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November 2025

NASA Science Calendar Image of the Month. Image credit:  Iowa State University/Manish Kumar and Siddhartha Pathak

Microscopic cross-section of a solder bead showing a copper wire (orange, upper left) and void (blue-green circle, lower right) surrounded by dark brown and greenish-blue solder material, resembling a solar system with the wire as the sun and void as Earth.

November 2025 Image

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Solar System Parallelism Inside a Solder Bead

  • Soldering is an essential manufacturing step for joining electrical conductors. It involves the melting and solidification of materials which can result in voids and shrinkage during the process. To improve the soldering process on Earth--and enable deep-space repairs and manufacturing in space--researchers conducted experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Solidified solder beads were made aboard the station in the microgravity environment and returned to Earth for investigation, where researchers cut, polished, and photographed the samples under a microscope. This photograph shows a copper wire (orange, upper left) and void (blue-green circle, lower right) surrounded by dark brown and greenish-blue solder material, resembling a solar system with the wire as the sun and void as Earth.

    Image and text credit: Iowa State University/Manish Kumar and Siddhartha Pathak

    Learn more about hardware and testing in space

    Microscopic cross-section of a solder bead showing a copper wire (orange, upper left) and void (blue-green circle, lower right) surrounded by dark brown and greenish-blue solder material, resembling a solar system with the wire as the sun and void as Earth..

You can do NASA science!

  • Can you code or analyze data? Want to help astronauts live better in space? Join one of these Analysis Working Groups!

    Learn how you can get involved

    Inside the International Space Station’s Cupola, an astronaut with short, graying hair wearing a blue shirt leans forward and presses her outstretched hand against a large circular window. Her face is partially reflected in the glass. She looks out into the dark expanse of space, dotted with faint stars. A tan storage pouch is attached to the right side of the module’s interior.
    High above Earth, an astronaut looks out into space and to all the places humans might travel in the future.
    Image credit: NASA

Discover More about Biological & Physical Sciences

Unique Quasicrystal Diffraction Pattern with Non-Repeating Features

What Are Quasicrystals, and Why Does NASA Study Them?

Quasicrystals are unique materials with non repeating atomic patters. Studying this in microgravity can lead to major advancements in space technology.

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graphic of soft matter

Why Does NASA Study Soft Matter in Space?

Understanding how soft matter behaves in space, without gravity, can provide valuable insights that can lead to improvements in tech, medicine and everyday products on Earth.

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Why NASA Studies Crystals?

Optimizing crystal growth in microgravity can lead to advancements in medicine and technology.

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This image shows a 4-cm diameter sphere of acrylic burning in microgravity. The flame appears near the end of the burn, having engulfed the entire sphere after growing from a small ignition point on the right side.

How (and why) do NASA researchers simulate microgravity on Earth?

NASA simulates microgravity on Earth using drop towers and parabolic flights to test experiments safely and affordably before sending them to space.

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A photo of Arabidopsis seeds - small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard - grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat aboard the International Space Station.

Biological & Physical Sciences Programs

Designed for younger learners, Space Place has fun facts, activities and games about Jupiter and our solar system.

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Space Labs

NASA’s Space Labs use research capabilities across a spectrum of spaceflight environments—from suborbital and low Earth orbit to deep space and other worlds—to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge.

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Featured Video

Revolutionary Research in Extraordinary Places

Discover NASA's Biological & Physical Sciences (BPS) 2024 highlights, showcasing revolutionary research in in extraordinary places to advance space exploration and benefit life on Earth. Featuring 4 launches to the Space Station, 17 BPS payloads delivered, over 180 active investigations, and 100+ peer-reviewed papers. Highlights include pioneering NASA-funded research aboard Blue Origin NS-26 with Robert Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul. Engaging over 40,000 students and researchers through training and outreach programs, BPS continues to inspire the next generation of scientists.

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Explore our other featured images

A vivid aurora borealis in shades of purple, green, and pink illuminates the night sky, reflected on a calm body of water with a silhouette of rolling hills in the distance. NASA logo and text 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration' are visible in the upper corners.

January 2025

Auroras
A digital NASA image depicting a sequence of asteroids arranged in a curved trajectory against a black background. The NASA logo appears in the upper right corner, and the text 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration' is visible in the upper left. The bottom left corner includes the URL 'www.nasa.gov.'

February 2025

Asteroids
Computer monitor displaying a vibrant scientific visualization with blue, red, and green cell-like patterns.

March 2025

Space Radiation
Air and Ocean Views

April 2025

Air and Ocean
Cool as Ice

May 2025

Mars
Colorful composite image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, showing intricate, glowing filaments in blue, red, green, and yellow. Captured using NASA’s James Webb and Chandra telescopes, the image reveals expanding shockwaves and stellar debris from the exploded star, set against a star-filled background.

June 2025

Supernova

July 2025

Our Sun
This face-on view of spiral galaxy NGC 628 is split diagonally, showing observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the top left portion of the image and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the bottom right portion. JWST�s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light, while HST�s observations showcase visible light. Complementary views show predominantly stars (HST) and obscuring dust (JWST). In JWST�s high-resolution infrared images, the gas and dust stand out in stark shades of orange and red and show finer spiral shapes with the appearance of jagged edges, though these areas are still diffuse. In HST�s images, the gas and dust show up as hazy dark brown lanes, following the same spiral shapes. HST�s images are about the same resolution as JWST�s, but the gas and dust obscure a lot of the smaller-scale star formation. Image and text credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (University of Oxford), Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) Team

August 2025

Galaxies
Thinning Arctic Sea Ice

September 2025

Arctic Sea Ice
Jupiter's moon Io appearing golden-tan against the blackness of space, half the moon bathed in shadow, half in light, bisected vertically, with mountain peaks and volcanos pockmarking the surface.

October 2025

Jupiter's Moon Io