A team led by researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a dataset of the whole atmosphere, enabling new research to be conducted on previously difficult-to-study regions. Using a new data-assimilation system called JAGUAR-DAS, which combines numerical modeling with observational data, the team created a nearly 20-yearlong set of data spanning multiple levels of the atmosphere from ground level up to the lower edges of space. Being able to study the interactions of these layers vertically and around the globe could improve climate modeling and seasonal weather forecasting. There is also potential for interdisciplinary research between atmospheric scientists and space scientists, to investigate the interplay between space and our atmosphere and how it affects us on Earth.  

Dark matter is a mysterious substance believed to hold galaxies together. Scientists have not yet proven that it exists. But a discovery led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) could help with finding dark matter. Dark matter is likely made up of particles and one possible particle is the hypothetical axion. One way to find axions is to show that light particles can move like them. If this behaviour could be observed, the likelihood that axions are real increases. Experiments by NTU Singapore-led scientists confirmed that light particles can behave like theoretical axions inside special crystal structures that they designed. These findings give researchers confidence that, one day, the crystals could be adapted to detect axions and, hopefully, unravel some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

The International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) National Laboratory is soliciting flight concepts for technology advancement that utilizes the space-based environment of the orbiting laboratory. This solicitation, “Technology Advancement and Applied Research Leveraging the ISS National Lab,” is open to a broad range of technology areas, including chemical and material synthesis in space, translational medicine, in-space edge computing, and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. It also encompasses the application of space station remote sensing data to improve geospatial analytics for commercial use.

Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload –– the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments –– to the spacecraft that will deliver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there.