TYB
https://grahamhancock.com/collinsa10/
https://grahamhancock.com/collinsa9/
https://grahamhancock.com/collinsa8/
https://x.com/Graham__Hancock
https://medium.com/@nhojsull/heres-a-new-twist-3i-atlas-is-a-giant-hydrogen-bomb-85a3e7f48faf
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/why-are-interstellar-comets-so-weird-part-3-they-should-be-weird
https://www.vice.com/en/article/interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-can-get-you-drunk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30WrSalD0dE (Avi Loeb: Major New Anomalies Found in 3I/ATLAS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZMlWsbzr9Y (UFO Expert Missing: Avi Loeb on the FBI Search and 3I/ATLAS Anomalies | ChicagoLIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj0XTvFK45k (Angry Astronaut: Your 3I Atlas questions answered!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEwsTwwXlmA (Dobsonian Power: LIVE TELESCOPE 3I/ATLAS ON JUPITER AND A1 MAPS TO EXPLODE!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Ge7zBNkv8 (Chuck's Astro: Live: Let's Find Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS))
3I/ATLAS: More Mathematical Correlations with the Earth’s 24-hour Rotational Cycle and the Bizarre Symmetry of its Tripartite Jet Structure
9th March 2026
ABSTRACT: New rotational periods detected in connection with the passage of the third interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, following its perihelion on October 29, 2025, are examined to find out whether they might contain evidence of a broadcast signal.
One of these periodicities determined from the wobble of the comet’s jets was calculated to be 7.2 (± 0.005) hours.
Not only does this conform with previous findings concerning the synchronization of 3I/ATLAS’s periodicities with the Earth’s 24-hour rotation cycle, but it also reveals the possible significance of a unit of measure equalling 576 seconds, with 576 being the square of 24.
In addition to this, we examine the extraordinary symmetry of 3I/ATLAS’s tripartite jets of ionized gas and dust coming from the nucleus.
All three are separated by angles that can be simplified to consecutive single-figure integers with the progression reading seven, eight, and nine forming a circle of 24 parts or “degrees.”
This finding, like that in connection with the comet’s periodicities, continues to support the hypothesis that 3I/ATLAS is a directed comet that is a sentient life form of a type previously unrecognised by science.
Prior to 3I/ATLAS’s closest approach to the Earth on December 19, 2025, I wrote two articles proposing that this interstellar visitor, the third to grace our skies in the last decade, is what might be termed a “directed comet” (Collins 2025a and 2025b), with this being defined as a celestial object that displays conscious, self-awareness with respect to its passage through a star system.
This might include absorbing coronal mass ejections from the host star, and as a result, benefitting from this interaction in order to better continue its journey.
The various anomalies recorded so far in association with 3I/ATLAS (outlined in Loeb 2025) support the notion that it is a directed comet. If correct, then there is every possibility that it is broadcasting intelligent signals.
These could be similar to how an airplane transponder works, with a constant signal announcing its presence using a form of unique signature. Other broadcasts could deliberately target intelligent life occupying any of the planets or moons of the system in question.
Such attention-seeking broadcasts would most likely convey mathematical and geometrical data, as well as information regarding a targeted planet’s orbital cycles and its relationship to other celestial bodies in the star system.
Messages of this kind could be broadcast utilising light emissions, notable colour changes; cohesion in X-ray, infrared and other forms of energetic activity, and even, dare we say, good old fashioned radio signals of the type we have been trying to pick up from celestial targets since Project Ozma (a forerunner of SETI) back in 1960 (with only one viable candidate so far, this being, of course, the Wow! Signal from 1977).
With such ideas in mind, in the second of the two papers (Collins 2025b) I postulated that the rotation periods associated with 3I/ATLAS (see fig. 1), caused by cyclical variations in brightness, might well contain interpretable information.
On examining the duration of these periodicities, determined to be 16.16 (±0.01) hours before perihelion (see Santana-Ros et al. 2025) with a slightly faster rate of 15.48 hours (±0.70 hours) after perihelion (Serra-Ricart et al, 2025)—I noted that they appeared to be synching very well with the Earth’s 24-hour rotation period.
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This synchronization was most easily recognised using a unit of measure equal to 144 seconds with 3I/ATLAS’s 16.16-hour rotation period pre-perihelion displaying a cycle of 404 of these units against the Earth’s own 24-hour rotational cycle, which in length is the equivalent of 600 of these units.
This tells us that a 404:600 relationship existed between the two bodies, which, when simplified, offers a whole number ratio of 101:150.
Not only does 144 seconds feature as a unit of time keeping in ancient China, and also in Vedic tradition (Collins 2025a), but 144, the square of 12 (12 x 12 = 144), is a core number featured in cosmic time cycles recorded by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Babylonians, and the Vedic chroniclers of the Indian sub-continent.
In this knowledge, the synchronization of 3I/ATLAS’s periodicities with those of the Earth’s 24-hour cycle using a time unit of 144 seconds seems unlikely to be without meaning.
“Nothing to See Here” vs Alien Spaceships
Following the publication of the paper in question in December 2025, my speculations were picked up on by news media sources around the world, including the Daily Mail (Melore 2025) and the WION (World Is One News) news network of South Asia (see Singh 2025).
Since then I have kept a watch on the progress of 3I/ATLAS as viewed through the eyes of the international news media, which is generally divided into two opposing camps—those who will do or say anything to ensure that people do not believe this is anything other than a regular comet, and those hoping to find indisputable proof that 3I/ATLAS is of technological origin. What is more, right now the public is being encouraged to wave goodbye to 3I/ATLAS as it heads out towards the planet Jupiter before leaving behind the Solar System for good.
Having outlined my proposal that 3I/ATLAS is a directed comet displaying evidence of intelligent actions through its synchronization with the Earth’s rotational cycle, I was happy to leave the subject there.
However, two new pieces of information came to light regarding 3I/ATLAS that I felt were important enough to address.
The first relates to two new rotational periods recorded in connection with the comet, with the second relating to the bizarre symmetry of the tripartite jets of ionized gas and dust being released into the object’s coma by its nucleus.
New Rotational Periods
Let’s look first at the new information regarding the comet’s cycles of activity.
On January 16, 2026, Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb published details of a new study penned by himself and Toni Scarmato of the Toni Scarmato Astronomical Observatory in Italy that determined two new rotation periods in connection with 3I/ATLAS (see Scarmato and Loeb 2026, and also Loeb 2026a).
Both were achieved through a careful examination of Hubble Space Telescope images taken between November 20, 2025 and December 27, 2025.
Each one was processed using the Larson-Sekanina Rotational Gradient filter in order to remove the circular symmetric glow around the nucleus.
One periodicity, found to be 7.2 (±0.05) hours in duration, was determined through measuring the wobbles associated with the jets, which were found to change by ±20 degrees.
