Howard University student Miles Phillips gives NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins a demonstration of his work with lasers during a tour of the Nuclear and Particle Physics Detector Laboratory at Howard University, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA’s STEM efforts
NASA is investing more than $14 million in 19 U.S. colleges and universities to grow their STEM capacity to participate in critical spaceflight research and prepare a new generation of diverse students for careers in the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and math workforce.
“These awards help NASA reach students and institutions that traditionally have had fewer opportunities in cutting-edge spaceflight research,” said Shahra Lambert, NASA’s senior advisor for engagement. “We want the Artemis Generation to feel excited and prepared to join us in tackling the scientific and technological challenges of space exploration.”
“Current research shows that developing new curricular pathways or adding to an existing STEM curriculum can help these colleges and universities attract more diverse groups of students to the kinds of research that align with NASA’s needs,” said Torry Johnson, the project’s manager.
NASA awarded five institutions a total of nearly $6 million to implement their curriculum-boosting projects. The selected institutions and their proposed projects are:
Passaic County Community College, Paterson, New Jersey
PCCC Urban Climate Change Initiative
Prince George’s Community College, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Establishing STEM Majors at Prince George’s Community College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Enhancing IDEAS at a Minority- and Hispanic-Serving Institution throughresearch and education for underserved students in partnership with NASA
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas
Remote-sensing and Analytics for Integrating Science Education with NASA SMD to Strengthen Student Research Capacity at MSI (RAISE)
University of the District of Columbia, Washington
Developing NASA-infused Curriculum and Experiential Research for Student Success in Space Technology
The MUREP Space Technology Artemis Research opportunity supports NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) by fostering and increasing MSI participation in research and technology development concepts that algin with the agency’s needs for upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon. The agency chose nine institutions, awarding a total of more than $8 million to carry out their projects.
“When we return humans to the Moon, it will be thanks to the creativity and dedication of researchers across the nation,” said Walt Engelund, deputy associate administrator for programs in STMD. “We’re proud to partner with OSTEM to foster the future of technology development and create opportunities for these institutions to contribute to NASA’s Artemis missions.”
The selected institutions and their proposed projects are:
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Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Pomona, California
CubeSat Technology Exploration Program (CubeSTEP)
California State University, Los Angeles
Additive Manufacturing on the Moon: Exploring the Potential of Laser Wire Directed Energy Deposition for Metallic Component Fabrication
Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Fort Totten, North Dakota
The Research and Development of Extravehicular Activity Gait Assist Device
Delaware State University, Dover
Constraining Exospheric Water Using Mid-IR Sensing and LIBS for Lunar Rover Missions
College of the Desert, Palm Desert, California
A Penetrolyzer for Extracting Oxygen and Hydrogen from Mars Regolith
Morgan State University, Baltimore
Muscular Atrophy Effects of Long Duration Human Exploration Mission on Vocal Fold Adduction for Airway Protection
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne
DREAM: Developing Robotic Exploration with Agrobots and Moonbots
University of North Texas, Denton
Protective Thermal Electro-Chromic Coatings (ProTECC) for Lunar Exploration
The University of Texas at Arlington
Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines for In-Space Propulsion: Integrating Technology Development with STEM Engagement
The International Space Station Flight Opportunity provides a ride to low Earth orbit for mature, flight-ready research projects that align with NASA’s science and technology priorities. This opportunity entails cooperation with NASA’s International Space Station Research Office, mission directorates, and field centers.
“These awards offer researchers a valuable opportunity to leverage the unique microgravity environment of the International Space Station as a platform or testbed, allowing them to conduct authentic spaceflight demonstrations based on their preliminary ground-based research,” said Dr. Kathleen Loftin, EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) project manager. “By utilizing the space station as a proving ground, we accelerate the readiness of these technologies, bringing them one step closer to practical implementation.”
NASA selected five institutions to receive $100,000 each – $500,000, total – to complete their projects. These institutions and their proposed projects are:
University of Delaware, Newark
Impact of Temperature Cycles and Outgassing on the Fiber-packaged Silicon Photonic Transceivers
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks
Effect of Microgravity and Higher Radiation on Healing and Metastasis Potential of Omentum – ISS Flight Opportunity
Nevada System of Higher Education
A Compact, Non-invasive, and Efficient Vision Screening System for Long-term Spaceflight Missions
University of Kentucky, Lexington
KRUPS: ISS Flight for Telemetry and Recovery
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
Effect of Synergistic Space Effects on Properties of Novel Polymer Composite Materials
The awards are made possible through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement and funded by MUREP, which provides resources and activities to support underserved students from K-12 through higher education, and EPSCoR, which partners with government, academia, and industry to improve research infrastructure in select U.S. jurisdictions.
