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By NASA
The book cover for the 2025 edition of the Microgravity Materials Research Researcher’s Guide June 2025 Edition
Most materials are formed from a partially or totally fluid sample, and the transport of heat and mass from the fluid into the solid during solidification inherently influences the formation of the material and its resultant properties. The ISS provides a long-duration microgravity environment for conducting experiments that enables researchers to examine the effects of heat and mass transport on materials processes in the near-absence of gravity-driven forces. The microgravity environment greatly reduces buoyancy-driven convection, hydrostatic pressure, and sedimentation. It can also be advantageous for designing experiments with reduced container interactions. The reduction in these gravity-related sources of heat and mass transport may be taken advantage of to determine how material processes and microstructure formation are affected by gravity-driven and gravity independent sources of heat and mass transfer.
Materials science experiments on the ISS have yielded broad and significant scientific advancements, including contributing to the development of improved mathematical models for predicting material properties during processing on Earth and enabling a better understanding of microstructure formation during solidification towards controlling the material properties of various alloys.
This researcher’s guide provides information on the acceleration environment of the space station and describes facilities available for materials research. Examples of previous microgravity materials research and descriptions of planned research are also provided.
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By NASA
A black hole has blasted out a surprisingly powerful jet in the distant universe, according to a study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/J. Maithil et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk A black hole has blasted out a surprisingly powerful jet in the distant universe, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and discussed in our latest press release. This jet exists early enough in the cosmos that it is being illuminated by the leftover glow from the big bang itself.
Astronomers used Chandra and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to study this black hole and its jet at a period they call “cosmic noon,” which occurred about three billion years after the universe began. During this time most galaxies and supermassive black holes were growing faster than at any other time during the history of the universe.
The main graphic is an artist’s illustration showing material in a disk that is falling towards a supermassive black hole. A jet is blasting away from the black hole towards the upper right, as Chandra detected in the new study. The black hole is located 11.6 billion light-years from Earth when the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the leftover glow from the big bang, was much denser than it is now. As the electrons in the jets fly away from the black hole, they move through the sea of CMB radiation and collide with microwave photons. These collisions boost the energy of the photons up into the X-ray band (purple and white), allowing them to be detected by Chandra even at this great distance, which is shown in the inset.
Researchers, in fact, identified and then confirmed the existence of two different black holes with jets over 300,000 light-years long. The two black holes are 11.6 billion and 11.7 billion light-years away from Earth, respectively. Particles in one jet are moving at between 95% and 99% of the speed of light (called J1405+0415) and in the other at between 92% and 98% of the speed of light (J1610+1811). The jet from J1610+1811 is remarkably powerful, carrying roughly half as much energy as the intense light from hot gas orbiting the black hole.
The team was able to detect these jets despite their great distances and small separation from the bright, growing supermassive black holes — known as “quasars” — because of Chandra’s sharp X-ray vision, and because the CMB was much denser then than it is now, enhancing the energy boost described above.
When quasar jets approach the speed of light, Einstein’s theory of special relativity creates a dramatic brightening effect. Jets aimed toward Earth appear much brighter than those pointed away. The same brightness astronomers observe can come from vastly different combinations of speed and viewing angle. A jet racing at near-light speed but angled away from us can appear just as bright as a slower jet pointed directly at Earth.
The researchers developed a novel statistical method that finally cracked this challenge of separating effects of speed and of viewing angle. Their approach recognizes a fundamental bias: astronomers are more likely to discover jets pointed toward Earth simply because relativistic effects make them appear brightest. They incorporated this bias using a modified probability distribution, which accounts for how jets oriented at different angles are detected in surveys.
Their method works by first using the physics of how jet particles scatter the CMB to determine the relationship between jet speed and viewing angle. Then, instead of assuming all angles are equally likely, they apply the relativistic selection effect: jets beamed toward us (smaller angles) are overrepresented in our catalogs. By running ten thousand simulations that match this biased distribution to their physical model, they could finally determine the most probable viewing angles: about 9 degrees for J1405+0415 and 11 degrees for J1610+1811.
These results were presented by Jaya Maithil (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian) at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, AK, and are also being published in The Astrophysical Journal. A preprint is available here. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
Visual Description
This release is supported by an artist’s illustration of a jet blasting away from a supermassive black hole.
