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By NASA
Credit: NASA U.S. Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy joined President Donald J. Trump at the White House Wednesday for the historic signing of the Executive Order (EO), “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.”
“People think the Department of Transportation (DOT) is just planes, trains, and automobiles – but we have a critical role to play in unlocking the final frontier. By slashing red tape tying up spaceport construction, streamlining launch licenses so they can occur at scale, and creating high-level space positions in government, we can unleash the next wave of innovation. At NASA, this means continuing to work with commercial space companies and improving our spaceports’ ability to launch,” said Duffy. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we will enable American space competitiveness and superiority for decades to come. I look forward to leveraging my dual role at DOT and NASA to make this dream a reality.”
The EO will enable a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increase commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030.
“The FAA strongly supports President Trump’s Executive Order to make sure the U.S. leads the growing space economy and continues to lead the world in space transportation and innovation,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “This order safely removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate commercial space activities.”
Executive Order highlights:
The “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry” EO will help to:
Streamline commercial license and permit approvals for United States-based operators. This includes eliminating regulatory barriers and expediting environmental reviews for commercial launches and reentries. Cut unnecessary red tape to make it easier to build new spaceports in the U.S. where more commercial space operations will be launched from. To ensure this Next Generation Spaceport Infrastructure, duplicate review process will be eliminated, and environmental reviews will be expedited. Promote new space activities like in-space manufacturing and orbital refueling through a streamlined framework. Expediting and streamlining authorization for this Novel Space Activity is essential to American space competitiveness and superiority. Establish a new position in the Office of the Secretary with the responsibility of advising the Secretary of Transportation on fostering innovation and deregulation in the commercial space industry. The FAA’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation also will be a senior executive non-career employee, and the Office of Space Commerce will be elevated into the Office of the Commerce Secretary. Mitigate the risk of the United States losing its competitive edge in the commercial space industry by dismantling regulatory barriers that prevent rapid innovation and expansion. For more information about the EO, visit:
https://go.nasa.gov/3J8fMZ5
-end-
Bethany Stevens
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Aug 13, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
NASA Headquarters Commercial Space The Future of Commercial Space View the full article
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By NASA
National Institute of Aerospace NASA is calling on the next generation of collegiate innovators to imagine bold new concepts l pushing the boundaries of human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond through the 2026 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The RASC-AL challenge fuels innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping by bridging gaps through university engagement with NASA and industry. The competition is seeking U.S.-based undergraduate and graduate-level teams and their faculty advisors to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon and Mars. This year’s themes range from developing systems and technologies to support exploration of the lunar surface, to enhancing humanity’s ability to operate and return data from the surface of Mars.
Award: $112,000 in total prizes
Open Date: August 13, 2025
Close Date: February 23, 2026
For more information, visit: https://rascal.nianet.org/
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By NASA
Dr. Compton J. Tucker – a senior researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) – joins 149 newly elected members to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) – see Photo. NAS is one of the highest honors in American science. Compton gave a virtual presentation at GSFC on July 21, 2025, in which he showed highlights from his 50 years of research and reflected on the honor of being selected as an NAS fellow. He admitted that he was surprised upon learning of his election in April 2025 – despite his prestigious career.
Photo 1. Compton Tucker uses satellites to address global environmental challenges. Photo credit: Colorado State University In some ways this award brings Compton’s career full circle. He first came to GSFC as a NAS postdoc in 1975 after having earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree at Colorado State University (CSU) in 1969. He followed with his Master’s of Science degree and Ph.D. from CSU’s College of Forestry in 1973 and 1975 respectively. Two years later, he joined NASA as a civil servant. After a prestigious 48 years of public service, Compton has decided to retire in March 2025.
Compton is a well-known pioneer in the field of satellite-based environmental analysis, using data from various U.S. Geological Survey–NASA Landsat missions and from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument, the prototype of which launched aboard the Television Infrared Observation Satellite–N (TIROS-N) in 1978, with launches continuing on NOAA and European polar orbiting satellites throughout the next 40 years. The last two AVHRR instruments, which launched on the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ (EUMETSAT) Meteorological Operational satellites (METOP–B and -C) in 2012 and 2018 respectively, are still operational today.
