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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 crew, from left to right, is NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.Credit: SpaceX NASA and its partners will discuss the upcoming crew rotation to the International Space Station during a pair of news conferences on Friday, Jan. 30, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. At 11 a.m. EST, mission leadership will discuss final launch and mission preparations in a news conference that will stream on the agency’s YouTube channel. Next, the crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission will participate in a virtual news conference from NASA Johnson crew quarters at 1 p.m., also on the agency’s YouTube channel. Individual streams for each of the events will be available on that page. This is the final media opportunity with Crew-12 before they travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch. Crew-12 will carry NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the orbiting laboratory. The crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The agency is working with SpaceX and its international partners to review options to advance the launch of Crew-12 from its original target date of Sunday, Feb. 15. United States-based media interested in attending in person must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. CST on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 281-483-5111 or *****@*****.tld. Media wishing to join the news conferences by phone must contact the Johnson newsroom by 9:45 a.m. on the day of the event. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. Briefing participants are as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations): 11 a.m.: Mission Overview News Conference Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate Representative Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson Andreas Mogensen, Human Exploration Group Leader, ESA SpaceX Representative 1 p.m.: Crew News Conference Jessica Meir, Crew-12 commander, NASA Jack Hathaway, Crew-12 pilot, NASA Sophie Adenot, Crew-12 mission specialist, ESA Andrey Fedyaev, Crew-12 mission specialist, Roscosmos This will be the second flight to the space station for Meir, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013. The Caribou, Maine, native earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brown University, a master’s degree in space studies from the International Space University, and a doctorate in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. On her first spaceflight, Meir spent 205 days as a flight engineer during Expedition 61/62, and she completed the first three all-woman spacewalks with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch, totaling 21 hours and 44 minutes outside of the station. Since then, she has served in various roles, including assistant to the chief astronaut for commercial crew (SpaceX), deputy for the Flight Integration Division, and assistant to the chief astronaut for the human landing system. A commander in the United States Navy, Hathaway was selected as part of the 2021 astronaut candidate class. This will be Hathaway’s first spaceflight. The South Windsor, Connecticut, native holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and history from the U.S. Naval Academy and master’s degrees in flight dynamics from Cranfield University and national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College, respectively. Hathaway also is a graduate of the Empire Test Pilot’s School, Fixed Wing Class 70 in 2011. At the time of his selection, Hathaway was deployed aboard the USS Truman, serving as Strike Fighter Squadron 81’s prospective executive officer. He has accumulated more than 2,500 flight hours in 30 different aircraft, including more than 500 carrier arrested landings and 39 combat missions. The Crew-12 mission will be Adenot’s first spaceflight. Before her selection as an ESA astronaut in 2022, Adenot earned a degree in engineering from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, specializing in spacecraft and aircraft flight dynamics. She also earned a master’s degree in human factors engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. After earning her master’s degree, she became a helicopter cockpit design engineer at Airbus Helicopters and later served as a search and rescue pilot at Cazaux Air Base from 2008 to 2012. She then joined the High Authority Transport Squadron in Villacoublay, France, and served as a formation flight leader and mission captain from 2012 to 2017. Between 2019 and 2022, Adenot worked as a helicopter experimental test pilot in Cazaux Flight Test Center with DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement – the French Defence Procurement Agency). She has logged more than 3,000 hours flying 22 different helicopters. This will be Fedyaev’s second long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. He graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute in 2004, specializing in aircraft operations and air traffic organization, and earned qualifications as a pilot engineer. Prior to his selection as a cosmonaut, he served as deputy commander of an Ilyushin-38 aircraft unit in the Kamchatka Region, logging more than 600 flight hours and achieving the rank of second-class military pilot. Fedyaev was selected for the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Corps in 2012 and has served as a test cosmonaut since 2014. In 2023, he flew to the space station as a mission specialist during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission, spending 186 days in orbit, as an Expedition 69 flight engineer. For his achievements, Fedyaev was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation and received the Yuri Gagarin Medal. For more information about the mission, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p*****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceCommercial CrewInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS Research View the full article

Credit: NASA NASA has selected ADNET Systems, Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, to provide global modeling and data assimilation support at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Support contract is a single-award, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum ordering value of approximately $84 million with a five-year ******* of performance beginning March 15, 2026. Under this contract, the contractor will be responsible for supporting and maintaining NASA Goddard’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office’s Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and data assimilation system. Tasks include supporting the development and validation of individual model components within GEOS and the development and integration of external components like sea and land-ice models within the modeling and assimilation system. For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Tiernan Doyle Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Rob Garner Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-5687 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterGoddard TechnologyNASA Centers & FacilitiesTechnology View the full article

