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Tag: NASA

  • ‘We risk losing the moon to China’ NASA space race continues amid U.S. funding concerns

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    NON-RENEWAL. WE ARE STILL WAITING TO HEAR BACK. WE’LL KEEP YOU POSTED. OUR LEADERSHIP IN SPACE IS UNDER THREAT. THAT IS THE WARNING TODAY FROM TOP NASA OFFICIALS AND A FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR. THAT’S RIGHT. WESH 2’S SPACE COAST REPORTER MEGHAN MORIARTY IS LIVE FOR US RIGHT NOW WITH THE CLEAR MESSAGE FROM THOSE LEADERS. CHINA IS SURGING. SUMMER AND NANCY. THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR WITHOUT A SUCCESSFUL AND FULLY FUNDED ARTEMIS PROGRAM, WE RISK LOSING THE MOON TO CHINA. HOWEVER, THERE ARE STILL CONCERNS AROUND THE SETBACKS AND THE EXCESSIVE COST TIED TO SPACE EXPLORATION. IT’S GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE IN THE COUNTRY THAT LANDS ON THE MOON. NEXT, COULD HOLD THE POWER SHAPING THE RULES OF SPACE FOR DECADES TO COME. THEIR INTENT IS CLEAR. THEIR PROGRESS IS REAL, AND TIME IS NOT ON OUR SIDE. THIS IS A RACE THAT THE UNITED STATES CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. DURING A SENATE COMMITTEE MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, KEY WITNESSES TESTIFIED BEFORE LAWMAKERS URGING THEM NOT TO CUT BACK FUNDING FOR SPACE EXPLORATION. THIS COMES AFTER CRITICISM OVER THE EXCESSIVE COST AND DELAYS IN COMPONENTS FOR NASA’S ARTEMIS PROGRAM. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NOW AN AGENCY THAT HAS LESS THAN ONE THIRD OF 1% OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET. AND, BY THE WAY, IF YOU GO BACK TO APOLLO, IT WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 4 AND 5%. SO WE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER. MOST NOTABLY, WE HEARD FROM FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR JIM BRIDENSTINE, WHO ACKNOWLEDGED THE CONCERNS OVER MONEY BUT SAYS THE PROGRAM IS ESSENTIAL NOT JUST TO BEAT CHINA TO THE MOON, BUT FOR OVERALL SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT. WE HAD A DRUG, A MERCK DRUG, KEYTRUDA, WHICH IS FOR LUNG CANCER, AND WE WERE ABLE TO TO MAKE THAT DRUG SO THAT INSTEAD OF INSTEAD OF TRYING TO FIND OUT IF WITHIN 2 OR 3 MONTHS, IF IT’S GOING TO BE EFFICACIOUS, YOU CAN FIND OUT WITHIN 2 TO 3 WEEKS WHETHER OR NOT IT’S GOING TO BE EFFICACIOUS. FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR NOMINEE JARED ISAACMAN ALSO WEIGHED IN ON X, SAYING IN PART, IT IS GOOD TO SEE NASA GETTING SOME WELL-DESERVED ATTENTION, BUT ADDING THAT WE SHOULD BE ASKING WHY TAXPAYERS HAVE SPENT 100 PLUS BILLION TRYING TO RETURN TO THE MOON, SAYING THE SLS IS EXTRAORDINARILY EXPENSIVE AND ORION HAS ISSUES. THE SUITS ARE NOT READY AND THE LANDERS ARE NOT READY. ISAACMAN ALSO HIGHLIGHTED THAT NASA CAN GET HELP FROM PRIVATE INDUSTRY. SO THIS WAY THE TAXPAYER ISN’T FRONTING MOST OF THE COST. NOW, WHILE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION THAT WILL CONTINUE, IT SEEMS TO BE CLEAR THAT THERE ALSO NEEDS TO BE SOME BACKUP PLANS IN PLACE. ANOTHER COMMITTEE MEETING IS NOT ON THE SCHEDULE JUST YET.

    ‘We risk losing the moon to China’ NASA space race continues amid U.S. funding concerns

    Updated: 7:02 PM EDT Sep 3, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    As the race to land on the moon intensifies, key witnesses are urging U.S. lawmakers not to cut funding for NASA’s Artemis program, emphasizing the importance of beating China to the moon and advancing scientific development.Allen Cutler, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, stressed the urgency of the situation. “Their intent is clear. Their progress is real, and time is not on our side. This is a race that the United States cannot afford to lose,” Cutler said.During a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, witnesses addressed concerns over the excessive costs and delays in components for NASA’s Artemis program. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the program’s significance.”We’re talking about now an agency that has less than one-third of one percent of the federal budget. And by the way, if you go back to Apollo, it was somewhere between 4 and 5 percent, so we are significantly smaller,” Bridenstine said.Bridenstine also highlighted the scientific benefits of the Artemis program, citing advancements in medical research. “We had a drug merk drug Keytruda, which is for lung cancer and we were able to make that drug so that instead of trying to find out within two to three months if it’s going to be efficacious. You can find out within two to three weeks if it’s going to be efficacious,” he said.Former NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman shared his views on the social media platform X, expressing mixed feelings about NASA’s current situation.”It is good to see NASA getting some well-deserved attention,” Isaacman said, but he also questioned the financial investment. “We should be asking why taxpayers have spent $100+ billion trying to return to the Moon,” he said, pointing out issues with the Space Launch System, Orion, and other components.

    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. —

    As the race to land on the moon intensifies, key witnesses are urging U.S. lawmakers not to cut funding for NASA’s Artemis program, emphasizing the importance of beating China to the moon and advancing scientific development.

    Allen Cutler, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, stressed the urgency of the situation. “Their intent is clear. Their progress is real, and time is not on our side. This is a race that the United States cannot afford to lose,” Cutler said.

    During a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, witnesses addressed concerns over the excessive costs and delays in components for NASA’s Artemis program. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the program’s significance.

    “We’re talking about now an agency that has less than one-third of one percent of the federal budget. And by the way, if you go back to Apollo, it was somewhere between 4 and 5 percent, so we are significantly smaller,” Bridenstine said.

    Bridenstine also highlighted the scientific benefits of the Artemis program, citing advancements in medical research. “We had a drug merk drug Keytruda, which is for lung cancer and we were able to make that drug so that instead of trying to find out within two to three months if it’s going to be efficacious. You can find out within two to three weeks if it’s going to be efficacious,” he said.

    Former NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman shared his views on the social media platform X, expressing mixed feelings about NASA’s current situation.

    “It is good to see NASA getting some well-deserved attention,” Isaacman said, but he also questioned the financial investment. “We should be asking why taxpayers have spent $100+ billion trying to return to the Moon,” he said, pointing out issues with the Space Launch System, Orion, and other components.

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  • The Perseid meteor shower may be over, but the Orionids is coming up. Here’s when

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    There’s plenty of time for planning ahead to see the Orionid meteor shower coming up this fall.

    The Orionid meteors originate from the famous Halley’s Comet.

    “Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sheds ice and rocky dust into space,” NASA stated on its website. “The dust grains eventually become the Orionids in October and the Eta Aquarids in May if they collide with Earth’s atmosphere.”

    Want to see the meteor shower?

    Here’s when it is, and how to see it.

    When is the Orionid meteor shower?

    The shower will run from Oct. 2, 2025 to Nov. 12, 2025.

    When is the peak of the shower when the most meteors can be seen?

    It will be on the night of Oct. 22-23, 2025, according to the American Meteor Society.

    How many meteors do the Orionids produce?

    In past years, certain Orionid meteor showers have produced 50-75 meteors per hour that can be seen with the naked eye.

    That amount of meteors is in line with the number of them seen during the annual Perseid meteor shower, which recently occurred.

    How can the Orionids be seen?

    The best time to see these meteors is during the hours after midnight, according to NASA, adding it is best to find an area away from lights. Areas such as nature preserves or hilly terrains might be good spots.

    “Lie flat on your back with your feet facing southeast if you are in the Northern Hemisphere or northeast,” the NASA website states.

    No telescopes are required to see the Orionids. NASA noted it will take less than 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust before you can start seeing meteors, adding viewers should look for “prolonged explosions of light.”