Photo 2. Earth scientist Compton Tucker, who has studied remote sensing of vegetation at NASA Goddard for 50 years, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Photo credit: Compton Tucker In his GSFC presentation, Compton described how, in the course of doing their research, he and his colleague(s) realized the original plans for AVHRR resulted in Channel 1 and 2 overlapping one another. In short, he explained that his input helped persuade NOAA management to change the design for Channel 1 of AVHRR – beginning with NOAA-7. It is fair to say that this change had a lasting impact, with 16 more AVHRR instruments (with slight modifications over time) launched over the next four decades.
Compton’s research has focused on global photosynthesis on land (e.g., grass-dominated savannas), determined land cover (i.e., forest fragmentation, deforestation, and forest condition), monitored droughts and food security, and evaluated ecologically coupled disease outbreaks. From 2005 to 2010, he was the co-chair of two Interagency Working Groups for Observations and Land Use and Land Cover Change. Compton was active in NASA’s Space Archaeology Program, participating in ground-based radar and magnetic surveys in Turkey, particularly at Troy, the Granicus River Valley, and Gordion. Over the course of his 50-year career, he has authored or co-authored more than 400 scholarly articles that have appeared in scientific journals – and in his presentation he hinted that more might be in store after retirement.
Compton has received numerous scientific awards and honors. He was elected to a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2009 and to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015. He received the Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service (2017), the Vega Medal from the Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography (2014), the Galathea Medal from the Royal Danish Geographical Society (2004), the William T. Pecora Award from the U.S. Geological Survey (1997), the Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement from the National Air and Space Museum (1993), the Henry Shaw Medal from the Missouri Botanical Garden (1992), and the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA (1987).
Compton enjoyed sharing his knowledge with the next generation of scientists. He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland (1994–2024) and a consulting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology (2005–2024).
Congratulations to Compton on earning this prestigious – and well-earned – recognition from NAS. Best wishes to him in whatever is next on his journey.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and – with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine – provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Science Hubble Space Telescope NASA’s Hubble Uncovers Rare… 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 AI and Hubble Science 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 5 min read
NASA’s Hubble Uncovers Rare White Dwarf Merger Remnant
This is an illustration of a white dwarf star merging into a red giant star. A bow shock forms as the dwarf plunges through the star’s outer atmosphere. The passage strips down the white dwarf’s outer layers, exposing an interior carbon core. Artwork: NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI) An international team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic rarity: an ultra-massive white dwarf star resulting from a white dwarf merging with another star, rather than through the evolution of a single star. This discovery, made by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope’s sensitive ultraviolet observations, suggests these rare white dwarfs may be more common than previously suspected.
“It’s a discovery that underlines things may be different from what they appear to us at first glance,” said the principal investigator of the Hubble program, Boris Gaensicke, of the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. “Until now, this appeared as a normal white dwarf, but Hubble’s ultraviolet vision revealed that it had a very different history from what we would have guessed.”
A white dwarf is a dense object with the same diameter as Earth, and represents the end state for stars that are not massive enough to explode as core-collapse supernovae. Our Sun will become a white dwarf in about 5 billion years.
In theory, a white dwarf can have a mass of up to 1.4 times that of the Sun, but white dwarfs heavier than the Sun are rare. These objects, which astronomers call ultra-massive white dwarfs, can form either through the evolution of a single massive star or through the merger of a white dwarf with another star, such as a binary companion.
This new discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, marks the first time that a white dwarf born from colliding stars has been identified by its ultraviolet spectrum. Prior to this study, six white dwarf merger products were discovered via carbon lines in their visible-light spectra. All seven of these are part of a larger group that were found to be bluer than expected for their masses and ages from a study with ESA’s Gaia mission in 2019, with the evidence of mergers providing new insights into their formation history.
Astronomers used Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to investigate a white dwarf called WD 0525+526. Located 128 light-years away, it is 20% more massive than the Sun. In visible light, the spectrum of WD 0525+526’s atmosphere resembled that of a typical white dwarf. However, Hubble’s ultraviolet spectrum revealed something unusual: evidence of carbon in the white dwarf’s atmosphere.
White dwarfs that form through the evolution of a single star have atmospheres composed of hydrogen and helium. The core of the white dwarf is typically composed mostly of carbon and oxygen or oxygen and neon, but a thick atmosphere usually prevents these elements from appearing in the white dwarf’s spectrum.
