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A new paper from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announces that volunteers have essentially doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, with over 3,000 new discoveries made over the past 10 years since the project began. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars. There’s one for every three or four stars near the Sun. 

Although brown dwarfs are common, they can be hard to spot because they shine so faintly compared to stars. Having twice as many brown dwarfs to study allows astronomers a deeper understanding of these elusive objects. Already, this vital new list of brown dwarfs has revealed a new variety of objects – the extreme T subdwarfs and many other rarities, such as ultra-cool objects and a brown dwarf that appears to have aurorae. It has also helped us inventory the distribution of mass in our galaxy and map our cosmic neighborhood. 

The discoveries are published in a paper published in the Astronomical Journal, led by astronomer Adam Schneider from the U.S. Naval Observatory. They represent work done over the course of ten years aided by a team of roughly 200,000 volunteers. Of the paper’s 75 authors, 61 are volunteers. Two of the other authors began their work with the team as volunteers and then embarked on careers in astronomy.

“I truly appreciate the recognition for all of us who collaborated, in some way, on this effort,” said Walter Ruben Robledo, an amateur astronomer and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 volunteer from Cordoba, Argentina.

“When I received the news about the co-authorship, I thought: Yes, dreams do come true,” said another volunteer, Mayahuel Torres Guerrero, from Mexico City.

The volunteers discovered these brown dwarfs in images taken by NASA’s retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Near-Earth-Object WISE Reactivation mission (NEOWISE-R). They examined the data using the Zooniverse citizen science platform, searching for moving objects by blinking images taken over a 16-year time period. Some volunteers even contributed by building their own search tools and data analysis software.

Want to help make the next brown dwarf discovery? The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project is still sifting through more than 2 billion sources seen by WISE and NEOWISE-R. Join the search at backyardwords.org.

Volcanic activity takes on many forms in western El Salvador. The land near the city of Ahuachapán is pockmarked with craters and covered with recent lava flows. Meanwhile, a geothermal field feeds geysers, heats mineral pools, and powers a long-operating energy plant. The area is part of a volcanic landscape that stretches more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) along the Pacific coast from Guatemala to Panama, composing the Central American Volcanic Arc. 

On the right side of the image, Santa Ana stands at 2,381 meters (7,812 feet) above sea level as the country’s tallest volcano. Its summit features several crescent-shaped ridges surrounding a hot, acidic crater lake. The volcano remains active, with small to moderate explosive eruptions recorded since the 16th century. Its most recent significant eruption, in 2005, launched a dense gas and ash column high in the air and sent lahars down its slopes.

In 1770, another volcano began forming on Santa Ana’s southern flank. Izalco grew into a steep-sided stratovolcano through frequent eruptions over the next two centuries. Its regular activity—including Strombolian eruptions and lava fountains—earned it the nickname “Lighthouse of the Pacific,” as people at sea were reported to witness its glowing emanations. The “lighthouse” has since powered down, with Izalco’s most recent activity occurring in 1966. 

A line of forested, dimpled stratovolcano peaks arcing across the scene forms the Apaneca Range. There are no recorded eruptions of these volcanoes in the Holocene (the past 11,700 years), but persistent geothermal activity along the range manifests in the form of fumaroles, hot springs, and steam vents. Sudden and deadly steam explosions occasionally occur in the area, including a blast in October 1990 near the range’s Laguna Verde volcano. More recently, a 2025 steam eruption near a popular hot springs facility spurred evacuations and damaged infrastructure.

Though sometimes hazardous, the region’s heat source has also been tapped for geothermal power. The Ahuachapán Geothermal Power Plant has operated since 1975, leveraging groundwater naturally heated to around 250 degrees Celsius (480 degrees Fahrenheit) and local fault systems. By the early 1980s, the plant was producing 40 percent of El Salvador’s electricity. Some scholars note that this high level of production coincided with a period of civil unrest and population growth in the region.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

References & Resources

• Jiménez Majano, J.E. (2025) Fifty Years of Operation at the Ahuachapán Geothermal Field. Proceedings, 50th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2026, March 9) Lake Coatepeque. Accessed May 4, 2026.
• Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, Santa Ana. Accessed May 4, 2026.
• Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, Izalco. Accessed May 4, 2026.
• Volcano Live (2026, February) Apaneca Range. Accessed May 4, 2026.

Ireland signed the Artemis Accords Monday during a signing ceremony hosted by NASA, becoming the latest nation to commit to the responsible exploration of space for all humanity.

Ireland, a longstanding member of ESA (European Space Agency) and a valued international partner for NASA, now joins all 23 ESA member states as a signatory of the Artemis Accords.

“It is my privilege to welcome Ireland as the 66th and newest signatory to the Artemis Accords,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during remarks. “The Emerald Isle is now part of a growing community of like-minded nations committed to the peaceful, transparent, and responsible exploration of space. Ireland joins at a pivotal moment. Artemis II was the opening act in humanity’s return to the Moon. What comes next is a sustained campaign of missions that will take us back to the lunar surface, not just for flags and footprints, but to build a base and stay.”

Underscoring the longstanding cultural ties and shared heritage between the United States and Ireland, the signing was celebrated during a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington attended by U.S. Congressional staffers and interagency representatives.

Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, T.D., signed on behalf of the country.

“From an island shaped by the sea, whose people have always looked beyond the horizon and journeyed across the world, forging connections far beyond our shores, Ireland is proud to bring that same spirit to a new frontier and to join a global community committed to the peaceful exploration of space,” said Burke.

Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America Geraldine Byrne Nason and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs William Cappelletti, U.S. Department of State, participated in the event. U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Edward Walsh also attended.

