In the late 1940s, the English Electric Corporation developed the jet-powered Canberra medium bomber.
The Canberra proved to be a highly successful aircraft for the company, which produced dozens of variants and exported them to multiple countries, with some continuing in operation into the 2000s.
English Electric manufactured 900 Canberras, with another 49 license-built in Australia. In 1950, the Martin Aircraft Corporation in the United States licensed the Canberra to produce a version for the US Air Force designated the B-57.
Martin made several modifications to its early models, notably changing the awkward cockpit and the bomb bay, and eventually built 400 of them.
Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Martin introduced numerous updated versions of the B-57. The B-57B, C, and E models all saw service in Vietnam.
Another aircraft, the enigmatic B-57G, with an unusual sensor mounted under its nose and the designation Tropic Light III, also flew in Vietnam during Operation Shed Light, and remained mysterious for years after the war.
The sensor equipment consisted of low light level and infrared detection equipment for night bombing missions.
In 1954, the Air Force was developing the twin-engine X-16 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft when the CIA was authorized to develop the U-2. The X-16 was canceled, and the CIA performed high-altitude reconnaissance missions for the remainder of the decade.
The Air Force still sought its own high altitude reconnaissance aircraft and contracted Martin to develop a large-wing version of the B-57. The RB-57D (“R” for “Reconnaissance”) was able to fly higher than most existing aircraft, but not as high as the U-2.
Only 20 were produced, and they were used for high-altitude photo-reconnaissance, high-altitude signals interception, and radar mapping.
Some of them were employed by the US Air Force with Taiwanese pilots to conduct reconnaissance missions over mainland China, where one aircraft was shot down in 1959.
RB-57Ds operated from 1956 until 1964, when they were retired due to fatigue problems with their large wings.
The Air Force began flying its own U-2s by 1957, but the U-2 was a flimsy aircraft that could not do all the high-altitude missions the Air Force needed to do.
In 1963, due to a requirement for higher-altitude reconnaissance missions, the Air Force contracted Martin to produce a version with an even larger wing, this time designated the RB-57F.
The aircraft was capable of sustained flight up to 80,000 feet (24,400 meters), although with a payload it generally operated at around 50,000 feet (15,200 meters). Twenty-one RB-57Fs were produced, remanufactured from B-57Bs.
Because they were so heavily modified, the Air Force gave them entirely new serial numbers. The aircraft was capable of carrying signals intelligence sensors and cameras.
A primary requirement was the ability to fly high-altitude air sampling missions, carrying equipment that contained filters that trapped radioactive particles blown high into the atmosphere during nuclear weapons tests.
The aircraft were operated by the US Air Force’s 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing, Air Weather Service, Military Air Transport Service (MATS), headquartered at McClellan Air Force Base, California, with four squadrons deployed to California, Japan, Australia, and New Mexico.
Aircraft designated Rivet Slice were used for reconnaissance missions, and two-word code names starting with “Rivet” were used to designate specific modifications.
The RB-57Fs flew many different missions with names like Cold Car, Cold Cone, Sold Sand, Cross Check, Paddlewheel, Rough Rider, Slurry, Spinnaker Bravo and Storm Fury.
Some of these were in support of civilian missions, including NASA’s Apollo spacecraft recoveries as well as NOAA cyclone monitoring operations. In 1968, the Air Force redesignated the aircraft as WB-57F.
cont.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5174/1
Ground station in Chile ready to connect to space via laser
10/03/2026
A new ground station in Chile is set to transform how we connect to satellites, using laser technology that promises faster, safer, and more reliable data transmission.
The European Space Agency (ESA), Sweden’s SSC Space and France’s Safran Space cooperated to build and test the facility, marking a concrete step towards wider use of optical communications.
Unlike traditional satellite links that use radio waves, this station uses lasers to send and receive signals. This approach allows much higher data speeds and reduces the risk of interference and eavesdropping, making communications more secure.
Located on a 100-hectare site protected by the Andean foothills, this optical ground station – established by SSC Space and manufactured by Safran Space – has now passed acceptance testing.
Together with a second facility in Western Australia – which began testing in 2025 – the station is now ready for operations as part of the SSC Space optical ground network.
