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By NASA
NASA announced 10 winning teams for its latest TechLeap Prize — the Space Technology Payload Challenge — on June 26. The winners emerged from a record-breaking field of more than 200 applicants to earn cash prizes worth up to $500,000, if they have a flight-ready unit. Recipients may also have the opportunity to flight test their technologies.
NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division is supporting the emerging space economy through challenges like TechLeap. The projects receive funding through the Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science (CERISS) initiative, which pairs government research goals with commercial innovation.
Two awardees’ capabilities specifically address BPS research priorities, which include conducting investigations that inform future space crops and advance precision health.
Ambrosia Space Manufacturing Corporation is developing a centrifuge system to separate nutrients from cell cultures — potentially creating space-based food processing that could turn algae into digestible meals for astronauts.
Helogen Corporation is building an automated laboratory system that can run biological experiments without requiring astronaut involvement and may be able to transmit real-time data to researchers on Earth without having to wait for physical samples to return.
“The innovations of these small- and midsize businesses could enable NASA to accelerate the pace of critical research,” says Dan Walsh, BPS’s program executive for CERISS. “It’s also an example of NASA enabling the emerging space industry to grow and thrive beyond big corporations.”
Small Packages with Big Ambitions
Every inch and ounce counts on a spacecraft, which means the winning teams have to think small while solving big problems.
Commercial companies play a pivotal role in enabling space-based research — they bring fresh approaches to ongoing challenges. But space missions demand a different kind of innovation, and TechLeap teams face both time and size constraints for their experiments.
Winners have six to nine months to demonstrate that their concepts work. That’s a significant contrast from traditional space technology development, which can stretch for years.
The research serves a larger purpose as well. The technology helps NASA “know before we go” on longer, deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars. Understanding how technologies behave in microgravity or extreme environments can prevent costly failures when astronauts are far from Earth.
Small investments in proof-of-concept technologies can bring in a high ROI. With the TechLeap Prize, BPS is betting that big ideas will come in small packages.
Related Resources
TechLeap Prize – Space Technology Payload Challenge (STPC)
Space Technology Payload Challenge Winners
Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science Initiative
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By NASA
Of all the possible entry points to NASA, the agency’s SkillBridge Program has been instrumental in helping servicemembers transition from the military and into civilian careers. Offered in partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD), the program enables individuals to spend their final months of military service working with a NASA office or organization. SkillBridge fellows work anywhere from 90 to 180 days, contributing their unique skillsets to the agency while building their network and knowledge.
The Johnson Space Center in Houston hosted NASA’s first SkillBridge fellow in 2019, paving the way for dozens of others to follow. SkillBridge participants are not guaranteed a job offer at the end of their fellowship, but many have gone on to accept full-time positions with NASA. About 25 of those former fellows currently work at Johnson, filling roles as varied as their military experiences.
Miguel Shears during his military service (left) and his SkillBridge fellowship at Johnson Space Center.Images courtesy of Miguel Shears Miguel Shears retired from the Marine Corps in November 2023. He ended his 30 years of service as the administration, academics, and operations chief for the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, where he was also an adjunct professor. Shears completed a SkillBridge fellowship with FOD in the summer and fall of 2023, supporting the instructional systems design team. He was hired as a full-time employee upon his military retirement and currently serves as an instructional systems designer for the Instructor Training Module, Mentorship Module, and Spaceflight Academy. He conducts training needs analysis for FOD, as well.
Ever Zavala as a flight test engineer in the U.S. Air Force (left) and as a capsule communicator in the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center.Images courtesy of Ever Zavala Ever Zavala was very familiar with Johnson before becoming a SkillBridge fellow. He spent the last three of his nearly 24-year Air Force career serving as the deputy director of the DoD Human Spaceflight Payloads Office at Johnson. His team oversaw the development, integration, launch, and operation of payloads hosting DoD experiments on small satellites and the International Space Station. He also became a certified capsule communicator, or capcom, in December 2022, and was the lead capcom for SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission to the orbiting laboratory.
Zavala’s SkillBridge fellowship was in Johnson’s Astronaut Office, where he worked as a capcom, capcom instructor, and an integration engineer supporting the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program. He was involved in developing a training needs analysis and agency simulators for the human landing system, among other projects.
He officially joined the center team as a full-time contractor in August 2024. He is currently a flight operations safety officer within the Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) and continues to serve as a part-time capcom.
Carl Johnson with his wife during his first visit to Johnson Space Center (left) and completing some electrical work as part of his SkillBridge fellowship. Images courtesy of Carl Johnson Carl Johnson thanks his wife for helping him find a path to NASA. While she was a Pathways intern — and his girlfriend at the time — she gave him a tour of the center that inspired him to join the agency when he was ready to leave the Army. She helped connect him to one of the center’s SkillBridge coordinators and the rest is history.
Johnson was selected for a SkillBridge fellowship in the Dynamic System Test Branch. From February to June 2023, he supported development of the lunar terrain vehicle ground test unit and contributed to the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS), which simulates reduced gravity for astronaut training.
Johnson officially joined the center team as an electrical engineer in the Engineering Directorate’s Software, Robotics, and Simulation Division in September 2023. He is currently developing a new ARGOS spacewalk simulator and training as an operator and test director for another ARGOS system.
Johnson holds an electrical engineering degree from the United States Military Academy. He was on active duty in the Army for 10 years and concluded his military career as an instructor and small group leader for the Engineer Captains Career Course. In that role, he was responsible for instructing, mentoring, and preparing the next generation of engineer captains.
