The recently approved Landolt NASA Space Mission, based at George Mason University, will deploy an artificial “star” into Earth’s orbit. This unique star serves as a calibration reference for telescopes, enabling more precise measurements of stellar brightness across various distances—from nearby stars to distant supernovae in far-off galaxies, NASA To Launch “Artificial Star” Landolt To Calibrate Telescopes. By establishing absolute flux calibration, the mission aims to address key astrophysical challenges, including understanding the speed and acceleration of the universe’s expansion