4 Min Read NASA Selects Participants to Track Artemis II Mission A visual representation of NASA’s Artemis I mission. Credits: NASA NASA has selected 34 global volunteers to track the Orion spacecraft during the crewed Artemis II mission’s journey around the Moon. The Artemis II test flight will launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft and a crew of four astronauts, on a mission into deep space. The agency’s second mission in the Artemis campaign is a key step in NASA’s path toward establishing a long-term presence at the Moon and confirming the systems needed to support future lunar surface exploration and paving the way for the first crewed mission to Mars. While NASA’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, coordinated by the agency’s SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) program , will provide primary communications and tracking services to support Orion’s launch, journey around the Moon, and return to Earth, participants selected from a request for proposals published in August 2025, comprised of established commercial service providers, members of academia, and individual amateur radio enthusiasts will use their respective equipment to passively track radio waves transmitted by Orion during its approximately 10-day journey. The Orion capsule viewing the Moon during Artemis I. NASA “The Artemis II tracking opportunity is a real step toward SCaN’s commercial-first vision. By inviting external organizations to demonstrate their capabilities during a human spaceflight mission, we’re strengthening the marketplace we’ll rely on as we explore farther into the solar system,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This isn’t about tracking one mission, but about building a resilient, public-private ecosystem that will support the Golden Age of innovation and exploration.” This isn’t about tracking one mission, but about building a resilient, public-private ecosystem that will support the Golden Age of innovation and exploration.” KEvin Coggins NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for SCaN These volunteers will submit their data to NASA for analysis, helping the agency better assess the broader aerospace community’s tracking capabilities and identify ways to augment future Moon and Mars mission support. There are no funds exchanged as a part of this collaborative effort. This initiative builds on a previous effort in which 10 volunteers successfully tracked the Orion spacecraft during Artemis I in 2022. That campaign produced valuable data and lessons learned, including implementation, formatting, and data quality variations for Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, which develops communications and data standards for spaceflight. To address these findings, SCaN now requires that all tracking data submitted for Artemis II comply with its data system standards. Compared to the previous opportunity, public interest in tracking the Artemis II mission has increased. About 47 ground assets spanning 14 different countries will be used for to track the spacecraft during its journey around the Moon. Participants List: Government: ********* Space Agency (CSA), Canada The ******* Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany Commercial: Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, United Kingdom GovSmart, Charlottesville, Virginia Integrasys + University of Seville, Spain Intuitive Machines, Houston Kongsberg Satellite Services, Norway Raven Defense Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico Reca Space Agency + University of Douala, Cameroon Rincon Research Corporation & the University of Arizona, Tucson Sky Perfect JSAT, Japan Space Operations New Zealand Limited, New Zealand Telespazio, Italy ViaSat, Carlsbad, California Von Storch Engineering, Netherlands Individual: Chris Swier, South Dakota Dan Slater, California Loretta A Smalls, California Scott Tilley, Canada Academia: American University, Washington Awara Space Center + Fukui University of Technology, Japan Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, Rosman, North Carolina University of California Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, California University of New Brunswick, ECE, Canada University of Pittsburgh, ECE, Pittsburgh University of Zurich – Physics Department, Switzerland Non-Profit & Amateur Radio Organizations: AMSAT Argentina, Argentina AMSAT Deutschland, Germany Amateur Radio Exploration Ground Station Consortium, Springfield, Illinois CAMRAS, Netherlands Deep Space Exploration Society, Kiowa County, Colorado Neu Golm Ground Station, Germany Observation Radio Pleumur-bodou, France Artemis II will fly around the Moon to test the systems which will carry astronauts to the lunar surface for economic benefits and scientific discovery in the Golden Age of exploration and innovation. The networks supporting Artemis receive programmatic oversight from NASA’s SCaN Program office. In addition to providing communications services to missions, SCaN develops the technologies and capabilities that will help propel NASA to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Deep Space Network is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and the Near Space Network is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Learn more about NASA’s SCaN Program: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 Related TermsCommunicating and Navigating with MissionsArtemisArtemis 2Commercial SpaceExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateOrion Multi-Purpose Crew VehicleSpace Communications & Navigation ProgramThe Future of Commercial Space About the AuthorKatrina LeeKatrina Lee is a writer for the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, exploration activities, and more. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Artemis Communicating with Missions Deep Space Network Near Space Network View the full article

3 Min Read I Am Artemis: Dustin Gohmert Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) manager, sits in the OCSS Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credits: NASA/Rad Sinyak Listen to this audio excerpt from Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) manager: 0:00 / 0:00 Your browser does not support the audio element. During NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon, the astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft will be wearing specialized pressure suits designed to protect them throughout their journey. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dustin Gohmert leads the team responsible for these suits, known as the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS). “We work with the crew to say, ‘Here’s this design concept we have. How does this really work in the spaceflight environment?’” Gohmert said. “As we evolve the design, we take the crew’s input and we adapt the suit over time to take into account not only the desire we have for safety, but the real-world impacts that it has.” The suits will protect astronauts on launch day, throughout high-risk parts of missions near the Moon, during the high-speed return to Earth, and in emergency situations if such events arise. The OCSS suits are engineered to sustain life for up to six days in the event of an emergency, and can provide the astronauts oxygen, hydration, food, and waste management needed on their way back to Earth. Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) manager, sits in the OCSS Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Credits: NASA/Rad Sinyak “In an emergency, you’re essentially living in a personal spacecraft that’s only an inch ******* than your body,” Gohmert said. “That’s the reality of survival in space.” Gohmert’s team in the Orion Crew Survival Systems Lab manages every phase of the suits, including processing, designing, qualifying, and testing them for the mission, as well as integrating them with the Orion spacecraft. Their work addresses engineering challenges, such as how much internal pressure the suit can safely maintain and for how long. The team custom-builds each suit to fit the anatomy of the astronauts. Crew members undergo detailed sizing and multiple fit checks to ensure precision, and their feedback is a key part of the design evolution and refinement of the suit. Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) Manager Dustin Gohmert and his team perform a flight suit long duration fit check with Artemis II crew member Christina Koch in the OCSS Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel After earning his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at San Antonio and his master’s in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Gohmert joined United Space Alliance before becoming a NASA civil servant. He worked through the end of the Space Shuttle Program and later transitioned to Orion. Working on the suit throughout his career has been both technically challenging and a deeply personal responsibility. The weight of it is incredible; knowing the ultimate responsibility you and the team share in the safety of the crew and the mission. Every thought we have, every piece of paper we write — crew is the number one priority. dustin Gohmert Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) Manager As NASA prepares to explore deep space with Artemis II, Gohmert’s role will play a part in safely sending crew members around the Moon and returning them home. “I was born after the last Moon landing,” he said. “To actually be a part of the next round is kind of overwhelming. It’s awe-inspiring in every possible way.” About the AuthorErika Peters Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 Related TermsI Am ArtemisArtemis 2Orion Multi-Purpose Crew VehicleOrion Program Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Artemis II Mission to Fly Legacy Keepsakes with Astronaut Crew Article 2 days ago 11 min read Últimos preparativos para la primera misión tripulada a la Luna **** la campaña Artemis de la NASA Article 2 weeks ago 7 min read Final Steps Underway for NASA’s First Crewed Artemis Moon Mission Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA/Chris Williams A green and red aurora streams across Earth’s horizon above the city lights of Europe in this Jan. 19, 2026, photograph, which looks north across Italy toward Germany. The International Space Station was orbiting 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea at approximately 10:02 p.m. local time when the image was captured. Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras. Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams View the full article

