July 2025

The TRACERS satellites blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image SpaceX)

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A few hours ago, NASA’s two TRACERS satellites were launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. After about an hour and 40 minutes, they successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage to begin the maneuvers that will place them in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600 kilometers.

The two TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) twin satellites join other space missions aimed at studying the Sun and its interactions with the Earth. The PUNCH mission was launched on March 12, and on March 15, the three CubeSat-class nanosatellites of the EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission were launched. EZIE’s goal is to study changes in electrical currents moving through the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere in the polar regions.

The Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft after splashing down (Image courtesy Axiom Space)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft concluded its Ax-4 mission by splashing down without problems. On board were Shubhanshu Shukla, Peggy Whitson, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu, who ended this completely private space mission in the Atlantic Ocean after leaving the International Space Station almost 48 hours earlier. Shortly after splashing down, SpaceX’s recovery ship went to retrieve the Grace and its crew to transport them to the coast.

The fading light of supernova SN 2025kg, followed by the fast X-ray transient EP 250108a, as seen by the Gemini North and South telescopes

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Two articles accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” report different aspects of the study of supernova SN 2025kg, which generated a so-called fast X-ray transient, a little-known event that in this case was cataloged as EP 250108a. This type of event has now been described as a sort of stifled-at-birth version of a gamma-ray burst.

Two teams of researchers with several members in common used data collected by two instruments on the Einstein Probe space telescope and other instruments to analyze the emissions from this supernova. This allowed them to propose an explanation for the fast X-ray transients (FXTs) and how they differ from gamma-ray bursts.

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

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Several scientific organizations have announced the detection of what appears to be an interstellar comet, which has consequently received the designation 3I/ATLAS. It could be a large comet, with an estimated width of around 20 kilometers, but the first estimates of the size of its nucleus are still very rough. Its trajectory will take it within the orbit of Mars, but, together with its considerable speed, it will only lead to a limited direction change by the Sun’s gravity. Unfortunately, it will never get close enough to Earth to allow detailed observations, but any interstellar object is very interesting for astronomers. This is the third officially recognized “visitor” after 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.

Arcadia Planitia on Mars

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ESA has published a photo of the Arcadia Planitia region on Mars captured by its Mars Express space probe’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). This is an interesting region from a geological point of view because it’s northwest of the large volcanoes of Tharsis, the largest in the entire solar system, and traces of ancient lava flows are still visible. It could be important for the exploration of the red planet if confirmation of the presence of frozen water right under the surface were to arrive.