The second periodicity, no doubt allied to the first, was determined through an examination of the variations in brightness of the object by ±30 per cent.
This yielded a cycle of 7.136 hours (+/-0.001). The slight disparity between the two values is explained by Loeb in the following manner:
The two periods differ slightly, but the small difference is plausibly attributable to systematics and aliasing. The combined data support a post-perihelion rotation period of about 7.1 hours, triggering a periodic precession of the jet structure around the rotation axis of 3I/ATLAS (Loeb 2026a).
This statement perplexed me slightly since 7.1 is not the mean average of 7.136 and 7.2. This would be 7.168. Anyway, let’s examine first the proposed 7.2-hour periodicity.
The 7.2-hour Rotation Period
In terms of units of 144 seconds, there are precisely 180 such units in 7.2. hours, meaning that with the Earth’s 24-hour rotational cycle being 600 of these same units, the relationship between the two celestial bodies is shown in the fraction 180/600, which can be simplified to 3/10.
In other words, the 7.2-hour rotational period of 3I/ATLAS is 3/10th of a 24-hour day, a fact which tells us that the two synchronise and reset themselves every three days (based on 7.2 x 10 = 72 hours).
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In terms of other units of time keeping, 7.2 hours is 432 minutes, a highly auspicious number recognised as an important base number in cosmic mathematics, particularly that associated with the so-called yuga cycles of Vedic tradition.
In terms of seconds, 7.2 hours is 25,920 seconds, another auspicious number since it just happens to be the length in years of the Great Year mentioned in the works of the Greek philosopher Plato (428/427 BCE–348/347 BCE).
A figure of 25,920 years was derived from the understanding that the Sun at the time of the spring equinox rises in the same sign for approximately 2160 years, based on the division of the ecliptic, the Sun’s path, into 12 equal parts, each forming a zodiacal “house” and each occupying 30 degrees of the night sky.
Due, however, to the gradual shift of the stars against the local horizon caused by precession, the slow wobble of the Earth on its axis, the Sun will thereafter rise in the next sign along for 2160 years.
This process will continue until the equinoctial Sun has risen in all 12 signs and returned back to where it began, a process that defines the length of the Platonic Year.
To achieve a figure of 25,920 years, composed of 12 x 2160 years, Plato, or the source of his information on cosmic time cycles (arguably the Pythagorean School of Croton, Italy, from which he likely gained much of his scientific knowledge) used a series of key numbers derived from the movement of the Sun and Moon, along with an accurate knowledge of the triple Saros eclipse cycle, which is 54 years and 33 days in length.
I say this since 480 x 54 = 25,920, 180 x 144 = 25,920, 60 x 432 = 25,920, and 360 x 72 = 25,920. Seventy-two is, of course, a x10 multiple of 7.2.
It is also a major cosmic number in its own right, with 72 years being the time it takes for the starry background to shift one degree against the local horizon, something that the ancients would seem to have been aware of in their calculation of the Great Year.
The 7.136-hour Rotation Period
Moving on to the second rotational cycle offered by Scarmato and Loeb in their recent paper, which is 7.136 hours, we find that it fares less well when it comes to seeing it in terms of units of 144 seconds.
It is, in fact, 178.4 units of this measure, which seems meaningless. Having said this, 179 units of 144 seconds comes out at 25,776 seconds, a difference of just 86.4 seconds from the proposed 7.136-hour periodicity.
Of the two rotation periods, it is really only the 7.2 hours, determined from the periodic wobble of the comet’s jets, that resonates with the proposal that the cyclical activity of 3I/ATLAS is somehow harmonising with the Earth’s rotational cycle.
I say this because if we now compare this figure with its pre-perihelion periodicity of 16.16 (±0.01) hours, the following happens.
Dividing 7.2 by 16.16, we get 0.44554455 … (with 44 and 55 then repeating ad infinitum). As a fraction, 0.4455 … becomes 45/101, showing that the relationship between 7.2 hours and 16.16 hours is 45/101.
As a whole number ratio, this can also be read as 90:202 and 180:404, with 180 being the number of units of 144 seconds in 7.2 hours and 404 being the amount in 16.16 hours.
With the Earth’s 24-hour rotation cycle constituting 600 of these same units, and 7.2 hours 180, it becomes possible to read all these values in terms of a unit of 576 seconds, with 576 being 4 x 144.
When we apply this new, larger measure to the periodicities of 3I/Atlas (see table 1), we find that 16.16 hours is 101 of these 576-second units, 7.2 hours is 45, while the length of a 24-hour day is 150, and a common year of 365 days is 54,750.
What this tells us is that the largest unit of measure that can be used to define the lengths of all these different time cycles—the two periodicities of 3I/ATLAS at 7.2 hours and 16.16 hours, an Earth day of 24 hours, and a common year of 365 days, is 576 seconds, or 9.6 minutes.
This makes it clear that 3I/ATLAS’s proposed rotation period of 7.2 hours conforms perfectly with the previously announced orbital period for 3I/ATLAS of 16.16 hours, just as it does with the Earth’s 24-hour rotational cycle.
It also suggests that a unit of measure equalling 576 seconds could be important in terms of cosmic timekeeping as defined by the Earth’s relationship to the movement of the celestial bodies.
Even if this is true, it could be that the activities of interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS and planets such as our own are naturally subject to some kind of fundamental mathematical principle or fractal intelligence that is able to generate numeric patterns that can easily be recognised.
The numbers that seem to recur with some regularity, certainly from a geocentric perspective, include 54, 72, 144, 432, and 576.
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The Weird Symmetry of the Jets
Leaving behind the rotational periods of 3I/ATLAS, we look now at the very strange symmetry of the three jets of ionized gas and dust being released into the coma of 3I/ATLAS.
These can clearly be seen in an image of the comet taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on January 14, 2026, which has been processed through the Larson-Sekanina Rotational Gradient filter to remove the glow centred around the nucleus (see figs. 2 & 3a).
This reveals the presence of the comet’s huge anti-tail, which uncharacteristically points towards the Sun. It also shows the three incredible jets of ionized gas and dust, which Avi Loeb has described as spaced approximately 120 degrees or one-third of a circle apart from one another.
As I examined this image, I saw that the three jets did indeed appear to emerge equidistant from the comet’s nucleus. However, I noticed that the angles between each jet were very slightly different, so I measured them and discovered something of great interest.
Although the angle between the two jets facing away from the Sun is indeed 120 degrees, the next angle of separation dividing the jets, moving anticlockwise, is almost exactly 105 degrees.
The third and final angle displayed by the jets, again moving around in an anticlockwise direction, is 135 degrees.
So, in order, we have angles of separation equalling 105 degrees, 120 degrees, and 135 degrees, which together form a circle of 360 degrees (see fig. 3b).
