Watch NASA astronaut Don Pettit and 2 cosmonauts return to Earth today

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Watch live! NASA astronaut Don Pettit and 2 cosmonauts return to Earth from ISS – YouTube Watch On NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two cosmonaut colleagues will return to Earth this evening (April 19), and you can watch their homecoming live. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Pettit, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) today at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT). It will touch down on the steppe of Kazakhstan about 3.5 hours later at around 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT and…

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Could Mars volcanoes have supported ancient life on the Red Planet? Well, maybe

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While most people searching for signs of alien life these days might have their eyes on the exoplanet K2-18b, one team of researchers is keeping their sights a little closer to home. Texas A&M researcher Michael Tice and a team of international scientists have revealed new clues about Mars’ potential to have supported life, thanks to data collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover. Since 2021, Perseverance has been exploring Mars’ Jezero Crater, using its mobile laboratory to support the work of scientists around the world. Tice and his team, in particular,…

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Bahamas puts SpaceX rocket landings on hold pending review: report

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Just months after SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 rocket in the Bahamas for the first time, the country has hit pause on future landings pending an environmental review, according to news wire reports. A top Bahamas government official announced on Tuesday (April 15) that the country was suspending future SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landings until a “full environmental assessment” is complete, Reuters reported. “No further clearances will be granted until a full environmental assessment is reviewed,” Reuters quoted Bahamian Director of Communications Latrae Rahming as writing on the social media…

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Hubble Spies Cosmic Pillar in Eagle Nebula

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ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll This newly reprocessed image released on April 18, 2025, provides a new view of an enormous, 9.5-light-year-tall pillar of cold gas and dust. Despite its size, it’s just one small piece of the greater Eagle Nebula, also called Messier 16. The Eagle Nebula is one of many nebulae in the Milky Way that are known for their sculpted, dusty clouds. Nebulae take on these fantastic shapes when exposed to powerful radiation and winds from infant stars. Regions with denser gas are more able to withstand…

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NASA to Cover US Spacewalk 93, Hold Preview News Conference

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NASA astronauts work to retrieve batteries and adapter plates from an external pallet during a spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station’s power storage capacity. Credit: NASA Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station, conducting U.S. spacewalk 93 on Thursday, May 1, to complete station upgrades. NASA will preview the upcoming spacewalk during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 24, on the agency’s website from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including…

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Early Career Faculty 2024

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Back to ECF Home Transformational Advanced Energetic Propulsion Omid BeikColorado School of MinesDevelopment of a MW-Scale High-Voltage Multiphase Dual-Rotor Generator and Rectifier for a PMAD in an NEP System Ognjen IlicUniversity of MinnesotaConcept Demonstration of Directed Energy Propulsion with Metasurface Lightsails Kenshiro OguriPurdue UniversityOrigami-inspired Diffractive Sail for Directed Energy Propulsion Thomas UnderwoodUniversity of Texas, AustinStabilized Z-Pinch Fusion Driven Electromagnetic Propulsion Power Systems to Enable Small System Operations in Permanently Shadowed Lunar Regions Manan AryaStanford UniversityLightweight Deployable Solar Reflectors Jessica…

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Developing Oxychalcogenide Membranes for Superconducting Power Transmission

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Yang.pdf Shuolong Yang University of Chicago This effort will leverage the latest developments in superconductors to build a power transmission cable that can operate in the extreme cold temperatures found on the Moon with very low electrical losses. The team will use novel manufacturing techniques to grow alternating layers of FeSe SrTiO3 films onto a substrate and the resulting, superconducting tape can be fashioned into electrical transmission lines. The project will culminate with a demonstration 1-meter-long…

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Power on the Dark Side: Stimulus-Responsive Adsorbents for Low-Energy Controlled Storage and Delivery of Low Boiling Fuels to Mobile Assets in Permanently Shaded Regions

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart McGuirk.pdf Christopher McGuirk Colorado School of Mines This project will investigate and develop improved storage methods for the fuels needed to generate electrical power in places where sunlight is not available. The effort will focus on particularly tailored materials called Metal Oxide Frameworks, or MOFs, that can be used to store methane and oxygen. The methane and oxygen can be reacted in a solid oxide fuel cell to generate electricity, and storing them in a MOF…

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Piezoelectric-Based Power Conversion for Lunar Surface Systems

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Boles.pdf Jessica Boles University of California, Berkeley This project will develop piezoelectric-based power conversion for small power systems on the lunar surface. These piezoelectric systems can potentially offer high power density to significantly reduce size, weight, and cost. They can also offer high efficiency as well as resistance to the extreme lunar environment with its expected prolonged exposure to extreme cold and radiation. The effort will build and test prototype piezoelectric DC-to-DC power converters and DC-to-DC…

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Lightweight Deployable Solar Reflectors

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) ECF 2024 Quadchart Arya.pdf Manan Arya Stanford University This grant will design and develop lightweight, low-cost modular solar reflectors that can be stowed for transport in a compact volume. These reflectors can potentially be used to reflect and concentrate sunlight into a permanently shadowed area of the Moon where it could power photovoltaics. These reflectors could also potentially be used for concentrated photovoltaics for deep-space missions, solar thermal propulsion, or for thermal mining. The team will use recently developed…

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