    You’ll be able to see about 23 meteors per hour, according to NASA.

    Dust and debris from Halley’s Comet make up the Orionid meteor shower, which will occur this October.

    Why are these meteors called ‘Orionids?’

    The meteor shower is named after the constellation it appears closest to.

    “The point in the sky from which the Orionids appear to come is the constellation, Orion,” NASA stated, adding that this point is called the “radiant.” NASA explained that people looking for the meteors shouldn’t be looking toward Orion when they are gazing skyward, as the meteors are visible throughout the night sky.

    What is Halley’s Comet?

    It’s a comet we see on Earth every 76 years, and it was last seen in the skies back in 1986. The next time it is slated to be seen is in 2061.

    The comet was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1705, and he was the one who predicted the comet would return in the future.

    He was correct. And the comet was named after him.

    This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Want to watch the Orionid meteor shower? Here’s when you can see it

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  • Brevard Schools fast-track students into careers with hands-on programs

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    Brevard Public Schools showcased several programs at local schools meant to get students on a faster path to a career in medicine, engineering, culinary arts and even space.WESH 2 got an exclusive look at the career-centered programs giving these students hands-on experience to do crucial jobs.“I love this program, I wish my parents would have had this growing up,” senior Madison Fostvedt said.Her parents are both in the medical field. She’s part of the nursing program at Melbourne High School. It recently partnered with Health First to streamline students directly to jobs at their hospitals.“I’m gonna apply at Holmes Regional to start as a CNA,” Fostvedt said. “Then I’m gonna go to Eastern Florida or Keiser to start getting my nursing degree.”Over in the kitchen, the culinary program at Melbourne High has students catering local events. They whipped up some chocolate chip cookies and bananas Foster on Thursday.We then went to Palm Bay Magnet High School. Students in their fire academy practice search and rescue, and later this year, students like Bryce Medina will have an opportunity to complete a live burn for the first time.”This gives you a jumpstart more than anyone just joining,” Medina said. “It’s a great opportunity.”The school also has an engineering program that partners with NASA. It’s called the HUNCH program: High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware. It was one of NASA’s first engineering programs in Brevard County.”You see the big companies like SpaceX. You see big companies like Blue Origin– not just NASA jobs but commercial jobs because we are changing the way information moves right here in Brevard County,” Congressman Mike Haridopolos said. “These students are gonna have a bright future because high-paying jobs are waiting for them.”Congressman Haridopolos toured the programs on Thursday to see the impact of public dollars going toward our students.”To have this hands-on training, learning firsthand from the professionals who actually do it, really remarkable thing,” Haridopolos said.VyStar Credit Union is also partnering with the district to bring a business program to Melbourne High School.

    BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. —

    Brevard Public Schools showcased several programs at local schools meant to get students on a faster path to a career in medicine, engineering, culinary arts and even space.

    WESH 2 got an exclusive look at the career-centered programs giving these students hands-on experience to do crucial jobs.

    “I love this program, I wish my parents would have had this growing up,” senior Madison Fostvedt said.

    Her parents are both in the medical field. She’s part of the nursing program at Melbourne High School. It recently partnered with Health First to streamline students directly to jobs at their hospitals.

    “I’m gonna apply at Holmes Regional to start as a CNA,” Fostvedt said. “Then I’m gonna go to Eastern Florida or Keiser to start getting my nursing degree.”

    Over in the kitchen, the culinary program at Melbourne High has students catering local events. They whipped up some chocolate chip cookies and bananas Foster on Thursday.

    We then went to Palm Bay Magnet High School. Students in their fire academy practice search and rescue, and later this year, students like Bryce Medina will have an opportunity to complete a live burn for the first time.

    “This gives you a jumpstart more than anyone just joining,” Medina said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

    The school also has an engineering program that partners with NASA. It’s called the HUNCH program: High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware. It was one of NASA’s first engineering programs in Brevard County.

    “You see the big companies like SpaceX. You see big companies like Blue Origin– not just NASA jobs but commercial jobs because we are changing the way information moves right here in Brevard County,” Congressman Mike Haridopolos said. “These students are gonna have a bright future because high-paying jobs are waiting for them.”

    Congressman Haridopolos toured the programs on Thursday to see the impact of public dollars going toward our students.

    “To have this hands-on training, learning firsthand from the professionals who actually do it, really remarkable thing,” Haridopolos said.

    VyStar Credit Union is also partnering with the district to bring a business program to Melbourne High School.

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  • SpaceX Starship Finally Pulls Off a Successful Test Flight

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    Elon Musk and his SpaceX team can breathe a collective sigh of relief. After days of postponements, Starship was finally able to launch its tenth test could flight from the launch pad in Starbase, Texas.

    SpaceX’s largest and most powerful rocket lifted off this Tuesday, August 26 at 7:30pm ET, reached an altitude of 192 kilometers, and embarked on a suborbital trajectory at more than 26,000 kilometers per hour towards the Indian Ocean, where the spacecraft splashed down an hour after liftoff.

    Tuesday’s Starship liftoff generated anticipation far above other recent SpaceX test flights, with more than 1.8 million viewers watching the livestream on the company’s X account. Why so much interest? For one, the catastrophic failure on June 18 that resulted in the huge explosion and destruction of Starship vehicle 36, among other past mishaps. The program has also drawn protests by activists and citizens in Texas alarmed by the environmental impact of testing and maneuvering in and around Starbase. The Mexican government has also decried the amount of debris that has ended up in its territory.

    Starship also plays an important role in Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars, and its success is integral to its relationship with the US government—its biggest customer.

    Starship was designed as a fully reusable space transportation system. It consists of two parts: the Super Heavy, a booster powered by a set of 33 Raptor engines that provides the necessary thrust to leave Earth; and Starship, the spacecraft that would be responsible for carrying crew and cargo to outer space.

    Starship’s tenth flight test not only flew halfway around the world, it was also responsible for deploying eight Starlink simulators, artifacts similar in size to the next generation of Starlink (V3) satellites. The simulators were successfully deployed when the Starship reached an altitude of 190 kilometers over the Atlantic Ocean within half an hour of liftoff. Tests were also performed on other elements of the vehicle, including the Super Heavy’s ability to perform a successful splashdown over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico within minutes of liftoff.

    As the Starship prepared for re-entry at 26,660 kilometers per hour, the vehicle showed some damage to its outer shell. However, one hour and six minutes after liftoff, it was able to reach its destination in one piece, until it attempted to land in a vertical position over the ocean, which resulted in the anticipated destruction of vehicle 37. An explosive close to an exciting day for the SpaceX team, with a lot of data to analyze on the horizon.

    This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.

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    Javier Carbajal

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  • Sean Duffy confident in SpaceX as NASA’s choice for lunar return amid skepticism

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    As the U.S. looks to outpace China in a new space race to the moon, critics warn SpaceX’s complex Starship plan may be too risky. Mark Strassmann reports.

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  • SpaceX scrubs Super Heavy-Starship’s 10th test flight again due to weather

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    SpaceX for a second day scrubbed the test launch of its huge Super Heavy-Starship rocket, this time due to weather conditions.

    It was expected to be the program’s 10th test flight on Monday, a milestone mission to put corrective upgrades through their paces after three catastrophic failures earlier this year.

    A successful flight would help restore confidence in the gargantuan rocket amid growing concern a moon lander variant being built for NASA may not be perfected in time for a planned 2027 landing and possibly not before the Chinese mount their own piloted moon mission at the end of the decade.

    But in the near term, SpaceX’s goal was to get the Super Heavy-Starship flying again after multiple back-to-back failures.

    A launch attempt Sunday was called off because of trouble with a ground system at the company’s Starbase flight test and manufacturing facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. But that problem was quickly corrected and blastoff was reset for 7:30 p.m. ET Monday.

    The goals of the flight were to test the Super Heavy first stage under a variety of stressful flight conditions, deliberately shutting engines down during descent to splashdown in the Gulf to make sure it can handle real failures during an actual mission.

    People sit on the beach in South Padre Island, Texas, with SpaceX’s Starship visible in the background on Aug. 24, 2025. 

    RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images


    Given the nature of the tests, SpaceX ruled out a dramatic return to the launch pad for a mid-air capture by giant mechanical arms on the support gantry.

