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Ian J. O'Neill

@astroengine.bsky.social
513 followers 55 following 50 posts

NASA JPL news media specialist. Topics include (not limited to): ☄️🛰️📡🪐🌕⚛️ Solar physics PhD. Science communicator, writer. Opinions are mine, mine, all mine. he/him

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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Sorry, Silicon Valley, those super duper data centers in space don't make sense. You see, physics is a dick. spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data...
spectrum.ieee.org
The Real Cost Of Cooling GPUs In Space Might Shock You
Shedding heat will require ingenious new designs
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I knew the images would be good, but nothing prepared me for the end result. Just... wow. I think we can say that the Psyche-Mars flyby was a huge success 😍 www.nasa.gov/missions/psy... #MissionToPsyche
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Riding With Robots @ridingrobots.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
From NASA The initial reports are in: #MissionToPsyche aced its Mars flyby. ☑️ With the Red Planet in the rearview mirror, the spacecraft will resume using its solar-electric propulsion system to make a beeline to the main asteroid belt and rendezvous with the asteroid Psyche go.nasa.gov/4dn30CI
Four photos of Mars: a black-and-white nearly full disc view with the small white patch of the south polar cap visible; a cluster of craters on reddish ground with lighter wind streaks; a closer view of the polar cap with swirling layers of ice; an enhanced-color look at craters
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Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Psyche captured this sequence a few hours later during closest approach when Psyche was about 5000 km above Mars. The sequence starts over Isisdis Planitia, moves across Syrtis Major (a bit south of where Perseverance is) and ends over Huygens crater.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Two worlds: Earth, taken by the Artemis II crew and Mars, taken by the Psyche probe... I wonder when human eyes will see Mars as a crescent like this... Earth image: NASA Mars image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Additional processing: S Atkinson
Composite image showing Earth and Mars as crescents, made using images taken during the Artemis II mission and the Psyche mission and processed by Stuart Atkinson
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Thomas Appéré @thomasappere.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
De nouvelles images acquises par la sonde #Psyche continuent d'arriver sur Terre via le Deep Space Network ! J'en ai ajouté 5 à ma mosaïque précédente, maintenant on distingue bien Syrtis Major Planum (plaines sombres cratérisées en bas de l'image) de Isidis Planitia (plus claire en haut). 1/3
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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Looks like some of the first images of Mars' surface are down from the Psyche encounter. Images from camera A so far, and no color yet. flic.kr/p/2sdxp6e flic.kr/p/2sdsK58 flic.kr/p/2sdyE2N flic.kr/p/2sdyFQs
Cratered surface of Mars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. GillCratered surface of Mars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. GillCratered surface of Mars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. GillClear filtered.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. Gill
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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Beautiful crescent view of Mars as Psyche continues it's approach for tomorrow's flyby. flic.kr/p/2sd9f6a
A crescent view of the planet Mars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. Gill
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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Stunning coffee-stain views of Mars seen by the approaching Psyche spacecraft on May 9th and 10th. Colorized using Infrared, Green, and Blue filtered images. flic.kr/p/2scmp1J flic.kr/p/2scr2xn Psyche raw images: solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche-raw-i...
A crescent Mars viewed as sunlight is filtered through the martian atmosphere. Some nice blue colors are visible near the thinner “horns”.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. GillA crescent Mars viewed as sunlight is filtered through the martian atmosphere. Some nice blue colors are visible near the thinner “horns”.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. Gill
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
More about the "high phase" approach of NASA's Psyche mission with Mars: Why is Mars' crescent so extended? And what's that gap over the planet's north pole? Find out some early science here: science.nasa.gov/photojournal... #MissionToPsyche
science.nasa.gov
NASA’s Psyche Mission Captures Mars During Gravity Assist Approach - NASA Science
This colorized image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers) from the planet. The
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
NASA's Psyche mission has Mars in its sights. Find out more about the spacecraft's gravity assist:
m.youtube.com
Psyche Spacecraft Prepares for Mars Flyby
YouTube video by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
NASA's Psyche spacecraft has Mars in its sights for a gravity assist on Friday, May 15. This is Mars' crescent as Psyche approaches from a high phase angle to the planet. The crescent extends around the planet as sunlight scatters through the atmosphere. Read: science.nasa.gov/blogs/psyche...
science.nasa.gov
NASA’s Psyche Mission to Fly by Mars for Gravity Assist  - NASA Science
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will get a boost from Mars on Friday, May 15, passing just 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the planet’s surface at some 12,333
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention. The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
ms.now
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Just watched The Rip and my review is: Any movie under 2 hours is ok in my books. Also, seeing Ben and Matt on screen together is never a bad thing. 5 out of 10. Totally predictable, then it's not, and then... oh yeah, I knew he was the bad guy. Silly fun with a lot of shooting in the dark.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Just watched "Weapons" and it turns out that my review for the movie is exactly the same as my review for 2025: Gross, tragic, dumb, too long, and poorly executed.
