NEW FROM NASA
NEW FROM NASA NEWS
Put This on Your Long-Range Radar
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “NASA’s Leading Center for Robotic Exploration of the Universe,” is celebrating its 90th year of operation this year. To help celebrate, JPL is inviting the public to an open-house event called “Explore JPL.” The two-day event will occur on October 10/11, from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM each day. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn more about four important JPL themes: Missions That Changed the World, Moon to Mars, In Flight, and Makerspace. Tickets (free) are required but will certainly be in big demand; they become available on August 29. Check out more about the event and how to get tickets at the Explore JPL webpage: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/explore-jpl!
NASA’s First A is Important, Too!
Some of NASA’s best tools in conducting research in aeronautics are its amazing wind tunnels, especially at its Ames and Langley Research Centers. On July 31, NASA will open its newest, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility at Langley, the first fully-new NASA wind tunnel in more than 40 years.
“The wind tunnel opening marks a major milestone in the evolution of NASA and the nation’s aeronautics and space research capabilities. The state-of-the-art facility will support research and technology development that will advance NASA’s aeronautics, exploration, and science goals, including establishing a sustained human presence on the lunar surface through the Artemis program and the development of a Moon Base.” (source) Learn more about the Flight Dynamics Research Facility at: https://go.nasa.gov/4yzKEGQ
Serbia Joins the Artemis Accords
The United States, led by NASA and the State Department, joined with seven other founding nations in 1920 to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies. The accords introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety, transparency, and coordination of civil space exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. On July 16, Serbia became the 69th country to sign the Artemis Accords.
NEW FROM NASA FYI
An El Niño is Coming!
I learned recently that Inca-era priests could advise crop planting schedules based on the appearance of the Pleiades star cluster when it first appears in the morning sky. Warm ocean surface temperatures associated with an El Niño made it difficult to see all of the stars of the Pleiades, suggesting that planting should be delayed. Clearer morning skies, hence more Pleiades stars, meant “plant now.”
Today, NASA and ESA use a somewhat more high-tech method to determine ocean temperatures, the E.U. Copernicus Programme, built around the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, which measures subtle water heights associated with the warmer surface temperatures of an El Niño event. This particular satellite was launched in 2020; the newest Sentinel satellite was launched last November; see: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-spacex-launch-us-european-satellite-to-monitor-earths-oceans.The data show that an El Niño event is likely this year. But check out the Pleiades, just to make sure! For more information about the Copernicus Programme, see: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-european-sea-level-mission-homes-in-on-el-nino and https://science.nasa.gov/mission/sentinel-6-michael-freilich/sentinel-6-michael-freilich-stories.
Astrobiology Clue from South Korea
“A hidden crater in South Korea may hold clues to one of the biggest turning points in Earth’s history: the rise of oxygen. Scientists discovered fossil-like stromatolites — layered structures built by ancient microbes — inside the Hapcheon impact crater, suggesting that asteroid strikes may have created warm, mineral-rich lakes where early oxygen-producing life could flourish.”
“According to the researchers, the stromatolites likely formed in a hydrothermal lake that developed after an asteroid strike. The impact would have generated intense heat, melting surrounding rock and warming the water for long periods of time. Those warm, mineral rich conditions may have provided an ideal environment for ancient microbes to survive and grow.
“The discovery could also help scientists better understand the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere rose dramatically.”
For more information, see: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260521072357.htm.
Good News for Asteroid Mining
The Psyche spacecraft successfully used Mars last month to provide a gravitational slingshot to direct it toward an unusual body. Asteroid 15 Psyche was discovered in 1852. “Psyche is irregular and potato-like. If the asteroid were sliced in half horizontally at the equator – picture a squished oval – it would measure 173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point and 144 miles (232 kilometers) long. Its surface area is 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometers).
“Psyche is dense, estimated at about 212 to 256 pounds per cubic foot (3,400 to 4,100 kilograms per cubic meter). The surface gravity on Psyche is much less than it is on Earth – even less than it is on Earth’s Moon. On Psyche, lifting a car would feel like lifting a large dog.
“Scientists think Psyche may consist of significant amounts of metal from the core of a planetesimal, one of the building blocks of our solar system. The asteroid is most likely a survivor of multiple violent hit-and-run collisions, common when the solar system was forming.
“There are still contradictions in the data, but scientific analysis indicates that Psyche is likely made of a mixture of rock and metal, with metal composing 30% to 60% of its volume. The asteroid’s composition has been determined by radar observations and by the measurements of the asteroid’s thermal inertia (how quickly an object gains or re-radiates heat).”
The quoted material and more can be found here: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/mission-overview ; the news about the fly-by of Mars can be found here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260525040421.htm.
NEW FROM NASA LINKS AND OTHER INFORMATION
NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
“The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel is a senior advisory committee that reports to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Congress. The Panel was established by Congress after the Apollo 204 Command and Service Module spacecraft fire in January 1967.
“The Panel’s statutory duties, established under Section 6 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 1968, and as amended under 51 U.S.C. § 31101 are as follows:
- Review safety studies and operations plans referred to it, including evaluating the Administration’s compliance with the return-to-flight and continue-to-fly recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and make reports thereon;
- Advise the Administrator and Congress with respect to-
(A) the hazards of proposed or existing facilities and proposed operations;
(B) the adequacy of proposed or existing safety standards; and
(C) management and culture related to safety; and
- Perform such other duties as the Administrator may request.”
The Panel is Chaired by Lt-Gen. Susan Helms. USAF (retired); the Panel members and their bios, and the annual reports (through 2025) are available here: https://www.nasa.gov/asap.
Apollo 12 Graphic Novel Updated! Tuesday (11/19) was the 56th anniversary of the landing on the Moon of Apollo 12’s LM, Intrepid, with astronauts Pete Conrad and Al Bean aboard. Celebrate this milestone two ways: See the two previous Items of the Week that spotlight the mission hereand my personal hero, Al Bean, here. Also, check out the NASA graphic novel of the Apollo 12 mission augmented by info about Artemis (The NASA links to it are dead, but I downloaded it from Wikipedia Commons, and it is listed as being fully in the public domain; you can find it in the “Archive: Other Stuff” section of my website at: https://www.airandspacethisweek.com/otherstuff.
JPL Von Kármán Lectures: Theodore von Kármán was an aerodynamics expert who came to the USA in 1930, fleeing rising tide of Nazism. He was a member of the National Academy of Science and one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. JPL hosted a lecture series named for him that offered a number of interesting Space-related lectures, “Shake and Bake,” being one from last year. For more information on the Von Kármán Lectures, see the archive at: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jpl-and-the-community/lecture-series.
Did you know that NASA has an entire Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center? The data they make relatable is really terrific; see: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Latest News Releases:https://www.nasa.gov/2026-news-releases
Media Contact Info:https://www.nasa.gov/news/media/info/index.html
JPL News:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news