Looking closer at these figures, I realised they could be simplified in terms of whole number integers to seven for 105 degrees, eight for 120 degrees, and nine for 135 degrees.
This makes a circle of 24 parts or “degrees,” derived from the fact that 7 + 8 + 9 = 24 (see figs. 3c & 3d).
We must, of course, be careful in these calculations since we cannot be certain that we are witnessing 31/ATLAS truly perpendicular to its trajectory, meaning that the angles could be slightly out.
That said, to find such perfect symmetry in the jets being emitted by 3I/ATLAS can only be described as quite extraordinary. With regards to dividing the angle of the jets into 24 parts, we should note that 3 x 24 = 72, 6 x 24 = 144, while 24 x 24 = 576.
The fact that the square root of 576 is 24 can perhaps be seen as significant if we consider the fact that a unit of measure equalling 576 seconds unites two of the recorded rotation periods of 3I/ATLAS with both the Earth’s 24-hour rotational cycle and a common year of 365 days.
What is more, to find that the angles between the three jets generate three consecutive single-figure integers in the form of seven, eight and nine, which add up to 24, the number of hours in a day, seems very fortuitous indeed.
It is the extraordinary regularity in the angles of the jets that has led Avi Loeb to speculate that their symmetry could be evidence of a technological signature (Loeb 2026b).
For me, the jet symmetry is not evidence of alien technology. Instead, it could be further evidence that 3I/ATLAS is a sentient being capable of controlling, generating, and directing its ionised emissions to display meaningful patterns and even broadcast intelligent signals.
If correct, then we can see that these displays contain both mathematical and geometrical data, which are universal in nature and can be easily recorded and interpreted by those monitoring its passage through the inner Solar System.
As the news media is telling us, we have now to say our goodbyes to 3I/ATLAS, although I suspect that for a long time, scientific data will continue to be released, making it clear that this object was never simply a regular comet, as official channels want us to believe.
It was never a regular comet, and it is important that we start approaching the presence in our skies of such objects as potential evidence of the existence of intelligent life forms that, although they might possess the body of a comet and produce comet-like comas, are in fact something else altogether—something far more exotic.
Until we come to realise this, we will never understand their true nature or their importance to life on Earth.
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Did You See the Fireball Over New Jersey Wednesday Night?
March 13, 2026
If you were up and watching the sky just before midnight on Wednesday, March 11, you may have been lucky enough to see a bright fireball shooting across the New Jersey sky.
If you did see the fireball, you weren't alone.
According to the American Meteorological Society, there were 113 reports about a fireball seen over New Jersey and neighboring states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland.
Where the Fireball Was Seen
The fireball - which the AMS says is really a bright meteor - was visible as far as Ohio, West Virginia, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
One witness from Glassboro called it “awesome.” A man watching from Wall Township said, “It was spectacular!”
A witness in Rockaway, Morris County, driving on Route 80 west, said, "I almost thought a missile was striking NJ. I have never seen anything like it.”
The local sightings of Wednesday's fireball reported to the AMS were witnessed in Maurice River Township, Cumberland County, and Glassboro, Gloucester County.
Other sightings happened in Morris, Sussex, Warren, and Monmouth counties.
How Common Are Meteor Sightings in NJ?
Visible meteor sightings are fairly common in New Jersey, with casual observers spotting "shooting stars" on most clear nights.
Brighter fireballs are reported several times a year across the state, often captured on home security cameras.
Fireballs travel across the sky hundreds of times a day, but most take place over oceans or unpopulated areas or are hidden by daylight, according to the AMS.
Most who saw Wednesday's meteor said it streaked for 1.5 to 3.5 seconds.
However, one person in Wall Township reported the fireball was visible for 7.5 seconds, according to the AMS.
https://943thepoint.com/ixp/397/p/meteor-spotted-over-new-jersey/
https://www.wral.com/weather/fireball-sighting-over-swva–mar-2026/
https://www.jagranjosh.com/us/trending/meteor-shower-calendar-2026-when-and-where-to-watch-in-the-us-1860002674
https://x.com/benedykt57/status/2032433494492602644
Artemis II Flight Readiness Polls Go to Proceed Toward April Launch
March 12, 2026 4:36PM
NASA completed the agency’s Artemis II Flight Readiness Review on Thursday, March 12, and polled “go” to proceed toward launch.
NASA is targeting Thursday, March 19, to roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft to launch pad 39B in advance of a launch attempt Wednesday, April 1, pending close out of remaining open work.
Agency leaders provided updates about the outcome of the readiness review in a news conference.
View an updated calendar of April launch opportunities.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/03/12/artemis-ii-flight-readiness-polls-go-to-proceed-toward-april-launch/
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/artemis-ii-mission-availability.pdf
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2032474755652051087
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0xI5mTzI88 (Maria Bartiromo: SPACE WAR: Trump UNLEASHES 'space technology' on Iran)
NASA to Cover Upcoming US Spacewalks 94, 95 Outside Space Station
Mar 12, 2026
NASA astronauts will conduct a pair of spacewalks beginning Wednesday, March 18, outside of the International Space Station to prepare for the installation of two roll-out solar arrays.
Experts from NASA will preview the spacewalks during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Monday, March 16, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Watch NASA’s live coverage of the news conference on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.
NASA participants include:
Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, International Space Station Program
Diana Trujillo, spacewalk flight director, Flight Operations Directorate
Ronak Dave, spacewalk flight director, Flight Operations Directorate
Media interested in participating in person or by phone must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 10 a.m. on March 16 by calling 281-483-5111 or emailing jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
To ask questions by phone, reporters must dial into the news conference no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
On March 18, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will conduct U.S. spacewalk 94, exiting the orbiting laboratory’s Quest airlock to prepare the 2A power channel for the future International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) installation.
It will be Meir’s fourth spacewalk and Williams’ first.
Watch NASA’s live coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. U.S. spacewalk 94 will begin at approximately 8 a.m. and is expected to last about six and a half hours.
For U.S. spacewalk 95, two NASA astronauts will prepare the station’s 3B power channel for a future IROSA installation. NASA will provide more information on the date and time of the spacewalk, the crew members assigned to the activity, and coverage details closer to the operation.
The spacewalks will be the 278th and 279th supporting space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
They also are the first two station spacewalks of 2026 and the first for Expedition 74. Spacewalks 94 and 95 originally were scheduled for January, but the target dates were adjusted after the early departure of NASA’s SpaceX Crew‑11 mission.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-cover-upcoming-us-spacewalks-94-95-outside-space-station/
https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcB43W_SZfk
https://www.nasa.gov/science-research/astrophysics/exoplanet-science/tiny-nasa-spacecraft-delivers-exoplanet-missions-first-images/
Tiny NASA Spacecraft Delivers Exoplanet Mission’s First Images
Mar 12, 2026
With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA’s Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy’s most common stars to help answer one of humanity’s most profound questions: Which distant worlds beyond our solar system might be habitable?
