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The CosmoCube Satellite Will Listen to the Early Universe From the Far Side of the Moon
A tiny UK-developed satellite, roughly the size of a small carry-on suitcase, could help answer one of the biggest questions in cosmology: what happened in the roughly 150 million years of cosmic dark ages, before the universe’s first stars appeared?
What happens when a galaxy's supermassive black hole turns off? These dying radio galaxies could show us
Astronomers have discovered a hitherto unseen population of so-called "radio galaxies" with fading "radio lobes." The discovery reveals what happens when the supermassive black hole engines that power these vast, blooming outflows of plasma stall. This discovery increases our understanding of the life cycles of galaxies.
The team behind this research studied 14 candidates for faded or remnant radio galaxies found in a region of the sky over Earth, studied intensely by the XMM-Newton X-ray spacecraft, called the XMM–Newton Large-Scale Structure (XMM–LSS) field.
Radio galaxies are extremely bright in radio waves and feature vast lobes of gas that can stretch out for millions of light-years. Remnant radio galaxies represent the final stage in the evolution of radio galaxies, at which point the jets from the galaxies' central regions, or active galactic nuclei (AGNs) powered by feeding supermassive black holes, have switched off. Therefore, these jets can no longer replenish the vast radio lobes, causing them to gradually fade.
The researchers studied the XMM–LSS field using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an array of 64 antennas located in the desert-like region of the Northern Cape, South Africa, the Jansky Very Large Array, and the LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) network.
This powerful combination of observations allowed them to study how radio emissions from the lobes of radio galaxies change as the particles within them "age" and lose energy.
This allowed the researchers to determine that 12 of the 14 candidates actually are remnant radio galaxies, while the other two remain active radio galaxies.
The team also discovered something striking about the 12 confirmed radio galaxy remnants.
Two examples of the newly discovered giant radio galaxies, each spanning millions of light-years. (Image credit: Pal, et al (2025))One thing that really stood out in this study was the ages of these remnants, which appeared to have been fading for between 8 million and 42 million years, with the average "fade age" being 12 million years.
This age is younger than the ages measured for radio galaxy remnants, which could indicate that astronomers have been missing a population of short-lived remnants.
This wasn't the only extraordinary finding in this study. The scientists also found that the remnants they looked at exist in a wide range of evolutionary stages, with some having jets that have only just switched off, while others are more evolved, having "powered down" long ago.
The 'double boomerang' of an x-shaped radio galaxy. (Image credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; SARAO; DES)The new findings represent a major step forward in understanding the life cycles of radio galaxies, and also how supermassive black holes function as the engines powering jets that drive vast radio lobes.
The team's research was published on July 14 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Trump signs new national space policy to enable 1,000 US rocket launches per year
The United States is updating its approach to managing spaceflights that lift off and land within its borders, and aims to expand the nation's capabilities to support more than 1,000 rocket launches per year by 2030.
President Donald Trump just signed a new National Space Transportation Policy that lays out priorities for commercial, civil and national security missions to orbit. The memorandum, published Thursday (Aug. 20), introduces the first update to the policy since 2013, and comes as commercial operators such as SpaceX have driven U.S. launch cadences up more than 800% since 2015.
The policy centers on expanding the infrastructure and procedures needed to support a much busier space industry. It directs federal agencies to identify and broaden commercial access to additional launch and reentry sites, and to incorporate spaceflight operations and critical launch corridors into air traffic control management and modernization efforts. The document gives agencies a deadline to get the work started.
Within 180 days of the memo's publication, NASA, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Defense (DOD) are directed to begin identifying potential locations for future launch activities, as well as existing facilities that could be upgraded to further increase capacity. Agencies were also directed to establish leases and commercial investment opportunities to incentivize the co-development of new launch sites. The new properties can be funded, in part, by the same private entities that are lined up to use them.
Rocket landing sites are getting extra attention, with the president's policy designating agencies to identify federal lands available for development as independent launch vehicle reentry sites within the next 90 days. It also reinforces a framework to expedite environmental review processes first laid out in a commercial space executive order that Trump signed in August 2025, which sought to remove regulatory hurdles for commercial launches and spaceport construction.
SpaceX is already planning for launch rates far beyond the administration’s 2030 target. The company's Starship rocket, which remains in development, is poised to become the first fully reusable launch vehicle in history. In response to the new policy on Thursday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company is aiming to launch 30 or more Starship flights a day by 2030, which equates to more than 10,000 flights per year.
