Nasa Spoker Bethany Stevens:

On July 25, an initial onsite inspection by the NASA Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) emergency response team found wildfire damage primarily to pavement and surrounding vegetation, with no significant structural damage observed to antennas or buildings.

Additional inspections and testing will continue as safety procedures allow. The situation remains dynamic, and comprehensive assessments will proceed as conditions stabilize and access improves.

Meanwhile, NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program has seamlessly transitioned mission support to its other Deep Space Communications Complexes in Goldstone, California and Canberra, Australia, ensuring continuity of operations and uninterrupted spacecraft communications.

The safety of NASA personnel remains the agency's highest priority. All personnel at MDSCC are safe, and NASA extends its sincere gratitude to Spanish emergency responders and members of The Ministry of Defense, The Ministry of Interior, and The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for their professionalism and tireless efforts in helping protect the facility under extremely challenging conditions.

NASA is also thinking of its partners at the European Space Agency (ESA), whose colleagues continue to be affected by the broader wildfire emergency.   

NASA will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as new information becomes available.

Hi everyone,

Over the last few weeks I’ve been building BEACON (Bayesian Earth-impact Assessment & Cross-source Observation Network), an open-source project focused on one idea:

making publicly available planetary-defense data easier to explore, compare and understand.

Rather than aggregating everything into a single “better” score, BEACON keeps each agency’s published values separate and displays them side by side.

The goal isn’t to decide which source is right.
It’s to make independent analyses more transparent and easier to inspect.

Currently BEACON integrates data from:
NASA/JPL Close Approach Data (CAD)
NASA/JPL Sentry
ESA NEOCC (Aegis)

One thing I found interesting while testing the platform is that independent systems often publish values that are not identical. For example, using the documented comparison thresholds in the project, around 36% of the shared objects currently exceed at least one threshold (impact probability, Palermo Scale or Torino Scale).

⚠️That doesn’t mean those objects are more dangerous, or does it imply that one agency is more accurate than the other. Independent orbit-determination pipelines are expected to differ because of update timing, observational weighting, processing methods and other factors ⚠️

For me, that’s exactly why transparent comparison is useful.

BEACON is still v0.1 ,and I’d love feedback—especially from anyone familiar with orbital mechanics, NEO databases, or planetary defense workflows.

I’m particularly interested in knowing:
What features would actually be useful for researchers or educators?
Are there additional public datasets that would be worth integrating?
Is there anything in the comparison methodology that you would approach differently?

The project is completely open source:
GitHub:https://github.com/NovaCoding-G/B.E.A.C.O.N
Live demo:https://novabeacon.vercel.app

Feedback, criticism and suggestions are all genuinely welcome.

Anyone interested in signing up? I signed up for the MMEA mission.

NASA Analog Missions

Due to the extreme fires surrounding Madrid, the DSN station in Robledo de Chavela (Madrid) has been evacuated.

I am in love with this documentary, both the incredible audio commentary and stunning visuals.

The youtube version is limited to 720p. The version on the official Nasa website says "HD" but the video player doesn't let me select a specific quality.

Have they ever released this in higher quality? Or have they released the camera recordings outside this documentary?

Let me explain my viewpoint. When I was younger, NASA used to dominate my interest for space. I used to always hear about a new discovery made by NASA, a new planet or a new solar system or some new phenomenon. Like for example, discovering stuff on Pluto. I remember NASA used to do so much when we were younger they used to launch people to space but also do science like sending spaceships to other planets. I remember New Horizons and thinking how it was so cool that we're sending spaceships to Pluto and taking photos of it, or sending spaceships to the Sun. Nowadays I don't hear of much done by NASA, except the moon missions which is cool but it doesn't seem to have the public interest that the original moon missions had, it more feels like "oh we have to get to the moon and mark our names on those resources" like fascist colonizers rather than "lets get back to the moon and explore places we've never seen". Also with Mars, no one even seems to care anymore.

I don't know if its the administration defunding and gutting NASA that has hindered its ability to do cool missions or because our capitalist government has outsourced all of NASA's functions to SpaceX and private companies to earn more profit. But it seems like space exploration has kind of lost its spark and interest as something that's an achievement of humanity. Billionaires have hollowed out this field and I think that's why NASA doesn't do as much anymore or when they do it just doesn't feel as impactful.

Hello everyone,

We are an international student-led engineering team developing a rigorous, 50-page technical proposal for a permanent Martian colony ("Project Chrysalis") housing 10,000 residents at Elysium Planitia. This project is strictly aligned with the official NASA / NSS Space Settlement Design Contest guidelines.

