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By NASA
Carrying a suite of NASA science and technology, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, 2025, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.Firefly Aerospace The shadow of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander can be seen in this photo from the Moon, taken after landing on March 2, 2025. The lander safely delivered a suite of 10 NASA science and technology instruments; these instruments will operate on the lunar surface for approximately one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days. The successful Moon delivery is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. This is the first CLPS delivery for Firefly, and their first Moon landing.
Learn more about Blue Ghost Mission 1.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
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By NASA
NASA’s Space X Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait.Credit: NASA Students from Ohio and Texas will have the chance to hear NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station answer their prerecorded questions this week.
At 12:55 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 5, NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Don Pettit will respond to questions submitted by students from Puede Network, in partnership with The Achievery in Dallas.
At 10:30 a.m., Thursday, March 6, a separate call with NASA astronauts Williams, Hague, and Wilmore, will answer questions posed by students at Saint Ambrose Catholic School in Brunswick, Ohio.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth calls on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
The Puede Network, a Dallas-based youth organization, is collaborating with the Achievery, an online platform for connecting students with digital learning opportunities. Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 4 to Rodrigo Oshiro at: rodrigo@happytogether.studio or +54 9 113068 7121.
Saint Ambrose Catholic School, part of Saint Ambrose Catholic Church, is a preschool through 8th grade school focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Media interested in covering the event must RVSP by 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 5 to Breanne Logue at: BLogue@StASchool.us or 330-460-7318.
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars, inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
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Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 03, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
In-flight Education Downlinks For Colleges & Universities Learning Resources Outside the Classroom View the full article
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By NASA
First image captured by Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, taken shortly after confirmation of a successful landing at Mare Crisium on the Moon’s near side. This is the second lunar delivery of NASA science and tech instruments as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.Credit: Firefly Aerospace Carrying a suite of NASA science and technology, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 a.m. EST on Sunday near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.
The Blue Ghost lander is in an upright and stable configuration, and the successful Moon delivery is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. This is the first CLPS delivery for Firefly, and their first Moon landing.
The 10 NASA science and technology instruments aboard the lander will operate on the lunar surface for approximately one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days.
“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “We have already learned many lessons – and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”
Since launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 15, Blue Ghost traveled more than 2.8 million miles, downlinked more than 27 GB of data, and supported several science operations. This included signal tracking from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) at a record-breaking distance of 246,000 miles with the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment payload – showing NASA can use the same positioning systems on Earth when at the Moon. Science conducted during the journey also included radiation tolerant computing through the Van Allen Belts with the Radiation-Tolerant Computer System payload and measurements of magnetic field changes in space with the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder payload.
“The science and technology we send to the Moon now helps prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence to inspire the world for generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We’re sending these payloads by working with American companies – which supports a growing lunar economy.”
During surface operations, the NASA instruments will test and demonstrate lunar subsurface drilling technology, regolith sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods. The data captured will benefit humanity by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact Earth.
Before payload operations conclude, teams will aim to capture imagery of the lunar sunset and how lunar dust reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions, a phenomenon first documented by former NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan on Apollo 17. Following the lunar sunset, the lander will operate for several hours into the lunar night.
“On behalf of our entire team, I want to thank NASA for entrusting Firefly as their lunar delivery provider,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “Blue Ghost’s successful Moon landing has laid the groundwork for the future of commercial exploration across cislunar space. We’re now looking forward to more than 14 days of surface operations to unlock even more science data that will have a substantial impact on future missions to the Moon and Mars.”
To date, five vendors have been awarded 11 lunar deliveries under CLPS and are sending more than 50 instruments to various locations on the Moon, including the lunar South Pole. Existing CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through 2028.
Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Amber Jacobson / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 02, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Artemis Earth's Moon Science & Research Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By European Space Agency
Image: The first metal 3D part ever created on orbit has landed on Earth.
The sample was produced in ESA’s Metal 3D Printer on the International Space Station. Now, it’s on Earth for the first time, at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands (ESTEC).
The printer, developed by Airbus and its partners, was installed in the Columbus module by ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen during his Huginn mission in January 2024. In June, the facility succeeding in making its first print, a curvy line in the shape of an 'S’. In summer, the printer produced its first full sample, and then a second sample in December.
