NASA Invites Media to Learn About Upcoming X-59 Test Flights
As its team prepared for second flight, NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft underwent engine run testing on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Credit: NASA
NASA will hold a media teleconference at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 19 to highlight plans for its X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft’s upcoming flight tests. The teleconference is set to take place after the X-59 is scheduled to complete its second flight, in California.
For the media call, NASA leadership will join representatives from the Quesst mission and contractor Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The X-59’s test pilots will be available to answer questions about what it’s like to fly the aircraft and how they prepare for flights.
The news conference will stream on NASA’s YouTube channel. An instant replay will be available online. Learn how to watch NASA content on a variety of platforms, including social media.
Participants include:
Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator
Cathy Bahm, project manager, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
Peter Coen, Quesst mission integration manager, NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
For second flight, the X-59 will taxi from its hangar at NASA Armstrong, then take off and land at nearby Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft will fly for roughly an hour, reaching a cruising speed of 230 mph at 12,000 feet before accelerating to 260 mph at 20,000 feet.
This flight will kick off a series of flights known as envelope expansion, during which NASA will gradually take the X-59 faster and higher to ensure the aircraft’s safety and assess its performance. This phase will be followed by flights assessing the X-59’s unique acoustic profile. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission and was developed to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, without generating loud sonic booms.
Through Quesst, NASA is working to make commercial supersonic flight over land possible, dramatically reducing travel time in the United States or anywhere in the world.
This pair of images shows stars observed by the SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat) space telescope simultaneously in the near-ultraviolet, left, and far-ultraviolet, right. These observations were recorded on Feb. 6, 2026, three weeks after the cube satellite, or CubeSat, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Jan. 11. The fact that one star is seen in the far-UV while multiple are seen in near-UV offers insights into the temperatures of these stars, with the one visible in both colors being the hottest.
Roughly the size of a large cereal box, SPARCS will monitor flares and sunspot activity on low-mass stars — objects only 30% to 50% the mass of the Sun. These stars are among the most common in the Milky Way and host the majority of the galaxy’s roughly 50 billion habitable-zone terrestrial planets, which are rocky worlds close enough to their stars for temperatures that could allow liquid water and potentially support life.
The SPARCS spacecraft is the first dedicated to continuously and simultaneously monitoring the far-ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet radiation from low-mass stars. Over its one-year mission, SPARCS will target approximately 20 low-mass stars and observe them over durations of five to 45 days.
Filters for the spacecraft’s camera, SPARCam, were made using a technique that improves sensitivity and performance by enabling them to be directly deposited onto the specially developed UV-sensitive “delta-doped” detectors. The approach of detector-integrated filters eliminated the need for a separate filter element, resulting in a system that is among the most sensitive of its kind ever flown in space.
The filters, detectors, and associated electronics were designed, fabricated, and tested at the Microdevices Laboratory (MDL) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Inventors at MDL harness physics, chemistry, and material science, including quantum, to deliver first-of-their-kind devices and capabilities for our nation.
Funded by NASA and led by Arizona State University in Tempe, SPARCS is managed under the agency’s Astrophysics Research and Analysis program. The agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected SPARCS in 2022 for a ride to orbit. The initiative is a low-cost pathway for conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, enabling students, teachers, and faculty to gain hands-on experience with flight hardware design, development, and building.
Blue Canyon Technologies fabricated the spacecraft bus.
To Protect Artemis II Astronauts, NASA Experts Keep Eyes on Sun
7 min read
To Protect Artemis II Astronauts, NASA Experts Keep Eyes on Sun
As four astronauts travel around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission, they will venture beyond Earth’s protective magnetic field. The crew’s spacecraft, Orion, will carry and protect them as they journey into deep space and serves as the main protection against the Sun’s intense power. During their 10-day flight, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will monitor the Sun around the clock and translate space weather conditions into real-time decisions to protect the astronauts.
Space weather refers to the changing conditions driven by solar wind and eruptions from the Sun. Solar flares are the most powerful eruptions in the solar system, the strongest unleashing more energy than a billion hydrogen bombs. Coronal mass ejections are giant clouds of solar particles hundreds of times the size of Earth that burst from the Sun.