The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/
This image overlays over 100 fireball images recorded between 2016 and 2020. The streaks are fireballs; the dots are star positions at different times.
Desert Fireball NetworkPatrick M. Shober, NASA
Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites – ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Among meteorites, one type – called carbonaceous chondrites – stands out as the most primitive and provides a unique glimpse into the solar system’s infancy.
The carbonaceous chondrites are rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. They’re “hydrated,” which means they contain water bound within minerals in the rock. The components of the water are locked into crystal structures. Many researchers believe these ancient rocks played a crucial role in delivering water to early Earth.
Before hitting the Earth, rocks traveling through space are generally referred to as asteroids, meteoroids or comets, depending on their size and composition. If a piece of one of these objects makes it all the way to Earth, it becomes a “meteorite.”
From observing asteroids with telescopes, scientists know that most asteroids have water-rich, carbonaceous compositions. Models predict that most meteorites – over half – should also be carbonaceous. But less than 4% of all the meteorites found on Earth are carbonaceous. So why is there such a mismatch?
In a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy on April 14, 2025, my planetary scientist colleagues and I tried to answer an age-old question: Where are all the carbonaceous chondrites?
Sample-return missions
Scientists’ desire to study these ancient rocks has driven recent sample-return space missions. NASA’s OSIRIS‑REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2 missions have transformed what researchers know about primitive, carbon‑rich asteroids.
Meteorites found sitting on the ground are exposed to rain, snow and plants, which can significantly change them and make analysis more difficult. So, the OSIRIS‑REx mission ventured to the asteroid Bennu to retrieve an unaltered sample. Retrieving this sample allowed scientists to examine the asteroid’s composition in detail.
Similarly, Hayabusa2’s journey to the asteroid Ryugu provided pristine samples of another, similarly water-rich asteroid.
Together these missions have let planetary scientists like me study pristine, fragile carbonaceous material from asteroids. These asteroids are a direct window into the building blocks of our solar system and the origins of life.
Carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu as seen from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft.NASA
The carbonaceous chondrite puzzle
For a long time, scientists assumed that the Earth’s atmosphere filtered out carbonaceous debris.
When an object hits Earth’s atmosphere, it has to survive significant pressures and high temperatures. Carbonaceous chondrites tend to be weaker and more crumbly than other meteorites, so these objects just don’t stand as much of a chance.
Meteorites usually start their journey when two asteroids collide. These collisions create a bunch of centimeter- to meter-size rock fragments. These cosmic crumbs streak through the solar system and can, eventually, fall to Earth. When they’re smaller than a meter, scientists call them meteoroids.
Meteoroids are far too small for researchers to see with a telescope, unless they’re about to hit the Earth, and astronomers get lucky.
But there is another way scientists can study this population, and, in turn, understand why meteorites have such different compositions.
Meteor and fireball observation networks
Our research team used the Earth’s atmosphere as our detector.
Most of the meteoroids that reach Earth are tiny, sand-sized particles, but occasionally, bodies up to a couple of meters in diameter hit. Researchers estimate that about 5,000 metric tons of micrometeorites land on Earth annually. And, each year, between 4,000 and 10,000 large meteorites – golf ball-sized or larger – land on Earth. That’s more than 20 each day.
A fireball observed by the FRIPON network in Normandy, France, in 2019.
Today, digital cameras have rendered round-the-clock observations of the night sky both practical and affordable. Low-cost, high-sensitivity sensors and automated detection software allow researchers to monitor large sections of the night sky for bright flashes, which signal a meteoroid hitting the atmosphere.
Research teams can sift through these real-time observations using automated analysis techniques – or a very dedicated Ph.D. student – to find invaluable information.
Our team manages two global systems: FRIPON, a French-led network with stations in 15 countries; and the Global Fireball Observatory, a collaboration started by the team behind the Desert Fireball Network in Australia. Together with other open-access datasets, my colleagues and I used the trajectories of nearly 8,000 impacts observed by 19 observation networks spread across 39 countries.
FRIPON camera installed at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees.FRIPON
By comparing all meteoroid impacts recorded in Earth’s atmosphere with those that successfully reach the surface as meteorites, we can pinpoint which asteroids produce fragments that are strong enough to survive the journey. Or, conversely, we can also pinpoint which asteroids produce weak material that do not show up as often on Earth as meteorites.
