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By NASA
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Jan. 16, 2025.Credit: BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry Members of the team behind NASA’s newest space telescope will ring the New York Stock Exchange closing bell in New York City at 4 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 22. The team helped build, launch, and operates NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to explore the origins of the universe. The New York Stock Exchange will share a recording of the closing bell ceremony on YouTube after the event.
After launching March 11 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, SPHEREx will soon begin collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars in the Milky Way, to improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. The observatory’s first images confirmed all of the telescope’s systems are working as expected, as the team prepares SPHEREx to begin mapping the entire sky.
Bell ringers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, will be joined by team members from BAE Systems Inc., Space & Mission Systems, which built the telescope and spacecraft’s main structure, known as a bus, for NASA.
For more information on SPHEREx, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/spherex
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 21, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Earth Day Poster for 2025 uses imagery from the Landsat mission — a joint mission with USGS — to celebrate our home planet. NASA/USGS/Landsat From the iconic image of Earthrise taken by Apollo 8 crew, to the famous Pale Blue Dot image of Earth snapped by Voyager I spacecraft, to state-of-the-art observations of our planet by new satellites such as PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem), NASA has given us novel ways to see our home. This Earth Day, NASA is sharing how — by building on decades of innovation—we use the unique vantage point of space to observe and understand our dynamic planet in ways that we cannot from the ground.
NASA has been observing Earth from space for more than 60 years, with cutting-edge scientific technology that can revolutionize our understanding of our home planet and provide benefits to all humanity. NASA observations include land data that helps farmers improve crop production, research on the air we breathe, and studies of atmospheric layers high above us that protect every living thing on the planet.
“NASA Science delivers every second of every day for the benefit all, and it begins with how we observe our home planet from the unique vantage point of space,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our satellites, Mars rovers, astronauts and other NASA Science missions send back beautiful images of our planet, from the smallest of plankton to the pale blue dot, to help give us a comprehensive, detailed view of our home that we especially celebrate each Earth Day.”
NASA data and tools are vital to federal, state, local, and international governments to monitor and manage land, air, and water resources. From mapping the ocean floor to finding critical mineral deposits to alerting land managers when fire risk is high, NASA’s data and information informs nearly every aspect of our economy and our lives.
“Another way NASA celebrates Earth Day is by sharing information about how our science benefits the entire nation, such as by providing U.S. farmers and ranchers with ongoing measurements of water, crop health, wildfire predictions, and knowledge of what is being grown around the world,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This data informs field level farming and ranching decisions with impact felt as far as the commodity-trading floor and our grocery stores.”
Next up for NASA’s work to help mitigate natural disasters is a mission called NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) which is a partnership between NASA and ISRO (India Space Research Organization). NISAR, which is targeted to launch later this year, will measure land changes from earthquakes, landslides, and volcanos, producing more NASA science data to aid in disaster response. The mission’s radar will detect movements of the planet’s surface as small as 0.4 inches over areas about the size of half a tennis court. By tracking subtle changes in Earth’s surface, it will spot warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, help to monitor groundwater supplies, track the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observe shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world.
From our oceans to our skies, to our ice caps, to our mountains, and to our rivers and streams, NASA’s Earth observations enhance our understanding of the world around us and celebrate the incredible planet we call home.
To download NASA’s 2025 Earth Day poster, visit:
https://nasa.gov/earthdayposters
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Last Updated Apr 21, 2025 Related Terms
Earth Day Earth General Landsat NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Explore More
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:15 a.m. EDT on April 21 2025, on the company’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station.Credit: NASA Following the successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 32nd Commercial Resupply Services mission, new scientific experiments and supplies are bound for the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying approximately 6,700 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA, lifted off at 4:15 a.m. EDT Monday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 6:45 a.m., Tuesday, April 22, on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms.
The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at approximately 8:20 a.m. to the zenith, or space-facing, port of the space station’s Harmony module.
The resupply mission will support dozens of research experiments during Expedition 73. Along with food and essential equipment for the crew, Dragon is delivering a variety of science experiments, including a demonstration of refined maneuvers for free-floating robots. Dragon also carries an enhanced air quality monitoring system that could help protect crew members on exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, and two atomic clocks to examine fundamental physics concepts, such as relativity, and test global synchronization of precision timepieces.
These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory each year in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Such research benefits humanity and helps lay the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future missions to Mars.
The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the orbiting laboratory until May, when it will depart and return to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California.
Learn more about the commercial resupply mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crs-32/
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Julian Coltre / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Stephanie Plucinsky / Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-876-2468
stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov / steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 21, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Commercial Resupply ISS Research Johnson Space Center Kennedy Space Center SpaceX Commercial Resupply View the full article
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover sees its tracks receding into the distance at a site nicknamed “Ubajara” on April 30, 2023. This site is where Curiosity made the discovery of siderite, a mineral that may help explain the fate of the planet’s thicker ancient atmosphere.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS New findings from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover could provide an answer to the mystery of what happened to the planet’s ancient atmosphere and how Mars has evolved over time.