    As for the Starship, the flight plan called for sending the upper stage halfway around the world on a sub-orbital trajectory to a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

    Along the way, a variety of tests were planned, including the deployment of eight Starlink simulator satellites and an in-space restart of a methane-fueled Raptor engine. Modified heat shield tiles were in place and a few were even removed to determine the effects of extreme re-entry temperatures on the rocket’s structure.

    Multiple upgrades also were in place to minimize the chances of propellant leaks, fires and engine shutdowns like those that led to the loss of the last three Starships launched, none of which was able to complete its mission.

    US-SPACE-AEROSPACE-SPACEX-STARSHIP

    SpaceX’s Starship is seen on the launchpad in Starbase, Texas, on Aug. 24, 2025. 

    RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images


    While a successful test flight this time around might ease concerns about the viability of the Super Heavy-Starship for future moon missions, it’s unlikely to eliminate them.

    The moon lander variant will use most of its propellant just to reach low-Earth orbit. For a flight to the moon, SpaceX will have to launch 10 to 20 Super Heavy-Starship tanker flights in rapid succession to top off the lander’s tanks. A single failure would almost certainly require a mission restart.

    And even if SpaceX’s achieves the required launch cadence, no one has ever attempted cryogenic propellant transfers on that scale in orbit.

    And there is no flight-proven technology to minimize, if not eliminate, the otherwise unavoidable loss of propellants as the super-cold liquids naturally warm in space, boiling off and turning into gas that must be vented overboard.

    Most observers believe SpaceX will eventually overcome the hurdles ahead. The question is, can the vehicle be perfected in time for a 2027 moon landing?

    Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, NASA’s acting administrator, is optimistic SpaceX will be ready to fly.

    “If you look at the company as a whole and past performance, they often times are behind, and then all of a sudden, they make these massive leaps forward,” he said in an interview with CBS News. “I would be hard pressed to say they’re not going to meet the goals and the timelines.”

    “Their leadership has said we feel very confident that we are going to be ready for the mission,” he said. “And so I’ll take them at their word.”

    CBS News interviewed multiple current and former NASA and contractor managers and engineers in recent weeks who unanimously agreed a landing in 2027 could not be safely carried out with the current architecture.

    And not one of them said they believed NASA could get there before the Chinese without a drastic change of course.

    “I think the folks you’ve talked to are accurate. We are not going to go ahead and get a crewed Starship to the moon by 2030, under any circumstances,” said a senior engineer who worked on the Artemis program.

    “That doesn’t mean they’ll never get there. That doesn’t mean the architecture couldn’t work. But it’s just too big of a technical leap to accomplish in the short time that we’ve got.”

    But as Duffy pointed out, SpaceX has chalked up a remarkable record with its partially reusable Falcon family of rockets, launching them at an unmatched pace that allows the company to rapidly implement and test upgrades and fixes.

    As of Friday, SpaceX had launched 518 Falcon 9s and 11 triple-core Falcon Heavy rockets with just two in-flight failures. The company has successfully recovered first-stage boosters 490 times.

    Given its record, many fans give SpaceX the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the Super Heavy-Starship. But the giant rocket dwarfs the Falcon 9, and the requirements for a successful moon landing are well beyond those faced in a typical satellite launcher.

    “My concerns have to do with how complicated the mission architecture is, how many flights there are to send a single lander to the moon,” said Douglas Cooke, a retired 38-year NASA veteran who now does consulting work for Boeing and other aerospace concerns.

    “Getting into the high numbers,” he added, “reduces the probability of success.”

    SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

    William Harwood

    Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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  • Three NASA rockets launching from Virginia should be visible in Philadelphia sky seconds after takeoff

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    Stargazers are in for a show tonight as three NASA rockets launching from Virginia should be visible in the sky above Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey less than a minute after they blast off.

    The mission to launch the rockets, which will be carrying equipment to study the mesopause, a layer of the atmosphere that’s 53-65 miles above the Earth’s surface, has been delayed multiple times because of poor weather. Cooler temperatures and clear skies are forecast for the region, conditions that make it favorable the rockets will take off tonight and more likely that the launch will be visible over much of the Mid-Atlantic.

    MORE: Pennsylvania rebuffs U.S. request for voter rolls containing personal data

    If the good weather holds, NASA officials said the launches will happen between 10 p.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday. The space agency will provide updates on the Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, accounts for the Wallops Flight Facility, located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula. The liftoffs will be livestreamed on NASA’s YouTube channel.

    The mission is called the Turbulent Oxygen Mining Experiment Plus, or TOMEX+. The mesopause is the coldest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere where temperatures can drop to minus 148 degrees, and it is one of the most turbulent regions of the atmosphere.

    The mesopause spans the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, and it is too high to be studied with weather balloons but too low for satellite recordings. Better understanding this layer is important, NASA said, because energy the mesopause transmits into space creates turbulence that affects satellites. The three TOMEX+ rockets will carry equipment that will help scientists map upper-atmospheric wind patterns and measure the measure the layer’s density.

    The map below published by NASA shows the rockets should come within view above most of the Philadelphia region between 10-30 seconds after the launches. The first two rockets will be launched within one minute of each other. The third takes off five minutes after the second.

    According to NASA, the first launch attempt for its TOMEX+ sounding rocket mission is scheduled between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. this evening and in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the agency, Philadelphia-area residents will be able to catch a glimpse of the rocket within 10-30 seconds after the mission launches.

    The TOMEX+ mission has been delayed repeatedly since the launch window opened on Aug. 18 due to bad weather, poor visibility and rough seas, some of which were caused by Hurricane Erin. If the mission does not commence tonight, NASA can continue to try through Sept. 3.

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    Molly McVety

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  • Look up! NASA launch to be visible in Philly region Monday night

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    A planned NASA rocket launch will be visible to people in the Philly region on Monday night, according to the space agency.

    The launch is part of NASA’s Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment Plus, or TOMEX+, mission, which will investigate the mesopause, a portion of the Earth’s atmosphere, the agency said.

    Three sounding rockets for the mission are scheduled for the launch, NASA said.

    The TOMEX+ rocket is scheduled to launch sometime between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 25 or the early hours of Tuesday, Aug. 26.

    NASA will also livestream the launch as it happens from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, officials said.

    Officials also caution that the launch will occur only if weather cooperates. The launch has already been postponed several times this month due to inclement weather.

    According to the NBC1o First Alert Weather Team, temperatures will be in the 60s with a mostly clear sky around launch time.

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    Brendan Brightman and Justin Godynick

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  • SpaceX launches 33rd cargo-delivery mission to the International Space Station

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    SpaceX early Sunday launched its 33rd resupply mission to the International Space Station, sending up a Dragon capsule loaded with 2.5 tons of equipment and supplies along with an add-on thruster kit to help maintain the lab’s altitude.

    Perched atop a workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, commercial resupply mission 33 got underway with a sky-lighting launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:45 a.m. ET, climbing away on a northeasterly trajectory lined up with the space station’s orbit.

    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying a cargo Dragon capsule loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of crew supplies, research equipment and other gear needed aboard the International Space Station.

    Spaceflight Now


    Nine minutes and 45 seconds later, moments after the discarded first stage booster safely landed on an off-shore droneship, the Dragon was released from the rocket’s second stage, kicking off a 29-hour rendezvous with the orbiting laboratory complex.

    If all goes well, the cargo ship will move in for docking at the station’s forward port at 7:30 a.m. Monday. On board: more than 2,400 pounds of crew supplies, nearly 1,000 pounds of science gear, 1,300 pounds of space station hardware, computer equipment and spacewalk gear.

    The food includes the usual variety of fresh, asked-for items for the crew, including coffee, tea and more than 1,500 tortillas.

    “We fly tortillas because … other breads and things like that have too many crumbs and things of that nature (that float away in weightlessness), so you can’t actually maintain it in orbit,” said Bill Spetch, ISS operations and integration manager. “Tortillas are a great substitute for that.”

    On a more significant note, Heidi Parris, associate program scientist for the space station, noted that NASA will mark 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the lab in November.

