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The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking on April 19, 2025. Three hours later, the spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan, returning astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner to Earth. While aboard the International Space Station, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, […]

NASA/Jonny Kim The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking on April 19, 2025. Three hours later, the spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan, returning astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner to Earth. While aboard the International Space Station, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, including research to enhance on-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitization technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behavior in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions. Image credit: NASA/Jonny Kim

The Trump-Vance Administration released toplines of the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday. The budget accelerates human space exploration of the Moon and Mars with a fiscally responsible portfolio of missions. “This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research,” said […]

Credit: NASA The Trump-Vance Administration released toplines of the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday. The budget accelerates human space exploration of the Moon and Mars with a fiscally responsible portfolio of missions. “This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research,” said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro. “I appreciate the President’s continued support for NASA’s mission and look forward to working closely with the administration and Congress to ensure we continue making progress toward achieving the impossible.” Increased commitment to human space exploration in pursuit of exploration of both the Moon and Mars. By allocating more than $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, the budget ensures America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient. Refocus science and space technology resources to efficiently execute high priority research. Consistent with the administration’s priority of returning to the Moon before China and putting an American on Mars, the budget will advance priority science and research missions and projects, ending financially unsustainable programs including Mars Sample Return. It emphasizes investments in transformative space technologies while responsibly shifting projects better suited for private sector leadership. Transition the Artemis campaign to a more sustainable, cost-effective approach to lunar exploration. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion capsule will be retired after Artemis III, paving the way for more cost-effective, next-generation commercial systems that will support subsequent NASA lunar missions. The budget also ends the Gateway Program, with the opportunity to repurpose already produced components for use in other missions. International partners will be invited to join these renewed efforts, expanding opportunities for meaningful collaboration on the Moon and Mars. Continue the process of transitioning the International Space Station to commercial replacements in 2030, focusing onboard research on efforts critical to the exploration of the Moon and Mars. The budget reflects the upcoming transition to a more cost-effective, open commercial approach to human activities in low Earth orbit by reducing the space station’s crew size and onboard research, preparing for the safe decommissioning of the station and its replacement by commercial space stations. Work to minimize duplication of efforts and most efficiently steward the allocation of American taxpayer dollars. This budget ensures NASA’s topline enables a financially sustainable trajectory to complete groundbreaking research and execute the agency’s bold mission. Focus NASA’s resources on its core mission of space exploration. This budget ends climate-focused “green aviation” spending while protecting the development of technologies with air traffic control and other U.S. government and commercial applications, producing savings. This budget also will ensure continued elimination any funding toward misaligned DEIA initiatives, instead designating that money to missions capable of advancing NASA’s core mission. NASA will continue to inspire the next generation of explorers through exciting, ambitious space missions that demonstrate American leadership in space. NASA will coordinate closely with its partners to execute these priorities and investments as efficiently and effectively as possible. Building on the President’s promise to increase efficiency this budget pioneers a focused, innovative, and fiscally-responsible path to America’s next great era of human space exploration. Learn more about the President’s budget request for NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/budget -end- Bethany Stevens Headquarters, Washington 771-216-2606 bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2025 Editor Jennifer M. Dooren Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Budget & Annual Reports

Living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA is what drives Robert Williams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Williams said he has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by “some truly exceptional” engineers, some with careers reaching back […]

Robert Williams is a senior mechanical design engineer and the structures subject matter expert in the Engineering and Test Directorate at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. NASA/Danny Nowlin Living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA is what drives Robert Williams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Williams said he has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by “some truly exceptional” engineers, some with careers reaching back to the Apollo era. “I cannot overstate the vast amount of practical knowledge and experience we have at NASA Stennis,” Williams said. “We know how to get things done, and if we do not know, I can guarantee we will figure it out.” Williams is a senior mechanical design engineer and the structures subject matter expert for the NASA Stennis Engineering and Test Directorate. He provides technical oversight related to engineering mechanics and machine design by reviewing analysis and design packages from NASA Stennis contractors and NASA engineers for ongoing projects. Williams also supports projects by performing analysis and creating detailed models, drawings, and system level designs, mostly at the versatile four-stand E Test Complex, where NASA Stennis has 12 active test cells capable of various component, engine, and stage test activities to support the agency and commercial companies. In support of NASA’s Artemis campaign of returning astronauts to the Moon, Williams also has reviewed structural and pipe stress analysis for the exploration upper stage project that will test a new SLS (Space Launch System) rocket stage to fly on future Artemis missions. He performed similar review work for Green Run testing of the SLS core stage at NASA Stennis ahead of the successful launch of the Artemis I uncrewed mission around the Moon. Overall, Williams has been a part of projects on every test stand throughout more than eight years with NASA and five years as a contractor. He has been tasked with solving challenging problems, both individually and as a part of teams. There were times when he was not sure if he or the team would be able to solve the problem or address it effectively, but each time, the NASA Stennis team found a way. “Over the span of my career, I have yet to be in a situation where the challenge was not met,” he said. The opportunity to work with “pretty much all the major space companies in some capacity” is most interesting to Williams. “The best thing is that being a small organization within a relatively small center, there are always opportunities to develop new skills and capabilities to help fill a need or gap,” he said. No matter the task, Williams looks forward to supporting space innovation while living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA for the benefit of all. Explore More 3 min read Lagniappe for April 2025 Article 1 month ago 4 min read Lagniappe for March 2025 Article 2 months ago 6 min read NASA Stennis Flashback: Learning About Rocket Engine Exhaust for Safe Space Travel Article 2 months ago

A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It […]

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a peculiar spiral galaxy called Arp 184 or NGC 1961. ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), C. Kilpatrick A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It holds 338 galaxies that are oddly shaped and tend to be neither entirely elliptical nor entirely spiral-shaped. Many of the galaxies are in the process of interacting with other galaxies, while others are dwarf galaxies without well-defined structures. Arp 184 earned its spot in the catalog thanks to its single broad, star-speckled spiral arm that appears to stretch toward us. The galaxy’s far side sports a few wisps of gas and stars, but it lacks a similarly impressive spiral arm. This Hubble image combines data from three Snapshot observing programs, which are short observations that slotted into time gaps between other proposals. One of the three programs targeted Arp 184 for its peculiar appearance. This program surveyed galaxies listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as well as A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations, a similar catalog compiled by Halton Arp and Barry Madore. The remaining two Snapshot programs looked at the aftermath of fleeting astronomical events like supernovae and tidal disruption events — like when a supermassive black hole rips a star apart after it wanders too closely. Since Arp 184 hosted four known supernovae in the past three decades, it is a rich target for a supernova hunt. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov) NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Galaxies Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights

After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other. Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as […]

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, or wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (3.29 microns), revealing a cloud of dust made of a molecule similar to soot or smoke. NASA/JPL-Caltech This image from NASA’s SPHEREx shows the same region of space in a different infrared wavelength (0.98 microns), but the dust cloud is no longer visible. The molecules that compose the dust — polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — do not radiate light in this color. NASA/JPL-Caltech After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other. Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as it should. Now it’s mapping the entire sky — not just a large part of it — to chart the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to answer some big questions about the universe. On May 1, the spacecraft began regular science operations, which consist of taking about 3,600 images per day for the next two years to provide new insights about the origins of the universe, galaxies, and the ingredients for life in the Milky Way. This video shows SPHEREx’s field of view as it scans across one section of sky inside the Large Magellanic Cloud, with rainbow colors representing the infrared wavelengths the telescope’s detectors see. The view from one detector array moves from purple to green, followed by the second array’s view, which changes from yellow to red. The images are looped four times. NASA/JPL-Caltech “Thanks to the hard work of teams across NASA, industry, and academia that built this mission, SPHEREx is operating just as we’d expected and will produce maps of the full sky unlike any we’ve had before,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This new observatory is adding to the suite of space-based astrophysics survey missions leading up to the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Together with these other missions, SPHEREx will play a key role in answering the big questions about the universe we tackle at NASA every day.” From its perch in Earth orbit, SPHEREx peers into the darkness, pointing away from the planet and the Sun. The observatory will complete more than 11,000 orbits over its 25 months of planned survey operations, circling Earth about 14½ times a day. It orbits Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and each day it takes images along one circular strip of the sky. As the days pass and the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx’s field of view shifts as well so that after six months, the observatory will have looked out into space in every direction. When SPHEREx takes a picture of the sky, the light is sent to six detectors that each produces a unique image capturing different wavelengths of light. These groups of six images are called an exposure, and SPHEREx takes about 600 exposures per day. When it’s done with one exposure, the whole observatory shifts position — the mirrors and detectors don’t move as they do on some other telescopes. Rather than using thrusters, SPHEREx relies on a system of reaction wheels, which spin inside the spacecraft to control its orientation. Hundreds of thousands of SPHEREx’s images will be digitally woven together to create four all-sky maps in two years. By mapping the entire sky, the mission will provide new insights about what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang. In that brief instant, an event called cosmic inflation caused the universe to expand a trillion-trillionfold. “We’re going to study what happened on the smallest size scales in the universe’s earliest moments by looking at the modern universe on the largest scales,” said Jim Fanson, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “I think there’s a poetic arc to that.” Cosmic inflation subtly influenced the distribution of matter in the universe, and clues about how such an event could happen are written into the positions of galaxies across the universe. When cosmic inflation began, the universe was smaller than the size of an atom, but the properties of that early universe were stretched out and influence what we see today. No other known event or process involves the amount of energy that would have been required to drive cosmic inflation, so studying it presents a unique opportunity to understand more deeply how our universe works. “Some of us have been working toward this goal for 12 years,” said Jamie Bock, the mission’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL. “The performance of the instrument is as good as we hoped. That means we’re going to be able to do all the amazing science we planned on and perhaps even get some unexpected discoveries.” Color Field The SPHEREx observatory won’t be the first to map the entire sky, but it will be the first to do so in so many colors. It observes 102 wavelengths, or colors, of infrared light, which are undetectable to the human eye. Through a technique called spectroscopy, the telescope separates the light into wavelengths — much like a prism creates a rainbow from sunlight — revealing all kinds of information about cosmic sources. For example, spectroscopy can be harnessed to determine the distance to a faraway galaxy, information that can be used to turn a 2D map of those galaxies into a 3D one. The technique will also enable the mission to measure the collective glow from all the galaxies that ever existed and see how that glow has changed over cosmic time. And spectroscopy can reveal the composition of objects. Using this capability, the mission is searching for water and other key ingredients for life in these systems in our galaxy. It’s thought that the water in Earth’s oceans originated as frozen water molecules attached to dust in the interstellar cloud where the Sun formed. The SPHEREx mission will make over 9 million observations of interstellar clouds in the Milky Way, mapping these materials across the galaxy and helping scientists understand how different conditions can affect the chemistry that produced many of the compounds found on Earth today. More About SPHEREx The SPHEREx mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Caltech in Pasadena managed and integrated the instrument. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more about SPHEREx, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/ News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov 2025-063 Share Details Last Updated May 01, 2025 Related Terms SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Exoplanets Galaxies Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Search for Life The Universe Explore More 2 min read Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The… Article 16 hours ago 4 min read NASA’s Chandra Diagnoses Cause of Fracture in Galactic “Bone” Article 1 day ago 3 min read The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System

Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes. The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They […]

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes. The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They often receive a powerful kick from these explosions, sending them away from the explosion’s location at high speeds. Enormous structures resembling bones or snakes are found near the center of the galaxy. These elongated formations are seen in radio waves and are threaded by magnetic fields running parallel to them. The radio waves are caused by energized particles spiraling along the magnetic fields. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk This new image shows one of these cosmic “bones” called G359.13142-0.20005 (G359.13 for short), with X-ray data from Chandra (colored blue) and radio data from the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa (colored gray). Researchers also refer to G359.13 as the Snake. Examining this image closely reveals the presence of a break, or fracture, in the otherwise continuous length of G359.13 seen in the image. The combined X-ray and radio data provides clues to the cause of this fracture. Astronomers have now discovered an X-ray and radio source at the location of the fracture, using the data from Chandra and MeerKAT and the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array. A likely pulsar responsible for these radio and X-ray signals is labeled. A possible extra source of X-rays located near the pulsar may come from electrons and positrons (the anti-matter counterparts to electrons) that have been accelerated to high energies. The researchers think the pulsar likely caused the fracture by smashing into G359.13 at a speed between one million and two million miles per hour. This collision distorted the magnetic field in the bone, causing the radio signal to also become warped. At about 230 light-years long, G359.13 is one of the longest and brightest of these structures in the Milky Way. To put this into context, there are more than 800 stars within that distance from Earth. G359.13 is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth, near the center of the Milky Way. A paper describing these results appeared in the May 2024 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available here. The authors of the study are Farhad Yusuf-Zadeh (Northwestern University), Jun-Hui Zhao (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Rick Arendt (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Mark Wardle (Macquarie University, Australia), Craig Heinke (University of Alberta), Marc Royster (College of the Sequoias, California), Cornelia Lang (University of Iowa), and Joseph Michail (Northwestern). NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Learn More Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: https://www.nasa.gov/chandra https://chandra.si.edu Visual Description This release features two composite images of a long, thin, cosmic structure. With the structure’s vertical orientation, seemingly fragile dimensions, and pale grey color against the blackness of space, the images resemble medical X-rays of a long, thin, bone. The main image shows the structure in its entirety. The inset image is an annotated close-up highlighting an apparent fracture in the bone-like structure. The structure, called G359.13, or “The Snake”, is a Galactic Center Filament. These filament formations are threaded by parallel magnetic fields, and spiraling, energized particles. The particles cause radio waves, which can be detected by radio arrays, in this case by the MeerKAT array in South Africa. In the first composite image, the largely straight filament stretches from the top to the bottom of the vertical frame. At each end of the grey filament is a hazy grey cloud. The only color in the image is neon blue, found in a few specks which dot the blackness surrounding the structure. The blue represents X-rays seen by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. In the annotated close-up, one such speck appears to be interacting with the structure itself. This is a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, otherwise known as a pulsar. Astronomers believe that this pulsar has struck the filament halfway down its length, distorting the magnetic field and radio signal. In both images, this distortion resembles a small break, or spur, in the bone-like filament. News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu Lane Figueroa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov

THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON MAY 1, 2025(Added Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.) This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the […]

9 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA / Lillian Gipson/Getty Images THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON MAY 1, 2025 (Added Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.) This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, better known as NSPIRES. You are encouraged to visit the NSPIRES web site, create an account, and sign up for automated email announcements. Other types of collaborative opportunities, such as those involving Requests for Information or academic research contests, also are included on this page. This page has four major sections: Quick list of open solicitations with key dates listed. Current open solicitations with more details and helpful links. Closed solicitations in case it is helpful to see other examples of the kind of research opportunities NASA Aeronautics makes available. Summary of NASA’s Research Opportunities in Aeronautics (ROA) NASA Research Announcement (NRA) selection process. Upcoming Key Dates Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities Proposals are due by June 11, 2025. University Leadership Initiative Step-A proposals due by June 26, 2025. University Student Research Challenge Proposals for Cycle 3 are due by June 26, 2025. Currently Open Solicitations Artist concept of a high-speed point-to-point vehicle. NASA ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 – OPEN Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities (View the full ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) This announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. These opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals are sought to address the key challenges summarized in the Elements section at the end of the Amendment 1 document, and which reference NASA’s Hypersonic Technology and Transformational Tools & Technologies projects. Notices of Intent are not required. A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Two pre-proposal teleconferences for potential proposers will be held and meeting links will be posted on NSPIRES. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. EDT on June 11, 2025. uli-2025-graphic NASA / Lillian Gipson ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 – OPEN University Leadership Initiative (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 text here.) NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4. Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation This NASA Research Announcement will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal, which is due June 26, 2025. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Thursday April 30, 2025; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop9) (Page will be live closer to the event.) An interested partners list for this ULI is at https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/partners. To be listed as an interested lead or partner, please send an email to hq-univpartnerships@mail.nasa.gov with “ULI Partnerships” in the subject line and include the information required for the table on that web page. Getty Images ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 – OPEN University Student Research Challenge (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 text here) NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. The challenge will provide students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities with grants for their projects, as well as the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator — requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public. The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies. Notices of Intent are not required for this solicitation. Proposals for Cycle 3 are due June 26, 2025. Proposals can also be submitted later and evaluated in the second and third cycles. The USRC Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on the days/times below. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,317928116#. USRC Cycle Information Session/Q&A Date Proposal Due Date Cycle 1 Sept. 20, 2024 at 2 pm ET Nov. 7, 2024 Cycle 2 Jan. 27, 2025 at 2 pm ET March 13, 2025 Cycle 3 May 12, 2025 at 2 pm ET June 26, 2025 The Project F.I.R.E. team receives their “Future Game-Changer” award during the 2024 Gateways to Blue Skies forum held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Gateways to Blue Skies is one of several Aeronautics Innovation Challenges open to the academic community. NASA / Brandon Torres Aeronautics Innovation Challenges – OPEN NASA’s nationwide team of aeronautical innovators are committed to giving students of all ages opportunities to solve some of the biggest technical challenges facing the aviation community today. Through NASA-sponsored challenges and competitions, students representing multiple disciplines will put their skills to work by designing and building solutions to real-world problems. See the Complete List of Challenges Currently Closed Solicitations Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations RFI – CLOSED View the full ACERO RFI announcement here. NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project used this request for information to identify technologies that addressed current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA was seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This would support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations. Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023. Submissions were accepted only from U.S. companies. Advanced Air Mobility Mission RFI – CLOSED View the full AAM RFI announcement here. This request for information is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development. This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM. The respond by date for this RFI closed on Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST. ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) The announcement solicited proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity was designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. Advanced Air Vehicle Program fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals were sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8. A budget breakdown for each proposal was required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document could adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Proposals were due by April 30, 2024, at 5 PM ET. ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 text here) NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project sought proposals for a fuel injector design concept and fabrication for testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The proposal for the fuel injector design aimed to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe. Proposals were due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT. NASA Research Opportunities in Aeronautics Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry. The current open solicitations for ARMD Research Opportunities are ROA-2024 and ROA-2025. Here is some general information to know about the NRA process. NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). All NRA technical work is defined and managed by project teams within these four programs: Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Integrated Aviation Systems Program, and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program. NRA awards originate from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ames Research Center in California, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. Competition for NRA awards is full and open. Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits. Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below. ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs. Keep Exploring See More About NASA Aeronautics Aeronautics STEM Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aeronáutica en español Share Details Last Updated May 01, 2025 Editor Jim Banke Contact Jim Banke jim.banke@nasa.gov Related Terms Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate For Colleges & Universities Learning Resources

NASA is awarding up to $870,000 annually to 52 institutions across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over the next four years. The investments aim to create opportunities for the next generation of innovators by supporting workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math education, and aerospace collaboration nationwide.  The Space Grant […]

3 Min Read NASA Invests in Future STEM Workforce Through Space Grant Awards NASA is awarding up to $870,000 annually to 52 institutions across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over the next four years. The investments aim to create opportunities for the next generation of innovators by supporting workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math education, and aerospace collaboration nationwide. The Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant), established by Congress in 1989, is a workforce development initiative administered through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). The program’s mission is to produce a highly skilled workforce prepared to advance NASA’s mission and bolster the nation’s aerospace sector. “The Space Grant program exemplifies NASA’s commitment to cultivating a new generation of STEM leaders,” said Torry Johnson, deputy associate administrator of the STEM Engagement Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By partnering with institutions across the country, we ensure that students have the resources, mentorship, and experiences needed to thrive in the aerospace workforce.” The following is a complete list of awardees: University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Alabama, Huntsville University of Arkansas, Little Rock University of Arizona University of California, San Diego University of Colorado, Boulder University of Hartford, Connecticut American University, Washington, DC University of Delaware University of Central Florida Georgia Institute of Technology University of Hawaii, Honolulu Iowa State University, Ames University of Idaho, Moscow University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Purdue University, Indiana Wichita State University, Kansas University of Kentucky, Lexington Louisiana State University and A&M College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Maine Space Grant Consortium University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Minnesota Missouri University of Science and Technology University of Mississippi Montana State University, Bozeman North Carolina State University University of North Dakota, Grand Forks University of Nebraska, Omaha University of New Hampshire, Durham Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey New Mexico State University Nevada System of Higher Education Cornell University, New York Ohio Aerospace Institute University of Oklahoma Oregon State University Pennsylvania State University University of Puerto Rico Brown University, Rhode Island College of Charleston, South Carolina South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Vanderbilt University, Tennessee University of Texas, Austin University of Utah, Salt Lake City Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Virginia University of Vermont, Burlington University of Washington, Seattle Carthage College, Wisconsin West Virginia University University of Wyoming Space Grant operates through state-based consortia, which include universities, university systems, associations, government agencies, industries, and informal education organizations engaged in aerospace activities. Each consortium’s lead institution coordinates efforts within its state, expanding opportunities for students and researchers while promoting collaboration with NASA and aerospace-related industries nationwide. To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/

Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova!  The first week of May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on the 6th. And sometime in the next few months, astronomers predict a “new star” or nova explosion will become visible to the unaided eye.  Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility:  Daily Highlights May 6 […]

Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up What to See Tonight Meteor Showers Eclipses Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova! The first week of May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on the 6th. And sometime in the next few months, astronomers predict a “new star” or nova explosion will become visible to the unaided eye. Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility: Venus: Appears very bright and low in the east in the hour before sunrise all month. Mars: Easy to find in the west in the first few hours of the night, all month long. Sets around midnight to 1 a.m. local time. Jupiter: Shines brightly in the west following sunset all month. Early in the month it sets about two hours after the Sun, but by late May it’s setting only an hour after sunset. Saturn: Begins the month next to Venus, low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Quickly separates from Saturn and rises higher in the sky each day before dawn. Daily Highlights May 6 – Eta Aquarid Meteors – The peak of this annual shower is early on the morning of May 6th. The two or three nights before that are also decent opportunities to spy a few shooting stars. On the peak night this year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal viewing conditions. Seeing 10-20 meteors per hour is common for the Northern Hemisphere, while south of the equator, observers tend to see substantially more. May 3 – Mars & Moon: The first quarter Moon appears right next to the Red Planet on the 3rd. Find them in the west during the first half of the night that evening. All month – Venus & Saturn: Low in the eastern sky each morning you’ll find bright Venus paired with much fainter Saturn. They start the month close together, but Saturn pulls away and rises higher over the course of the month. All month – Mars & Jupiter: The planets to look for on May evenings are Mars and Jupiter. They’re visible for a couple of hours after sunset in the western sky. All month – Corona Borealis: Practice finding this constellation in the eastern part of the sky during the first half of the night, so you have a point of comparison when the T CrB nova appears there, likely in the next few months. Transcript What’s Up for May? Four bright planets, morning and night, a chance of meteor showers, and waiting for a nova. May Planet Viewing For planet watching this month, you’ll find Mars and Jupiter in the west following sunset. Mars sticks around for several hours after it gets dark out, but Jupiter is setting by 9:30 or 10 p.m., and getting lower in the sky each day. The first quarter Moon appears right next to the Red Planet on the 3rd. Find them in the west during the first half of the night that evening. Sky chart showing Venus and Saturn with the crescent Moon in the predawn sky on May 23., 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech In the morning sky, Venus and Saturn are the planets to look for in May. They begin the month appearing close together on the sky, and progressively pull farther apart as the month goes on. For several days in late May, early risers will enjoy a gathering of the Moon with Saturn and Venus in the eastern sky before dawn. Watch as the Moon passes the two planets while becoming an increasingly slimmer crescent. You’ll find the Moon hanging between Venus and Saturn on the 23rd. Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower Early May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower. These are meteors that originate from Comet Halley. Earth passes through the comet’s dust stream each May, and again in October. Eta Aquarids are fast moving, and a lot of them produce persistent dust trains that linger for seconds after the meteor’s initial streak. This is one of the best annual showers in the Southern Hemisphere, but tends to be more subdued North of the Equator, where we typically see 10-20 meteors per hour. On the peak night this year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal viewing conditions. While the peak is early on the morning of May 6th, the two or three nights before that are also decent opportunities to spy a few shooting stars. Waiting for a Nova Sky chart showing constellation Corona Borealis with the location where nova “T CrB” is predicted to appear. The view depicts the constellation with the nova occurring, indicated by an arrow. NASA/JPL-Caltech Astronomers have been waiting expectantly for light from a distant explosion to reach us here on Earth. An event called a nova is anticipated to occur sometime in the coming months. Some 3,000 light years away is a binary star system called T Coronae Borealis, or “T CrB.” It consists of a red giant star with a smaller white dwarf star orbiting closely around it. Now the giant’s outer atmosphere is all puffed up, and the dwarf star is close enough that its gravity continually captures some of the giant’s hydrogen. About every 80 years, the white dwarf has accumulated so much of the other star’s hydrogen, that it ignites a thermonuclear explosion. And that’s the nova. T Coronae Borealis is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, or the “Northern Crown,” and it’s normally far too faint to see with the unaided eye. But it’s predicted the nova will be as bright as the constellation’s brightest star, which is about as bright as the North Star, Polaris. You’ll find Corona Borealis right in between the two bright stars Arcturus and Vega, and you can use the Big Dipper’s handle to point you to the right part of the sky. Try having a look for it on clear, dark nights before the nova, so you’ll have a comparison when a new star suddenly becomes visible there. A sky chart indicating how to locate the constellation Corona Borealis between the bright stars Arcturus and Vega. The Big Dipper’s handle points in the direction of Corona Borealis. NASA/JPL-Caltech Now, you may have heard about this months ago, as astronomers started keeping watch for the nova midway through 2024, but it hasn’t happened yet. Predicting exactly when novas or any sort of stellar outburst will happen is tricky, but excitement began growing when astronomers observed the star to dim suddenly, much as it did right before its previous nova in 1946. When the nova finally does occur, it won’t stay bright for long, likely flaring in peak brightness for only a few days. And since it’s not predicted again for another 80 years, you might just want to join the watch for this super rare, naked eye stellar explosion in the sky! Here are the phases of the Moon for May. The phases of the Moon for May 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at NASA Science. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Skywatching Planets Solar System Exploration Moons

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed […]

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed new insights into the explosion that created Cas A about 340 years ago, from Earth’s perspective. Like with the Cygnus Loop, Chandra has provided a 3-dimensional (3D) printable model that can be used to explore the end stage of a star’s life. These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time. See more photos and get the files to print 3D models of cosmic objects. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking from the Rassvet module on April 19, 2025. The Soyuz crew ship would parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan about three hours later returning NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner back to Earth after a 220-day space research mission.

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years.

Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, STS-41B mission specialist, used some of his off-duty time aboard the space shuttle Challenger to play his saxophone.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy Messier 77, also known as the Squid Galaxy.

The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the remains of the explosive death of a massive star.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the globular cluster Messier 72 (M72).

A NASA spacesuit glove designed for use during spacewalks on the International Space Station is prepared for thermal vacuum testing inside a one-of-a-kind chamber called CITADEL (Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Nov. 1, 2023.

The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI). This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby. This image was taken at 1:51 p.m. EDT (17:51 UTC), April 20, 2025, near closest approach, from a range of approximately 660 miles (1,100 km). The spacecraft’s closest approach distance was 600 miles (960 km), but the image shown was taken approximately 40 seconds beforehand. The image has been sharpened and processed to enhance contrast.

The sun's glint beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image of planetary nebula NGC 1514 to date thanks to its unique mid-infrared observations. Webb shows its rings as intricate clumps of dust. It’s also easier to see holes punched through the bright pink central region.

This towering structure of billowing gas and dark, obscuring dust might only be a small portion of the Eagle Nebula, but it is no less majestic in appearance for it. 9.5 light-years tall and 7000 light-years distant from Earth, this dusty sculpture is refreshed with the use of new processing techniques.

The space shuttle Discovery launches from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, heading through Atlantic skies toward its 51-D mission. The seven-member crew lifted off at 8:59 a.m. ET, April 12, 1985.

A scrub jay perches on a branch near the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 22, 2020.

On March 18, 2025, NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for thermal vacuum testing at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF), which simulates the harsh conditions of space.

This new image showcases the dazzling young star cluster NGC 346. Although both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope have released images of NGC 346 previously, this image includes new data and is the first to combine Hubble observations made at infrared, optical, and ultraviolet wavelengths into an intricately detailed view of this vibrant star-forming factory.

NASA astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert launch aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 11, 1970.

In northwest Australia, the Great Sandy Desert holds great geological interest as a zone of active sand dune movement. While a variety of dune forms appear across the region, this astronaut photograph features numerous linear dunes (about 25 meters high) separated in a roughly regular fashion (0.5 to 1.5 kilometers apart).

A Soyuz rocket launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 73 crew members aboard, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This March 4, 2020, image shows Deep Space Station 43, a 70-meter-wide (230-feet-wide) radio antenna at NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia. The facility celebrated its 60th anniversary on March 19, 2025, while also breaking ground on a new radio antenna. The pair of achievements are major milestones for the network, which communicates with spacecraft all over the solar system using giant dish antennas located at three complexes around the globe.

From the mountains of Turin to the deserts of Arizona, a core element of Gateway, humanity’s first lunar space station, is now one step closer to the Moon.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim poses for a portrait while wearing a spacesuit on July 17, 2024. In his first mission, Kim will serve as a flight engineer during Expedition 72/73 on the International Space Station.

The four astronauts who will be the first to fly to the Moon under NASA's Artemis campaign – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – have designed an emblem to represent their mission that references both their distant destination and the home they will return to.

In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful – as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula. Astronomers study these objects by looking at all kinds of light. This images show X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (magenta), optical light data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (orange, light blue), infrared data from the European Southern Observatory VISTA telescope (gold, dark blue), and ultraviolet data from GALEX (purple) of the Helix Nebula.

Thomas Ozoroski, a researcher at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, takes icing accretion measurements in October 2024 as part of transonic truss-braced wing concept research. Researchers at NASA Glenn conducted another test campaign in March 2025.

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and primary contractor Amentum integrate the SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket with the solid rocket boosters onto mobile launcher 1 inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Artemis II is the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.

In this February 1944 publicity photo, men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour.

The instrument enclosure of NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor is prepared for critical environmental tests inside the historic Chamber A at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in December 2024.

Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom are suited for the first flight of the Gemini program in March 1965. NASA loaned Norman Rockwell a Gemini spacesuit in order to make this painting as accurate as possible.

This plaque commemorating the STS-107 space shuttle Columbia crew looks over the Mars landscape after the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, landed and deployed onto the red planet on Jan. 4, 2004. The plaque, mounted on the high-gain antenna, is shown while the rover underwent final checkout March 28, 2003, in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.

A dolphin's dorsal fin cuts through the water in the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart.

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, second from left, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague, second from right, and Suni Williams, right are seen inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft aboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait inside the vestibule between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard, Friday, March 14, 2025, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy to begin a six-month mission aboard the orbital outpost.

A NASA photographer captured a time-lapse image of the lunar eclipse and blood moon above the Space Environments Complex at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, OH on March 14, 2025.

Uranus was the first planet found with the aid of a telescope. It was discovered on March 13, 1781, by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. Instead, the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by astronomer Johann Bode.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Dragon spacecraft on top is seen during sunrise on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, ahead of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch. Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff is targeted for 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

NASA Artemis II Crew Public Affairs Officer Courtney Beasley, left, moderates a panel discussion with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, right, as they discuss their mission around the Moon next year aboard Artemis II, the first crewed test flight under NASA's Artemis campaign, Friday, March 7, 2025, at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image of Ceres' south polar region on May 17, 2017, from an altitude of about 26,400 miles (42,500 kilometers).

NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson points to the Expedition 71 patch on her flight suit as she answers a question from students, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington. Dyson and fellow crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps served as part of Expedition 71 aboard the International Space Station.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured an image of Kachemak Bay’s turbid, cloudy waters on September 20, 2024.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a supernova remnant called the Veil Nebula. This nebula is the remnant of a star roughly 20 times as massive as the Sun that exploded about 10,000 years ago.

Carrying a suite of NASA science and technology, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, 2025, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.

