He spent a year on ‘Mars’: NASA science officer emerges from mock mission

 

Engineer Matthew Montgomery, who just finished a 378-day simulated Mars mission, 

talks about what it was like to be out of contact with the rest of humanity for a two-week blackout.

Could you survive a year on Mars?

Four engineers now have a well-informed take on the answer. On 31 October, the four emerged from a 158-square-metre, 3D-printed habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, after spending just more than a year inside it for a simulated mission on the red planet.

The exercise was the second in a series of extended NASA simulations that aim to test how long-duration space missions affect astronauts’ health and performance. For more than a year, the crew grew their own crops, conducted science experiments and performed ‘Marswalks’ on a model of the planet’s surface outside their habitat.

The mission also replicated the communication delays that astronauts on Mars would experience when contacting Earth: messages from the crew to mission control and vice versa took 13–22 minutes to arrive, varying with the distance between Earth and Mars. The crew even dealt with a planned two-week communication blackout, with no access to mission control or the outside world, that Martian astronauts would face when the Sun blocks transmission of radio signals between Mars and Earth.

The lessons learnt from these simulations will help NASA to understand how isolation and limited resources affect astronauts’ well-being and productivity, the agency says. NASA will use the results to inform protocols for crewed missions to Mars, which it has said could happen as soon as the early 2030s, as well as future trips to the Moon.

Nature spoke with Matthew Montgomery, a hardware engineering design consultant and co-owner of a film production company, who served as the mission’s science officer, to learn about his year on ‘Mars’.

What were your responsibilities as the mission's science officer?

Prior to the mission, I had worked in controlled-environment agriculture and studied factors such as the best LED lighting for crop growth, so I led the growing of our crops in the simulation. I’ve grown leafy greens, peppers and tomatoes outside of the mission in large growth facilities, and we were growing some of those same crops in the mission. It was also fun to grow those plants — just interacting with Earth-based things like plant life has a cognitive benefit as well as a nutrient benefit.

Matthew Montgomery displays vegetables grown in the hydroponic garden inside the simulated Martian habitat. Credit: NASA

Geology was another huge portion of the mission. Rock collection is going to be incredibly important in a real mission to Mars, so we tried to mirror some of those aspects in the simulation. We analysed rock samples, performed mineral identification and simulated core analysis that Martian astronauts would do to study the geologic history of Mars.

How did the crew get along in such close quarters?

The crew spent a lot of time together prior to the mission, so we got to work on our teamwork and build relationships. We went on a winter camping expedition in Wyoming, where we encountered a blizzard! These high-pressure scenarios set a nice foundation for pre-training, where we spent five weeks together before going into isolation. Through all of those tools that we built, we had a really good dynamic as a team inside of the habitat, and conflict was very minimal.

What was the two-week communication blackout like?

We spent about a month preparing for the blackout. We were communicating with the ground teams to make sure we had all the procedures, schedules and goals for the two weeks. We put safety plans in place to make sure we had reviewed the right protocols if something went wrong.

The mission crew poses outside the door to the simulated Martian landscape. Pictured (left to right) are mission commander Ross Elder, medical officer Ellen Ellis, science officer Matthew Montgomery and flight engineer James Spicer. Credit: NASA

On a real Mars mission, the blackout is going to be an incredibly dangerous period of time that NASA doesn’t have a lot of experience with. When the Artemis II crew went behind the Moon, the blackout period was incredibly short compared to what we experienced. Blackouts are on timescales of minutes for the Moon but weeks for Mars. So that order of magnitude difference is something that we need to prepare for.

During the blackout, my significant other and I kept daily journals of highlights of what we were doing, and once we had a reestablishment of the signal, we sent them to each other. That way it didn’t feel like we had a giant gap in our communication.

What takeaways from this simulation can NASA apply to future missions?

Right now, spacewalks are rare events on the ISS [International Space Station]. We wanted to study how increasing the frequency of spacewalks — in our case, ‘Marswalks’ — affects human performance. We asked questions like: was the food system sufficient to support our tasks? Did we have changes in our muscle density or bone density? Since exiting the habitat, we’ve started to record data on some of these metrics to compare to the start of the mission.

How do you think your background as an engineer helped you navigate this mission?