    082425-crs33-launch2.jpg

    A long-range tracking camera provides a spectacular view of the exhaust plume from the rocket’s nine first stage engines.

    Spaceflight Now


    During that quarter century, she said, “we’ve hosted more than 280 residents, we’ve enabled more than 4,000 different … scientific experiments and technology demonstrations (representing) the work of over 5,000 researchers from over 110 countries around the world.”

    The CRS-33 mission will bring 50 research projects to the lab, including a new study of the effects of microgravity on bone loss, a 3D metal printer to assess the capability for manufacturing spare parts and tools on demand in space and an experiment to study the effectiveness of 3D “bioprinting.”

    “This investigation … is looking to create a 3D-printed implantable medical device that can support nerve regrowth after injury by bridging the gap to reconnect severed nerves while also simultaneously delivering drugs that can support nerve regeneration,” Parris said.

    Of special interest to NASA is the performance of an add-on propulsion system consisting of two SpaceX Draco engines, six propellant tanks and a supply of helium to pressurize the system. The hardware is mounted in the Dragon’s open-to-space aft trunk section.

    082425-crs33-land.jpg

    The Falcon 9’s first stage successfully landed on an off-shore droneship after boosting the upper stage and the station-bound cargo Dragon out of the dense lower atmosphere.

    NASA/SpaceX


    “The space station’s altitude slowly decays over time due to the thin amount of atmosphere still at our altitude,” Spetch said. “To counteract that drag, we must occasionally raise the altitude of the ISS.”

    The Russians handle the majority of those re-boost operations, delivering the needed propellants and periodically firing thrusters aboard Progress cargo ships and the station itself.

    “With the addition of the boost trunk on this mission, Dragon will also provide this ability to maintain the station’s altitude,” Spetch said. “The boost kit will help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude starting in September with a series of burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025.”

    The CRS-33 Dragon will remain docked to the station until December. During that time, the boost kit will provide the one-and-a-half Progress missions.

    Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX, said the boost kit will provide about a quarter of the propulsion needed in one year to maintain the station’s 260-mile-high altitude. The first “burn,” expected to last about 20 minutes, is planned for Sept. 3.

    William Harwood

    Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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  • SpaceX launches unpiloted X-37B rocket plane on classified Space Force mission

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    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off late Thursday, propelling a reusable X-37B Space Force rocket plane into space on a classified long-duration mission. It was the eighth such flight since the program’s debut in 2010 and the first since a 434-day mission ended last March.

    Lighting up the overnight sky for miles around, the Falcon 9 roared away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:50 p.m. EDT, arcing onto a northeasterly trajectory atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust from the booster’s nine first-stage engines.

    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roars to life and climbs into the overnight sky carrying a Space Force X-37B rocket plane toward space for a classified military mission.

    SpaceX webcast


    After the spacecraft climbed out of the lower atmosphere, the engines shut down, the first stage fell away, flipped around and re-ignited three engines to reverse course and head back to Florida. Heralded by an attention-getting sonic boom, the booster landed at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to wrap up its sixth flight.

    It was SpaceX’s 66th booster landing in Florida and the company’s 490th successful recovery overall.

    As usual with classified Space Force missions, SpaceX ended its launch commentary with the first stage landing and offered no information about the Falcon 9’s second stage climb to orbit, when the Boeing-built X-37B was to be released to fly on its own, or any details about its orbit.

    The seven previous X-37B missions — three by the orbiter launched Thursday and four by a twin sister ship — all carried out long-duration missions ranging from 224 days to nearly 909 days. It’s not known how long the X-37B launched Thursday will remain in orbit.

    While the flights are generally classified, Space Force and Boeing officials publicly discussed two of the payloads on board.

    One will test high-speed, tightly-targeted laser communications between the X-37B and small data relay satellites making up a growing “proliferated” space-based communications system.

    The tests “will mark an important step in the U.S. Space Force’s ability to leverage proliferated space networks as part of a diversified and redundant space architecture,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, director of space operations for the U.S. Space Force.

    x-37b-runway.jpg

    The U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane, seen shortly after a runway landing to end a long-duration mission. The winged orbiter and an identical sister ship have logged a combined 11-and-a-half years in space over seven missions since the program’s debut in 2010.

    U.S. Space Force


    “In so doing, it will strengthen the resilience, reliability, adaptability and data transport speeds of our satellite communications architecture.”

    The other publicly disclosed payload is a sophisticated quantum navigation sensor designed to determine a spacecraft’s precise position in space by “detecting rotation and acceleration of atoms without reliance on satellite networks like traditional GPS,” the Space Force said in an on-line description.

    “Whether navigating beyond Earth-based orbits in cislunar space or operating in GPS-denied environments, quantum inertial sensing allows for robust navigation capabilities when GPS navigation is not possible,” said Space Delta 9 commander Col. Ramsey Horn.

    “Ultimately, this technology contributes significantly to our thrust within the Fifth Space Operations Squadron and across the Space Force guaranteeing movement and maneuverability even in GPS-denied environments.”

    Clad in black heat shield tiles and white insulation blankets, the unpiloted X-37B resembles a mini space shuttle with stubby delta wings and two tail fins extending from either side of the rear of the fuselage. It can be launched atop SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets or United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 and Vulcan boosters.

    Two virtually identical X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles, or OTVs, are operated by the Pentagon’s Rapid Capabilities Office for the U.S. Space Force. The vehicles are designed to serve as test beds for avionics and advanced sensors, to evaluate reusable spacecraft components and to provide a platform for experiments that can be returned to Earth for analysis.

    Powered by solar cells and batteries, the orbiters feature a small payload bay similar to a space shuttle’s that can accommodate a variety of sensors and experiment packages.

    The compact spacecraft are designed to end their missions with runway landings at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California or the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using 3-mile-long runways originally built for the space shuttle.

    The most recent flight of an X-37B began with a launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Dec. 29, 2023. It ended last March 7, with touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center after 434 days and six hours in space. Going into Thursday’s mission, the two X-37Bs had logged a combined 11-and-a-half years in space across seven flights.

    William Harwood

    Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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  • Harvard physicist says mysterious interstellar object could be nuclear-powered spaceship

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    A Harvard physicist who sounded the alarm earlier this month about a rare interstellar object passing through our solar system — suggesting it might be more than a comet — now says it could even be a nuclear-powered spaceship.

    The object, 3I/ATLAS, was first detected in early July by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile. It marks only the third time an interstellar object has been observed entering our solar system, according to NASA.

    While NASA classified the object as a comet, Dr. Avi Loeb pointed out that an image showed an unexpected glow in front of the object rather than trailing behind it, something he called “quite surprising.”

    In a blog post this week, Loeb wrote that the object’s brightness profile cannot be explained by sunlight reflection or standard cometary outgassing.

    METEORITE FRAGMENT THAT SLAMMED THROUGH HOMEOWNER’S ROOF IS BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD, PREDATES EARTH: PROFESSOR

    Astronomers discovered an unusual object entering our solar system earlier this month. (NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))

    Instead, he suggested, 3I/ATLAS might be generating its own light, possibly from nuclear energy.

    “Alternatively, 3I/ATLAS could be a spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, and the dust emitted from its frontal surface might be from dirt that accumulated on its surface during its interstellar travel,” Loeb wrote. “This cannot be ruled out, but requires better evidence to be viable.”

    Loeb dismissed other natural power sources. A primordial black hole, he said, would generate only about 20 nanowatts — far too weak. A radioactive fragment from a supernova was highly unlikely given its rarity, and frictional heating from interstellar gas and dust was ruled out by momentum and density constraints.

    RARE JUPITER-SIZED PLANET DISCOVERED 3,200 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY USING EINSTEIN’S SPACE-TIME WARPING METHOD

    Astronomers discovered an unusual object entered our solar system earlier this month, but a Harvard physicist is sounding alarms that the object could be an alien probe.

    A Harvard physicist is sounding alarms that the object could be an alien probe. (Avi Loeb)

    That leaves the simplest explanation — a central, compact, high-power source. The most natural way to achieve the gigawatt-level luminosity observed, Loeb noted, would be nuclear power.

    Still, Loeb does not claim the object is nuclear-powered. He stresses there is only one possible interpretation if natural models fail, and proving it would require more evidence.