4 min read NASA Finds Lunar Regolith Limits Meteorites as Source of Earth’s Water A close-up view of a portion of a “relatively fresh” crater, looking southeast, as photographed during the third Apollo 15 lunar surface moonwalk. Credit: NASA A new NASA study of its Apollo lunar soils clarifies the Moon’s record of meteorite impacts and timing of water delivery. These findings place upper bounds on how much water meteorites could have supplied later in Earth’s history. Research has previously shown that meteorites may have been a significant source of Earth’s water as they bombarded our planet early in the solar system’s development. In a paper published Tuesday in the Proceedings to the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by Tony Gargano, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), both in Houston, used a novel method for analyzing the dusty debris that covers the Moon’s surface called regolith. They learned that even under generous assumptions, meteorite delivery since about four billion years ago could only have supplied a small fraction of Earth’s water. The Moon serves as an ancient archive of the impact history the Earth-Moon system has experienced over billions of years. Where Earth’s dynamic crust and weather erase such records, lunar samples preserve them. The records don’t come without challenge, though. Traditional methods of studying regolith have relied on analyzing metal-loving elements. These elements can get muddied by repeated impacts on the Moon, making it harder to untangle and reconstruct what the original meteoroids contained. Enter triple oxygen isotopes, high precision “fingerprints” that take advantage of the fact that oxygen, the dominant element by mass in rocks, is unaffected by impact or other external forces. The isotopes offer a clearer understanding of the composition of meteorites that impacted the Earth-Moon system. The oxygen-isotope measurements revealed that at least ~1% by mass of the regolith contained material from carbon-rich meteorites that were partially vaporized when they hit the Moon. Using the known properties of such meteorites allowed the team to calculate the amount of water that would have been carried within. “The lunar regolith is one of the rare places we can still interpret a time-integrated record of what was hitting Earth’s neighborhood for billions of years,” said Gargano. “The oxygen-isotope fingerprint lets us pull an impactor signal out of a mixture that’s been melted, vaporized, and reworked countless times.” The findings have implications for our understanding of water sources on Earth and the Moon. When scaled up by roughly 20 times to account for the substantially higher rate of impacts on Earth, the cumulative water shown in the model made up only a small percent of the water in Earth’s oceans. That makes it difficult to reconcile the hypothesis that late delivery of water-rich meteorites was the dominant source of Earth’s water. “Our results don’t say meteorites delivered no water,” added co-author Justin Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA Johnson’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division. “They say the Moon’s long-term record makes it very hard for late meteorite delivery to be the dominant source of Earth’s oceans.” For the Moon, the implied delivery since about 4 billion years ago is tiny on an Earth-ocean scale but is not insignificant for the Moon. The Moon’s accessible water inventory is concentrated in small, permanently shadowed regions at the North and South Poles. These are some of the coldest spots in the solar system and introduce unique opportunities for scientific discovery and potential resources for lunar exploration when NASA lands astronauts on the Moon through Artemis III and beyond. The samples analyzed for this study came from parts of the Moon near the equator on the side of the Moon facing Earth, where all six Apollo missions landed. The rocks and dust collected more than 50 years ago continue to reveal new insights but are constrained to a small portion of the Moon. Samples delivered through Artemis will open the door for a new generation of discoveries for decades to come. “I’m part of the next generation of Apollo scientists —people who didn’t fly the missions, but who were trained on the samples and the questions Apollo made possible,” said Gargano. “The value of the Moon is that it gives us ground truth: real, physical material we can measure in the lab and use to anchor what we infer from orbital data and telescopes. I can’t wait to see what the Artemis samples have to teach us and the next generation about our place in the solar system.” For more information on NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, visit: [Hidden Content] Karen Fox / Molly Wasser Headquarters, Washington 240-285-5155 / 240-419-1732 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Victoria Segovia NASA’s Johnson Space Center 281-483-5111 *****@*****.tld Read More Facebook logo @NASASolarSystem @NASASolarSystem Instagram logo @NASASolarSystem Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 Related Terms Astromaterials Earth’s Moon Johnson Space Center Explore More 4 min read NASA Selects 2 Instruments for Artemis IV Lunar Surface Science Article 2 months ago 2 min read Join NASA on Oct. 4 in Looking Up, Celebrating Moon Article 4 months ago 1 min read Help Map the Moon’s Molten Flows! Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

5 Min Read NASA’s Chandra Releases Deep Cut From Catalog of Cosmic Recordings Like a recording artist who has had a long career, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has a “back catalog” of cosmic recordings that is impossible to replicate. To access these X-ray tracks, or observations, the ultimate compendium has been developed: the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC). The CSC contains the X-ray data detected up to the end of 2020 by Chandra, the world’s premier X-ray telescope and one of NASA’s “Great Observatories.” The latest version of the CSC, known as CSC 2.1, contains over 400,000 unique compact and extended sources and over 1.3 million individual detections in X-ray light. before after This image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. NASA/CXC/SAO; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. It spans just about 60 light-years across, which is a veritable pinprick on the entire sky. The underlying image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. The annotations on the image show where Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources in this field of view over a 22-year timeframe.NASA/CXC/SAO; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk beforeafter This image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. NASA/CXC/SAO; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. It spans just about 60 light-years across, which is a veritable pinprick on the entire sky. The underlying image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. The annotations on the image show where Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources in this field of view over a 22-year timeframe.NASA/CXC/SAO; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk before after Before and After X-ray Images of Sagittarius A* 1999 – 2021 CurtainToggle2-Up Image Details This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. It spans just about 60 