This first sample will now be tested in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory at ESTEC and compared to samples printed on Earth to understand how microgravity affects the printing process.
The second sample will be handed over to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).
While astronauts have operated plastic 3D printers on the International Space Station before, this marks the first successful metal printing on orbit. As missions venture farther from Earth, in-space manufacturing will be crucial for self-sufficiency, allowing astronauts to manufacture essential parts, repair equipment and create tools on demand, without relying on costly resupply missions.
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By NASA
u0022The really interesting thing to me is how time theoretically acts strangely around black holes. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, black holes change the flow of time,u0022 said Jeremy Schnittman, Goddard research astrophysicist. u0022So much of how we experience the world is based on time, time marching steadily forward. Anything that changes that is a fascinating take on reality.u0022u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Rebecca Rothu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Name: Jeremy Schnittman
Formal Job Classification: Research astrophysicist
Organization: Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, Astrophysics Division (Code 663)
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I try to understand the formation and properties of black holes. I also help develop ideas for new missions to study black holes.
What drew you to astrophysics?
I always liked science and math. The great thing about astrophysics is that it involves a little bit of everything – math, computer programming, physics, chemistry and even philosophy to understand the big picture, the enormity of space.
I have a B.A. in physics from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. I came to Goddard in 2010 after two post-doctoral fellowships.
Explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view. In this visualization, disks of bright, hot, churning gas encircle both black holes, shown in red and blue to better track the light source. The red disk orbits the larger black hole, which weighs 200 million times the mass of our Sun, while its smaller blue companion weighs half as much. Zooming into each black hole reveals multiple, increasingly warped images of its partner. Watch to learn more.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell
Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio As an astrophysicist, what do you think about?
I think of myself as a computational physicist as opposed to an experimental or observational physicist. I write many computer programs to do computer simulations of black holes. I also do a lot of theoretical physics, which is pencil and paper work. I think a lot about equations and math to understand black holes.
What is most philosophical about black holes to me is not so much what people most often think about, that their gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape. The really interesting thing to me is how time theoretically acts strangely around black holes. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, black holes change the flow of time. If you could get close enough to a black hole, theoretically you could go back and forth in time. All our experiments and observations seem to indicate that is how black holes might behave.
So much of how we experience the world is based on time, time marching steadily forward. Anything that changes that is a fascinating take on reality.
Related Link: Gravity Assist: Black Hole Mysteries, with Jeremy Schnittman What do you tell the people you mentor?
I mentor undergraduate, graduate, and post graduate students in astrophysics. Since we are working remotely, I have students from all over the country. I help them with their research projects which mostly relate to black holes in some way. I also offer career advice and help them with their work-life balance. When possible, family comes first.
There are more people coming out of graduate school in astrophysics than there are jobs, so there are going to be many people who will not work for NASA or as a professor. Fortunately, there are a lot of other fascinating, related jobs, and I help guide the students there.
What do you do for fun?
I have a woodshop in our basement where I build furniture, dollhouses, toys, and other items for gifts. As a theoretical physicist, I don’t get to work in a lab. So it is nice to have some hands on experience.
I do a lot of hiking and cycling to exercise. I also enjoy spending time with my family.
Who is your favorite author?
Andy Weir is probably my favorite sci-fi author. I also love the epic naval historical fiction by Patrick O’Brian.
Who inspires you?
My childhood hero, who is still my scientific hero, is Albert Einstein. The more I work in astrophysics, the more he impresses me. Every single one of his predictions that we have been able to test has proven true. It may be a while, but someday I hope we prove his theories about time travel.
Also, I admire Kip Thorne, an American physicist from Cal Tech and recent Nobel laureate, who is “the man” when it comes to black holes. He is also a really nice, good guy, a real mensch. Very humble and down-to-earth. He is always extremely patient, kind and encouraging especially to the younger scientists. He is a good role model as I transition from junior to more senior status.
What is your one big dream?
I make a lot of predictions, so it would be exciting if one of my theories was proven correct. Hopefully someday.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations with Goddard Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Astrophysics Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research People of Goddard Explore More
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