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Addressing Key Challenges To Mapping Sub-cm Orbital Debris in LEO via Plasma Soliton Detection
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of Gravity Poppers: Hopping Probes for the Interior Mapping of Small Solar System Bodies concept.NASA/Benjamin Hockman Benjamin Hockman
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The goal of this effort is to develop a robust and affordable mission architecture that enables the gravimetric density reconstruction of small body interiors to unprecedented precision. Our architecture relies on the novel concept of “Gravity Poppers,” which are small, minimalistic probes that are deployed to the surface of a small body and periodically “pop” so as to perpetuate a random hopping motion around the body. By tracking a large swarm of poppers from orbit, a mother spacecraft can precisely estimate their trajectories and continuously refine a high-resolution map of the body’s gravity field, and thus, its internal mass distribution. Hopping probes are also equipped with minimalistic in-situ sensors to measure the surface temperature (when landed) and strength (when bouncing) in order to complement the gravity field and build a more accurate picture of the interior. The Phase I study focused on feasibility assessment of three core technologies that enable such a mission: (1) the mechanical design of hopping probes to be small, simple, robust, and “visible” to a distant spacecraft, (2) the tracking strategy for detecting and estimating the trajectories of a large number of ballistic probes, and (3) the algorithmic framework by which such measurements can be used to iteratively refine a gravity model of the body. The key finding was that the concept is feasible, and demonstrated to have the potential to resolve extremely accurate gravity models, allowing scientists to localize density anomalies such as “weighing” large boulders on the surface. This Phase II Proposal aims to further develop these three core technologies through continued mission trade studies and sensitivity analysis, case studies for simulated missions, and hardware prototypes demonstrating both hopping behavior and tracking performance.
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Last Updated May 27, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
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By Space Force
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, alongside Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin and Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee
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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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Article 10 months ago View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes
Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí.
For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions.
Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions. A system astronomers have nicknamed Ansky is the eighth QPE source discovered, and it produces the most energetic outbursts seen to date. Ansky also sets records in terms of timing and duration, with eruptions every 4.5 days or so that last approximately 1.5 days.
“These QPEs are mysterious and intensely interesting phenomena,” said Joheen Chakraborty, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “One of the most intriguing aspects is their quasi-periodic nature. We’re still developing the methodologies and frameworks we need to understand what causes QPEs, and Ansky’s unusual properties are helping us improve those tools.”
Watch how astronomers used data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) to study a mysterious cosmic phenomenon called a quasi-periodic eruption, or QPE.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Ansky’s name comes from ZTF19acnskyy, the moniker of a visible-light outburst seen in 2019. It was located in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. This event was the first indication that something unusual might be happening.
A paper about Ansky, led by Chakraborty, was published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal.
A leading theory suggests that QPEs occur in systems where a relatively low-mass object passes through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black hole that holds hundreds of thousands to billions of times the Sun’s mass.
When the lower-mass object punches through the disk, its passage drives out expanding clouds of hot gas that we observe as QPEs in X-rays.
Scientists think the eruptions’ quasi-periodicity occurs because the smaller object’s orbit is not perfectly circular and spirals toward the black hole over time. Also, the extreme gravity close to the black hole warps the fabric of space-time, altering the object’s orbits so they don’t close on themselves with each cycle. Scientists’ current understanding suggests the eruptions repeat until the disk disappears or the orbiting object disintegrates, which may take up to a few years.
A system astronomers call Ansky, in the galaxy at the center of this image, is home to a recently discovered series of quasi-periodic eruptions. Sloan Digital Sky Survey “Ansky’s extreme properties may be due to the nature of the disk around its supermassive black hole,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal Research and Technology to Explore Supermassive Black Holes, the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, and University of Valparaíso in Chile. “In most QPE systems the supermassive black hole likely shreds a passing star, creating a small disk very close to itself. In Ansky’s case, we think the disk is much larger and can involve objects farther away, creating the longer timescales we observe.”
Hernández-García, in addition to being a co-author on Chakraborty’s paper, led the study that discovered Ansky’s QPEs, which was published in April in Nature Astronomy and used data from NICER, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton space telescope.
