| In this week’s newsletter, discover how the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed, for the first time, that crystalline silicates are forged in the hot inner region of the disk of gas and dust surrounding a very young, actively forming star—explaining why comets at the outskirts of our solar system contain crystalline silicates; hear pilot Nils Larson discuss how the X‑59 quiet supersonic aircraft could help usher in the next era of commercial supersonic flight; and look back on the career of NASA astronaut Suni Williams, who has retired from the agency after 27 years of service. |
| THE UNIVERSE Star Forging, Spewing Common Crystals  |
| Astronomers have long sought evidence to explain why comets at the outskirts of our solar system contain crystalline silicates—materials that require intense heat to form—even though these “dirty snowballs” spend most of their time in the ultracold Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Now, by looking outside our solar system, the James Webb Space Telescope has returned the first conclusive evidence that links how those conditions are possible. The Webb telescope has revealed, for the first time, that crystalline silicates are forged in the hot inner region of the disk of gas and dust surrounding a very young, actively forming star. Webb also revealed a strong outflow that is capable of carrying the crystals to the disk’s far outer edges. In comparison to our fully formed, mostly dust-cleared solar system, the crystals would be forming roughly between the Sun and Earth. DISCOVER PROTOSTAR EC 53 |
 | THE UNIVERSE Chandra Deep Cut Like a recording artist with a long and storied career, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has a “back catalog” of cosmic recordings that can never be duplicated. To access these X-ray tracks, the ultimate compendium has been developed: the Chandra Source Catalog. This resource brings together X-ray data collected through the end of 2020, encompassing more than 400,000 unique sources and over 1.3 million individual detections in X-ray light. CATALOG OF COSMIC RECORDINGS |
| HUMANS IN SPACE NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Retires After 27 years of service, NASA astronaut Suni Williams has retired from the agency, effective Dec. 27, 2025. Williams completed three missions aboard the International Space Station, setting numerous human spaceflight records throughout her career. GET TO KNOW SUNITA WILLIAMS |  |
 PODCASTS The Future of Air Travel NASA’s Quesst mission, featuring the one‑of‑a‑kind X‑59 aircraft, will demonstrate technology to fly supersonic—faster than the speed of sound—without the disruptive sonic boom. In the latest episode of NASA’s Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast, lead pilot Nils Larson discusses how the X‑59 could help usher in the next era of commercial supersonic flight. LISTEN |  AERONAUTICS Staying Close As NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft continues a series of flight tests over the California high desert in 2026, its pilot will be flying with a buddy closely looking out for his safety. That colleague will be another test pilot in a separate chase aircraft. His job as a chase pilot? Keep a careful watch on things as he tracks the X-59 through the sky, providing an extra set of eyes to help ensure the flight tests are as safe as possible.LEARN MORE |
| More NASA News |
 | At 6:42 p.m. EST on Jan. 17, the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft reached Launch Pad 39B after a nearly 12-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the coming days, engineers and technicians will prepare the Artemis II rocket for the wet dress rehearsal–a test of fueling operations and countdown procedures. |
 | In the latest episode of Universo Curioso de la NASA, the agency’s Spanish‑language podcast, explore the intriguing mystery of dark energy and discover how the Roman Space Telescope could help unravel it. |
 | When the six tiny spacecraft of the SunRISE mission settle into their orbits high above Earth later this year, they will work together as a single giant radio dish, tracking the rumbles of radio bursts emerging from deep within the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Their observations will help scientists better understand how the Sun generates intense space‑weather storms—known as solar particle storms—that can be hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts. |
| Do You Know? |
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| Did you watch the Artemis II spacecraft roll out to the launch pad last weekend? NASA’s Crawler Transporter 2, or CT-2, carried the 11-million-pound Space Launch System rocket at about one mile per hour along the four-mile route to Launch Pad 39B. But did you know that CT-2 and its twin, CT-1, have been an important part of NASA’s history for decades? |
| Which mission first used a crawler transporter to deliver a space vehicle to the launchpad? A. Gemini 3 in Oct. 1964 B. Apollo 4 in Aug.1967 C. Apollo 11 in May 1969 D. STS-1 in Dec. 1980 |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft and asked what makes Pluto a dwarf planet. The answer? Pluto is unable to clear its neighborhood of other objects. In 2015, New Horizons became the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto and its moons, revealing new details about their geology, composition, atmosphere, and more. Today, the spacecraft continues its journey away from Earth, covering roughly 300 million miles each year. |
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| In 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send humans to the Moon. In the latest episode of NASA’s Curious Universe podcast, go inside Firing Room 1—the nerve center for Artemis launches—and hear from the engineers who launched Artemis I, including the intricate procedures they developed just to fuel the rocket correctly. Now, NASA is ready to launch Artemis II—and to send humans around the Moon. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The approximately 10-day flight will help confirm systems and hardware needed for early human lunar exploration missions. RETURN TO THE MOON |
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