Posts by Alan Toth
FOXSI-5 mission demonstrates potential of advanced X-ray imaging and rockets for solar physics
The images collected by the FOXSI team over its five flights are demonstrating the effectiveness of their next-generation X-ray optics and proving that sounding rockets have great potential to compliment satellite missions for basic solar science.
Read MoreSSL Spotlight: Davin Larson
By Alan TothJune, 10, 2026 The Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 mission, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), launched in September of last year, and in January it performed its final burn to enter orbit around the Sun at some 1 million miles from the Earth. The mission was renamed…
Read MoreLOOK: SSL undergrad interns promote the lab at Cal Day
Our undergraduate interns talked up SSL’s opportunities with visiting students and parents at Cal Day on Saturday, April 18th. According to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 3389 students virtually checked in to attend Cal Day, and 11,544 total attendees were recorded. 279 admitted students accepted their offer to attend Cal on site (including an 320 students…
Read MoreCutting-edge DESI survey technology originated at SSL
By Alan TothApril 20, 2026 On April 14, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) completed its survey of the sky. Finished ahead of its planned five-year timeline, the project produced a 3D map of the universe using data from 47 million galaxies and quasars, along with more than 20 million nearby stars. DESI has proven…
Read MoreESCAPADE spacecraft are now flying through Earth’s magnetotail
Launched to Mars in November, NASA’s ESCAPADE probes — operated by UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Lab — are now testing their instruments in a never-before-visited region of Earth’s magnetic field.
Read MoreCINEMA mission will explore auroras and Earth’s mysterious magnetotail
Much of what we see as auroras near the northern and southern magnetic poles begins as plasma currents in the Earth’s magnetotail. NASA’s CINEMA mission will probe this unexplored region.
Read MoreBruce Grossan, SSL and LBNL scientist, dies at 63
Dr. Bruce Grossan passed away unexpectedly on February 10, 2026, at the age of 63.
Read MoreCarruthers has reached target orbit between Earth and the Sun
NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory has reached its target orbit at Lagrange Point 1 between the Earth and the Sun.
Read MoreBerkeley scientists reveal how organics emerged in deep freeze of early solar system
Asteroid Bennu material shows organic precursor molecules that may have produced ingredients of life first formed from cryogenic ammonia.
Read MoreESCAPADE sends a selfie
Commissioning of NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft is proceeding smoothly. ESCAPADE snapped this selfie in visible and infrared light.
Read More