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A Male Birth Control Pill Moves to the Next Clinical Trial Stage
A new hormone-free birth control pill that reversibly stops sperm production has passed its first safety trial in humans, offering hope for more reversible contraceptive options.
MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 launch highlights
Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission – has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).
MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.
This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.
This real 'Eye of Sauron' spits out ghost particles in space. Here's what it looks like
The Lego Technic Mars Rover Perseverance is now one of its lowest-ever prices on Amazon, with almost 20% off
Live streaming the moon 13th August
MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 launch on Ariane 6
Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission – has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).
MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.
This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.
First MetOp-SG and Sentinel-5 launched
Ushering in a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit, the first in a new series of satellites, MetOp Second Generation, has been lofted into orbit aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. As part of this new satellite’s sophisticated instrument package is the new Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument, which is designed to deliver critical data on air pollutants, ozone and climate-related gases.
New Research Explores Venus’ Violent Past
Venus, often called Earth's twin, remains one of the most mysterious planets in our Solar System. While it's similar in size to Earth, Venus spins incredibly slowly and backwards compared to other planets. It also lacks a moon, unlike Earth and Mars. Now, new research explores whether a massive asteroid impact in Venus's early history could explain these puzzling characteristics.
Mixing Regolith With Polymer Saves Mass For 3D Printing
3D printing is going to be a critical technology in space exploration, both for its ability to create almost any object, but also because it can utilize in-situ resources, at least in part. However, the more of those space resources are used in a print, the more the mechanical properties change from that on Earth, leading to problems with tensile or compressive strength. But a new paper from researchers at Concordia University hit a new milestone of how much lunar regolith can be used in a mixed feedstock for additive manufacturing, making it possible to use even more locally sourced material, and saving more launch cost, than ever before.
Hubble Captures Stunning View of Third Interstellar Visitor
A mysterious visitor from another star system is putting on a spectacular show as it streaks through our Solar System, shedding tons of ancient dust and revealing secrets from the depths of interstellar space. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers have captured unprecedented details of 3I/ATLAS—only the third confirmed object from beyond our Solar System as it awakens under our Sun's warmth, offering a rare glimpse into alien worlds billions of kilometres away.
A 36 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole Detected Thanks To Gravitational Lensing
Astronomers from Brazil and the UK have detected what could be the most massive black hole ever found. It's about 36 billion solar masses, which is a stunning 10,000 times more massive than Sagittarius A*, the monstrous supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. This behemoth is about 5 billion light-years away.
This White Dwarf Merged With Another Star To Form An Ultra-Massive White Dwarf
White dwarfs are the stellar remnants left behind by stars after they run out of hydrogen and cease fusion. Only a small number of them are "high-mass white dwarfs" more massive than the Sun. New research indicates that these massive white dwarfs are the result of mergers.
See the August Perseids Battle the Waning Moon
It’s that time of year once again. August sees warm nights, with late summer campers out awaiting that ‘Old Faithful’ of annual meteor showers: the August Perseids. While 2025 also sees the shower peaking right around Full Moon, don’t despair; with a little bit of planning and patience, you can still catch this shower at its best.
DNA analysis reveals West African ancestry in early medieval England
DNA analysis reveals West African ancestry in early medieval England
How realistic is the xenomorph in 'Alien: Earth'? We asked a zoologist how its biology and lifecycle compare to real animals
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork
- Curiosity Home
- Science
- News and Features
- Multimedia
- Mars Missions
- Mars Home
2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image of the three intersecting ridges in front of it this weekend that make a sort of “peace sign” shape. Curiosity acquired the image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 8, 2025 — Sol 4623, or Martian day 4,623 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 06:20:38 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
We continue to progress through the boxwork structures, arriving today at the “peace sign” ridges we were aiming for in our last drive. We’re spending the first two sols of the weekend at this location, learning everything we can about the boxwork ridges all around us. Then we’re driving further along and spending our third sol at our next location doing a bit more untargeted science.