For government missions, the strategy also emphasizes having more than one ride to orbit, with NASA and DOD tasked with maintaining multiple launch options and developing adaptable interfaces that would allow payloads to move between rockets from varying providers.
SpaceX's Starship launches on its second test flight on Nov. 18, 2023. (Image credit: Space.com / Josh Dinner)Commercial launch services are already standard for most NASA and DOD missions, but the memorandum broadens that approach to transportation after reaching orbit, including spacecraft servicing and logistics. And the DOD is specifically being asked to investigate commercial options for in-space transportation and more diverse orbital delivery systems, like space planes.
Speed is particularly important for national security launches, and the new policy addresses one effort already ongoing by the Pentagon: achieving consistently dependable access to space within a 48-hour timeframe. The Space Force's Space Systems Command has been testing that capability through its Tactically Responsive Space program, launching the Victus Nox mission with Firefly Aerospace with 27 hours' notice in 2023 and the Victus Haze mission in June, which Rocket Lab launched within just 17 hours.
The White House highlighted some of the economic benefits beyond transportation that the policy is poised to impact in a fact sheet accompanying its publication. According to that fact sheet, the new policy will lead to advancements in things like in-space manufacturing and the development of pharmaceuticals and "high-value materials," while improvements to satellite positioning, navigation and timing services could support more precise agricultural operations and weather forecasts on Earth.
The transportation strategy also extends far beyond low Earth orbit. NASA is being asked to develop a commercial lunar logistics architecture capable of moving cargo and other payloads to and from the moon's surface. The agency is already engaged in these efforts through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and Artemis programs, which share a complementary focus of returning astronauts to the lunar surface and building out the infrastructure necessary to sustain a lunar base, and is now tasked with extending that reach much farther.
Trump's policy directs the space agency to develop partnerships to facilitate commercial robotic access to Mars and, down the road, architectures capable of carrying astronauts to the Martian surface and back to Earth.
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast talks losing sleep, living up to their character's legacy, and learning to ride a horse for season 4 (interview)
Filming a high-profile episodic TV series like "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is often a Herculean task for any professional cast and crew, but toss in massive spaceship sets, a colorful constellation of costume changes, tone and stylistic shifts, hand-to-hand combat, horseback riding, and puppets, and you’ve got a mad sci-fi circus.
We connected with Ethan Peck (Spock), Christina Chong (La’an Noonien-Singh) and Paul Wesley (James T. Kirk) for Paramount+’s "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'" penultimate season to hear more about the rigors of shooting, genre-hopping, and character evolution.
"Every season feels kind of manic," Peck tells Space. "Grind has such a negative connotation, but it really is a marathon. We lose so much sleep, we have crazy hours, we say crazy things, we even look crazy.
"But I’d say we really found our groove in season four because we’ve had all this experience with these characters. And the writers have had all this experience writing for these actors playing these characters. So we grow over time and become more comfortable. I think that's what allows us to pull off these crazy swings in season four and five, perhaps."
Christina Chong plays La'an in "Strange New Worlds" season 4 (Image credit: Paramount+)Chong echoes those thoughts and felt like leaping from one genre to the other was far more intense this time around than previous seasons.
"I was also taking horse riding lessons throughout, I was doing fight rehearsals, and then getting to see the digital mockups of our puppets," she shares. "Then we were thinking about how to approach the puppet episode and then obviously the horror of it all. It was a lot of jumping around because of the big genre swings.
"Every season has been incredible so far, and I think this was really upping the stakes. For horse riding, I’ve ridden once before for a show, but it was ten years ago, so it was like starting from scratch again. But we had plenty of time to rehearse. And I absolutely loved my puppet; I thought she was brilliant."
Puppet transformations for La'an and Una in "Five-Level Transporter Accident" (Image credit: Paramount+)For Wesley, being able to stretch his performance skills by portraying the legendary spacefaring hero and exploring his transcendent connection to Spock has been an immensely rewarding challenge.
"The writers are very good at identifying our strengths and identifying what dialog would suit us, not as our characters but also as actors," he notes. "Having been on the show now for two seasons, I think the writers really were able to give me the ability to play a variety of things like comedy and horror.
"These big swings carry a lot of risk, and what’s so brilliant about this show is that they somehow pull it off," continues Wesley. "It all works. Kudos to the writers, and I'm just really excited for the audience to experience the evolution of Kirk becoming the man they know he’ll be eventually.
