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NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II […]

Credit: NASA NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II contract. The total cost to NASA for the launch service is approximately $100 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The NEO Surveyor mission is targeted to launch no earlier than September 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The NEO Surveyor mission consists of a single scientific instrument: an almost 20-inch (50-centimeter) diameter telescope that will operate in two heat-sensing infrared wavelengths. It will be capable of detecting both bright and dark asteroids, the latter being the most difficult type to find with existing assets. The space telescope is designed to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit. These are collectively known as near-Earth objects, or NEOs. The mission will carry out a five-year baseline survey to find at least two-thirds of the unknown NEOs larger than 140 meters (460 feet). These are the objects large enough to cause major regional damage in the event of an Earth impact. By using two heat-sensitive infrared imaging channels, the telescope can also make more accurate measurements of the sizes of NEOs and gain information about their composition, shapes, rotational states, and orbits. The mission is tasked by NASA’s Planetary Science Division within the agency’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Program oversight is provided by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, provides program management for NEO Surveyor. The project is being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Multiple aerospace and engineering companies are contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems SMS (Space & Mission Systems), Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will support operations, and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission’s data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Mission team leadership includes the University of California, Los Angeles. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch service. For more information about NEO Surveyor, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor/ -end- Tiernan Doyle / Joshua Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 / 202-358-1100 tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov Patti Bielling Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-501-7575 patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Kennedy Space Center Launch Services Office Launch Services Program NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope) Planetary Defense Coordination Office Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate Space Operations Mission Directorate

NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program. The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, […]

Credit: NASA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program. The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, has a total value of approximately $230.6 million with the period of performance running from February 2025 to February 2035. The work will take place at the awardee’s facility in Boulder. The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers all phases of the Lagrange 1 Series project operations including developing up to two spacecraft, instrument integration, satellite-level testing, training and support for the spacecraft flight operations team, and mission operations support. Rapid IV contracts serve as a fast and flexible means for the government to acquire spacecraft and related components, equipment, and services in support of NASA missions and other federal government agencies. The Space Weather Next program will maintain and extend space weather observations from various orbitally stable points such as Lagrange 1, which is about a million miles from Earth. The first Space Weather Next Lagrange 1 Series launch, planned in 2029, will be the first observatory under the program and will provide continuity of real-time coronal imagery and upstream solar wind measurements. Space Weather Next will provide uninterrupted data continuity when NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 mission comes to its end of operations. Observations of the Sun and the near-Earth space environment are important to protecting our technological infrastructure both on the ground and in space. The spacecraft will provide critical data to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center which issues forecasts, warnings and alerts that help mitigate space weather impacts, including electric power outages and interruption to communications and navigation systems. NASA and NOAA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the Lagrange 1 Series project. NOAA is the program owner providing the requirements and funding along with managing the program, operations, data products, and dissemination to users. NASA and its commercial partners develop and build the instruments, spacecraft, and provide launch services on behalf of NOAA. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Karen Fox/Liz Vlock Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov Jeremy Eggers Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 757-824-2958 jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Space Weather Heliophysics Joint Agency Satellite Division NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Science & Research Science Mission Directorate

The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the […]

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. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known. The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies. Dust plays several important roles in the universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in disks around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space.

Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s […]

Caption: The Intuitive Machines lunar lander that will deliver NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign is encapsulated in the fairing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Live launch coverage will air on NASA+ with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, Feb. 25. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Follow all events at: https://www.nasa.gov/live After the launch, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will spend approximately one week in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface no earlier than Thursday, March 6. The lander will carry NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach. Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau in the Moon’s South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface. Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon. The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern): Tuesday, Feb. 25 11 a.m. – Lunar science and technology media teleconference with the following participants: Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Jackie Quinn, Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) project manager, NASA Kennedy Daniel Cremons, LRA deputy principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Bethany Ehlmann, Lunar Trailblazer principal investigator, Caltech Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines Thierry Klein, president, Bell Labs Solution Research, Nokia Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/live/ Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 25, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Wednesday, Feb. 26 11:30 a.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants: Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines William Gerstenmaier, vice president, build and flight reliability, SpaceX Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/live/ Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Launch coverage will begin on NASA+ approximately 45 minutes before liftoff. A specific time will be shared the week of Feb. 24. NASA Launch Coverage Audio only of the media teleconferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, the full mission broadcast can be heard on -1220 and -1240, while the countdown net only can be heard on -7135 beginning approximately one hour before the mission broadcast begins. On launch day, a “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel. NASA Website Launch Coverage Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning Feb. 26, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. NASA Virtual Guests for Launch Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. Registrants will receive mission updates and activities by email, including curated mission resources, schedule updates, and a virtual guest passport stamp following a successful launch. Print your passport and get ready to add your stamp! Watch, Engage on Social Media Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #Artemis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAArtemis Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis Coverage en Español Did you know NASA has a Spanish section called NASA en español? Check out NASA en español on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for additional mission coverage. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov. For more information about the agency’s CLPS initiative, see: https://www.nasa.gov/clps -end- Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins Headquarters, Washington 301-286-6284 / 321-432-4624 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov Antonia Jaramillo Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-501-8425 antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Related Terms Missions Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Science Mission Directorate Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA and its international partners are making progress on Gateway – the lunar space station that will orbit the Moon as a centerpiece of the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture.

Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) in a cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. After final installations are complete, it will be packaged and transported to the United States for final outfitting before being integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and launched to lunar orbit. Thales Alenia Space Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts on missions to and around the Moon. The agency and its international partners report progress continues on Gateway, the first space station that will permanently orbit the Moon, after visiting the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy, where initial fabrication for one of two Gateway habitation modules is nearing completion. Leaders from NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and the Italian Space Agency, as well as industry representatives from Northrop Grumman and Thales Alenia Space, were in Turin to assess Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module before its primary structure is shipped from Italy to Northrop Grumman’s Gilbert, Arizona site in March. Following final outfitting and verification testing, the module will be integrated with the Power and Propulsion Element at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Building and testing hardware for Gateway is truly an international collaboration,” said Jon Olansen, manager, Gateway Program, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We’re excited to celebrate this major flight hardware milestone, and this is just the beginning – there’s impressive and important progress taking shape with our partners around the globe, united by our shared desire to expand human exploration of our solar system while advancing scientific discovery.” Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) in a cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. After final installations are complete, it will be packaged and transported to the United States for final outfitting before being integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and launched to lunar orbit. Thales Alenia Space To ensure all flight hardware is ready to support Artemis IV — the first crewed mission to Gateway – NASA is targeting the launch of HALO and the Power and Propulsion Element no later than December 2027. These integrated modules will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and spend about a year traveling uncrewed to lunar orbit, while providing scientific data on solar and deep space radiation during transit. Launching atop HALO will be ESA’s Lunar Link communication system, which will provide high-speed communication between the Moon and Gateway. The system is undergoing testing at another Thales Alenia Space facility in Cannes, France. Once in lunar orbit, Gateway will continue scientific observations while awaiting the arrival of Artemis IV astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft which will deliver and dock Gateway’s second pressurized habitable module, the ESA-led Lunar I-Hab. Thales Alenia Space, ESA’s primary contractor for the Lunar I-Hab and Lunar View refueling module, has begun production of the Lunar I-Hab, and design of Lunar View in Turin. Teams from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), including NASA astronaut Stan Love (far right) and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano (far left) help conduct human factors testing inside a mockup of Gateway’s Lunar I-Hab module. Thales Alenia Space Northrop Grumman and its subcontractor, Thales Alenia Space, completed welding of HALO in 2024, and the module successfully progressed through pressure and stress tests to ensure its suitability for the harsh environment of deep space. Maxar Space Systems is assembling the Power and Propulsion Element, which will make Gateway the most powerful solar electric propulsion spacecraft ever flown. Major progress in 2024 included installation of Xenon and chemical propulsion fuel tanks, and qualification of the largest roll-out solar arrays ever built. NASA and its partners will complete propulsion element assembly, and acceptance and verification testing of next-generation electric propulsion thrusters this year. The main bus of Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element undergoes assembly and installations at Maxar Space Systems in Palo Alto, California. Maxar Space Systems SpaceX will provide both the Starship human landing system that will land astronauts on the lunar surface during NASA’s Artemis III mission and ferry astronauts from Gateway to the lunar South Pole region during Artemis IV, as well as provide logistics spacecraft to support crewed missions. NASA also has selected Blue Origin to develop Blue Moon, the human landing system for Artemis V, as well as logistics spacecraft for future Artemis missions. Having two distinct lunar landing designs provides flexibility and supports a regular cadence of Moon landings in preparation for future missions to Mars. CSA (Canadian Space Agency) is developing Canadarm3, an advanced robotics system, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is designing and testing Lunar I-Hab’s vital life support systems, batteries, and a resupply and logistics vehicle called HTV-XG. NASA’s newest Gateway partner, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates, kicked off early design for the Gateway Crew and Science Airlock that will be delivered on Artemis VI. The selection of Thales Alenia Space as its airlock prime contractor was announced by MBRSC on Feb. 4. Development continues to advance on three radiation-focused initial science investigations aboard Gateway. These payloads will help scientists better understand unpredictable space weather from the Sun and galactic cosmic rays that will affect astronauts and equipment during Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. The Gateway lunar space station is a multi-purpose platform that offers capabilities for long-term exploration in deep space in support of NASA’s Artemis campaign and Moon to Mars objectives. Gateway will feature docking ports for a variety of visiting spacecraft, as well as space for crew to live, work, and prepare for lunar surface missions. As a testbed for future journeys to Mars, continuous investigations aboard Gateway will occur with and without crew to better understand the long-term effects of deep space radiation on vehicle systems and the human body as well as test and operate next generation spacecraft systems that will be necessary to send humans to Mars. Learn More About Gateway Facebook logo @NASAGateway @NASA_Gateway Instagram logo @nasaartemis Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Contact Laura Rochon Location Johnson Space Center Related Terms Artemis Artemis 4 Earth's Moon Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Gateway Space Station Humans in Space Johnson Space Center Explore More 2 min read Lunar Space Station Module Will Journey to US ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV Moon Mission A key element of the Gateway lunar space station has entered the cleanroom for final… Article 1 week ago 2 min read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust during Artemis missions, NASA is developing… Article 1 month ago 2 min read Gateway Tops Off Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element is now equipped with its xenon and liquid fuel tanks. Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Humans In Space Orion Spacecraft Human Landing System Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility

Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure.  NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer […]

6 Min Read NASA’s PUNCH Mission to Revolutionize Our View of Solar Wind Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure. NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, and solar wind together to better understand the Sun, solar wind, and Earth as a single connected system. Launching no earlier than Feb. 28, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how potentially disruptive solar events form and evolve. This could lead to more accurate predictions about the arrival of space weather events at Earth and impact on humanity’s robotic explorers in space. “What we hope PUNCH will bring to humanity is the ability to really see, for the first time, where we live inside the solar wind itself,” said Craig DeForest, principal investigator for PUNCH at Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado. This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14773. Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Seeing Solar Wind in 3D The PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized satellites have overlapping fields of view that combine to cover a larger swath of sky than any previous mission focused on the corona and solar wind. The satellites will spread out in low Earth orbit to construct a global view of the solar corona and its transition to the solar wind. They will also track solar storms like coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Their Sun-synchronous orbit will enable them to see the Sun 24/7, with their view only occasionally blocked by Earth. Typical camera images are two dimensional, compressing the 3D subject into a flat plane and losing information. But PUNCH takes advantage of a property of light called polarization to reconstruct its images in 3D. As the Sun’s light bounces off material in the corona and solar wind, it becomes polarized — meaning the light waves oscillate in a particular way that can be filtered, much like how polarized sunglasses filter out glare off of water or metal. Each PUNCH spacecraft is equipped with a polarimeter that uses three distinct polarizing filters to capture information about the direction that material is moving that would be lost in typical images. “This new perspective will allow scientists to discern the exact trajectory and speed of coronal mass ejections as they move through the inner solar system,” said DeForest. “This improves on current instruments in two ways: with three-dimensional imaging that lets us locate and track CMEs which are coming directly toward us; and with a broad field of view, which lets us track those CMEs all the way from the Sun to Earth.” All four spacecraft are synchronized to serve as a single “virtual instrument” that spans the whole PUNCH constellation. Crews conduct additional solar array deployment testing for NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Astrotech Space Operations located on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez The PUNCH satellites include one Narrow Field Imager and three Wide Field Imagers. The Narrow Field Imager (NFI) is a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better see details in the Sun’s corona, recreating what viewers on Earth see during a total solar eclipse when the Moon blocks the face of the Sun — a narrower view that sees the solar wind closer to the Sun. The Wide Field Imagers (WFI) are heliospheric imagers that view the very faint, outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind itself — giving a wide view of the solar wind as it spreads out into the solar system.   “I’m most excited to see the ‘inbetweeny’ activity in the solar wind,” said Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This means not just the biggest structures, like CMEs, or the smallest interactions, but all the different types of solar wind structures that fill that in between area.” When these solar wind structures from the Sun reach Earth’s magnetic field, they can drive dynamics that affect Earth’s radiation belts. To launch spacecraft through these belts, including ones that will carry astronauts to the Moon and beyond, scientists need to understand the solar wind structure and changes in this region. Building Off Other Missions “The PUNCH mission is built on the shoulders of giants,” said Madhulika Guhathakurta, PUNCH program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “For decades, heliophysics missions have provided us with glimpses of the Sun’s corona and the solar wind, each offering critical yet partial views of our dynamic star’s influence on the solar system.” When scientists combine data from PUNCH and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which flies through the Sun’s corona, they will see both the big picture and the up-close details. Working together, Parker Solar Probe and PUNCH span a field of view from a little more than half a mile (1 kilometer) to over 160 million miles (about 260 million kilometers). Additionally, the PUNCH team will combine their data with diverse observations from other missions, like NASA’s CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) technology demonstration, which views the corona even closer to the surface of the Sun from its vantage point on the International Space Station. PUNCH’s data also complements observations from NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) — targeted for launch in March 2025 — which investigates the magnetic field perturbations associated with Earth’s high-altitude auroras that PUNCH will also spot in its wide-field view. A conceptual animation showing the heliosphere, the vast bubble that is generated by the Sun’s magnetic field and envelops all the planets. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab As the solar wind that PUNCH will observe travels away from the Sun and Earth, it will then be studied by the IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, which is targeting a launch in 2025. “The PUNCH mission will bridge these perspectives, providing an unprecedented continuous view that connects the birthplace of the solar wind in the corona to its evolution across interplanetary space,” said Guhathakurta. The PUNCH mission is scheduled to conduct science for at least two years, following a 90-day commissioning period after launch. The mission is launching as a rideshare with the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer). “PUNCH is the latest heliophysics addition to the NASA fleet that delivers groundbreaking science every second of every day,” said Joe Westlake, heliophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Launching this mission as a rideshare bolsters its value to the nation by optimizing every pound of launch capacity to maximize the scientific return for the cost of a single launch.” The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. By Abbey Interrante NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Header Image: An artist’s concept showing the four PUNCH satellites orbiting Earth. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Related Terms Heliophysics Coronal Mass Ejections Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Science Mission Directorate Solar Wind Space Weather The Sun Explore More 2 min read Hubble Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter Article 5 hours ago 3 min read Eclipses to Auroras: Eclipse Ambassadors Experience Winter Field School in Alaska Article 3 days ago 2 min read NASA Science: Being Responsive to Executive Orders Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System

The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper […]

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 Hubble News Archive 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 Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter The spiral galaxy UGC 5460 shines in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. UGC 5460 sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Jacobson-Galán, A. Filippenko, J. Mauerhan Download this image The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper left-hand corner is a far closer object: a star just 577 light-years away in our own galaxy. UGC 5460 has hosted two recent supernovae: SN 2011ht and SN 2015as. It’s because of these two stellar explosions that Hubble targeted this galaxy, collecting data for three observing programs that aim to study various kinds of supernovae. SN 2015as was as a core-collapse supernova: a cataclysmic explosion that happens when the core of a star far more massive than the Sun runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity, initiating a rebound of material outside the core. Hubble observations of SN 2015as will help researchers understand what happens when the expanding shockwave of a supernova collides with the gas that surrounds the exploded star. SN 2011ht might have been a core-collapse supernova as well, but it could also be an impostor called a luminous blue variable. Luminous blue variables are rare stars that experience eruptions so large that they can mimic supernovae. Crucially, luminous blue variables emerge from these eruptions unscathed, while stars that go supernova do not. Hubble will search for a stellar survivor at SN 2011ht’s location with the goal of revealing the explosion’s origin. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore More The Death Throes of Stars Homing in on Cosmic Explosions Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov) NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 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 Stars Supernovae Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge Hubble’s Galaxies Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights

Earth planning date: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 During today’s unusual-for-MSL Tuesday planning day (because of the U.S. holiday on Monday), we planned activities under new winter heating constraints. Operating Curiosity on Mars requires attention to a number of factors — power, data volume, terrain roughness, temperature — that affect rover operability and safety. Winter means […]

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions 2 min read Sols 4458-4460: Winter Schminter NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image of the Texoli butte, a Martian landmark about 525 feet (160 meters) tall, with many layers that scientists are studying to learn more about the formation of this region of the Red Planet. The butte is on the 3-mile-high Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed and has been exploring since 2012. The rover acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on sol 4456, or Martian day 4,456 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, on Feb. 17, 2025, at 17:51:56 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 During today’s unusual-for-MSL Tuesday planning day (because of the U.S. holiday on Monday), we planned activities under new winter heating constraints. Operating Curiosity on Mars requires attention to a number of factors — power, data volume, terrain roughness, temperature — that affect rover operability and safety. Winter means more heating to warm up the gears and mechanisms within the rover and the instruments, but energy that goes to heating means less energy for science observations. Nevertheless, we (and Curiosity) were up to the task of balancing heating and science, and planned enough observations to warm the science team’s hearts. We fit in DRT, APXS, and MAHLI on two different bedrock targets, “Chumash Trail” and “Wheeler Gorge,” which have different fracturing and layering features. In the workspace, ChemCam targeted a clean vertical exposure of layered bedrock at “Sierra Madre” and a lumpy-looking patch of resistant nodules at “Chiquito Basin.” The topography of the local terrain and our end-of-drive position after the weekend fortuitously lined up to give us a view of an exposure of the Marker Band, which we first explored on the other side of Gediz Vallis Ridge. Having a view of another exposure of this distinctive horizon helps give us further insight into its origin, so we included both RMI and Mastcam mosaics of the exposure. Documenting a feature that, unlike the Marker Band, has been and will be in our sights for a long time — “Texoli” butte (pictured above) — was the goal of additional Mastcam and ChemCam imaging. Observations of potential sedimentary structures on the flank of Texoli motivated acquisition of an RMI mosaic, and a chance to capture structures along its southeast face inspired a Mastcam mosaic. Good exposures of additional nearby bedrock structures at “Mount Lukens” and “Chantry Flat” drew the eye of Mastcam, while another small mosaic focused on the kind of linear troughs in the sand we often see bordering bedrock slabs. Environmental observations included Navcam cloud and dust-devil movies, Mastcam observations of dust in the atmosphere, and REMS and RAD measurements spread across the three sols of the plan. Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Cookies, Cream, and Crumbling Cores Article 3 days ago 2 min read Sols 4454-4457: Getting Ready to Fill the Long Weekend with Science Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sols 4452-4453: Keeping Warm and Keeping Busy Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep […]

Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep space autonomously. Jorge Chong in front of the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when he helped with optical navigation operations during Artemis I. Image courtesy of Jorge Chong “GNC is like the brain of a spacecraft. It involves a suite of sensors that keep track of where the vehicle is in orbit so it can return home safely,” he said. “Getting to test the components of a GNC system makes you very familiar with how it all works together, and then to see it fly and help it operate successfully is immensely rewarding.” His work is critical to the Artemis campaign, which aims to return humans to the Moon and pave the way for Mars. From developing optical navigation technology that allows Orion to determine its position using images of Earth and the Moon to testing docking cameras and Light Detection and Ranging systems that enable autonomous spacecraft rendezvous, Chong is pushing the limits of exploration. He also runs high-fidelity flight simulations at Lockheed Martin’s Orion Test Hardware facility in Houston, ensuring Orion’s software is ready for the demands of spaceflight. Chong’s NASA career spans seven years as a full-time engineer, plus three years as a co-op student at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In 2024, he began leading Project TRON, an optical navigation initiative funded by a $2 million Early Career Initiative award. The project aims to advance autonomous space navigation—an essential capability for missions beyond Earth’s orbit. Jorge Chong and his colleagues with the Artemis II docking camera in the Electro-Optics Lab at Johnson. From left to right: Paul McKee, Jorge Chong, and Kevin Kobylka. Bottom right: Steve Lockhart and Ronney Lovelace. Thanks to Chong’s work, the Artemis Generation is one step closer to exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He supported optical navigation operations during Artemis I, is writing software that will fly on Artemis II, and leads optical testing for Orion’s docking cameras. But his path to NASA wasn’t always written in the stars. “I found math difficult as a kid,” Chong admits. “I didn’t enjoy it at first, but my parents encouraged me patiently, and eventually it started to click and then became a strength and something I enjoyed. Now, it’s a core part of my career.” He emphasizes that perseverance is key, especially for students who may feel discouraged by challenging subjects. Most of what Chong has learned, he says, came from working collaboratively on the job. “No matter how difficult something may seem, anything can be learned,” he said. “I could not have envisioned being involved in projects like these or working alongside such great teams before coming to Johnson.” Jorge Chong (left) and his siblings Ashley and Bronsen at a Texas A&M University game. Image courtesy of Jorge Chong His career has also reinforced the importance of teamwork, especially when working with contractors, vendors, universities, and other NASA centers. “Coordinating across these dynamic teams and keeping the deliverables on track can be challenging, but it has helped to be able to lean on teammates for assistance and keep communication flowing,” said Chong. And soon, those systems will help Artemis astronauts explore places no human has gone before. Whether guiding Orion to the Moon or beyond, Chong’s work is helping NASA write the next chapter of space exploration. “I thank God for the doors He has opened for me and the incredible mentors and coworkers who have helped me along the way,” he said.

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the […]

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the lunar surface existed, only those obtained by Earth-based telescopes. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed the Ranger program, a series of spacecraft designed to return closeup images before impacting on the Moon’s surface. Ranger 7 first accomplished that goal in July 1964. On Feb. 17, 1965, its successor Ranger 8 launched toward the Moon, and three days later returned images of the Moon. The mission’s success helped the country meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of a human Moon landing before the end of the decade. Schematic diagram of the Ranger 8 spacecraft, showing its major components. NASA/JPL The television system aboard Ranger 8 showing its six cameras. NASA/JPL. Launch of Ranger 8. NASA. Ranger 8 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, now Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 17, 1965. The Atlas-Agena rocket first placed the spacecraft into Earth orbit before sending it on a lunar trajectory. The next day, the spacecraft carried out a mid-course correction, and on Feb. 20, Ranger 8 reached the Moon. The spacecraft’s six cameras turned on as planned, about eight minutes earlier than its predecessor to obtain images comparable in resolution to ground-based photographs for calibration purposes. Ranger 8 took its first photograph at an altitude of 1,560 miles, and during its final 23 minutes of flight, the spacecraft sent back 7,137 images of the lunar surface. The last image, taken at an altitude of 1,600 feet and 0.28 seconds before Ranger 8 impacted at 1.67 miles per second, had a resolution of about five feet. The spacecraft impacted 16 miles from its intended target in the Sea of Tranquility, ending a flight of 248,900 miles. Scientists had an interest in this area of the Moon as a possible landing zone for a future human landing, and indeed Apollo 11 landed 44 miles southeast of the Ranger 8 impact site in July 1969. Ranger 8’s first image from an altitude of 1,560 miles. NASA/JPL. Ranger 8 image from an altitude of 198 miles, showing craters Ritter and Sabine. NASA/JPL. Ranger 8’s final images, taken at an altitude as low as 1,600 feet. NASA/JPL. One more Ranger mission followed, Ranger 9, in March 1965. Television networks broadcast Ranger 9’s images of the Alphonsus crater and the surrounding area “live” as the spacecraft approached its impact site in the crater – letting millions of Americans see the Moon up-close as it happened. Based on the photographs returned by the last three Rangers, scientists felt confident to move on to the next phase of robotic lunar exploration, the Surveyor series of soft landers. The Ranger photographs provided confidence that the lunar surface could support a soft-landing and that the Sea of Tranquility presented a good site for the first human landing. A little more than four years after the final Ranger images, Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon. Impact sites of Rangers 7, 8, and 9. NASA/JPL. The Ranger 8 impact crater, marked by the blue circle, photographed by Lunar Orbiter 2 in 1966. NASA/JPL. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the Ranger 8 impact crater, taken in 2012 at a low sun angle. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University. The impacts of the Ranger probes left visible craters on the lunar surface, later photographed by orbiting spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter 2 and Apollo 16 both imaged the Ranger 8 impact site at relatively low resolution in 1966 and 1972, respectively. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the crash site in greater detail in 2012. Watch a brief video about the Ranger 8 impact on the Moon. Explore More 5 min read 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moon Article 7 months ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: Apollo 11’s One Small Step, One Giant Leap Article 7 months ago 4 min read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training At first glance, it seems like a scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface…except… Article 5 months ago

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

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.

An excellent view of the Apollo 14 lunar module on the Moon, as photographed during the first Apollo 14 moonwalk on the lunar surface. The astronauts have already deployed the U.S. flag. While astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, descended in the lunar module to explore the Moon, astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the command and service modules in lunar orbit.

LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye, is two and a half times the size of our Milky Way and has nine rings — six more than any other known galaxy. High-resolution imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope confirmed eight rings, and data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii confirmed a ninth. Hubble and Keck also confirmed which galaxy dove through the Bullseye, creating these rings: the blue dwarf galaxy that sits to its immediate center-left.

Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program prepare to lift the left center center booster segment shown with the iconic NASA “worm” insignia for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.

A crane lowers the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish into position on Dec. 18, 2024, at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN's capacity and enhance NASA's deep space communications capabilities for decades to come.

NASA's SPHEREx observatory is oriented in a horizontal position, revealing all three layers of photon shields as well as the telescope. This photo was taken at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in April 2024. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will create a map of the cosmos like no other. Using a technique called spectroscopy to image the entire sky in 102 wavelengths of infrared light, SPHEREx will gather information about the composition of and distance to millions of galaxies and stars. With this map, scientists will study what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang, how galaxies formed and evolved, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy.

Springtime in the South Polar region of Mars is a season of exciting activity. The thick coating of carbon dioxide ice that accumulated over the winter begins to sublimate (turn to vapor) as the sun rises higher in the sky and warms the ice. Sunlight penetrates through the transparent ice, and is absorbed at the base of the ice layer. The gas that forms as a result of the warming escapes through weaknesses in the ice and erupts in the form of magnificent geysers of gas and dust.

The full Moon, also known in January as the Wolf Moon, rises above the Lincoln Memorial and the Memorial Bridge, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, as seen from Arlington, Virginia.

An inquisitive sandhill crane approaches the photographer near the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 24, 2021. Kennedy shares space with the Merritt Island National Wildlife refuge, which is home to more than 1,000 species of plants, 117 species of fish, 68 amphibians and reptiles, 330 birds, and 31 different mammals. The refuge provides a favorable environment for sandhill cranes as it contains shallow freshwater habitats for nesting, along with a variety of vegetation and prey to feed on.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.

This is an artist's concept of a two-person Gemini spacecraft in flight, showing a cutaway view. The Gemini program was designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 commander Suni Williams is pictured during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station where she replaced a rate gyro assembly that helps maintain the orientation of the orbital outpost.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is seen in the foreground with the Washington Monument in the background, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Washington. The memorial covers four acres and includes the Stone of Hope, a granite statue of civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. carved by sculptor Lei Yixin.

Released on Nov. 3, 2023, in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.”

Chief of aerodynamics Elton W. Miller ponders the future of the Sperry M-1 Messenger, the first full-scale airplane tested in the Propeller Research Tunnel. Miller was one of the designers of the Propeller Research Tunnel.

A visitor takes a picture of a sculpture of an adult Alamosaurus wearing solar glasses outside of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

A color enhancement of a far-ultraviolet photo of Earth taken by astronaut John W. Young, commander, with the ultraviolet camera on April 21, 1972. The original black-and-white photo was printed on Agfacontour film three times, each exposure recording only one light level. The three light levels were then colored blue (dimmest), green (next brightest), and red (brightest).