While both flares and coronal mass ejections can affect technology, the primary concern for astronauts is the solar particle events they can trigger, accelerating some particles to near light speed. If a significant solar particle event occurs near the Artemis II crew, it could raise radiation levels inside the spacecraft. Too high a total lifetime exposure can contribute to increased risks of developing cancer or health disorders that could impair cognition and performance. During the Artemis II mission, NASA will minimize that risk.
For the first time in half a century, four astronauts are leaving Earth’s protective magnetic field to enter a realm where massive solar eruptions can unleash more energy than a billion hydrogen bombs. The Artemis II crew will fly through a dangerous environment, but they’re not going it alone. On the voyage, the astronauts and their Orion capsule are outfitted with radiation trackers as ground teams monitor solar eruptions 24/7. Here’s how NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are protecting explorers from the most powerful eruptions in the solar system. NASA/Joy Ng
Tracking solar eruptions
“Our focus will be real-time space weather analysis, prioritizing solar energetic particles and events that could produce them,” said Mary Aronne, operations lead for the space weather analysis office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re looking for the trigger, which would typically be a flare or a coronal mass ejection.”
This animation shows a solar eruption that produces a solar flare, a coronal mass ejection, and a flurry of energetic particles. The particles follow the spiral shape of the solar wind’s magnetic fields into interplanetary space.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
The Goddard team will track any solar eruptions that occur, measuring how big they are, how fast they’re moving, and how likely they are to generate energetic particles that will cross Orion’s path. To this end, they’ll use real-time data from Sun-watching spacecraft strategically placed across the solar system, such as NASA’s recently launched Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-19 satellite, and many others.
Other NASA spacecraft also will help monitor the Sun. Due to Mars’ current position, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover can look at the far side of the Sun, where Earth has no view. The rover’s Mastcam-Z cameras can give NASA’s space weather teams a view of the largest sunspots up to two weeks earlier so the team can monitor and prepare for possible solar flares.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover captured these images of sunspots crossing the Sun from its vantage point on the Martian surface between February 24 – 27, 2026. Mars is currently on the opposite side of the Sun, giving the rover a view of sunspots not visible from Earth. Perseverance will monitor sunspots leading up to and during the Artemis II launch window, giving the Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office (M2M SWAO) and Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) teams advance notice of regions that could produce solar eruptions before they rotate onto the Earth-facing side of the Sun.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
Monitoring crew exposure
Energetic solar particles don’t stream straight out from the Sun. They spiral along the Sun’s magnetic field lines, tracing loops tens of thousands of miles across and scattering due to particle collisions along the way. The chaotic swarm is so large that, from inside it, particles seem to be coming from every direction.
“It’s more like you’re sitting in a bathtub and it’s gradually filling with water,” said Stuart George, a space radiation analyst at NASA Johnson.
That gradual rise in radiation gives analysts time to evaluate the situation. Inside Orion, six radiation sensors, part of the Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor system designed and built by NASA, measure dose rates in different parts of the cabin. Artemis II astronauts also wear personal radiation trackers called crew active dosimeters. If radiation levels increase, Orion’s onboard systems display warnings accompanied by an audible alarm.
Artist’s concept of the components of the Orion spacecraft.
NASA
NASA has dosage level thresholds they’ll look for inside Orion. The first threshold signals a caution, prompting closer monitoring and coordination with medical and flight operations teams. A higher threshold triggers a recommendation for the crew to take shelter.
Radiation shielding in space is all about mass. Charged particles are slowed and absorbed as they pass through matter. Astronauts are trained to reconfigure their cabin during a solar particle event, removing stowed equipment from storage bays and securing it along areas of the cabin to add mass between themselves and incoming particles. Since Artemis II is the first crewed Artemis mission, testing this procedure in the Orion spacecraft is a major objective of the mission.
“Once crews add mass to the places that tend to be hotter in terms of radiation exposure, they can then continue to go about their duties,” George said.
Artist’s concept of the Trajectory for Artemis II, NASA’s first flight with crew aboard SLS and Orion to pave the way for long-term return to the Moon and missions to Mars.