light-years across, which is a veritable pinprick on the entire sky. The underlying image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. The annotations on the image show where Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources in this field of view over a 22-year timeframe. Within the CSC, there is a wealth of information gleaned from the Chandra observations — from precise positions on the sky to information about the the X-ray energies detected. This allows scientists using other telescopes — both on the ground and in space including NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes — to combine this unique X-ray data with information from other types of light. The richness of the Chandra Source Catalog is illustrated in a new image of the Galactic Center, the region around the supermassive ****** hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy called Sagittarius A*. In this image that spans just about 60 light-years across, a veritable pinprick on the entire sky, Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources that emit X-rays. This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. Another new representation of the vast scope of the Chanda Source Catalog is found in a just-released sonification, the translation of astronomical data into sound. This sonification encompasses the new map that includes 22 years of Chandra observations across the sky, beginning from its launch through its observations in 2021. Because many X-ray sources have been observed multiple times over the life of the Chandra mission, this sonification represents those repeat X-ray sightings over time through different notes. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Chandra Source Catalog Sonification.NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida In the view of the sky, projected in a similar way to how the Earth is often depicted in world maps, the core of the Milky Way is in the center and the Galactic plane is horizontal across the middle of the image. A circle appears at the position of each detection and the size of the circle is determined by the number of detections in that location over time. A year counter appears at the top of the frame. Since Chandra continues to be fully operational, the text changes to “… and beyond” after 2021 as the telescope continues to collect observations. During the video, a collage of images produced by Chandra fades in as a background. In the final frames of the video, thumbnail images representing the thousands of Chandra observations taken over the lifetime of the mission appear behind the sky map. The most recent version of the Chandra Source Catalog can be accessed at [Hidden Content] NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more about Chandra, visit: [Hidden Content] Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: [Hidden Content] [Hidden Content] Visual Description A very deep Chandra X-ray Observatory image around the Sagittarius A* supermassive ****** hole, located in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is shown. The image is dominated by burnt orange, deep gold and blue hues, with a sprinkling of rich green. The area looks both intricate and full, with a dense population of tiny dots, along with larger clumps and diffuse areas and nebulous areas peeking through. At the center of the image, there is a bright, lumpy area in pale gold showing the intense X-ray radiation emanating from the Sagittarius A* ****** hole. In the surrounding area, there are more smaller lumps layered throughout, feathering out to a large almost butterfly shape filling much of the screen. The image appears textured, like dozens of blue and orange glow worms are paused in their wriggling. The image offers an unprecedented view of lobes of hot gas extending for a dozen light years on either side of the ****** hole. These lobes provide evidence for powerful eruptions occurring several times over the last ten thousand years. The image also contains several mysterious X-ray filaments, some of which may be huge magnetic structures interacting with streams of energetic electrons produced by rapidly spinning neutron stars. Such features are known as pulsar wind nebulas. Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources that emit X-rays in this field of view. This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 *****@*****.tld Joel Wallace Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 EditorLee MohonContactJoel Wallace*****@*****.tldLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsChandra X-Ray ObservatoryGeneralMarshall AstrophysicsMarshall Space Flight Center View the full article

2 min read AMS 2025 Hyperwall Schedule 106th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Meeting, January 25 – 29, 2026 Join NASA in the Exhibit Hall (Booth #323) for Hyperwall Storytelling by NASA experts. Full Hyperwall Agenda below. MONDAY, JANUARY 26 6:05 – 6:20 PM Expanding Discovery from Earth Science Missions in Space Highlights of NASA Earth Science Missions to Advance Research, Data, Models, and Actionable Science Karen St. Germain 6:20 – 6:35 PM Revolutionizing Exploration of the Sun Kelly Korreck 6:40 – 6:55 PM Space Weather for Astronauts Jamie Favors Gina DiBraccio 6:55 – 7:10 PM See Global Precipitation Without Writing Code George Huffman TUESDAY, JANUARY 27 10:00 – 10:15 AM Removing Barriers to Utilizing NASA Research Data Paul Stackhouse 10:15 – 10:30 AM Earth Data to Action — What’s New with Earth Data? Jim O’Sullivan 10:30 – 10:45 AM Connecting Satellite Data to the One Health Approach Helena Chapman 3:00 – 3:15 PM New Solar Observations and Solar Wind Measurements from the SOLAR-1 mission Dimitris Vassiliadis 3:15 – 3:30 PM Aerosols Around the World Robert Levy 3:30 – 3:45 PM NASA’s Mission to the Sun Eric Christian 3:45 – 4:00 PM Expanding Discovery from Earth Science Missions in Space Julie Robinson 4:00 – 4:15 PM Explore Space Weather through the Community Coordinated Modeling Center and OpenSpace Elana Resnick 4:15 – 4:30 PM Accelerating Health and Air Quality Solutions through Earth Observations John Haynes 5:10 – 5:25 PM Think Fast, Think Sun: Exploring NASA’s HelioData for Space-Weather Awareness Alex Young 5:30 – 5:45 PM Early Career Research Program: Empowering Emerging Talent Yaitza Luna-Cruz WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28 10:00 – 10:15 AM NASA Space Weather Year of Launches Kelly Korreck 10:15 – 10:30 AM A Bird’s-Eye View of Air Pollution in Megacities Laura Judd 10:30 – 10:45 AM Next-Gen Operational Microwave Sounding Through 2050 Edward Kim 3:30 – 3:45 PM See Global Precipitation Without Writing Code George Huffman 3:45 – 4:00 PM From Investment to Impact: How LEO Innovations Benefit Users Jeremy Goldstein 4:00 – 4:15 PM Early Career Research Program: Empowering Emerging Talent Yaitza Luna-Cruz 4:15 – 4:30 PM The Ultimate Collab: NASA and NOAA Space Weather Kelly Korreck & Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega 5:10 – 5:25 PM The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Eric Christian THURSDAY, JANUARY 29 10:00 – 10:15 AM Think Fast, Think Sun: Exploring NASA’s HelioData for Space-Weather Awareness Alex Young 10:30 – 10:45 AM From Investment to Impact: How LEO Innovations Benefit Users Jeremy Goldstein View the full article