NICER’s position on the International Space Station allowed it to observe Ansky about 16 times every day from May to July 2024. The frequency of the observations was critical in detecting the X-ray fluctuations that revealed Ansky produces QPEs.
Chakraborty’s team used data from NICER and XMM-Newton to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the observed QPEs in unprecedented detail by studying variations in X-ray intensity during the rise and fall of each eruption.
The researchers found that each impact resulted in about a Jupiter’s worth of mass reaching expansion velocities around 15% of the speed of light.
The NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope is reflected on NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Nick Hague’s spacesuit helmet visor in this high-flying “space-selfie” taken during a spacewalk on Jan. 16, 2025. NASA/Nick Hague The NICER telescope’s ability to frequently observe Ansky from the space station and its unique measurement capabilities also made it possible for the team to measure the size and temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as it expanded.
“All NICER’s Ansky observations used in these papers were collected after the instrument experienced a ‘light leak’ in May 2023,” said Zaven Arzoumanian, the mission’s science lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Even though the leak – which was patched in January – affected the telescope’s observing strategy, NICER was still able to make vital contributions to time domain astronomy, or the study of changes in the cosmos on timescales we can see.”
After the repair, NICER continued observing Ansky to explore how the outbursts have evolved over time. A paper about these results, led by Hernández-García and co-authored by Chakraborty, is under review.
Observational studies of QPEs like Chakraborty’s will also play a key role in preparing the science community for a new era of multimessenger astronomy, which combines measurements using light, elementary particles, and space-time ripples called gravitational waves to better understand objects and events in the universe.
One goal of ESA’s future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, in which NASA is a partner, is to study extreme mass-ratio inspirals — or systems where a low-mass object orbits a much more massive one, like Ansky. These systems should emit gravitational waves that are not observable with current facilities. Electromagnetic studies of QPEs will help improve models of those systems ahead of LISA’s anticipated launch in the mid-2030s.
“We’re going to keep observing Ansky for as long as we can,” Chakraborty said. “We’re still in the infancy of understanding QPEs. It’s such an exciting time because there’s so much to learn.”
Download images and videos through NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Editor Jeanette Kazmierczak Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
The Universe Astrophysics Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) Science & Research Supermassive Black Holes X-ray Astronomy View the full article
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By NASA
6 min read
Quantum Sensing via Matter-Wave Interferometry Aboard the International Space Station
Future space missions could use quantum technologies to help us understand the physical laws that govern the universe, explore the composition of other planets and their moons, gain insights into unexplained cosmological phenomena, or monitor ice sheet thickness and the amount of water in underground aquafers on Earth.
Upgraded hardware being prepared at Jet Propulsion Lab for launch and install into the Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station. The Science Module in the background enables CAL researchers to conduct atom interferometry research in Earth’s orbit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL), a first-of-its-kind facility aboard the International Space Station, has performed a series of trailblazing experiments based on the quantum properties of ultracold atoms. The tool used to perform these experiments is called an atom interferometer, and it can precisely measure gravity, magnetic fields, and other forces.
Atom interferometers are currently being used on Earth to study the fundamental nature of gravity and are also being developed to aid aircraft and ship navigation, but use of an atom interferometer in space will enable innovative science capabilities.
Physicists have been eager to apply atom interferometry in space, both to enable new measurements for space science and to capitalize on the extended free-fall conditions found in space. This could enable researchers to achieve unprecedented performance from these quantum sensors.
These interferometers, however, require exquisitely sensitive equipment, and they were previously considered too fragile to function for extended periods without hands-on attention. The Cold Atom Lab, which is operated remotely from Earth, has now demonstrated that it is possible to conduct atom interferometry in space. The CAL Science Team has published two papers so far documenting these experimental milestones.