Kevin Quinn during his Navy service.Image courtesy of Kevin Quinn Kevin Quinn served in the Navy for 22 years. His last role was maintenance senior chief with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31, known as “the Dust Devils.” Quinn managed the operations and maintenance of 33 aircraft, ensuring their readiness for complex missions and contributing to developmental flight tests and search and rescue missions. He applied that experience to his SkillBridge fellowship in quality assurance at Ellington Field in 2024. Quinn worked to enhance flight safety and astronaut training across various aircraft, including the T-38, WB-57, and the Super Guppy. He has continued contributing to those projects since being hired as a full-time quality assurance employee in 2025.
Andrew Ulat during his Air Force career. Image courtesy of Andrew Ulat Andrew Ulat retired from the Air Force after serving for 21 years as an intercontinental ballistic missile launch control officer and strategic operations advisor. His last role in the military was as a director of staff at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. There he served as a graduate-level instructor teaching international security concepts to mid-level officers and civilian counterparts from all branches of the military and various federal agencies.
Ulat started his SkillBridge fellowship as an integration engineer in Johnson’s X-Lab, supporting avionics, power, and software integration for the Gateway lunar space station. Ulat transitioned directly from his fellowship into a similar full-time position at Johnson in May 2024.
Ariel Vargas receives a commendation during his Army service (left) and in his official NASA portrait. Ariel Vargas transitioned to NASA after serving for five years in the Army. His last role in the military was as a signal officer, which involved leading teams managing secure communications and network operations in dynamic and mission-critical environments in the Middle East and the United States.
Vargas completed his SkillBridge fellowship in November 2023, supporting Johnson’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). During his fellowship, he led a center-wide wireless augmentation project that modernized Johnson’s connectivity.
He became a full-time civil servant in May 2024 and currently serves as the business operations and partnerships lead within OCIO, supporting a digital transformation initiative. In this role, he leads efforts to streamline internal business operations, manage strategic partnerships, and drive cross-functional collaboration.
“My time in the military taught me the value of service, leadership, and adaptability—qualities that I now apply daily in support of NASA’s mission,” Vargas said. “I’m proud to be part of the Johnson team and hope my story can inspire other service members considering the SkillBridge pathway.”
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4584 – 4585: Just a Small Bump
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on June 27, 2025 — Sol 4582, or Martian day 4,582 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 05:28:57 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Friday, June 27, 2025
We weren’t able to unstow Curiosity’s robotic arm on Wednesday because of some potentially unstable rocks under Curiosity’s wheels, but we liked the rocks at Wednesday’s location enough that we decided to spend a sol repositioning the rover so that we’d have another chance today to analyze them. The small adjustment of the rover’s position, or “bump,” as we like to call it during tactical planning, was successful, and we found ourselves in a nice stable pose this morning which allowed us to use our highly capable robotic arm to observe the rocks in front of us.
We will be collecting APXS and MAHLI observations of two targets today. The first, “Santa Elena,” is the bumpy rock that caught our eye on Wednesday. The second, informally named “Estancia Allkamari,” is a patch of nearby sand. We’ll analyze this target to understand if and how the sand composition has changed as we’ve driven across Mount Sharp, and to better help us understand how sand may be contributing to future compositional measurements that cover mixtures of sand and rock. MAHLI and ChemCam will team up to observe a third target named “Ticatica,” which is another bumpy rock nearby that looks like it might have a dark patch on its side.
This is the final weekend of this Martian year when temperature and relative humidity in Gale crater hit the sweet spot where conditions are right for frost to form in the pre-dawn hours. We’re taking this last opportunity to see if we can catch any evidence of frost with the ChemCam laser, shooting a sandy (and hopefully cold) portion of the ground in the pre-dawn hours on a target named “Rio Huasco.” Other activities in the plan include atmospheric monitoring, Mastcam mosaics, including a 20 x 3 mosaic of the large boxwork structures in the distance, and a short drive to the southwest to check out a rocky raised ridge.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
Learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments
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Last Updated Jul 01, 2025 Related Terms
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By Space Force
Developed to drive continuous improvement, the Civilian Human Capital Evaluation and Accountability Program leverages data to assess and enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and compliance of human capital programs across the force.
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Studies Small but Mighty Galaxy
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the nearby galaxy NGC 4449. ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Sabbi, D. Calzetti, A. Aloisi This portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope puts the nearby galaxy NGC 4449 in the spotlight. The galaxy is situated just 12.5 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs). It is a member of the M94 galaxy group, which is near the Local Group of galaxies that the Milky Way is part of.
NGC 4449 is a dwarf galaxy, which means that it is far smaller and contains fewer stars than the Milky Way. But don’t let its small size fool you — NGC 4449 packs a punch when it comes to making stars! This galaxy is currently forming new stars at a much faster rate than expected for its size, which makes it a starburst galaxy. Most starburst galaxies churn out stars mainly in their centers, but NGC 4449 is alight with brilliant young stars throughout. Researchers believe that this global burst of star formation came about because of NGC 4449’s interactions with its galactic neighbors. Because NGC 4449 is so close, it provides an excellent opportunity for Hubble to study how interactions between galaxies can influence the formation of new stars.
Hubble released an image of NGC 4449 in 2007. This new version incorporates several additional wavelengths of light that Hubble collected for multiple observing programs. These programs encompass an incredible range of science, from a deep dive into NGC 4449’s star-formation history to the mapping of the brightest, hottest, and most massive stars in more than two dozen nearby galaxies.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has also observed NGC 4449, revealing in intricate detail the galaxy’s tendrils of dusty gas, glowing from the intense starlight radiated by the flourishing young stars.
Text Credit: ESA/Hubble
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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Last Updated Jun 20, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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