Science

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features WD J1330+6435, while explaining how accreted elements can alter the apparent colour of some white dwarfs.

Competition Model 2.0 would streamline proposals and reviews, with NASA projecting selection timelines could fall by up to 45 per cent for some mission classes.

A 500-second ground test at Stennis assessed flight components and a new nozzle thermal protection system. The developmental engine will not fly.

The laboratory’s anniversary looks back to rocket tests in 1936 and ahead to missions targeted for 2027 and 2028.

A CASALS prototype produced science-quality data in a 2024 flight, as NASA develops the instrument towards possible space use.

SR-1 Freedom is targeted to launch in late 2028, carrying a nuclear electric propulsion demonstration and three Mars helicopters.

More than 20 years of satellite measurements reveal water-storage trends associated with irrigation, reservoirs and land-use change across 40 regions.

A photograph from Presenzano, Italy, shows a partial rainbow in a sunlit fan. NASA says anticrepuscular rays create the illusion that the Sun is in front of the viewer.

A six-image panorama captured by NASA’s rover shows dawn above distant cliffs and wind-eroded ridges called yardangs.

Chandra and eROSITA observations point to a possible history involving a black hole and colliding galaxy clusters.

A Landsat 9 image shows changing forest colours and tan subalpine meadows in Bieszczady National Park.

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day pairs Hubble and Chandra observations in a video that maps image position to pitch.

The archival stereo image combines two views captured by Rosetta in 2015, showing jets and the comet’s joined lobes.

Cash is due to take charge on 19 October, overseeing more than 5,000 staff and the centre’s space systems and propulsion work.

The agency says its analysis confirmed the thermal protection system safeguarded the crew and spacecraft systems during re-entry.

The edge-on spiral, about 37 million light-years away, is one of 260 satellite galaxies being studied around Milky Way-like hosts.

NASA’s 16 October Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the 13 October resupply launch, with the ISS crossing the frame as the rocket’s stages separate.

Nighttime lights dimmed around parts of Pensacola and along the route towards Destin, then began returning in the days after the hurricane.

JAXA’s MMX spacecraft is targeting an October 2026 launch to survey Phobos and Deimos and return a sample from Phobos.

NASA observations show warmer eastern Pacific waters, regional sea-level shifts and declining phytoplankton in some equatorial waters. NOAA puts the chance of this becoming the strongest El Niño since 1950 at 83%.

NASA says eight compact arrays are expected to provide more than 160 kilowatts of additional power for research and station operations.

The 14–15 November event will invite people of all ages and experience levels to tackle challenges using NASA’s open data.

A sensor-equipped aircraft is scheduled to fly near Transit, Texas, from 22 October to 9 November to measure pollutants from animal feeding operations.

NASA’s M-STAR awards support research and technology development for Moon, Mars and deep-space exploration, with up to US$1 million available to each selected institution.

The agency found nine spots of char loss on Orion’s heat shield, compared with 103 on Artemis I, while further material assessments continue.

NASA says the formation may stem from a supermassive black hole outburst followed by a collision between two galaxy clusters.

NASA satellite observations show increased fire activity and smoke since September. Fires have worsened air quality in Manaus, while researchers expect the current fires to persist until seasonal rains arrive.

NASA’s 15 October Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the galaxy over the city, using a filter that blocks most visible light to reduce the effect of urban lighting.

Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk are scheduled to install the station’s seventh and eighth roll-out solar arrays.

Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney will answer prerecorded student questions in a live call from the International Space Station on 16 October.

X-ray observations link the radio structure to two merging galaxy clusters, though its proposed two-stage origin remains an interpretation of the evidence.

NASA’s SPEARS prototypes operated at temperatures down to −80°C and survived exposure to −170°C. The project is exploring possible uses in future lunar missions.

The 23 October briefing will cover Artemis III and NASA’s target of returning American astronauts to the Moon by 2028.

The Category 4 storm passed about 50 kilometres offshore on 11 October, bringing heavy rain and flooding to coastal areas. Forecasts of its path and intensity remained highly uncertain two days later.

NASA’s 14 October Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Mars near the Beehive cluster, with an aurora above the horizon near Lansjärv.

The astronaut will take up the role on 1 November after Katherine Van Hooser retires, moving to management status and becoming ineligible for future spaceflight assignments.

A NASA image shows the mission team at JPL with a Guinness World Records certificate and OPTIMISM, the full-scale model used to plan rover activities.

NASA says Perseverance had passed Opportunity’s record by 11 October, though its infographic gives no exact distance in the supplied material.

The missions aim to test propulsion technologies, study galactic dust and radiation, and improve inspection of inactive satellites. NASA’s image article does not confirm whether the launch took place.

The Office of the General Counsel directs applicants to USAJobs for current NASA openings, but the supplied announcement gives no role details or deadline.

A NASA brief describes how coupling between closely spaced structural modes can change their shapes, frequencies and decay rates, even when overall damping is low.

Voyager Technologies’ lander has returned to its manufacturing facility for final assembly after environmental and launch simulations at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA says Dragon is due to dock on 15 October with the station’s final pair of roll-out solar arrays and experiments spanning biology and materials science.

The wide-angle composite, captured in July 2025, shows the Desert Staircase beneath the Milky Way and other night-sky features.