The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) successfully executed a Venus flyby on August 31, 2025, using the planet’s gravity to speed toward Jupiter. Engineers overcame a brief antenna glitch before the maneuver, and the spacecraft endured Venus’s intense heat by shielding itself with its high-gain antenna.
NASA has named Amit Kshatriya as its new Associate Administrator, a role overseeing agency operations and strategy. A 20-year NASA veteran, Kshatriya has led Artemis Moon-to-Mars missions and brings engineering, leadership, and spaceflight expertise. His appointment signals NASA’s renewed focus on Artemis and a bold vision for lunar exploration and future Mars missions.
Astronomers using LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detected 128 collisions of black holes and neutron stars, including two rare mixed mergers that double previous records. These findings reveal new details of stellar evolution, refine Hubble constant estimates, and test Einstein’s relativity in extreme conditions. The cosmic “graveyard” offers fresh insight into how stars die and black holes grow.
Scientists at the University of Tokyo have visualized gold nanoclusters in their earliest growth stage and discovered new elongated structures called gold quantum needles. These exhibit remarkable quantum properties, opening possibilities for sharper biomedical imaging and more efficient light-energy conversion in future applications.
In Sept. 2025, NASA and NOAA will launch three spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 to the Sun–Earth L1 point. IMAP will map the heliosphere’s edge, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory will study Earth’s exosphere, and SWFO-L1 will deliver real-time solar storm warnings. Together, they aim to improve space-weather science and safeguard technology on Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a bizarre planet-forming disk dominated by carbon dioxide where water is almost absent. This rare finding, in star system XUE 10 within NGC 6357, challenges current models of planetary formation and may reshape our understanding of habitable worlds.
ISRO has successfully tested drogue parachutes for the Gaganyaan crew module at its Chandigarh facility. The rocket-sled trials simulated high-speed re-entry conditions, ensuring parachutes deploy and stabilize the capsule. This achievement marks a critical milestone as India prepares for its first crewed space mission, aiming to join the US, Russia, and China in human spaceflight.
RRI’s PRATUSH—a credit-card-sized computer payload—will detect faint radio signals from hydrogen to study the “Cosmic Dawn”. Designed for deployment on the Moon’s far side, the system offers noise-free, efficient data handling using an SBC and FPGA combo. If successful, it could help determine when the first stars formed and expand our cosmic understanding.
A newly discovered asteroid, 2025 QV5, about the size of a school bus, will safely pass Earth today at a distance of 500,000 miles, roughly twice as far as the moon. NASA’s JPL notes it will not return this close again until September 2125. Scientists are tracking its path to refine orbital predictions and future flybys.
On October 3, 2025, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will pass just 30 million km from Mars — nine times closer than from Earth. ESA’s Mars Express and TGO, along with NASA and China’s orbiters, will attempt to image its coma, analyze gases, and study this rare visitor from beyond the solar system.
Astronomers using JWST and Hubble have discovered JWST’s Quintet, a system of at least five merging galaxies just 800 million years after the Big Bang. This rare find shows how galaxies grew rapidly in the early universe and may explain how some became inactive so soon.
On September 7–8, 2025, a total lunar eclipse will turn the Moon deep red for 82 minutes. Visible to 70–85% of Earth’s population, it will be the longest such event since 2022. Skywatchers in Asia, Africa, Australia, and parts of Europe will enjoy the full celestial show.
Scientists at Peking University have developed a stretchable elastomer that converts body heat into electricity, detailed in Nature. The breakthrough uses thermoelectricity to power wearable and implantable devices without batteries. Enhanced with a doping agent for higher conductivity, the material combines flexibility with efficiency, marking a leap for self-powered electronics and medical technologies.
Scientists using NASA’s InSight lander data have uncovered dozens of dense blobs hidden in Mars’ mantle, possibly remnants of failed protoplanets from the early solar system. Preserved for billions of years, these structures reveal Mars’ mantle evolved sluggishly compared with Earth, offering a unique window into planetary formation and the violent impacts that shaped the Red Planet.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has captured Callisto’s elusive auroral footprint, completing the “family portrait” of Jupiter’s Galilean moons. Each moon carves its own aurora into the gas giant’s poles, revealing how they interact with Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere. Callisto’s faint arc appeared during a 2019 flyby, finally confirming its mark.
Astronomers have discovered Calvera, a pulsar speeding 6,500 light-years above the Milky Way’s disk. Formed from a supernova in a nearly empty region, Calvera challenges long-held ideas of star birth and death. Its discovery reveals that extreme stellar events can occur even in the galaxy’s sparse outer halo.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has found presolar stardust grains inside Bennu’s samples. These tiny particles, older than the Sun, carry chemical fingerprints of ancient stars and interstellar space. Bennu thus serves as a pristine time capsule, preserving the earliest clues to the birth of our solar system.
For decades, geologists believed the Himalayas were built on a double layer of continental crust. New research overturns that view, revealing that a dense slab of mantle rock actually wedges between India’s and Asia’s crusts beneath the range. This “mantle sandwich” better explains seismic data and how the mountains remain so stable while rising by about 1 cm each year.