Initial, or “first light,” images mark the moment a mission proves its instruments are functioning in space and ready to transition to full science operations.
This milestone is especially important for SPARCS, whose observations depend on highly precise ultraviolet (UV) measurements, making the demonstration of the camera’s performance critical to achieving its science goals.
The spacecraft launched Jan. 11; the images came down Feb. 6 and were subsequently processed.
Roughly the size of a large cereal box, SPARCS will monitor flares and sunspot activity on low-mass stars — objects only 30% to 70% the mass of the Sun.
These stars are among the most common in the Milky Way and host the majority of the galaxy’s roughly 50 billion habitable-zone terrestrial planets, which are rocky worlds close enough to their stars for temperatures that could allow liquid water and potentially support life.
“Seeing SPARCS’ first ultraviolet images from orbit is incredibly exciting.
They tell us the spacecraft, the telescope, and the detectors are performing as tested on the ground and we are ready to begin the science we built this mission to do,” says SPARCS Principal Investigator Evgenya Shkolnik, professor of Astrophysics at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, which leads the mission.
The SPARCS spacecraft is the first dedicated to continuously and simultaneously monitoring the far-ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet radiation from low-mass stars for extended periods.
Over its one-year mission, SPARCS will target approximately 20 low-mass stars and observe them over durations of five to 45 days.
Although such stars are small, dim, and cool compared to the Sun, they are also known to flare far more frequently than our solar system’s star.
The flares can dramatically affect the atmospheres of the planets they host. Understanding the host star is key to understanding a planet’s habitability.
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Future focused
“I am so excited that we are on the brink of learning about exoplanets’ host stars and the effect of their activities on the planets’ potential habitability,” said Shouleh Nikzad, the lead developer of the SPARCS camera (dubbed SPARCam) and the chief technologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
“I’m doubly excited that we are contributing to this mission with detector and filter technologies we developed at JPL’s Microdevices Laboratory.”
Created in 1989, the facility is where inventors harness physics, chemistry, and material science, including quantum, to deliver first-of-their-kind devices and capabilities for the nation.
The filters were made using a technique that improves sensitivity and performance by enabling them to be directly deposited onto the specially developed UV-sensitive “delta-doped” detectors.
The approach of detector-integrated filters eliminated the need for a separate filter element, resulting in a system that is among the most sensitive of its kind ever flown in space.
“We took silicon-based detectors — the same technology as in your smartphone camera — and we created a high-sensitivity UV imager. Then we integrated filters into the detector to reject the unwanted light.
That is a huge leap forward to doing big science in small packages,” Nikzad said, “and SPARCS serves to demonstrate their long-term performance in space.”
This technology paves the way for future missions like NASA’s next potential UV-capable flagship mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, as well as smaller interim missions, such as the agency’s forthcoming UVEX (UltraViolet EXplorer), which is led by Caltech in Pasadena.
The mission takes advantage of advances in computational processing as well, with an onboard computer that can perform data processing and intelligently adjust the observation parameters to better sample the development of flares as they happen.
“The SPARCS mission brings all of these pieces together — focused science, cutting-edge detectors, and intelligent onboard processing — to deepen our understanding of the stars that most planets in the galaxy call home,” said David Ardila, SPARCS instrument scientist at JPL.
“By watching these stars in ultraviolet light in a way we’ve never done before, we’re not just studying flares. These observations will sharpen our picture of stellar environments and help future missions interpret the habitability of distant worlds.”
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Senate committee advances NASA deputy administrator nominee
March 13, 2026
WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee voted March 12 to send the nomination of Matt Anderson as NASA deputy administrator to the full Senate.
The committee voted 23-5 to forward Anderson’s nomination for a final confirmation vote. A vote by the full Senate has not yet been scheduled.
The five senators who voted against Anderson were all Democrats: Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware.
None of those senators participated in a March 5 confirmation hearing for Anderson. Senators from both parties who attended the hearing appeared largely supportive of Anderson, offering no specific criticism of him or the agency.
Anderson, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, was first nominated to be NASA deputy administrator in May 2025, then renominated in January after the Senate did not take up the original nomination before the end of last year.
At his confirmation hearing, he pledged to support NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and his efforts to implement a national space policy that calls for a human return to the moon by 2028.
“If confirmed, I will reinforce the culture of safety, accountability and transparency that Administrator Isaacman has recently outlined to NASA as well as the American public,” he said.
Anderson also used the hearing to support a NASA authorization bill the Senate Commerce Committee advanced March 4 that would codify some of the changes Isaacman is making to the Artemis program, as well as extend the life of the International Space Station by two years, to 2032.
“I think what we’re looking at right now is a perfect alignment between the administration and this committee,” he said.
While the full Senate has yet to schedule a vote to confirm Anderson, committee chairman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the confirmation hearing he expected Anderson to be on the job in time “to ensure a safe and successful launch for Artemis 2.”
That mission is now expected to launch as soon as April 1.
The position of deputy administrator is one of four at NASA that requires Senate confirmation. The Senate confirmed Isaacman as administrator in December.
The White House has not nominated a new chief financial officer after Greg Autry, nominated to the post last March, said he would not seek renomination after the Senate failed to act on his nomination last year.
The White House has also not submitted a nomination for NASA inspector general. That position has been vacant since Paul Martin left the agency at the end of 2023.
https://spacenews.com/senate-committee-advances-nasa-deputy-administrator-nominee/
https://nasawatch.com/ask-the-administrator/senate-confirmation-hearing-for-matt-anderson/
Eruptions of Hawaii's Kilauea and Mayon in the Philippines
March 13, 2026
Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano erupted on March 10, 2026, with lava spewing as much as 1,300 feet (400 meters) into the air.
The eruption produced tephra, a mix of fragmented volcanic glass, rock, and ash. Tephra blanketed neighboring communities and accumulated between 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 centimeters) in some locations. The eruption temporarily closed Highway 11.
The image comparison above shows a false-color corrected reflectance (bands M11-I2-I1) image of the Big Island of Hawaii on the left "A" side and a natural-color corrected reflectance image on the right "B" side.
Move the center swipe bar left and right to compare the images. The left image highlights the location of the volcanic eruption where the heat from the lava registers as bright red in the false-color image.
Teal colors also help distinguish smoke and ash from clouds. On the right side, thermal anomalies associated with the eruption are marked as bright red dots in the south-central portion of the island.
The corrected reflectance images and thermal anomalies information were acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard NOAA-21, a joint NASA/NOAA platform.
Visit Worldview to visualize near real-time imagery and discover historical imagery from NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Find more imagery in our Worldview weekly image archive.
