https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center A team of NASA researchers is developing new types of optical masks that could help enable the many orders of magnitude of starlight suppression needed for future space observatories to pick out very faint habitable exoplanets from the far brighter glare of their stellar hosts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-optical-vortex-phase-masks-habitable.html Astrobiology Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:40:08 EDT news693660601 In our nearby stellar neighborhood, a burned-out star is snacking on a fragment of a Pluto-like object. With its unique ultraviolet capability, only NASA's Hubble Space Telescope could identify that this meal is taking place. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-hubble-white-dwarf-piece-pluto.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:06:03 EDT news677415961 NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will help scientists better understand our Milky Way galaxy's less sparkly components—gas and dust strewn between stars, known as the interstellar medium. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nasa-roman-mission-unveil-home.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:41:04 EDT news677256061 Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars' faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-astronomers-star-tess-kepler.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:21:05 EDT news675350462 NASA's Artemis II mission, set to send four astronauts on a nearly 10-day mission around the moon and back, will advance the agency's goal to land astronauts at the moon's south polar region and will help set the stage for future crewed Mars missions. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-nasa-artemis-ii-lunar-science.html Space Exploration Thu, 21 Aug 2025 14:37:04 EDT news675005822 Technicians have successfully installed two sunshields onto NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's inner segment. Along with the observatory's Solar Array Sun Shield and Deployable Aperture Cover, the panels (together called the Lower Instrument Sun Shade) will play a critical role in keeping Roman's instruments cool and stable as the mission explores the infrared universe. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-nasa-key-sunblock-shield-roman.html Space Exploration Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:10:05 EDT news673189802 July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or SNIFS. Delivered to space via a Black Brant IX sounding rocket, SNIFS will explore the energy and dynamics of the chromosphere, one of the most complex regions of the sun's atmosphere. The SNIFS mission's launch window at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico opens on Friday, July 18. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-nasa-snifs-sun-trailblazing-spectator.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:30:01 EDT news671984359 On June 14 and 16, technicians installed solar panels onto NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, one of the final steps in assembling the observatory. Collectively called the Solar Array Sun Shield, these panels will power and shade the observatory, enabling all the mission's observations and helping keep the instruments cool. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-roman-space-telescope-team-observatory.html Space Exploration Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:44:05 EDT news671381041 Scientists with NASA's Lucy mission continue to analyze data collected during the spacecraft's April 20 encounter with the main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-lucy-mission-full-view-asteroid.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:17:07 EDT news670688221 Astronomers using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have identified dozens of small galaxies that played a starring role in a cosmic makeover that transformed the early universe into the one we know today. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-webb-uncovers-galaxy-population-cosmic.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:24:04 EDT news668874241 Scientists know that changing tree leaves can indicate when a nearby volcano is becoming more active and might erupt. In a new collaboration between NASA and the Smithsonian Institution, scientists now believe they can detect these changes from space. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-nasa-satellite-images-early-volcano.html Earth Sciences Thu, 15 May 2025 17:30:04 EDT news666549001 One year ago today, representatives from NASA and about 30 other U.S. government agencies gathered for a special meeting to simulate and address a threat looming in space. The threat was not an asteroid or aliens, but our very own life-giving sun. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-biggest-geomagnetic-storm-years-nasa.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 10 May 2025 05:16:35 EDT news666072979 A major part of NASA's nearly complete Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope just passed a lengthy thermal test to ensure it will function properly in the space environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-key-portion-nancy-grace-roman.html Space Exploration Wed, 07 May 2025 15:15:02 EDT news665849701 For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA's NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-nicer-debris-ansky-quasi-periodic.html Astronomy Tue, 06 May 2025 15:41:41 EDT news665764896 In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-eye-infinity-nasa-celebrates-hubble.html Astronomy Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:34:04 EDT news664634042 Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth's far upper atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-nasa-rockets-alaska-aurora.html Space Exploration Sat, 22 Mar 2025 05:30:54 EDT news661840250 Under the nighttime California sky, NASA's EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:43 p.m. PDT on March 14. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-nasa-ezie-mission-earth-electrojets.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Mar 2025 15:28:03 EDT news661444081 Following the 3,000th orbit of NASA's AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) aboard the International Space Station, researchers publicly released the mission's first trove of scientific data, crucial to investigating how and why subtle changes in Earth's atmosphere cause disturbances, as well as how these atmospheric disturbances impact technological systems on the ground and in space. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-atmospheric-mission-orbits.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 14 Mar 2025 14:12:04 EDT news661180322 The universe is ballooning outward at an ever-faster clip under the power of an unknown force dubbed dark energy. One of the major goals for NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is to help astronomers gather clues to the mystery. One team is setting the stage now to help astronomers prepare for this exciting science. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-team-preps-dark-energy-stars.html Astronomy Tue, 11 Mar 2025 13:49:05 EDT news660919742 NASA's Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-lucy-spacecraft-images-asteroid-donaldjohanson.html Astronomy Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:23:39 EST news659723014 High above Earth's poles, intense electrical currents called electrojets flow through the upper atmosphere when auroras glow in the sky. These auroral electrojets push about a million amps of electrical charge around the poles every second. They can create some of the largest magnetic disturbances on the ground, and rapid changes in the currents can lead to effects such as power outages. In March, NASA plans to launch its EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission to learn more about these powerful currents, in the hopes of ultimately mitigating the effects of such space weather for humans on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-nasa-ezie-magnetic-fingerprints-earth.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:20:33 EST news659722828 NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission's deployable aperture cover—a visor-like sunshade that will help prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope—to the outer barrel assembly, another structure designed to shield the telescope from stray light in addition to keeping it at a stable temperature. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-nasa-successfully-sunshade-roman-observatory.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:07:31 EST news658587986 The same search and rescue technologies developed by NASA for astronaut missions to space help locate and rescue people across the United States and around the world. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-02-nasa-tech.html Hi Tech & Innovation Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:40:01 EST news658568162 Two NASA rocket missions are taking to the Alaskan skies in hopes of discovering why some auroras flicker, others pulsate, and still others are riddled with holes. Understanding these peculiar features is part of NASA's goal to understand the space environment around our planet, which can affect both spacecraft and astronauts. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-nasa-rockets-fly-flickering-auroras.html Space Exploration Tue, 21 Jan 2025 16:47:50 EST news656700456 As the Artemis campaign leads humanity to the moon and eventually Mars, NASA is refining its state-of-the-art navigation and positioning technologies to guide a new era of lunar exploration. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-nasa-italian-space-agency-future.html Space Exploration Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:34:14 EST news656066049 A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-nasa-lexi-ray-vision-earth.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 03 Jan 2025 13:41:03 EST news655134061 Operations teams have confirmed NASA's mission to "touch" the sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-nasa-parker-solar-probe-sun.html Space Exploration Sat, 28 Dec 2024 04:49:54 EST news654583783 NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully integrated the mission's telescope and two instruments onto the instrument carrier, marking the completion of the Roman payload. Now the team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will begin joining the payload to the spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-nasa-successfully-roman-mission-telescope.html Space Exploration Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:15:18 EST news653228082 On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse swept across North America, from the western shores of Mexico, through the United States, and into northeastern Canada. For the eclipse, NASA helped fund numerous research projects and called upon citizen scientists in support of NASA's goal to understand how our home planet is affected by the sun—including, for example, how our star interacts with Earth's atmosphere and affects radio communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-nasa-solar-eclipse-yield-intriguing.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:15:46 EST news653055339 As any urban dweller who has lived through a heat wave knows, a shady tree can make all the difference. But what happens when there's no shade available? https://phys.org/news/2024-11-nasa-satellite-reveal-role-green.html Earth Sciences Tue, 26 Nov 2024 16:22:36 EST news651860547