NASA signs US-Australia Agreement on Aeronautics, Space Cooperation
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy and Australian Space Agency Head Enrico Palermo signed an agreement Sept. 30, 2025, in Sydney that strengthens collaboration in aeronautics and space exploration between the two nations.
Credit: NASA/Max van Otterdyk
At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) taking place in Sydney this week, representatives from the United States and Australia gathered to sign a framework agreement that strengthens collaboration in aeronautics and space exploration between the two nations.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy and Australian Space Agency Head Enrico Palermo signed the agreement Tuesday on behalf of their countries, respectively.
“Australia is an important and longtime space partner, from Apollo to Artemis, and this agreement depends on that partnership,” said Duffy. “International agreements like this one work to leverage our resources and increase our capacities and scientific returns for all, proving critical to NASA’s plans from low Earth orbit to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
Australian Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim Ayres said the signing builds on more than half a century of collaboration between the two nations.
“Strengthening Australia’s partnership with the U.S. and NASA creates new opportunities for Australian ideas and technologies, improving Australia’s industrial capability, boosting productivity, and building economic resilience,” Ayres said.
Known as the “Framework Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Australia on Cooperation in Aeronautics and the Exploration and Use of Airspace and Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes,” it recognizes cooperation that’s mutually beneficial for the U.S. and Australia and establishes the legal framework under which the countries will work together.
Potential areas for cooperation include space exploration, space science, Earth science including geodesy, space medicine and life sciences, aeronautics research, and technology.
NASA has collaborated with Australia on civil space activities since 1960, when the two countries signed their first cooperative space agreement. The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex played a vital role in supporting NASA’s Apollo Program, most notably during the Apollo 13 mission. Today, the complex is one of three global stations in NASA’s Deep Space Network, supporting both robotic and human spaceflight missions.
One of the original signatories to the Artemis Accords, Australia joined the United States under President Donald Trump and six other nations in October 2020, in supporting a basic set of principles for the safe and responsible use of space. Global space leaders from many of the 56 signatory countries met at IAC in Sydney this week to further their implementation.
As part of an existing partnership with the Australian Space Agency, Australia is developing a semi-autonomous lunar rover, which will carry a NASA analysis instrument intended to demonstrate technology for scientific and exploration purposes. The rover is scheduled to launch by the end of this decade through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
NASA’s international partnerships reflect the agency’s commitment to peaceful, collaborative space exploration. Building on a legacy of cooperation, from the space shuttle to the International Space Station and now Artemis, international partnerships support NASA’s plans for lunar exploration under the Artemis campaign and future human exploration of Mars.
To learn more about NASA’s international partnerships, visit:
The Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) and Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) has a new home. As part of NASA’s website consolidation initiative, the OSDR and PSI site have officially transitioned to the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Data page, accessible through the “Data” menu on the Science Mission Directorate’s (SMD) website at science.nasa.gov. This strategic move reflects NASA’s broader effort to streamline user access to resources, unify digital platforms, and provide a more consistent experience across the SMD divisions.
The OSDR and PSI consolidation brings together two powerful resources, giving researchers a single point of access to search both biological and physical sciences datasets. By integrating these repositories, NASA is expanding opportunities for cross-disciplinary research, enabling scientists to draw connections across fields and gain deeper insights into how biology and physical systems respond to spaceflight environments.
The redesigned OSDR website continues to serve as a hub for open access to space science data, offering a modernized layout, improved navigation, and direct pathways to explore datasets and analysis tools, and submit data through the submission portals enabled by OSDR and PSI. Whether you are a scientist seeking resources for new investigations, a student learning about space research, or a collaborator from another discipline, the updated platform makes accessing NASA’s open science data easier than ever. Check out the new BPS Data and OSDR, and PSI websites now!
The launch of the new consolidated OSDR and PSI websites underscores NASA’s commitment to open science and to advancing knowledge through transparent, accessible, and reusable data. By situating OSDR under the BPS data ecosystem and combining it with PSI, NASA is strengthening visibility, fostering collaboration, and ensuring that both biological and physical sciences research in space continues to thrive.
International Space Station: Launching NASA and Humanity into Deep Space
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International Space Station: Launching NASA and Humanity into Deep Space
Curiosity and the desire to explore are traits deeply rooted in human nature. Space exploration is no exception; it reflects humanity’s timeless drive to seek new horizons, challenge our limits, and understand our universe.
The advancements of modern civilization—from the electricity that powers our homes to basic hygienic breakthroughs that ensure our health— happened thanks to humanity’s dedication to expanding our knowledge and transforming our world. Similarly, before we can venture into deep space, we must expand our knowledge to understand life beyond Earth. The International Space Station provides the platform for sharpening the skills, technology, and understanding that has springboarded humanity forward, leading us back to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
In November 2025, NASA and its international partners will surpass 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. As NASA prepares for Artemis missions to the Moon and sets sights on Mars, the space station continues to enable groundbreaking research not possible on Earth, making significant strides in our journey farther into the final frontier.
