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Scientists have detected a fascinating spiral galaxy located about one billion light-years away. At the heart of this cosmic goliath, powerful radio jets are blasting out of its centre, stretching six million light years into space. A team of researchers have suggested that a smaller dwarf galaxy plunged into its centre, passing close to its supermassive black hole triggering immense flares, intense radiation and driving the colossal radio jets. Surprisingly however, despite the tremendous amounts of energy, the galaxy has kept its spiral structure.

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Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward) NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image showing its robotic arm in action; the view also illustrates bedding on a light-toned bedrock block of the layered sulfate-bearing unit. Curiosity acquired the image using its Right Navigation Camera on March 20, 2025 — sol 4486, or Martian day 4,486 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 15:18:42 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth planning date: Friday, March 21, 2025

It’s the start of spring here in the Northern Hemisphere on Earth, but in Gale Crater on Mars our rover is still heading into the depths of Martian winter. We’re just a few weeks away from Mars’ aphelion — the time when it’s farthest from the Sun. The Mars-Sun distance varies more significantly than the Earth-Sun distance because of the greater eccentricity of Mars’ orbit, and its effect on the Martian weather is correspondingly more important.

As my colleague mentioned in the previous blog post, the layered sulfate bedrock in this region is broken up into large blocks that often make the driving tough going. The drive in the sol 4486 plan went very well, however, moving Curiosity nearly 35 meters (about 115 feet) southward and upward. Our new workspace is in one of the “light-toned” stripes that can be seen in the orbital imagery and is correspondingly full of light-toned laminated blocks typical of what we’ve seen before in this geologic unit.

For the second plan in a row we were also able to use the rover arm, due to the rover having parked in a stable position — not always a given in this terrain! This enabled us to plan a pair of compositional measurements by the APXS on a bedrock target (“Solstice Canyon”) to assess both the bedrock composition after dust removal and the effect of the ubiquitous dust on the instrument at other locations where the rock cannot be brushed. Our other compositional measurement tool, the LIBS, was also recruited for a co-targeted measurement on Solstice Canyon.

The second LIBS measurement and a MAHLI observation went to the one distinctive, potentially diagenetic, feature visible among all of the light-toned workspace blocks, a small grayish patch that looks like a vein or a coating in the images available at planning (“Black Oak”). The planned observations will give us both the composition and morphology of it in much greater detail.

A long-distance RMI imaging mosaic was planned to investigate some ridges on an as-yet-unnamed butte off to the west. The ridges may be evidence of the same type of diagenetic activity that produced the boxwork structures that are the next major science target for Curiosity. A passive spectral raster was also planned for a potential boxwork region. As we won’t be able to rove to every potential boxwork on Aeolis Mons, longer-distance views such as these can give us a sense of how widespread the boxwork-forming activity may have been.

Mastcam imaging included some follow-up on a hummocky sedimentary feature (“Pino Alto”) and documentation of textures in the nearby local bedrock (“Piedra Blanca”) as well as documentation imagery for the two LIBS targets.

Finally, the modern Martian atmosphere was investigated with measurements by APXS and the ChemCam passive imager to track abundances of argon and oxygen, respectively, as they vary with the Martian seasons. 

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Mar 24, 2025

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If you design a new tool for use on Earth, it is easy to test and practice using that tool in its intended environment. But what if that tool is destined for lunar orbit or will be used by astronauts on the surface of the Moon?

NASA’s Simulation and Graphics Branch can help with that. Based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the branch’s high-fidelity, real-time graphical simulations support in-depth engineering analyses and crew training, ensuring the safety, efficiency, and success of complex space endeavors before execution. The team manages multiple facilities that provide these simulations, including the Prototype Immersive Technologies (PIT) Lab, Virtual Reality Training Lab, and the Systems Engineering Simulator (SES).

Lee Bingham is an aerospace engineer on the simulation and graphics team. His work includes developing simulations and visualizations for the NASA Exploration Systems Simulations team and providing technical guidance on simulation and graphics integration for branch-managed facilities. He also leads the branch’s human-in-the-loop Test Sim and Graphics Team, the Digital Lunar Exploration Sites Unreal Simulation Tool (DUST), and the Lunar Surface Mixed-Reality with the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) projects.

Lee Bingham demonstrates a spacewalk simulator for the Gateway lunar space station during NASA’s Tech Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Image courtesy of Lee Bingham

Bingham is particularly proud of his contributions to DUST, which provides a 3D visualization of the Moon’s South Pole and received Johnson’s Exceptional Software of the Year Award in 2024. “It was designed for use as an early reference to enable candidate vendors to perform initial studies of the lunar terrain and lighting in support of the Strategy and Architecture Office, human landing system, and the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program,” Bingham explained. DUST has supported several human-in-the-loop studies for NASA. It has also been shared with external collaborators and made available to the public through the NASA Software Catalog.  