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/worldview-image-archive/eruption-hawaiis-kilauea
Mar 13, 2026
At any given moment, about 20 volcanoes on Earth are actively erupting. Often among them is Mayon—the most active volcano in the Philippines.
The nearly symmetrical stratovolcano, on Luzon Island near the Albay and Lagonoy gulfs, rises more than 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level.
Historical records indicate Mayon has erupted 65 times in the past 5,000 years, with the latest episode beginning in January 2026.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) first reported increased rockfalls near the volcano’s summit and inflation of the mountain's upper slopes.
On January 6, the alert level was increased to three on a five-level scale after lava began flowing from the crater and hot clouds of ash and debris called pyroclastic flows (also called pyroclastic density currents) moved down one side of the mountain.
The volcano was still puffing and lava flowing on February 26, when the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this rare, relatively clear image.
The natural-color scene is overlaid with infrared observations to highlight the lava’s heat signature. On that day, PHIVOLCS reported volcanic earthquakes, rockfalls, and pyroclastic flows.
The longest pyroclastic flow had traveled about 4 kilometers (3 miles) through the Mi-isi Gully on the southeast flank.
The level-three alert, which remained in place in March, prompted evacuations within a 6-kilometer (4-mile) radius of the crater, displacing hundreds of families from communities including Tabaco City, Malilpot, and Camalig.
Past pyroclastic flows have proven extremely destructive, leading to more than 1,000 deaths in 1814, at least 400 deaths in 1897, and 77 deaths in 1993. More than 73,000 people were evacuated during an eruption in 1984.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions during the current eruption have averaged 2,466 tons per day, with a peak of 6,569 metric tons measured on February 4, 2026.
That is the highest SO2 emission level for one day in 15 years, the PHIVOLCS announced in early February. That was later exceeded on March 6, when SO2 emissions reached as high as 7,633 metric tons.
Multiple NASA satellites have also monitored the volcano’s sulfur dioxide emissions, showing sizable plumes of the gas drifting southwest on February 4 and March 6.
The Philippine volcanology institute reported a peak in other activity on February 8 and 9, with 469 rockfalls, 12 major pyroclastic flows, and ashfall in the municipalities of Camalig and Guinobatan.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/eruption-at-mayon/
Artifacts From NASA’s Webb, Parker Solar Probe on View at Smithsonian
Mar 13, 2026
A testing replica of the “backbone” of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and a full-scale model of the agency’s Parker Solar Probe are now on permanent display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
“From touching the Sun with Parker Solar Probe to creating humanity’s most powerful window into the cosmos with the James Webb Space Telescope, these missions show what humanity can achieve as we continue to push the boundaries of human knowledge through visionary science,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“It’s not just the iconic hardware from these NASA missions on display — it’s the courage, skill, and ingenuity of the scientists, engineers, and teams who dared to turn the nearly impossible into reality.”
Webb’s Optical Telescope Element Pathfinder is the largest intact mirror support structure of its kind, standing over 21 feet tall, with a secondary mirror that when fully deployed reaches more than 26 feet.
This pathfinder was constructed as a high-fidelity telescope nearly identical to Webb, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb’s science goals required an exceptionally precise mirror, too large to fit fully deployed in any available rocket.
The mission’s enormous size, complexity, and extreme temperature requirements demanded a comprehensive rethinking of how to test a spacecraft for the rigors of spaceflight. The pathfinder served a key role in surmounting these challenges.
“NASA is proud to see the James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element Pathfinder on display at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center,” said Mike Davis, NASA’s project manager for the Webb telescope at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“This remarkable test structure helped engineers prepare the largest space telescope ever built. Standing before it, visitors can glimpse not only the immense scale of Webb, but also the human curiosity and ingenuity that drive us to reach beyond our world and explore the universe.”
Joining the Webb pathfinder on display is a replica of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
Built and operated at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker is more than seven years into its daring mission, with numerous successful encounters bringing the spacecraft just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface at a blazing 430,000 mph — faster and closer than any spacecraft in history.
Despite brutal temperatures and radiation conditions, Parker Solar Probe has completed 27 of these close approaches to collect unprecedented data from the only star we can study up close.
The replica allows visitors insight into the innovative technology behind the spacecraft’s ability to survive and successfully sample the Sun’s super-heated outer atmosphere.
Also built at APL, the Parker replica stands 10 feet high, 21.5 feet long, and 8.5 feet wide and includes several of the mission’s spare parts.
Several of the components are exact duplicates of the hardware now in space, built to be swapped if flight hardware failed in prelaunch testing.
These components include the heat shield that protects the probe from temperatures nearing 2,000 Fahrenheit and a camera called WISPR (the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe) that views and records the Sun’s activity just off the surface.
The model also includes a copy of the solar array cooling system that circulates water through solar panels to survive the Sun in close approaches.
“Parker Solar Probe has been vital for giving us an up-close look at one of the most extreme environments in our solar system, showing us where space weather is born,” said Adam Szabo, Parker Solar Probe mission scientist at NASA Goddard.
“This information is key to understanding the Sun’s upper atmosphere and how it affects us.”
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/artifacts-from-nasas-webb-parker-solar-probe-on-view-at-smithsonian/
Dr. Scolese speaks at AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium; discusses advancing cutting-edge technologies
March 12, 2026
The National Reconnaissance Office is working to advance cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum sensing, to better meet the demands of its customers, NRO Director Chris Scolese said at an aerospace industry forum Thursday.
“Everybody wants information faster,” Dr. Scolese said at the Goddard Space Science Symposium hosted by the American Astronautical Society.
“And while we can get data to the ground faster, and we can process it on the ground fast, and then we can distribute it fast, they want it even faster than that.”
To meet those demands, over the past few years, the NRO has added capability, resilience, and speed to its overhead architecture through the launch of more than 200 satellites.
Many of these are part of a proliferated architecture – multiple satellites operating as a system, allowing for shorter revisit times and greater capacity for collecting data.
“It's not a [single] satellite anymore,” he said. “When you talk about a capability, it is however many satellites that you need to do it. It's the whole constellation that you're delivering.”
The NRO’s proliferated architecture is collecting a magnitude more data, so processing that much information demands new technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a key role – both in processing the information and in ensuring the information can be trusted.
“Obviously, we support the warfighter, but we also support policymakers. We also support analysts, we also support first responders, we also support environmentalists,” Dr. Scolese said.
“And as you can imagine, they all want data in different formats, and they're interested in maybe the same location and maybe the same data set, but they want it in a different way.
So AI is helping us. But in all those places, the challenge is to make sure that whatever we're doing is understandable and auditable, so they can go back and say, yes, it came from this point and it ended up here.”
A second area of focus is quantum sensing and getting the technology into space.
Dr. Scolese said the NRO is partnering with commercial entities and universities and investing in areas like quantum photonics, quantum detectors, radio frequency detectors, and lasers that can play a role.