Things don’t always go as planned in long-duration missions, and that foundation in engineering teaches you a disciplined way to think outside of the box. When we had something malfunction, we had to fix it with the limited resources we had available to us. I tried to map lessons I’ve learnt from being around manufacturing environments into the mission, and I think it really helped us be successful.

Archaeology News: UK technician successfully recreates multi-colored Roman glass, cracking 1,600-year-old mystery

 

UK technician successfully recreates multi-colored Roman glass, cracking 1,600-year-old mystery

Elliot Walker, a UK glass artist and winner of season two of Netflix’s Blown Away series, was commissioned to create a contemporary sculpture using Hollands’ glass recipe.

By Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post, November 5, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-913895

Sculpture made out of newly re-discovered color-changing Roman glass, November 5, 2026.

A British expert successfully recreated the color-changing Roman glass effect used to make the 1,600-year-old Lycurgus Cup, the University of Sheffield announced last week.

The Lycurgus Cup, which dates back 1,600 years (4th century CE), is currently housed in the British Museum. Of 40 surviving glass cage cups from the period, it is one of the most complete.

It is made up of “dichroic” glass, which shifts in color depending on where the light source is positioned. In reflected light, the glass is a jade green. When exposed to transmitted light, the color of the glass changes to become ruby red.

In 2022, an international panel of artists and conservators recognized the Lycurgus Cup as one of the seven glass wonders of the world.

Using a recipe derived from a fragment of the original artifact, the team was able to recreate the color-changing material after being challenged to recreate the glass for the University of Sheffield’s 2025 LightFest by Molecular Photonic Breadboards Project Manager Christina Metcalfe.

The Lycurgus Cup. Red view - lit by transmitted light (L). (credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.)

Recreating a Roman glass recipe

“I knew that making a glass of this type was likely to be a complex task, as it is not just a case of adding nanoparticles to glass,” said Dr. Lisa Hollands, a technician from the university’s school of chemical, materials and biological engineering. “I’ve studied and worked with glass for over 25 years, so I used the knowledge and experience I’ve gained, coupled with a modern scientific understanding of what I was trying to achieve.”

Hollands explained that she worked alongside leading Roman glass expert, Professor Caroline Jackson, to research what the Romans knew of glass at the time and then develop a base glass using “modern materials to mimic what the Romans might have used.”

“Then came the more difficult part of trying to get small amounts of gold and silver into the glass in the right form,” she said. “Although if the Romans could have seen me experimenting, they’d probably laugh and ask: 'Why does she not know how to make this?'” 

But, after experimenting with furnace types, materials, and oxygen levels, Hollands was able to build a receipt for glass that mimicked the appearance of the Lycurgus Cup’s.

The initial piece was exhibited at LightFest, held in Sheffield by the Molecular Photonic Breadboards project in partnership with the Universities of Sheffield and Bristol and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Ancient Secrets, Modern Light: The Lycurgus Project

Creating a sculpture out of the new glass

Once the glass was created, however, “The next step was to commission a piece worthy of paying homage to its illustrious predecessor,” said Metcalfe.

Elliot Walker, a UK glass artist and winner of season two of Netflix’s Blown Away series, was commissioned to create a contemporary sculpture using Hollands’ glass recipe.

“It is a very rare thing to have the opportunity to work with glass developed from ancient mixtures and recipes, and it is always a very exciting one,” Elliot said. “You can really get an idea of how the glass makers of the past would have adapted to this sort of glass; it's like shaking their hands.”

He explained that in the sculpture, he wanted to maintain references to the Lycurgus Cup and the history behind the material.

“I wanted to keep the sculpture quite classical in form and to carry through the original story of Lycurgus shown on the cup, but we needed a blown element within this to really show the dichroic glass,”  Elliot added. “The piece is a blend of the Lycurgus story and the Farnese Atlas sculpture, with the globe replaced by a cup.”

Elliot’s sculpture is slated to be on display to the public between November 6 - 15 at the Millennium Gallery, before being moved to the Turner Museum of Glass at the University of Sheffield.

“We set out to create something tangible to help the public understand what is possible when these tiny nanoparticles are embedded in something,” Metcalfe added.

“What Lisa and Elliot have managed to achieve has surpassed all our expectations. The incredible historic narrative really captures people’s imaginations, and I like to think we’ve created something that people will marvel at for years to come.”