Step 1: Mastering a New Environment
NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron demonstrate the unique physical environment aboard the space station.
NASA
Space presents an entirely new physical environment with a unique set of challenges. Without Earth’s gravity, researchers first needed to master techniques for basic tasks like drinking water, sleeping, exercising, and handling various materials. Fundamental research in the early days of the space station helped us address these basic challenges and move forward to more advanced physics, building multiple space-based research facilities, developing life support systems, and even improving consumer products for life on Earth.
The human body experiences challenges in space like adapting to different gravitational fields and living for long periods in a closed environment. For example, fluid shifts in the body due to microgravity can cause changes with the eyes, brain, bones, muscles, and cardiovascular system. Being able to see, breathe, and function optimally are critical to living and working in space. Research aboard the space station is producing solutions to these challenges and equipping humans for deep space exploration though research like simulating moon landings to clarify how gravitational transitions affect piloting capabilities and decision-making.
Step 2: Creating Self Sufficiency in Space
In 2021, astronauts aboard the International Space Station harvested chile peppers for the first time, and taste-tested the fruits of their labor.
NASA
As missions venture farther from Earth, reliable technologies and self-sustaining ecosystems become essential. The space station provides a testbed to refine these systems before human’s travel to distant destinations.
Food, water, and air are among the basic needs for human survival. Thanks to testing aboard the space station, we have developed state-of-the-art life support systems that could be used on future commercial space stations and the Artemis missions. The space station also has enabled testing of evolving technologies to recycle air, water, and waste. In the U.S. segment of space station, NASA achieved 98% water recovery, the ideal level needed for missions beyond low Earth orbit.
Deep space missions could last several years, and astronauts will need enough food to sustain them the entire time. Packaged food can degrade and lose nutrients and vitamins over time, and a deficiency in vitamins can cause health issues. Growing and producing fresh foods and nutrients will be vital during these missions. Over 50 species of plants have been grown aboard the space station, including a variety of vegetables, leafy greens, grains, and legumes. Scientists are testing different systems for scalable crop growth, including aeroponic and hydroponic systems. Research is also being conducted to produce vital nutrients in orbit using microbes.
Researchers have also advanced 3D printing in space, enabling astronauts to make tools and parts on-demand. This ability is especially important in planning for missions to the Moon and Mars because additional supplies cannot quickly be sent from Earth and cargo capacity is limited. Experiments on the space station have made it possible to 3D print plastic parts and tools, and test ways to reuse waste like plastic bags and packing foam as material for 3D printers. In 2024, ESA (European Space Agency) successfully 3D printed the first metal part aboard space station, a step towards more diverse manufacturing during future missions.
Step 3: Preparing for Lunar and Martian Exploration
The Internal Ball Camera 2 tests automatically capturing imagery of crew activities aboard the International Space Station.
JAXA/Takuya Onishi
Before astronauts explore new terrains, we first must collect data and imagery to better characterize the surface of these cosmic destinations. Astronauts aboard the space station have collected photographs to document Earth’s surface through Crew Earth Observations. Now, those same techniques are being adapted for Artemis II , where astronauts will use handheld cameras to capture images of the Moon’s surface—including the largely unexplored far side. These observations will increase our understanding of the lunar environment and help prepare for exploration missions.
When they land, astronauts will need shelter from radiation, debris, and contaminants. Technology demonstrations aboard the space station tested the packing techniques, protection capabilities, and venting systems of lightweight inflatable habitats. For more permanent structures, space station experiments have studied how concrete hardens in reduced gravity and tested 3D printing nozzles designed to use regolith – the dust present on the Moon and Mars- as material for constructing habitats on-site.
Robotic experiments aboard the space station are demonstrating tasks like moving objects, early detection of equipment issues, 3D sensing, and mapping. Robots could support astronauts during deep space missions by performing routine tasks, responding to hazards, and reducing the need for risky spacewalks.
Analyzing samples though DNA sequencing has historically been expensive and time intensive, limiting its use in space. Advancements have led to DNA processing aboard the space station and refined sequencing techniques. Not only can this ability potentially identify DNA-based life off Earth, but it is necessary for microbial monitoring to keep crews safe and healthy.
Communications is another important component of space exploration. NASA used the space station to demonstrate laser communications capabilities, enabling transmission of more data at faster rates. This communication could serve as a critical two-way link to keep astronauts connected to Earth as they explore deep space.
Step 4: Testing Beyond Low Earth Orbit
September’s full Moon, the Harvest Moon, is photographed from the International Space Station, perfectly placed in between exterior station hardware.