Bingham has kept busy during his nearly nine years at Johnson and said learning to manage and balance support for multiple projects and customers was very challenging at first. “I would say ‘yes’ to pretty much anything anyone asked me to do and would end up burning myself out by working extra-long hours to meet milestones and deliverables,” he said. “It has been important to maintain a good work-life balance and avoid overcommitting myself while meeting demanding expectations.”

Lee Bingham tests the Lunar Surface Mixed Reality and Active Response Gravity Offload System trainer at Johnson Space Center. Image courtesy of Lee Bingham

Bingham has also learned the importance of teamwork and collaboration. “You can’t be an expert at everything or do everything yourself,” he said. “Develop your skills, practice them regularly, and master them over time but be willing to ask for help and advice. And be sure to recognize and acknowledge your coworkers and teammates when they go above and beyond or achieve something remarkable.”

Lee Bingham (left) demonstrates a lunar rover simulator for Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke. Image courtesy of Lee Bingham

He hopes that the Artemis Generation will be motivated to tackle difficult challenges and further NASA’s mission to benefit humanity. “Be sure to learn from those who came before you, but be bold and unafraid to innovate,” he advised.

NASA websites no longer state that the Artemis 3 mission will aim to land the first person of color and the first woman on the moon, but the agency says this does not reflect a change in crew.

Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed.

Scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) mini-lab and found the molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane. These compounds, which are made up of 10, 11, and 12 carbons, respectively, are thought to be the fragments of fatty acids that were preserved in the sample. Fatty acids are among the organic molecules that on Earth are chemical building blocks of life.

Living things produce fatty acids to help form cell membranes and perform various other functions. But fatty acids also can be made without life, through chemical reactions triggered by various geological processes, including the interaction of water with minerals in hydrothermal vents.

While there’s no way to confirm the source of the molecules identified, finding them at all is exciting for Curiosity’s science team for a couple of reasons.

Curiosity scientists had previously discovered small, simple organic molecules on Mars, but finding these larger compounds provides the first evidence that organic chemistry advanced toward the kind of complexity required for an origin of life on Mars.

This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane. These are the largest organic molecules discovered on Mars to date. They were detected in a drilled rock sample called “Cumberland” that was analyzed by the Sample Analysis at Mars lab inside the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover, whose selfie is on the right side of the image, has been exploring Gale Crater since 2012. An image of the Cumberland drill hole is faintly visible in the background of the molecule chains. NASA/Dan Gallagher

The new study also increases the chances that large organic molecules that can be made only in the presence of life, known as “biosignatures,” could be preserved on Mars, allaying concerns that such compounds get destroyed after tens of millions of years of exposure to intense radiation and oxidation.

This finding bodes well for plans to bring samples from Mars to Earth to analyze them with the most sophisticated instruments available here, the scientists say.

“Our study proves that, even today, by analyzing Mars samples we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed on Mars,” said Caroline Freissinet, the lead study author and research scientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in the Laboratory for Atmospheres and Space Observations in Guyancourt, France

In 2015, Freissinet co-led a team that, in a first, conclusively identified Martian organic molecules in the same sample that was used for the current study. Nicknamed “Cumberland,” the sample has been analyzed many times with SAM using different techniques.

NASA’s Curiosity rover drilled into this rock target, “Cumberland,” during the 279th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (May 19, 2013) and collected a powdered sample of material from the rock’s interior. Curiosity used the Mars Hand Lens Imager camera on the rover’s arm to capture this view of the hole in Cumberland on the same sol as the hole was drilled. The diameter of the hole is about 0.6 inches. The depth of the hole is about 2.6 inches. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity drilled the Cumberland sample in May 2013 from an area in Mars’ Gale Crater called “Yellowknife Bay.” Scientists were so intrigued by Yellowknife Bay, which looked like an ancient lakebed, they sent the rover there before heading in the opposite direction to its primary destination of Mount Sharp, which rises from the floor of the crater.

The detour was worth it: Cumberland turns out to be jam-packed with tantalizing chemical clues to Gale Crater’s 3.7-billion-year past. Scientists have previously found the sample to be rich in clay minerals, which form in water. It has abundant sulfur, which can help preserve organic molecules. Cumberland also has lots of nitrates, which on Earth are essential to the health of plants and animals, and methane made with a type of carbon that on Earth is associated with biological processes.

Perhaps most important, scientists determined that Yellowknife Bay was indeed the site of an ancient lake, providing an environment that could concentrate organic molecules and preserve them in fine-grained sedimentary rock called mudstone.

“There is evidence that liquid water existed in Gale Crater for millions of years and probably much longer, which means there was enough time for life-forming chemistry to happen in these crater-lake environments on Mars,” said Daniel Glavin, senior scientist for sample return at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a study co-author.

The recent organic compounds discovery was a side effect of an unrelated experiment to probe Cumberland for signs of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. After heating the sample twice in SAM’s oven and then measuring the mass of the molecules released, the team saw no evidence of amino acids. But they noticed that the sample released small amounts of decane, undecane, and dodecane.