The black hole sits near the center of the illustration. It resembles a black marble with a fine yellow outline. Surrounding the black hole is a swirling disk, resembling a dinner plate tilted to face our upper right. This disk comprises concentric rings of fiery swirls, dark orange near the outer edge, and bright yellow near the core.
Shooting out of the black hole are two streaky beams of silver and pale violet. One bright beam shoots up toward our upper right, and a second somewhat dimmer beam shoots in the opposite direction, down toward our lower left. These beams are encircled by long, fine, corkscrewing lines that resemble stretched springs.
This black hole is located 11.6 billion light-years from Earth, much earlier in the history of the universe. Near this black hole, the leftover glow from the big bang, known as the cosmic microwave background or CMB, is much denser than it is now. As the electrons in the jets blast away from the black hole, they move through the sea of CMB radiation. The electrons boost the energies of the CMB light into the X-ray band, allowing the jets to be detected by Chandra, even at this great distance.
Inset at our upper righthand corner is an X-ray image depicting this interaction. Here, a bright white circle is ringed with a band of glowing purple energy. The jet is the faint purple line shooting off that ring, aimed toward our upper right, with a blob of purple energy at its tip.
News Media Contact
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of the Mapping Sub-cm Orbital Debris in LEO concept.NASA/Christine Hartzell Christine Hartzell
University of Maryland, College Park
The proposed investigation will address key technological challenges associated with a previously funded NIAC Phase I award titled “On-Orbit, Collision-Free Mapping of Small Orbital Debris”. Sub-cm orbital debris in LEO is not detectable or trackable using conventional technologies and poses a major hazard to crewed and un-crewed spacecraft. Orbital debris is a concern to NASA, as well as commercial and DoD satellite providers. In recent years, beginning with our NIAC Phase I award, we have been developing the idea that the sub-cm orbital debris environment may be monitored by detecting the plasma signature of the debris, rather than optical or radar observations of the debris itself. Our prior work has shown that sub-cm orbital debris may produce plasma solitons, which are a type of wave in the ionosphere plasma that do not disperse as readily as traditional waves. Debris may produce solitons that are co-located with the debris (called pinned solitons) or that travel ahead of the debris (called precursor solitons). We have developed computational models to predict the characteristics of the plasma solitons generated by a given piece of debris. These solitons may be detectable by 12U smallsats outfitted with multi-needle Langmuir probes.
In this Phase II NIAC award, we will address two key technical challenges that significantly effect the value of soliton-based debris detection: 1. Develop an algorithm to constrain debris size and speed based on observed soliton characteristics. Our prior investigations have produced predictions of soliton characteristics as a function of debris characteristics. However, the inverse problem is not analytically solvable. We will develop machine learning algorithms to address this challenge. 2. Evaluate the feasibility and value of detecting soliton velocity. Multiple observations of the same soliton may allow us to constrain the distance that the soliton has traveled from the debris. When combined with the other characteristics of the soliton and knowledge of the local plasma environment, back propagation of the soliton in plasma simulations may allow us to extract the position and velocity vectors of the debris. If it is possible to determine debris size, position and velocity from soliton observations, this would provide a breakthrough in space situational awareness for debris that is currently undetectable using conventional technology. However, even if only debris size and speed can be inferred from soliton detections, this technology is still a revolutionary improvement on existing methods of characterizing the debris flux, which provide data only on a multi-year cadence. This proposed investigation will answer key technological questions about how much information can be extracted from observed soliton signals and trade mission architectures for complexity and returned data value. Additionally, we will develop a roadmap to continue to advance this technology.
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Last Updated May 27, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
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By NASA
One half of NASA’s nearly complete Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope just passed a lengthy test to ensure it will function properly in the space environment. This milestone keeps Roman well on track for its target launch by May 2027, with the team aiming for as early as fall 2026.
This photo shows half of the NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman observatory — the outer barrel assembly, deployable aperture cover, and test solar arrays — fully deployed in a thermal chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for environmental testing. Credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde “This milestone tees us up to attach the flight solar array sun shield to the outer barrel assembly, and deployable aperture cover, which we’ll begin this month,” said Jack Marshall, who leads integration and testing for these elements at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Then we’ll complete remaining environmental tests for the flight assembly before moving on to connect Roman’s two major assemblies and run the full observatory through testing, and then we’ll be ready to launch!”