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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been a member of the deep-sea club for almost 2 decades. New research might revoke its water world card. 🪐 🌊 My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa
science.org
Titan might not have an ocean after all
A reanalysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission suggests Saturn’s icy moon may lack the subsurface ocean presumed for a decade
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Mark Panning @markpanning.seismology.space · 18/12/2025
I wanted to do a quick thread about this paper led by a great postdoc here at JPL, Flavio Petricca, which suggests that Titan may not have a global ocean after all. www.nasa.gov/solar-system...
nasa.gov
NASA Study Suggests Saturn’s Moon Titan May Not Have Global Ocean - NASA
A key discovery from NASA’s Cassini mission in 2008 was that Saturn’s largest moon Titan may have a vast water ocean below its hydrocarbon-rich surface. But
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 18/12/2025
Saturn's giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all.
bit.ly
Saturn's moon Titan may not have a buried ocean as long suspected, new study suggests
Saturn's giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all. New research suggests Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth's polar seas instead of a buried ocean as long suspected.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Cassini, Saturn, and Titan, what's not to love? 🛰🌕📡 A new Nature study, led by JPL scientists, has taken a new look at archived gravity data from NASA's Cassini mission to reveal that, perhaps, Saturn's largest moon Titan does not have a subsurface ocean: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-st...
jpl.nasa.gov
NASA Study Suggests Saturn’s Moon Titan May Not Have Global Ocean
Reanalysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission has revealed Saturn’s moon may instead have layers of slush with isolated pockets of liquid water.
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SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Text: @astroengine.bsky.social DSOC successfully demonstrated that data encoded in laser photons could be reliably transmitted, received, and then decoded after traveling millions of miles from Earth out to Mars distances. Learn more: buff.ly/NkOiLkL
nasa.gov
A Beacon to Space - NASA
In this infrared photograph taken on June 2, 2025, the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Table Mountain
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astrafoxen @astrafoxen.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Interstellar object candidate #A11pl3Z from Deep Random Survey, Chile (obs code X09). No obvious tail, will have to do a stack to see if there's anything... Date is 2025 Jul 2 00:52:39 UTC.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Well, shit. "NASA's budget request is just a going-out-of-business mode" arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
arstechnica.com
Trump pulls Isaacman nomination for space. Source: “NASA is f***ed”
“NASA’s budget request is just a going-out-of-business mode” without Isaacman.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
This budget request would cripple NASA's space science efforts. Active and planned science missions scrapped. $ billions of wasted taxpayer money. This is sick. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Dozens of active and planned NASA spacecraft killed in Trump budget request
Proposal would end nearly all new major science missions
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Scott Kardel aka Palomar Skies @palomarskies.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Such an amazing view right now. www.youtube.com/live/BqmpkUd...
An erupting volcano.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Which news outlet is actually informing its readers about what happened?
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Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
This movie shows the bubbling surface of a distant star, as captured with unprecedented clarity by the ALMA observatory. R Doradus is a huge star. Each of these bubbles is 50-75 times the diameter of our entire Sun! 🧪🔭 www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-rel...
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 25/05/2025
National missile defense is the longest-running scam in the history of the Department of Defense. Musk didn’t invent it, but he’s about to get a whole lot richer by perpetuating it. trib.al/Qpb9WJE
trib.al
Trump’s “Golden Dome” Won’t Work—but It’ll Make Elon Musk Richer
For 40 years, missile defense has never been about keeping America safe. It’s all about the contracts.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
The Coyotes of San Francisco www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/u...
nytimes.com
The Coyotes of San Francisco
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Rob From the Poor, Give to the Rich, Steal Like Crazy newrepublic.com/post/195695/... via @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Week: Rob From the Poor, Give to the Rich, Steal Like Crazy
Nothing sums up the descent into authoritarian corruption of the once-republican USA like the events of May 22, 2025.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Not entirely surprising, though sudden and... sad. Thinking, especially, about my remote telework colleagues today, who will need to make some very hard decisions 😔 www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpl-to-...
jpl.nasa.gov
JPL to Transition to Fully Onsite Work
In an email to employees, the director’s office announced that a transition to fully onsite work will occur this year.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Not one but TWO science features today 🙌 In this one, NASA's Magellan is a mission that just keeps on giving. By combining topography and gravity data from the spacecraft, VERITAS scientists have detected tectonic processes shaping the planet's coronae. More: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-m...