"You know these characters as having one of the most iconic friendships on television, but you don’t really know how they met and what brought them there. In the shore leave episode, you get to see Spock express his vulnerabilities inadvertently to Kirk, and they will, in turn, allow them to become closer. These little things are so important because they begin to establish why these characters are so connected in 'TOS.'"
Paul Wesley's Kirk and Ethan Peck's Spock in "Strange New Worlds." (Image credit: Paramount+)Peck instinctively recognizes that these episodes do a fantastic job of slowly and naturally helping Kirk and Spock build trust with one another.
"It's a great joy and privilege to be able to convey this relationship because it is so iconic," Peck reveals. "And that’s so strange as an actor, to be filling in some of this missing history for these characters that have been around for so long and that were so beautifully performed by other actors before us."
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 4 is currently streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes arriving each Thursday through the finale episode on Sept. 24, 2026.
Strange Signals Called Long-period Radio Transits Come From Cataclysmic Variables
Long-period Radio Transients are sources that emit repeating radio and x-ray signals. The signals are polarized and coherent, and are similar to pulsars in some respects. But the type of astrophysical object responsible for them has been vigorously debated. New research says that at least one of them comes from a cataclysmic variable, a binary star where a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbit closely.
Trump to award NASA's Artemis II astronauts the Congressional Space Medal of Honor
NASA's Artemis II moon astronauts will join a very exclusive club next week.
President Donald Trump will award those spaceflyers the Congressional Space Medal of Honor next Friday (Aug. 28) at Johnson Space Center in Houston to recognize their historic journey around the moon this past April.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) and will feature NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, President Trump and the Artemis II astronauts. You'll be able to watch it live when the time comes.
Artemis II sent NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day trip around Earth's nearest neighbor. It was the first crewed voyage beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, when the Apollo 17 astronauts returned home from the moon.
The mission's success was a huge step for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a base near the lunar south pole in the coming years.
The Congressional Space Medal of Honor is the highest award that the U.S. government can bestow upon an astronaut. It's possible that only Wiseman, Glover and Koch will receive it next week; NASA's media advisory about the event states that Trump will give the medal to "each of NASA's Artemis II crew members," suggesting that Hansen might not be included. (The award is not limited to American citizens.)
Thirty people have received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to date. They are:
- Neil A. Armstrong
- Frank Borman
- Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr.
- John H. Glenn, Jr.
- Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
- Alan B. Shepard
- John W. Young
- Thomas P. Stafford
- James A. Lovell
- Shannon W. Lucid
- Roger B. Chaffee
- Edward H. White, II
- William M. Shepherd
- Rick D. Husband
- William C. McCool
- Michael P. Anderson
- Kalpana Chawla
- David M. Brown
- Laurel B. Clark
- Ilan Ramon
- Francis R. (Dick) Scobee
- Michael J. Smith
- Judith A. Resnik
- Ronald E. McNair
- Ellison S. Onizuka
- Gregory B. Jarvis
- Sharon Christa McAuliffe
- Robert L. Crippen
- Douglas G. Hurley
- Robert L. Behnken
NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space
NASA/Bill Ingalls
On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse darkened skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. As the Moon covered the Sun, it briefly revealed the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere — the corona — to those in the path of totality who were lucky enough to have clear skies. NASA researchers and photographers were along the eclipse path to study the corona, capture the phenomenon, and observe how the eclipse affected our planet.
One NASA photographer in Spain captured the total solar eclipse as well as the partial phases before and after, until the Sun set below the horizon.
This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse over a field of sunflowers in San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls The solar corona appears in this photograph of a total solar eclipse captured from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls A solar prominence, a plume of electrically charged gas suspended above the Sun by strong magnetic forces, appears as a pink feature along the left edge of the eclipsed Sun in this photograph taken from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse as the Sun sets in San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill IngallsIn northern Maine, where only a partial eclipse was visible, another NASA photographer captured the International Space Station, with its crew of seven aboard, speeding past the partially eclipsed Sun.
In this image of a partial solar eclipse, which is veiled by clouds, the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, appears in silhouette as it transits at roughly five miles per second on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Twelve frames assembled in sequence show the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Clouds partially obscure the view of the Sun. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel KowskyMeanwhile, from about 250 miles above the ground, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped a few photos of the partial eclipse from their perspective as well.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured this photo of the partial solar eclipse from the International Space Station on Aug. 12, 2026, as the orbital outpost soared 262 miles above southern Quebec, Canada. From the station, the Moon covered about 18% of the Sun at the peak of the eclipse. Credit: NASA/Jessica Meir
Between the ground and the space station, NASA pilots flew NASA’s WB-57F research jet at an altitude of 50,000 feet, passing through the eclipse’s shadow to lengthen their time in the eclipse. The jet carried a suite of cameras that captured high-resolution images of the corona and prominences, plumes of electrically charged gas rising off the Sun, in several different wavelengths of light.