NASA
Experiments and technologies first tested aboard the space station made their way around the Moon in an uncrewed Orion vehicle during the Artemis I mission. Radiation technology verified on station confirmed that the Orion spacecraft’s design protects against harmful exposure. An identical BioSentinel experiment on both space station and Artemis I studied how yeast cells respond to different levels of space radiation.
Additionally, Moon Imagery research calibrated cameras for Orion’s navigation systems using photos of the Moon taken from space station, ensuring accurate guidance even if communication with Earth is lost.
Three experiments that landed on the Moon during Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission-1 were made possible by earlier research on the space station. These studies help improve space weather monitoring, tested computer recovery from radiation damage, and advanced lunar navigation systems.
Methods used to conduct research on the space station are making their way aboard Artemis II, a mission to place four astronauts in orbit around the Moon. Adapted from human health measurements conducted during space station missions, measurements taken on Artemis II crew will expand a repository of human health data to provide a snapshot of how spaceflight affects the human body beyond low Earth orbit. NASA researchers hope to use this data repository to develop protocols aimed at keeping astronauts healthy on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Small devices called tissue or organ chips, used for several experiments aboard space station, will continue their scientific journey in the lunar environment. Organ-chip research could improve crew prevention measures and create personalized medical treatments for humans, on Earth and in space.
The International Space Station remains a vital scientific platform, providing the foundation needed to survive and thrive as humanity ventures into the unexplored territories of our universe.
Making High Fidelity Fluxgate Cores for Space Science and Space Weather Missions
A NASA-sponsored team at the University of Iowa (UI) is restoring and advancing the nation’s capability to make high-fidelity magnetic field measurements needed to investigate space weather that can impact our communication and power grids on Earth and our assets in space.
Fluxgate magnetometers are widely-used space science and space weather instruments, but they depend on a legacy component—a ferromagnetic core—that was developed and manufactured for the U.S. Navy using technology that has been subsequently lost to the civilian community.
The UI team manufactures new fluxgate cores using a method that does not rely on legacy processes or materials and then integrates these cores into modern spaceflight magnetometers. The ferromagnetic cores are produced starting from base metal powders that are melted into custom alloys, rolled into thin foils, formed into the desired geometry of the fluxgate core, and artificially aged using heat to optimize their magnetic properties. The resulting cores are integrated into a complete fluxgate sensor ready for spaceflight applications.
Designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the cores, sensors, and paired electronics in house allows the team to explore new sensor geometries that are compatible with different missions. Most recently, the UI team developed a new core to be used in the Space Weather Iowa Magnetometer (SWIM). While the SWIM core is based on a core previously developed for the MAGnetometers for Innovation and Capability (MAGIC) Tesseract sensor that recently launched on NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission the SWIM core is miniaturized and retains the same level of performance. The first flight opportunity for the SWIM fluxgate is on the University of Oslo’s ICI-5bis sounding rocket mission that is scheduled to launch in winter 2025/2026 from the Andoya Space Sub-Orbital range in Norway.
Integration of the SWIM sensor for the ICI-5bis Suborbital Sounding Rocket.
Fluxgate magnetometers sense the magnetic field by detecting the electromagnetic force (EMF) induced by the changing magnetic flux. Current is driven into the drive winding (the interior winding on the fluxgate core) creating a magnetic field. When the ferromagnetic material in the cores experiences the magnetic field, its relative permeability (the intrinsic magnetic property of the metal within the core) changes. As the relative permeability changes, a voltage is induced in the sense winding (the outer winding on the core). By knowing the amount of current driven into the core and the voltage that was induced in the sense winding, we can understand the magnetic field that the sensor is experiencing. Most in-space magnetometers are not located onboard the main body of the spacecraft; instead, they are placed on booms to ensure that the magnetic fields produced by the electronics and magnetic materials onboard the spacecraft do not interfere with the sensor.
Example noise plot of a SWIM fluxgate core showing <5 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz noise performance.
The manufacturing process for these new cores is now well documented and ~90% of the cores produced have a noise floor that is comparable or better than previous legacy cores. Consequently, UI can reliably mass-produce cores for the SWIM payload and potential future follow-on missions.
The Tesseract sensor from the MAGIC payload on the TRACERS mission (Left). The SWIM sensor (Right) is more compact, simpler to assemble, and provides equal or better performance in the relevant figures of merit (mass, power, volume, magnetic noise, offset, etc.)
Credit: NASA GSFC
The new SWIM magnetometer design reflects three significant changes compared to the previous MAGIC instrument. The sensor has been simplified and shrunk. Its power consumption has been reduced without sacrificing measurement performance. Both these changes aid its accommodation on a magnetometer boom. In addition, the topology of the paired electronics in each magnetometer channel has been redesigned, which allows use of lower-performance parts that tolerate a higher radiation exposure.
