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COMMERCIAL SPACE
Moon Bound Technology
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A new set of NASA science and technology instruments is on the way to the Moon, where they will gather data about Earth’s nearest neighbor and help pave the way for American astronauts to explore the Moon and beyond.
The Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launched at 7:16 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once on the Moon, the instruments will test novel technologies to learn more about what lies beneath the lunar surface, explore its challenging terrain, and improve in-space communication.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, which launched as a rideshare with the IM-2 mission, also began its journey to lunar orbit. The mission will help scientists better understand the lunar water cycle and inform future human missions as to where supplies of water may be found and extracted as a resource.
MISSION UPDATES
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COMMERCIAL SPACE
Lunar Landing
With a suite of NASA science and technology on board, Firefly Aerospace is targeting 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, to land the Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon. Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly Aerospace, will begin at 2:20 a.m. EST.
STREAM ON NASA+
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THE UNIVERSE
A Supernova Remnant
In this Hubble Space Telescope image, Hubble once again lifts the veil on a famous—and frequently photographed—supernova remnant: the Veil Nebula. The remnant of a star roughly 20 times as massive as the Sun that exploded about 10,000 years ago, the Veil Nebula is situated about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
THE VEIL NEBULA
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AERONAUTICS
Clearing a Major Hurdle
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has completed electromagnetic interference testing. Each of the X-59’s internal electronic systems was examined, ensuring they worked with one another without interference. The X-59 is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound while reducing the loud sonic boom to a quieter sonic thump.
LEARN MORE
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THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Asteroid Donaldjohanson
The Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. Lucy will pass within 596 miles of the 2-mile-wide asteroid on Sunday, April 20. This second asteroid encounter for Lucy will serve as a dress rehearsal for the spacecraft’s main targets, the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
LEARN MORE
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Find your place in space with a NASA internship! With opportunities available across a wealth of fields of study, there's space for everyone. Applications for summer 2025 internships close on Friday, Feb. 28, at 11:59 p.m. EST. | | |
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On March 1, Europa Clipper will streak just 550 miles above the surface of Mars for what’s known as a gravity assist — a maneuver to bend the spacecraft’s trajectory and position it for a critical leg of its long voyage to the Jupiter system. The close flyby offers a bonus opportunity for mission scientists, who will test their radar instrument and thermal imager. | | |
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Results from a new international study, partially funded by NASA, suggest that the water-rich iron mineral ferrihydrite may be the main culprit behind Mars’ reddish dust. The finding offers a tantalizing clue to Mars’ wetter and potentially more habitable past because ferrihydrite forms in the presence of cool water and at lower temperatures than other previously considered minerals. | |
110 years ago on March 3, 1915, NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, was established by Congress. Just three months after the United States entered into World War I, it received approval to establish its first laboratory for carrying out aeronautical research. | |
| Where was this first laboratory? | | | |
Find out the answer in next week's edition of the NASA newsletter! 🤓 | | |
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Last week, we asked in what region did John Glenn capture his first photograph from space. The answer? Northwest Africa! After launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida, John Glenn traveled over the Atlantic Ocean before snapping a photograph of this sparsely inhabited region of Morocco and Western Sahara. As seen on the map on the wall of the Mercury Mission Control Center in Florida, John Glenn’s flight path traveled over Africa, Australia, and North America. | |
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Do you have a telescope? Would you like to see some of the same night sky objects from the ground that Hubble has from space? We invite you to commemorate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35th anniversary by accepting our yearlong stargazing challenge! New challenge objects will be featured weekly.
This week’s object is Caldwell 25, a globular star cluster that is more remote than the Milky Way's other globular clusters. Located some 300,000 light-years away, scientists surmise that Caldwell 25 may have been part of a small galaxy captured and disrupted by the Milky Way. The cluster is intrinsically bright but appears as a faint, hazy, circular glow in a small telescope because it is so far away.
JOIN THE CELEBRATION
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.
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