Because these compounds could have broken off from larger molecules during heating, scientists worked backward to figure out what structures they may have come from. They hypothesized these molecules were remnants of the fatty acids undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, and tridecanoic acid, respectively.

The scientists tested their prediction in the lab, mixing undecanoic acid into a Mars-like clay and conducting a SAM-like experiment. After being heated, the undecanoic acid released decane, as predicted. The researchers then referenced experiments already published by other scientists to show that the undecane could have broken off from dodecanoic acid and dodecane from tridecanoic acid.

The authors found an additional intriguing detail in their study related to the number of carbon atoms that make up the presumed fatty acids in the sample. The backbone of each fatty acid is a long, straight chain of 11 to 13 carbons, depending on the molecule. Notably, non-biological processes typically make shorter fatty acids, with less than 12 carbons.

It’s possible that the Cumberland sample has longer-chain fatty acids, the scientists say, but SAM is not optimized to detect longer chains.

Scientists say that, ultimately, there’s a limit to how much they can infer from molecule-hunting instruments that can be sent to Mars. “We are ready to take the next big step and bring Mars samples home to our labs to settle the debate about life on Mars,” said Glavin.

This research was funded by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Curiosity’s Mars Science Laboratory mission is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA. SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) was built and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. CNES (the French Space Agency) funded and provided the gas chromatograph subsystem on SAM. Charles Malespin is SAM’s principal investigator.

By Lonnie Shekhtman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering hourglass-shaped ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. This star system, called Lynds 483, is named for American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds, who published extensive catalogs of “dark” and “bright” nebulae in the early 1960s.

The two protostars are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

Learn what the incredibly fine details in this image reveal.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering hourglass-shaped ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. This star system, called Lynds 483, is named for American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds, who published extensive catalogs of “dark” and “bright” nebulae in the early 1960s.

The two protostars are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

Learn what the incredibly fine details in this image reveal.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Floating platforms of wood could draw up seawater and help it to freeze, seeding the formation of new sea ice

Floating platforms of wood could draw up seawater and help it to freeze, seeding the formation of new sea ice

Telescope optics can be made of mirrors or lenses, but in both cases, they're bulky and need to follow a strict mathematical curve to focus light. Researchers have shown that it's possible to make a completely flat lens that focuses light. Traditionally, this has been done with Fresnel lenses, but they distort colors. Their new technique carves tiny concentric rings into a substrate that matches the wavelengths of different colors, allowing a full-color, in-focus image.

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Welcome to the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) services page. Provided here are different resources to support informed steps toward a new career opportunity in the public or private sector.

Transition Assistance

NASA is partnering with OPM to offer a 1-day workshop covering multiple areas associated with career transitions. The workshop will be offered virtually on pre-scheduled dates and will include:

• Career Exploration (1 Hour)
• Job Search Strategy (1 Hour)
• Resume Writing (2 Hours)
• Interview Techniques (2 Hours)
• One-On-One Counseling

NASA will follow-up with employees eligible for CTAP to enroll them in the workshop and share participation details.

Transition Resources

Below are links to guidance, resources, and tools that are helpful during a career move, including resume preparation, interview preparation, networking strategies, job search assistance, and more.

Resume Preparation

Resources to help craft strong professional resumes that showcase personal skills and experience, including specialized training and tools.

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How to Make Your Resume and Profile Searchable

Private Sector

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Interview Coaching

Resources to prepare for job interviews and improve interview skills, including information about the interview process, how to prepare and respond to interview questions, and platforms to conduct practice interviews and receive feedback on responses.

Interview Process

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Interview Responses

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Interview Practice

Barclays Virtual Interview Practice Tool (Free)

Google Interview Warmup (Free)

Pramp (Free)

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Guidance on how to leverage LinkedIn for job search and professional networking, and providing feedback on LinkedIn profiles, optimizing keywords, and increasing visibility to recruiters.

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Forming a Network

Job Information/Job Search Assistance

Free online resources for identifying adjacent or new career opportunities, including job matching websites and websites offering personality or career assessments.

Career Search

CareerOneStop

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USAJOBS Career Explorer

Job Search

Apprenticeship Job Finder

CareerOneStop Job Search

Indeed

Monster

USAJOBS

ZipRecruiter

Other

CareerOneStop Find American Job Centers

Retraining

Free and fee-based online e-learning resources to enhance current skills or acquire new skills.

Codeacademy

Coursera

edX

Harvard Online Learning

Khan Academy

LinkedIn Learning

MasterClass

MIT OpenCourseWare

Skillshare

Stanford Online

Udemy

Employment Counseling

NASA’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers free, confidential counseling that can be used to obtain employment counseling and support during a career transition, as well as referrals to other needed resources.

NASA Enterprise EAP Page

NASA Center EAP Pages

Additional Transition Resources

There are also additional career transition resources available through OPM including:

The Employee’s Guide to Career Transition

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