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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:00:00 ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass satellite launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 29 April 2025 at 11:15 CEST (06:15 local time).
In orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle. It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the radar signal can slice through the whole forest layer to measure the ‘biomass’, meaning the woody trunks, branches and stems, which is where trees store most of their carbon.
Vega-C is the evolution of the Vega family of rockets and delivers increased performance, greater payload volume and improved competitiveness.
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Researchers use a flat aerogel array antenna to communicate with a geostationary satellite above the Earth during tests at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran NASA engineers are using one of the world’s lightest solid materials to construct an antenna that could be embedded into the skin of an aircraft, creating a more aerodynamic and reliable communication solution for drones and other future air transportation options.
Developed by NASA, this ultra-lightweight aerogel antenna is designed to enable satellite communications where power and space are limited. The aerogel is made up of flexible, high-performance plastics known as polymers. The design features high air content (95%) and offers a combination of light weight and strength. Researchers can adjust its properties to achieve either the flexibility of plastic wrap or the rigidity of plexiglass.
“By removing the liquid portion of a gel, you’re left with this incredibly porous structure,” said Stephanie Vivod, a chemical engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “If you’ve ever made Jell-O, you’ve performed chemistry that’s similar to the first step of making an aerogel.”
NASA sandwiched a layer of aerogel between a small circuit board and an array of thin, circular copper cells, then topped the design off with a type of film known for its electrical insulation properties. This innovation is known at NASA and in the aviation community as an active phased array aerogel antenna.
A sample of aerogel is folded to demonstrate its flexibility during testing at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.Credit: NASA In addition to decreasing drag by conforming to the shape of aircraft, aerogel antennas save weight and space and come with the ability to adjust their individual array elements to reduce signal interference. They are also less visually intrusive compared to other types of antennas, such as spikes and blades. The finished product looks like a honeycomb but lays flat on an aircraft’s surface.
In the summer of 2024, researchers tested a rigid version of the antenna on a Britten-Norman Defender aircraft during an in-flight demonstration with the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.
A Britten-Norman Defender aircraft outfitted with an advanced phased array antenna prototype for a flight test in summer 2024. The aircraft was used to verify data transmission quality and communications link resiliency with a low Earth orbit satellite.Credit: U.S. Navy Then, last October, researchers at NASA Glenn and the satellite communications firm Eutelsat America Corp., of Houston, began ground testing a version of the antenna mounted to a platform. The team successfully connected with a Eutelsat satellite in geostationary orbit, which bounced a signal back down to a satellite dish on a building at Glenn. Other demonstrations of the system at Glenn connected with a constellation of communications satellites operated in low Earth orbit by the data relay company Kepler. NASA researchers will design, build, and test a flexible version of the antenna later this year.
“This is significant because we are able to use the same antenna to connect with two very different satellite systems,” said Glenn researcher Bryan Schoenholz. Low Earth orbit satellites are relatively close – at 1,200 miles from the surface – and move quickly around the planet. Geostationary satellites are much farther – more than 22,000 miles from the surface – but orbit at speeds matching the Earth’s rotation, so they appear to remain in a fixed position above the equator.
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Sarah Dever and Mick Koch, electrical engineers, command an active phased array antenna to point toward a geostationary satellite. They used a flat version of an aerogel antenna during tests in October 2024.Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran The satellite testing was crucial for analyzing the aerogel antenna concept’s potential real-world applications. When modern aircraft communicate with stations on the ground, those signals are often transmitted through satellite relays, which can come with delays and loss of communication. This NASA-developed technology will make sure these satellite links are not disrupted during flight as the aerogel antenna’s beam is a concentrated flow of radio waves that can be electronically steered with precision to maintain the connection.
As new types of air transportation options are brought to the market and U.S airspace – from the small, piloted aircraft of today to the autonomous air taxis and delivery drones of tomorrow – these kinds of steady connections will become increasingly important. That’s why NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts program are supporting research like the aerogel antennas that can boost industry efforts to safely expand the emerging marketplace for these transportation systems.