Astronomers are exploring a revolutionary space telescope design with a long, narrow primary mirror instead of a traditional circular one. A 20×1 m rectangular mirror concentrates resolution along its length, enabling it to separate Earth-like planets from their stars at ~30 light-years in infrared light. Rotating the telescope 90° captures planets in all orbital orientations.
Between Sept. 1–2, Earth will be struck by a powerful geomagnetic storm caused by a rare “cannibal” solar eruption. The event formed when a fast coronal mass ejection (CME) overtook and consumed an earlier one, creating a stronger, chaotic cloud. As this storm interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, it may produce vivid auroras visible far beyond their usual range.
Portugal has faced devastating earthquakes for centuries, including the 1755 Lisbon disaster. Scientists now link these events to oceanic plate delamination beneath the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain. This surprising discovery, published in Nature Geoscience, explains why quakes strike far from fault lines and improves future preparedness in Portugal and Spain.
SpaceX successfully launched 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on August 31, 2025, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The deployment will be expanding Starlink’s growing constellation, now totaling more than 8,200 active satellites providing global internet coverage.
A spectacular total lunar eclipse, also called the Blood Moon, will occur on Sept. 7–8, 2025. Viewers in India, Europe, Africa, and Asia can enjoy the event, while the Americas will miss it. Totality lasts 82 minutes, with livestreams available for those with cloudy skies.
At Semicon India 2025 on Tuesday, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw showcased the 32-bit microprocessor ‘Vikram’. It is developed by ISRO and is India's first fully indigenous 32-bit microprocessor. As per ISRO, Vikram is designed for launch vehicle operations and can withstand harsh environmental conditions. As per Vaishnaw, two other fabrication plants will also release their chips in the coming months.
Scientists have created a washable fibre computer that integrates sensors, processors, and communication modules into a single strand. Tested in garments, the fibres achieved up to 95% accuracy in detecting human movements. Researchers say the breakthrough could lead to practical smart clothing, though challenges like energy use and communication speed remain.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, the first woman to pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, retires after 20 years. She logged 213 days in space, flew two missions, and was the last to handle the Hubble Telescope. Her contributions to ISS science and leadership roles shaped future lunar and Mars exploration, leaving a lasting mark on NASA’s mission
Astronauts aboard the ISS concluded a week of research on bone health, brain adaptation, and eye function while servicing spacesuits and systems. The crew also captured Earth imagery and prepared for the upcoming Cygnus cargo mission launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this September.
NASA plans to build a 100-kilowatt nuclear fission reactor on the Moon’s south pole by 2030 to power Artemis missions and future lunar bases. The site offers access to water ice but raises legal and diplomatic concerns under the Outer Space Treaty. With China and Russia advancing their own lunar power plants, the move from the US.
The NISAR satellite, developed by NASA and ISRO, is ready to begin full science operations. Using dual-band radar, it will provide high-precision data on land movement, ice dynamics, vegetation, and natural hazards, supporting global research and disaster management efforts.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered striking megaripples — giant Martian sand waves — at a site called Kerrlaguna in Jezero Crater. These formations, about a meter tall, are larger than Earth’s beach ripples but smaller than the biggest dunes. Scientists say they formed when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and stronger winds, and many now appear frozen in time, shifting only about a meter every nine Earth years.
Chinese researchers have created succulents that glow in the dark using special afterglow particles. The plants can shine for up to two hours and may provide a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to traditional electric lighting in the future.
Caltech scientists developed a hybrid quantum memory that stores qubit states 30 times longer by converting them into sound waves. The method, using mechanical oscillators at gigahertz frequencies, reduces energy loss and shows scalability potential. Published in Nature Physics, the breakthrough marks a step toward practical, long-term storage for superconducting quantum computers.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket has scored a landmark success on its 10th test flight. On Aug. 26, 2025, the 400-foot booster launched flawlessly, completed hot-stage separation, and deployed eight dummy Starlink satellites — its first-ever payload. The upper stage then re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, surviving long enough to reignite an engine and splash down in the Indian Ocean, despite shedding some debris.
Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the first direct evidence of a planet embedded in a multi-ring disk.
Almost 200 years after the Carnot limit defined the maximum efficiency of heat engines, scientists have introduced a microscopic design that seems to break the rule. Called the “Gambling Carnot Engine,” it works by monitoring a single trapped particle and stepping in at just the right instant. This clever feedback process allows the engine to convert nearly all absorbed heat into usable work.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has photographed a helmet-shaped rock on Mars. Nicknamed “Horneflya,” the unusual spherule-covered formation intrigues scientists exploring how water, volcanic activity, or chemical processes shaped the Martian surface. Captured by Mastcam-Z, the discovery adds to Perseverance’s catalogue of strange formations and offers vital insights into the Red Planet’s geological history.
