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Astronomers Measure Mass of Largest Dwarf Planet
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By European Space Agency
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured compelling evidence of a planet with a mass similar to Saturn orbiting the young nearby star TWA 7.
If confirmed, this would represent Webb’s first direct image discovery of a planet, and the lightest planet ever seen with this technique.
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By NASA
Ozone high in the stratosphere protects us from the Sun’s ultraviolet light. But ozone near the ground is a pollutant that harms people and plants. The San Joaquin Valley has some of the most polluted air in the country, and NASA scientists with the new Ozone Where We Live (OWWL) project are working to measure ozone and other pollutants there. They need your help!
Do you live or work in Bakersfield, CA? Sign up to host an ozone sensor! It’s like a big lunch box that you place in your yard, but it’s not packed with tuna and crackers. It’s filled with sensors that measure temperature and humidity and sniff out dangerous gases like methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and of course, ozone.
Can you fly a plane? Going to the San Joaquin Valley? Sign up to take an ozone sensor on your next flight! You can help measure ozone levels in layers of the atmosphere that are hard for satellites to investigate. Scientists will combine the data you take with data from NASA’s TEMPO satellite to improve air quality models and measurements within the region. Find out more here or email: Emma.l.yates@nasa.gov
Join the Ozone Where We Live (OWWL) project and help NASA scientists protect the people of the San Joaquin Valley! Credit: Emma Yates Share
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Last Updated Jun 24, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 02:08:03 ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, one of the world’s leading Earth observation conferences, opened today in Vienna. The plenary session began at 10:30 CEST and included addresses from ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes Simonetta Cheli, as well as Margit Mischkulnig, from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation.
There were video addresses from President of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure Republic of Austria Peter Hanke and the EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius. Representatives of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, ECMWF, IPCC, Eumetsat, Nordic Bildung and ETH Zurich also spoke during the opening session.
The first images from Biomass, ESA’s forest mission, launched earlier this year, were also presented during the opening plenary.
More than 6500 participants from almost 120 countries signed up to attend the event. With more than 4200 scientific presentations and posters, the symposium provides a forum and meeting point for scientists, academics and space industry representatives, as well as students and citizens.
The Living Planet Symposium takes place every three years and this year the focus is ‘from observation to climate action and sustainability for Earth’. Held in the Austrian capital over five days from today to 27 June, participants can take part in discussions on how we can work together in the fields of Earth science and with the Earth observation industry to ensure robust data and promote effective climate action to address the environmental crisis, with presentations also on new trends in Earth observation.
Watch more videos from the Living Planet Symposium 2025.
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By European Space Agency
Astronomers have discovered a huge filament of hot gas bridging four galaxy clusters. At 10 times as massive as our galaxy, the thread could contain some of the Universe’s ‘missing’ matter, addressing a decades-long mystery.
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA/Jacob Shaw A NASA system designed to measure temperature and strain on high-speed vehicles is set to make its first flights at hypersonic speeds – greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound – when mounted to two research rockets launching this summer.
Technicians in the Environmental Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, used machines called shakers to perform vibration tests on the technology, known as a Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS), on March 26. The tests confirmed the FOSS could operate while withstanding the shaking forces of a rocket launch. Initial laboratory and flight tests in 2024 went well, leading to the recently tested system’s use on the U.S. Department of Defense coordinated research rockets to measure critical temperature safety data.
Hypersonic sensing systems are crucial for advancing hypersonics, a potentially game-changing field in aeronautics. Capitalizing on decades of research, NASA is working to address critical challenges in hypersonic engine technology through its Advanced Air Vehicles Program.
Using FOSS, NASA will gather data on the strain placed on vehicles during flight, as well as temperature information, which helps engineers understand the condition of a rocket or aircraft. The FOSS system collects data using a fiber about the thickness of a human hair that collects data along its length, replacing heavier and bulkier traditional wire harnesses and sensors.
Jonathan Lopez and Allen Parker confer on the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensor System at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on February 13, 2025. The system measures strain and temperature, critical safety data for hypersonic vehicles that travel five time the speed of sound.NASA/Steve Freeman “There is no reliable technology with multiple sensors on a single fiber in the hypersonic environment,” said Patrick Chan, FOSS project manager at Armstrong. “The FOSS system is a paradigm shift for hypersonic research, because it can measure temperature and strain.”
For decades, NASA Armstrong worked to develop and improve the system, leading to hypersonic FOSS, which originated in 2020. Craig Stephens, the Hypersonic Technology Project associate project manager at NASA Armstrong, anticipated a need for systems and sensors to measure temperature and strain on hypersonic vehicles.
“I challenged the FOSS team to develop a durable data collection system that had reduced size, weight, and power requirements,” Stephens said. “If we obtain multiple readings from one FOSS fiber, that means we are reducing the number of wires in a vehicle, effectively saving weight and space.”
The research work has continually made the system smaller and lighter. While a space-rated FOSS used in 2022 to collect temperature data during a NASA mission in low Earth orbit was roughly the size of a toaster, the hypersonic FOSS unit is about the size of two sticks of butter.
Jonathan Lopez and Nathan Rick prepare the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System for vibration tests in the Environmental Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Testing on a machine called a shaker proved that the system could withstand the severe vibration it will endure in hypersonic flight, or travel at five times the speed of sound.NASA/Jim Ross Successful Partnerships
To help advance hypersonic FOSS to test flights, NASA Armstrong Technology Transfer Office lead Ben Tomlinson orchestrated a partnership. NASA, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in Edwards, California, and the U.S. Air Force’s 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, agreed to a six-flight series in 2024.
The test pilot school selected an experiment comparing FOSS and traditional sensors, looking at the data the different systems produced.
The hypersonic FOSS was integrated into a beam fixed onto one end of a pod. It had weight on the other end of the beam so that it could move as the aircraft maneuvered into position for the tests. The pod fit under a T-38 aircraft that collected strain data as the aircraft flew.
“The successful T-38 flights increased the FOSS technology readiness,” Tomlinson said. “However, a test at hypersonic speed will make FOSS more attractive for a United States business to commercialize.”
April Torres, from left, Cryss Punteney, and Karen Estes watch as data flows from the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Testing on a machine called a shaker proved that the system could withstand the severe vibration it will endure in hypersonic flight, or travel at five times the speed of sound.NASA/Jim Ross New Opportunities
After the experiment with the Air Force, NASA’s hypersonic technology team looked for other opportunities to advance the miniaturized version of the system. That interest led to the upcoming research rocket tests in coordination with the Department of Defense.
“We have high confidence in the system, and we look forward to flying it in hypersonic flight and at altitude,” Chan said.
A hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System, developed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is ready for a test flight on a T-38 at the U.S. Air Force 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. NASA Armstrong, the flight test squadron, and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in Edwards, California, partnered for the test. From left are Earl Adams, Chathu Kuruppu, Colby Ferrigno, Allen Parker, Patrick Chan, Anthony Peralta, Ben Tomlinson, Jonathan Lopez, David Brown, Lt. Col. Sean Siddiqui, Capt. Nathaniel Raquet, Master Sgt. Charles Shepard, and Greg Talbot.U.S. Air Force/Devin Lopez Share
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Last Updated Jun 18, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactJay Levinejay.levine-1@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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