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What can satellites reveal about climate tipping points?
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By NASA
Freelancer NASA’s Sustainable Business Model Challenge is looking for entrepreneurs, startups, and researchers to leverage the agency’s publicly available Earth system science data to develop commercial solutions for climate challenges.
This opportunity, with a submission deadline of June 13, bridges the gap between vast climate data and actionable solutions by inviting solvers to transform data into sustainable business models that support climate resilience and decision-making.
“Creative, outcome-driven entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our country’s economy, and we’re excited to see the sustainable climate solutions they’re able to come up with when working closely with NASA’s vast resources and data,” said Jason L. Kessler, program executive for the NASA Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program, which is sponsoring the challenge.
Through the Sustainable Business Model Challenge, NASA aims to foster a new set of sustainable enterprises capable of turning climate insights into tangible market-ready services, ultimately contributing to a more resilient future for vulnerable communities, businesses, and ecosystems. NASA is committed to broadening participation in its solicitations and fostering technology advancements.
By engaging new entrepreneurs, the challenge serves as a pathway to NASA’s SBIR/STTR program, helping scale solutions to advance the global response to climate change and encourage a more sustainable future. From its vantage point in space, NASA holds a wealth of data that can inform new approaches to climate adaptation and mitigation.
Participants will submit a 10-page business concept paper that includes details on how they will incorporate NASA climate or Earth system data to deliver a product or service. Up to ten winning teams will receive $10,000 each, along with admission to a 10-week capability development training designed to strengthen any future proposals for potential NASA funding.
NASA’s SBIR/STTR program, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, is part of America’s Seed Fund, the nation’s largest source of early-stage funding for innovative technologies. Through this program, entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses with less than 500 employees can receive funding and non-monetary support to build, mature, and commercialize their technologies, advancing NASA missions and advancing the nations aerospace economy.
Ensemble is hosting the challenge on behalf of NASA. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, manages the challenge. The program supports global public competitions and crowdsourcing as tools to advance NASA research and development and other mission needs.
The deadline to participate in NASA’s Sustainable Business Model Challenge is June 13, 2025.
For more information about the challenge, visit: https://nasabusinesschallenge.org/
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By European Space Agency
Last night a crucial step in the European Space Agency’s eclipse-making Proba-3 mission was completed: the two spacecraft, flying jointly since launch, have successfully separated. This leaves them ready to begin their cosmic dance in the world’s first-ever precision formation-flying mission.
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By NASA
This map depicts global temperature anomalies for meteorological summer in 2024 (June, July, and August). It shows how much warmer or cooler different regions of Earth were compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. (Credit: NASA/NOAA) Climate researchers from NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will release their annual assessments of global temperatures and discuss the major climate trends of 2024 during a media briefing at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10.
NASA will share the briefing on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/live.
Participants will include:
Gavin Schmidt, director, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Russ Vose, chief, Monitoring and Assessment Branch, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Media interested in participating must RSVP to NOAA by the time of the event.
NASA and NOAA are stewards of global temperature data and independently produce a record of Earth’s surface temperatures and changes based on historical observations over land and ocean.
For more information about NASA’s Earth science programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
-end-
Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
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By NASA
X-rays are radiated by matter hotter than one million Kelvin, and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy can tell us about the composition of the matter and how fast and in what direction it is moving. Quantum calorimeters are opening this new window on the Universe. First promised four decades ago, the quantum-calorimeter era of X-ray astronomy has finally dawned.
Photo of the XRISM/Resolve quantum-calorimeter array in its storage container prior to integration into the instrument. The 6×6 array, 5 mm on a side, consists of independent detectors – each one a thermally isolated silicon thermistor with a HgTe absorber. The spectrometer consisting of this detector and other essential technologies separates astrophysical X-ray spectra into about 2400 resolution elements, which can be thought of as X-ray colors.NASA GSFC A quantum calorimeter is a device that makes precise measurements of energy quanta by measuring the temperature change that occurs when a quantum of energy is deposited in an absorber with low heat capacity. The absorber is attached to a thermometer that is somewhat decoupled from a heat sink so that the sensor can heat up and then cool back down again. To reduce thermodynamic noise and the heat capacity of the sensor, operation at temperatures less than 0.1 K is required.