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A Cosmic ‘Leaf Blower’: Light-Propelled Winds Help Explain Early Universe’s Bright Galaxies

 

Artist’s illustration of gas being cleared from the surroundings of a star-forming region in the early universe. Credit: Matt Twombly for Simons Foundation

Key Takeaways:

• Researchers using simulations have proposed that powerful Lyman-alpha ultraviolet radiation from young star clusters clears light-blocking gas and dust from early galaxies, explaining the overabundance of bright galaxies seen by the James Webb Space Telescope.
• The modeling shows the radiation is not strong enough to halt star formation in dense regions but can drive high-speed winds that expel material from lower-density areas between stars, clearing lines of sight.
• The findings are an initial step; fully understanding the effect will require three-dimensional simulations that self-consistently incorporate Lyman-alpha radiation, gas flows and star formation.

When astronomers looked at photos of the early universe taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, they found something odd: an overabundance of bright galaxies. Based on what they knew about the early universe, such galaxies should have been far less common in the few hundred million years following the Big Bang.

Now, using cutting-edge simulations, researchers at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute in New York City and the University of Texas at Dallas have an answer to this mystery: Powerful ultraviolet radiation produced by clusters of young stars acted like a leaf blower, flinging light-blocking gas and dust out of the galaxy and thereby making the galaxies appear brighter.

The researchers report their findings on this ultraviolet light, called Lyman-alpha radiation, in The Astrophysical Journal.

“Our results show Lyman-alpha radiation can push low-density gas and dust away really, really fast,” says Shyam Menon, a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics and the study’s lead author. “It can sort of clear the ‘fog,’ allowing us to see stars in the early universe much more clearly than we would otherwise.”

Lyman-alpha radiation is created when an electron and a hydrogen atom collide or when an electron joins up with a hydrogen ion. In powerful stellar environments where Lyman-alpha radiation is abundant, the pressure from the light is thought to play a role in sculpting stellar nurseries. When the Lyman-alpha radiation hits gas or dust, the material absorbs the energy and recoils from the impact like a baseball catcher’s mitt catching a fastball. This effect launches the material outward, leaving less material available to form a star. Some astronomers wondered whether, in extreme cases, the effect could be strong enough to halt star formation.

“We’ve known for a very long time that Lyman-alpha radiation could be important because it carries a lot of force,” Menon says. “But we’ve never actually been able to estimate how important it is in a realistic environment because of how challenging it is to model.”

Lyman-alpha radiation differs from many other types of radiation in how it interacts with matter. When an atom or dust grain absorbs most kinds of light, it typically re-emits that energy at a different wavelength, making the light much less likely to be absorbed again. But when hydrogen atoms absorb Lyman-alpha radiation, they almost immediately re-emit it at the same wavelength. This means nearby hydrogen atoms can absorb the light over and over before it finally escapes. While this repeated absorption and re-emission makes Lyman-alpha a particularly powerful source of radiation pressure, it also makes it computationally challenging to simulate because each interaction must be modeled.

Instead of directly simulating this radiation recycling, Menon and his collaborator, Aaron Smith at the University of Texas at Dallas, developed a workaround. They analyzed snapshots from an existing simulation of an early-universe star-forming region to calculate the force that Lyman-alpha radiation pressure would have exerted on the region’s gas and dust.

The results showed that in dense environments, the outward pressure from Lyman-alpha radiation wasn’t strong enough to counteract gravity. While gas and dust hit by the radiation recoiled, they remained bound to the stellar nursery by gravity. This means that the radiation likely wouldn’t have strongly affected star formation in dense regions in the early universe. However, in the spaces between stars where gas was less dense and gravity was lower, the Lyman-alpha radiation was able to win against gravity.

“When the density is low enough, the Lyman-alpha radiation can push the gas to really high speeds, launching explosive winds that can shoot material clear out of the galaxy,” Menon says.

This effect likely contributes to the brightness of early galaxies. If Lyman-alpha radiation pressure is pushing away loose gas and dust from between stars, it clears the line of sight between those stars and us.

While the results are an important step toward understanding the impact of Lyman-alpha radiation, the findings are just the tip of the iceberg. More research is needed to better grasp the nature of dust in the early universe, Menon says. To fully understand the effects of Lyman-alpha radiation pressure, researchers will need simulations of the early universe that self-consistently incorporate Lyman-alpha radiation, gas flows and star formation.