Researchers have long believed that Mars once had a thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and liquid water on the planet’s surface. That carbon dioxide and water should have reacted with Martian rocks to create carbonate minerals. Until now, though, rover missions and near-infrared spectroscopy analysis from Mars-orbiting satellites haven’t found the amounts of carbonate on the planet’s surface predicted by this theory.
Reported in an April paper in Science, data from three of Curiosity’s drill sites revealed the presence of siderite, an iron carbonate mineral, within the sulfate-rich rocky layers of Mount Sharp in Mars’ Gale Crater.
“The discovery of abundant siderite in Gale Crater represents both a surprising and important breakthrough in our understanding of the geologic and atmospheric evolution of Mars,” said Benjamin Tutolo, associate professor at the University of Calgary, Canada, and lead author of the paper.
To study the Red Planet’s chemical and mineral makeup, Curiosity drills three to four centimeters down into the subsurface, then drops the powdered rock samples into its CheMin instrument. The instrument, led by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, uses X-ray diffraction to analyze rocks and soil. CheMin’s data was processed and analyzed by scientists at the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“Drilling through the layered Martian surface is like going through a history book,” said Thomas Bristow, research scientist at NASA Ames and coauthor of the paper. “Just a few centimeters down gives us a good idea of the minerals that formed at or close to the surface around 3.5 billion years ago.”
The discovery of this carbonate mineral in rocks beneath the surface suggests that carbonate may be masked by other minerals in near-infrared satellite analysis. If other sulfate-rich layers across Mars also contain carbonates, the amount of stored carbon dioxide would be a fraction of that needed in the ancient atmosphere to create conditions warm enough to support liquid water. The rest could be hidden in other deposits or have been lost to space over time.
In the future, missions or analyses of other sulfate-rich areas on Mars could confirm these findings and help us better understand the planet’s early history and how it transformed as its atmosphere was lost.
Curiosity, part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program (MEP) portfolio, was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information on Curiosity, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
News Media Contacts
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 17, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center Astromaterials Curiosity (Rover) General Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Explore More
7 min read NASA’s SpaceX 32nd Commercial Resupply Mission Overview
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA is marking progress in strengthening the agency’s small business partnerships, supply chain resiliency, and domestic space manufacturing capabilities.
Under the agency’s enhanced Mentor-Protégé Program, NASA has announced the first Mentor-Protégé Agreement between L3Harris Technologies, a NASA large prime contractor, and Parametric Machining, Inc., a veteran-owned small business.
This agreement will help advance NASA’s mission by fostering innovation and reinforcing the agency’s supply chain. As NASA continues to advance the Artemis campaign, deep space exploration, and aeronautics research, partnerships like this are essential in securing a resilient and efficient supplier base.
“We are excited to facilitate the first agreement under the newly enhanced NASA Mentor-Protégé Program,” said Dwight Deneal, assistant administrator for NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs. “This agreement, and the many that will follow, promote domestic ingenuity and manufacturing and provide opportunities for small businesses to grow and thrive within NASA’s industrial base.”
Through Mentor-Protégé Agreements, large prime contractors serve as mentors, offering technical and business development assistance to small business protégés. This collaboration not only enhances protégés’ capabilities but also provides mentors with a stronger, more reliable subcontracting base, enabling them to fill their supply chain gaps. Additionally, protégés gain potential prime and subcontract opportunities, enhanced technical capabilities, technical training, and long-term business growth.
Relaunched in November 2024, the merit-based NASA Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to bolster small business development while strengthening NASA’s supply chain and industry base. By focusing on a targeted set of North American Industry Classification System codes, including research and development and aerospace manufacturing, NASA ensures that participating small businesses are well-positioned to contribute to long-term mission objectives.
The agreement between L3Harris Technologies and Parametric Machining, Inc. demonstrates the value of NASA’s revamped Mentor-Protégé Program. NASA is actively accepting new Mentor-Protégé Agreements and encourages large prime contractors and small businesses to explore the benefits of forming partnerships under the program. Participating in the Mentor-Protégé Program provides:
Enhanced manufacturing capabilities and subcontracting opportunities. Mentorship from experienced NASA prime contractors. Opportunities to advance competitiveness in government contracts. Access to technical assistance and business development support. A pathway for small businesses to integrate into NASA’s supply chain. L3Harris Technologies is a prime contractor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, supporting the Geostationary Extended Observations Imager Instrument Implementation contract. NASA Goddard also will serve as the administering center for this agreement.
For more information on NASA’s Mentor-Protégé Program and how to participate, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/osbp/mentor-protege-program
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Last Updated Apr 17, 2025 ContactTiernan P. Doyletiernan.doyle@nasa.govLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) View the full article
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