The idea for thermal measurement of small amounts of energy occurred in several places in the world independently when scientists observed pulses in the readout of low-temperature thermometers and infrared detectors. They attributed these spurious signals to passing cosmic-ray particles, and considered optimizing detectors for sensitive measurement of the energy of particles and photons.
The idea to develop such sensors for X-ray astronomy was conceived at Goddard Space Flight Center in 1982 when X-ray astronomers were considering instruments to propose for NASA’s planned Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). In a fateful conversation, infrared astronomer Harvey Moseley suggested thermal detection could offer substantial improvement over existing solid-state detectors. Using Goddard internal research and development funding, development advanced sufficiently to justify, just two years later, proposing a quantum-calorimeter X-ray Spectrometer (XRS) for inclusion on AXAF. Despite its technical immaturity at the time, the revolutionary potential of the XRS was acknowledged, and the proposal was accepted.
The AXAF design evolved over the subsequent years, however, and the XRS was eliminated from its complement of instruments. After discussions between NASA and the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), a new XRS was included in the instrument suite of the Japanese Astro-E X-ray observatory. Astro-E launched in 2000 but did not reach orbit due to an anomaly in the first stage of the rocket. Astro-E2, a rebuild of Astro-E, was successfully placed in orbit in 2005 and renamed Suzaku, but the XRS instrument ceased operation before observations started due to loss of the liquid helium, an essential part of the detector cooling system, caused by a faulty storage system.
A redesigned mission, Astro-H, that included a quantum-calorimeter instrument with a redundant cooling system was successfully launched in 2016 and renamed Hitomi. Hitomi’s Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) obtained high resolution spectra of the Perseus cluster of galaxies and a few other sources before a problem with the attitude control system caused the mission to be lost roughly one month after launch. Even so, Hitomi was the first orbiting observatory to obtain a scientific result using X-ray quantum calorimeters. The spectacular Perseus spectrum generated by the SXS motivated yet another attempt to implement a spaceborne quantum-calorimeter spectrometer.
The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) was launched in September 2023, with the spectrometer aboard renamed Resolve to represent not only its function but also the resolve of the U.S./Japan collaboration to study the Universe through the window of this new capability. XRISM has been operating well in orbit for over a year.
Development of the Sensor Technology
Development of the sensor technology employed in Resolve began four decades ago. Note that an X-ray quantum-calorimeter spectrometer requires more than the sensor technology. Other technologies, such as the coolers that provide a
The sensors used from XRS through Resolve were all based on silicon-thermistor thermometers and mercury telluride (HgTe) X-ray absorbers. They used arrays consisting of 32 to 36 pixels, each of which was an independent quantum calorimeter. Between Astro-E and Astro-E2, a new method of making the thermistor was developed that significantly reduced its low-frequency noise. Other fabrication advances made it possible to make reproducible connections between absorbers and thermistors and to fit each thermistor and its thermal isolation under its X-ray absorber, making square arrays feasible.
Through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract executed after the Astro-E2 mission, EPIR Technologies Inc. reduced the specific heat of the HgTe absorbers. Additional improvements made to the cooler of the detector heat sink allowed operation at a lower temperature, which further reduced the specific heat. Together, these changes enabled the pixel width to be increased from 0.64 mm to 0.83 mm while still achieving a lower heat capacity, and thus improving the energy resolution. From Astro-E through Astro-H, the energy resolution for X-rays of energy around 6000 eV improved from 11 eV, to 5.5 eV, to 4 eV. No changes to the array design were made between Astro-H and XRISM.
