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Thousands of years ago, a space rock hit what is now China, leaving a bowl-shaped crater some 900 meters wide

Lone star tick bites are the most common cause of alpha-gal syndrome, which causes severe allergic reactions to red meat

This image shows two massive galaxy clusters. The vast number of galaxies and foreground stars in the image were captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light. Glowing, hot X-rays captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory appear in pink. The blue represents the dark matter, which was precisely mapped by researchers with Webb’s detailed imaging.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC

This image released on June 30, 2025, combines data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to visualize dark matter. Researchers used Webb’s observations to carefully measure the mass of the galaxy clusters shown here as well as the collective light emitted by stars that are no longer bound to individual galaxies.

Learn more.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC

This image released on June 30, 2025, combines data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to visualize dark matter. Researchers used Webb’s observations to carefully measure the mass of the galaxy clusters shown here as well as the collective light emitted by stars that are no longer bound to individual galaxies.

Learn more.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC

Artistic rendering of the High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking protocol being used on the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to transfer radio and optical communications between Earth and space. Credit: NASA 

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has earned 2025 R&D 100 Awards for developing a system that delivers high-speed internet for space and co-inventing technology for a new class of soft magnetic nanocrystalline materials designed to operate at extreme temperatures. This brings NASA Glenn’s total to 130 R&D 100 Awards. 

High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking  

NASA Glenn’s Daniel Raible and Rachel Dudukovich led their team of engineers to create High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking  (HDTN), a cutting-edge software solution designed to revolutionize data streaming and communication in space. HDTN enables reliable, high-speed transmission of data between space and Earth — even under the extreme conditions of space — minimizing loss and system delay. 

High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking team photo, left to right: Tad Kollar, Eric Brace, Brian Tomko, José Lombay-González, Nadia Kortas, Daniel Raible, John Nowakowski, Shaun McKeehan, Ethan Schweinsberg, Prash Choksi, and Rachel Dudukovich. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis 

“The HDTN software protocol allows faster, automated, and seamless data transfer between spacecraft, even across communication systems operating on different link speeds,” Raible said. “It’s up to 10 times faster than current delay-tolerant networking (DTN).” 

This advanced technology has far-reaching implications beyond NASA. With its open-source code, HDTN paves the way for collaboration, innovation, and adoption across the rapidly expanding commercial space industry, offering near real-time communication capabilities. 

Looking ahead, HDTN could form the foundation of a solar system-wide internet, supporting data exchange between Earth, spacecraft, and even future missions involving human travel to the Moon and Mars. 

VulcanAlloy 

In a project led by the University of Pittsburgh, researchers at NASA Glenn, including Nick Bruno, Grant Feichter, Vladimir Keylin, Alex Leary, and Ron Noebe, partnered with CorePower Magnetics to develop VulcanAlloy — a breakthrough soft magnetic nanocrystalline material. 

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland tested high-temperature inductors using VulcanAlloy technology in the NASA Glenn Extreme Environments Rig, which simulates the conditions on Venus’ surface, on May 13, 2025. Credit: NASA 

VulcanAlloy, developed under NASA’s High Operating Temperature Technology Program using processing capability established by the Advanced Air Transport Technology project, operates above 500°C, far beyond the limits of conventional soft magnetic materials. Its nano-engineered structure maintains efficiency at high temperatures and frequencies. 

With adjustable magnetic properties, it can replace multiple materials in components like inductors, transformers, motors, and sensors while reducing the need for bulky cooling systems — ideal for extreme environments. 

Raytheon has tested VulcanAlloy cores, highlighting their potential in electrified aircraft, defense, and aerospace systems. 

This innovation also promises major impact in electric vehicles, data centers, microgrids, and energy systems, where smaller, lighter, and more efficient components are key to advancing next-generation power electronics. 

The R&D 100 Awards, a worldwide science and innovation competition, received entries from organizations around the world. Now in its 63rd year, this year’s judging panel included industry professionals from across the globe who evaluated breakthrough innovations in technology and science. 

Return to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read NASA Glenn Reinforces Role in Aerospace Innovation During Ohio Space Week   Article 2 months ago 3 min read NASA Glenn’s AeroSpace Frontiers Newsletter Takes a Bow Article 2 months ago 1 min read Glenn Highlights Space Exploration at Minnesota State Fair  Article 2 months ago

Artistic rendering of the High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking protocol being used on the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to transfer radio and optical communications between Earth and space. Credit: NASA 

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has earned 2025 R&D 100 Awards for developing a system that delivers high-speed internet for space and co-inventing technology for a new class of soft magnetic nanocrystalline materials designed to operate at extreme temperatures. This brings NASA Glenn’s total to 130 R&D 100 Awards. 