“It offers so many opportunities for us to not only detect things very accurately and in a way that is unambiguous and much easier to calibrate than you can with other means.
But it also is going to provide us additional insights in any areas that we're looking at, from science to policy matters.”
To achieve these objectives, Dr. Scolese noted the NRO depends on an innovative and dedicated workforce that’s constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
“A few years ago, if you would have asked me if we would have 200 satellites up there, I would have thought that was a dream. But now we talk about 200 satellites as if it's no big deal, 1,000 satellites as if it's a no big deal,” he said.
“We're really looking for people who want to develop things and advance things and keep that innovative spirit going all the time.”
https://www.nro.gov/news-media-featured-stories/news-media-archive/News-Article/Article/4432734/dr-scolese-speaks-at-aas-goddard-space-science-symposium-discusses-advancing-cu/
GVIS Conceptual Visual Designs
Mar 13, 2026
The Graphics and Visualization Lab (GVIS) at NASA Glenn Research Center creates a variety of immersive visualizations and simulations in support of NASA’s missions, projects, and future innovations.
These visual tools help scientists, engineers, and researchers develop new solutions that bring their projects to life.
Conceptual Visual Designs
GVIS creates conceptual visual designs for proposed NASA missions and missions currently in development or being researched.
These designs are used to communicate desired project outcomes, demonstrate upcoming engineering developments, showcase projects under construction, and serve as accessible education tools for the general public.
GVIS has created conceptual designs for a wide variety of NASA projects: from spacecraft, aircraft, power and propulsion, to missions support systems.
The above image is a cutaway of the inside of the Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) design. The HyTEC project is developing small core turbofan engine technologies to enable fuel burn reduction and increased electrical power extraction from the engine.
Visualizations such as HyTEC allow for a “look inside” engines, aircraft, and facilities that would typically be hidden from view. These kinds visualization brings NASA innovations to life in easy to understand formats and visuals.
Proposed Missions
The GVIS Lab creates visualization support for a variety of missions, from aeronautics to space exploration. Visualizations for missions in the proposal phase or in early development are critical for showcasing the desired outcome of the mission.
These visualizations are also critical for technical engagement, as mission development can last months or years. It is useful to have a visual aid to explain the future endeavors of the Agency.
The GVIS Lab helps NASA visualize technology which will shape future. The SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan is a concept for sustainable airtravel.
It is an advanced hybrid electric concept aircraft, seeking to reduce emission levels by 50% within the next few decades. The GVIS Lab is proud to partner with the SUSAN team at NASA Glenn in creating conceptual visualizations to convey state-of-the-art designs.
The GVIS Lab is known for creating virtual and augmented reality designs. The upcoming Lunar Gateway project features the Power & Propulsion Element (PPE), seen here as a dark gray box with thrusters and solar panels attached.
To see this visualization, users wear an augmented reality headset and can see Lunar Gateway in their environment. With augmented reality, users are able to experience the true life size and detail of Gateway like never before.
Demonstrations such as these are not only designed to educate the public on NASA’s upcoming missions, but are also impactful to the mission developers themselves.
“This model resonated so deeply for me after seeing a full scale PPE for the first time (ever),” said PPE Deputy Project Planning and Control Lead Phuong Marangoni.
“I’ve seen a lot of PPE assembly progress photos in the past year but have never seen it in person to fully appreciate the scale. This augmented reality view truly helped bridge that experience gap, and I didn’t have to leave Cleveland for it!”
Out of this World Visualizations
Conceptual visualizations are fundamental for conveying future space initiatives. Sometimes, space missions are visiting places in the Solar System which have never been explored before.
The above visualization is of a proposed submarine exploring the seas of Titan, a moon of Saturn. Titan’s atmosphere, seas, and environment are all extremely different from Earth, making a visualization vital for understanding the purpose and design of the mission.
These visuals make otherworldly scenarios a reality and are crucial for mission development.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/gvis-conceptual-visual-designs/
Extra Graphics and Visualization Lab
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/gvis-virtual-systems-simulations/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/gvis-scientific-visualizations/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/gvis-test-facilities-visualizations/
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/HydroGNSS/ESA_s_HydroGNSS_on_track_to_scout_for_water
extra ESA
https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/United_Kingdom/UK-backed_Smile_arrives_at_Europe_s_Spaceport
https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/United_Kingdom/ESA_fuels_innovation_and_growth_at_Space-Comm_Expo_Europe
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/03/A_cosmic_ray_simulator_for_extreme_science_on_Earth
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/03/Plato_readies_for_space-like_tests
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/03/Earth_from_Space_Maritime_highways_in_the_OEresund_Strait
ESA’s HydroGNSS on track to scout for water
12/03/2026
Just three months after launch, the European Space Agency’s twin HydroGNSS satellites are already proving their capabilities in orbit.
By exploiting reflected signals from navigation satellites – the sophisticated technique they use to generate Delay Doppler Maps in order to ‘scout’ for water across Earth’s surface – these compact satellites are beginning to reveal the scientific potential they were built to unlock, even while still in their commissioning phase.
Embodying the New Space approach, HydroGNSS is ESA’s first Scout mission, developed under the Earth Observation FutureEO programme. Scout missions prioritise speed and innovation, enabling new ideas and satellite technologies to be developed rapidly and at low cost.
At the heart of HydroGNSS lies an innovative method known as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry. Navigation satellites such as GPS and Galileo continuously transmit L-band microwave signals that subtly change after reflecting off Earth’s surface.
HydroGNSS compares these reflected signals with the direct GNSS signals to extract valuable information on geophysical parameters linked to the water cycle.
Key to this process involves producing Delay Doppler Maps, which show how a GNSS signal changes after bouncing off Earth’s surface. One axis represents delay (how long the signal takes to return), and the other shows Doppler frequency (how motion affects the signal).
When the signal reflects off a smooth, mirror-like surface – such as calm water or flat sea ice – it produces a strong, sharp peak. But over a rough ocean, the reflection spreads out into a weaker, curved ‘horseshoe’ shape.
A helpful comparison is sunlight reflecting off the sea when viewed from an airplane: a perfectly smooth surface gives a bright point, while waves stretch the reflection into a wide glistening area.
The strength and shape of this reflection depends on surface conditions. Roughness matters, but so do factors like soil moisture, whether the ground is frozen, and the presence of vegetation.
By understanding these patterns, scientists can use Delay Doppler Maps to measure soil moisture, floods, forest biomass and freeze–thaw cycles. Over oceans, these maps can also reveal wind speed and sea-ice extent.
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HydroGNSS enhances this approach by generating maps at a second frequency and in two polarisations, adding extra layers of information that improve hydrological measurements worldwide.
The two HydroGNSS satellites are still in their planned commissioning phase. The team at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) in the UK is busy refining calibration, validating processor chains, and characterising the satellites’ in-orbit behaviour.