Our first sol includes three contact science targets, “Palmira,” “Casicasi,” and “Bococo,” which both MAHLI and APXS will be checking out nice and close. ChemCam is also using its LIBS laser to check out Bococo, and taking a mosaic of some more distant boxwork ridges. Not to be left out, Mastcam is taking a mosaic of the intersecting peace-sign-shaped ridges, which have been given the name “Ayopaya,” as well as another mosaic of the edge of one of the nearby ridges. The environmental science group (ENV) is also taking a dust-devil movie and a surpahorizon cloud movie.
On our second sol, ChemCam has another LIBS observation of “Britania.” Mastcam has some more mosaics, today looking back at our wheel tracks to see what we might have turned up on our drive, as well as out to the more distant ridges. We also have another cloud movie coinciding with imaging from above by the CaSSIS camera on board the Trace Gas Orbiter, trying to spot the same clouds from above and below. After our drive Curiosity gets to take a nice long snooze before waking up early for our typical weekend morning ENV block, which includes three different cloud observations (it’s still the cloudy season, after all!) and two observations to look at dust in the crater and in the sky above. Later on this sol ChemCam will use AEGIS to autonomously pick a LIBS target, we’ll have a 360-degree survey to try to catch dust devils. Finally, we’re setting our sights back on the clouds, using cloud shadows on Mount Sharp to estimate cloud altitudes.
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Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?
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Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?
Article
5 days ago
3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4622-4623: Kicking Off (Earth) Year 14 With an Investigation of Veins
Article
6 days ago
3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4618-4619: The Boxwork Structures Continue to Call to Us
Article
1 week ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork
- Curiosity Home
- Science
- News and Features
- Multimedia
- Mars Missions
- Mars Home
2 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image of the three intersecting ridges in front of it this weekend that make a sort of “peace sign” shape. Curiosity acquired the image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 8, 2025 — Sol 4623, or Martian day 4,623 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 06:20:38 UTC. NASA/JPL-CaltechWritten by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
We continue to progress through the boxwork structures, arriving today at the “peace sign” ridges we were aiming for in our last drive. We’re spending the first two sols of the weekend at this location, learning everything we can about the boxwork ridges all around us. Then we’re driving further along and spending our third sol at our next location doing a bit more untargeted science.
Our first sol includes three contact science targets, “Palmira,” “Casicasi,” and “Bococo,” which both MAHLI and APXS will be checking out nice and close. ChemCam is also using its LIBS laser to check out Bococo, and taking a mosaic of some more distant boxwork ridges. Not to be left out, Mastcam is taking a mosaic of the intersecting peace-sign-shaped ridges, which have been given the name “Ayopaya,” as well as another mosaic of the edge of one of the nearby ridges. The environmental science group (ENV) is also taking a dust-devil movie and a surpahorizon cloud movie.
On our second sol, ChemCam has another LIBS observation of “Britania.” Mastcam has some more mosaics, today looking back at our wheel tracks to see what we might have turned up on our drive, as well as out to the more distant ridges. We also have another cloud movie coinciding with imaging from above by the CaSSIS camera on board the Trace Gas Orbiter, trying to spot the same clouds from above and below. After our drive Curiosity gets to take a nice long snooze before waking up early for our typical weekend morning ENV block, which includes three different cloud observations (it’s still the cloudy season, after all!) and two observations to look at dust in the crater and in the sky above. Later on this sol ChemCam will use AEGIS to autonomously pick a LIBS target, we’ll have a 360-degree survey to try to catch dust devils. Finally, we’re setting our sights back on the clouds, using cloud shadows on Mount Sharp to estimate cloud altitudes.
-
Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?
-
Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?
Article
5 days ago
3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4622-4623: Kicking Off (Earth) Year 14 With an Investigation of Veins
Article
6 days ago
3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4618-4619: The Boxwork Structures Continue to Call to Us
Article
1 week ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…