News – NASA HESTO

From CubeSat to the Moon: PADRE/MeDDEA Tech Finds New Home in AWSEM

by Scott Schairenews, project, selection announcement November 5, 2026November 5, 2026No Comments

NASA’s Heliophysics Division continues to demonstrate the power of strategic technology infusion, leveraging investments in small missions to enable ambitious new science opportunities. A compelling example is the development progression of the Measuring Directivity to Determine Electron Anisotropy (MeDDEA) instrument from the Polarization And Directivity X-Ray Experiment (PADRE) CubeSat mission to the new Advanced Warning for Solar Energetic …

WINS: Cost-Effective Plasma Measurements in Earth’s Ionosphere

by Scott Schairenews, project October 29, 2026No Comments

The Waves, Instabilities, and Noise Spectrometer (WINS) project’s primary objective is developing a highly compact, cost-effective cubesat instrument capable of measuring plasma density, temperature, and wave signatures in Earth’s ionosphere. WINS, led by PI Mihailo Martinović from the University of Arizona, leverages a Thermal Noise Receiver to capture high-frequency electric field spectra across a broad …

Critical Deadline for NASA TechLeap: Orbital Clarity Challenge

by Chris Flemingfunding opportunity, news October 22, 2026No Comments

Registration required by Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 5 PM Eastern Time. A critical first deadline for joining NASA’s Orbital Clarity Challenge is fast approaching. All teams or individuals planning to participate in the Challenge must register their intent to participate to be eligible to submit a solution to the Challenge. Go to the Challenge Registration …

New ROSES Opportunities Open Now: H-LCAS and SSF

by Scott Schairefunding opportunity October 15, 2026October 15, 2026No Comments

HESTO is pleased to announce two Heliophysics opportunities released under Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2025: Heliophysics Low-Cost Access to Space (H-LCAS) and the new Spaceflight Science Foundations (SSF) opportunity. Heliophysics Low-Cost Access to Space H-LCAS Proposal Due Dates: Step 1 due November 20, 2026, Step 2 due March 16, 2027. ROSES-2025 Amendment 78, the H-LCAS …

HPD Infusions: Accelerating U.S. Technology Advancements

by Scott SchaireHTP October 8, 2026October 22, 2026No Comments

REVISED: October 21, 2026. The Heliophysics Strategic Technology Office (HESTO) tracks technologies that move from Heliophysics Division (HPD) investments in technology into real space missions. We call this process “infusion.” HESTO finds and confirms these milestones by managing projects, hosting technology events, talking to past researchers, and watching for new NASA and partner missions. Heliophysics …

Miniaturized Particle Telescope Infused into Deep Space Asteroid Mission

by Scott Schairenews October 1, 2026No Comments

To understand space’s hazardous radiation environment, scientists need high-resolution measurements of energetic electrons and protons. Supported by NASA’s Heliophysics Technology and Instrument Development for Science (HTIDeS) program, Principal Investigator Dr. Xinlin Li and his team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) have successfully miniaturized a Flagship-class (Van Allen Probes) particle detector technology …

HESTO-Funded Ion Mass Spectrometer Wins Prestigious R&D 100 Award

by Scott Schairenews, selection announcement September 24, 2026September 24, 2026No Comments

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been awarded a highly respected 2026 R&D 100 Award, in the Process/Prototyping category, for development of the Autonomous Ion Mass Spectrometer Sentry (AIMSS). Referred to as the “Oscars of Invention,” the R&D 100 Awards honor the 100 most technologically significant innovations introduced globally each year, judged by an …

NASA Secures Patent for Next-Generation EUV Photon Sieve

by Scott Schairenews, project, selection announcement September 17, 2026September 17, 2026No Comments

The Innovation: A Step Beyond On September 1, 2026, a patent was officially issued to NASA for a revolutionary method of fabricating “binary-phase photon sieves.” A photon sieve is a flat, ultra-thin membrane covered in millions of mathematically positioned microscopic holes that acts as a lens, using diffraction to perfectly focus Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light …

Smallsat-compatible Space Debris Detection Lidar

by Scott Schaireproject September 10, 2026No Comments

The Aerospace Corporation successfully completed hypervelocity testing of its space debris detection lidar instrument at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in March 2026. This testing demonstrated the instrument’s ability to detect millimeter and sub-millimeter debris, ranging from 0.1 to 1 mm, traveling at low Earth orbital velocities between 4 and 7.2 km/s. These results, along …

HELIOTECH/Orbital Flight: Forging Partnerships That Ignite Science

by Roshanak Hakimzadehevent, news September 4, 2026September 16, 2026No Comments

Thank you for attending the fourth annual HELIOTECH symposium in partnership with NASA Orbital Flight and hosted at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. We hope this symposium week has forged new partnerships toward building the foundation for the next generation of space weather and Heliophysics missions. This year’s weeklong HELIOTECH symposium brought …