NASA
The complexity of solar particle events is one reason NASA places spacecraft across the solar system. During a solar storm in January, NASA analysts tracked a coronal mass ejection on its way to Earth. When it arrived, satellites detected two distinct spikes in energetic particles where there would normally be one. Measurements from NASA’s BioSentinel CubeSat, deployed during the Artemis I mission, revealed what happened. The spacecraft, about 55 million miles away from Earth, detected a distinct eruption that later merged with the coronal mass ejection headed to Earth. Ultimately, two separate eruptions occurred.
The crew also must account for exposure to Earth’s radiation belts and galactic cosmic rays. The Van Allen Radiation Belts are two rings of high energy particles that surround our planet. Any mission headed to the Moon or farther must pass through them. Galactic cosmic rays are very high-energy particles from sources beyond our solar system. Together, the radiation exposure from these sources is expected to be comparable to a 1-month stay on the International Space Station, or about 5% of an astronaut’s career limit. Any exposure from solar radiation events would add to this baseline.
The Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office, based at NASA Goddard, continuously assesses solar activity and any eruptions that occur. The team shares its analysis with the Space Radiation Analysis Group, based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Together, their forecasts and those from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, plus real-time measurements from inside the Orion spacecraft will inform recommendations for the flight control team.
By Miles Hatfield NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Progress 92 Cargo Spacecraft Undocks, Crew Preps for Upcoming Spacewalk
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams, both Expedition 74 flight engineers, familiarize themselves with the hardware they will use to install a modification kit and route cables on the port side of the International Space Station. The duo will conduct a spacewalk using the hardware to prepare the orbital outpost for a future roll‑out solar array that will be installed during a later spacewalk.
The unpiloted Progress 92 cargo spacecraft undocked from the Poisk module at 9:24 a.m. EDT today. The spacecraft backed away from the station for a deorbit maneuver and a planned destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.
Aboard the orbital outpost, NASA astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir spent most of their day gearing up for this week’s planned spacewalk. The duo collected vital signs, replaced spacesuit batteries, and worked together in the Quest airlock to continue the configuration of tools they’ll use while in the vacuum of space. Williams and Meir will exit the Quest airlock around 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, to install a modification kit and route cables on the port side of the station. Their work readies for the next roll-out solar array to be installed during a later spacewalk.
NASA will preview the upcoming spacewalks during a news conference today at 2:00 p.m. Stream on the agency’s YouTube.
In the Tranquility module, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway spent most of the day conducting maintenance on the station’s water recovery system. He later swapped out some spacesuit helmet lights before moving into the Destiny laboratory module to change out cassettes in ADSEP-2, or the Advanced Space Experiment Processor. The multipurpose facility uses cassettes to house and process various samples for biological and physical science experiments, such as cell and tissue culturing, protein crystal growth, microorganism and bacteria studies, and more.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot measured her cardiovascular health on Monday. Ahead of a cycle session on the orbital complex’s bicycle, CEVIS, she donned the Bio-Monitor, which includes an instrumented garment and headband to track an array of vital signs, including heart activity, blood pressure, physical activity levels, and more. She later logged the data then stowed the hardware for future use before joining Hathaway to assist with maintenance.
The station’s three cosmonauts kept busy Monday with a variety of activities. Commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov started the day photographing payload equipment for documentation and inspected voltage converters. He was later joined by flight engineer Sergei Mikaev to log daily work activities and test communications software. Mikaev also teamed up with flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev to conduct physical fitness assessments, wearing sensors that track their blood pressure and electrical activity in their hearts.
Roscosmos Progress Cargo Spacecraft Departs Station
March 16, 2026: International Space Station Configuration. Three spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX Crew-12 Dragon, the Soyuz MS-28 crew ship, and the Progress 93 resupply ship.
NASA
The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 92 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 9:24 a.m. EDT Monday, backing away for a deorbit maneuver and a planned destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.
The spacecraft launched in July 2025 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the space station’s crew. After a two-day journey, it arrived at the orbiting laboratory and automatically docked to the space-facing port of the Poisk module.