Recent work by Olof Nebrin of Stockholm University and study co-author Aaron Smith of the University of Texas at Dallas has demonstrated that these effects can be modeled in two dimensions, Menon says. “But the hope is that in the coming years, with improvements to computing power and the development of more effective algorithms, we can eventually do these simulations in three dimensions.”

www.eurasiareview.com/08112026-a-cosmic-leaf-blower-light-propelled-winds-help-explain-early-universes-bright-galaxies/

Don't miss: Meteor showers, fireballs, and a supermoon light up November's night sky

 

November delivers meteor showers, a rare-looking Mars-Jupiter pairing, a stunning supermoon, and an extraordinary milestone for NASA's Voyager 1. Credit: Shutterstock

November 2026 is packed with celestial events worth watching, from brilliant meteors streaking across the sky to a striking encounter between Mars and Jupiter. NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is also approaching an extraordinary milestone, while a dazzling supermoon will close out the month.

Three meteor showers offer multiple opportunities to catch shooting stars, including occasional fireballs bright enough to stand out dramatically against the night sky. Meanwhile, two of the solar system's most recognizable planets will appear unusually close together just before sunrise.

As if that weren't enough, humanity's most distant spacecraft is reaching a point where radio signals from Earth take an entire day to arrive.

Here's what NASA recommends watching for in November.

November 2026 Skywatching Highlights

• Around November 5: The Southern Taurid meteor shower reaches its peak, with the possibility of exceptionally bright fireballs.
• Around November 12: The Northern Taurids peak, producing approximately five meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions.
• November 15 and 16: Mars and Jupiter appear just 1.2 degrees apart in the southeastern sky before sunrise.
• November 17: NASA celebrates Voyager 1's historic distance milestone with its Shine Bright for Voyager's Light-Day activation.
• November 17 and 18: The Leonid meteor shower offers its best viewing opportunities before dawn, after the Moon sets, with potentially 15 meteors per hour under ideal conditions.
• November 24: A full supermoon illuminates the evening sky, beginning a sequence of three consecutive supermoon.

Three Meteor Showers Could Light Up November's Sky

November gives skywatchers several chances to see meteors flash across the darkness. The first opportunities come from the Southern and Northern Taurids, two related meteor showers that reach their highest activity levels about a week apart.

The Southern Taurids peak around November 5, followed by the Northern Taurids around November 12. Both showers get their names from the constellation Taurus, where their meteors appear to originate when viewed from Earth.

Neither shower is especially prolific. Even under excellent conditions, each typically produces only about five meteors per hour. However, the Taurids are known for occasionally producing impressive fireballs, exceptionally bright meteors that can make even a relatively quiet night of skywatching memorable.

The Leonids provide another opportunity later in the month. Their best viewing periods are expected during the early morning hours of November 17 and 18, particularly after the Moon has disappeared below the horizon. Under ideal conditions, observers could see approximately 15 meteors per hour, although actual counts will generally be lower.

For the best chance of spotting meteors, travel somewhere away from bright city lights. Allow your eyes roughly 30 minutes to become accustomed to the darkness, then watch a broad section of the sky rather than concentrating on one small area.

Mars and Jupiter Appear Almost Side by Side

Meteor showers aren't the only reason to get outside before dawn. On November 15 and 16, Mars and Jupiter will create an eye-catching pairing in the southeastern sky.

The two planets will appear separated by only about 1.2 degrees, slightly more than the apparent width of two full Moons placed next to each other.

Jupiter will be the brighter of the two, making it relatively easy to identify. Nearby, Mars will stand out with its characteristic reddish appearance.

No telescope or binoculars will be necessary to enjoy the sight. Both planets should be readily visible to the unaided eye under suitable viewing conditions.

Although they will appear remarkably close from Earth's perspective, Mars and Jupiter remain separated by enormous distances in space. Their apparent proximity is simply a result of their positions along our line of sight.

Watching the planets over several consecutive mornings will reveal another interesting feature of their motion. They will gradually appear to move closer together before their positions shift and they begin separating again.