jpl.nasa.gov
NASA’s Magellan Mission Reveals Possible Tectonic Activity on Venus
Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet’s surface.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
I got to work on a neat feature about the Moon. It posted today. The cover art was too good not to share. Basically, using high-resolution gravity data, scientists at JPL could measure the very tiny flexing of the Moon as it orbits Earth. More: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-st...
jpl.nasa.gov
NASA Studies Reveal Hidden Secrets About Interiors of Moon, Vesta
Analyzing gravity data collected by spacecraft orbiting other worlds reveals groundbreaking insights about planetary structures without having to land on the surface.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
NASA JPL's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) tech demo flying with NASA's Psyche mission streamed the now famous (and historic) UHD video of Taters the cat over 19 million miles to Earth in late 2023. Today, the orange tabby up for a Webby. Vote! vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...
vote.webbyawards.com
Vote for the best of the internet
I just voted in The Webby People's Voice Awards and checked my voter registration.
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Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
This is a bigger issue than people realize. Not just jobs lost. But their families losing benefits. Landlords losing tenants. Cities and towns losing revenue. This is how recessions start Ready Fire Aim is no way to govern.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
The latest on Lunar Trailblazer: The ops team at @caltechipac.bsky.social continue to work on reestablishing communications with the small satellite, with ongoing support from NASA's Deep Space Network and ground based observatories: blogs.nasa.gov/trailblazer/...
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Bob Pappalardo @rpappalardo.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
On March 1, the Europa Clipper spacecraft will soar past Mars, using that planet’s gravity to shape its trajectory, sending it first back by Earth, then on toward its 2030 rendezvous with Jupiter. Onward and upward! #Europa #EuropaClipper www.nasa.gov/missions/eur...
nasa.gov
NASA’s Europa Clipper Uses Mars to Go the Distance - NASA
The orbiter bound for Jupiter’s moon Europa will investigate whether the moon is habitable, but it first will get the help of Mars’ gravitational force to get
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
It has been quite the week. After the Intuitive Machines IM-2 launch on Wednesday, mission operators at @caltechipac.bsky.social received telemetry from NASA's Lunar Trailblazer that things weren't right with its power system. They then had communications issues with the spacecraft.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Led by Caltech and managed by JPL, NASA's Lunar Trailblazer is launching (no earlier than) Wed., Feb. 26, as a rideshare on the Intuitive Machines mission to the Moon, IM-2. Apart from the awesome science Trailblazer will do, its journey is quite interesting, too: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/how-nas...
jpl.nasa.gov
How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Will Make a Looping Voyage to the Moon
Before arriving at the Moon, the small satellite mission will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon over several months to gradually line up for capture into lunar orbit.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Pin this, save it, we’ll need it. “When a prison camp opens in your town…when a DREAMer is disappeared from your classroom…when the President destroys what’s left of the Constitution…They will all say they didn’t know this was coming. And I want the American people to know that they did.” AOC 🔥🎯
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Laurel Davila @laureldavilacpa.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Super Bowl USAID Save Foreign Aid
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Sheila Foster @sheilarose.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Excellent by @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social "If you’re always consumed by the next outrage, you can’t look closely at the last one. The impression of Trump’s power remains; the fact that he keeps stepping on rakes is missed. The projection of strength obscures the reality of weakness. Don’t believe him."
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
More information about how CNEOS assesses the impact probability of newly discovered near-Earth objects and the development of the Sentry system: How we monitor impact hazards: www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-n...
jpl.nasa.gov
NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Goes Online
The new system improves the capabilities of NASA JPL’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies to assess the impact risk of asteroids that can come close to our planet.
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at JPL has stood up an information page about asteroid 2024 YR4. The near-Earth object's probability of impacting our planet in 2032 has risen to more than 1% and is now a 3 on the Torino Scale. CNEOS is monitoring: cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news210...
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Rain! 🥲
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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
During the Sol 4432 drive this week, the Mars Curiosity Rover stopped to take updated images of the wheels. This is a MAHLI image of the largest break. flic.kr/p/2qH9LCv
A thin metal wheel with tons of scratches. A large hole with broken grousers is prominent.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
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Ian J. O'Neill @astroengine.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Dumb ideas yield dumb (and predictable) results 😆
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
The folks obsessively posting about egg prices for the past few years have gone strangely quiet just as egg prices hit an all-time high.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 23/01/2025
The price of eggs in the US is spiking, mostly due to #H5N1 bird flu. Solving the problem requires urgent, important communications from the CDC & FDA* and rapid development of research by the NIH** * Currently paused by Executive Order ** Grant reviews now all canceled www.kcur.org/news/2025-01...
kcur.org
Egg prices are soaring again. Here’s why and what to expect
Bird flu has killed millions of hens in recent weeks, shrinking the supply of eggs and hiking up prices at grocery stores.
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