Prior to this thermal testing, technicians integrated Roman’s deployable aperture cover, a visor-like sunshade, to the outer barrel assembly, which will house the telescope and instruments, in January, then added test solar panels in March. They moved this whole structure into the Space Environment Simulator test chamber at NASA Goddard in April.
There, it was subjected to the hot and cold temperatures it will experience in space. Next, technicians will join Roman’s flight solar panels to the outer barrel assembly and sunshade. Then the structure will undergo a suite of assessments, including a shake test to ensure it can withstand the vibrations experienced during launch.
This photo captures the installation of the test solar panels for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which took place in March. One panel is lifted in the center of the frame on its way to being attached to the outer barrel assembly at right. The deployable aperture cover is stowed on the front of the outer barrel assembly, and the other half of the observatory — the spacecraft and integrated payload assembly, which consists of the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments — appears at the left of the photo.Credit: NASA/Jolearra Tshiteya Meanwhile, Roman’s other major portion — the spacecraft and integrated payload assembly, which consists of the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments — will undergo its own shake test, along with additional assessments. Technicians will install the lower instrument sun shade and put this half of the observatory through a thermal vacuum test in the Space Environment Simulator.
“The test verifies the instruments will remain at stable operating temperatures even while the Sun bakes one side of the observatory and the other is exposed to freezing conditions — all in a vacuum, where heat doesn’t flow as readily as it does through air,” said Jeremy Perkins, an astrophysicist serving as Roman’s observatory integration and test scientist at NASA Goddard. Keeping the instrument temperatures stable ensures their readings will be precise and reliable.
Technicians are on track to connect Roman’s two major parts in November, resulting in a complete observatory by the end of the year. Following final tests, Roman is expected to ship to the launch site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch preparations in summer 2026. Roman remains on schedule for launch by May 2027, with the team aiming for launch as early as fall 2026.
This infographic shows the two major subsystems that make up NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The subsystems are each undergoing testing prior to being joined together this fall.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit:
https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
301-286-1940
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Last Updated May 07, 2025 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By USH
Shape-Shifting Materials are advanced, adaptive materials capable of changing their physical form, embedding sensors and circuits directly into their structure, and even storing energy, all without traditional wiring. Lockheed Martin is at the forefront of developing these futuristic materials, raising questions about the possible extraterrestrial origin of this technology.
In a previous article, we discussed why suppressed exotic technologies are suddenly being disclosed. One company that frequently comes up in this conversation is Lockheed Martin, the American defense and aerospace giant known for pushing the boundaries of aviation and space innovation.
Imagine an aircraft that can grow its own skin, embed sensors into its body, store energy without wires, and even shift its shape mid-flight to adapt to changing conditions. This isn’t science fiction anymore, Lockheed Martin’s cutting-edge research is turning these futuristic concepts into reality.
But where is all this coming from?
The rapid development and creativity behind Lockheed Martin’s projects raise intriguing questions. Whistleblowers like David Grusch have recently alleged that Lockheed Martin has had access to recovered UFO materials for decades. Supporting this, Don Phillips, a former Lockheed engineer, confirmed years ago that exotic materials have been held and studied by the company since at least the 1950s.
This suggests that for over half a century, Lockheed has secretly been engaged in researching and reverse-engineering off-world technologies. It's possible that the breakthroughs we’re seeing today are the result of this hidden legacy. Ben Rich, former head of Lockheed’s Skunk Works division, famously hinted at this when he said, "We now have the technology to take ET home."
One particularly stunning development involves "smart" materials that behave almost like muscles, allowing aircraft structures to morph in real-time. These materials enable a craft to fine-tune its aerodynamics on the fly, adjusting instantly to turbulence, speed shifts, or mission-specific demands.
Lockheed’s innovations go even further. By embedding carbon nanotubes, extremely strong and highly conductive microscopic structure, directly into the material, they have created surfaces that can transfer information and power without traditional wiring. In these next-generation aircraft, the "skin" itself acts as the nervous system, the energy grid, and the sensor network all at once.
You can only imagine the kinds of technologies that have been developed over the years through the reverse engineering of exotic materials and recovered extraterrestrial craft. Yet, governments and space agencies remain tight-lipped about the existence of advanced alien civilizations, who likely introduced these techniques to Earth unintentionally.
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