SSTL is consulting closely regarding results with its science team partners at Sapienza and Tor Vergata Universities in Rome, CSIC/IEEC in Spain, IFAC in Italy, FMI in Finland, TUW in Austria, National Oceanography Centre and University of Nottingham in the UK.
Nevertheless, even at this early stage the satellites are already generating promising early measurements, showing that the mission is well on track and moving confidently toward its full operational phase.
Martin Unwin, HydroGNSS Principal Investigator at SSTL, said, “Both of the HydroGNSS Scouts are collecting Delay Doppler Maps of reflected GNSS signals.
"The image above is an early example of two captured simultaneously by HydroGNSS-2 over Central Africa within two weeks of launch.
“The left part of the image is a reflection from E1 navigation signals generated by Galileo satellite ID27, and the right is from GPS satellite ID21.
The strength of these reflections is related to a number of factors on the surface one of which is the soil moisture, and this parameter will be recovered using processors developed by science partners.”
The video shows recent tracks from HydroGNSS-2 developing over France, the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa with orange and red sections indicating stronger reflections.
On the right are shown the instantaneous Delay Doppler Maps at dual polarisation and dual frequency at each second for each reflection. Then HydroGNSS-1 tracks are shown over Tanzania to Malawi with the corresponding maps highlighting rivers and lakes.
Pete Garner, HydroGNSS Project Manager at SSTL, added, “Seeing the first datasets from this exciting mission is a fantastic reward for the SSTL–ESA–scientific partners collaborative team, which has worked so hard to overcome the many challenges you would expect from a complex satellite project like HydroGNSS.
The whole team is looking forward to what else the mission can show us about our planet.”
ESA’s Project Manager for the Scout missions, Jean-Pascal Lejault, said, “We are extremely pleased with these initial results. The first show that the satellites are in good health and working as they should. This is a great achievement and my thanks go to everyone who has been involved.
“We look forward to finalising the mission’s commissioning phase and moving to operations, and seeing how this first ESA Scout mission will indeed ‘scout’ for water, yielding new information about the properties related to Earth’s water cycle, and more.”
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https://bioengineer.org/powder-characterization-advances-in-space-3d-printing/
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44334-026-00071-2
Powder Characterization Advances In-Space 3D Printing
March 13, 2026
In the burgeoning frontier of space exploration and habitation, additive manufacturing (AM) stands as a beacon of innovation, promising on-demand fabrication of components in extraterrestrial environments.
Central to this transformative technology is the intricate behavior of powders, whose physical characteristics determine the feasibility and fidelity of in-space manufacturing processes.
Yet, the complexity of powder behavior is magnified in the extraterrestrial context, where variables such as particle size, shape, material composition, and environmental factors like gravity, vacuum, and radiation coalesce to create unprecedented challenges for reliable characterization.
Understanding particle size distribution (PSD) is foundational to unraveling powder behavior in AM. PSD profiles reveal the range and prevalence of particle sizes within a powder batch, serving as a predictive tool for how powders will engage with manufacturing equipment.
Techniques like histograms and cumulative distribution curves graphically represent these distributions, highlighting critical parameters such as D10, D50, and D90 — the particle diameters below which 10%, 50%, and 90% of the volumetric particle population reside respectively.
This granular knowledge is pivotal; for example, powders exhibiting inappropriate PSD can precipitate operational defects including nozzle jamming during deposition or inconsistent layer formation, both detrimental to build integrity.
Moreover, the tails of PSD curves significantly influence process reliability. A high concentration of finest particles (the “fines tail”) enhances surface area and interparticle friction, often culminating in powder agglomeration and flow disruption.
Empirical observations underscore how controlling the fines fraction in powders can alleviate jamming phenomena, even when median size metrics remain unchanged.
This highlights the nuanced interplay between PSD characteristics and operational performance, especially in microgravity where traditional particle sedimentation methods become ineffective.
Space environments impose stringent constraints on PSD measurement techniques.
Common terrestrial methods like sieving and sedimentation rely heavily on Earth’s gravity to function, rendering them impractical for microgravity conditions encountered on the Moon or in orbit.
Interestingly, suspending particles in liquids, as done in wet dynamic image analysis or laser diffraction, benefits from microgravity by obviating sedimentation, allowing for more uniform particle suspension and thus more accurate characterization.
Techniques such as electrical sensing zones, which analyze particles in conductive solutions, and static image analysis fixed with adhesives, emerge as promising candidates for in-situ space powder analysis, circumventing gravity dependence.
Particle morphology, the three-dimensional shape and surface texture of powders, exerts a critical influence on flowability and packing density — both quintessential to AM powder bed uniformity.
Spherical particles naturally exhibit superior flow and packing characteristics, facilitating uniform layering and densification during printing.
Conversely, irregular, jagged particles tend to interlock, increasing cohesion and porosity within the powder bed, which impairs mechanical performance of the final build.
The problematic nature of irregular particles becomes evident in powder recoating steps within powder bed fusion processes, where these particles adhere to blades, compromising layer uniformity and, subsequently, part quality.
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The methodologies employed to characterize morphology traverse from electron microscopy techniques such as SEM and TEM to optical imaging methods including static and dynamic image analysis.
While SEM provides unparalleled resolution, its reliance on conductive samples and vacuum conditions imposes limitations, particularly for non-metallic powders like ceramics and regolith simulants.
Dynamic image analysis, although offering lower topological detail, shines in its ability to rapidly process vast particle ensembles, maintaining efficacy even in microgravity environments, thus aligning well with the operational realities of space-based manufacturing hubs.
Understanding powder density encompasses various definitions: true, skeletal, bulk, and tapped density, each progressively incorporating particle porosity and packing conditions.
True density refers solely to the solid material density absent of all pores, whereas bulk and tapped densities incorporate packing efficiency and rearrangement under agitation.
This granularity in density characterization informs the packing behavior of powders during printing, directly correlating to the surface quality and porosity of manufactured parts.
Notably, bulks and tapped densities serve as precursors to flowability indices such as Carr’s Index, which evaluate the powder’s propensity to consolidate or flow.
Challenges loom for density measurement in microgravity. Traditional tapped density methodologies depend on gravitational forces to induce particle rearrangement.
Innovative approaches such as centrifugal simulation of gravity onboard spacecraft or lunar habitats may compensate but introduce complex mechanical and operational contingencies.
Meanwhile, techniques like helium pycnometry prove less gravity-dependent and could become staples in extraterrestrial labs, especially on the Moon, where ambient helium presence could support sustainable operation.
Flowability intertwines the compounded effects of particle size, shape, density, and interparticle forces to delineate how a powder behaves under operational stresses, from quasi-static frictional regimes to dynamic collisional flows akin to granular gases.