In this 1957 photo, George Cooper, a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, stands next to a North American F-100, a supersonic fighter tested by the NACA.

An apprentice at Langley Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia) inspects wind tunnel components in this image from May 15, 1943.

Creating a golden streak in the night sky, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander (IM-2) soars upward after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:16 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26 as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The IM-2 launch is carrying NASA science, technology demonstrations, and other commercial payloads to Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau to advance our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions.

The Milky Way appears beyond Earth's horizon in this celestial photograph captured on Jan. 29, 2025, by NASA astronaut Don Pettit using a camera with low light and long duration settings pointed out a window on the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. The International Space Station was orbiting 265 miles above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile just before sunrise.

NASA’s X-59 lights up the night sky with its unique Mach diamonds, also known as shock diamonds, during maximum afterburner testing at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The test demonstrates the engine’s ability to generate the thrust required for supersonic flight, advancing NASA’s Quesst mission.

Tall plumes of white vapor rise from the rocky Venusian surface in this April 19, 1977, artist’s concept.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away.

Engineers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems complete stacking operations on the twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters for Artemis II by integrating the nose cones atop the forward assemblies inside the Vehicle Assembly Building’s High Bay 3 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. The twin solid boosters will help support the remaining rocket components and the Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis II Moon rocket and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B.

This updated version of "the Pale Blue Dot," made for the photo's 30th anniversary in 2020, uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images.

This composite image contains the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus. By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and green) with optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow) and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (orange), this stellar arrangement comes alive.

One of three small lunar rovers that are part of a NASA technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) is prepared for shipping in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Jan. 29, 2025.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a follow-on imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or "night-shining" clouds, which started in 2021. This scene made up of 28 individual images captured by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam.

The brilliant exhaust from the solid rocket boosters (center) and blue mach diamonds from the main engine nozzles mark the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39A on Feb. 11, 2000.

This view from space shuttle Columbia shows Mount Everest, which reaches 29,028 feet in elevation (8,848 meters), along with many glaciers. Mount Everest is to the left of the V-shaped valley.

The full moon rises over the Superdome and the city of New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday evening, January 13, 2025. The Wolf Moon, also known as the Ice or Cold Moon, was full at 5:27 p.m. EST. New Orleans is home to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility where several pieces of hardware for the SLS (Space Launch System) are being built.

The blue tentacle-like arms containing gecko-like adhesive pads, attached to an Astrobee robotic free-flyer, reach out and grapple a "capture cube" inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. The experimental grippers, outfitted on the toaster-sized Astrobee, demonstrated autonomous detection and capture techniques that may be used to remove space debris and service satellites in low Earth orbit.

Official National Aeronautics and Space Administration Website

The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking on April 19, 2025. Three hours later, the spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan, returning astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner to Earth. While aboard the International Space Station, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, […]

NASA/Jonny Kim The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking on April 19, 2025. Three hours later, the spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan, returning astronaut Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner to Earth. While aboard the International Space Station, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, including research to enhance on-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitization technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behavior in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions. Image credit: NASA/Jonny Kim

The Trump-Vance Administration released toplines of the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday. The budget accelerates human space exploration of the Moon and Mars with a fiscally responsible portfolio of missions. “This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research,” said […]

Credit: NASA The Trump-Vance Administration released toplines of the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday. The budget accelerates human space exploration of the Moon and Mars with a fiscally responsible portfolio of missions. “This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research,” said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro. “I appreciate the President’s continued support for NASA’s mission and look forward to working closely with the administration and Congress to ensure we continue making progress toward achieving the impossible.” Increased commitment to human space exploration in pursuit of exploration of both the Moon and Mars. By allocating more than $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, the budget ensures America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient. Refocus science and space technology resources to efficiently execute high priority research. Consistent with the administration’s priority of returning to the Moon before China and putting an American on Mars, the budget will advance priority science and research missions and projects, ending financially unsustainable programs including Mars Sample Return. It emphasizes investments in transformative space technologies while responsibly shifting projects better suited for private sector leadership. Transition the Artemis campaign to a more sustainable, cost-effective approach to lunar exploration. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion capsule will be retired after Artemis III, paving the way for more cost-effective, next-generation commercial systems that will support subsequent NASA lunar missions. The budget also ends the Gateway Program, with the opportunity to repurpose already produced components for use in other missions. International partners will be invited to join these renewed efforts, expanding opportunities for meaningful collaboration on the Moon and Mars. Continue the process of transitioning the International Space Station to commercial replacements in 2030, focusing onboard research on efforts critical to the exploration of the Moon and Mars. The budget reflects the upcoming transition to a more cost-effective, open commercial approach to human activities in low Earth orbit by reducing the space station’s crew size and onboard research, preparing for the safe decommissioning of the station and its replacement by commercial space stations. Work to minimize duplication of efforts and most efficiently steward the allocation of American taxpayer dollars. This budget ensures NASA’s topline enables a financially sustainable trajectory to complete groundbreaking research and execute the agency’s bold mission. Focus NASA’s resources on its core mission of space exploration. This budget ends climate-focused “green aviation” spending while protecting the development of technologies with air traffic control and other U.S. government and commercial applications, producing savings. This budget also will ensure continued elimination any funding toward misaligned DEIA initiatives, instead designating that money to missions capable of advancing NASA’s core mission. NASA will continue to inspire the next generation of explorers through exciting, ambitious space missions that demonstrate American leadership in space. NASA will coordinate closely with its partners to execute these priorities and investments as efficiently and effectively as possible. Building on the President’s promise to increase efficiency this budget pioneers a focused, innovative, and fiscally-responsible path to America’s next great era of human space exploration. Learn more about the President’s budget request for NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/budget -end- Bethany Stevens Headquarters, Washington 771-216-2606 bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2025 Editor Jennifer M. Dooren Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Budget & Annual Reports

Living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA is what drives Robert Williams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Williams said he has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by “some truly exceptional” engineers, some with careers reaching back […]

Robert Williams is a senior mechanical design engineer and the structures subject matter expert in the Engineering and Test Directorate at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. NASA/Danny Nowlin Living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA is what drives Robert Williams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A native of Gulfport, Mississippi, Williams said he has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by “some truly exceptional” engineers, some with careers reaching back to the Apollo era. “I cannot overstate the vast amount of practical knowledge and experience we have at NASA Stennis,” Williams said. “We know how to get things done, and if we do not know, I can guarantee we will figure it out.” Williams is a senior mechanical design engineer and the structures subject matter expert for the NASA Stennis Engineering and Test Directorate. He provides technical oversight related to engineering mechanics and machine design by reviewing analysis and design packages from NASA Stennis contractors and NASA engineers for ongoing projects. Williams also supports projects by performing analysis and creating detailed models, drawings, and system level designs, mostly at the versatile four-stand E Test Complex, where NASA Stennis has 12 active test cells capable of various component, engine, and stage test activities to support the agency and commercial companies. In support of NASA’s Artemis campaign of returning astronauts to the Moon, Williams also has reviewed structural and pipe stress analysis for the exploration upper stage project that will test a new SLS (Space Launch System) rocket stage to fly on future Artemis missions. He performed similar review work for Green Run testing of the SLS core stage at NASA Stennis ahead of the successful launch of the Artemis I uncrewed mission around the Moon. Overall, Williams has been a part of projects on every test stand throughout more than eight years with NASA and five years as a contractor. He has been tasked with solving challenging problems, both individually and as a part of teams. There were times when he was not sure if he or the team would be able to solve the problem or address it effectively, but each time, the NASA Stennis team found a way. “Over the span of my career, I have yet to be in a situation where the challenge was not met,” he said. The opportunity to work with “pretty much all the major space companies in some capacity” is most interesting to Williams. “The best thing is that being a small organization within a relatively small center, there are always opportunities to develop new skills and capabilities to help fill a need or gap,” he said. No matter the task, Williams looks forward to supporting space innovation while living up to, and maintaining, the standard of excellence associated with NASA for the benefit of all. Explore More 3 min read Lagniappe for April 2025 Article 1 month ago 4 min read Lagniappe for March 2025 Article 2 months ago 6 min read NASA Stennis Flashback: Learning About Rocket Engine Exhaust for Safe Space Travel Article 2 months ago

A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It […]

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a peculiar spiral galaxy called Arp 184 or NGC 1961. ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), C. Kilpatrick A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It holds 338 galaxies that are oddly shaped and tend to be neither entirely elliptical nor entirely spiral-shaped. Many of the galaxies are in the process of interacting with other galaxies, while others are dwarf galaxies without well-defined structures. Arp 184 earned its spot in the catalog thanks to its single broad, star-speckled spiral arm that appears to stretch toward us. The galaxy’s far side sports a few wisps of gas and stars, but it lacks a similarly impressive spiral arm. This Hubble image combines data from three Snapshot observing programs, which are short observations that slotted into time gaps between other proposals. One of the three programs targeted Arp 184 for its peculiar appearance. This program surveyed galaxies listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as well as A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations, a similar catalog compiled by Halton Arp and Barry Madore. The remaining two Snapshot programs looked at the aftermath of fleeting astronomical events like supernovae and tidal disruption events — like when a supermassive black hole rips a star apart after it wanders too closely. Since Arp 184 hosted four known supernovae in the past three decades, it is a rich target for a supernova hunt. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov) NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Galaxies Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights

After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other. Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as […]