    3I/ATLAS is estimated to be about 20 kilometers across, larger than Manhattan.

    Loeb has also raised questions about its unusual trajectory.

    “If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, just one in 500 of them would be aligned so well with the orbits of the planets,” Loeb told Fox News Digital earlier this month.

    SCIENTISTS DISCOVER ANCIENT RADIO SIGNALS FROM DISTANT GALAXY CLUSTER

    Astronomers discovered an unusual object entered our solar system earlier this month, but a Harvard physicist is sounding alarms that the object could be an alien probe.

    The interstellar object, which comes from the center of the Milky Way, is also expected to pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter. (Atlas/University of Hawaii/NASA)

    The interstellar object, which comes from the center of the Milky Way, is also expected to pass near Mars, Venus and Jupiter, another improbable coincidence, he said.

    “It also comes close to each of them, with a probability of one in 20,000,” he said.

    According to NASA, 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the sun — about 130 million miles away — Oct. 30.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “If it turns out to be technological, it would obviously have a big impact on the future of humanity,” Loeb said. “We have to decide how to respond to that.”

    Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.

    Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

    Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.

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  • NASA astronaut remains at hospital after returning from an extended stay in space

    NASA astronaut remains at hospital after returning from an extended stay in space

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    NASA astronaut remains at hospital after returning from an extended stay in space

    Well, you know, we actually had *** couple of duties while we were getting ready to let the starliner depart. There are some things that the International Space Station has to get ready and be prepared and make sure that it understands that *** visiting vehicle has undocked and it goes back to its normal regime of operating. So actually, we were tasked with that, we were up in the cupola and we were watching our spaceship, you know, fly away at that point in time. So I think, I think it was good, we had some extra activities, you know, of course, we’re very knowledgeable about star starliner. So it was, it was obvious, you know, what was happening at each moment. We were talking to our control team, people, friends of ours that we, we know we know how much time and effort that they have put into this spacecraft, the excellent and precision uh activities that they’re doing down on the ground. It was, it was nice to have that, you know, one on one conversation over the space to ground as Steiner was leaving. Uh just knowing that she was in their hands and they were going to do the best that they could to get her back home. Um Other thoughts about seeing it leave, you know, like we’re, like you mentioned, we’re both, you know, navy, we’ve both been on deployments. We’re not surprised when deployments gets changed. I mean, our families extended, our families are used to that as well. So, uh that is, that’s not *** humongous surprise, I think like Butch said, this is, this is test, I think before we even flew, we had an interview with *** lot of you and the same thing that, you know, *** test flight means that we’re probably going to find some stuff we’ve done as much as we can to look at the envelope that we’re going to operate in. But this is the first time that we’ve had humans in space in starliner and we did find stuff and, you know, we made the right decisions and we’re here and that’s how things go in this business. Like what said it’s risky and that’s how it goes in the business. Welcome to Joey Roulette with Reuters. Hey, thank you. Um for both of you, you know, you both have had for the past few years. You played *** very kind of intimate role in starliner development, which of course, has not been easy for Boeing for *** number of reasons. Um And I know failures are common in spacecraft testing, but looking back what could Boeing have done differently in starliner development. That is *** very interesting and *** very fair question. I, I’ll say this, there is not enough time right now to go into all the details to make any answer. I think that I could, I could give uh make complete sense. I could say *** few things and it would be taken the wrong way, *** way that I didn’t mean it to be so for questions like that, all that will play out. Um uh In the coming months, we’ve got lessons learn that we will go through. We will have discussions, we will be involved with those discussions and things that need to change will change. Obviously, when you have issues like we’ve had, there are some changes that need to be made. Boeing’s on board with that. We’re all on board with that. And I can tell you when you push the edge of the envelope again and you do things with spacecraft that have never been done before, just like starliner, you’re going to find some things. And in this case, we found some things that we just could not get comfortable with putting us back in the starliner when we had other options. There’s many cases in the past where there have not been other options. We were very fortunate that we have the space station um and that we had the option to stay and we had the option to come back *** different way if that’s what the data showed I think the data could have gotten there. We could have gotten to the point, I believe where we could have returned on starliner, but we just simply ran out of time.

    NASA astronaut remains at hospital after returning from an extended stay in space

    A NASA astronaut was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton, the space agency said Friday.Related video above: NASA astronauts discuss unexpectedly long stay in space after Starliner testA SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week. The capsule was hoisted onto the recovery ship where the four astronauts had routine medical checks.Soon after splashdown, a NASA astronaut had a “medical issue” and the crew was flown to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, for additional evaluation “out of an abundance of caution” the space agency said in a statement.The astronaut, who was not identified, was in stable condition and remained at the hospital as a “precautionary measure,” NASA said.The space agency said it would not share details about the astronaut’s condition, citing patient privacy.The other three astronauts were discharged and returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.It can take days or even weeks for astronauts to readjust to gravity after living in weightlessness for several months.The astronauts should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

    A NASA astronaut was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton, the space agency said Friday.

    Related video above: NASA astronauts discuss unexpectedly long stay in space after Starliner test

    A SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week. The capsule was hoisted onto the recovery ship where the four astronauts had routine medical checks.

    Soon after splashdown, a NASA astronaut had a “medical issue” and the crew was flown to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, for additional evaluation “out of an abundance of caution” the space agency said in a statement.

    The astronaut, who was not identified, was in stable condition and remained at the hospital as a “precautionary measure,” NASA said.

    The space agency said it would not share details about the astronaut’s condition, citing patient privacy.

    The other three astronauts were discharged and returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

    It can take days or even weeks for astronauts to readjust to gravity after living in weightlessness for several months.

    The astronauts should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.

    SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”

    Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.

    The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.

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  • 4 space station fliers return to Earth after record-setting 235-day mission

    4 space station fliers return to Earth after record-setting 235-day mission

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    Strapped into the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut returned to Earth early Friday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to close out an extended 235-day expedition to the International Space Station.

    After a high-speed re-entry above Central America and a steep descent to the Gulf, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, astronaut Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin settled to a gentle, on-target splashdown south of Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. EDT.

    102524-splashdown1.jpg
    An infrared view of the Crew Dragon’s descent to an on-target splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico south of Pensacola, Florida.

    NASA TV


    A SpaceX team stationed nearby was on the scene within minutes to stabilize the capsule, make sure no toxic propellant fumes were present and then to haul it aboard a nearby recovery ship where NASA flight surgeons and support personnel were standing by to carry the returning station fliers out of the crew cabin.

    Despite two hours of exercise per day throughout their stay in orbit, returning station astronauts need about a month or more to regain their “land legs” after months in the weightless environment of space.

    As such, Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin were carried out of the Crew Dragon and helped onto stretchers before being rolled inside the ship for initial medical checks and calls to family and friends. All four appeared in good spirits, smiling and waving as they were rolled inside.

    returned-space-fliers-102524.jpg
    Safely aboard SpaceX’s recovery ship, the Crew 8 fliers smiled for the camera before they were carried out of the spacecraft for initial medical checks, beginning their re-adjustment to gravity after nearly eight months in weightlessness.  Left to right: cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, co-pilot Matthew Barratt, commander Matthew Dominick and astronaut Jeanette Epps. 

    NASA


    Mission duration was 235 days three hours and 35 minutes, during which the spacecraft circled the globe 3,776 times covering 100 million miles since launch from the Kennedy Space Center on March 3.

    The crew originally expected to return to Earth in September. But the flight slipped into early October in the wake of a decision to delay the launch of their Crew 9 replacements because of problems with Boeing’s Starliner crew ferry ship.

    NASA eventually ruled out bringing Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams back to Earth aboard the Boeing spacecraft. Instead, the Starliner came down without its crew on September 7 and Crew 9 was launched with just two passengers — Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gobrunov — on Sept. 28.

    That freed up two seats aboard the Crew Dragon for Wilmore and Williams to use when they come home next February with Hague and Gorbunov.

    Sorting all that out pushed the Crew 8 departure into October. NASA and SpaceX then were repeatedly held up by high winds and rough seas at the approved splashdown sites, much of it related to hurricanes Helene and Milton.