Flowability is a crucial determinant of reliability across powder handling, deposition, and recoating stages in AM but is notoriously difficult to quantify with single metrics given its composite nature.
While high flowability generally favors seamless processing, paradoxically, excessive fluidity can accelerate segregation in multicomponent powders, undermining compositional homogeneity and, consequently, mechanical stability.
Most terrestrial flowability assessments falter in microgravity, where powders fail to flow naturally. Only mechanical methods that apply direct shear, such as shear cell testing, retain their validity in these conditions.
The partial gravity environments of the Moon and Mars pose intermediate challenges necessitating recalibration of flow metrics developed for Earth’s gravity.
This recalibration requires rigorous empirical data to establish new standards that can accurately predict and manage powder behavior in these reduced gravity environments.
Chemical analysis, while less frequently highlighted than physical attributes, remains a pillar of powder characterization for both safety and performance assurance.
Fine metallic powders, especially those under 20 microns, expose operators to inhalation hazards and reactivity risks necessitating meticulous compositional verification and handling protocols.
Moreover, chemical stability, particularly resistance to oxidation and phase transformation over time, directly impacts AM success by altering melting behavior and powder flow.
This is especially relevant for reactive metal powders and extraterrestrial simulants such as lunar regolith, whose heterogeneous composition mandates stringent quality control.
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Space-based chemical analysis leans on heritage instruments developed for planetary exploration missions.
Techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and alpha particle X-ray spectroscopy (APXS) have been miniaturized and adapted for in-situ deployment.
Notably, APXS substitutes hazardous electron beams with low-energy alpha particles, optimizing power consumption and operational safety for extraterrestrial applications.
This lineage of instrumentation inspires confidence in the feasibility of thorough chemical verification in spaceborne AM facilities.
Moving beyond individual attributes, standardized quantification methods encapsulated in ISO and ASTM frameworks offer invaluable guidance for consistent and replicable powder characterization.
These norms codify best practices for measuring particle size distributions, morphology, density, flowability, and chemical composition, incorporating considerations unique to metal and ceramic powders prevailing in AM.
Recognizing the dynamism of in-space manufacturing, these standards integrate parameters like moisture content, which critically influence powder behavior and are tightly controlled under Earth conditions but require reassessment for extraterrestrial environments.
Integral to shape quantification is the ISO 9276-6:2008 standard, which prescribes geometric parameters pivotal to particle analysis.
Metrics such as feret diameters, equivalent diameters based on area and perimeter, and convex hull measurements provide a multifaceted perspective on particle dimensions and smoothness.
These parameters feed into shape factors—aspect ratio, compactness, form factor, solidity, and convexity—that distill particle morphology into quantifiable descriptors.
Such rigorous parameterization enables discerning subtle morphological variations that influence flow and packing behaviors crucial to AM efficacy.
Intriguingly, shape factors like the elliptical form factor afford orthogonal perspectives to aspect ratios by decoupling perimeter irregularities from elongation, capturing nuances especially prominent in regolith particles with jagged edges and angular geometries.
This depth of morphological insight is imperative to tailor processing parameters effectively, minimizing defects and optimizing powder bed uniformity.
The prospect of leveraging additive manufacturing in the austere confines of space environments hinges on a profound understanding of powder characteristics and the deployment of appropriate measurement methodologies.
The interplay between particle size distribution, morphology, density, flowability, and chemical integrity forms a complex web requiring integrated characterization approaches adapted to the unique conditions of micro- or reduced gravity.
The maturing field of in-space powder analysis promises to unlock pathways for sustainable manufacturing beyond Earth, catalyzing the next epoch of human exploration and settlement.
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The March full moon glows red through Saharan dust in eerie composite view
March 13, 2026
Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured a gorgeous composite view of the March full moon as it rose off the coast of the United Kingdom mere hours after a dramatic blood moon total lunar eclipse.
"This image was captured from the Dorset coast looking out to sea," Dury told Space.com. "In spite of the lunar eclipse not being visible from the UK this time, the Sahara dust in the atmosphere would give the illusion it was.
A deep blood red on the horizon. A provoking image. Like a worm, the Worm Moon emerges from the underworld. The end of winter moving into spring."
The March full moon is known as the Worm Moon to reference the time of year when the ground softens enough to allow Earthworms and beetles to emerge into the open.
The 2026 Worm Moon happened to coincide with a total lunar eclipse, when the lunar disk passed within the inner part of our planet's shadow known as its umbra, causing it to turn a rusty red color as the light of every sunrise and sunset on Earth was refracted onto its surface.
Dury captured several moody shots of the cloud-streaked Worm Moon rising on the night of March 3 using a telephoto lens, before combining them into a single visually stunning composition during the post-processing stage, which charted its path through the evening sky.
The distinctive red of the moon in Dury's image had nothing to do with the eclipse itself — which had occurred hours earlier — but rather resulted from an atmospheric phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering.
As the moon's reflected sunlight makes a prolonged journey through Earth's atmosphere while close to the horizon, bluer wavelengths are filtered and blocked by particles in our atmosphere, while longer red wavelengths are able to pass through relatively unperturbed.
This effect gave the moon a rusty hue, which was made all the more spectacular by the presence of airborne dust, which had been carried by atmospheric currents thousands of miles north from the Sahara Desert.
Inspired to take your own shots of the moon? Then be sure to read our expert's guide to photographing the lunar surface, written by Dury, along with our roundups of the best lenses and camera bodies for capturing the post-sunset sky.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/the-march-full-moon-glows-red-through-saharan-dust-in-eerie-composite-view
Readout of Commanding General, SPACEFOREUR-AF Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton, visit with Brigadier Hillary Kipkosgey, director general of the Kenya Space Agency
March 13, 2026
Brigadier Hillary Kipkosgey, director general of the Kenya Space Agency (KSA), hosted Commanding General of U.S. Space Forces Africa, Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton for a bilateral discussion in Nairobi, Kenya, from Feb. 26-27, 2026.
The high-level bilateral discussions focused on areas of mutual interest, including education, training, commercial data opportunities to support border and maritime monitoring, and other potential areas of collaboration.
Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the partnership between the U.S. and Kenya in the space sector.
Senior officers and staff from both countries were present for the visit, which was part of ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation in the space domain.
Kipkosgey expressed his appreciation to the U.S. for its critical partnership in supporting the growth of Kenya’s space ecosystem.
https://www.usafe.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4434155/readout-of-commanding-general-spaceforeur-af-brig-gen-jacob-middleton-visit-wit/
extra Space Force
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4432884/2026-state-of-vandenberg/
https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/News/Display/Article/4432458/schriever-sfb-increases-medical-services-within-the-ra/
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4432529/galaxy-program-offers-intensive-leadership-development-for-guardian-officers-ci/
https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/News/Display/Article/4432298/sbd-41-announces-blue-envelope-program-partnership/