Community

NASA highlights lessons learned from Swift boost mission A commercial mission to boost NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory ended without raising the spacecraft's orbit, but the agency and Katalyst Space gained experience that will benefit future in-space servicing programs. phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-highlights-lessons-swift-boost.html

NASA announces new missions for Boeing Starliner spacecraft NASA announced Monday that it is planning new missions using Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, the first since a troubled test flight left two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station for months. phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-missions-boeing-starliner-spacecraft.html

Crew-13 Rocket and Spacecraft at Launch Pad Ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission launch, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are vertical at the launch pad of Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in this Sept. 27, 2026, photo. NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey […] www.nasa.gov/image-article/crew-13-rocket-and-spacecraft-at-launch-pad/

NASA Opens Applications for Second Season of ORBIT Student Challenge Following a successful inaugural year of ingenuity and career building, NASA ORBIT (Opportunities in Research, Business, Innovation, and Technology) has officially returned for a second season to bring university and college student innovation to the forefront of Earth technology development and deep-space exploration. Registration for the 2026–2027 challenge is open through Monday, Nov. 16,… www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/research-program-for-students/

NASA ramps up support to get Boeing's astronaut capsule flying after Butch and Suni fiasco NASA is throwing extra support and money behind Boeing's troubled astronaut capsule to get it fixed and flying again as soon as possible. phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-ramps-boeing-astronaut-capsule.html

NSTGRO 2026 NSTGRO Homepage Omar AlyousefUniversity Of MemphisPolycatenated Architected Materials (PAM) for Origami-Inspired Space Docking Ports Cade ArmstrongUniversity Of Texas at AustinIntelligent Multi-Agent Constellations for Cooperative Cislunar Operations Laurel BarnettHarvard UniversityPhotonic SNSPD Readout and Feed Forward System for Improved Optical Communication Capabilities Katie BarcakWilliam… www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/space-tech-research-grants/nstgro/nstgro-2026/

Under the Microscope: NASA-Made Material for Moon Manufacturing Photos taken using a microscope reveal the colorful, kaleidoscope-like crystal structure of a new NASA-made material that could be used for manufacturing during future space missions. Developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the material could be created directly on the Moon or Mars, allowing NASA to pack fewer supplies — saving weight and […] www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-made-material-moon-manufacturing/

How NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will open a window into the Milky Way Look up at the night sky with the naked eye and it may seem like it rarely changes. Yet the universe is in constant flux. Stars drift through space, orbiting the center of the Milky Way as planets orbit them. They rotate, showing spots on their surfaces and sometimes producing violent outbursts that affect planetary atmospheres much like solar storms produce auroras on Earth. phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-nancy-grace-roman-space.html

Diving into an out-of-sync galaxy Galaxies are like snowflakes: No two are exactly alike, even the spirals. The Hubble Space Telescope took a close look at the distant spiral NGC 4693 and found intriguing hints about its past. For one thing, this member of the Virgo Cluster seems to have a central region that's rotating out of sync with its spiral arms and bulge. Those arms don't seem to connect to the central region, and the… phys.org/news/2026-09-sync-galaxy.html

The ice blasting from Saturn's moon Enceladus is stranger than scientists realized Enceladus may naturally separate and concentrate chemicals from its hidden ocean as droplets slowly freeze and shatter on their way into space. The process could explain Cassini’s puzzling ice-grain chemistry while giving future spacecraft a powerful advantage in searching for organic compounds and clues to life. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260929053528.htm

OpenAI shelves new AI model release over safety concerns The ChatGPT maker halted plans for its next-generation model after internal tests found it fell short of safety and alignment standards, including concerns over oversight and disclosure of its actions. kathmandupost.com/science-technology/2026/09/29/openai-shelves-new-ai-model-release-over-safety-concerns

Earth’s day isn’t exactly 24 hours. The reason may lie deep inside the planet Scientists may have solved why the length of Earth’s day changes by a few milliseconds over decades. Subtle shifts in the inner core appear to tug on the mantle, revealing a surprisingly dynamic world thousands of kilometers beneath our feet. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100540.htm

NASA’s Crew-13 could go from Florida to the ISS in under 9 hours NASA and SpaceX could launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on October 1, with the Dragon spacecraft reaching orbiting outpost less than nine hours after liftoff. Crew-13 will join Expedition 75 after teams complete a final round of intensive launch-readiness checks. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100534.htm

APOD: 2026 September 29 – Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 29 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Sh2-188: The Shrimp […] science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-september-29-sh2-188-the-shrimp-nebula/

Fire Cloud with a Pileus on Top Scientists captured rare observations of an ephemeral pileus cloud hovering over a smoke-infused cloud that rose above a wildfire in Montana. science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/fire-cloud-with-a-pileus-on-top/

This suitcase-sized spacecraft could hear the universe before stars existed CosmoCube will use the far side of the Moon as a shield from Earth’s radio noise to search for a faint signal from the universe before the first stars existed. The suitcase-sized satellite could reveal how the cosmic dark ages ended and how dark matter helped build the first galaxies. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225034.htm

Scientists expected these Galápagos sea turtles to wander. They stayed put Yellow-morph green sea turtles in the Galápagos surprised scientists by staying remarkably close to home instead of making the long journeys typically associated with sea turtles. Satellite tracking showed that none left the marine reserve during the study, revealing just how important the islands’ coastal habitats may be to their survival. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225032.htm

Mars Has Its Charmes Written by Athanasios (Thanos) Klidaras, Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University Sept. 21, 2026 After a long hiatus, the Perseverance rover updates page is back. A lot has happened on Mars in the meantime, and with regular updates now resuming, there is plenty to catch up on — Perseverance has been busy. The rover has spent […] science.nasa.gov/blog/mars-has-its-charmes/

October’s Night Sky Notes: Spooky Stargazing The Ghoul Located within the constellation Perseus lies a star called Algol, also known as ‘Demon Star’ or ‘The Ghoul’. You can spot this star during the autumn months, along with Cassiopeia and Andromeda in the northeastern sky, beginning after 9 PM. In Greek mythology, this star represents the ‘blinking eye’ of the gorgon Medusa. […] science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/spooky-stargazing/

Hydrogen's distant glow opens new way to investigate dark energy The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has shown for the first time that it can detect the faint glow of hydrogen gas from deep in the universe's past using only its own data. phys.org/news/2026-09-hydrogen-distant-dark-energy.html