NASA and the Italian Space Agency have made history. On March 3, the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) successfully tracked Earth-based GPS signals on the Moon for the first time. This breakthrough means future space missions, including NASA’s Artemis program, could use these signals to navigate more accurately and autonomously.

How LuGRE Works

On Earth, we use Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals every day for phones, airplanes, and cars. Until now, these signals were thought to be too weak to reach the Moon. However, LuGRE has proven otherwise.

Kevin Coggins, a NASA official, called this “a very exciting discovery for lunar navigation.” He added that this success could lead to better navigation systems for the Moon and even Mars.

The Journey to Success

The Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander delivered LuGRE to the Moon on March 2. The lander was carrying 10 NASA payloads, including LuGRE, to advance lunar science.

NASA engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland began testing the system soon after landing. They wanted to see if the Moon-based receiver could acquire and track GPS and Galileo signals-the same ones we use on Earth.

At 2 a.m. EST on March 3, history was made. LuGRE successfully tracked signals 225,000 miles from Earth and achieved a navigation fix on the Moon for the first time ever.

Breaking Records in Space

Even before reaching the Moon, LuGRE was already setting records.

• On January 21, it received GNSS signals at 209,900 miles from Earth, breaking a previous record held by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.
• On February 20, as it entered lunar orbit, it set another record by tracking signals at 243,000 miles from Earth.

These milestones show that missions in cislunar space (the area between Earth and the Moon) could also use GPS signals for navigation.

Why This Matters for Future Space Missions

Traditionally, NASA tracks spacecraft using a combination of Earth-based signals and onboard sensors. This method works, but it requires human monitoring and large tracking stations.

LuGRE changes that by showing that spacecraft can autonomously use GNSS signals for navigation, even at extreme distances. This could help future missions become more independent and less reliant on Earth-based support.

A Collaboration for the Future

LuGRE is a joint effort between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Italian Space Agency. It is also the first Italian-built hardware to land on the Moon, making it a historic milestone for Italy’s space program.

The mission is expected to last 14 days, during which NASA and the Italian Space Agency will collect more data on GNSS signals in space.

What’s Next?

This breakthrough could revolutionize space travel, helping astronauts navigate on the Moon and beyond. With NASA’s Artemis program preparing for long-term lunar missions, GNSS navigation could become a key tool for future lunar colonies, rovers, and Mars missions.

Also read: Archaeologists Discover 3,000-Year-Old ‘Lost City of Gold’ in Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a lost city known as Aten-a 3,000-year-old gold mining hub hidden beneath the desert. This exciting discovery was made after four years of careful excavation and is being called one of the most important finds since Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Where and How It Was Found

The ancient city was discovered beneath Luxor’s famous Valley of the Kings at Jabal Sukari, southwest of Marsa Alam in the Red Sea Governorate. Unearthed in 2020, Aten was once a bustling center where gold was mined and refined. The site includes homes, workshops, administrative buildings, temples, and bathhouses that have been amazingly well preserved.

A special part of the excavation revealed a complete mining camp. Here, archaeologists found a fully equipped gold extraction facility with stations for crushing and grinding quartz, filtration basins, and sedimentation pools. These elements worked together to feed smelting furnaces, which refined the gold from the surrounding rocks.

A Glimpse into Ancient Life

Aten dates back to the reign of Amenhotep III, the ninth king of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, who ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC. It is the largest ancient city ever discovered in Egypt. But the discovery did not stop there. Artifacts from later periods, such as the Roman era (30 BC–639 CE) and the Islamic era (642–1517 AD), were also found.

Among the exciting finds were:

• 628 ostraca (broken pieces of pottery or stone) with hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek writings.
• Bronze coins from the Ptolemaic era.
• Terracotta figurines of humans and animals from the Greco-Roman period.
• Small stone statues of deities like Bastet and Harpocrates, with some still unfinished.
• Five offering tables from the Ptolemaic period.
• Everyday pottery used for perfumes, medicine, and incense.
• Gemstone beads and decorative items made from seashells.

These artifacts paint a picture of a multicultural and multilingual city that played a key role in supplying gold for Egyptian palaces, tombs, and royal adornments.

Understanding Ancient Gold Mining

The excavation has provided valuable insight into how the ancient Egyptians extracted gold. Researchers now have a better understanding of the mining techniques and the daily lives of the workers who made this industry possible. One archaeologist noted with surprise how mud brick formations began to appear all around the site, revealing more about the city’s structure. Almost complete walls and rooms filled with everyday tools have allowed experts to imagine life in this ancient metropolis.