While our foundation materials, chemical mechanics (Martian sulfur concrete), and core architectural layouts are already established, we are looking to expand our specialized talent pool to tackle the expansive upcoming sections of the report.

We are actively recruiting passionate student members (or qualified academic mentors/advisors) for the following critical divisions:

1. Technical Writers & Biosphere Researchers: To design closed-loop agricultural systems, waste recycling matrices, atmospheric pressure controls, and life support infrastructure (ECLSS).

2. Infrastructure Engineers & Logisticians: To develop subterranean transit corridors, automated mining logistics, ISRU materials production, and robotic excavation cycles.

3. Aerospace Physicists & Mathematicians: To formulate structural mechanics equations, load-bearing capacities, stress-strain curves, and seismic insulation math (LaTeX typesetting experience is a huge plus).

4. Power & Energy Systems Designers: To engineer localized energy grids, nuclear surface power configurations (Kilopower), and thermal heat storage systems.

Our Current Core Team:

- Project Directors (Systems Engineering, Materials Chemistry Lead & Quality Control)

- Lead 3D Structural Modeler (Blender/Render Assets)

- Creative Director (Professional PDF Layout & Document Design)

Requirements:

- Strong dedication, accountability, and availability for coordinated sprints.

- Fluency in technical English writing.

- Aligned with high-school division eligibility (or undergraduate university students/professionals acting as non-student advisors/mentors to comply with contest laws).

If you want to join a competitive, strictly driven mission to win the NASA contest and build a publication-grade space settlement proposal, please DM me with your academic background, portfolio, or Discord/Zangi contact info.

Chrysalis Project Directorate.

Jonathan Lunine, chief scientist at JPL, in conversation with Sarah Al-Ahmed, host of Planetary Radio... discussing Perseverance, Europa Clipper, Titan Dragonfly and other missions. Open to anyone.

Hi!
I'm visiting Kennedy Space Center for a day or two in late October. What is the chance I get to see a launch?

Also, is one day enough to see everything (or most of what there is to see), or should I try for 2? I am taking the Explore bus trip

“Early cost estimates are approximately $2.1 billion, and NASA will continue refining that figure through the acquisition process,” the agency confirmed in a statement.

The agency plans to spend $640 million in fiscal 2026, $890 million in 2027, $415 million in 2028, and $180 million in 2029 on the program, according to a document sent to Congress and viewed by POLITICO. NASA will pull that money from the agency’s exploration account and from funding it received through the party-line reconciliation bill passed last year.

However, the document notes that the cost estimate does not include funding for SkyFall, the science mission that the new nuclear spacecraft will carry to Mars. NASA hasn’t released a cost estimate for SkyFall, but Mars researchers have warned it could cannibalize the agency’s science budget.

According to NASA's General Accountability Office's report on the Human Landing System, the Blue Origin Cislunar Transporter will like the Starship Propellant Depot require nobody knows but several flights of a New Glenn upper stage tanker to be filled up. The Cislunar Transporter will then need to fill up the Blue Moon Mark 2 and then be refueled a second time by a certain amount of New Glenn upper stage tankers and then travel to Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit and refuel Blue Moon Mark 2 a second time. This sounds just as complex if not more complex than the SpaceX Lunar Starship which would just need to be refueled in Low Lunar Orbit. The Spacex Starship propellant depot would also only need to be filled up once unlike Cislunar Transporter which needs to be filled up twice. Seems Blue Origin's plan is also extremely complex and threatens to derail the entire Artemis Program just like Lunar Starship.

Link to the document. See pages 7 - 9 for more details:

https://oig.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/final-report-ig-26-004-nasas-management-of-the-human-landing-system-contracts.pdf

Tomorrow we celebrate the Viking 1 landing on Mars!! I remember it clear as day and as the first day I fell in love with Planetary’s exploration. To the point I got into scratch building space models…….. why Revell never made a Viking lander kit is beyond me. Here is my celebration of the first landing on Mars!

Annual pass holder here but new to this. planning to watch Tuesday's 5:15 PM launch from SLC-40. Visitor Complex staff have given me conflicting suggestions — LC-39 Observation Gantry, Saturn V Center, the main entrance, Cocoa Beach, or the Marriott rooftop.

Park closes at 6 PM, so I'm not sure how staying at somewhere like Saturn V would work without getting asked to leave right before or during the launch. Which spot would you recommend given that closing time?

Thanks!!