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, or wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (3.29 microns), revealing a cloud of dust made of a molecule similar to soot or smoke. NASA/JPL-Caltech This image from NASA’s SPHEREx shows the same region of space in a different infrared wavelength (0.98 microns), but the dust cloud is no longer visible. The molecules that compose the dust — polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — do not radiate light in this color. NASA/JPL-Caltech After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other. Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as it should. Now it’s mapping the entire sky — not just a large part of it — to chart the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to answer some big questions about the universe. On May 1, the spacecraft began regular science operations, which consist of taking about 3,600 images per day for the next two years to provide new insights about the origins of the universe, galaxies, and the ingredients for life in the Milky Way. This video shows SPHEREx’s field of view as it scans across one section of sky inside the Large Magellanic Cloud, with rainbow colors representing the infrared wavelengths the telescope’s detectors see. The view from one detector array moves from purple to green, followed by the second array’s view, which changes from yellow to red. The images are looped four times. NASA/JPL-Caltech “Thanks to the hard work of teams across NASA, industry, and academia that built this mission, SPHEREx is operating just as we’d expected and will produce maps of the full sky unlike any we’ve had before,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This new observatory is adding to the suite of space-based astrophysics survey missions leading up to the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Together with these other missions, SPHEREx will play a key role in answering the big questions about the universe we tackle at NASA every day.” From its perch in Earth orbit, SPHEREx peers into the darkness, pointing away from the planet and the Sun. The observatory will complete more than 11,000 orbits over its 25 months of planned survey operations, circling Earth about 14½ times a day. It orbits Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and each day it takes images along one circular strip of the sky. As the days pass and the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx’s field of view shifts as well so that after six months, the observatory will have looked out into space in every direction. When SPHEREx takes a picture of the sky, the light is sent to six detectors that each produces a unique image capturing different wavelengths of light. These groups of six images are called an exposure, and SPHEREx takes about 600 exposures per day. When it’s done with one exposure, the whole observatory shifts position — the mirrors and detectors don’t move as they do on some other telescopes. Rather than using thrusters, SPHEREx relies on a system of reaction wheels, which spin inside the spacecraft to control its orientation. Hundreds of thousands of SPHEREx’s images will be digitally woven together to create four all-sky maps in two years. By mapping the entire sky, the mission will provide new insights about what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang. In that brief instant, an event called cosmic inflation caused the universe to expand a trillion-trillionfold. “We’re going to study what happened on the smallest size scales in the universe’s earliest moments by looking at the modern universe on the largest scales,” said Jim Fanson, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “I think there’s a poetic arc to that.” Cosmic inflation subtly influenced the distribution of matter in the universe, and clues about how such an event could happen are written into the positions of galaxies across the universe. When cosmic inflation began, the universe was smaller than the size of an atom, but the properties of that early universe were stretched out and influence what we see today. No other known event or process involves the amount of energy that would have been required to drive cosmic inflation, so studying it presents a unique opportunity to understand more deeply how our universe works. “Some of us have been working toward this goal for 12 years,” said Jamie Bock, the mission’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL. “The performance of the instrument is as good as we hoped. That means we’re going to be able to do all the amazing science we planned on and perhaps even get some unexpected discoveries.” Color Field The SPHEREx observatory won’t be the first to map the entire sky, but it will be the first to do so in so many colors. It observes 102 wavelengths, or colors, of infrared light, which are undetectable to the human eye. Through a technique called spectroscopy, the telescope separates the light into wavelengths — much like a prism creates a rainbow from sunlight — revealing all kinds of information about cosmic sources. For example, spectroscopy can be harnessed to determine the distance to a faraway galaxy, information that can be used to turn a 2D map of those galaxies into a 3D one. The technique will also enable the mission to measure the collective glow from all the galaxies that ever existed and see how that glow has changed over cosmic time. And spectroscopy can reveal the composition of objects. Using this capability, the mission is searching for water and other key ingredients for life in these systems in our galaxy. It’s thought that the water in Earth’s oceans originated as frozen water molecules attached to dust in the interstellar cloud where the Sun formed. The SPHEREx mission will make over 9 million observations of interstellar clouds in the Milky Way, mapping these materials across the galaxy and helping scientists understand how different conditions can affect the chemistry that produced many of the compounds found on Earth today. More About SPHEREx The SPHEREx mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Caltech in Pasadena managed and integrated the instrument. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more about SPHEREx, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/ News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov 2025-063 Share Details Last Updated May 01, 2025 Related Terms SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Exoplanets Galaxies Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Search for Life The Universe Explore More 2 min read Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The… Article 12 hours ago 4 min read NASA’s Chandra Diagnoses Cause of Fracture in Galactic “Bone” Article 1 day ago 3 min read The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Some Dark Origins Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System

Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes. The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They […]

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes. The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They often receive a powerful kick from these explosions, sending them away from the explosion’s location at high speeds. Enormous structures resembling bones or snakes are found near the center of the galaxy. These elongated formations are seen in radio waves and are threaded by magnetic fields running parallel to them. The radio waves are caused by energized particles spiraling along the magnetic fields. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Northwestern Univ./F. Yusef-Zadeh et al; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKat; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk This new image shows one of these cosmic “bones” called G359.13142-0.20005 (G359.13 for short), with X-ray data from Chandra (colored blue) and radio data from the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa (colored gray). Researchers also refer to G359.13 as the Snake. Examining this image closely reveals the presence of a break, or fracture, in the otherwise continuous length of G359.13 seen in the image. The combined X-ray and radio data provides clues to the cause of this fracture. Astronomers have now discovered an X-ray and radio source at the location of the fracture, using the data from Chandra and MeerKAT and the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array. A likely pulsar responsible for these radio and X-ray signals is labeled. A possible extra source of X-rays located near the pulsar may come from electrons and positrons (the anti-matter counterparts to electrons) that have been accelerated to high energies. The researchers think the pulsar likely caused the fracture by smashing into G359.13 at a speed between one million and two million miles per hour. This collision distorted the magnetic field in the bone, causing the radio signal to also become warped. At about 230 light-years long, G359.13 is one of the longest and brightest of these structures in the Milky Way. To put this into context, there are more than 800 stars within that distance from Earth. G359.13 is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth, near the center of the Milky Way. A paper describing these results appeared in the May 2024 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available here. The authors of the study are Farhad Yusuf-Zadeh (Northwestern University), Jun-Hui Zhao (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Rick Arendt (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Mark Wardle (Macquarie University, Australia), Craig Heinke (University of Alberta), Marc Royster (College of the Sequoias, California), Cornelia Lang (University of Iowa), and Joseph Michail (Northwestern). NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Learn More Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: https://www.nasa.gov/chandra https://chandra.si.edu Visual Description This release features two composite images of a long, thin, cosmic structure. With the structure’s vertical orientation, seemingly fragile dimensions, and pale grey color against the blackness of space, the images resemble medical X-rays of a long, thin, bone. The main image shows the structure in its entirety. The inset image is an annotated close-up highlighting an apparent fracture in the bone-like structure. The structure, called G359.13, or “The Snake”, is a Galactic Center Filament. These filament formations are threaded by parallel magnetic fields, and spiraling, energized particles. The particles cause radio waves, which can be detected by radio arrays, in this case by the MeerKAT array in South Africa. In the first composite image, the largely straight filament stretches from the top to the bottom of the vertical frame. At each end of the grey filament is a hazy grey cloud. The only color in the image is neon blue, found in a few specks which dot the blackness surrounding the structure. The blue represents X-rays seen by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. In the annotated close-up, one such speck appears to be interacting with the structure itself. This is a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, otherwise known as a pulsar. Astronomers believe that this pulsar has struck the filament halfway down its length, distorting the magnetic field and radio signal. In both images, this distortion resembles a small break, or spur, in the bone-like filament. News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu Lane Figueroa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov

THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON MAY 1, 2025(Added Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.) This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the […]

9 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA / Lillian Gipson/Getty Images THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON MAY 1, 2025 (Added Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities.) This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, better known as NSPIRES. You are encouraged to visit the NSPIRES web site, create an account, and sign up for automated email announcements. Other types of collaborative opportunities, such as those involving Requests for Information or academic research contests, also are included on this page. This page has four major sections: Quick list of open solicitations with key dates listed. Current open solicitations with more details and helpful links. Closed solicitations in case it is helpful to see other examples of the kind of research opportunities NASA Aeronautics makes available. Summary of NASA’s Research Opportunities in Aeronautics (ROA) NASA Research Announcement (NRA) selection process. Upcoming Key Dates Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities Proposals are due by June 11, 2025. University Leadership Initiative Step-A proposals due by June 26, 2025. University Student Research Challenge Proposals for Cycle 3 are due by June 26, 2025. Currently Open Solicitations Artist concept of a high-speed point-to-point vehicle. NASA ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 – OPEN Advanced Air Vehicles Program Fellowship Opportunities (View the full ROA-2025 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) This announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. These opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals are sought to address the key challenges summarized in the Elements section at the end of the Amendment 1 document, and which reference NASA’s Hypersonic Technology and Transformational Tools & Technologies projects. Notices of Intent are not required. A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Two pre-proposal teleconferences for potential proposers will be held and meeting links will be posted on NSPIRES. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. EDT on June 11, 2025. uli-2025-graphic NASA / Lillian Gipson ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 – OPEN University Leadership Initiative (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 2 text here.) NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4. Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation This NASA Research Announcement will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal, which is due June 26, 2025. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Thursday April 30, 2025; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop9) (Page will be live closer to the event.) An interested partners list for this ULI is at https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/partners. To be listed as an interested lead or partner, please send an email to hq-univpartnerships@mail.nasa.gov with “ULI Partnerships” in the subject line and include the information required for the table on that web page. Getty Images ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 – OPEN University Student Research Challenge (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 4 text here) NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. The challenge will provide students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities with grants for their projects, as well as the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator — requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public. The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies. Notices of Intent are not required for this solicitation. Proposals for Cycle 3 are due June 26, 2025. Proposals can also be submitted later and evaluated in the second and third cycles. The USRC Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on the days/times below. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,317928116#. USRC Cycle Information Session/Q&A Date Proposal Due Date Cycle 1 Sept. 20, 2024 at 2 pm ET Nov. 7, 2024 Cycle 2 Jan. 27, 2025 at 2 pm ET March 13, 2025 Cycle 3 May 12, 2025 at 2 pm ET June 26, 2025 The Project F.I.R.E. team receives their “Future Game-Changer” award during the 2024 Gateways to Blue Skies forum held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Gateways to Blue Skies is one of several Aeronautics Innovation Challenges open to the academic community. NASA / Brandon Torres Aeronautics Innovation Challenges – OPEN NASA’s nationwide team of aeronautical innovators are committed to giving students of all ages opportunities to solve some of the biggest technical challenges facing the aviation community today. Through NASA-sponsored challenges and competitions, students representing multiple disciplines will put their skills to work by designing and building solutions to real-world problems. See the Complete List of Challenges Currently Closed Solicitations Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations RFI – CLOSED View the full ACERO RFI announcement here. NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project used this request for information to identify technologies that addressed current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA was seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This would support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations. Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023. Submissions were accepted only from U.S. companies. Advanced Air Mobility Mission RFI – CLOSED View the full AAM RFI announcement here. This request for information is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development. This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM. The respond by date for this RFI closed on Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST. ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 1 text here.) The announcement solicited proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity was designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. Advanced Air Vehicle Program fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals. Research proposals were sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8. A budget breakdown for each proposal was required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document could adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Proposals were due by April 30, 2024, at 5 PM ET. ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 – CLOSED (View the full ROA-2024 NRA Amendment 3 text here) NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project sought proposals for a fuel injector design concept and fabrication for testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The proposal for the fuel injector design aimed to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe. Proposals were due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT. NASA Research Opportunities in Aeronautics Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry. The current open solicitations for ARMD Research Opportunities are ROA-2024 and ROA-2025. Here is some general information to know about the NRA process. NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). All NRA technical work is defined and managed by project teams within these four programs: Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Integrated Aviation Systems Program, and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program. NRA awards originate from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ames Research Center in California, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. Competition for NRA awards is full and open. Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits. Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below. ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs. Keep Exploring See More About NASA Aeronautics Aeronautics STEM Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aeronáutica en español Share Details Last Updated May 01, 2025 Editor Jim Banke Contact Jim Banke jim.banke@nasa.gov Related Terms Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate For Colleges & Universities Learning Resources