Preservation and Public Access

To protect these precious remains, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has carefully restored and documented the site. Some of the architectural elements were moved to a safer location three kilometers north, away from modern mining operations. Additionally, a full-scale replica of the mining camp has been built on a six-acre area. This replica features a visitor center with large screens that show the excavation process and display many of the discovered artifacts.

Now, the site is open to researchers and the public. Informational panels guide visitors through the history of Aten, making it easier for everyone to understand and appreciate this remarkable discovery.

This lost city is not just a collection of old ruins it is a window into Egypt’s rich past, offering new insights into the art, industry, and daily life of one of history’s greatest civilizations.

Also read: NASA Supercomputer Discovers a Hidden Spiral of Comets

When we think of spirals in space, we usually picture our own galaxy, the Milky Way, with its elegant swirling arms. However, scientists have now found a surprising new spiral structure at the very edge of our solar system, made up of billions of comets.

A Spiral on the Solar System’s Doorstep

Using a powerful NASA supercomputer named Pleiades, researchers modeled the orbits of millions of icy objects in a region called the Oort Cloud. This cloud is a vast, spherical shell of comets that begins around 1,000 times the distance between the Earth and the sun (1,000 astronomical units, or “au”) and can extend up to 100,000 au. Despite its size, the Oort Cloud has been hard to study because objects there are extremely faint.

The new computer simulations revealed that part of the inner Oort Cloud (from about 1,000 au to 10,000 au) forms a long-lasting spiral. According to principal scientist Luke Dones from the Southwest Research Institute, this spiral is around 15,000 au in length, which is still tiny compared to the massive spiral arms of the Milky Way.

Why Is This Spiral Surprising?

Astronomers know that spirals appear in places like Saturn’s rings, in the disks around young stars, and, of course, in galaxies. However, discovering a spiral among the icy objects in the Oort Cloud was unexpected. As Dones puts it, “The universe seems to like spirals!”

This spiral doesn’t contain all the comets in the Oort Cloud, but there are still billions of them involved. Even more surprising is that this structure seems to be long-lived, which means it has stayed intact for a large part of the solar system’s history—around 4.5 billion years.

The Oort Cloud and Its Mysteries

The Oort Cloud is believed to be the outer boundary of our solar system. Most comets that pass by the sun come from this distant region, which is beyond the orbit of Neptune. Because it’s so far away, it’s difficult to observe these comets directly until they swing closer to the sun. Even then, only the outer Oort Cloud comets are likely to be nudged inwards by passing stars. Inner Oort Cloud comets, including those in the newly found spiral, are less likely to make the journey inward.

Observing this spiral directly with telescopes is extremely challenging. Distant objects are incredibly faint because they receive very little sunlight. For example, if Earth were placed at 1,000 au (the inner edge of the Oort Cloud), it would be almost impossible to see without a very powerful telescope—let alone spotting a small comet.

What’s Next?

Scientists hope that future sky surveys, such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) using the Vera Rubin Observatory, might detect large comets far beyond Neptune. This could give astronomers valuable clues about how the Oort Cloud and its spiral structure formed. Even so, spotting the spiral directly may remain a significant challenge.

For now, NASA’s supercomputer simulations offer a new glimpse into the hidden architecture of the solar system. It turns out that even at the distant edge of our cosmic neighborhood, nature continues to show off its fondness for spiral patterns.

Also read: Laser-Powered Device Uncovering Fossil Microbes to Reveal Mars’ Ancient Secrets

For decades, scientists have wondered if Mars once a warm, wet world could have hosted life. Inspired by Darwin’s notion that life on Earth began in “warm little ponds” filled with the right chemicals, researchers are now exploring whether similar processes could have occurred on Mars. A new laser-powered mass spectrometer is at the forefront of this investigation, promising to detect fossilized microbial life hidden within mineral deposits.

The Inspiration: Life’s Humble Beginnings

Charles Darwin famously speculated that life on Earth might have emerged from small, chemically rich ponds where lightning provided the spark for complex chemistry. These “warm little ponds” created the perfect conditions for early life to take root. If such environments could kickstart life on Earth billions of years ago, then ancient Mars once replete with flowing water and shallow lakes might have hosted similar chemical cauldrons.