Desert Fireball Network automated remote observatory in South Australia.The Desert Fireball Network
The Sun is baking the rocks too much
Surprisingly, we found that many asteroid pieces don’t even make it to Earth. Something starts removing the weak stuff while the fragment is still in space. The carbonaceous material, which isn’t very durable, likely gets broken down through heat stress when its orbit takes it close to the Sun.
As carbonaceous chondrites orbit close, and then away from the Sun, the temperature swings form cracks in their material. This process effectively fragments and removes weak, hydrated boulders from the population of objects near the Earth. Anything left over after this thermal cracking then has to survive the atmosphere.
Only 30%-50% of the remaining objects survive the atmospheric passage and become meteorites. The debris pieces whose orbits bring them closer to the Sun tend to be significantly more durable, making them far more likely to survive the difficult passage through Earth’s atmosphere. We call this a survival bias.
For decades, scientists have presumed that Earth’s atmosphere alone explains the scarcity of carbonaceous meteorites, but our work indicates that much of the removal occurs beforehand in space.
Going forward, new scientific advances can help confirm these findings and better identify meteoroid compositions. Scientists need to get better at using telescopes to detect objects right before they hit the Earth. More detailed modeling of how these objects break up in the atmosphere can also help researchers study them.
Lastly, future studies can come up with better methods to identify what these fireballs are made of using the colors of the meteors.
Patrick M. Shober, Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Sciences, NASA
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Socially Engaged Design of Nuclear Energy Technologies
What prompted the idea for the course?
The two of us had some experience with participatory design coming into this course, and we had a shared interest in bringing virtual reality into a first-year design class at the University of Michigan.
It seemed like a good fit to help students learn about nuclear technologies, given that hands-on experience can be difficult to provide in that context. We both wanted to teach students about the social and environmental implications of engineering work, too.
Aditi is a nuclear engineer and had been using participatory design in her research, and Katie had been teaching ethics and design to engineering students for many years.
What does the course explore?
Broadly, the course explores engineering design. We introduce our students to the principles of nuclear engineering and energy systems design, and we go through ethical concerns. They also learn communication strategies – like writing for different audiences.
Students learn to design the exterior features of nuclear energy facilities in collaboration with local communities. The course focuses on a different nuclear energy technology each year.
In the first year, the focus was on fusion energy systems. In fall 2024, we looked at locating nuclear microreactors near local communities.
The main project was to collaboratively decide where a microreactor might be sited, what it might look like, and what outcomes the community would like to see versus which would cause concern.
Students also think about designing nuclear systems with both future generations and a shared common good in mind.
The class explores engineering as a sociotechnical practice – meaning that technologies are not neutral. They shape and affect social life, for better and for worse. To us, a sociotechnical engineer is someone who adheres to scientific and engineering fundamentals, communicates ethically and designs in collaboration with the people who are likely to be affected by their work.
In class, we help our students reflect on these challenges and responsibilities.
Why is this course relevant now?
Nuclear energy system design is advancing quickly, allowing engineers to rethink how they approach design. Fusion energy systems and fission microreactors are two areas of rapidly evolving innovation.
Microreactors are smaller than traditional nuclear energy systems, so planners can place them closer to communities. These smaller reactors will likely be safer to run and operate, and may be a good fit for rural communities looking to transition to carbon-neutral energy systems.
But for the needs, concerns and knowledge of local people to shape the design process, local communities need to be involved in these reactor siting and design conversations.
Students in the course explore nuclear facilities in virtual reality.Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images
What materials does the course feature?
We use virtual reality models of both fission and fusion reactors, along with models of energy system facilities. AI image generators are helpful for rapid prototyping – we have used these in class with students and in workshops.
This year, we are also inviting students to do some hands-on prototyping with scrap materials for a project on nuclear energy systems.
What will the course prepare students to do?
Students leave the course understanding that community engagement is an essential – not optional – component of good design. We equip students to approach technology use and development with users’ needs and concerns in mind.
Specifically, they learn how to engage with and observe communities using ethical, respectful methods that align with the university’s engineering research standards.
What’s a critical lesson from the course?
As instructors, we have an opportunity – and probably also an obligation – to learn from students as much as we are teaching them course content. Gen Z students have grown up with environmental and social concerns as centerpieces of their media diets, and we’ve noticed that they tend to be more strongly invested in these topics than previous generations of engineering students.
Aditi Verma, Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan and Katie Snyder, Lecturer III in Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Michigan
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Black holes, like the one in this illustration, can spray powerful jets.
S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF), CC BY-SADavid Garofalo, Kennesaw State University
One of the most powerful objects in the universe is a radio quasar – a spinning black hole spraying out highly energetic particles. Come too close to one, and you’d get sucked in by its gravitational pull, or burn up from the intense heat surrounding it. But ironically, studying black holes and their jets can give researchers insight into where potentially habitable worlds might be in the universe.