On Jan. 10, 2025, NASA astronaut Don Pettit posted two images of the Los Angeles fires from the International Space Station.

"As a young college student, it was the first time I ever faced [this situation], and it buckled me. It set me back until I realized that I could do it and that my worth wasn't based on what someone else thought of me or my abilities…If I had pulled myself out of that STEM major, I would never have been managing a technology demonstration program for NASA that launched ten technologies into space.” – Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse, Director of the Materials and Processes Laboratory, Engineering Directorate, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

The New York-based artist team Geraluz, left, and WERC, right, and their son Amaru Alvarez, 5, pose for picture with the mural “To the Moon, and Back” by the artist team that was created as part of the reimagined NASA Art Program, Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at 350 Hudson Street in New York City. The murals use geometrical patterns to invite deeper reflection on the exploration, creativity, and connection with the cosmos.

A test subject being suited up for studies on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located in the hangar at Langley Research Center. The initial version of this simulator was located inside the hangar. Later a larger version would be located at the Lunar Landing Facility.

From left, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jenni Gibbons, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman participate in a media day event on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A total solar eclipse is seen from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Indianapolis, Indiana. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.

iss072e031823 (Oct. 7, 2024) -- Peering through the window of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this image of the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft as vivid green and pink aurora swirled through Earth's atmosphere while the International Space Station soared 273 miles above the Indian Ocean.

President Carter, wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy are shown a scale model of the crawler that transported the total Shuttle launch configuration to Pad 39 from the Vehicle Assembly Building by NASA's Kennedy Space Center Director, Lee Scherer.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 2566, which sits 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis. A prominent bar of stars stretches across the center of this galaxy, and spiral arms emerge from each end of the bar. Because NGC 2566 appears tilted from our perspective, its disk takes on an almond shape, giving the galaxy the appearance of a cosmic eye.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft completed its first maximum afterburner test at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. This full-power test, during which the engine generates additional thrust, validates the additional power needed for meeting the testing conditions of the aircraft. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to overcome a major barrier to supersonic flight over land by reducing the noise of sonic booms.

Here is a new version of the “Christmas tree cluster.” NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. (For comparison, the Sun is a middle-aged star about 5 billion years old – about 1,000 times older.)

Through NASA’s Artemis campaign, astronauts will land on the lunar surface and use a new generation of spacesuits and rovers as they live, work, and conduct science in the Moon’s South Pole region, exploring more of the lunar surface than ever before. Recently, the agency completed the first round of testing on three commercially owned and developed LTVs (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) from Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

During the morning of March 20, 2015, a total solar eclipse was visible from parts of Europe, and a partial solar eclipse from northern Africa and northern Asia. NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Arctic Ocean on March 20 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and captured the eclipse's shadow over the clouds in the Arctic Ocean.

A maze of cables and sensors snakes through a major piece of Gateway, humanity’s first space station around the Moon, during a key testing phase earlier this year to ensure the lunar-orbiting science lab can withstand the harsh conditions of deep space.

NGC 602 is a star cluster that lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way. This image combines X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and infrared data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems transport lower the agency’s 212-foot-tall SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into High Bay 2 at the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The one-of-a kind lifting beam is designed to lift the core stage from the transfer aisle to High Bay 2 where it will remain while teams stack the two solid rocket boosters on top of mobile launcher 1 for the SLS core stage.

An atmospheric probe model attached upside down to a quad rotor remotely piloted aircraft ascends with the Moon visible on Oct. 22, 2024. The quad rotor aircraft released the probe above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The probe was designed and built at the center.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a spiral galaxy, named UGC 10043. Located roughly 150 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens, UGC 10043 is one of the somewhat rare spiral galaxies that we see edge-on.

NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, left, and Jasmin Moghbeli, right, are seen during a tour of the Earth Information Center, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. O’Hara and Moghbeli spent six months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station.

A portrait of Mary W. Jackson is seen after it was unveiled, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Mary W. Jackson was a pioneering aerospace engineer and mathematician at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

Landsat 9 captured this image of lava coming from an eruptive fissure near Stóra Skógfell peak on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula. Lava from the eruption flowed across major roads and closed in on the Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist destination. This natural color scene is overlaid with an infrared signal to help distinguish the lava’s heat signature.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams checks out the Astrobee robotic free-flyer in the Kibo laboratory module outfitted with tentacle-like arms containing gecko-like adhesive pads to demonstrate satellite capture techniques. Development of this robotic technology may increase the life span of satellites and enable the removal of space debris.

Technicians carefully install a piece of equipment to house Gateway’s xenon fuel tanks, part of its advanced electric propulsion system.

“I love my country. I love serving my country. I think that was ingrained in me in the military, where I grew to realize how lucky we are to live in America and have the freedoms that we have. When I returned from [my first duty station] in Germany, I separated from the Air Force for about nine months, but I missed it so much, I was like, 'Well, I guess I could join the reserves." I did want to get my education. I was ready by then. “So, I enrolled in school and went into the Reserves, and then 9/11 happened. That will change a person. I called my unit that afternoon and said, "Whatever you need, I'm ready." I was activated supporting the mission, but I didn't deploy like my husband. [9/11] is what touched my life more than anything: how quickly things can change in the blink of an eye. That's what strengthened my respect of the Air Force core values: service before self and integrity, and excellence in all we do. “Then, when I got pregnant, I thought I might want to be home, so I continued in civil service and just fell in love with my kids. That's when my relationship with loving the Air Force changed. It evolved. I still value all that time I had and served and the lessons I learned growing up [in the Air Force]. The biggest thing I have and will continue to pass on to my kids is respect for your country, even if you don't follow the route I did. Respect your country and the people who serve it.” – Tami Wisniewski, Management and Program Analyst, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

In this photograph astronaut and STS-113 mission specialist John B. Herrington, (center frame), participates in the mission's third spacewalk. The forward section of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is in right frame.

NASA astronaut Victor Glover (right) takes photos during a visit on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, with employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The employees support the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program to help NASA send astronauts, including Glover, to the Moon and back through the Artemis II launch.

This robot prototype was built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to demonstrate the feasibility of a mission concept called SWIM, short for Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers. SWIM envisions a swarm of dozens of self-propelled, cellphone-size robots exploring the waters of icy moons like Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's Enceladus.

A cyclone is a low-pressure area of winds that spiral inwards. Although tropical storms most often come to mind, these spiraling storms can also form at mid- and high latitudes. Two such cyclones formed in tandem south of Iceland in November 2006.

This illustration depicts a hypothetical uneven ring of dust orbiting KIC 8462852, also known as Boyajian's Star or Tabby's Star. Astronomers have found the dimming of the star over long periods appears to be weaker at longer infrared wavelengths of light and stronger at shorter ultraviolet wavelengths.

The STS-129 crew members posed for a portrait following a joint news conference on Nov. 24, 2009, with the Expedition 21 crew members (out of frame) on the International Space Station. Pictured (clockwise) from bottom left are astronauts Charles O. Hobaugh, commander; Mike Foreman, Leland Melvin, Robert L. Satcher Jr. and Randy Bresnik, all mission specialists; along with Barry E. Wilmore, pilot; and Nicole Stott, mission specialist.

On Nov. 19, 1969, astronaut Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, begins to step off the ladder of the lunar module to join astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., mission commander, in a spacewalk. Conrad and Bean descended in the Apollo 12 lunar module to explore the moon while astronaut Richard F. Gordon Jr., command module pilot, remained with the command and service modules in lunar orbit.

Participants from the 14th First Nations Launch High-Power Rocket Competition watch NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 launch from the Banana Creek viewing site at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. Students and advisors from University of Washington, University of Colorado-Boulder, and an international team from Queens University – this year’s First Nations Launch grand prize teams – traveled to Kennedy for a VIP tour, culminating in viewing the Crew-7 launch.

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launched on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I mission was the first integrated flight test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems.

The 363-feet tall Apollo 12 space vehicle launches from Pad A, Launch Complex 39 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:22 a.m. EST, Nov. 14, 1969. Aboard the Apollo 12 spacecraft were astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., commander; Richard F. Gordon Jr., command module pilot; and Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot. Apollo 12 was the United States' second lunar landing mission.

