Nasa

• NASA has announced updates to the agenda and abstract submission process for the upcoming Ad ASTRA Community Science workshop. • The event will utilize breakout sessions combining formal presentations with flexible discussions to foster collaboration among teams. • The workshop aims to help researchers with concepts at different maturity levels identify commonalities and strengthen specific capability groups.

• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman addressed public criticism and "outrage" following the selection of an all-male crew for the Artemis III test mission. • The controversy stems from the lack of female representation in the crew lineup for the mission intended to return humans to the lunar surface. • This backlash highlights ongoing tensions regarding gender diversity and inclusivity within high-profile space exploration milestones.

Luca Parmitano to pilot all-male crew of four paving way for planned first human landing on Artemis IV in 2028Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, hailed the creation of “Earth’s first starfleet” on Tuesday as he revealed the Artemis III crew and details of the next stages of the space agency’s project to return humans to the moon.An Italian astronaut, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA), will be the pilot of the planned two-week mission to lower Earth orbit next year that will test lunar landers from private companies Blue Origin and SpaceX. Continue reading...

• NASA has officially opened registration and abstract submissions for the 2026 Joint HELIOTECH and Orbital Flight Symposium. • The event merges the Heliophysics Technology Symposium with Heliophysics Orbital Flight Missions to encourage innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration. • The symposium focuses on advancing the critical technologies required to explore the Sun-Earth-Moon system, Mars, and other deep-space destinations.

• NASA is considering a potential orbit reboost for the Hubble Space Telescope to counteract its decaying orbit. • The agency's Science Mission Directorate is currently evaluating how to lower operating costs to make such a mission financially viable. • This effort is part of a broader strategy to reduce the expenses of extended missions and free up funding for new scientific projects.

• NASA is scheduled to announce the crew for the Artemis 3 docking mission on June 9. • The mission will take place next year and involves a critical docking maneuver in Earth orbit. • The agency has narrowed down a shortlist of astronaut contenders, with several front-runners emerging for the selection.

• NASA instructed astronauts to return to their normal duties on the International Space Station after pausing "safe haven procedures." • The emergency measures were implemented for two hours while the Russian crew attempted to repair an air leak on the station. • This incident highlights the critical nature of pressure maintenance and the interdependence of the five partner agencies, including NASA and Roscosmos, in managing orbital safety.

• NASA has officially declared the MAVEN Mars orbiter dead after 12 years of productive operation studying the Red Planet's atmosphere. • The spacecraft remains in a stable orbit, though it is no longer functional and will eventually crash into the Martian surface within the next 100 years. • This mission conclusion adds to the "Mars morgue" of previous probes, highlighting the long-term lifecycle and eventual disposal of deep-space hardware.

• NASA has announced that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is officially scheduled to launch on August 30. • The telescope is designed to capture a massive volume of data, allowing scientists to observe stars, galaxies, black holes, and exoplanets. • This mission matters as it aims to provide a "data deluge" of cosmic discoveries, significantly expanding our understanding of objects outside our solar system.

• NASA's $4 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is transporting to Florida for a scheduled launch in September. • The telescope is designed to survey 100 times more of the sky than the Hubble Space Telescope, focusing on previously unexplored regions of the Milky Way. • Scientists expect the mission to identify approximately 100,000 new planets, a massive increase over the 6,300 exoplanets discovered to date.

• NASA has officially declared the MAVEN Mars orbiter dead after the spacecraft suffered a critical anomaly. • The decision follows several months of radio silence and unsuccessful attempts to re-establish contact with the probe. • MAVEN's mission was vital for studying the Martian upper atmosphere and understanding how the planet lost its water and atmosphere over time.

• NASA-supported scientists have proposed a new theory on how early Earth acquired essential elements necessary for the development of life. • The research focuses on the delivery of these critical building blocks, suggesting they may have arrived via external cosmic sources during the planet's formative stages. • This discovery is significant as it helps explain the chemical composition of Earth and the specific conditions that allowed biological life to emerge.

• NASA engineers have successfully completed the final inspection of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's primary mirror, which passed all tests. • Following this final check, the telescope is now being prepared for shipment to its designated launch site in Florida. • This milestone ensures the telescope's optical systems are fully operational before it begins its mission to study dark energy and exoplanets.

• NASA has officially ended the MAVEN mission after losing contact with the spacecraft, which reportedly began spinning out of control. • The spacecraft had spent 11 years orbiting Mars to study the planet's atmosphere, climate, and the processes that caused its atmosphere to strip away. • This loss marks the conclusion of a decade-long effort to understand Mars' evolution and determine if the planet could have once supported life.

• NASA confirmed that a massive sonic boom heard over the northeastern US on May 30 was caused by a meteor explosion. • Satellite footage revealed the event released energy equivalent to 300 tons of TNT, creating a powerful shockwave. • The explosion is significant as it provides data on atmospheric entries, though the space rock likely disintegrated during the blast.

• Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have completed the final inspection of the primary mirror for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. • This critical phase ensures the telescope's optical components are precise and ready for deployment after the sunshade was successfully tested. • The Roman telescope is designed to provide wide-field infrared imaging to study dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets.

• NASA Science is hosting a PhysPAG Community Webinar on June 2, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern Time to discuss the ASTRA Initiative. • The initiative focuses on driving science questions and exploring the trade space for various implementation options for new mission concepts. • NASA encourages researchers to collaborate with Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Standing Advisory Groups (SAGs) to synthesize individual ideas into broader, community-supported mission concepts.

• NASA announced in December 2025 that construction of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is complete, with a scheduled launch by May 2027 or potentially as early as fall 2026. • During its five-year primary mission, the observatory aims to discover approximately 100,000 new transiting planets and create the largest catalog of rogue worlds in history. • This mission is significant because it will drastically expand the known exoplanet population and provide unprecedented data on planets drifting without host stars.

• NASA has unveiled plans for a sprawling, city-like lunar outpost that could eventually stretch over hundreds of square miles. • The agency's administrator described the current era as a "Golden Age" of lunar exploration, signaling a shift toward permanent habitation. • This initiative matters as it transitions moon missions from short-term visits to the establishment of a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

• NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has identified a massive black hole that appears to have formed before its host galaxy. • This discovery challenges the traditional scientific consensus that galaxies form first, with black holes later developing from the collapse of massive stars within them. • The finding is significant because it suggests a different evolutionary path for the early universe, where black holes may act as seeds for galaxy formation.

The satellite visuals reveal vast burn scars after blaze tore through rare ecosystems on Santa Rosa IslandImages from a Nasa satellite showcased the devastating scars left behind by a wildfire that consumed roughly a third of Santa Rosa Island, one of the five that make up Channel Islands national park off the southern California coast.Taken on 20 May, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) took the false-color image of the burn area, showing swaths of blackened land. Continue reading...

Three lunar landings are planned for this year in preparation for the construction of a $20bn moon baseSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailNasa announced on Tuesday ambitious plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to kickstart construction of a $20bn moon base, and said it had chosen Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to conduct the first.The revelation by Nasa’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, at a press conference in Washington DC marked the first detailed public explanation of how and when the moon base will be built. Continue reading...

Powerful radar system is providing new data on city’s subsidence, which experts hope will draw more attention to itWalking into Mexico City’s sprawling central Zócalo is a dizzying experience. At one end of the plaza, the capital’s cathedral, with its soaring spires, slumps in one direction. An attached church, known as the Metropolitan Sanctuary, tilts in the other. The nearby National Palace also seems off-kilter.The teetering of many of the capital’s historic buildings is the most visible sign of a phenomenon that has been ongoing for more than a century: Mexico City is sinking at an alarming rate. Continue reading...

• NASA's Perseverance rover discovered extensive water ice deposits beneath Mars' surface in Jezero Crater using advanced ground-penetrating radar technology, with findings suggesting accessibility for future human missions. • The subsurface ice layers extend up to 300 meters deep and contain an estimated 5 million metric tons of water ice, according to data released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 21. • Scientists believe the water deposits could support long-term human habitation and fuel production, making Mars exploration more feasible for sustained presence beyond current rover missions.

Scientists think they are looking at chemical building blocks of life preserved for 3.5bn yearsNasa’s Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules on Mars, including chemicals widely considered building blocks for the origin of life of Earth.Five of the seven molecules identified in a dried lakebed near the equator had never previously been observed on the red planet. The analysis, performed by the robotic rover, cannot establish whether the organic compounds are linked to potential ancient life on Mars or were delivered by meteorites or formed through geological processes. However, they imply that if microbial life once thrived on Mars, chemical fingerprints should remain there today. Continue reading...

• Texas A&M researchers developed a nasal spray therapy that reverses brain aging by healing inflammation and restoring memory function. • The treatment targets age-related cognitive decline, turning 'brain fog to brain focus' in preclinical models. • Announced on April 14, 2026, it reshapes future therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Even as a triumphant moon flyby primes agency for a 2028 landing, Trump’s proposed budget cuts cast pall on US space programThe astronauts on board Artemis II were “almost poets”, Nasa’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, declared on Friday, referring to their inspiring words as they swung above the lunar surface.They were, he said, “ambassadors for humanity” as they became the first humans to travel to the moon and return safely to Earth since 1972, on a mission that broke a distance record. Continue reading...

Astronauts prepare for re-entry several miles off coast of southern California after 10-day lunar fly-by missionThe crew of Artemis II is set to return to earth on Friday following its historic 10-day lunar flyby mission, and Nasa leaders have described the precise logistics needed to get them home.The return will see the Orion capsule traveling at nearly 24,000mph before making a final splashdown several miles off the coast of San Diego. The operation requires multiple teams and careful coordination to safely extract the crew from the spacecraft. Continue reading...