Reduced Sensor size: The compact SWIM design reduces the sensor size by ~30% compared to the MAGIC sensor, with further reduction to the sensor mass likely as the mechanical design is optimized. The MAGIC Tesseract design used six cores whereas the SWIM sensor utilizes three smaller cores of the same geometry. Mass is a major performance driver for deployable boom design and vehicle dynamics. The SWIM sensor can also be manufactured with a lightweight carbon-composite cover (or the cover can be omitted) to achieve a sensor mass of ~110 g, which would enable the sensor to be easily accommodated on small satellite booms.
SWIM sensor magnetic calibration at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Reduced Power consumption: Using three smaller cores with improved metallurgy instead of six large racetrack cores reduced the power consumption of the SWIM sensor by a factor of two compared to the MAGIC sensor. Although this power reduction is modest compared to the total consumption of the instrument, it positively impacts the capability for boom deployment. Significant reduction in heat dissipation at the sensor minimizes the spot-heating of the deployable boom and reduces thermal gradients that can drive boom deformation/rotation, which impacts the pointing knowledge at the sensor. These improvements to the sensor have been achieved without impacting the measurement fidelity. In fact, prototype miniaturized SWIM race-track cores are outperforming the previous MAGIC cores due to their improved metallurgy.
Updated Electronics Topology: The MAGIC electronics use a traditional analog demodulator fluxgate and magnetic feedback design. This design requires high-performance components to be able to resolve small variations in large ambient magnetic fields. There are radiation limitations to these high-performance components making it difficult for the MAGIC design to operate in a high-radiation environment. To mitigate these issues, the SWIM design employs digital demodulation instead of analog demodulation and provides magnetic feedback via temperature-compensated, digital, pulse-width-modulation. This update to the electronics enables SWIM to potentially be used in long-duration and/or high-reliability operational applications such as radiation belt missions or planetary missions with long cruise phases.
The SWIM fluxgate design allows for more future applications in a variety of environments without sacrificing the performance seen on the MAGIC sensors. The UI team is looking forward to multiple upcoming flight opportunities for SWIM, including on the Observing Cusp High-altitude Reconnection and Electrodynamics (OCHRE) and ICI5bis sounding rockets.
Project Lead(s):Dr. David Miles, University of Iowa
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4668-4674: Winding Our Way Along
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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4668-4674: Winding Our Way Along
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the ridge in front of it, which it was scheduled to drive down the weekend of Sept. 27-28, 2025. To either side of the ridge are two hollows, nicknamed “Laguna Escondida” (left) and “Laguna Socompa” (right). Curiosity used its Left Navigation Camera to capture the image on Sept. 26, 2025 — Sol 4671, or Martian day 4,671 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:54:44 UTC.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University
Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 26, 2025
We are continuing through the boxwork region, taking a twisty-turny path along the ridges (many of which are conveniently Curiosity-sized). One thing we’re keeping an eye out for is our next drill location in one of the hollows. Our most recent drive put us right in the middle of two such hollows, which we’ve named “Laguna Escondida,” and “Laguna Socompa.” As we’re keeping an eye out for a good spot to drill though, we’re still using our normal suite of instruments to continue our investigation of the boxwork structures.
This week, we’ve had six contact science targets along the tops of the ridges, which have given MAHLI and APXS plenty to do. ChemCam and Mastcam have also been keeping busy, with several LIBS measurements from ChemCam and mosaics from both, of targets near and far. We’re not only interested in imaging the hollows to scope out our next drill site but also in continuing to investigate the structure of the ridges, and look further afield at the more distant boxwork structures and buttes around us.
On Monday, I was on shift as the science theme lead for the environmental science theme group (ENV). We’re coming up to the end of the cloudy season in just over a week. As a result, we’ve been making the most of the clouds while they’re still here with our suite of cloud movies — the shorter suprahorizon and zenith movies, which we use to look at clouds’ properties directly overhead and just over the horizon; a survey to see how the brightness of the sky and clouds change with direction, which consists of nine cloud movies all around the rover; and the cloud altitude observation, which uses shadows cast by clouds to, as its name suggests, infer the height of the clouds. Once the cloudy season is over the number of water-ice clouds we see above Gale crater decreases dramatically, so we shelve the two longer observations for another year and just use the zenith and suprahorizon movies to monitor cloud activity.
The end of the cloudy season does bring about the start of the dusty season though, where more dust gets lifted into the atmosphere and the lovely view of the crater rim that we’ve been enjoying gets a bit hazier. We monitor this with our regular line-of-sight and tau observations. We also tend to see more dust-lifting activity, like dust devils, which we keep an eye on with 360-degree surveys and dedicated movies. With the ever-changing atmosphere, there’s always something for ENV to do.