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In both Iceland and Spain, teams of students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project launched scientific balloons that carried instruments to capture images of the eclipse’s shadow and study the eclipse’s effects on our atmosphere. Even though clouds obscured the view of the eclipse from the ground in Iceland, the weather did not interfere with the balloon-borne instruments’ ability to gather information about how the brief loss of light and heat affected the lower atmosphere.
Students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project prepare to launch a scientific balloon in Mosfellsbær, Iceland, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Abbey Interrante
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Before the eclipse, scientists at Predictive Science Inc., with support from NASA grants and supercomputers, used observations of the Sun from NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes to predict what the corona would look like during the eclipse. Below, their corona prediction is compared to a composite image of the corona, which combines multiple images captured by the NASA-supported DEB Initiative project during the total eclipse near León, Spain.
prediction image
This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. Predictive Science Inc.
This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge predictionimage
This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. Predictive Science Inc. This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge
prediction
image
CurtainToggle2-Up
Image Details
The left image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. The right image is processed, composite image of the corona that combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Left image credit: Predictive Science Inc.; right image credit: DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge
Over the coming months, scientists will analyze the observations and images captured during the solar eclipse on Aug. 12 and present what they have learned about the Sun and its effects on our home planet. These observations will also help prepare science teams to investigate future solar eclipses, such as a much longer total solar eclipse that will be visible from southern Spain and northern Africa on Aug. 2, 2027.
Read more about NASA’s research during the eclipse and rewatch NASA’s eclipse broadcast to hear from some of the scientists and students who conducted the experiments.
About the Author Vanessa ThomasVanessa Thomas is a science writer with the heliophysics communications team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space
NASA/Bill Ingalls
On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse darkened skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. As the Moon covered the Sun, it briefly revealed the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere — the corona — to those in the path of totality who were lucky enough to have clear skies. NASA researchers and photographers were along the eclipse path to study the corona, capture the phenomenon, and observe how the eclipse affected our planet.
One NASA photographer in Spain captured the total solar eclipse as well as the partial phases before and after, until the Sun set below the horizon.
This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse over a field of sunflowers in San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls The solar corona appears in this photograph of a total solar eclipse captured from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls A solar prominence, a plume of electrically charged gas suspended above the Sun by strong magnetic forces, appears as a pink feature along the left edge of the eclipsed Sun in this photograph taken from San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls This composite image shows the progression of a total solar eclipse as the Sun sets in San Millán de los Caballeros, Spain, on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Bill IngallsIn northern Maine, where only a partial eclipse was visible, another NASA photographer captured the International Space Station, with its crew of seven aboard, speeding past the partially eclipsed Sun.
In this image of a partial solar eclipse, which is veiled by clouds, the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, appears in silhouette as it transits at roughly five miles per second on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Twelve frames assembled in sequence show the International Space Station, with a crew of seven aboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, as seen near Hodgdon, Maine. Clouds partially obscure the view of the Sun. Aboard the station as part of Expedition 75 are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina. Credit: NASA/Joel KowskyMeanwhile, from about 250 miles above the ground, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped a few photos of the partial eclipse from their perspective as well.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured this photo of the partial solar eclipse from the International Space Station on Aug. 12, 2026, as the orbital outpost soared 262 miles above southern Quebec, Canada. From the station, the Moon covered about 18% of the Sun at the peak of the eclipse. Credit: NASA/Jessica MeirBetween the ground and the space station, NASA pilots flew NASA’s WB-57F research jet at an altitude of 50,000 feet, passing through the eclipse’s shadow to lengthen their time in the eclipse. The jet carried a suite of cameras that captured high-resolution images of the corona and prominences, plumes of electrically charged gas rising off the Sun, in several different wavelengths of light.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
In both Iceland and Spain, teams of students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project launched scientific balloons that carried instruments to capture images of the eclipse’s shadow and study the eclipse’s effects on our atmosphere. Even though clouds obscured the view of the eclipse from the ground in Iceland, the weather did not interfere with the balloon-borne instruments’ ability to gather information about how the brief loss of light and heat affected the lower atmosphere.
