EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Global Astronomy Month

In honor of Global Astronomy Month, we’re exploring the science of space. Learn how astronomy connects us through curiosity, discovery, and a shared wonder for what lies beyond.

A shallow mantle source for the Chang’e 5 lavas reveals how top-down heating prolonged lunar magmatism

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

N/A

Journal: Science Advances

17-Jul-2025

NASA to launch SNIFS, Sun’s next trailblazing spectator

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Business Announcement

July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or SNIFS. Delivered to space via a Black Brant IX sounding rocket, SNIFS will explore the energy and dynamics of the chromosphere, one of the most complex regions of the Sun’s atmosphere. The SNIFS mission’s launch window at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico opens on Friday, July 18.

17-Jul-2025

New cryogenic shape memory alloy designed for outer space

Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have created an alloy that maintains its special ability to act as a sort of temperature-activated memory foam at temperatures as low as -200°C – making it highly suitable for space equipment regularly exposed to these challenging, cold environments.

Journal: Communications Engineering

16-Jul-2025

FAST telescope unveils supersonic filamentary network in very-high-velocity cloud

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), researchers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with other institutes, has uncovered an unexpectedly complex and dynamic filamentary network within a very-high-velocity cloud (VHVC) in the Milky Way.

Journal: Nature Astronomy

16-Jul-2025

University of Surrey launches Space Institute to drive the UK's small satellite boom and tackle urgent global challenges

University of Surrey
Business Announcement

With the UK's £19 billion space economy surging, government and industry urgently need faster research, innovation and skilled talent – yet more than half of space organisations report critical shortages, a challenge now being tackled by the newly launched Surrey Space Institute at the University of Surrey. The Institute will convert the University's 45-year small satellite leadership into mission-ready solutions for climate, resilience and secure global connectivity.

16-Jul-2025

Lunar soil could support life on the Moon

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have developed a technology that may help humans survive on the Moon. In a study publishing July 16 in the Cell Press journal Joule, researchers extracted water from lunar soil and used it to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and chemicals for fuel—potentially opening new doors for future deep space exploration by mitigating the need to transport essential resources like water and fuel all the way from Earth.

Journal: Joule
Funder: National Key R&D Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, The Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams, Special Fund for the Sci-tech Innovation Strategy of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, The Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Eco-materials and Renewable Energy, NSF of Jiangsu Province, University Development Fund

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

Latest News Releases

A shallow mantle source for the Chang’e 5 lavas reveals how top-down heating prolonged lunar magmatism

NASA to launch SNIFS, Sun’s next trailblazing spectator

New cryogenic shape memory alloy designed for outer space

FAST telescope unveils supersonic filamentary network in very-high-velocity cloud

University of Surrey launches Space Institute to drive the UK's small satellite boom and tackle urgent global challenges

Lunar soil could support life on the Moon