Official National Aeronautics and Space Administration Website

NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II […]

Credit: NASA NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II contract. The total cost to NASA for the launch service is approximately $100 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The NEO Surveyor mission is targeted to launch no earlier than September 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The NEO Surveyor mission consists of a single scientific instrument: an almost 20-inch (50-centimeter) diameter telescope that will operate in two heat-sensing infrared wavelengths. It will be capable of detecting both bright and dark asteroids, the latter being the most difficult type to find with existing assets. The space telescope is designed to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit. These are collectively known as near-Earth objects, or NEOs. The mission will carry out a five-year baseline survey to find at least two-thirds of the unknown NEOs larger than 140 meters (460 feet). These are the objects large enough to cause major regional damage in the event of an Earth impact. By using two heat-sensitive infrared imaging channels, the telescope can also make more accurate measurements of the sizes of NEOs and gain information about their composition, shapes, rotational states, and orbits. The mission is tasked by NASA’s Planetary Science Division within the agency’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Program oversight is provided by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, provides program management for NEO Surveyor. The project is being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Multiple aerospace and engineering companies are contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems SMS (Space & Mission Systems), Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will support operations, and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission’s data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Mission team leadership includes the University of California, Los Angeles. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch service. For more information about NEO Surveyor, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor/ -end- Tiernan Doyle / Joshua Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 / 202-358-1100 tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov Patti Bielling Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-501-7575 patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Kennedy Space Center Launch Services Office Launch Services Program NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope) Planetary Defense Coordination Office Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate Space Operations Mission Directorate

NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program. The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, […]

Credit: NASA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program. The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, has a total value of approximately $230.6 million with the period of performance running from February 2025 to February 2035. The work will take place at the awardee’s facility in Boulder. The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers all phases of the Lagrange 1 Series project operations including developing up to two spacecraft, instrument integration, satellite-level testing, training and support for the spacecraft flight operations team, and mission operations support. Rapid IV contracts serve as a fast and flexible means for the government to acquire spacecraft and related components, equipment, and services in support of NASA missions and other federal government agencies. The Space Weather Next program will maintain and extend space weather observations from various orbitally stable points such as Lagrange 1, which is about a million miles from Earth. The first Space Weather Next Lagrange 1 Series launch, planned in 2029, will be the first observatory under the program and will provide continuity of real-time coronal imagery and upstream solar wind measurements. Space Weather Next will provide uninterrupted data continuity when NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 mission comes to its end of operations. Observations of the Sun and the near-Earth space environment are important to protecting our technological infrastructure both on the ground and in space. The spacecraft will provide critical data to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center which issues forecasts, warnings and alerts that help mitigate space weather impacts, including electric power outages and interruption to communications and navigation systems. NASA and NOAA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the Lagrange 1 Series project. NOAA is the program owner providing the requirements and funding along with managing the program, operations, data products, and dissemination to users. NASA and its commercial partners develop and build the instruments, spacecraft, and provide launch services on behalf of NOAA. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Karen Fox/Liz Vlock Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov Jeremy Eggers Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 757-824-2958 jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Space Weather Heliophysics Joint Agency Satellite Division NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Science & Research Science Mission Directorate

The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the […]

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. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known. The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies. Dust plays several important roles in the universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in disks around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space.

Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s […]

Caption: The Intuitive Machines lunar lander that will deliver NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign is encapsulated in the fairing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Live launch coverage will air on NASA+ with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, Feb. 25. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Follow all events at: https://www.nasa.gov/live After the launch, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will spend approximately one week in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface no earlier than Thursday, March 6. The lander will carry NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach. Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau in the Moon’s South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface. Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon. The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern): Tuesday, Feb. 25 11 a.m. – Lunar science and technology media teleconference with the following participants: Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Jackie Quinn, Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) project manager, NASA Kennedy Daniel Cremons, LRA deputy principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Bethany Ehlmann, Lunar Trailblazer principal investigator, Caltech Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines Thierry Klein, president, Bell Labs Solution Research, Nokia Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/live/ Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 25, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Wednesday, Feb. 26 11:30 a.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants: Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines William Gerstenmaier, vice president, build and flight reliability, SpaceX Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/live/ Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Launch coverage will begin on NASA+ approximately 45 minutes before liftoff. A specific time will be shared the week of Feb. 24. NASA Launch Coverage Audio only of the media teleconferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, the full mission broadcast can be heard on -1220 and -1240, while the countdown net only can be heard on -7135 beginning approximately one hour before the mission broadcast begins. On launch day, a “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel. NASA Website Launch Coverage Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning Feb. 26, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. NASA Virtual Guests for Launch Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. Registrants will receive mission updates and activities by email, including curated mission resources, schedule updates, and a virtual guest passport stamp following a successful launch. Print your passport and get ready to add your stamp! Watch, Engage on Social Media Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #Artemis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAArtemis Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis Coverage en Español Did you know NASA has a Spanish section called NASA en español? Check out NASA en español on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for additional mission coverage. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov. For more information about the agency’s CLPS initiative, see: https://www.nasa.gov/clps -end- Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins Headquarters, Washington 301-286-6284 / 321-432-4624 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov Antonia Jaramillo Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-501-8425 antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Related Terms Missions Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Science Mission Directorate Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA and its international partners are making progress on Gateway – the lunar space station that will orbit the Moon as a centerpiece of the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture.

Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) in a cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. After final installations are complete, it will be packaged and transported to the United States for final outfitting before being integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and launched to lunar orbit. Thales Alenia Space Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts on missions to and around the Moon. The agency and its international partners report progress continues on Gateway, the first space station that will permanently orbit the Moon, after visiting the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy, where initial fabrication for one of two Gateway habitation modules is nearing completion. Leaders from NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and the Italian Space Agency, as well as industry representatives from Northrop Grumman and Thales Alenia Space, were in Turin to assess Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module before its primary structure is shipped from Italy to Northrop Grumman’s Gilbert, Arizona site in March. Following final outfitting and verification testing, the module will be integrated with the Power and Propulsion Element at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Building and testing hardware for Gateway is truly an international collaboration,” said Jon Olansen, manager, Gateway Program, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We’re excited to celebrate this major flight hardware milestone, and this is just the beginning – there’s impressive and important progress taking shape with our partners around the globe, united by our shared desire to expand human exploration of our solar system while advancing scientific discovery.” Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) in a cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. After final installations are complete, it will be packaged and transported to the United States for final outfitting before being integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and launched to lunar orbit. Thales Alenia Space To ensure all flight hardware is ready to support Artemis IV — the first crewed mission to Gateway – NASA is targeting the launch of HALO and the Power and Propulsion Element no later than December 2027. These integrated modules will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and spend about a year traveling uncrewed to lunar orbit, while providing scientific data on solar and deep space radiation during transit. Launching atop HALO will be ESA’s Lunar Link communication system, which will provide high-speed communication between the Moon and Gateway. The system is undergoing testing at another Thales Alenia Space facility in Cannes, France. Once in lunar orbit, Gateway will continue scientific observations while awaiting the arrival of Artemis IV astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft which will deliver and dock Gateway’s second pressurized habitable module, the ESA-led Lunar I-Hab. Thales Alenia Space, ESA’s primary contractor for the Lunar I-Hab and Lunar View refueling module, has begun production of the Lunar I-Hab, and design of Lunar View in Turin. Teams from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), including NASA astronaut Stan Love (far right) and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano (far left) help conduct human factors testing inside a mockup of Gateway’s Lunar I-Hab module. Thales Alenia Space Northrop Grumman and its subcontractor, Thales Alenia Space, completed welding of HALO in 2024, and the module successfully progressed through pressure and stress tests to ensure its suitability for the harsh environment of deep space. Maxar Space Systems is assembling the Power and Propulsion Element, which will make Gateway the most powerful solar electric propulsion spacecraft ever flown. Major progress in 2024 included installation of Xenon and chemical propulsion fuel tanks, and qualification of the largest roll-out solar arrays ever built. NASA and its partners will complete propulsion element assembly, and acceptance and verification testing of next-generation electric propulsion thrusters this year. The main bus of Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element undergoes assembly and installations at Maxar Space Systems in Palo Alto, California. Maxar Space Systems SpaceX will provide both the Starship human landing system that will land astronauts on the lunar surface during NASA’s Artemis III mission and ferry astronauts from Gateway to the lunar South Pole region during Artemis IV, as well as provide logistics spacecraft to support crewed missions. NASA also has selected Blue Origin to develop Blue Moon, the human landing system for Artemis V, as well as logistics spacecraft for future Artemis missions. Having two distinct lunar landing designs provides flexibility and supports a regular cadence of Moon landings in preparation for future missions to Mars. CSA (Canadian Space Agency) is developing Canadarm3, an advanced robotics system, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is designing and testing Lunar I-Hab’s vital life support systems, batteries, and a resupply and logistics vehicle called HTV-XG. NASA’s newest Gateway partner, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates, kicked off early design for the Gateway Crew and Science Airlock that will be delivered on Artemis VI. The selection of Thales Alenia Space as its airlock prime contractor was announced by MBRSC on Feb. 4. Development continues to advance on three radiation-focused initial science investigations aboard Gateway. These payloads will help scientists better understand unpredictable space weather from the Sun and galactic cosmic rays that will affect astronauts and equipment during Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. The Gateway lunar space station is a multi-purpose platform that offers capabilities for long-term exploration in deep space in support of NASA’s Artemis campaign and Moon to Mars objectives. Gateway will feature docking ports for a variety of visiting spacecraft, as well as space for crew to live, work, and prepare for lunar surface missions. As a testbed for future journeys to Mars, continuous investigations aboard Gateway will occur with and without crew to better understand the long-term effects of deep space radiation on vehicle systems and the human body as well as test and operate next generation spacecraft systems that will be necessary to send humans to Mars. Learn More About Gateway Facebook logo @NASAGateway @NASA_Gateway Instagram logo @nasaartemis Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Contact Laura Rochon Location Johnson Space Center Related Terms Artemis Artemis 4 Earth's Moon Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Gateway Space Station Humans in Space Johnson Space Center Explore More 2 min read Lunar Space Station Module Will Journey to US ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV Moon Mission A key element of the Gateway lunar space station has entered the cleanroom for final… Article 1 week ago 2 min read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust during Artemis missions, NASA is developing… Article 1 month ago 2 min read Gateway Tops Off Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element is now equipped with its xenon and liquid fuel tanks. Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Humans In Space Orion Spacecraft Human Landing System Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility

Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure.  NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer […]

