| In this week’s newsletter, explore the evidence uncovered by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover showing that a 245-foot-thick stack of ancient rock on the rim of Jezero Crater was formed by repeated asteroid impacts; learn how a series of helicopter tests conducted in the most Venus‑like location on Earth helped NASA’s DAVINCI team evaluate a probe that will one day descend through Venus’s atmosphere; and discover what astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found hidden within one of the most closely studied planetary systems in the Milky Way. Plus, more stories you might have missed. |
| SCIENCE Evidence of Ancient Mars Impacts |
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| NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has uncovered evidence that a 245-foot-thick stack of ancient rock on the rim of Jezero Crater was built by repeated asteroid impacts. Referred to as the “Broom Point member” by the rover’s science team, this sequence of layered bedrock is likely more than 3.9 billion years old, making it among the oldest terrain ever examined by a Mars rover. “Since leaving Jezero, Perseverance has been exploring a brand-new frontier, both geographically and geologically — a chapter of Martian time that predates the crater itself,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance deputy project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. “On Earth, our earliest geologic history has been fundamentally broken up, deformed, and erased by plate tectonics. Because Mars lacks plate tectonics to recycle its crust, this ancient record remains intact, giving us a rare glimpse into a geological time period that doesn’t exist on our own planet.” READING BETWEEN LAYERS |
 | SCIENCE Testing DAVINCI A series of helicopter tests in the most Venus-like location on Earth helped NASA’s DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) scientists test a probe that will one day descend through Venus’s atmosphere. STUDYING VENUS |
| THE UNIVERSE Missing Black Hole Discovered Omega Centauri, a massive globular star cluster, has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploded stars, yet evidence has been scarce. Now, using archival data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have identified the cluster’s first stellar-mass black hole. FINDING oMEGACat BH-2 |  |
 THE UNIVERSE Hidden Planet Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found a giant exoplanet hidden within one of the most closely studied planetary systems in the Milky Way. The young, nearby star Beta Pictoris was already known to host two giant planets: Beta Pictoris b, one of the first exoplanets ever directly imaged, and Beta Pictoris c. Now, the newly identified Beta Pictoris d makes the system only the second known to contain at least three directly imaged planets. LEARN MORE |  THE UNIVERSE Dual Personality New research led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has revealed the true identity of a puzzling near-Earth object by precisely tracking its motion through space. The mystery began on Aug. 28, 2025, when the object—known as asteroid 1998 SH2—passed safely within 2 million miles of our planet during its four-and-a-half-year orbit around the Sun. But when 1998 SH2 failed to appear where scientists expected, it became clear that something unanticipated had been influencing the object’s motion. LEARN MORE |
| More NASA News |
 | Houston We Have a Podcast celebrates its ninth anniversary by answering your questions about the science of Artemis II and the crew’s stunning lunar flyby observations. |
 | This week, NASA welcomed the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Mauritius as the 69th and 70th nations to sign the Artemis Accords, respectively. NASA, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State and seven other initial signatory nations, established the Artemis Accords in 2020 to provide a common set of principles to enhance the governance of civil exploration. |
 | A meteorite recovered immediately upon its fall to Earth on July 16, 2024, is helping NASA scientists uncover new clues about ancient water, the chemical evolution of primitive asteroids, and the ingredients that may have helped make life possible throughout the early solar system. |
 | Teams are steadily advancing in‑orbit preparations for LINK, the robotic servicing spacecraft that will boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude. Launched on July 3, LINK will attempt to rendezvous with Swift, grapple it, and gradually raise its orbit — preventing the observatory from re‑entering Earth’s atmosphere later this year. |
 | New research suggests NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to detect supermassive black holes, helping scientists study how the giant black holes at galaxy centers form and grow over time. |
| Do You Know? |
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| On Monday, July 20, NASA is marking the 50th anniversary of the Viking 1 lander’s touchdown on Mars — the first successful mission to operate on the surface of another planet. On the morning of July 20, 1976, Viking 1 returned our first ground‑level view from the Martian surface. But the landing could have gone very differently: just 26 feet away sits a 10‑foot‑wide boulder that could have destroyed the spacecraft had it touched down on top of it. |
| What did the Viking Team nickname this boulder? A. Lucky B. Yogi C. El Capitan D. Barnacle Bill E. Big Joe |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we asked which orbiter flew STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle Program. The answer? Atlantis. Atlantis, currently on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, flew 33 missions. It was the final shuttle to dock with the International Space Station, delivering supplies and equipment in the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. |
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| In the ongoing citizen‑science project SouthEast Region CoCoRaHS Hail (SEaRCH), volunteers help scientists better understand how quickly hail melts as it falls from clouds to the ground. This network of backyard weather observers includes people of all ages and backgrounds who measure and report hail in their local communities. Their rain and snow observations help scientists study local variations in precipitation. CoCoRaHS data is regularly used by the National Weather Service, the Hydrologic Prediction Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Drought Mitigation Center, broadcast meteorologists, research scientists, and others. Through NASA’s citizen science projects, volunteers help with cutting-edge research in Earth science, planetary science, astrophysics, biological and physical sciences, and heliophysics. With just your phone or computer, you can help NASA expand our understanding of the universe—including life here on Earth. Projects are available in 18+ languages beyond English and open to anyone, regardless of country of origin or citizenship status, and need no special gear, just curiosity and a willingness to learn. JOIN THE PROJECT |
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