“If an autonomous air taxi or drone flight loses its communications link, we have a very unsafe situation,” Schoenholz said. “We can’t afford a ‘dropped call’ up there because that connection is critical to the safety of the flight.”
Schoenholz, Vivod, and others work on NASA’s Antenna Deployment and Optimization Technologies activity within the Transformational Tools and Technologies project. The activity aims to develop technologies that reduce the risk of radio frequency interference from air taxis, drones, commercial passenger jets, and other aircraft in increasingly crowded airspace.
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By NASA
7 min read
Eclipses, Science, NASA Firsts: Heliophysics Big Year Highlights
One year ago today, a total solar eclipse swept across the United States. The event was a cornerstone moment in the Heliophysics Big Year, a global celebration of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. From October 2023 to December 2024 — a period encompassing two solar eclipses across the U.S., two new NASA heliophysics missions, and one spacecraft’s history-making solar flyby — NASA celebrated the Sun’s widespread influence on our lives.
An infographic showing key numbers summarizing the activities and events of the Heliophysics Big Year, which spanned from Oct. 14, 2023 – Dec. 24, 2024. NASA/Miles Hatfield/Kristen Perrin Annular Solar Eclipse
An annular (or “ring of fire”) solar eclipse occurred Oct. 14, 2023, and kicked off the Helio Big Year with a bang. Millions of people across North America witnessed the Moon crossing in front of the Sun, creating this brilliant celestial event. NASA’s live broadcast had more than 11 million views across different platforms.
On Oct. 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse crossed North, Central, and South America. Visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America, millions of people in the Western Hemisphere were able to experience this “ring of fire” eclipse. NASA’s official broadcast and outreach teams were located in Kerrville, TX, and Albuquerque, NM, to capture the event and celebrate with the communities in the path of annularity.
Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons Before the eclipse, NASA introduced the 2023 Eclipse Explorer, an interactive map to explore eclipse details for any location in the United States. NASA shared tips on eclipse safety, including through a video with NSYNC’s Lance Bass and even with an augmented reality filter.
Scientists also studied conditions during the annular eclipse with sounding rockets, balloons, and amateur radio.
Total Solar Eclipse
On April 8, 2024, millions of people across North America experienced a total solar eclipse that darkened parts of 15 U.S. states in the path of totality.
Ahead of the event, NASA hosted a widespread safety campaign, handed out over 2 million solar viewing glasses, and produced an interactive map to help viewers plan their viewing experience. On eclipse day, NASA also hosted a live broadcast from locations across the country, drawing over 38 million views.
Researchers studied the eclipse and its effects on Earth using a variety of techniques, including international radar networks, scientific rockets, weather balloons, and even high-altitude NASA WB-57 jets. Several NASA-funded citizen science projects also conducted experiments. These projects included more than 49,000 volunteers who contributed an astounding 53 million observations.
This infographic shares metrics from citizen science projects that occurred during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. NASA/Kristen Perrin “We have opened a window for all Americans to discover our connection to the Sun and ignited enthusiasm for engaging with groundbreaking NASA science, whether it’s through spacecraft, rockets, balloons, or planes,” said Kelly Korreck, a Heliophysics program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Sharing the excitement of NASA heliophysics with our fellow citizens has truly been amazing.”
Science Across the Solar System
NASA’s heliophysics missions gather data on the Sun and its effects across the solar system.
The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Nov. 9, 2023, and was installed on the International Space Station nine days later. This mission studies atmospheric gravity waves, how they form and travel through Earth’s atmosphere, and their role in space weather.
Orbital footage from the International Space Station shows NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) as it was extracted from SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft. NASA/International Space Station On Nov. 4, 2024, the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) mission also launched to the space station, where it studies the solar wind, with a focus on what heats it and propels it through space.
Pictured is the CODEX instrument inside the integration and testing facility at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA/CODEX team The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission ended after 16 years studying Earth’s highest clouds, called polar mesospheric clouds.