The optical ground station’s laser links can transfer data at rates of up to 10 gigabits per second, enough to stream dozens of ultra-high-definition films at once.
Because the laser beam is highly focused, it is much harder for others to intercept or jam the signal, which is a potential issue in traditional radio-based communications.
Another advantage is that, unlike radio frequencies which require government licences and can face regulatory delays, laser communications are not subject to these restrictions.
This project is part of ESA’s Optical and Quantum Communications – ScyLight programme and the wider NODES initiative, which aims to advance the development of optical ground stations and boost the wider adoption of laser communications.
Keeping sustainability in mind, the Chilean station is powered by locally generated energy through solar panels, cutting emissions by around eight percent. This is in line with SSC Space’s ambitions to become carbon-neutral by 2040.
“At ESA, we’re working with our partners to showcase the ‘Made in Europe’ innovations that will provide connectivity to our Member States that’s faster, more secure and more resilient than ever before,” said Laurent Jaffart, Director of ESA Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity.
“Our Optical and Quantum Communications – ScyLight programme is an essential tool to keeping our partners at the leading edge of the global satellite communications market, and this partnership with SSC Space shows just how we’re delivering connectivity solutions beyond Europe and Canada.”
“The station in Santiago is not just another node – it’s a leap forward. We’re moving satellite communications into a new era of speed, security, and resilience.
As part of the NODES network, this station brings us closer to fulfilling tomorrow’s mission needs, with interference-resistant transmission capable of meeting heavy data demand,” says Hanna Sundberg, Optical Programme Manager at SSC Space.
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Connectivity_and_Secure_Communications/Ground_station_in_Chile_ready_to_connect_to_space_via_laser
extra ESA
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Connectivity_and_Secure_Communications/SatGO_educational_kit_from_satellite_communications_to_STEM
https://europeanspaceflight.com/esa-calls-on-european-startups-to-design-spaceplane/
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/metalysis-secures-esa-funding-for-titanium-process
Commercial Space Law Takes Center Stage at DC Moot Court
March 10, 2026
Future space lawyers will gather in DC this month to debate how far federal jurisdiction extends in regulating commercial megaconstellations.
The American Space Law Foundation will hold its first moot court on March 20 to 21. The two-day event will give students an opportunity to argue in a hypothetical—but very realistic—commercial space law case, in front of a panel of judges representing government and industry.
Meet the foundation: Elizabeth Sanchez Chang established the foundation in August to try to give students an easier on-ramp to a career in space law—which is something she struggled with in law school, where finding resources focused on orbital legal priorities was difficult.
“I remember thinking: It shouldn’t be this hard. It shouldn’t be this mysterious,” she told Payload. “In law school, I’d say I’m interested in space law. People told me, ‘That’s not real. That doesn’t exist yet.”
Chang is in her last year at American University Washington College of Law, and completed internships at companies like Vast and Blue Origin.
She said the foundation’s goal is to get more students interested in space law, and to break down silos that exist between the fields that deal with space, including law, engineering, and policy.
This year’s case: Three teams are participating in this year’s case: Interra LLC vs. FCC.
Interra is a fictional sat company building a megaconstellation that launched 5,000 sats licensed by the FCC, as Phase I of the company’s building plan.
For its second phase of sats, which were conditionally approved by the FCC, Interra invested in AI software that would enable the sats to autonomously make orbital evasive maneuvers..
After launch, one of the sats failed to make an autonomous maneuver, resulting in a collision course with an Italian spacecraft. The crash created 8,000 pieces of trackable debris.
After review, the FCC denied a license for Interra’s Phase II autonomous sats—thus prohibiting the launch of more Phase II satsand requiring those already in space to safely deorbit.
Dual use: If you’re a longtime Polaris reader, you may remember reading about another space moot court—the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, which holds its finals at IAC each year.
However, Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, said there’s room for both in the space law industry.
That is especially true since the Lachs moot court typically deals, Hanlon said, with disputes between countries and the application of international space law.