Voyager 1 Reaches an Extraordinary Deep Space Milestone

While November offers plenty to observe in Earth's skies, something equally remarkable is happening far beyond the planets.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is reaching a historic distance of one light-day from Earth, becoming the first human-made object ever to travel that far from our planet.

A light-day is the distance light travels through space in 24 hours. Because radio signals move at the speed of light, a message transmitted from Earth will require an entire day to reach Voyager 1 at that distance.

If the spacecraft sends a response immediately, the return signal will take another 24 hours to arrive. That means even the fastest possible round-trip communication will require approximately 48 hours.

The milestone illustrates just how far Voyager 1 has traveled since leaving Earth and how challenging it has become to communicate with a spacecraft exploring such distant regions of space.

To get a sense of the spacecraft's current direction, look toward the constellation Ophiuchus, also known as the Serpent Bearer. Voyager 1 is traveling through space in that general direction, far beyond anything visible to the unaided eye.

NASA is marking the achievement on November 17 with its Shine Bright for Voyager's Light-Day activation, inviting people to celebrate this extraordinary accomplishment in space exploration.

November's Supermoon Begins a Three-Month Celestial Show

The final major skywatching highlight arrives on November 24, when a full supermoon will rise into the evening sky.

A supermoon occurs when a full Moon coincides with a period when the Moon is relatively close to Earth in its orbit. Because the Moon follows a slightly elliptical path rather than a perfect circle, its distance from our planet changes throughout the month.

When a full Moon occurs near the closer portion of that orbit, it can appear somewhat larger and brighter than an average full Moon. Although the difference is real, it is often subtle enough that casual observers may not immediately notice it.

November's event is particularly noteworthy because it begins a sequence of three consecutive supermoons. Another will follow in December, with a third arriving in January.

For an especially memorable view, NASA recommends looking toward the eastern horizon around sunset on November 24, when the full Moon will be rising.

The Moon may seem unusually enormous when it first appears near the horizon. However, much of that dramatic impression comes from a familiar visual phenomenon called the Moon illusion.

This optical effect makes the Moon appear larger when it is close to the horizon than when it is high overhead, even though its actual apparent size changes very little. The illusion can occur during any full Moon, not just a supermoon.

With three meteor showers, a close planetary pairing, a historic Voyager 1 milestone, and the beginning of a supermoon series, November offers plenty of reasons to look up and explore the night sky.

Story Source:

Materials provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/11/261105224547.htm

Defense News: Czech Republic Plans to Buy Four Rafael SPYDER All-in-One Systems

Czech Republic Plans to Buy Four Rafael SPYDER All-in-One Systems

The defense minister said a contract is expected around the turn of the year, after four batteries of the previous model have already arrived in the country.

By Ami Rojkes Dombe, israeldefense.co.il, 04/11/2026

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/72422

                            The SPYDER mobile air defense system (Photo: Rafael)

According to a report by the Czech news agency ČTK published on Novinky on October 27, the Czech Ministry of Defense is preparing to acquire four SPYDER All-in-One air defense systems manufactured by Rafael, with the contract likely to be signed around the turn of the year. The statement was made by Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna during a session of the Czech Parliament's Defense Committee.

According to the minister, the new version could not be acquired through an addendum to the previous SPYDER contract, necessitating a separate agreement. Zůna added that project preparations took 11 months, even though its specifications were not yet ready at the start of this year.

The SPYDER All-in-One is a newer configuration of the Israeli system. Unlike the original layout, where the radar, launcher, and command unit are distributed across multiple vehicles, the new version integrates all these components onto a single chassis.

                            The SPYDER mobile air defense system (Photo: Rafael)

In 2021, the Czech Republic ordered four batteries of the previous SPYDER version for 13.7 billion Czech korunas under a government-to-government agreement between the Czech Ministry of Defense and the Israeli government. All four batteries have already arrived in the Czech Republic and were publicly displayed in September during NATO Days in Ostrava. Their operational integration into the Czech armed forces is expected to continue through 2027, according to an earlier assessment by the minister. The systems are intended to replace Soviet-era 2K12 Kub systems used by the Czech military since the 1970s.

Zůna also mentioned additional air defense projects included in the Czech military's force buildup plan currently being prepared, though the report did not detail their scope or schedules beyond what was stated regarding the SPYDER All-in-One.

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