NASA is awarding up to $870,000 annually to 52 institutions across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over the next four years. The investments aim to create opportunities for the next generation of innovators by supporting workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math education, and aerospace collaboration nationwide.  The Space Grant […]

3 Min Read NASA Invests in Future STEM Workforce Through Space Grant Awards NASA is awarding up to $870,000 annually to 52 institutions across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over the next four years. The investments aim to create opportunities for the next generation of innovators by supporting workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math education, and aerospace collaboration nationwide. The Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant), established by Congress in 1989, is a workforce development initiative administered through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). The program’s mission is to produce a highly skilled workforce prepared to advance NASA’s mission and bolster the nation’s aerospace sector. “The Space Grant program exemplifies NASA’s commitment to cultivating a new generation of STEM leaders,” said Torry Johnson, deputy associate administrator of the STEM Engagement Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By partnering with institutions across the country, we ensure that students have the resources, mentorship, and experiences needed to thrive in the aerospace workforce.” The following is a complete list of awardees: University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Alabama, Huntsville University of Arkansas, Little Rock University of Arizona University of California, San Diego University of Colorado, Boulder University of Hartford, Connecticut American University, Washington, DC University of Delaware University of Central Florida Georgia Institute of Technology University of Hawaii, Honolulu Iowa State University, Ames University of Idaho, Moscow University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Purdue University, Indiana Wichita State University, Kansas University of Kentucky, Lexington Louisiana State University and A&M College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Maine Space Grant Consortium University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Minnesota Missouri University of Science and Technology University of Mississippi Montana State University, Bozeman North Carolina State University University of North Dakota, Grand Forks University of Nebraska, Omaha University of New Hampshire, Durham Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey New Mexico State University Nevada System of Higher Education Cornell University, New York Ohio Aerospace Institute University of Oklahoma Oregon State University Pennsylvania State University University of Puerto Rico Brown University, Rhode Island College of Charleston, South Carolina South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Vanderbilt University, Tennessee University of Texas, Austin University of Utah, Salt Lake City Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Virginia University of Vermont, Burlington University of Washington, Seattle Carthage College, Wisconsin West Virginia University University of Wyoming Space Grant operates through state-based consortia, which include universities, university systems, associations, government agencies, industries, and informal education organizations engaged in aerospace activities. Each consortium’s lead institution coordinates efforts within its state, expanding opportunities for students and researchers while promoting collaboration with NASA and aerospace-related industries nationwide. To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/

Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova!  The first week of May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on the 6th. And sometime in the next few months, astronomers predict a “new star” or nova explosion will become visible to the unaided eye.  Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility:  Daily Highlights May 6 […]

Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up What to See Tonight Meteor Showers Eclipses Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network Eta Aquarids & Waiting for a Nova! The first week of May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on the 6th. And sometime in the next few months, astronomers predict a “new star” or nova explosion will become visible to the unaided eye. Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility: Venus: Appears very bright and low in the east in the hour before sunrise all month. Mars: Easy to find in the west in the first few hours of the night, all month long. Sets around midnight to 1 a.m. local time. Jupiter: Shines brightly in the west following sunset all month. Early in the month it sets about two hours after the Sun, but by late May it’s setting only an hour after sunset. Saturn: Begins the month next to Venus, low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Quickly separates from Saturn and rises higher in the sky each day before dawn. Daily Highlights May 6 – Eta Aquarid Meteors – The peak of this annual shower is early on the morning of May 6th. The two or three nights before that are also decent opportunities to spy a few shooting stars. On the peak night this year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal viewing conditions. Seeing 10-20 meteors per hour is common for the Northern Hemisphere, while south of the equator, observers tend to see substantially more. May 3 – Mars & Moon: The first quarter Moon appears right next to the Red Planet on the 3rd. Find them in the west during the first half of the night that evening. All month – Venus & Saturn: Low in the eastern sky each morning you’ll find bright Venus paired with much fainter Saturn. They start the month close together, but Saturn pulls away and rises higher over the course of the month. All month – Mars & Jupiter: The planets to look for on May evenings are Mars and Jupiter. They’re visible for a couple of hours after sunset in the western sky. All month – Corona Borealis: Practice finding this constellation in the eastern part of the sky during the first half of the night, so you have a point of comparison when the T CrB nova appears there, likely in the next few months. Transcript What’s Up for May? Four bright planets, morning and night, a chance of meteor showers, and waiting for a nova. May Planet Viewing For planet watching this month, you’ll find Mars and Jupiter in the west following sunset. Mars sticks around for several hours after it gets dark out, but Jupiter is setting by 9:30 or 10 p.m., and getting lower in the sky each day. The first quarter Moon appears right next to the Red Planet on the 3rd. Find them in the west during the first half of the night that evening. Sky chart showing Venus and Saturn with the crescent Moon in the predawn sky on May 23., 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech In the morning sky, Venus and Saturn are the planets to look for in May. They begin the month appearing close together on the sky, and progressively pull farther apart as the month goes on. For several days in late May, early risers will enjoy a gathering of the Moon with Saturn and Venus in the eastern sky before dawn. Watch as the Moon passes the two planets while becoming an increasingly slimmer crescent. You’ll find the Moon hanging between Venus and Saturn on the 23rd. Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower Early May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower. These are meteors that originate from Comet Halley. Earth passes through the comet’s dust stream each May, and again in October. Eta Aquarids are fast moving, and a lot of them produce persistent dust trains that linger for seconds after the meteor’s initial streak. This is one of the best annual showers in the Southern Hemisphere, but tends to be more subdued North of the Equator, where we typically see 10-20 meteors per hour. On the peak night this year, the Moon sets by around 3 a.m., leaving dark skies until dawn, for ideal viewing conditions. While the peak is early on the morning of May 6th, the two or three nights before that are also decent opportunities to spy a few shooting stars. Waiting for a Nova Sky chart showing constellation Corona Borealis with the location where nova “T CrB” is predicted to appear. The view depicts the constellation with the nova occurring, indicated by an arrow. NASA/JPL-Caltech Astronomers have been waiting expectantly for light from a distant explosion to reach us here on Earth. An event called a nova is anticipated to occur sometime in the coming months. Some 3,000 light years away is a binary star system called T Coronae Borealis, or “T CrB.” It consists of a red giant star with a smaller white dwarf star orbiting closely around it. Now the giant’s outer atmosphere is all puffed up, and the dwarf star is close enough that its gravity continually captures some of the giant’s hydrogen. About every 80 years, the white dwarf has accumulated so much of the other star’s hydrogen, that it ignites a thermonuclear explosion. And that’s the nova. T Coronae Borealis is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, or the “Northern Crown,” and it’s normally far too faint to see with the unaided eye. But it’s predicted the nova will be as bright as the constellation’s brightest star, which is about as bright as the North Star, Polaris. You’ll find Corona Borealis right in between the two bright stars Arcturus and Vega, and you can use the Big Dipper’s handle to point you to the right part of the sky. Try having a look for it on clear, dark nights before the nova, so you’ll have a comparison when a new star suddenly becomes visible there. A sky chart indicating how to locate the constellation Corona Borealis between the bright stars Arcturus and Vega. The Big Dipper’s handle points in the direction of Corona Borealis. NASA/JPL-Caltech Now, you may have heard about this months ago, as astronomers started keeping watch for the nova midway through 2024, but it hasn’t happened yet. Predicting exactly when novas or any sort of stellar outburst will happen is tricky, but excitement began growing when astronomers observed the star to dim suddenly, much as it did right before its previous nova in 1946. When the nova finally does occur, it won’t stay bright for long, likely flaring in peak brightness for only a few days. And since it’s not predicted again for another 80 years, you might just want to join the watch for this super rare, naked eye stellar explosion in the sky! Here are the phases of the Moon for May. The phases of the Moon for May 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at NASA Science. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Skywatching Planets Solar System Exploration Moons

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed […]

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers uncovered a mysterious feature within the remnant, nicknamed the “Green Monster,” alongside a puzzling network of ejecta filaments forming a web of oxygen-rich material. When combined with X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the data helped astronomers shed light on the origin of the Green Monster and revealed new insights into the explosion that created Cas A about 340 years ago, from Earth’s perspective. Like with the Cygnus Loop, Chandra has provided a 3-dimensional (3D) printable model that can be used to explore the end stage of a star’s life. These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time. See more photos and get the files to print 3D models of cosmic objects. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand

New Scientist - Space

‘Shocking’ results from a major astronomical study have raised doubts about the standard model of cosmology, forcing scientists to consider new ways of understanding dark energy and gravity

As humanity prepares to return to the moon, scientists also have ideas for huge lunar experiments that could revolutionise astrophysics

Last week astronomers reported hints of biological activity on a distant planet, but a re-analysis of their data suggests the claimed molecules may not be there at all

Unusual signals called quasi periodic eruptions appear to come from black holes, but we don't know what creates them. Now astronomers have seen the most powerful one of these signals ever, and have a new idea about their cause

Whenever there’s even a slight chance that an exoplanet shows signs of biological activity, people understandably get excited – but it’s never been aliens, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, not this time or the next, says Chris Lintott

A network of Earth's best clocks will be synchronised with the most accurate one ever sent into space. But the device has a short shelf life: it will burn up in the atmosphere at the end of the decade as the ISS deorbits

The report of possible biosignatures on the exoplanet K2-18b is exciting, but we are a long way from establishing beyond doubt that there is life on such a distant world

On a faraway planet, the James Webb Space Telescope has picked up signs of molecules that, on Earth, are produced only by living organisms – but researchers say we must interpret the results cautiously

It is rare to find brown dwarf stars orbiting in pairs, and this pair has an even more unusual exoplanet companion

Space agencies from the US, Europe and Japan are all making plans to visit the asteroid Apophis when it makes an extremely close flyby in 2029 to learn how to deflect others like it

The Lyrids and Eta Aquarids meteor showers can both be seen starting in late April, with viewing opportunities in both the northern and southern hemispheres

Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet in our solar system's outer reaches. Now is an ideal time to look for the egg-shaped Haumea, says Abigail Beall

In this extract from the classic science fiction novel, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, we meet Ringworld’s protagonist Louis Wu, as he travels a future Earth

Amazon is aiming to launch its first operational satellites today to provide speedy internet connections in remote regions, but it will still take some time to catch up with its main competitor, SpaceX's Starlink  

Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, we now know that a day on Uranus lasts for 28 seconds longer than previously thought – a difference that could be crucial in planning future missions to the gas giant

Space is a favourite setting for many Hollywood films, but just how accurate are their portrayals? Patricia Skelton, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, sheds some light on the scientific rigour of her favourite movies. For example, during an explosive space battle scene in Star Trek, a crew member is tossed out into space …

An eavesdropper hiding inside a black hole could still obtain information about quantum objects on its outside, a finding that reveals how effectively black holes destroy the quantum states near their event horizons