Depiction of the atom interferometer (AI) setup onboard the ISS in CAL (on the right), showing the interior components of the instrument, and the path of a retro-reflected laser beam (red) inside the vacuum system. The expanded image on the left shows the beam entering the vacuum chamber through a window and between pairs of traces on the atom chip, which are used to confine and cool the atoms to ultracold temperatures. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The results of the first study, published in the November 2023 issue of Nature, described the demonstration of simultaneous atom interferometry with both rubidium and potassium quantum gases for the first time in space. The dual-species atom interferometer not only exhibited robust and repeatable operation of atom interferometry in Earth orbit, but it also served as a pathfinder for future experiments that aim to use quantum gases to test the universality of free fall, a key tenet of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
In the second study, the results of which were featured in the August 2024 issue of Nature Communications, members of the science team used the CAL atom interferometer to measure subtle vibrations of the space station and to remotely measure the frequency of the atom interferometer laser— the first time ultra-cold atoms have been used to detect changes in the surrounding environment in space. This paper also reported on the demonstration of the wave-like nature of matter persisting for the longest ever freefall time (over a tenth of a second) in space.
“Reaching these milestones was incredibly challenging, and our success was not always a given,” said Jason Williams, the Cold Atom Lab project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It took dedication and a sense of adventure by the team to make this happen.”
Space-based sensors that can measure gravity with high precision have a wide range of potential applications. They could reveal the composition of planets and moons in our solar system, because different materials have different densities that create subtle variations in gravity.
The U.S.-German GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on) mission is currently collecting gravity measurements using classical sensors that detect slight changes in gravity to track the movement of water and ice on Earth. A future mission using atom interferometry could provide better precision and stability, revealing even more detail about surface mass changes.
Precise measurements of gravity could also offer insights into the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two major cosmological mysteries. Dark matter is an invisible substance that makes up about 27% of the universe, while the “regular” matter that composes planets, stars, and everything else we can see makes up only 5%. Dark energy makes up the remaining 68% of the universe and is the driver of the universe’s accelerating expansion.
“Atom interferometry could also be used to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity in new ways,” said University of Virginia professor Cass Sackett, a Cold Atom Lab principal investigator. “This is the basic theory explaining the large-scale structure of our universe, and we know that there are aspects of the theory that we don’t understand correctly. This technology may help us fill in those gaps and give us a more complete picture of the reality we inhabit.”
About the size of a minifridge, the Cold Atom Lab launched to the space station in 2018 with the goal of advancing quantum science by placing a long-term facility in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit. The lab cools atoms to almost absolute zero, or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273 degrees Celsius). At this temperature, some atoms can form a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter in which all atoms essentially share the same quantum identity. As a result, some of the atoms’ typically microscopic quantum properties become macroscopic, making them easier to study.
Quantum properties can sometimes cause atoms to act like solid objects and sometimes like waves. Scientists don’t yet entirely understand how the building blocks of matter can transition between such different physical behaviors, but they’re using quantum technology like what’s available on the Cold Atom Lab to seek answers.
In microgravity, Bose-Einstein condensates can reach colder temperatures and can exist for longer, giving scientists more opportunities to study them. The atom interferometer is among several tools in the CAL facility enabling precision measurements by harnessing the quantum nature of atoms.
Dual-species atom interferometry in space. (Left) Normalized population for ultracold gases of potassium (blue) and rubidium (red) in one of two output states following a simultaneous dual-species atom interferometry sequence. (Right) Correlations observed in the relative population of potassium and rubidium output states. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Due to its wave-like behavior, a single atom can simultaneously travel two physically separate paths. If gravity or other forces are acting on those waves, scientists can measure that influence by observing how the waves recombine and interact.
“I expect that space-based atom interferometry will lead to exciting new discoveries, fantastic quantum technologies impacting everyday life, and will transport us into a quantum future,” said Nick Bigelow, a professor at University of Rochester in New York and Cold Atom Lab principal investigator for a consortium of U.S. and German scientists who co-authored the studies cited above.
Designed and built at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cold Atom Lab is sponsored by the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the Agency’s headquarters in Washington DC and the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The work carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, was executed under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Learn more about Cold Atom Lab at https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/
Just how cold are the atoms in Cold Atom Lab? Find out at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7311
To learn more about the Cold Atom Lab’s recent upgrades visit https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/upgrading-the-space-stations-cold-atom-lab-with-mixed-reality and https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7660
Project Lead: Kamal Oudrhiri, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Sponsoring Organization: Biological and Physical Sciences Division (BPS)
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Related Terms
Technology Highlights Biological & Physical Sciences Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on) Science-enabling Technology View the full article
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