In 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the United States, led by NASA and the U.S. Department of State, joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies.

The Artemis Accords introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between like-minded nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Signing the Artemis Accords means committing to explore peaceably and transparently, to render aid to those in need, to enable access to scientific data that all of humanity can learn from, to ensure activities do not interfere with those of others, and to preserve historically significant sites and artifacts by developing best practices for space exploration for the benefit of all.

More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues its work to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

To support long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA and industry are developing technologies that can extract resources such as hydrogen and helium-3 from lunar soil, known as regolith. This capability, known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), allows explorers to use what is already available on other planetary bodies, from water ice to minerals. These resources could eventually support propulsion, energy production, life support systems, and other needs for astronauts living and working in deep space.

To advance ISRU technologies, NASA has awarded a firm‑fixed‑price contract of $6.9 million over the next year and a half to Interlune of Seattle, a company focused on developing natural resources beyond Earth.

Funded through a Phase III NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award, a contracting mechanism focused on transitioning technology into NASA missions or the private sector, the company will pursue validation of critical resource‑prospecting tools to make future lunar missions more self‑sufficient, reducing the need to transport supplies from Earth.

This effort builds on prior work with NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, in which Interlune built and tested payload prototypes on parabolic flights that replicated lunar gravity.

Under the SBIR Phase III contract, Interlune will design, build, and test engineering development units and flight hardware. The payload is designed to collect lunar regolith samples, sort particles by size, extract solar wind volatile gases, and measure their quantities. The company’s design includes a mass spectrometer inspired by NASA’s Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) technology to measure the concentration of gases released from lunar soil.

Developed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, MSOLO is a compact, rugged mass spectrometer designed to analyze gases and the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon. The MSOLO technology, developed by NASA’s Game Changing Development program, demonstrated its hardware in lunar conditions during the Intuitive Machines 2 mission to the lunar South Pole in 2025.

“A major goal of NASA is to mature transformative technologies so they can be confidently adopted by industry,” said Michael Johansen, Deputy Program Manager for NASA’s Game Changing Development Program. “The evolution of MSOLO into a robust, flight-ready instrument is a perfect example of that success. We are thrilled to see this proven technology leveraged by an industry effort, marking a significant step forward in commercial resource prospecting.”

NASA’s MSOLO technology is available for commercial use and adaptable for ground tests and variable flight configurations. The instrument’s internal architecture includes a hybrid computer for onboard processing and a calibration gas system that allows the device to check and adjust its readings directly on the lunar surface. This data can benefit both commercial developers and NASA’s Artemis program. Its software has already been adapted to interface with four different CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) lander designs, reflecting its flexibility and increasing applicability to commercial lunar missions.

Investments by the agency in lunar surface technology from commercial partners represents an important step toward establishing a sustainable presence on the lunar surface. By advancing resource‑prospecting instruments and maturing technologies that enable the use of lunar materials, these efforts will help reduce the cost and complexity of future exploration missions.

NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program is managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Through this program, entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses with fewer than 500 employees can receive funding and non-monetary support to build, mature, and commercialize their technologies, advancing NASA missions and helping solve important challenges facing our nation.

This year, NASA’s SBIR/STTR program is adopting a Broad Agency Announcement framework to increase opportunities for small businesses while enhancing agility for the agency. The 2026-2027 BAA appendices, outlining topics and subtopics for desired technology proposals, closes May 21. Interested businesses and institutions are encouraged to visit the information hub for helpful details on applying.

To learn more about working with NASA Technology, visit

https://www.nasa.gov/stmd-solicitations-and-opportunities/

The Republic of Malta became the 65th signatory to the Artemis Accords on Monday during a ceremony in the town of Kalkara with NASA and U.S. Department of State officials present.

“Today, it’s my pleasure to welcome the Republic of Malta to the Artemis Accords community,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in recorded remarks. “By joining this growing coalition, Malta affirms shared commitments to peaceful, transparent, and responsible space exploration. These commitments safeguard against chaos and confusion, and they chart a responsible path forward for every nation that dares to accomplish the near-impossible in space.”

Malta’s Minister for Education, Youth, Sports, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of the country.

“Malta is taking a deliberate step to position itself within a high-value, innovation-driven global sector,” said Grima. “This initiative strengthens our governance framework, enhances Malta’s international credibility and creates new opportunities to attract investment, build expertise and generate quality employment within the space economy.”

U.S. Ambassador to Malta Somers W. Farkas and NASA Europe Representative Gregory Mann witnessed the signing together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Ian Borg.

The United States and Malta have a long history of shared values and common interests, dating back to the American Revolution. NASA looks forward to future engagement on the Artemis Accords and recently outlined new opportunities for signatory countries to deepen their participation in NASA’s Artemis program.

In 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the United States, led by NASA and the U.S. Department of State, joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies.

The Artemis Accords introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between like-minded nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Signing the Artemis Accords means committing to explore peaceably and transparently, to render aid to those in need, to enable access to scientific data that all of humanity can learn from, to ensure activities do not interfere with those of others, and to preserve historically significant sites and artifacts by developing best practices for space exploration for the benefit of all.

More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues its work to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

The Seattle-based startup's Series A round was led by Glilot Capital, NFX and SignalFire, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.

For the next four days only, you can buy one pass to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and get 50% off a second of the same ticket type. That window closes May 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, prices go up, and you’ll pay more to bring a partner or colleague. Register today to get your plus-one pass at 50% off.

Krutrim's pivot to cloud after layoffs and limited product updates reflects the economic challenges of building AI models in India.

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The restructuring is aimed at addressing market volatility and increasing the use of AI tools to improve efficiency.