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Received — 16 June 2026 ⏭

Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

✇NASA Science
By: Rafael Alanis
16 June 2026 at 21:41
2 Min Read

Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

A woman in a black T-shirt with a headlamp affixed to her head and her hair floating up above her wears latex gloves to handle cabling that she’s working on. Wires, a laptop computer, and other equipment surround her.
PIA26725
Credits: NASA

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Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

JPEG (4.91 MB)

Description

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026.

About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close to absolute zero that they form a large quantum object called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) — a fifth state of matter distinct from solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. In a BEC, scientists can observe the quantum properties of atoms at a scale visible to the naked eye. For instance, atoms and particles sometimes behave like solid objects and sometimes behave like waves, a quantum property called “wave-particle duality.”

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed, built, and operates Cold Atom Lab, which is sponsored by the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. The BPS division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations that are not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefiting life on Earth. 

To learn more about Cold Atom Lab, visit:

https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/

The post Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab appeared first on NASA Science.

Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

✇NASA
16 June 2026 at 21:41
2 Min Read

Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

A woman in a black T-shirt with a headlamp affixed to her head and her hair floating up above her wears latex gloves to handle cabling that she’s working on. Wires, a laptop computer, and other equipment surround her.
PIA26725
Credits:
NASA

Downloads

Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab

JPEG (4.91 MB)

Description

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026.

About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close to absolute zero that they form a large quantum object called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) — a fifth state of matter distinct from solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. In a BEC, scientists can observe the quantum properties of atoms at a scale visible to the naked eye. For instance, atoms and particles sometimes behave like solid objects and sometimes behave like waves, a quantum property called “wave-particle duality.”

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed, built, and operates Cold Atom Lab, which is sponsored by the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. The BPS division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations that are not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefiting life on Earth. 

To learn more about Cold Atom Lab, visit:

https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/

Received — 8 June 2026 ⏭

NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

✇NASA Science
By: Rafael Alanis
8 June 2026 at 16:22
2 Min Read

NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

A complex spacecraft partially wrapped in gold-colored foil and featuring a large rectangular solar panel stands on a metallic support structure against a solid blue background.
PIA26614
Credits: Blue Canyon Technologies

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NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

JPEG (10.32 MB)

Description

One of the three satellites that make up NASA’s INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission sits on a fixture at the facilities of Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The satellite completed testing in preparation for launch in late May 2026. The mission will make the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical convective storms.

The three nearly identical satellites will fly in tight coordination in low Earth orbit, with the first and second satellites separated by 30 seconds, and the second and third satellite separated by 90 seconds. 

Each satellites carries a radar designed to observe the vertical motion of air and water — known as convective mass flux — as storms develop and evolve. The middle satellite will also carry a microwave radiometer.

The INCUS mission is set to launch in 2027 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Funded through the Earth Venture Mission-3 acquisition under NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program and led by principal investigator Sue van den Heever at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, INCUS is one of several missions fulfilling the clouds, convection, and precipitation requirements of NASA’s Earth System Observatory, a set of interconnected missions set to study our home planet’s dynamic natural systems and how they interact. The mission is also part of FALCON (Fleet for the Atmosphere Linking Commercial Observations with NASA), a fleet of atmosphere-observing satellites that will combine hardware contributions from NASA centers, universities, and commercial partners.

The post NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch appeared first on NASA Science.

NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

✇NASA
8 June 2026 at 16:22
2 Min Read

NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

A complex spacecraft partially wrapped in gold-colored foil and featuring a large rectangular solar panel stands on a metallic support structure against a solid blue background.
PIA26614
Credits:
Blue Canyon Technologies

Downloads

NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch

JPEG (10.32 MB)

Description

One of the three satellites that make up NASA’s INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission sits on a fixture at the facilities of Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The satellite completed testing in preparation for launch in late May 2026. The mission will make the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical convective storms.

The three nearly identical satellites will fly in tight coordination in low Earth orbit, with the first and second satellites separated by 30 seconds, and the second and third satellite separated by 90 seconds. 

Each satellites carries a radar designed to observe the vertical motion of air and water — known as convective mass flux — as storms develop and evolve. The middle satellite will also carry a microwave radiometer.

The INCUS mission is set to launch in 2027 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Funded through the Earth Venture Mission-3 acquisition under NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program and led by principal investigator Sue van den Heever at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, INCUS is one of several missions fulfilling the clouds, convection, and precipitation requirements of NASA’s Earth System Observatory, a set of interconnected missions set to study our home planet’s dynamic natural systems and how they interact. The mission is also part of FALCON (Fleet for the Atmosphere Linking Commercial Observations with NASA), a fleet of atmosphere-observing satellites that will combine hardware contributions from NASA centers, universities, and commercial partners.

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