NASA has unveiled the Orion Mission Evaluation Room at Johnson Space Center to support Artemis II. Staffed by engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus, the facility will provide round-the-clock oversight of Orion’s performance as it carries astronauts around the Moon. The new center ensures real-time monitoring, rapid problem-solving, and data analysis to secure crew safety and guide future missions
NASA is preparing for Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo, with a new control hub at Johnson Space Center. The Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER) will support flight controllers by monitoring Orion’s systems in real time during the 10-day mission. Staffed 24/7, the MER will compare telemetry with expected performance, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate with NASA centers and industry partners. The room features 24 consoles, cutting-edge displays, and engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA, and Airbus. This facility ensures astronaut safety while providing critical data for future Artemis lunar missions.
The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled stunning new details of the Butterfly Nebula, a planetary nebula 3,400 light-years away. Using its infrared vision, Webb detected crystalline silicates, large dust grains, and carbon-rich PAH molecules within the nebula’s dusty torus. These discoveries reveal how dying stars recycle minerals and organic compounds, spreading raw materials that seed new stars, planets, and potentially life itself. Reported in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the findings highlight planetary nebulae as vital factories for planet-building ingredients.
China has unveiled Darwin Monkey, the world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer. With over 2 billion artificial neurons and 100 billion synapses, it mirrors a macaque brain’s complexity. Designed by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Lab, the system could accelerate neuroscience simulations and advance artificial general intelligence while consuming only 2,000 watts of power.
The famous 1977 “Wow!” signal — a mysterious radio burst detected by Ohio’s Big Ear telescope — has been reanalyzed using modern computing techniques. Researchers digitized old telescope records, finding the signal was about four times stronger than first thought, peaking at 250 Janskys. The recalculations also refined its frequency and sky location, ruling out man-made interference. While the true source remains uncertain, dense hydrogen clouds emitting natural maser signals are now leading candidates. Nearly 50 years later, the Wow! signal continues to puzzle astronomers worldwide.
Astronomers have achieved a major breakthrough by capturing the sharpest images of a solar flare ever recorded, using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). Observed at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength during the decay of an X1.3-class solar flare, the images unveiled hundreds of ultra-fine coronal loops averaging just 48 kilometers wide, with some as narrow as 21 kilometers. Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the findings suggest these slender loops may be the fundamental structures behind magnetic reconnection, the process that drives solar flares. The discovery not only advances understanding of solar physics but also holds promise for better predicting space weather events that can impact satellites, communications, and power systems on Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope observed 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object detected in our solar system. Its coma is unusually rich in carbon dioxide with little water or carbon monoxide, suggesting a CO₂-rich core or an insulating crust. Findings raise new questions about its cosmic origin.
Scientists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have detected a new plasma wave in Jupiter’s aurora using NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The finding, published in Physical Review Letters, reveals how Jupiter’s magnetic field shapes auroral activity differently from Earth. The study opens new directions for understanding planetary auroras and magnetic field interactions.
Rocket Lab reached a key milestone with its 70th Electron rocket launch, successfully sending five secret satellites into orbit on Aug. 23, 2025. The mission, called “Live, Laugh, Launch,” lifted off from New Zealand and ended its live stream early at the request of the undisclosed customer. Rocket Lab now looks ahead to the debut of its larger Neutron rocket later this year.
On August 20, researcher Maximilian Teodorescu captured a rare photo of two dramatic solar events — a giant tornado of plasma rising 130,000 km and an eruptive prominence spanning 200,000 km. Both were shaped by the sun’s unstable magnetic fields. While the prominence did release a CME, it is not aimed at Earth.
An international team of astronomers has detected RBFLOAT, the brightest fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded, just 130 million light-years away in Ursa Major. Detected by CHIME in March 2025, the powerful radio flash was traced to galaxy NGC-4141. Follow-up imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope revealed a faint stellar source near the burst, possibly linked to a neutron star or magnetar. The discovery offers fresh insight into the origins of FRBs and opens new opportunities for rapid future studies.
SpaceX has postponed the highly anticipated 10th test flight of its Starship megarocket after engineers discovered a glitch in the launch pad’s ground systems. The launch was originally set for Sunday, Aug. 24, from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas but was halted just 17 minutes before liftoff. The countdown was paused to allow troubleshooting, and the attempt is now rescheduled for Monday, Aug. 25.
A Romanian researcher captured a rare sight on the Sun — a giant solar tornado alongside a massive plasma eruption. Both events, driven by magnetic field changes, highlight the Sun’s extreme activity during solar maximum. Luckily, the eruption’s CME is not headed toward Earth.
Russia’s latest resupply mission to low-Earth orbit has delivered a unique scientific cargo: 75 mice, 1,000 fruit flies, microbes, cell cultures, and plant seeds aboard the Bion-M No.2 biosatellite. Over the next month, these organisms will orbit Earth, helping scientists study how microgravity and cosmic radiation affect life. Some mice are genetically engineered to test radiation sensitivity, while lunar soil simulants will shed light on dust behavior in space. The mission aims to advance research critical for long-duration human spaceflight to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