At the heart of our own galaxy, there is a dense thicket of stars with a supermassive ****** hole at the very center. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide the deepest-ever view of this zone, revealing stars, planets, and unique objects that resist definition. Based on the input of astronomers from across the globe, the Roman Space Telescope will spend three-quarters of its five-year primary mission conducting three revolutionary surveys of unprecedented scale. Their combined results will transform all areas of astronomy and answer longstanding questions about dark matter, dark energy, and planets outside of our solar system, called exoplanets. That last theme will be addressed by the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, which will peer into the center of our galaxy to study the stars and exoplanets that make up the densely populated region around the center of the Milky Way, known as the galactic bulge. This infographic describes the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey that will be conducted by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The smallest of Roman’s core surveys, this observation program will consist of repeat visits to six fields covering 1.7 square degrees total. One field will pierce the very center of the galaxy, and the others will be nearby — all in a region of the sky that will be visible to Roman for two 72-day stretches each spring and fall. The survey will mainly consist of six seasons (three early on, and three toward the end of Roman’s primary mission), during which Roman will view each field every 12 minutes. Roman will also view the six fields with less intensity at other times throughout the mission, allowing astronomers to detect microlensing events that can last for years, signaling the presence of isolated, stellar-mass ****** holes.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The survey will observe six patches of the galactic bulge, one pinpointing the center and five nearby, every 12 minutes during 438 days of total observing time. The observations will be separated into six “seasons” spread out over five years. Spending so much time focusing on a relatively small area of the sky, the mission will be able to track changes in the motion and light of hundreds of millions of stars, and any planets that orbit them, over long periods — the “time-domain” aspect of the survey. “This survey will be the highest precision, highest cadence, longest continuous observing baseline survey of our galactic bulge, where the highest density of stars in our galaxy reside,” said Jessie Christiansen of Caltech/IPAC, who served as co-chair of the committee that defined the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey. Exoplanet microlensing Roman will use a method called microlensing to search for exoplanets, a technique that has so far identified just over 200 exoplanets, compared to more than 4,000 discovered with the transit method, out of the greater than 6,000 currently confirmed. With this survey, scientists expect to see over 1,000 new planets orbiting other stars just using microlensing alone. This would increase the number of exoplanets identified using this method by more than fivefold. A microlensing event is when light from a distant star in the background is warped slightly by a foreground object, like a star and its planet. This warping of light is called gravitational lensing, with the gravity from the star and planet bending the fabric of space that light is traveling through and focusing it like a magnifying glass. This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing. When one star in the sky appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background source star become bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground star. This star is then a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star, so we refer to the foreground star as the lens star. If the lens star harbors a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses, each one producing a short deviation in the brightness of the source. Thus we discover the presence of exoplanets, and measure its mass and separation from its star. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab While the transit method is very good at identifying exoplanets that orbit close to their star, the microlensing method can discover exoplanets that orbit farther away from their star, and in planetary systems farther from Earth than ever studied before. Roman will be versatile enough to see exoplanets dwelling from the inner edge of the habitable zone out to great distances from their stars, with a wide range of masses from planets smaller than Mars to the size of gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. It may even discover “rogue planets” without host stars that either formed alone or were ejected from their host systems long ago. “For the first time, we will have a big picture understanding of Earth and our solar system within the broader context of the exoplanet population of the Milky Way galaxy,” Christiansen said. “We still don’t know how common Earth-like planets are, and the Roman Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will provide us with this answer.” This survey will create a census of exoplanets for scientists to draw statistical conclusions from, revealing common patterns found in exoplanets and furthering our understanding of planetary formation and habitability. One survey; lots of science Because of the immense amount of observing time and subsequent data produced, the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will advance not only the field of exoplanet microlensing, but other areas of astronomy, too. “There is an incredibly rich diversity of science that can be done with a high-precision, high-cadence survey like this one,” said Dan Huber of the University of Hawaii, the other survey co-chair. The core survey was optimized not only for microlensing, but also to observe changes in brightness from small, fast blips to long-term trends. This property allows astronomers to discover and characterize transiting planets, red giant stars, stellar-mass ****** holes and other stellar remnants, and eclipsing binaries, and can lead to a deeper understanding about the physics of star formation and evolution. A simulated image of Roman’s observations toward the center of our galaxy, spanning only less than 1 percent of the total area of Roman’s galactic bulge time-domain survey. The simulated stars were drawn from the Besançon Galactic Model.Credit: Matthew Penny (Louisiana State University) “The stars in the bulge and center of our galaxy are unique and not yet well understood,” Huber said. “The data from this survey will allow us to measure how old these stars are and how they fit into the formation history of our Milky Way galaxy.” Roman’s observing strategy in the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, as well as the High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey and the High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey, will allow astronomers to maximize scientific output, all with one telescope. Abundance of data to explore Roman will observe hundreds of millions of stars every 12 minutes during the survey *******, providing an unprecedented volume of data for astronomers to parse through. The Roman Science Support Center at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California, will be responsible for the high-level science data processing for the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, including exoplanet microlensing and general community outreach for Roman exoplanet science. The Science Support Center’s monitoring of these stars has been automated to detect microlensing and variable events within the data. This helps scientists understand features like how frequently a star’s brightness is changing, or if there are planets lurking near the lensed stars, or other sources of variability. The number of stars and frequency of the observations make the Roman data an ideal dataset for finding such sources. All Roman observations will be made publicly available after a short processing *******. The mission is scheduled to launch no later than May 2027, with the team on track for launch in fall 2026. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California. By Isabel Swafford Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, Calif. Media contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzer*****@*****.tldLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopeExoplanet Detection MethodsExoplanetsGalaxiesGoddard Space Flight CenterGravitational MicrolensingStarsThe Milky WayThe Universe Explore More 6 min read NASA Roman Core Survey Will Trace Cosmic Expansion Over Time Article 5 months ago 6 min read NASA’s Roman Mission Shares Detailed Plans to Scour Skies Article 9 months ago 7 min read NASA Announces Plan to Map Milky Way With Roman Space Telescope Article 1 month ago View the full article