An artist’s concept shows the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft orbiting Earth. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight/Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) also ended after three successful years studying the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere, called the ionosphere.
NASA’s ICON, shown in this artist’s concept, studied the frontiers of space, the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab Voyager has been operating for more than 47 years, continuing to study the heliosphere and interstellar space. In October 2024, the Voyager 1 probe stopped communicating. The mission team worked tirelessly to troubleshoot and ultimately reestablish communications, keeping the mission alive to continue its research.
In this artist’s conception, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has a bird’s-eye view of the solar system. The circles represent the orbits of the major outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 visited the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The spacecraft is now 13 billion miles from Earth, making it the farthest and fastest-moving human-made object ever built. In fact, Voyager 1 is now zooming through interstellar space, the region between the stars that is filled with gas, dust, and material recycled from dying stars. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is observing the material along Voyager’s path through space. NASA/STSci While the goal of the NASA heliophysics fleet is to study the Sun and its influence, these missions often make surprising discoveries that they weren’t originally designed to. From finding 5,000 comets to studying the surface of Venus, NASA highlighted and celebrated these bonus science connections during the Helio Big Year.
Solar Maximum
Similar to Earth, the Sun has its own seasons of activity, with a solar minimum and solar maximum during a cycle that lasts about 11 years. The Helio Big Year happened to coincide with the Sun’s active period, with NASA and NOAA announcing in October 2024 that the Sun had reached solar maximum, the highest period of activity. Some of the largest solar storms on current record occurred in 2024, and the largest sunspot in nearly a decade was spotted in the spring of 2024, followed by a colossal X9.0 solar flare Oct. 3, 2024.
Sunspots are cooler, darker areas on the solar surface where the Sun’s magnetic field gets especially intense, often leading to explosive solar eruptions. This sunspot group was so big that nearly 14 Earths could fit inside it! The eruptions from this region resulted in the historic May 2024 geomagnetic storms, when the aurora borealis, or northern lights, were seen as far south as the Florida Keys.
Credit: NASA/Beth Anthony Viewers across the U.S. spotted auroras in their communities as a result of these storms, proving that you can capture amazing aurora photography without advanced equipment.
The Big Finale: Parker’s Close Approach to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe holds the title as the closest human-made object to the Sun. On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker made history by traveling just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface at a whopping 430,000 miles per hour.
“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.
Controllers have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.
Credit: NASA/Joy Ng Parker Solar Probe’s close approach capped off a momentous Heliophysics Big Year that allowed NASA scientists to gather unprecedented data and invited everyone to celebrate how the Sun impacts us all. In the growing field of heliophysics, the Helio Big Year reminded us all how the Sun touches everything and how important it is to continue studying our star’s incredible influence.
A Big Year Ahead
Though the Helio Big Year is over, heliophysics is only picking up its pace in 2025. We remain in the solar maximum phase, so heightened solar activity will continue into the near future. In addition, several new missions are expected to join the heliophysics fleet by year’s end.
The PUNCH mission, a set of four Sun-watching satellites imaging solar eruptions in three dimensions, and EZIE, a trio of Earth-orbiting satellites tracing the electrical currents powering Earth’s auroras, have already launched. The LEXI instrument, an X-ray telescope studying Earth’s magnetosphere from the Moon, also launched through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
Future missions slated for launch include TRACERS, which will investigate the unusual magnetic environment near Earth’s poles, and ESCAPADE, venturing to Mars to measure the planet’s unique magnetic environment.
The last two missions will share a ride to space. The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will look back at home, studying ultraviolet light emitted by the outermost boundaries of our planet’s atmosphere. The IMAP mission will instead look to the outermost edges of our heliosphere, mapping the boundaries where the domain of our Sun transitions into interstellar space.
By Desiree Apodaca
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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Last Updated Apr 08, 2025 Editor Miles Hatfield Related Terms
Heliophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Division NASA Centers & Facilities NASA Directorates Science & Research Science Mission Directorate The Solar System The Sun Explore More
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