Spacecraft

• NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully completed a Mars flyby, utilizing the planet's gravity to gain momentum for its journey toward a metal-rich asteroid. • During the maneuver, the probe tested its onboard scientific instruments, capturing high-resolution imagery and data of the Red Planet. • This flyby serves as a critical technical milestone, ensuring the spacecraft's systems are fully operational before it reaches its primary target.

• NASA is preparing for the Artemis III mission, which is projected to be the most complex operation in the agency's history. • The mission will involve coordinating the launch and orbital rendezvous of three separate spacecraft to transport four astronauts. • This operation marks a historic milestone as no previous space mission has ever required the coordination of this many simultaneous launches.

• NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has successfully woken up in good health after completing its longest hibernation period to date, which lasted nearly one year. • The spacecraft is now ready to resume transmitting data as it continues its mission to explore the distant reaches of the solar system. • This mission has achieved several historic milestones since its 2006 launch, including a 2007 Jupiter flyby, the first exploration of Pluto in 2015, and a 2019 visit to the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth.

• Startup Katalyst Space is partnering with NASA to attempt a first-of-its-kind rescue mission to save the aging Swift space telescope. • The Arizona-based company developed a 935-pound robotic spacecraft called LINK in just 250 days to facilitate the operation. • The mission is critical because LINK must physically interact with and stabilize the observatory, which was not originally designed for such interventions.

• NASA's Lucy spacecraft conducted a flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson (known as "DJ") in April 2025 during its journey toward Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. • Analysis of the asteroid revealed evidence of chemical alteration caused by liquid water, suggesting the body once hosted aqueous activity. • Scientists believe Donaldjohanson originally formed in a colder region further from the sun before being gravitationally pushed inward.

• NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft has discovered the wreckage of a dead star located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. • The supernova event occurred approximately 1,700 years ago, ejecting stellar debris at speeds of roughly 2 million mph. • This discovery is significant as it allows astronomers to study the remnants of ancient stellar explosions and their impact on the galactic core.

• 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.