Resolve detector scientist Caroline Kilbourne installing the flight Resolve quantum-calorimeter array into the assembly that provides its electrical, thermal, and mechanical interfaces.NASA GSFC Over the same period, other approaches to quantum-calorimeter arrays optimized for the needs of future missions were developed. The use of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) instead of silicon (Si) thermistors led to improved energy resolution, more pixels per array, and multiplexing (a technique that allows multiple signals to be carried on a single wire). Quantum-calorimeter arrays with thousands of pixels are now standard, such as in the NASA contribution to the future European New Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (newAthena) mission. And quantum calorimeters using paramagnetic thermometers — which unlike TES and Si thermistors require no dissipation of heat in the thermometer for it to be read out — combined with high-density wiring are a promising route for realizing even larger arrays. (See Astrophysics Technology Highlight on these latest developments.)
The Resolve instrument aboard XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) captured data from the center of galaxy NGC 4151, where a supermassive black hole is slowly consuming material from the surrounding accretion disk. The resulting spectrum reveals the presence of iron in the peak around 6.5 keV and the dips around 7 keV, light thousands of times more energetic that what our eyes can see. Background: An image of NGC 4151 constructed from a combination of X-ray, optical, and radio light.Spectrum: JAXA/NASA/XRISM Resolve. Background: X-rays, NASA/CXC/CfA/J.Wang et al.; optical, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma/Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope; radio, NSF/NRAO/VLA Results from Resolve
So, what is Resolve revealing about the Universe? Through spectroscopy alone, Resolve allows us to construct images of complex environments where collections of gas and dust with various attributes exist, emitting and absorbing X-rays at energies characteristic of their various compositions, velocities, and temperatures. For example, in the middle of the galaxy known as NCG 4151 (see figure above), matter spiraling into the central massive black hole forms a circular structure that is flat near the black hole, more donut-shaped further out, and, according to the Resolve data, a bit lumpy. Matter near the black hole is heated up to X-ray-emitting temperatures and irradiates the matter in the circular structure. The Resolve spectrum has a bright narrow emission line (peak) from neutral iron atoms that must be coming from colder matter in the circular structure, because hotter material would be ionized, and would have a different emission signature. Nonetheless, the shape of the iron line needs three components to describe it, each coming from a different lump in the circular structure. The presence of absorption lines (dips) in the spectrum provides further detail about the structure of the infalling matter.
A second example is the detection of X-ray emission by Resolve from the debris of stars that have exploded, such as N132D (see figure below), that will improve our understanding of the explosion mechanism and how the elements produced in stars get distributed, and allow us to infer the type of star each was before ending in a supernova. Elements are identified by their characteristic emission lines, and shifts of those lines via the Doppler effect tell us how fast the material is moving.
XRISM’s Resolve instrument captured data from supernova remnant N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud to create the most detailed X-ray spectrum of the object ever made. The spectrum reveals peaks associated with silicon, sulfur, argon, calcium, and iron. Inset at right is an image of N132D captured by XRISM’s Xtend instrument.JAXA/NASA/XRISM Resolve and Xtend These results are just the beginning. The rich Resolve data sets are identifying complex velocity structures, rare elements, and multiple temperature components in a diverse ensemble of cosmic objects. Welcome to the quantum calorimeter era! Stay tuned for more revelations!
Project Leads: Dr. Caroline Kilbourne, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), for silicon-thermistor quantum calorimeter development from Astro-E2 through XRISM and early TES development. Foundational and other essential leadership provided by Dr. Harvey Moseley, Dr. John Mather, Dr. Richard Kelley, Dr. Andrew Szymkowiak, Mr. Brent Mott, Dr. F. Scott Porter, Ms. Christine Jhabvala, Dr. James Chervenak (GSFC at the time of the work) and Dr. Dan McCammon (U. Wisconsin).
Sponsoring Organizations and Programs: The NASA Headquarters Astrophysics Division sponsored the projects, missions, and other efforts that culminated in the development of the Resolve instrument.
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By European Space Agency
A multi-orbit constellation of about 300 satellites that will deliver resilient, secure and fast communications for EU governments, European companies and citizens will be put in orbit after two contracts were confirmed today in Brussels.
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