NASA's Solar Flare, Artemis Funding, and Dark Sky Adventures - Your Weekly Space Briefing

Welcome back, listeners, to your go-to podcast for the pulse of NASA and space exploration. This week’s top headline comes straight from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory: on June 17, the Sun unleashed a powerful X1.2 class solar flare. These flares are the most intense, and just to put it in perspective, such solar events can disrupt radio communications, impact electric power grids, and even affect navigation signals both here on Earth and on spacecraft. NASA is working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center to monitor and communicate any potential risks to the public and industries that depend on space-based technology.

This isn’t the only news lighting up NASA’s departments. Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro announced at the Paris Air Show that NASA just inked an expanded partnership with the German Aerospace Center. The focus is space medicine—DLR will provide radiation sensors for the upcoming Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule. The aim is to deepen our understanding of the health risks posed by deep space exploration, a step forward that has implications for astronaut safety and medical research worldwide.

Budget news is also making waves. Congress is finalizing NASA’s fiscal year 2025 allocation with a modest 1% increase, up to about $25.4 billion. But there’s a catch: while the Artemis Moon program keeps its full funding at $7.6 billion, science programs will get roughly $200 million less than the White House requested, putting pressure on upcoming missions and research projects. NASA’s science teams are being challenged to do more with less, and as expert observers from The Planetary Society note, this could mean hard choices ahead—potentially affecting jobs, research partnerships, and the pace of scientific discovery.

In terms of community events, NASA is making an unusual call to action: pack your bags and leave the city lights behind. June is the best time to catch the Milky Way’s core, and NASA is encouraging everyone to seek out dark-sky locations. Why? Light pollution has increased the brightness of our night skies by up to 10% each year, making the galaxy invisible to millions. It’s a chance for families, schools, and amateur astronomers to reconnect with the wonder of our universe while supporting local tourism in rural areas.

For students and educators, NASA is hosting live Q&A events this month with astronauts on the International Space Station, including Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain. These sessions are a unique way to engage directly with the people living and working off-planet, inspiring the next generation of explorers.

Looking ahead, keep your eyes on NASA’s TRACERS mission, which is preparing for a July launch to study how solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere. If you’re passionate about science or space policy, now’s the time to reach out to your representatives or join NASA’s open forums to weigh in on spending priorities and future programs.

For more on NASA’s news and how you can get involved—whether it’s submitting a question for astronauts, planning your own star party, or tracking space weather alerts—visit the official NASA website. Thank you for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for your weekly briefing on the cosmos and beyond. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back listeners to your go to podcast for the
pulse of NASA and space exploration. This week's top headline
comes straight from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. On June seventeenth,
the Sun unleashed a powerful X one point two class
solar flare. These flares are the most intense and just
to put it in perspective, such solar events can disrupt

(00:22):
radio communications, impact electric power grids, and even affect navigation signals,
both here on Earth and on spacecraft. NASA is working
closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather
Prediction Center to monitor and communicate any potential risks to
the public and industries that depend on space based technology.

(00:44):
This isn't the only news lighting up NASA's departments. Acting
NASA Administrator Janet Petro announced at the Paris Air Show
that NASA just inked an expanded partnership with the German
Aerospace Center. The focus is space Medicine. DLR will provide
radiation sensors for the upcoming Artemis two missions Oriyan Capsule.

(01:04):
The aim is to deepen our understanding of the health
risks posed by deep space exploration. A step forward that
has implications for astronauts, safety, and medical research worldwide. Budget
news is also making waves. Congress is finalizing NASA's fiscal
year twenty twenty five allocation with a modest one percent
increase up to about twenty five point four billion dollars.

(01:26):
But there's a catch. While the Artemis Moon program keeps
its full funding at seven point six billion dollars, science
programs will get roughly two hundred million dollars less than
the White House requested, putting pressure on upcoming missions and
research projects. NASA's science teams are being challenged to do
more with less, and as expert observers from the Planetary

(01:48):
Society note, this could mean hard choices ahead, potentially affecting jobs,
research partnerships with a and the pace of scientific discovery.
In terms of community events, NASA is making an unusual
call to action, pack your bags and leave the city
lights behind. June is the best time to catch the
Milky Way's core, and NASA is encouraging everyone to seek

(02:10):
out dark sky locations. Why. Light pollution has increased the
brightness of our night skies by up to ten percent
each year, making the galaxy invisible to millions. It's a
chance for families, schools, and amateur astronomers to reconnect with
the wonder of our universe while supporting local tourism in
rural areas for students and educators, NASA is hosting live

(02:33):
Q and A events this month with astronauts on the
International Space Station, including Nicole Ayrs and Anne McLane. These
sessions are a unique way to engage directly with the
people living and working off planet, inspiring the next generation
of explorers. Looking ahead, keep your eyes on NASA's Tracer's mission,
which is preparing for a July launch to study how

(02:56):
solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetosphere. If you're passionate about
science or space policy, now's the time to reach out
to your representatives or join NASA's open forums to weigh
in on spending, priorities, and future programs. For more on
NASA's news and how you can get involved, whether it's
submitting a question for astronauts, planning your own star party,

(03:19):
or tracking space weather alerts, visit the official NASA website.
Thank you for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe
for your weekly briefing on the Cosmos and beyond. This
has been a quiet please production. For more check out quiet,
please dot ai. This has been a quiet please production.
For more check out quiet, please dot ai