“This feels less like a simulation of Cold War-era treaty disputes, and more like a rehearsal for the legal challenges shaping Space Race 2.0 — where commercial actors, governments, and geopolitical strategy intersect,” Hanlon told Payload.
https://payloadspace.com/commercial-space-law-takes-center-stage-at-dc-moot-court/
Most Iron Artifacts From The Bronze Age Appear To Have Their Origins In Outer Space
March 10, 2026
The majority of Bronze Age artifacts made of iron were forged from material with its origins in outer space. In fact, one study that looked into the matter found that all artifacts they tested were made of metal that only recently came to Earth, geologically speaking, at least.
If there's one thing you can glean from only knowing the names of the ages and a general sense that humanity progresses with time, in the Bronze Age, we made bronze, and in the Iron Age, we moved on to the trickier task of smelting iron.
If you find artifacts made of iron amongst what you believe to be a Bronze Age site, that can confuse your chronology somewhat, or at least it has in the past.
The Treasure of Villena, discovered in 1963, is an archaeologically significant haul of 66 items largely made of gold and silver, including bowls, bottles, bracelets, and other ornaments. When it was found, archaeologists believed it to be from an earlier time, due to the presence of one pesky little metal.
"The discovery of the Cabezo Redondo Treasure (Villena, Alicante) […] with some golden pieces related to those of Villena, suggest dates for both groups within the Late Bronze Age (1400-1200 cal BC)," one team who investigated it explained in their study.
"The bone of contention that forced some researchers to lower the chronology well into the Late Bronze Age is the existence in the Villena Treasure of two iron metal pieces: a small hollow semisphere covered with an openwork sheet of gold, supposedly interpreted as the end of a sceptre or baton of command or as a sword hilt, and an open bracelet."
These problems are not infrequent, with iron artifacts confusing other studies too. So what gives?
Were people smelting iron far earlier than we thought, or are the chronologies all mixed up? Maybe we could throw time travel into the mix somehow? Fortunately for chronology, there is an explanation, and it's pretty cool too. As that team found, the metal came from space.
Whilst people in the Bronze Age were unable to smelt iron, requiring temperatures of 1538 °C (2800 °F), there is another source of iron: meteorites. Analyzing the chemistry of the Treasure of Villena, the team found that it best matched iron that came from a meteorite.
Another famous artifact known to be of meteoric origin is Tutankhamun’s dagger. There is plenty of evidence that the Ancient Egyptians saw iron as important and associated it with the sky.
"From the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (approximately 1295 BC) a new hieroglyphic word for iron appeared: 'bi-A-n-pt', which literally translates as 'iron from the sky'. Why this new word appears in this exact form at this time is unknown but it was later applied to all metallic iron.
An obvious explanation for the sudden emergence of the word would be a major impact event or large shower of meteorites," Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Physical Sciences at The Open University, Diane Johnson explained in a piece for The Conversation.
"Textual references to iron connect it with aspects of the sky and with the bones of the dead king who will live for ever as an undying star in the sky," she added.
While very cool to know that Tutankhamun's dagger was in fact a space dagger, in terms of artifacts from a similar age, it isn't all that special. A 2017 study, which analyzed nickel to iron ratios of a collection of Bronze Age artifacts, found that this was the norm.
"The present results complementing high quality analyzes from the literature suggest that (most or) all irons from the Bronze Age are derived from meteoritic iron, until some transition period, which occurred supposedly close to about 1200 BC," that study explained.
"The few iron objects from the Bronze Age sensu stricto that could be analyzed are definitely made of meteoritic iron, suggesting that speculations about precocious smelting during the Bronze Age should be revised," it added.
In short, if you ever find an iron artifact from the Bronze Age, it has likely come from a meteorite. Which, we're sure you'll agree, is pretty neat.
https://www.iflscience.com/most-iron-artifacts-from-the-bronze-age-appear-to-have-their-origins-in-outer-space-82800
https://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/view/929/1110
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440317301322
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrVxmTjQhsY
SpaceX EchoStar XXV Mission
March 10, 2026
On Tuesday, March 10 at 12:19 a.m. ET, SpaceX launched the EchoStar XXV mission to geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This was the 14th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously supported Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-21, and seven Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/echostarxxv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAQRd89tLnA