The Martian Connection: Gypsum Deposits as Time Capsules

Mars today is a barren, cold desert, but evidence suggests that it was once a vibrant, watery planet. As its surface dried out, minerals like gypsum formed rapidly from evaporating water. These gypsum deposits are crucial because they have the exceptional ability to trap and preserve biological material before it decays. Similar processes have been observed on Earth, especially during the Messinian Salinity Crisis a period when the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried up, leading to the formation of thick evaporite layers, including gypsum.

By studying these terrestrial gypsum deposits, scientists can develop techniques to search for fossilized life on Mars. Gypsum not only locks in the shapes of ancient microbes but also preserves chemical biosignatures vital clues to the presence of life.

Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LIMS)

Enter the cutting-edge instrument: a laser-powered mass spectrometer developed by researchers at the University of Bern. This compact device employs laser ablation ionization mass spectrometry (LIMS) to analyze rock samples with incredible precision. Here’s how it works:

1. Laser Ablation: The instrument fires a finely focused laser beam at the surface of a rock sample (in this case, gypsum). The intense energy from the laser vaporizes a minute portion of the sample, creating a plasma cloud of ionized particles.
2. Mass Spectrometry: These ions are then analyzed by the mass spectrometer, which measures the chemical composition at a microscale level. By identifying specific elements and compounds such as calcium, sulfur, oxygen, and trace silicon the device can pinpoint the unique biosignatures that fossilized microbes leave behind.
3. Morphological Analysis: In addition to chemical data, researchers use optical and electron microscopy to observe the shapes of the microstructures. Fossilized microbes often appear as irregular, sinuous, and even hollow filaments distinct markers that differentiate them from non-biological mineral formations.

During tests in Algeria, at the Sidi Boutbal quarry a Mars analogue site with gypsum deposits formed under conditions similar to those on ancient Mars the instrument detected a densely interwoven network of fossilized microbial filaments. These filaments were surrounded by minerals such as dolomite, clay, and pyrite, which are typically associated with microbial activity.

Implications for Mars Exploration

The successful demonstration of this laser-powered technology in Algeria paves the way for its integration into future Mars missions. NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed in Jezero Crater a site once rich in water and sediment is already equipped with a laser (part of its Supercam instrument) to search for organic compounds. However, this new device takes the next step by offering a highly detailed, in-situ analysis of rock composition at the microscale.

Looking ahead, space agencies such as the European Space Agency plan to deploy advanced rovers like the Rosalind Franklin rover, scheduled to launch in 2028. Incorporating instruments like the LIMS could dramatically improve our chances of detecting ancient biosignatures on Mars, ultimately helping us answer the age-old question: Did life ever exist on the Red Planet?

Algeria’s Role in Planetary Science

This research also highlights Algeria’s valuable contribution to planetary science. By using gypsum deposits from the Sidi Boutbal quarry a terrestrial analog to Martian sulfate deposits scientists are not only testing innovative life-detection methods but also showcasing Algeria’s growing role in astrobiology research.

Conclusion

From Darwin’s “warm little ponds” to the arid landscapes of Mars, the quest to understand life’s origins continues to push scientific boundaries. The development of a laser-powered mass spectrometer capable of detecting fossilized microbes in rock represents a major leap forward. With this technology, future missions may finally unlock Mars’ ancient secrets, shedding light on the possibility that our neighboring planet once harbored life.

Stay tuned for more updates as this exciting research propels us closer to answering one of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe?

Also read:

Instagram is reportedly exploring a bold new move amid ongoing uncertainty around TikTok’s future in the US. The social media giant is considering launching a dedicated app solely for its Reels feature, aiming to provide users with a similar video-scrolling experience to that of TikTok.

With TikTok facing regulatory and data privacy challenges, Instagram sees an opportunity to strengthen its own short-form video platform. A separate Reels app would allow Instagram to focus entirely on delivering an engaging and intuitive experience for creating and watching short videos. This could mean more features, streamlined design, and improved functionality tailored specifically for video content.

The decision to potentially spin off Reels comes as part of a broader strategy to capitalize on the shifting social media landscape. By offering a dedicated app, Instagram aims to draw creators and audiences who enjoy the quick, scrollable format that has made TikTok so popular. This move could also help diversify Meta’s offerings and reduce reliance on its main Instagram app for short-form video content.

As the industry watches closely, the launch of a standalone Reels app could signal a new era in short-form video consumption. It remains to be seen how users will react and whether this dedicated platform can capture a significant share of the market. However, with TikTok’s future in question, Instagram is positioning itself to be a strong competitor in the dynamic world of social media.

Also read: How Apple’s $500 Billion Investment is Shaping America’s Future