Researchers used a synthetic version of moon dust to build working solar panels, which could eventually be created within – and used to power – a moon base of the future

Under pressure from Elon Musk’s DOGE task force, NASA is cancelling grants and contracts for everything from lunar dust research to educational programmes

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon

On 29 March, a partial solar eclipse will pass over Canada and parts of northern Europe, including London.  Thanks to our friends at the Royal Observatory in London, we can experience this celestial event guided by their astronomers. Want to see a total eclipse? Why not join one of our Discover eclipse tours

Red specks in the early universe are puzzling astronomers, but a proposed explanation suggests they are the progenitors of supermassive black holes

After nearly 36 years of searching, astronomers have finally confirmed Neptune has auroras, thanks to data from the James Webb Space Telescope

A galaxy inside a bubble may be evidence that the universe was starting to become transparent 330 million years after the big bang

String theory may be our best attempt at a theory of everything, except that it can't describe an expanding universe like ours. Now a radical new twist on the idea could finally fix that – but it requires us to completely reimagine reality

The Odysseus spacecraft made a rough landing on the moon last year, toppling over and rendering much of its equipment unusable, but an onboard NASA radio telescope called ROLSES-1  was able to make some observations

Isar Aerospace is preparing to launch its Spectrum rocket from a base in Norway, which would make it the first orbital launch from continental Europe outside Russia

Our current best theories of the universe suggest that dark energy is making it expand faster and faster, but new observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument suggest this mysterious force is actually growing weaker

The European Space Agency has released the first batch of large-scale images from the Euclid space telescope, which astronomers have already used to find hundreds of strong gravitational lenses

A meteorite discovered in north-west Africa in 2023 didn’t come from a large asteroid or any of the known planets of the solar system – but it might have formed on a planet that was destroyed long ago

The finest ever map of the cosmic microwave background - the faint evidence of the universe's early form - has yielded precise confirmation of the age of the cosmos and its rate of expansion. But for some scientists, the findings offer a frustrating lack of clues to major cosmological mysteries

There are a couple potential explanations for distinctive markings found on a Martian rock, but new evidence suggests they are most likely to be related to microbial activity

NASA’s Perseverance rover recorded unusual sounds as a Martian dust devil passed directly over the robotic vehicle in 2021, and we now know they came from electrical activity in the storm

NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers

The wind on Saturn's largest moon is strong enough to blow around rocks of up to half a metre in diameter, which could put NASA's upcoming Dragonfly mission at risk

A private moon mission planned for 2027 will be the first step towards commercial lunar mining of rare and expensive helium-3

The Big Wheel, discovered using the James Webb Space Telescope, formed just 2 billion years after the big bang - surprisingly early for a spiral galaxy of a similar size to our Milky Way

A failed launch left a batch of Starlink satellites in the wrong orbit last year, and it appears that a fragment of one fell to Earth and hit a farm in Canada. Thankfully, no one was injured

Potential cuts of up to 50 per cent of NASA's science budget could mean cancelling missions including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Voyager probes

A mission to survey the results of a deliberate crash between an asteroid and a NASA spacecraft has taken stunning images of Mars and its moon Deimos

NASA’s Perseverance rover found large crystals of quartz with a high purity on Mars, which probably had to have formed in the presence of hot water

Saturn has dozens of new moons, bringing it to a total of 274. All of the new moons are between 2 and 4 kilometres wide, but at what point is a rock too small to be a moon?

Analysis of samples brought back to Earth from the asteroid Bennu reveal that it has a bizarre chemical make-up and is unusually magnetic

A strange new conception of how time warps across the universe does away with cosmology's most mysterious entity, dark energy

A star has been spotted shooting away from the heart of our galaxy at around 500 kilometres per second, giving astronomers clues about a group of stellar objects that are hard to observe directly

This photograph of a Soyuz rocket bathed in mist was selected as a finalist for the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 competition

Intuitive Machines's Athena spacecraft has landed on the surface of the moon, but it seems to have fallen over and we don't yet know if it will be able to drill for ice

A supermassive black hole that doesn't appear to be where we would expect seems to be travelling at more than a thousand kilometres per second – the result of a giant cosmic collision

The stars as seen from Earth would have looked dimmer 14 million years ago, as the solar system was in the middle of passing through clouds of dust and gas

Water is an essential part of life on Earth, and possibly elsewhere – and now it we know it may have formed not long after the start of the universe

The second-ever commercial landing on the moon comes amid a flurry of lunar exploration activity that will see around a dozen missions this year alone

There may be logic in keeping spacecraft as sterile as possible, but this could inadvertently be affecting astronauts' health

For a few evenings around 28 February, every planet in the solar system will be visible in the night sky, thanks to a rare great planetary alignment. Here's how to make sure you don't miss this planetary parade.

Varda, a US firm planning to manufacture pharmaceuticals in low Earth orbit, is expecting its second capsule to return to Earth this week

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to launch a number of missions, including a private lunar lander, a lunar satellite for NASA and a prospecting probe for an asteroid-mining company

NASA's Juno spacecraft swooped in for a close look at a massive thunderstorm on Jupiter, revealing that it may have similarities to storms on Earth

You may think that time started 13.8 billion years ago at the birth of the universe, but physicists with alternative definitions of time have other ideas

New observations have dramatically reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032, lowering the risk to minimal levels, but its extraordinarily close approach will offer astronomers the chance to examine it in detail

A red supergiant star appears to have changed in just a few years – an astronomical blink of an eye – which suggests it may be getting ready to explode in a supernova

Jonathan McDowell has been a load-bearing part of the world’s spaceflight knowledge for more than four decades. His monthly newsletter on the industry –  Jonathan’s Space Report – details all upcoming launches and has become an essential resource for everyone from keen amateurs to space professionals, while his library of space industry information and ephemera, …

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2032, but as astronomers make more observations about its trajectory, the odds of a collision are being refined

The gas giant WASP-121b, also known as Tylos, has an atmospheric structure unlike any we have ever seen, and the fastest winds on any planet

By looking ever further back in time, the James Webb Space Telescope is at last revealing the first galaxies – and a very strange young cosmos

For more than 40 years, Jonathan McDowell has tirelessly catalogued the space industry. Now he is planning to retire, and looking to pass on his extensive collection of knowledge

Fast-moving stars zooming through our galaxy might have been slingshotted from a black hole inside the neighbouring Large Magellanic Cloud

Critics have been calling for NASA to cancel its extremely pricey Space Launch System rocket for ages, but now that it seems to be facing the axe from Elon Musk’s government efficiency task force, it may be time to think again

If asteroid 2024 YR4 does smash down on the lunar surface, the explosion might be visible from Earth and would leave a new crater on the near side of the moon

Albert Einstein himself thought that the eponymous Einstein ring would be impossible to observe, but the Euclid telescope has picked one up just 600 million light years from Earth

A rocky planet less than half the mass of Earth seems to have an atmosphere made almost entirely of sulphur dioxide – this could be due to a huge amount of volcanic activity

The Quipu superstructure is enormous, spanning 1.4 billion light years – and it could violate one of our fundamental assumptions about the universe

There are many theories about how dynamics in the early solar system led to the cosmic neighbourhood we now inhabit, but beyond computer simulations, direct evidence to support them is hard to come by – that's where meteorites come in

Mars's moon Phobos is so strange that no one knows how it formed. But a forthcoming mission could solve this mystery - and a host of other puzzles connected to the solar system's deep past

In Shroud, Adrian Tchaikovsky's intriguing new novel, two women marooned on a strange moon encounter alien life – and struggle to recognise intelligence in other beings, finds Emily H. Wilson

The risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth seems to be creeping up as astronomers gather more data, but does that mean we should be scrambling to prepare for an impact in 2032?

Hunting for meteorites can be a high-octane race as private collectors and scientists go head-to-head, reveals a new book by New Scientist features editor Joshua Howgego

Two canyons that splay out from a vast asteroid crater on the moon may have been quickly formed by chains of impacts that followed the initial one

More than a decade of data about the particles zipping around our sun could be used to solve many mysteries, from the behaviour of individual particles to the history of our solar system – while raising new questions

We will never get an image of the Milky Way from above, but M81 or Bode's galaxy is a good stand-in – and now is a great time to see it, says Leah Crane

The asteroid is unlikely to be cause for concern, but its detection has triggered planetary defence response procedures for the first time

Scientists’ ideas for travelling to the stars range from the the wholly improbable to the hugely expensive and very difficult, says Ed Regis

Worlds with liquid water could have formed just 200 million years after the big bang from the remains of the earliest supernovae

When it comes to sending humans back to the moon, knowing how to work with the regolith that coats the ground will be make-or-break. Phil Metzger is studying how to mitigate its dangers and use it as a crucial resource

All seven of the other planets in our solar system are about to become visible at once in a great planetary alignment – here’s how to spot the celestial show

James Temple was "in the right place at the right time" to take these dramatic images of SpaceX's Starship's seventh flight test disintegrating above the Atlantic Ocean

Observations of WASP-127b, a giant gas exoplanet more than 500 light years from Earth, suggest it has phenomenally high wind speeds

After a close look with a powerful radio telescope, astronomers are still puzzled by a pair of objects with strange characteristics first spotted in 2021

At his best, Iain M. Banks could be extraordinarily stylish, inventive and downright funny. So how does his genre-redefining science fiction stand up to the test of time? Emily H. Wilson rereads the greats

Blue Origin and SpaceX both launched rockets on 16 January, but while Jeff Bezos's company saw a launch success with New Glenn, Elon Musk's Starship exploded. What does this mean for the future of the space industry?

