Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
Scientists from NASA's Lucy mission have completed initial analysis of data gathered during the spacecraft's April 20 flyby of the main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. Images taken by Lucy's L'LORRI imager just minutes before closest approach have provided a comprehensive view of the asteroid, marking a successful test for future operations. Mission engineers describe the event as a crucial

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 07, 2025
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope, launched in March, has begun publicly releasing data from its infrared sky survey, offering scientists worldwide weekly access to its extensive cosmic observations. The mission is designed to map the entire sky twice a year over a two-year period, capturing images in 102 infrared wavelengths to support investigations ranging from the origins of the universe to the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
Mars may once have flowed with rivers and lakes, but a new study led by University of Chicago planetary scientist Edwin Kite suggests its warm periods were fleeting and ultimately doomed by a self-regulating climate system. Published July 2 in Nature, the research presents a model in which increasing solar brightness briefly allowed water to flow before triggering a geochemical response that loc

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
A research team led by mechanical science and engineering professor Mickey Clemon at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is testing advanced cooling systems in space to improve heat sink performance for satellite electronics. Space presents a unique challenge for electronics: high waste heat output with no atmosphere for convective cooling. To counteract this, the team embedded a w

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
Europe has advanced its ability to track extreme weather with the launch of the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1), the continent's first geostationary meteorological sounder. The satellite will deliver critical atmospheric data that supports earlier and more accurate weather alerts, helping to safeguard people, infrastructure, and economies. MTG-S1 lifted off on 1 July 2025 and

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 02, 2025
Recent progress in hypersonic aerodynamics has shed light on one of the field's longest-standing puzzles: the unpredictable transition from smooth to turbulent airflow around blunt-nosed vehicles. This transition dramatically increases drag and thermal load, posing a major challenge to hypersonic flight systems. Traditionally, researchers attributed this boundary layer transition to modal

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 02, 2025
China will inaugurate the International Deep Space Exploration Association (IDSEA) next Monday, marking its first international academic body dedicated to aerospace. Based in Hefei, Anhui province, the association is designed to foster global collaboration, with an emphasis on empowering developing countries to access and advance deep-space technologies. The IDSEA, co-founded by the Hefei-

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
Boeing has delivered the ninth and tenth O3b mPOWER satellites to SES, bolstering the satellite operator's growing medium Earth orbit (MEO) constellation. The two newly completed spacecraft are equipped with Boeing's fully software-defined payloads, enabling dynamic power allocation to meet real-time user demands. Both satellites are en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a scheduled su

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2025
In a step toward sustainable extraterrestrial living, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated that green algae can thrive in bioplastic shelters under Mars-like conditions. The findings point to a future in which space habitats can grow-and even regenerate-using biological materials. The team, led by Robin Wordsworth, P