    But this week, conditions in the Gulf finally met NASA’s safety guidelines and the crew was cleared to undock and head for home.

    With Crew 8 safely back on Earth, the Crew 9 crew will board their own Crew Dragon capsule early Sunday, Nov. 3, undock from the Harmony module’s forward port and then redock at its space-facing port.

    The next day, an ISS-bound SpaceX cargo ship is scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center. After an automated rendezvous, the ship will dock at the just vacated forward port on Nov. 5, election day in the United States.

    William Harwood

    Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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  • Pew Pew: Space Lasers Could Change How We Talk to Mars and Beyond

    Pew Pew: Space Lasers Could Change How We Talk to Mars and Beyond

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    In December 2023, a tiny, gold-capped satellite beamed a video of an orange tabby cat named Taters chasing a laser pointer up and down a couch. If you thought you were incessant about showing off your pets, Taters’ 15-second-long adventure was transmitted from 19 million miles away from Earth. A few months later, photos and videos of NASA employees’ pets were flying through space, delicately packed inside laser beams that took 101 seconds to travel to Earth at the speed of light.

    Aside from one-upping every pet owner on Earth, the NASA demonstration is designed to test optical communication systems as a way of transmitting data to distant spacecraft at a much faster rate than radio waves. “This has been something that’s been in the works for decades,” Meera Srinivasan, the operations lead of NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), told Gizmodo. “We needed to develop that technology and make it suitable for operations, and in particular, in the space environment.”

    A new era of space communication

    It took years of research and smaller technology demonstrations that beamed data across shorter distances, like from Earth to the Moon, before DSOC was ready to fly. The DSOC flight laser transceiver launched in October 2023, attached to the Psyche spacecraft (which is on its own mission to explore an asteroid by the same name).

    While Psyche relies on traditional radio communication, the DSOC laser transceiver is the first demonstration of optical communication from distances as far away as Mars. In November, the instrument saw its first light and beamed data encoded within a near-infrared laser from nearly 10 million miles away from Earth.

    Yes, we’re talking about invisible beams traveling at the speed of light, carrying high-definition data from deep space to Earth. Here’s how it works: Optical communication systems pack data into the oscillations of light waves in lasers, encoding a message into an optical signal that is carried to a receiver through infrared beams that the human eye can’t see.

    How optical communication works

    Since the launch of the first satellite in the 1950’s, NASA and other space agencies have relied on radio frequency communication to send data to and from space. Both radio signals and laser signals are part of the electromagnetic spectrum and travel at the same speed, but they each have different wavelengths. Lasers transmit data in the near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, so they have a shorter wavelength and a higher frequency. That means there are more infrared than radio wavelengths over a particular distance, allowing for more data to be packed inside infrared waves.

    “It affects the amount of data that you can fit in,” Srinivasan said. “And obviously what that does is it enables higher resolution data because you can send so many more bits in the same window of time.” The DSOC experiment aims to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than current radio frequency systems used by spacecraft today, according to NASA.

    If you consider the tabby cat video, Psyche’s traditional radio transmitter, which has a data rate of 360 kilobits per second, would have taken 426 seconds to transmit the video. Meanwhile, the DSOC laser transceiver took only 0.58 seconds to transmit the video at a data rate of 267 megabits per second. Both radio and laser would have taken the same amount of time, however, to get to Earth at the speed of light.

    “With optical communications, you’re essentially using telescopes and lasers to communicate, and you’re pulsing these laser beams,” Srinivasan said. The DSOC experiment has a flight laser transceiver and two ground stations: the 200-inch (5-meter) aperture Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego, which acts as the downlink station, and the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPL’s Table Mountain facility in California, the uplink station.

    The uplink station sends a pulsed laser signal to the flight terminal, which is equipped with a camera that has the ability to count the individual photons. The flight terminal uses the ground transmitter as a beacon, locking onto it to aim where it’s pointing the laser beam. Using the ground transmitter, the flight terminal sends its data in the form of laser pulses as a downlink to Earth.

    Challenges and the future of space lasers

    That sounds fairly easy, so why hasn’t NASA been relying on these cool space lasers this whole time? Well, optical communications is not without its challenges. As the laser beam reaches Earth, it is much narrower than its radio counterpart, measuring at only a few hundred miles wide compared to an approximately 1.5 million mile-wide (2.5-million kilometer-wide) radio signal. Its narrow width requires more accuracy to reach the receiving station on Earth, aiming the laser beam at a point where the ground-based telescope will be in the planet’s orbit by the time the signal reaches it.

    Optical communication has been used to transmit data from Earth orbit and the Moon, but the recent test marks the farthest distance covered by the laser beams, as NASA seeks to fine tune its communication skills ahead of upcoming missions to deep space. However, longer distances make it more difficult for space lasers to precisely hit a target on Earth—NASA’s biggest challenge in fully relying on lasers for downloading data from deep space.

    As the Psyche spacecraft continues its 2.2 billion mile (3.6 billion kilometer) journey to the asteroid belt, the engineering team behind DSOC will continue to run tests of the communication system and have weekly check ins with the laser transceiver. The farther away Psyche travels on its way to its asteroid target, the fainter the laser photon signal will become.

    So far, the experiment is smashing records as it gets farther away from Earth. In July, DSOC sent a laser signal from Earth to the Psyche spacecraft from a distance of about 290 million miles (460 million kilometers), which is the same distance between Earth and Mars when the two planets are farthest away from one another.

    NASA’s Srinivasan anticipates that missions will begin relying on lasers within the next 10 years or so, highlighting the need to build telescopes dedicated to optical communication to have a number of options for ground sites that can receive the data.

    “I think it’s going to be a solution of both [radio and laser communication],” Srinivasan said. “With laser communication, it’s a high data rate channel used for getting across high definition videos, much richer science data and so on, but there’s always going to be a place for radio frequency communication.”

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    Passant Rabie

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  • NASA Clears Boeing’s Starliner From 2025 Schedule

    NASA Clears Boeing’s Starliner From 2025 Schedule

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    In a move that should surprise no one, the folks at NASA officially pulled Boeing’s Starliner off of the federal space agency’s 2025 lineup this week.

    That’s right, In a release that was billed simply as an update on the commercial space program, NASA tucked in that the next two missions toting astronauts to the International Space Station, Crew-10, targeted for no earlier than February, and Crew-11, targeted for no earlier than July, will now be aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

    It must be another bitter pill for Starliner’s team to swallow. Before Starliner finally embarked on the debacle that was its first crewed test flight back in June, the plan had been to use the spacecraft for at least one of these early 2025 flights.

    But then, of course, when Starliner arrived at the ISS, only five of its 28 thrusters were working. Then the small helium leaks that engineers that engineers had discovered before the launch multiplied. And then, after Captain Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams saw their departure date delayed by days and then weeks, NASA ultimately decided Starliner’s crew would be returning aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft instead next February.

    Starliner departed the ISS in early September, pulling off an uneventful landing in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, without occupants and without having garnered the flight certification required for it to be used for NASA missions. Since then, NASA officials have stayed quiet about what all of this means for the future of Boeing’s commercial crew spacecraft.

    Until this discrete schedule update, which was issued on Tuesday, that is. The space agency didn’t address when – or if – the Boeing Starliner will be put into rotation, only noting in the release “the timing and configuration of Starliner’s next flight will be determined once a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established.”

    Questioned about this move the following day at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy was more direct. “It’s under data review,” Melroy said, according to SpaceNews. “We need to have a decision: Do we need another test flight?”

    All things considered, some might be wondering if NASA will ultimately even opt to keep going with Starliner, especially considering the myriad problems Boeing itself is facing. After all, there’s also SpaceX, the other commercial crew company contracted with the federal space agency, right? It’s true that Elon Musk’s company just scored yet another historic launch last Sunday with its Super Heavy uncrewed launch from the South Texas Coast, which saw the 23-story-tall Super Heavy Booster descending back to its launchpad where it was caught by an enormous pair of robotic arms.

    But if NASA were to just go with SpaceX, that would leave its commercial crew program with exactly one vendor to get its astronauts to and from space, and the company CEO is the same guy who cut off Starlink during the Ukrainian offensive, according to a European Commission report issued last year, and got into a fight with the Brazilian government over disinformation on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. NASA relying solely on SpaceX? What could possibly go wrong?