In the opening to Adrian Tchaikovsky's science fiction novel Alien Clay, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, our hero wakes from years of space travel to a terrifying new reality

From windswept craters to frigid ice caps, explore Martian landscapes through the eyes of NASA’s orbiters, probes and rovers

We have long been inspired by the idea that life could reside on Mars – human or otherwise. But fiction is getting closer to reality, says NASA's former chief scientist, Jim Green. "NASA's plan, in the long run, is to go live and work on Mars," he says, and they'll do that by "learning how …

After delays and false starts, Jeff Bezos's firm Blue Origin has reached orbit with its first launch of the New Glenn rocket, though attempts to land the first stage at sea were unsuccessful

A newly discovered neutron star is behaving so strangely that it may alter our understanding of the dense remains left behind when stellar objects die

Two companies, Firefly Aerospace and ispace, are aiming to make the second and third successful private landings on the moon - and both are launching on the same Falcon 9 rocket

A new analysis of marsquakes measured by NASA’s InSight lander indicates Mars has a solid inner core – but other researchers say the evidence is thin

Suzie Imber is a co-investigator for the BepiColombo mission, currently on its way to Mercury. She explains how it will cast new light on the planet's many oddities, including its awful space weather and the fact it appears to have shrunk

Regular pulses of X-ray radiation emanating from a supermassive black hole could be explained by a white dwarf star on the verge of falling in

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) should be visible from the southern hemisphere, and possibly also the northern hemisphere, over the next few days

The United Nations has 17 sustainable development goals that all member states have signed up to in an effort to balance economics and the environment - and now researchers say we need a new one to ensure we keep space junk under control

The BepiColombo spacecraft is due to start orbiting Mercury next year, but a recent flyby has captured breathtaking images of its pockmarked surface

Share & discuss informative content on: * Astrophysics * Cosmology * Space Exploration * Planetary Science * Astrobiology

Please sort comments by 'new' to find questions that would otherwise be buried. In this thread you can ask any space related question that you may have. Two examples of potential questions could be; "How do rockets work?", or "How do the phases of the Moon work?" If you see a space related question posted in another subreddit or in this subreddit, then please politely link them to this thread. Ask away! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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Ive been reading about j1407b and began wondering - if i were next to it, would i even be able to see it? Not because it's so big, but because of light - apparently it itself doesn't emit light and isn't near a star either, so, just how much would one be able to see? And not just j1407b - all of space where you're not in some sort of solar system, but in-between them. Just how visible is it? Could you see asteroids, or would it be so dark you woudlnt even be able to see your own hands if they were right next to your face? Movies always portray it as very visible, and im wondering if this really is the case. I'd like a detailed answer with all the whys and hows, if anyone's got time. submitted by /u/PhilSwiftsBucket [link] [comments]

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Hello fellow space enthusiasts, I was hoping to get some more information on a recent find of mine. I’m an avid collector and reseller of all things historic. Especially space related. The documents belonged to Thomas Szekely who holds the patent for a Nuclear propulsion apparatus with alternate reactor segments. Szekely was an engineer with GE working on the NERVA project. The documents include presentations on utilizing nuclear propulsion for a manned mission to Mars. Of notable interest are nearly 300 pages of handwritten formulas and calculations used to build the nuclear propulsion technology and manned missions to Mars. (Not posting photos of these for confidentiality reasons) I believe this information could provide valuable insight into the nuclear technology developed in the 60's and 70's to help us with a manned mission to Mars. I've attached some pictures for reference. I would also think that scientists studying nuclear propulsion technology would probably be interested in the handwritten equations from the man who built and patented the nuclear propelled rocket. My problem is, everyone I’ve reached out to or spoken to acts like I’m crazy….lol… Just hoping for some insight or ideas of what I stumbled across? Any insight would be appreciated. I can’t post photos until Sunday. But wanted get any thoughts? Not sure what to do with it? My business is reselling but also I feel like this is a find that could really make a difference! submitted by /u/Consistent_Second746 [link] [comments]

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I am in la north hills and in the sky I saw a straight line of stars I think. It was pretty quick and it went across the sky in like 30 seconds and I don't know what it was but it was bright enough to see through the light pollution this happened today and I didn't see anything about it except a ckmet coming across submitted by /u/Conscious_Survey_798 [link] [comments]

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submitted by /u/chrisdh79 [link] [comments]

Adjust mass, velocity, and starting position Slow down and speed up time Make changes during simulation See if you can stabilize the bodies into a dancing orbit Look out for collisions and gravity slingshots that send your bodies flying in opposite directions Interactive camera controls and preset views Cinematic mode Experiment with chaos! 🪐⭐🌔 submitted by /u/shhawkins [link] [comments]

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Dont get me wrong, i love space and i want to see people put in space, but i just cant find a rational reason for doing so. Sending people is dangerous, more expensive, and heavier. And probes can pick up rocks and bring them back all the same and for cheaper than having a human do so. So why exactly do we put humans in space? Edit: these answers are actually really helpful! Thanks. Also, im referring to future space exploration too. Im aware that humans havent gone past LKO in over half a century, i was mostly talking about when we send people to other planets like Mars. submitted by /u/probablysoda [link] [comments]

The admiral who investigated the Columbia accident (Hal Gehman) mentioned a "template for how people who do risky things manage those risks". I am trying to find that template, to apply to a new kind of risk. Does anyone know where I can find Hal Gehman's risk assessment template? submitted by /u/BrianWalls [link] [comments]

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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have confirmed the existence of the first known planet closely orbiting a dead star — offering new insights into how planets may evolve during the final stages of a star's life.

People who live near SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas will vote on Saturday (May 3) to determine if the site becomes an incorporated city.

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The White House's proposed 2026 budget would reshape NASA's Artemis moon program, canceling the Gateway space station and retiring the SLS rocket and Orion capsule after two more flights.

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The first Starship flight test of 2025 flew with ambitious goals: seeking to repeat our previous success of launching and catching the world’s most powerful launch vehicle while putting a redesigned and upgraded Starship through a rigorous set of flight demonstrations. It served as a reminder that development testing, by definition, can be unpredictable. On its seventh flight test, Starship successfully lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 4:37 p.m. CT on Thursday, January 16. For the second time ever, the Super Heavy booster returned to the launch site and was caught by the tower. But before Starship could reach space, a fire developed in the aft section leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly. As always, success comes from what we learned, and this flight test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary.

The sixth flight test of Starship launched from Starbase on November 19, 2024, seeking to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online. The Super Heavy booster successfully lifted off at the start of the launch window, with all 33 Raptor engines powering it and Starship off the pad from Starbase. Following a nominal ascent and stage separation, the booster successfully transitioned to its boostback burn to begin the return to launch site. During this phase, automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt. The booster then executed a pre-planned divert maneuver, performing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship completed another successful ascent, placing it on the expected trajectory. The ship successfully reignited a single Raptor engine while in space, demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn before starting fully orbital missions. With live views and telemetry being relayed by Starlink, the ship successfully made it through reentry and executed a flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Data gathered from the multiple thermal protection experiments, as well as the successful flight through subsonic speeds at a more aggressive angle of attack, provides invaluable feedback on flight hardware performing in a flight environment as we aim for eventual ship return and catch. With data and flight learnings as our primary payload, Starship’s sixth flight test once again delivered. Lessons learned will directly make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.

SpaceX was founded to increase access to space and help make life multiplanetary. In just this year, we’ve launched 114 successful Falcon missions and counting for our commercial and government customers, deployed ~1,700 @Starlink satellites to provide high-speed internet for millions of people all around the world, and made extraordinary strides developing Starship’s capability to return humanity to the Moon and ultimately send people to Mars. If you want to join the team and help build a more exciting future, check out the latest job openings across the company → https://www.spacex.com/careers

Starship’s fifth flight test lifted off on October 13, 2024, with our most ambitious test objectives yet as we work to demonstrate techniques fundamental to Starship and Super Heavy’s fully and rapidly reusable design. And on our first try, Mechazilla caught the booster. Following a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and coast, the Super Heavy booster performed its landing burn and was caught by the chopstick arms of the launch and catch tower at Starbase. Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to the catch attempt, and thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt. Prior to catch, Starship executed another successful hot-staging separation, igniting its six Raptor engines and completing ascent into outer space. It coasted along its planned trajectory to the other side of the planet before executing a controlled reentry, passing through the phases of peak heating and maximum aerodynamic pressure, before executing a flip, landing burn, and splashdown at its target area in the Indian Ocean. The flight test concluded at splashdown 1 hour, 5 minutes and 40 seconds after launch.

On Tuesday, September 10, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the Polaris Dawn mission to orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Polaris Dawn became the first crew to perform the first-ever spacewalk from Dragon, travel the farthest (1,408 km) within Earth’s orbit since the completion of the Apollo program in 1972, and test Starlink laser-based communications aboard Dragon. Additionally, the crew conducted approximately 36 experiments designed to better life on Earth and on future long-duration spaceflights, shared special moments with mission partners including reading Kisses from Space to patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, and inspired the world with a global music moment before safely returning to Earth on Sunday, September 15.

During its five day mission, Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew completed 75 orbits around Earth.

A live webcast of the Polaris Dawn EVA will begin about one hour prior to the beginning of the spacewalk on Thursday, September 12, which you can watch on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app. The four-hour window opens at 3:23 a.m. ET. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Friday, September 13 at the same time.

A live webcast of the Polaris Dawn EVA will begin about one hour prior to the beginning of the spacewalk on Thursday, September 12, which you can watch on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app. The four-hour window opens at 3:23 a.m. ET. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Friday, September 13 at the same time.

Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data. Starship delivered. On June 6, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:50 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to deliver maximum excitement. The fourth flight of Starship made major strides to bring us closer to a rapidly reusable future. Its accomplishments will provide data to drive improvements as we continue rapidly developing Starship into a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

At ~700 km above Earth, the EVA suit will support the Polaris Dawn crew in the vacuum of space during the first-ever commercial astronaut spacewalk. Evolved from the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) suit, the EVA suit provides greater mobility, a state-of-the-art helmet Heads-Up Display (HUD) and camera, new thermal management textiles, and materials borrowed from Falcon’s interstage and Dragon’s trunk. Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require millions of spacesuits. The development of this suit and the execution of the spacewalk will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions as life becomes multiplanetary.

The goal of SpaceX is to build the technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary. This is the first time in the 4-billion-year history of Earth that it’s possible to realize that goal and protect the light of consciousness. At Starbase on Thursday, April 4, SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk provided an update on the company’s plans to send humanity to Mars, the best destination to begin making life multiplanetary. Go to (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1776669097490776563) for the full talk, which also includes the mechanics and challenges of traveling to Mars, along with what we’re building today to enable sending around a million people and several million tonnes to the Martian surface in the years to come.

On March 14, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 8:25 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to accomplish several major milestones and firsts. Starship's six second stage Raptor engines all started successfully and powered the vehicle to its expected orbit, becoming the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn. Starship went on to experience its first ever entry from space, providing valuable data on heating and vehicle control during hypersonic reentry. Live views of entry were made possible by Starlink terminals operating on Starship. This rapid iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.

The world's most powerful launch vehicle is ready for flight. The third flight test aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond. Follow us on X.com/SpaceX for updates on the upcoming flight test.

On November 18, 2023, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:02 a.m. CT from Starbase on its second integrated flight test. While it didn’t happen in a lab or on a test stand, it was absolutely a test. What we did with this second flight will provide invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship. The test achieved a number of major milestones, helping us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary. The team at Starbase is already working final preparations on the vehicles slated for use in Starship’s third flight test. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting second flight test of Starship! Follow us on X.com/SpaceX for continued updates on Starship's progress

Starship returned to integrated flight testing with its second launch from Starbase in Texas. While it didn’t happen in a lab or on a test stand, it was absolutely a test. What we did with this second flight will provide invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship. On November 18, 2023, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:02 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and achieved a number of major milestones, including all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster starting up successfully and, for the first time, completed a full-duration burn during ascent. This 360-degree view comes from the top of the launch tower at Starbase in Texas, providing a front row seat to watch liftoff of the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. Follow us on X.com/SpaceX and go to spacex.com for more on this exciting flight.