High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking  

NASA Glenn’s Daniel Raible and Rachel Dudukovich led their team of engineers to create High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking  (HDTN), a cutting-edge software solution designed to revolutionize data streaming and communication in space. HDTN enables reliable, high-speed transmission of data between space and Earth — even under the extreme conditions of space — minimizing loss and system delay. 

High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking team photo, left to right: Tad Kollar, Eric Brace, Brian Tomko, José Lombay-González, Nadia Kortas, Daniel Raible, John Nowakowski, Shaun McKeehan, Ethan Schweinsberg, Prash Choksi, and Rachel Dudukovich. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis 

“The HDTN software protocol allows faster, automated, and seamless data transfer between spacecraft, even across communication systems operating on different link speeds,” Raible said. “It’s up to 10 times faster than current delay-tolerant networking (DTN).” 

This advanced technology has far-reaching implications beyond NASA. With its open-source code, HDTN paves the way for collaboration, innovation, and adoption across the rapidly expanding commercial space industry, offering near real-time communication capabilities. 

Looking ahead, HDTN could form the foundation of a solar system-wide internet, supporting data exchange between Earth, spacecraft, and even future missions involving human travel to the Moon and Mars. 

VulcanAlloy 

In a project led by the University of Pittsburgh, researchers at NASA Glenn, including Nick Bruno, Grant Feichter, Vladimir Keylin, Alex Leary, and Ron Noebe, partnered with CorePower Magnetics to develop VulcanAlloy — a breakthrough soft magnetic nanocrystalline material. 

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland tested high-temperature inductors using VulcanAlloy technology in the NASA Glenn Extreme Environments Rig, which simulates the conditions on Venus’ surface, on May 13, 2025. Credit: NASA 

VulcanAlloy, developed under NASA’s High Operating Temperature Technology Program using processing capability established by the Advanced Air Transport Technology project, operates above 500°C, far beyond the limits of conventional soft magnetic materials. Its nano-engineered structure maintains efficiency at high temperatures and frequencies. 

With adjustable magnetic properties, it can replace multiple materials in components like inductors, transformers, motors, and sensors while reducing the need for bulky cooling systems — ideal for extreme environments. 

Raytheon has tested VulcanAlloy cores, highlighting their potential in electrified aircraft, defense, and aerospace systems. 

This innovation also promises major impact in electric vehicles, data centers, microgrids, and energy systems, where smaller, lighter, and more efficient components are key to advancing next-generation power electronics. 

The R&D 100 Awards, a worldwide science and innovation competition, received entries from organizations around the world. Now in its 63rd year, this year’s judging panel included industry professionals from across the globe who evaluated breakthrough innovations in technology and science. 

Return to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read NASA Glenn Reinforces Role in Aerospace Innovation During Ohio Space Week   Article 2 months ago 3 min read NASA Glenn’s AeroSpace Frontiers Newsletter Takes a Bow Article 2 months ago 1 min read Glenn Highlights Space Exploration at Minnesota State Fair  Article 2 months ago

Astronomers have used machine learning to discover seven new quasar lens systems, arrangements where a quasar's host galaxy bends light from a more distant galaxy behind it. The find more than doubles the number of known candidates and demonstrates how artificial intelligence can unearth astronomical needles in haystacks containing hundreds of thousands of objects. A team of researchers are training neural networks on synthetic data to revolutionising the search for these rare natural lenses.

Scientists have discovered a 900 metre wide impact crater in southern China, the largest modern meteorite scar on Earth. The Jinlin crater triples the size of the previous record holder and suggests that recent extraterrestrial impacts have been far more dramatic than anyone realised.

A new study of supernovae suggests that the standard model of cosmology isn't quite right. If the data holds up, what other cosmological models might work better?

Mice with the same genetic variant that contributes towards red hair in people were slower to recover from wounds than their black-haired counterparts

Mice with the same genetic variant that contributes towards red hair in people were slower to recover from wounds than their black-haired counterparts

The same region on the sun that’s responsible for this week’s stunning auroral display just erupted in another powerful solar flare early on Friday morning

NASA’s presumptive next leader wants to outsource more of the space agency’s interplanetary science. The newly launched ESCAPADE mission to Mars offers a sanity check for those plans

RNA from an exceptionally well preserved woolly mammoth gives us a window on gene activity in an animal that died nearly 40,000 years ago

RNA from an exceptionally well preserved woolly mammoth gives us a window on gene activity in an animal that died nearly 40,000 years ago

RNA has been extracted from an ancient woolly mammoth, providing insight into its last moments on Earth

The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft was too damaged to bring its crew home from China’s Tiangong space station. Those astronauts have now returned via the Shenzhou 21 craft, leaving its crew without a return ride until the nation sends a new spacecraft to the station

A galaxy in a practically empty area of the universe seems to be impossibly forming stars, and new observations have only deepened the puzzle

A galaxy in a practically empty area of the universe seems to be impossibly forming stars, and new observations have only deepened the puzzle