Students participating in the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project prepare to launch a scientific balloon in Mosfellsbær, Iceland, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: NASA/Abbey InterranteTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
Before the eclipse, scientists at Predictive Science Inc., with support from NASA grants and supercomputers, used observations of the Sun from NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes to predict what the corona would look like during the eclipse. Below, their corona prediction is compared to a composite image of the corona, which combines multiple images captured by the NASA-supported DEB Initiative project during the total eclipse near León, Spain.
prediction image
This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. Predictive Science Inc.
This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge predictionimage
This image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. Predictive Science Inc. This processed, composite image of the corona combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge
prediction
image
CurtainToggle2-Up
Image Details
The left image shows a prediction from the morning of Aug. 12, 2026, of what the solar corona would look like to the human eye during the total solar eclipse that day. The right image is processed, composite image of the corona that combines multiple images captured near León, Spain, during the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. Left image credit: Predictive Science Inc.; right image credit: DEB Initiative Team/Zack Stockbridge
Over the coming months, scientists will analyze the observations and images captured during the solar eclipse on Aug. 12 and present what they have learned about the Sun and its effects on our home planet. These observations will also help prepare science teams to investigate future solar eclipses, such as a much longer total solar eclipse that will be visible from southern Spain and northern Africa on Aug. 2, 2027.
Read more about NASA’s research during the eclipse and rewatch NASA’s eclipse broadcast to hear from some of the scientists and students who conducted the experiments.
About the Author Vanessa ThomasVanessa Thomas is a science writer with the heliophysics communications team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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Is lettuce safe to eat yet? New data suggest cyclosporiasis cases are slowing
After a spike in infections in July, this explosive-diarrhea-causing outbreak may be coming to an end
Japan unveils Mars moon sample-return spacecraft ahead of Oct. 19 launch (photos)
The world just got its first good looks at some hardware that will make spaceflight history.
Last Thursday (Aug. 13), Japan unveiled the spacecraft that make up its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which aims to snag samples of the Mars moon Phobos and haul them to Earth — something that has never been done.
The big reveal came at Tanegashima Space Center, the site from which MMX will launch toward the Red Planet atop an H3 rocket. And we just got some clarity about when that liftoff will take place.
Another look at MMX's Propulsion Module (back) and Exploration and Return Modules (front) at Tanegashima on Aug. 13, 2026. (Image credit: Yuichi YamazakiI/AFP via Getty Images)If all goes according to plan, MMX will launch on Oct. 19 at 3:41 p.m. EDT (1941 GMT; 4:41 a.m. on Oct. 20 Japan time), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Thursday (Aug. 20). That's the first day of the mission's launch window, which extends through Nov. 7.
JAXA originally intended to launch MMX in 2024 but had to stand down due to issues with the H3. Mars and Earth align properly for interplanetary launches just once every 26 months, so this was a significant delay.
MMX will spend about a year traveling to Mars. Once in orbit around the Red Planet, the mission will map and study its two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are just 14 miles (22 kilometers) and 7.5 miles (12 km) wide, respectively.
Part of this work will help the mission team pick a landing site on Phobos, where they'll drop a 55-pound (25 kilograms) French-German rover called Idefix. That little robot — which is named after the dog in the French comic "Asterix" — will study Phobos' surface in detail using a variety of instruments.
The MMX spacecraft itself will then spiral down toward Phobos, eventually making contact and collecting about 0.35 ounces (10 grams) of material. MMX will leave Mars orbit with these samples in 2030 and deliver them to Earth for analysis a year later.
The mission aims to shed light on the nature and origin of Phobos and Deimos.
"Understanding how Mars and the two moons formed is a heavily debated topic in solar system science," JAXA officials wrote in a mission description.
"Remote-sensing observations by the MMX spacecraft and the detailed analyses of the returned sample will determine whether Phobos and Deimos are remnants of early Mars created from debris produced by a giant impact with the young planet, or whether the moons are asteroids captured by Mars's gravity that brought material from outer solar system," they added.
To date, no spacecraft has returned material from the Mars system. Russia tried to do so with its Phobos-Grunt mission, which aimed to sample the eponymous Red Planet moon, but that effort failed shortly after its November 2011 launch. (The Soviet Union also launched two probes to Phobos in 1988, but neither one of them met its mission objectives.)
NASA plans to collect and haul home pristine samples that have already been collected on the Martian surface by its Perseverance rover, but it's unclear when or if that will happen. The agency has deemed its original sample-return architecture too expensive and is currently investigating other options.