When carbon appears in the spectrum of a white dwarf, it can signal a more violent origin than the typical single-star scenario: the collision of two white dwarfs, or of a white dwarf and a subgiant star. Such a collision can burn away the hydrogen and helium atmospheres of the colliding stars, leaving behind a scant layer of hydrogen and helium around the merger remnant that allows carbon from the white dwarf’s core to float upward, where it can be detected.
WD 0525+526 is remarkable even within the small group of white dwarfs known to be the product of merging stars. With a temperature of almost 21,000 kelvins (37,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and a mass of 1.2 solar masses, WD 0525+526 is hotter and more massive than the other white dwarfs in this group.
WD 0525+526’s extreme temperature posed something of a mystery for the team. For cooler white dwarfs, such as the six previously discovered merger products, a process called convection can mix carbon into the thin hydrogen-helium atmosphere. WD 0525+526 is too hot for convection to take place, however. Instead, the team determined a more subtle process called semi-convection brings a small amount of carbon up into WD 0525+526’s atmosphere. WD 0525+526 has the smallest amount of atmospheric carbon of any white dwarf known to result from a merger, about 100,000 times less than other merger remnants.
The high temperature and low carbon abundance mean that identifying this white dwarf as the product of a merger would have been impossible without Hubble’s sensitivity to ultraviolet light. Spectral lines from elements heavier than helium, like carbon, become fainter at visible wavelengths for hotter white dwarfs, but these spectral signals remain bright in the ultraviolet, where Hubble is uniquely positioned to spot them.
“Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph is the only instrument that can obtain the superb quality ultraviolet spectroscopy that was required to detect the carbon in the atmosphere of this white dwarf,” said study lead Snehalata Sahu from the University of Warwick.
Because WD 0525+526’s origin was revealed only once astronomers glimpsed its ultraviolet spectrum, it’s likely that other seemingly “normal” white dwarfs are actually the result of cosmic collisions — a possibility the team is excited to explore in the future.
“We would like to extend our research on this topic by exploring how common carbon white dwarfs are among similar white dwarfs, and how many stellar mergers are hiding among the normal white dwarf family,” said study co-leader Antoine Bedrad from the University of Warwick. “That will be an important contribution to our understanding of white dwarf binaries, and the pathways to supernova explosions.”
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
To learn more about Hubble, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/hubble
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Related Images & Videos
White Dwarf Merger Illustration
This is an illustration of a white dwarf star merging into a red giant star. A bow shock forms as the dwarf plunges through the star’s outer atmosphere. The passage strips down the white dwarf’s outer layers, exposing an interior carbon core.
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Last Updated Aug 13, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Bethany Downer
ESA/Hubble
Garching, Germany
Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Stars The Universe White Dwarfs
Related Links and Documents
Science Paper: A hot white dwarf merger remnant revealed by an ultraviolet detection of carbon, PDF (23.45 MB)
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By NASA
NASA Glenn Research Center High School Engineering Institute participants, left to right: Evan Ricchetti, Edan Liahovetsky, and Doris Chen, prepare to add weights to their rover to test the effectiveness of their wheel grouser designs on Friday, July 18, 2025. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis This summer, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland hosted the NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute, a free, work-based learning experience designed to prepare rising high school juniors and seniors for careers in the aerospace workforce.
“The institute immerses students in NASA’s work, providing essential career readiness tools for future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-focused academic and professional pursuits,” said Jerry Voltz of NASA Glenn’s Office of STEM Engagement.
Throughout the five-day sessions (offered three separate weeks in July), students used authentic NASA mission content and collaborated with Glenn’s technical experts. They gained a deeper understanding of the engineering design process, developed practical engineering solutions to real-world challenges, and tested prototypes to address key mission areas such as:
Acoustic dampening: How can we reduce noise pollution from jet engines? Power management and distribution: How can we develop a smart power system for future space stations? Simulated lunar operations: Can we invent tires that don’t use air? NASA Glenn Research Center High School Engineering Institute participants, left to right: Adriana Pudloski, Anadavel Sakthi, Aditya Rohatgi, and Alexa Apshago, make modifications to the control system program for their rover on Friday, July 18, 2025. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis Voltz said he hoped students left the program with three key takeaways: a deeper curiosity and excitement for STEM careers, firsthand insight into how cutting-edge technology developed in Cleveland contributes to NASA’s most prominent missions, and most importantly, a feeling of empowerment gained from engaging with some of NASA’s brightest minds in the field.
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