NASA Minute: Dec. 19, 2025

This week, Jared Isaacman was sworn in as NASA Administrator, DiskSat launched aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, and NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) recorded its first light.

What is said in the film

A new administrator, new missions, and new discoveries across the agency. As NASA looks ahead to the next chapter of exploration, teams across the agency kept moving forward. Let’s get into it in this week’s NASA Minute. On Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee for NASA Administrator, was confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn into office, becoming the 15th Administrator of NASA. He steps into this role as NASA advances the Golden Age of exploration, from the Moon to Mars and beyond.

Welcome to NASA, Jared! Day one on the job, just getting sworn in, I go right to the Oval Office, where the president signs a national space policy So priorities are super clear, We’re gonna return to the Moon. We’ve got a mission coming up and just a matter of months we’re going to establish infrastructure on the Moon. We’re going to build a Moon base and we’re going to do all the other things like investing in nuclear propulsion, deep space exploration and science. So these are the reasons why the best and brightest come and work for NASA.

I have no doubt everybody’s going to get really reinvigorated in the mission. We’re gonna get the job done. Four disk-shaped satellites lifted off aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, marking a new step forward in small spacecraft innovation. This mission, DiskSat, is designed to expand scientific opportunities and lower the cost of access to space. By testing a new spacecraft form factor, this mission gives engineers greater flexibility in how future missions are designed, helping NASA and its partners move faster, more affordably, and with greater impact.

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, has recorded its first light, with all 10 instruments successfully returning their initial measurements as the spacecraft begins its science journey. IMAP is already beginning to map the edge of the heliosphere, the vast bubble carved out by the solar wind that surrounds our entire solar system. This will help scientists better understand how space weather affects our planet, safeguarding astronauts, satellites, and critical technology here on Earth. NASA, in partnership with Boeing, recently tested a new wing design in our wind tunnel at Langley Research Center, activating moveable control surfaces to stabilize aircraft wings in gusty conditions. The tests showed a clear reduction in wing flutter, a key challenge facing future airliners with longer, thinner wings designed to improve ride comfort and reduce fuel use.

NASA is shaping the next generation of safer, more efficient aircraft. NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has completed its first full map of the entire sky, capturing the universe in 102 different infrared colors, more than any all-sky map ever made. Launched in March, SPHEREx is surveying the sky in unprecedented detail, giving scientists a new tool to explore some of the biggest questions in cosmology. That’s your look at the week across NASA. Thanks for watching!

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