There are good reasons to believe that Japan will succeed where others have failed, however. The country has a history of small-body sample-return success; its Hayabusa mission brought home pieces of the asteroid Itokawa in June 2010, and Hayabusa2 did the same with material from the space rock Ryugu in December 2020.
TB 26-04 Updates and Modernization of NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) Code
For more information, contact Mark K. Leader, Glenn Research Center, mark.leader@nasa.gov
NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code is a foundational tool for propulsion system analysis. It provides equilibrium chemistry, rocket performance, shock, and detonation calculations used across NASA and the broader aerospace community. NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Activity TI-22-01730 modernized the legacy CEA2 Fortran code into CEA v3, a Fortran 2008, object-oriented software package with expanded interface support, updated thermochemical data, improved maintainability, and substantially improved workflow integration. The modernized code preserves backward compatibility with legacy CEA input workflows while enabling direct use from modern analysis environments, including Python, C, MATLAB, and automated design studies.
BackgroundCEA2 was released in 2002 and has remained widely used for propulsion and thermochemistry analysis. However, the original procedural Fortran implementation became increasingly difficult to maintain, extend, and integrate into modern engineering workflows due to the lack of a subroutine interface. Current propulsion analysis increasingly requires automated parametric sweeps, integration with other modeling tools and engineering workflows, and support for emerging propellants and fuels, including green propellants and sustainable aviation fuels. These needs motivated a comprehensive modernization effort to preserve CEA’s validated technical basis while improving its maintainability, usability, and integration with modern engineering software.
Technical Improvements Modern Software ArchitectureCEA v3 is implemented in Fortran 2008 using object-oriented data structures, stricter typing, and a thread-safe equilibrium solver architecture. The software supports Fortran, C, Python, MATLAB, and Excel interfaces. These interfaces allow CEA to be used directly in automated analysis pipelines, multidisciplinary design frameworks, and high-volume designof- experiments studies. Backward compatibility is supported through a legacy command-line interface, allowing existing CEA input files and workflows to be carried forward with minimal disruption.
Expanded Species and Thermodynamic DataThe thermodynamic database has been expanded to support additional propellants and fuels relevant to current NASA applications, including green propellant constituents such as ADN, HAN, and LMP-103S, and sustainable aviation fuel candidates such as n-Butanol. This expanded species coverage improves the applicability of CEA for next-generation propulsion, green propellant, and sustainable aviation fuel studies.
New Modeling CapabilitiesCEA v3 adds or improves support for several modeling capabilities,
including:
- Subroutine interface enabling direct integration and high-volume calculations
- Negative reactant amounts
- Inert hydrocarbon fuel representations, including RP-1, Jet-A, and JP-series fuels
- Analytic total derivatives for coupling with optimization and sensitivity analysis workflows
For standalone use, individual equilibrium calculations in CEA v3 are moderately slower than comparable CEA2 calculations because the modernized architecture and added robustness introduce additional computational overhead. In representative testing, a single calculation was approximately 40 percent slower, but the absolute difference was only about 0.004 seconds per case. However, the modernized architecture provides substantial performance advantages for multi-case workflows, which are common in design-of-experiments studies, parametric sweeps, optimization, and uncertainty analyses. In one benchmark, a sweep of 108,500 cases completed in approximately 1.11 seconds with CEA v3, compared with approximately 15 minutes using CEA2. This corresponds to an approximately 800-times reduction in runtime for that workflow. These improvements make large-scale propulsion trade studies and automated design-space exploration significantly more practical.
Guidance for Engineering UseNASA engineering users should consider the following guidance:
- Use CEA v3 for new propulsion and thermochemistry analyses when possible to take advantage of the modernized interfaces, expanded database, and improved workflow integration.
- Use the Python, MATLAB, or C interfaces for automated workflows, including parametric sweeps, optimization studies, and iterative design analyses.
- Use the updated species database for green propellant and sustainable aviation fuel studies when the relevant species are included and validated for the intended application.
- Use the classic command-line interface when continuity with legacy CEA workflows or input files is required.
- Retain appropriate engineering review and validation when transitioning established CEA2 workflows to CEA v3, particularly for mission-critical analyses or cases that depend on legacy assumptions.