6 Min Read NASA’s PUNCH Mission to Revolutionize Our View of Solar Wind Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure. NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, and solar wind together to better understand the Sun, solar wind, and Earth as a single connected system. Launching no earlier than Feb. 28, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how potentially disruptive solar events form and evolve. This could lead to more accurate predictions about the arrival of space weather events at Earth and impact on humanity’s robotic explorers in space. “What we hope PUNCH will bring to humanity is the ability to really see, for the first time, where we live inside the solar wind itself,” said Craig DeForest, principal investigator for PUNCH at Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado. This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14773. Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Seeing Solar Wind in 3D The PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized satellites have overlapping fields of view that combine to cover a larger swath of sky than any previous mission focused on the corona and solar wind. The satellites will spread out in low Earth orbit to construct a global view of the solar corona and its transition to the solar wind. They will also track solar storms like coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Their Sun-synchronous orbit will enable them to see the Sun 24/7, with their view only occasionally blocked by Earth. Typical camera images are two dimensional, compressing the 3D subject into a flat plane and losing information. But PUNCH takes advantage of a property of light called polarization to reconstruct its images in 3D. As the Sun’s light bounces off material in the corona and solar wind, it becomes polarized — meaning the light waves oscillate in a particular way that can be filtered, much like how polarized sunglasses filter out glare off of water or metal. Each PUNCH spacecraft is equipped with a polarimeter that uses three distinct polarizing filters to capture information about the direction that material is moving that would be lost in typical images. “This new perspective will allow scientists to discern the exact trajectory and speed of coronal mass ejections as they move through the inner solar system,” said DeForest. “This improves on current instruments in two ways: with three-dimensional imaging that lets us locate and track CMEs which are coming directly toward us; and with a broad field of view, which lets us track those CMEs all the way from the Sun to Earth.” All four spacecraft are synchronized to serve as a single “virtual instrument” that spans the whole PUNCH constellation. Crews conduct additional solar array deployment testing for NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Astrotech Space Operations located on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez The PUNCH satellites include one Narrow Field Imager and three Wide Field Imagers. The Narrow Field Imager (NFI) is a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better see details in the Sun’s corona, recreating what viewers on Earth see during a total solar eclipse when the Moon blocks the face of the Sun — a narrower view that sees the solar wind closer to the Sun. The Wide Field Imagers (WFI) are heliospheric imagers that view the very faint, outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind itself — giving a wide view of the solar wind as it spreads out into the solar system.   “I’m most excited to see the ‘inbetweeny’ activity in the solar wind,” said Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This means not just the biggest structures, like CMEs, or the smallest interactions, but all the different types of solar wind structures that fill that in between area.” When these solar wind structures from the Sun reach Earth’s magnetic field, they can drive dynamics that affect Earth’s radiation belts. To launch spacecraft through these belts, including ones that will carry astronauts to the Moon and beyond, scientists need to understand the solar wind structure and changes in this region. Building Off Other Missions “The PUNCH mission is built on the shoulders of giants,” said Madhulika Guhathakurta, PUNCH program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “For decades, heliophysics missions have provided us with glimpses of the Sun’s corona and the solar wind, each offering critical yet partial views of our dynamic star’s influence on the solar system.” When scientists combine data from PUNCH and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which flies through the Sun’s corona, they will see both the big picture and the up-close details. Working together, Parker Solar Probe and PUNCH span a field of view from a little more than half a mile (1 kilometer) to over 160 million miles (about 260 million kilometers). Additionally, the PUNCH team will combine their data with diverse observations from other missions, like NASA’s CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) technology demonstration, which views the corona even closer to the surface of the Sun from its vantage point on the International Space Station. PUNCH’s data also complements observations from NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) — targeted for launch in March 2025 — which investigates the magnetic field perturbations associated with Earth’s high-altitude auroras that PUNCH will also spot in its wide-field view. A conceptual animation showing the heliosphere, the vast bubble that is generated by the Sun’s magnetic field and envelops all the planets. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab As the solar wind that PUNCH will observe travels away from the Sun and Earth, it will then be studied by the IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, which is targeting a launch in 2025. “The PUNCH mission will bridge these perspectives, providing an unprecedented continuous view that connects the birthplace of the solar wind in the corona to its evolution across interplanetary space,” said Guhathakurta. The PUNCH mission is scheduled to conduct science for at least two years, following a 90-day commissioning period after launch. The mission is launching as a rideshare with the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer). “PUNCH is the latest heliophysics addition to the NASA fleet that delivers groundbreaking science every second of every day,” said Joe Westlake, heliophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Launching this mission as a rideshare bolsters its value to the nation by optimizing every pound of launch capacity to maximize the scientific return for the cost of a single launch.” The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. By Abbey Interrante NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Header Image: An artist’s concept showing the four PUNCH satellites orbiting Earth. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Related Terms Heliophysics Coronal Mass Ejections Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Science Mission Directorate Solar Wind Space Weather The Sun Explore More 2 min read Hubble Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter Article 5 hours ago 3 min read Eclipses to Auroras: Eclipse Ambassadors Experience Winter Field School in Alaska Article 3 days ago 2 min read NASA Science: Being Responsive to Executive Orders Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System

The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper […]

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 Hubble News Archive 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 Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter The spiral galaxy UGC 5460 shines in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. UGC 5460 sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Jacobson-Galán, A. Filippenko, J. Mauerhan Download this image The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper left-hand corner is a far closer object: a star just 577 light-years away in our own galaxy. UGC 5460 has hosted two recent supernovae: SN 2011ht and SN 2015as. It’s because of these two stellar explosions that Hubble targeted this galaxy, collecting data for three observing programs that aim to study various kinds of supernovae. SN 2015as was as a core-collapse supernova: a cataclysmic explosion that happens when the core of a star far more massive than the Sun runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity, initiating a rebound of material outside the core. Hubble observations of SN 2015as will help researchers understand what happens when the expanding shockwave of a supernova collides with the gas that surrounds the exploded star. SN 2011ht might have been a core-collapse supernova as well, but it could also be an impostor called a luminous blue variable. Luminous blue variables are rare stars that experience eruptions so large that they can mimic supernovae. Crucially, luminous blue variables emerge from these eruptions unscathed, while stars that go supernova do not. Hubble will search for a stellar survivor at SN 2011ht’s location with the goal of revealing the explosion’s origin. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore More The Death Throes of Stars Homing in on Cosmic Explosions Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov) NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Feb 21, 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 Stars Supernovae Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge Hubble’s Galaxies Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights

Earth planning date: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 During today’s unusual-for-MSL Tuesday planning day (because of the U.S. holiday on Monday), we planned activities under new winter heating constraints. Operating Curiosity on Mars requires attention to a number of factors — power, data volume, terrain roughness, temperature — that affect rover operability and safety. Winter means […]

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions 2 min read Sols 4458-4460: Winter Schminter NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image of the Texoli butte, a Martian landmark about 525 feet (160 meters) tall, with many layers that scientists are studying to learn more about the formation of this region of the Red Planet. The butte is on the 3-mile-high Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed and has been exploring since 2012. The rover acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on sol 4456, or Martian day 4,456 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, on Feb. 17, 2025, at 17:51:56 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 During today’s unusual-for-MSL Tuesday planning day (because of the U.S. holiday on Monday), we planned activities under new winter heating constraints. Operating Curiosity on Mars requires attention to a number of factors — power, data volume, terrain roughness, temperature — that affect rover operability and safety. Winter means more heating to warm up the gears and mechanisms within the rover and the instruments, but energy that goes to heating means less energy for science observations. Nevertheless, we (and Curiosity) were up to the task of balancing heating and science, and planned enough observations to warm the science team’s hearts. We fit in DRT, APXS, and MAHLI on two different bedrock targets, “Chumash Trail” and “Wheeler Gorge,” which have different fracturing and layering features. In the workspace, ChemCam targeted a clean vertical exposure of layered bedrock at “Sierra Madre” and a lumpy-looking patch of resistant nodules at “Chiquito Basin.” The topography of the local terrain and our end-of-drive position after the weekend fortuitously lined up to give us a view of an exposure of the Marker Band, which we first explored on the other side of Gediz Vallis Ridge. Having a view of another exposure of this distinctive horizon helps give us further insight into its origin, so we included both RMI and Mastcam mosaics of the exposure. Documenting a feature that, unlike the Marker Band, has been and will be in our sights for a long time — “Texoli” butte (pictured above) — was the goal of additional Mastcam and ChemCam imaging. Observations of potential sedimentary structures on the flank of Texoli motivated acquisition of an RMI mosaic, and a chance to capture structures along its southeast face inspired a Mastcam mosaic. Good exposures of additional nearby bedrock structures at “Mount Lukens” and “Chantry Flat” drew the eye of Mastcam, while another small mosaic focused on the kind of linear troughs in the sand we often see bordering bedrock slabs. Environmental observations included Navcam cloud and dust-devil movies, Mastcam observations of dust in the atmosphere, and REMS and RAD measurements spread across the three sols of the plan. Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Cookies, Cream, and Crumbling Cores Article 3 days ago 2 min read Sols 4454-4457: Getting Ready to Fill the Long Weekend with Science Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sols 4452-4453: Keeping Warm and Keeping Busy Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep […]

Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep space autonomously. Jorge Chong in front of the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when he helped with optical navigation operations during Artemis I. Image courtesy of Jorge Chong “GNC is like the brain of a spacecraft. It involves a suite of sensors that keep track of where the vehicle is in orbit so it can return home safely,” he said. “Getting to test the components of a GNC system makes you very familiar with how it all works together, and then to see it fly and help it operate successfully is immensely rewarding.” His work is critical to the Artemis campaign, which aims to return humans to the Moon and pave the way for Mars. From developing optical navigation technology that allows Orion to determine its position using images of Earth and the Moon to testing docking cameras and Light Detection and Ranging systems that enable autonomous spacecraft rendezvous, Chong is pushing the limits of exploration. He also runs high-fidelity flight simulations at Lockheed Martin’s Orion Test Hardware facility in Houston, ensuring Orion’s software is ready for the demands of spaceflight. Chong’s NASA career spans seven years as a full-time engineer, plus three years as a co-op student at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In 2024, he began leading Project TRON, an optical navigation initiative funded by a $2 million Early Career Initiative award. The project aims to advance autonomous space navigation—an essential capability for missions beyond Earth’s orbit. Jorge Chong and his colleagues with the Artemis II docking camera in the Electro-Optics Lab at Johnson. From left to right: Paul McKee, Jorge Chong, and Kevin Kobylka. Bottom right: Steve Lockhart and Ronney Lovelace. Thanks to Chong’s work, the Artemis Generation is one step closer to exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He supported optical navigation operations during Artemis I, is writing software that will fly on Artemis II, and leads optical testing for Orion’s docking cameras. But his path to NASA wasn’t always written in the stars. “I found math difficult as a kid,” Chong admits. “I didn’t enjoy it at first, but my parents encouraged me patiently, and eventually it started to click and then became a strength and something I enjoyed. Now, it’s a core part of my career.” He emphasizes that perseverance is key, especially for students who may feel discouraged by challenging subjects. Most of what Chong has learned, he says, came from working collaboratively on the job. “No matter how difficult something may seem, anything can be learned,” he said. “I could not have envisioned being involved in projects like these or working alongside such great teams before coming to Johnson.” Jorge Chong (left) and his siblings Ashley and Bronsen at a Texas A&M University game. Image courtesy of Jorge Chong His career has also reinforced the importance of teamwork, especially when working with contractors, vendors, universities, and other NASA centers. “Coordinating across these dynamic teams and keeping the deliverables on track can be challenging, but it has helped to be able to lean on teammates for assistance and keep communication flowing,” said Chong. And soon, those systems will help Artemis astronauts explore places no human has gone before. Whether guiding Orion to the Moon or beyond, Chong’s work is helping NASA write the next chapter of space exploration. “I thank God for the doors He has opened for me and the incredible mentors and coworkers who have helped me along the way,” he said.

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the […]

Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the lunar surface existed, only those obtained by Earth-based telescopes. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed the Ranger program, a series of spacecraft designed to return closeup images before impacting on the Moon’s surface. Ranger 7 first accomplished that goal in July 1964. On Feb. 17, 1965, its successor Ranger 8 launched toward the Moon, and three days later returned images of the Moon. The mission’s success helped the country meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of a human Moon landing before the end of the decade. Schematic diagram of the Ranger 8 spacecraft, showing its major components. NASA/JPL The television system aboard Ranger 8 showing its six cameras. NASA/JPL. Launch of Ranger 8. NASA. Ranger 8 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, now Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 17, 1965. The Atlas-Agena rocket first placed the spacecraft into Earth orbit before sending it on a lunar trajectory. The next day, the spacecraft carried out a mid-course correction, and on Feb. 20, Ranger 8 reached the Moon. The spacecraft’s six cameras turned on as planned, about eight minutes earlier than its predecessor to obtain images comparable in resolution to ground-based photographs for calibration purposes. Ranger 8 took its first photograph at an altitude of 1,560 miles, and during its final 23 minutes of flight, the spacecraft sent back 7,137 images of the lunar surface. The last image, taken at an altitude of 1,600 feet and 0.28 seconds before Ranger 8 impacted at 1.67 miles per second, had a resolution of about five feet. The spacecraft impacted 16 miles from its intended target in the Sea of Tranquility, ending a flight of 248,900 miles. Scientists had an interest in this area of the Moon as a possible landing zone for a future human landing, and indeed Apollo 11 landed 44 miles southeast of the Ranger 8 impact site in July 1969. Ranger 8’s first image from an altitude of 1,560 miles. NASA/JPL. Ranger 8 image from an altitude of 198 miles, showing craters Ritter and Sabine. NASA/JPL. Ranger 8’s final images, taken at an altitude as low as 1,600 feet. NASA/JPL. One more Ranger mission followed, Ranger 9, in March 1965. Television networks broadcast Ranger 9’s images of the Alphonsus crater and the surrounding area “live” as the spacecraft approached its impact site in the crater – letting millions of Americans see the Moon up-close as it happened. Based on the photographs returned by the last three Rangers, scientists felt confident to move on to the next phase of robotic lunar exploration, the Surveyor series of soft landers. The Ranger photographs provided confidence that the lunar surface could support a soft-landing and that the Sea of Tranquility presented a good site for the first human landing. A little more than four years after the final Ranger images, Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon. Impact sites of Rangers 7, 8, and 9. NASA/JPL. The Ranger 8 impact crater, marked by the blue circle, photographed by Lunar Orbiter 2 in 1966. NASA/JPL. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the Ranger 8 impact crater, taken in 2012 at a low sun angle. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University. The impacts of the Ranger probes left visible craters on the lunar surface, later photographed by orbiting spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter 2 and Apollo 16 both imaged the Ranger 8 impact site at relatively low resolution in 1966 and 1972, respectively. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the crash site in greater detail in 2012. Watch a brief video about the Ranger 8 impact on the Moon. Explore More 5 min read 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moon Article 7 months ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: Apollo 11’s One Small Step, One Giant Leap Article 7 months ago 4 min read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training At first glance, it seems like a scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface…except… Article 5 months ago

New Scientist - Space

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

For more than 40 years, Jonathan McDowell has tirelessly catalogued the space industry. But today, tracking commercial companies' space operations is more difficult than spy organisations.

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

NASA's former chief scientist, Jim Green, explains how close we are to having humans on Mars

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

SpaceX’s most ambitious Starship flight yet will see reused hardware, the deployment of 10 fake satellites and another attempt to catch the booster with “chopsticks”

Jeff Bezos’s space company is about to launch New Glenn, a reusable rocket intended to rival SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, for the first time

Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a stable orbit around the dwarf planet

A map of 31 million galaxies created by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will be released next year, and could shed light on the origins of this mysterious force

From auroras to partial eclipses of the sun, Leah Crane is planning out the astronomical events she will be watching next year

Around the middle of 2025, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will begin its mission to help us better understand the cosmos. There's a lot to look forward to, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

A Ken Liu, two Adrian Tchaikovsky novels, Succession-style drama (with added telepathy) and a Polish epic. Emily H. Wilson surveys 2025’s sci-fi

From Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander to SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System, around a dozen spacecraft teams have their sights on the moon

The Ingenuity autonomous helicopter surpassed all expectations to fly dozens of missions over several years on the Red Planet, only stopping this year when an accident damaged one of its rotors

This year has delivered some awe-inspiring imagery of space, from the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning shots of faraway stars and galaxies to images of the skies taken from here on planet Earth

In 2024 the James Webb Space Telescope released stunning new images of the beauty of space, here are the best

From a fish with a tiny brain to the world’s oldest cheese, we have reported on plenty of strange and unusual science discoveries this year. Challenge yourself and see what you can remember in this fiendish set of questions from our quizmaster Bethan Ackerley

We challenge you to find the scientific terms in this monster of a puzzle – and we’re not even telling you exactly what they are

An asteroid orbiting near our planet that temporarily became our second moon seems to have come from the actual moon, hinting that a hidden population of lunar rocks is drifting in space

The age of the rings that encircle Saturn is under dispute thanks to calculations that show they could have been formed billions – rather than millions – of years ago

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, came strangely far south this year and there may be more of the same while the sun is experiencing a solar maximum

A survey of more than 56,000 sun-like stars reveals that “superflares” that are linked to bursts of radiation which play havoc with electronics on Earth may happen every 100 to 200 years and we may be overdue one

On 24 December, the Parker Solar Probe will be the closest human-made object ever to a star, taking unprecedented measurements of the sun

Rather than getting its water from impacts, our planet may have drawn in water vapour after the sun boiled it off early icy asteroids

From the first private moon landing to the first civilian spacewalk, Elon Musk’s SpaceX helped drive a big year for private space flight

Plate tectonics seems to be crucial for life on Earth, but we’ve never confirmed that it happens on other worlds - that may be about to change

A City on Mars authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith on whether we can settle space, whether we should settle space, and have we really thought it through?

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions and developments yet to come. We journey to 2055, when a space elevator from the moon’s surface to near-Earth orbit was completed, opening space travel to all

Astronomers spotted a 70-centimetre asteroid hours before it hit the atmosphere above northern Siberia, making a fireball in the sky

The Acidalia Planitia region of the Red Planet might have all the requirements for methane-burping bacteria to exist beneath the surface

Murder in space, a sexbot, a dystopian vision of the future: our science fiction columnist Emily H. Wilson picks her top five reads of 2024

Space-time may not be continuous but instead made up of many discrete bits – and we may be able to see their effects near the edges of unusually bright black holes

Enigmatic phenomena called fast radio bursts might be caused by interstellar objects colliding with highly magnetised neutron stars

A rock that formed around 4.5 billion years ago on Mars before being blasted into space by a meteor strike and making its way to Earth contains telltale evidence that it was formed in the presence of hot water

The unexpected discovery of microbial life in a piece of rock from an asteroid shows how hard it is to avoid contaminating samples brought back to Earth

We asked New Scientist staff to pick their favourite science fiction books. Here are the results, ranging from 19th-century classics to modern day offerings, and from Octavia E. Butler to Iain M. Banks

Using four telescopes linked together, astronomers have captured an astonishing image of a huge star more than 160,000 light years away

In Adam Roberts's Lake of Darkness, two spaceships meet to study a black hole. Their research comes to an abrupt halt, however, when crew members start dying horribly, says Emily H. Wilson

A large planet has been spotted orbiting a dwarf star that is just 3 million years old, offering possible clues to how the worlds in our solar system came into being