As an astrophysicist, I’ve spent two decades modeling how black holes spin, how that creates jets, and how they affect the environment of space around them.
What are black holes?
Black holes are massive, astrophysical objects that use gravity to pull surrounding objects into them. Active black holes have a pancake-shaped structure around them called an accretion disk, which contains hot, electrically charged gas.
The plasma that makes up the accretion disk comes from farther out in the galaxy. When two galaxies collide and merge, gas is funneled into the central region of that merger. Some of that gas ends up getting close to the newly merged black hole and forms the accretion disk.
There is one supermassive black holeat the heart of every massive galaxy.
Black holes and their disks can rotate, and when they do, they drag space and time with them – a concept that’s mind-boggling and very hard to grasp conceptually. But black holes are important to study because they produce enormous amounts of energy that can influence galaxies.
How energetic a black hole is depends on different factors, such as the mass of the black hole, whether it rotates rapidly, and whether lots of material falls onto it. Mergers fuel the most energetic black holes, but not all black holes are fed by gas from a merger. In spiral galaxies, for example, less gas tends to fall into the center, and the central black hole tends to have less energy.
One of the ways they generate energy is through what scientists call “jets” of highly energetic particles. A black hole can pull in magnetic fields and energetic particles surrounding it, and then as the black hole rotates, the magnetic fields twist into a jet that sprays out highly energetic particles.
Magnetic fields twist around the black hole as it rotates to store energy – kind of like when you pull and twist a rubber band. When you release the rubber band, it snaps forward. Similarly, the magnetic fields release their energy by producing these jets.
The accretion disk around a black hole can form a jet of hot, energetic particles surrounded by magnetic field lines.NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI), CC BY
These jets can speed up or suppress the formation of stars in a galaxy, depending on how the energy is released into the black hole’s host galaxy.
Rotating black holes
Some black holes, however, rotate in a different direction than the accretion disk around them. This phenomenon is called counterrotation, and some studies my colleagues and I have conducted suggest that it’s a key feature governing the behavior of one of the most powerful kinds of objects in the universe: the radio quasar.
Radio quasars are the subclass of black holes that produce the most powerful energy and jets.
You can imagine the black hole as a rotating sphere, and the accretion disk as a disk with a hole in the center. The black hole sits in that center hole and rotates one way, while the accretion disk rotates the other way.
This counterrotation forces the black hole to spin down and eventually up again in the other direction, called corotation. Imagine a basketball that spins one way, but you keep tapping it to rotate in the other. The tapping will spin the basketball down. If you continue to tap in the opposite direction, it will eventually spin up and rotate in the other direction. The accretion disk does the same thing.
Since the jets tap into the black hole’s rotational energy, they are powerful only when the black hole is spinning rapidly. The change from counterrotation to corotation takes at least 100 million years. Many initially counterrotating black holes take billions of years to become rapidly spinning corotating black holes.
So, these black holes would produce powerful jets both early and later in their lifetimes, with an interlude in the middle where the jets are either weak or nonexistent.
When the black hole spins in counterrotation with respect to its accretion disk, that motion produces strong jets that push molecules in the surrounding gas close together, which leads to the formation of stars.
But later, in corotation, the jet tilts. This tilt makes it so that the jet impinges directly on the gas, heating it up and inhibiting star formation. In addition to that, the jet also sprays X-rays across the galaxy. Cosmic X-rays are bad for life because they can harm organic tissue.
For life to thrive, it most likely needs a planet with a habitable ecosystem, and clouds of hot gas saturated with X-rays don’t contain such planets. So, astronomers can instead look for galaxies without a tilted jet coming from its black hole. This idea is key to understanding where intelligence could potentially have emerged and matured in the universe.
Black holes as a guide
By early 2022, I had built a black hole model to use as a guide. It could point out environments with the right kind of black holes to produce the greatest number of planets without spraying them with X-rays. Life in such environments could emerge to its full potential.
Looking at black holes and their role in star formation could help scientists predict when and where life was most likely to form.
Where are such conditions present? The answer is low-density environments where galaxies had merged about 11 billion years ago.
These environments had black holes whose powerful jets enhanced the rate of star formation, but they never experienced a bout of tilted jets in corotation. In short, my model suggested that theoretically, the most advanced extraterrestrial civilization would have likely emerged on the cosmic scene far away and billions of years ago.
David Garofalo, Professor of Physics, Kennesaw State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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