- NASA/TM–20260007987
- CEA documentation: https://nasa.github.io/cea
- CEA repository: https://github.com/nasa/cea
For more information, contact Mark K. Leader, Glenn Research Center, mark.leader@nasa.gov
Webb Opens Treasure Chest
TB 26-04 Updates and Modernization of NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) Code
For more information, contact Mark K. Leader, Glenn Research Center, mark.leader@nasa.gov
NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code is a foundational tool for propulsion system analysis. It provides equilibrium chemistry, rocket performance, shock, and detonation calculations used across NASA and the broader aerospace community. NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Activity TI-22-01730 modernized the legacy CEA2 Fortran code into CEA v3, a Fortran 2008, object-oriented software package with expanded interface support, updated thermochemical data, improved maintainability, and substantially improved workflow integration. The modernized code preserves backward compatibility with legacy CEA input workflows while enabling direct use from modern analysis environments, including Python, C, MATLAB, and automated design studies.
BackgroundCEA2 was released in 2002 and has remained widely used for propulsion and thermochemistry analysis. However, the original procedural Fortran implementation became increasingly difficult to maintain, extend, and integrate into modern engineering workflows due to the lack of a subroutine interface. Current propulsion analysis increasingly requires automated parametric sweeps, integration with other modeling tools and engineering workflows, and support for emerging propellants and fuels, including green propellants and sustainable aviation fuels. These needs motivated a comprehensive modernization effort to preserve CEA’s validated technical basis while improving its maintainability, usability, and integration with modern engineering software.
Technical Improvements Modern Software ArchitectureCEA v3 is implemented in Fortran 2008 using object-oriented data structures, stricter typing, and a thread-safe equilibrium solver architecture. The software supports Fortran, C, Python, MATLAB, and Excel interfaces. These interfaces allow CEA to be used directly in automated analysis pipelines, multidisciplinary design frameworks, and high-volume designof- experiments studies. Backward compatibility is supported through a legacy command-line interface, allowing existing CEA input files and workflows to be carried forward with minimal disruption.
Expanded Species and Thermodynamic DataThe thermodynamic database has been expanded to support additional propellants and fuels relevant to current NASA applications, including green propellant constituents such as ADN, HAN, and LMP-103S, and sustainable aviation fuel candidates such as n-Butanol. This expanded species coverage improves the applicability of CEA for next-generation propulsion, green propellant, and sustainable aviation fuel studies.
New Modeling CapabilitiesCEA v3 adds or improves support for several modeling capabilities,
including:
- Subroutine interface enabling direct integration and high-volume calculations
- Negative reactant amounts
- Inert hydrocarbon fuel representations, including RP-1, Jet-A, and JP-series fuels
- Analytic total derivatives for coupling with optimization and sensitivity analysis workflows
For standalone use, individual equilibrium calculations in CEA v3 are moderately slower than comparable CEA2 calculations because the modernized architecture and added robustness introduce additional computational overhead. In representative testing, a single calculation was approximately 40 percent slower, but the absolute difference was only about 0.004 seconds per case. However, the modernized architecture provides substantial performance advantages for multi-case workflows, which are common in design-of-experiments studies, parametric sweeps, optimization, and uncertainty analyses. In one benchmark, a sweep of 108,500 cases completed in approximately 1.11 seconds with CEA v3, compared with approximately 15 minutes using CEA2. This corresponds to an approximately 800-times reduction in runtime for that workflow. These improvements make large-scale propulsion trade studies and automated design-space exploration significantly more practical.
Guidance for Engineering UseNASA engineering users should consider the following guidance:
- Use CEA v3 for new propulsion and thermochemistry analyses when possible to take advantage of the modernized interfaces, expanded database, and improved workflow integration.
- Use the Python, MATLAB, or C interfaces for automated workflows, including parametric sweeps, optimization studies, and iterative design analyses.
- Use the updated species database for green propellant and sustainable aviation fuel studies when the relevant species are included and validated for the intended application.
- Use the classic command-line interface when continuity with legacy CEA workflows or input files is required.
- Retain appropriate engineering review and validation when transitioning established CEA2 workflows to CEA v3, particularly for mission-critical analyses or cases that depend on legacy assumptions.
- NASA/TM–20260007987
- CEA documentation: https://nasa.github.io/cea
- CEA repository: https://github.com/nasa/cea
For more information, contact Mark K. Leader, Glenn Research Center, mark.leader@nasa.gov
Webb Opens Treasure Chest
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this Aug. 6, 2026, infrared image of part of the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region also home to the Cosmic Cliffs. This feature, called the “Treasure Chest,” is an object known as a cometary globule. A cometary globule is an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, dark head and a sweeping tail.
Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Reiter; Acknowledgement: M. H. Özsaraç
Webb Opens Treasure Chest
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this Aug. 6, 2026, infrared image of part of the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region also home to the Cosmic Cliffs. This feature, called the “Treasure Chest,” is an object known as a cometary globule. A cometary globule is an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, dark head and a sweeping tail.
Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Reiter; Acknowledgement: M. H. Özsaraç
Why tornadoes touched down near New York City
Twisters don’t touch down in New York City often, but they can when the conditions are just right
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Set to Receive Congressional Space Medal of Honor
President Donald J. Trump will award each of NASA’s Artemis II crew members the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28, during a ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, completed a 10-day mission around the Moon on April 10. During a historic test flight as the first astronauts to fly aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, these crew members were the first to travel beyond the Moon in more than 50 years and traveled farther in space than humans have ever before.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will join the President and astronauts in the awards ceremony.
The event will stream live on a variety of platforms. Learn how to watch online:
In addition to pooled media, limited media credentialing is available for this event. To apply, please submit your request online by 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program on the agency’s website.
-end-
Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Set to Receive Congressional Space Medal of Honor
President Donald J. Trump will award each of NASA’s Artemis II crew members the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28, during a ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, completed a 10-day mission around the Moon on April 10. During a historic test flight as the first astronauts to fly aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, these crew members were the first to travel beyond the Moon in more than 50 years and traveled farther in space than humans have ever before.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will join the President and astronauts in the awards ceremony.
The event will stream live on a variety of platforms. Learn how to watch online:
In addition to pooled media, limited media credentialing is available for this event. To apply, please submit your request online by 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program on the agency’s website.
-end-
Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
SpaceX fires up Starship ahead of megarocket’s 1st orbital flight (video)
SpaceX is picking up the pace of preparations for the next launch of its giant Starship rocket.
On Wednesday night (Aug. 19), the company completed a single-engine static fire test with its Ship 41 vehicle, the upper stage that's in line to fly Starship's upcoming Flight 14 mission. As its name suggests, Flight 14 will be Starship's 14th test flight, but it will be the rocket's first launch into orbit, if all goes according to plan.
The recent engine burn was designed to prepare for that jaunt. "Starship completed a single engine static fire demonstrating a deorbit burn for upcoming orbital missions," SpaceX wrote in an X post on Thursday (Aug. 20).
SpaceX conducts a static fire test with Ship 41, the upper-stage spacecraft slated to fly Starship's 14th test flight. (Image credit: SpaceX)Video included in the post shows Ship 41 standing at SpaceX's Massey's test site, near the company's Starbase facility in South Texas. The clip shows the moment of ignition of one of the spacecraft's six Raptor 3 engines, which burns for approximately 15 seconds.
SpaceX followed up Wednesday night's test with a full six-engine test on Thursday (Aug. 20). That burn lasted approximately 60 seconds, as seen in video posted by the company the next day.
With the completion of Ship 41's first static fires, SpaceX could be on track to launch Flight 14 sometime in early to mid-September. However, there are still a number of prelaunch activities for the ship and its Super Heavy first-stage booster to clear before SpaceX will declare them launch ready, and, with Flight 14 tasked with placing Starship in orbit for the first time, the company is likely to be extra cautious.
Flight 14 will be Starship's third launch of 2026, and the third to feature the upgraded "Version 3" (V3) of the vehicle, which SpaceX introduced in May. SpaceX is also modifying a Starship V3 to dock with NASA's Orion spacecraft as a part of the Artemis III mission to Earth orbit next year.
NASA contracted SpaceX as one of two commercial moon lander providers for the Artemis program. The agency plans to land astronauts on the surface of the moon aboard a Starship lunar landing vehicle on the Artemis IV mission in late 2028.
SpaceX had apparently originally intended to attempt a return-to-launch-site recovery for Ship 41, but company founder and CEO Elon Musk recently said that milestone will now likely happen "in a few months."
Ship 41 will instead likely attempt a soft ocean splashdown at the end of its flight, and its Super Heavy counterpart, Booster 21, is expected to do the same. SpaceX has returned three of its Super Heavy boosters to Starbase for successful catches using chopstick-like arms on the rocket's "Mechazilla" launch tower, and it has managed to refly two of those. But a V3 Super Heavy catch has not yet been attempted.
Returning and reflying both Starship stages is a key component in SpaceX's design for the giant rocket, which will be the largest, most powerful launch vehicle in history once the company works out all its kinks. If it can, Musk said on a recent earnings call that he expects the rocket to launch "at least one flight a day, possibly more." In an Aug. 20 X post, Musk said SpaceX aims to support 30 Starship launches per day, or more.