The best pictures we have of the sun yet have been delivered thanks to the Solar Orbiter spacecraft

The effects of being in space can worsen an astronaut's working memory, processing speed and attention - which could be a problem for future missions

Analysis of millions of galaxies upholds Albert Einstein’s ideas about gravity and also offers tantalising new hints of how dark energy may have evolved

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for the sixth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. It aims to conduct the launch at 4pm Central Time (10pm UK). Here’s everything we know so far

The moon's glare can frustrate astronomers, but Leah Crane is a big fan of the jagged, cratered details of the lunar surface these days

You might have heard about plans to establish a self‑sustaining city on Mars. Here’s what life would really be like on the Red Planet

Two massive galaxies are bending light from the same distant quasar, creating a so-called Einstein zigzag lens that could help astronomers pin down how quickly the universe is expanding

The Proba-3 mission consists of two spacecraft that will fly in close formation to study the sun, with the shadow of one creating an artificial solar eclipse from the perspective of the other

Samantha Harvey has won the UK's top fiction prize for a novel that takes place over 24 hours on the International Space Station

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field

From nuclear strikes to giant spikes, discover the systems in place to prevent a collision and test your decision-making to see if you could avoid a catastrophic impact

In order to figure out how something came from nothing, we first need to explore the different types of nothing

Dangerous radiation reaches Mars at levels we aren't exposed to on Earth, which makes the Red Planet a particularly dangerous place to be during pregnancy

Data collected by the Zhurong rover and orbiting satellites suggests the existence of an ancient shoreline in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars

Averting an asteroid strike will need many of the same skills we must hone to tackle climate change and future pandemics

A small world in the outer solar system appears to have volcanic activity possibly spurred by liquid water

Asteroids that regularly fly between Earth, Venus and Mars could provide radiation shielding for human missions to explore neighbouring planets

Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who has worked on the JWST, catalogues the science behind its most stunning images in her new book, Webb's Universe. Here's her pick of the telescope’s best shots

The largest and most ambitious Martian drone yet could carry kilograms of scientific equipment over great distances and set itself down on the Red Planet unassisted

Complex carbon-based molecules crucial to life on Earth originated somewhere in space, but we didn't know where. Now, huge amounts of them have been spotted in a huge, cold cloud of gas

A nearby star that exploded some 3 million years ago could have removed all dust smaller than a millimetre from the outer solar system

Moin Hussain's debut feature film Sky Peals sees a man discover his father may be from outer space. Part sci-fi, part family drama, part coming-of-age tale, it is odd and otherworldly

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Hi everyone. Thought I’d offer up an opportunity to engage with fellow space industry colleagues. The 62nd annual AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium, held in conjunction with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is back to bring together top minds in space science and exploration. This is a good chance to network with industry leaders, while discussing current events and topics including Lunar and Mars Science and Exploration, Search for Extraterrestrial Life, Space Science Policy, Data and Artificial Intelligence, Heliophysics, Space Weather and more. NASA speakers include Mark Clampin, Lori Glaze, Makenzie Lystrup, and others. Sign up for FREE virtual attendance, or register (payment required) to join us in-person March 19-21, 2025 in Greenbelt, Maryland Learn more at: astronautical.org/goddard Here if you have any questions. Thanks! Jim Way Executive Director American Astronautical Society submitted by /u/ItsUpThereSomewhere [link] [comments]

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All the latest content from the Space.com team

Astronomers have discovered that sulfur may be a key to helping us narrow down our search for life on other planets.

Do top quarks, nature's heaviest elementary particle, obey Einstein's rules at all times of day and night? Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have the answer.

Blue Origin is targeting next Tuesday (Feb. 25) for its 10th space tourism launch, which will send six people to the final frontier. You'll be able to watch the action live.

European Space Agency astronaut John McFall is cleared to be the first person with a physical disability to fly to the space station.

The idea that life on Earth arose through a series of improbable "hard" evolutionary steps may be misjudged, according to a new paper that says our Earth had a big say in matters.

The United States Space Force released the first public photo taken by X-37B space plane in orbit, showing the vehicle high above Earth.

NASA has announced the retirement of Associate Administrator Jim Free, the agency's chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees across the United States.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 more of the company's Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast on Saturday (Feb. 8).

A mysterious flash of X-ray emission from outside the Milky Way has left astronomers puzzled.

Such a dramatic cut to a flagship space telescope still in its prime will be felt across the mission's entire operations, affecting science.

Scientists have discovered more about the process that causes black holes to "leak" energy to their surroundings, finding the faster they spin, the more energy is extracted.

The Wachowskis' attempt at reenergizing the space opera genre is widely considered to be a low point in their career, but maybe we were too harsh?

Astronomers have discovered that many infant stars born in stellar nurseries of the early universe may have preferred "fluffy" stellar blankets.

The International Space Station "has served its purpose" and should be deorbited "as soon as possible," SpaceX chief and close Trump adviser Elon Musk said today (Feb. 20).

Rippled textures in a shallow lake bed on Mars indicate that ice-free liquid water once pooled here.

If we're looking for life as we don't know it, the best solvent out there may be concentrated sulfuric acid — the stuff that's floating around in the clouds of Venus.

This Astronaut star projector is currently just 20% off, offering gorgeous indoor nebulas in a fun, novelty model at a sizable discount.

A SpaceX rocket stage fell to Earth early Wednesday morning (Feb. 19), blazing a trail of fire through European skies.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the ​​colorful, wispy clouds near the Tarantula Nebula, one of the most luminous and active star-forming regions in our galactic backyard.

Blue Origin just revealed the identities of five of the six crewmembers for NS-30, its next suborbital space tourism mission. The company has not yet announced a launch date.

A flash of X-ray light has revealed the existence of an odd couple of stars, a massive star and a white dwarf, that shouldn't really exist together.

Breathe a sigh of relief! NASA has dropped the risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth in 2032 to 1 in 360, just days after it became the highest-risk asteroid since records began.

Elon Musk and President Trump continue to advance the narrative that NASA astronauts from Boeing's Starliner mission were "abandoned" in space.

Astronomers have studied 3,600 supernovas to discover diversity in exploding white dwarf stars, a vital tool in the investigation of dark energy.

NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe is gearing up to cross the "termination shock," an exotic boundary in the outer solar system, as early as 2027.

Gamma rays detected by NASA's Fermi spacecraft indicate that microquasars are powered by small black holes slowly devouring stars. They pack quite a punch, bombarding Earth with cosmic rays.

It's not the most exciting set, but Lego Marvel Logo & Minifigures expertly achieves what it sets out to do.

After the space community braced for a brutal shake-up at NASA this week, a last-minute decision on Tuesday (Feb. 18) spared over 1,000 agency employees on probationary status from being dismissed.

Scientists suggest adding jumping exercises to astronauts' training regimens, to minimize the health effects of long space missions, such as moon and Mars trips.

Using a revolutionary dark energy camera, astronomers have discovered the largest haul of "missing link" intermediate-mass black holes ever seen, but there should have been more.

The world's largest telescope continues to take shape on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander lowered its orbit around the moon Tuesday (Feb. 18), sending back gorgeous footage from just over the lunar surface.

In February 2025, all seven of our planetary neighbors will be visible from Earth. So what does such a planetary alignment mean for science? Well, not much — unless you're an interplanetary spacecraft.

Hunting for alien civilizations isn't a matter of just waiting around for them to show up; it's the business of combing through enormous volumes of data to look for peculiar signals.

Boeing is preparing to lay off roughly 200 employees working on the Space Launch System rocket as it braces for the possibility that its contracts with NASA may not be renewed after they end in March.

No Weapon X yet, but Captain America: Brave New World marks the arrival of adamantium to Earth-616 in a departure from its comic book origins.

Resilience, a lunar lander built by Japanese company ispace, zoomed within a mere 5,220 miles (8,400 kilometers) of the moon on Feb. 14.

On the 95th anniversary of its discovery, Pluto remains one of the most beloved and enigmatic worlds in our solar system, whether you call it a planet or not.

Rocket Lab launched a high-resolution imaging satellite for the company Blacksky toward low Earth orbit this evening (Feb. 18).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 Starlink satellites today (Feb. 18) and then landed the Atlantic Ocean near The Bahamas —a first for the company.

Looking for to take your astrophotography to the next level? Save up to $800 on the Nikon Z8, a powerhouse of a mirrorless camera just in time to capture March's lunar eclipse.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have taken a detailed look at the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, finding it endlessly blowing bubbles.

Astronomers have discovered a powerful jet stream raging through the atmosphere of an ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet ravaged by liquid iron rains.

Imagine Dragons' song 'Children of the Sky' will be beamed to Earth from a lunar data center as part of the private IM-2 moon mission launching as early as Feb. 26 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9.

With a huge 36% off, you can grab an unbeatable Star Wars deal on this feature-packed lightsaber, now it's lowest price in months.

New research suggests that dark energy isn't needed to explain the acceleration in the expansion of the universe — instead suggesting giant voids in space are creating an illusion.

Technology we already use everyday might be the future of space radiation shielding.

Like its mythological namesake, the Phoenix Cluster burns with blisteringly hot gas, which cools to birth stars. The James Webb Space Telescope has now learned how this galaxy cluster does it.

The latest 'Star Trek' movie assumes plenty of prior knowledge of a vast franchise — and it's not alone.

Researchers discovered that Earth's inner core is surprisingly viscous.

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.

Starship is once more preparing for launch. The second flight test of a fully integrated Starship will debut several upgrades to the vehicle and ground infrastructure, some as a direct result of lessons learned from Starship’s first flight test. 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.