    All of this leaves NASA officials in a tricky situation here, one that we won’t likely see resolved for a while. Sure, Starliner has been running behind schedule and overbudget for years at this point and the spacecraft itself has been plagued by malfunctions, mistakes and delays, as we’ve previously noted. But they do have a spacecraft that might be certifiable soon.

    Meanwhile, Wilmore and Williams are still slated to come home in February—aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

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    Dianna Wray

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  • Liftoff: NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

    Liftoff: NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

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    NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life.

    The spacecraft launched at 12:06pm EDT Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Central Florida.

    The largest spacecraft NASA ever built for a mission headed to another planet, Europa Clipper also is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) on a trajectory that will leverage the power of gravity assists, first to Mars in four months and then back to Earth for another gravity assist flyby in 2026. After it begins orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times.

    “Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no different. By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our solar system, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”

    Approximately five minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage fired up and the payload fairing, or the rocket’s nose cone, opened to reveal Europa Clipper. About an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Ground controllers received a signal soon after, and two-way communication was established at 1:13pm with NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia. Mission teams celebrated as initial telemetry reports showed Europa Clipper is in good health and operating as expected.

    “We could not be more excited for the incredible and unprecedented science NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will deliver in the generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and Europa Clipper’s scientific discoveries will build upon the legacy that our other missions exploring Jupiter — including Juno, Galileo, and Voyager — created in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”

    The main goal of the mission is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. Europa is about the size of our own Moon, but its interior is different. Information from NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s showed strong evidence that under Europa’s ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. Scientists also have found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface.

    If the mission determines Europa is habitable, it may mean there are more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than imagined.

    “We’re ecstatic to send Europa Clipper on its way to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to our colleagues and partners who’ve worked so hard to get us to this day,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver mind-blowing science. While always bittersweet to send something we’ve labored over for years off on its long journey, we know this remarkable team and spacecraft will expand our knowledge of our solar system and inspire future exploration.”

    In 2031, the spacecraft will begin conducting its science-dedicated flybys of Europa. Coming as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the surface, Europa Clipper is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to look for areas of warmer ice and any recent eruptions of water. As the most sophisticated suite of science instruments NASA has ever sent to Jupiter, they will work in concert to learn more about the moon’s icy shell, thin atmosphere, and deep interior.

    To power those instruments in the faint sunlight that reaches Jupiter, Europa Clipper also carries the largest solar arrays NASA has ever used for an interplanetary mission. With arrays extended, the spacecraft spans 100 feet (30.5 meters) from end to end. With propellant loaded, it weighs about 13,000 pounds (5,900 kilograms).

    In all, more than 4,000 people have contributed to Europa Clipper mission since it was formally approved in 2015.

    “As Europa Clipper embarks on its journey, I’ll be thinking about the countless hours of dedication, innovation, and teamwork that made this moment possible,” said Jordan Evans, project manager, NASA JPL. “This launch isn’t just the next chapter in our exploration of the solar system; it’s a leap toward uncovering the mysteries of another ocean world, driven by our shared curiosity and continued search to answer the question, ‘are we alone?’”

    Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

    Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with NASA JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

    NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, managed the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

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  • What NASA hopes to accomplish with Europa Clipper mission

    What NASA hopes to accomplish with Europa Clipper mission

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    What NASA hopes to accomplish with Europa Clipper mission – CBS News


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    NASA’s solar-powered Europa Clipper took off Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft is projected to reach Jupiter by April 2030 and will study one of the planet’s moons. CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood explains what scientists are hoping to accomplish with the mission.

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  • SpaceX catches rocket booster in dramatic landing

    SpaceX catches rocket booster in dramatic landing

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    SpaceX catches rocket booster in dramatic landing – CBS News


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    In one of the most dramatic, high-risk space flights to date, SpaceX launched a gargantuan rocket and used giant mechanical arms to pluck the descending booster out of the sky. Mark Strassmann has details.

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  • The Hunter’s Moon this week will be a supermoon — the brightest in 2024

    The Hunter’s Moon this week will be a supermoon — the brightest in 2024

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    The next full moon is due to appear this week in night skies all over the world. When it emerges, the phenomenon will hold a couple of notable titles. 

    First, it’s the Hunter’s Moon, a centuries-old name for the full moon immediately following the autumnal equinox and the September Harvest Moon that rises with it, which signals an acceleration in the hunting season. Some Native American tribes referred to the celestial event by different monikers — like the Blood Moon, Travel Moon or Dying Grass Moon, according to the Maine Farmer’s Almanac — but each was used to mark a similar milestone shift in the year.

    The upcoming full moon is also a supermoon, where the moon appears brighter and larger to skywatchers on Earth because of its proximity to the planet, and this one is slated to be the most dazzling of the year so far. 

    Why does the moon appear brighter during a supermoon?

    Like Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the moon’s around Earth is elliptical, meaning oval-shaped. This means the space rock is positioned at various distances from the planet depending on the time of the month and where it’s located along that orbital path. The distances range from about 226,000 miles and 251,000 miles, according to NASA.

    Supermoon US
    A supermoon rises Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee.

    George Walker IV / AP


    When the moon is hovering around one of those closer distances during a full moon, it becomes a supermoon. 

    Supermoons only happen three or four times a year, since the moon’s closeness to Earth rarely coincides with monthly full moons. They aren’t identical, either. Astronomers generally consider a full moon to be “super” if the moon’s position in orbit is at least 90% of the distance from its farthest point to Earth in the ellipses to its closest. The absolute closest point is called perigee. 

    When does the next full moon take place?

    The Hunter’s Moon this week will be the third of four consecutive supermoons, NASA said. It falls on Thursday, Oct. 17, and comes on the heels of the moon reaching perigee one day earlier. Because of that, the supermoon is expected to be the biggest and brightest of its kind in 2024, albeit, by a very small margin.

    The moon will reach its nearest point to Earth at around 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday evening, with a full moon due to materialize less than 12 hours later, at around 7:30 a.m. in the same time zone. It will occur late Wednesday night for places west of the International Date Line and early Friday morning for places from New Zealand eastward.

    People should be able to see the moon appearing full for three or so days around that time, from Tuesday night until Friday morning. Astronomers say the supermoon will be most striking right after sunset and advise looking just above the horizon for the best chances at visibility.

    Emily Mae Czachor

    Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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  • The largest storm in our solar system is moving unexpectedly, scientists say

    The largest storm in our solar system is moving unexpectedly, scientists say

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    New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot captured by the Hubble Space Telescope show that the 190-year-old storm wiggles like gelatin and shape-shifts like a squeezed stress ball.Related video above: Space Station captures view of colossal Hurricane MiltonThe unexpected observations, which Hubble made over 90 days from December to March, show that the Great Red Spot isn’t as stable as it appears, according to astronomers.The Great Red Spot, or GRS, is an anticyclone, or a large circulation of winds in Jupiter’s atmosphere that rotates around a central area of high pressure along the planet’s southern midlatitude cloud belt. And the long-lived storm is so large — the biggest in the solar system — that Earth could fit inside it.Although storms are generally considered unstable, the Great Red Spot has persisted for nearly two centuries. The observed changes in the storm appear related to its motion and size.A time-lapse of the images shows the vortex “jiggling” like gelatin and expanding and contracting over time.Researchers described the observation in an analysis published in The Planetary Science Journal and presented Wednesday at the 56th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in Boise, Idaho.“While we knew its motion varies slightly in its longitude, we didn’t expect to see the size oscillate as well. As far as we know, it’s not been identified before,” said lead study author Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a statement. “This is really the first time we’ve had the proper imaging cadence of the GRS,” Simon said. “With Hubble’s high resolution we can say that the GRS is definitively squeezing in and out at the same time as it moves faster and slower. That was very unexpected.”A shifting extraterrestrial stormAstronomers have observed the iconic crimson feature for at least 150 years, and sometimes, the observations result in surprises, including the latest revelation that the storm’s oval shape can change dimensions and look skinnier or fatter at times.Recently, a separate team of astronomers peered into the heart of the Great Red Spot using the James Webb Space Telescope to capture new details in infrared light. The Hubble observations were made in visible and ultraviolet light.The study, published Sept. 27 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, revealed that the Great Red Spot is cold in the center, which causes ammonia and water to condense inside the vortex and create thick clouds. The research team also detected the gas phosphine within the storm, which could play “a role in generating those mysterious” red colors that make the Great Red Spot so iconic, said study co-author Leigh Fletcher, a professor of planetary science at the U.K.’s University of Leicester, in a statement.NASA scientists use Hubble’s sharp eye to track the storm’s behavior once a year through the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy, or OPAL, program, which Simon leads. Scientists use this program to observe the outer planets in our solar system and watch how they change over time.But the new observations were made separately through a program dedicated to studying the Great Red Spot in more detail by watching how the storm changed over a matter of months rather than a singular, yearly snapshot.“To the untrained eye, Jupiter’s striped clouds and famous red storm might appear to be static, stable, and long-lived over many years,” Fletcher said. “But closer inspection shows incredible variability, with chaotic weather patterns just as complex as anything we have here on Earth. Planetary scientists have been striving for years to see patterns in this variation, anything that might give us a handle on the physics underpinning this complex system.”Fletcher was not involved in the new study.The insights gathered from the program’s observations of the largest storms in our solar system can help scientists understand what weather may be like on exoplanets orbiting other stars. That knowledge can broaden their understanding of meteorological processes beyond ones we experience on Earth.Simon’s team used Hubble’s high-resolution images to take a detailed look at the size, shape and color changes of the Great Red Spot.“When we look closely, we see a lot of things are changing from day to day,” Simon said.The changes included a brightening of the storm’s core when the Great Red Spot is at its largest size as it oscillates.“As it accelerates and decelerates, the GRS is pushing against the windy jet streams to the north and south of it,” said study co-author Mike Wong, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement. “It’s similar to a sandwich where the slices of bread are forced to bulge out when there’s too much filling in the middle.”On Neptune, dark spots can drift across the planet since no strong jet streams are holding them in place, Wong said, while the Great Red Spot is trapped between jet streams at a southern latitude on Jupiter.A shrinking spotAstronomers have noticed the Great Red Spot shrinking since the OPAL program began a decade ago and predict that it will continue to shrink until it reaches a stable, less-elongated shape, which could reduce the wobble.“Right now it’s over-filling its latitude band relative to the wind field. Once it shrinks inside that band the winds will really be holding it in place,” Simon said.The new Hubble study fills in more pieces of the puzzle about the Great Red Spot, Fletcher said. While scientists have known that the westward drift of the storm has an unexplained 90-day oscillation, the accelerating and decelerating pattern doesn’t seem to change although the storm is shrinking, he said.“By watching the GRS over a few months, Hubble has shown that the anticyclone itself is changing its shape along with this oscillation,” Fletcher said. “The shape change is important, as it may be affecting how the edge of the vortex interacts with other passing storms. Besides the gorgeous Hubble imagery, this study shows the power of observing atmospheric systems over long periods of time. You need that sort of monitoring to spot these patterns, and it’s clear that the longer you watch, the more structure you see in the chaotic weather.”

    New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot captured by the Hubble Space Telescope show that the 190-year-old storm wiggles like gelatin and shape-shifts like a squeezed stress ball.

    Related video above: Space Station captures view of colossal Hurricane Milton

    The unexpected observations, which Hubble made over 90 days from December to March, show that the Great Red Spot isn’t as stable as it appears, according to astronomers.

    The Great Red Spot, or GRS, is an anticyclone, or a large circulation of winds in Jupiter’s atmosphere that rotates around a central area of high pressure along the planet’s southern midlatitude cloud belt. And the long-lived storm is so large — the biggest in the solar system — that Earth could fit inside it.

    Although storms are generally considered unstable, the Great Red Spot has persisted for nearly two centuries. The observed changes in the storm appear related to its motion and size.

    A time-lapse of the images shows the vortex “jiggling” like gelatin and expanding and contracting over time.

    Researchers described the observation in an analysis published in The Planetary Science Journal and presented Wednesday at the 56th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in Boise, Idaho.

    “While we knew its motion varies slightly in its longitude, we didn’t expect to see the size oscillate as well. As far as we know, it’s not been identified before,” said lead study author Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a statement.

    “This is really the first time we’ve had the proper imaging cadence of the GRS,” Simon said. “With Hubble’s high resolution we can say that the GRS is definitively squeezing in and out at the same time as it moves faster and slower. That was very unexpected.”

    NASA/ESA/STScI/Amy Simon via CNN Newsource

    A shifting extraterrestrial storm

    Astronomers have observed the iconic crimson feature for at least 150 years, and sometimes, the observations result in surprises, including the latest revelation that the storm’s oval shape can change dimensions and look skinnier or fatter at times.

    Recently, a separate team of astronomers peered into the heart of the Great Red Spot using the James Webb Space Telescope to capture new details in infrared light. The Hubble observations were made in visible and ultraviolet light.

    The study, published Sept. 27 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, revealed that the Great Red Spot is cold in the center, which causes ammonia and water to condense inside the vortex and create thick clouds. The research team also detected the gas phosphine within the storm, which could play “a role in generating those mysterious” red colors that make the Great Red Spot so iconic, said study co-author Leigh Fletcher, a professor of planetary science at the U.K.’s University of Leicester, in a statement.

    NASA scientists use Hubble’s sharp eye to track the storm’s behavior once a year through the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy, or OPAL, program, which Simon leads. Scientists use this program to observe the outer planets in our solar system and watch how they change over time.

    But the new observations were made separately through a program dedicated to studying the Great Red Spot in more detail by watching how the storm changed over a matter of months rather than a singular, yearly snapshot.

    “To the untrained eye, Jupiter’s striped clouds and famous red storm might appear to be static, stable, and long-lived over many years,” Fletcher said. “But closer inspection shows incredible variability, with chaotic weather patterns just as complex as anything we have here on Earth. Planetary scientists have been striving for years to see patterns in this variation, anything that might give us a handle on the physics underpinning this complex system.”

    Fletcher was not involved in the new study.

    The insights gathered from the program’s observations of the largest storms in our solar system can help scientists understand what weather may be like on exoplanets orbiting other stars. That knowledge can broaden their understanding of meteorological processes beyond ones we experience on Earth.

    Simon’s team used Hubble’s high-resolution images to take a detailed look at the size, shape and color changes of the Great Red Spot.

    “When we look closely, we see a lot of things are changing from day to day,” Simon said.

    The changes included a brightening of the storm’s core when the Great Red Spot is at its largest size as it oscillates.

    “As it accelerates and decelerates, the GRS is pushing against the windy jet streams to the north and south of it,” said study co-author Mike Wong, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement. “It’s similar to a sandwich where the slices of bread are forced to bulge out when there’s too much filling in the middle.”

    On Neptune, dark spots can drift across the planet since no strong jet streams are holding them in place, Wong said, while the Great Red Spot is trapped between jet streams at a southern latitude on Jupiter.

    Hubble's images allowed scientists to measure the Great Red Spot's size, shape, brightness and color over one full oscillation cycle.

    NASA/ESA/Amy Simon via CNN Newsource

    A shrinking spot

    Astronomers have noticed the Great Red Spot shrinking since the OPAL program began a decade ago and predict that it will continue to shrink until it reaches a stable, less-elongated shape, which could reduce the wobble.

    “Right now it’s over-filling its latitude band relative to the wind field. Once it shrinks inside that band the winds will really be holding it in place,” Simon said.

    The new Hubble study fills in more pieces of the puzzle about the Great Red Spot, Fletcher said. While scientists have known that the westward drift of the storm has an unexplained 90-day oscillation, the accelerating and decelerating pattern doesn’t seem to change although the storm is shrinking, he said.

    “By watching the GRS over a few months, Hubble has shown that the anticyclone itself is changing its shape along with this oscillation,” Fletcher said. “The shape change is important, as it may be affecting how the edge of the vortex interacts with other passing storms. Besides the gorgeous Hubble imagery, this study shows the power of observing atmospheric systems over long periods of time. You need that sort of monitoring to spot these patterns, and it’s clear that the longer you watch, the more structure you see in the chaotic weather.”

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