NASA conducts a hot fire of RS-25 engine No. 2063 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Jan. 22, 2026.NASA/Chris Russell NASA conducts a hot fire of RS-25 engine No. 2063 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Jan. 22, 2026.NASA/Chris Russell NASA conducts a hot fire of RS-25 engine No. 2063 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Jan. 22, 2026.NASA/Chris Russell NASA conducts a hot fire of RS-25 engine No. 2063 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Jan. 22, 2026.NASA/Chris Russell NASA successfully conducted a hot fire of RS-25 engine No. 2063 on Jan. 22 at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, clearing the way for the engine to be installed for the agency’s Artemis IV mission. The RS-25 engines help power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will carry astronauts to the Moon under the Artemis campaign. Engine No. 2063 originally was installed on the SLS core stage for the Artemis II mission but was removed in 2025 after engineers discovered a hydraulic leak on the engine’s main oxidizer valve actuator, which controls propellant flow into the engine combustion chamber. Following standard NASA procedures, teams removed the engine from the core stage and replaced the actuator. Because NASA requires any significantly modified or repaired engine to undergo hot fire testing before flight, teams at NASA Stennis fired the engine for five minutes (300 seconds), at up to 109% of its rated power level in a test known as a confidence test that demonstrates the engine is ready for flight. The test was conducted by a team of operators from NASA, L3Harris Technologies, and Sierra Lobo, Inc., the NASA Stennis test operations contractor. NASA Stennis provides critical data to L3Harris, the prime engines contractor for the SLS rocket. With the successful test complete, engine No. 2063 is scheduled to be installed on the SLS core stage for Artemis IV. All RS-25 engines for NASA’s Artemis missions are tested and proven flightworthy at NASA Stennis before flight. NASA is targeting as soon as February to send four astronauts around the Moon and back on Artemis II, the first crewed mission under the Artemis campaign. During launch, the SLS rocket will use four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, to help lift the Orion spacecraft and the crew away from Earth using more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Under the Artemis campaign, NASA is returning humans to the Moon for economic benefits, scientific discovery, and to prepare for crewed missions to Mars. Read Updates at the Artemis Blog View the full article

4 min read TESS Status Updates Jan. 23, 2026 NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Observations NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered safe mode Jan. 15 and returned to normal science operations Jan. 18. The operations team determined the issue arose when TESS slewed to point at a target, but its solar panels did not rotate to remain pointed at the Sun relative to the spacecraft’s new direction. The off-Sun angle of the solar arrays resulted in a slow discharge of TESS’s batteries. As designed and planned for in situations of this kind, the satellite entered a safe mode after detecting the low-power condition. At the time of the safe mode, TESS was conducting a week-long observation of comet 3I/ATLAS and resumed those observations Jan. 18. Data from TESS is publicly available through archives at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. May 7, 2024 NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) returned to science operations May 3 and is once again making observations. The satellite went into safe mode April 23 following a separate ******* of down time earlier that month. The operations team determined this latest safe mode was triggered by a failure to properly unload momentum from the spacecraft’s reaction wheels, a routine activity needed to keep the satellite properly oriented when making observations. The propulsion system, which enables this momentum transfer, had not been successfully repressurized following a prior safe mode event April 8. The team has corrected this, allowing the mission to return to normal science operations. The cause of the April 8 safe mode event remains under investigation. The TESS mission is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2018, TESS has been scanning almost the entire sky looking for planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets. The TESS mission has also uncovered other cosmic phenomena, including star-shredding ****** holes and stellar oscillations. Read more about TESS discoveries at nasa.gov/tess. April 24, 2024 NASA’s Planet-Hunting Satellite Temporarily on Pause During a routine activity April 23, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered safe mode, temporarily suspending science operations. The satellite scans the sky searching for planets beyond our solar system. The team is working to restore the satellite to science operations while investigating the underlying cause. NASA also continues investigating the cause of a separate safe mode event that took place earlier this month, including whether the two events are connected. The spacecraft itself remains stable. The TESS mission is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2018, TESS recently celebrated its sixth anniversary in orbit. Visit nasa.gov/tess for updates. April 17, 2024 NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has returned to work after science observations were suspended on April 8, when the spacecraft entered into safe mode. All instruments are powered on and, following the successful download of previously collected science data stored in the mission’s recorder, are now making new science observations. Analysis of what triggered the satellite to enter safe mode is ongoing. The TESS mission is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2018, TESS has been scanning almost the entire sky looking for planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets. The TESS mission has also uncovered other cosmic phenomena, including star-shredding ****** holes and stellar oscillations. Read more about TESS discoveries at nasa.gov/tess. April 11, 2024 NASA’s TESS Temporarily Pauses Science Observations NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) entered into safe mode April 8, temporarily interrupting science observations. The team is investigating the root cause of the safe mode, which occurred during scheduled engineering activities. The satellite itself remains in good health. The team will continue investigating the issue and is in the process of returning TESS to science observations in the coming days. The TESS mission is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Launched in 2018, TESS has been scanning almost the entire sky looking for planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets. The TESS mission has also uncovered other cosmic phenomena, including star-shredding ****** holes and stellar oscillations. Read more about TESS discoveries at nasa.gov/tess. Media Contacts Claire Andreoli (301) 286-1940 *****@*****.tld NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Alise Fisher 202-358-2546 *****@*****.tld NASA Headquarters, Washington Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 Related Terms TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Astrophysics Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center Stars The Universe View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Winter Grips the Michigan Mitten Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search January 20, 2026 A winter chill descended on the Great Lakes region of North America in January 2026. Some of the effects were apparent in this satellite image as newly formed lake ice and a fresh layer of snow. The image, acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows the region on the morning of January 20, 2026. In the days prior, a winter storm blanketed many parts of western Michigan near the lake with nearly a foot of snow, according to the National Weather Service. West of Walker, snowfall totals surpassed that amount, reaching nearly 14 inches (36 centimeters). The storm’s effects extended beyond Michigan as well, including blizzard conditions in parts of Ontario east of Lake Huron. Lake effect snow is common in the Great Lakes area during late fall and winter, occurring when cold air moves over relatively warm, unfrozen water. As the air picks up heat and moisture, it rises to form narrow cloud bands that can produce heavy snowfall. The air over Lake Erie was still moist enough for clouds to form, though the amount of open water on this lake has decreased sharply in recent days. Around mid-month, during a ******* of unseasonably warm air temperatures, ice coverage dropped to cover about 2 percent of the lake, according to the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. It then spiked to nearly 85 percent on January 21 after temperatures plummeted. The frigid temperatures were brought about by an Arctic cold front that moved across the region. In Cleveland, for instance, the weather service issued a cold weather advisory on January 19 for wind chills as low as minus 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. On that day, even colder wind chills were reported in the area around Chicago. Forecasts called for another round of cold Arctic air to spill over the Great Plains and Eastern U.S. over the coming weekend, accompanied by heavy snow. NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen. Downloads January 20, 2026 JPEG (3.97 MB) References & Resources CBC Lite (2026, January 20) Several rural roads closed as heavy snow, intense winds batter Huron, Perth. Accessed January 22, 2026. Cleveland.com (2026, January 20) Lake Erie freezing rapidly: See how fast. Accessed January 22, 2026. Cleveland.com (2026, January 19) Northeast Ohio school closings and delays for Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. Accessed January 22, 2026. National Weather Service What is Lake Effect Snow? Accessed January 22, 2026. National Weather Service (2026, January 22) Short Range Public Discussion. Accessed January 22, 2026. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (2026, January 21) Lake Erie Average Ice Cover. Accessed January 22, 2026. You may also be interested in: Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Lake Eyre Blushes 3 min read Rounding out a remarkable year, the outback lake displayed distinct green and reddish water in its two main bays. Article Cooper Creek Replenishes Lake Eyre 3 min read Another major tributary reached the *********** outback lake in 2025, extending the months-long flood of the vast, ephemeral inland sea. Article An Explosive Beginning for Lake Bosumtwi 5 min read An asteroid that struck the rainforest in Africa around 1 million years ago created Ghana’s only natural lake. Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep Exploring Discover More from NASA Earth Science Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. Earth Observatory Image of the Day NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Explore Earth Science Earth Science Data View the full article

NASA/Keegan Barber The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial is seen during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Each January, NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. We celebrate their lives, their bravery, and contributions to human spaceflight. Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber View the full article

This letter from SARA is to issue a waiver for NASA grantees attending LPSC2026, allowing them to be reimbursed out of their grants for their actual lodging, although it’s expected to be above the approved GSA amount. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. Note: I have specified grants (including cooperative agreements). This may also apply to those traveling on NASA contracts, but they should communicate with their contracting officers. The host hotel for the 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on March 16–20, 2026, is The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Hotel information for this conference may be found at [Hidden Content] The GSA-allowed daily lodging expense for March 2026 for zip code 77380 (for The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center) is $128 per night. Many of the hotels may be significantly higher than the GSA allowed rate of $128. Grantee travelers may need a waiver to cover lodging in excess of the GSA value, depending on the travel policy of your organization. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. By the power vested in me by the NSSC to issue approval of the actual lodging costs for a conference in “bulk” instead of individual approvals, I hereby affirm that for the 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference NASA, SMD grants may be charged up to $276/night plus taxes and fees, consistent with the average actual cost of the conference hotel, even though this exceeds the $128 allotted for lodging by GSA for The Woodlands for March 2026. Thank you SARA Share Details Last Updated Jan 22, 2026 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms For Researchers Grants & Opportunities Lunar Science Planetary Science Science Mission Directorate Explore More 3 min read Students Across New England Contribute to Climate Science Through NASA’s GLOBE Green Down In fall 2025, more than 50 educators and over 1,500 young people across Maine and… Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA’s Universe of Learning Unveils Fresh Facilitator Guides Inspired by Community Feedback The goal of NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) is to connect the public to the… Article 1 day ago 3 min read Hubble Snaps Stellar Baby Pictures Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

4 min read NASA AI Model That Found 370 Exoplanets Now Digs Into TESS Data This artist’s impression shows the star TRAPPIST-1 with two planets transiting across it. ExoMiner++, a recently updated open-source software package developed by NASA, uses artificial intelligence to help find new transiting exoplanets in data collected by NASA’s missions. NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) Scientists have discovered over 6,000 planets that orbit stars other than our Sun, known as exoplanets. More than half of these planets were discovered thanks to data from NASA’s retired Kepler mission and NASA’s current TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission. However, the enormous treasure trove of data from these missions still contains many yet-to-be-discovered planets. All of the data from both missions is publicly available in NASA archives, and many teams around the world have used that data to find new planets using a number of techniques. In 2021, a team from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley created ExoMiner, a piece of open-source software that used artificial intelligence (AI) to validate 370 new exoplanets from Kepler data. Now, the team has created a new version of the model trained on both Kepler and TESS data, called ExoMiner++. Artist’s impression of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which launched in 2018 and has discovered nearly 700 exoplanets so far. NASA’s ExoMiner++ software is working toward identifying more planets in TESS data using artificial intelligence. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The new algorithm, which is discussed in a recent paper published in the Astronomical Journal, identified 7,000 targets as exoplanet candidates from TESS on an initial run. An exoplanet candidate is a signal that is likely to be a planet but requires follow-up observations from additional telescopes to confirm. ExoMiner++ can be freely downloaded from GitHub, allowing any researcher to use the tool to hunt for planets in TESS’s growing public data archive. “Open-source software like ExoMiner accelerates scientific discovery,” said Kevin Murphy, NASA’s chief science data officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “When researchers freely share the tools they’ve developed, it lets others replicate the results and dig deeper into the data, which is why open data and code are important pillars of gold-standard science.” ExoMiner++ sifts through observations of possible transits to predict which ones are caused by exoplanets and which ones are caused by other astronomical events, such as eclipsing binary stars. “When you have hundreds of thousands of signals, like in this case, it’s the ideal place to deploy these deep learning technologies,” said Miguel Martinho, a KBR employee at NASA Ames who serves as the co-investigator for ExoMiner++. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This animation shows a graph of the tiny amount of dimming that takes place when a planet passes in front of its host star. NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions spot exoplanets by looking for these transits. ExoMiner++ uses artificial intelligence to help separate real planet transits from other, similar-looking astronomical phenomena. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Kepler and TESS operate differently — TESS is surveying nearly the whole sky, mainly looking for planets transiting nearby stars, while Kepler looked at a small patch of sky more deeply than TESS. Despite these different observing strategies, the two missions produce compatible datasets, allowing ExoMiner++ to train on data from both telescopes and deliver strong results. “With not many resources, we can make a lot of returns,” said Hamed Valizadegan, the project lead for ExoMiner and a KBR employee at NASA Ames. The next version of ExoMiner++ will improve the usefulness of the model and inform future exoplanet detection efforts. While ExoMiner++ can currently flag planet candidates when given a list of possible transit signals, the team is also working on giving the model the ability to identify the signals themselves from the raw data. Open-source science and open-source software are why the exoplanet field is advancing as quickly as it is. Jon Jenkins Exoplanet Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center In addition to the ongoing stream of data from TESS, future exoplanet-hunting missions will give ExoMiner users plenty more data to work with. NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will capture tens of thousands of exoplanet transits — and, like TESS data, Roman data will be freely available in line with NASA’s commitment to Gold Standard Science and sharing data with the public. The advances made with the ExoMiner models could help hunt for exoplanets in Roman data, too. “The open science initiative out of NASA is going to lead to not just better science, but also better software,” said Jon Jenkins, an exoplanet scientist at NASA Ames. “Open-source science and open-source software are why the exoplanet field is advancing as quickly as it is.” NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer leads the open science efforts for the agency. Public sharing of scientific data, tools, research, and software maximizes the impact of NASA’s science missions. To learn more about NASA’s commitment to transparency and reproducibility of scientific research, visit science.nasa.gov/open-science. To get more stories about the impact of NASA’s science data delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for the NASA Open Science newsletter. By Lauren Leese Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer Share Details Last Updated Jan 22, 2026 Related Terms Open Science Ames Research Center Artificial Intelligence (AI) Exoplanets Kepler / K2 TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Explore More 6 min read NASA’s Pandora Satellite, CubeSats to Explore Exoplanets, Beyond Article 2 weeks ago 5 min read NASA’s Hubble Sees Asteroids Colliding at Nearby Star for First Time Article 1 month ago 6 min read NASA’s Webb Observes Exoplanet Whose Composition Defies Explanation Article 1 month ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Snow Buries Kamchatka Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search January 17, 2026 It has been an eventful few months for the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere. An unusually early sudden stratospheric warming episode in late November appears to have factored into a weakened and distorted polar vortex at times in December, likely causing extra waviness in the polar jet stream. This helped fuel extensive intrusions of frigid air into the mid-latitudes, contributing to cold snaps in North America, Europe, and Asia, and priming the atmosphere for disruptive winter storms in January. Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has been among the areas hit hard by cold and snowy weather in December and January. More than 2 meters (7 feet) of snow fell in the first two weeks of January, following 3.7 meters in December, according to news reports. Together, these totals make it one of the snowiest periods the peninsula has seen since the 1970s, according to Kamchatka’s Hydrometeorology Center. The onslaught brought Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital, to a standstill, with reports of large snowdrifts burying cars and blocking access to buildings and infrastructure. This image, acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows fresh snow blanketing the peninsula’s rugged terrain on January 17, 2026. Several circular, snow-covered volcanic peaks are visible across the peninsula, one of the most volcanically active areas in the world. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, home to more than 160,000 people, sits along Avacha Bay—a deep, sheltered bay formed by a combination of tectonic, volcanic, and glacial activity. NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland. Downloads January 17, 2026 JPEG (3.43 MB) References & Resources AccuWeather (2026, January 20) Snow buries Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, but don’t believe the AI videos. Accessed January 21, 2026. Cohen, J. (2026, January 19) Arctic Oscillation and Polar Vortex Blog. Accessed January 21, 2026. Manney, G. L., et al. (2022) What’s in a name? On the use and significance of the term “polar vortex.” Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL097617. The Moscow Times (2026, January 19) Kamchatka Struggles to Get Back on Its Feet a Week After Winter Storms Bury Peninsula. Accessed January 21, 2026. NASA (2024, January 30) Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event. Accessed January 21, 2026. Reuters (2026, January 21) Russia’s Far East Buried in Snow. Accessed January 21, 2026. UPI (2026, January 20) Snow buries Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Accessed January 21, 2026. The Watchers (2026, January 18) State of Emergency declared for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky after extreme snow kills 2, Russia. Accessed January 21, 2026. You may also be interested in: Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Kamchatka Peaks Pierce the Clouds 3 min read The peninsula in eastern Siberia features rugged terrain with towering, snow-covered peaks and cloud-filled valleys stretching between the Pacific Ocean… Article A Siberian Snowman in Billings 5 min read Winds, waves, and ice near a remote town on the Chukchi Peninsula have sculpted a series of coastal inshore lagoons… Article Fleeting Glimpse of Rare Snow 3 min read A short-lived storm dropped some of the largest accumulations in decades on Australia’s Northern Tablelands. Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep Exploring Discover More from NASA Earth Science Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. Earth Observatory Image of the Day NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Explore Earth Science Earth Science Data View the full article

This image shows NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA’s massive crawler-transporter, upgraded for the Artemis program, carries the powerful SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on the Mobile Launcher from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the Artemis II mission. NASA/Brandon Hancock As America approaches its 250th anniversary of declaring independence, NASA’s Artemis II mission will carry a host of mementos that reflect the nation’s long tradition of exploration, innovation, and leadership in its official flight kit. The items will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft, launched on top of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, as it carries four astronauts around the Moon on the first crewed test flight of the agency’s Artemis campaign. “Historical artifacts flying aboard Artemis II reflect the long arc of American exploration and the generations of innovators who made this moment possible,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “This mission will bring together pieces of our earliest achievements in aviation, defining moments from human spaceflight, and symbols of where we’re headed next. During America’s 250th anniversary, Orion will carry astronauts around the Moon while also carrying our history forward into the next chapter beyond Earth.” Selected to honor America’s historic achievements in space, inspire the next generation of explorers, and reinforce U.S. leadership through international cooperation in science and education, the mementos continue a proud tradition carried forward from Artemis I and earlier human spaceflight missions. Together, they highlight the freedom and innovation that have unlocked the Golden Age of human space exploration. A 1-inch by-1-inch swatch of muslin fabric from the original Wright Flyer the Wright Brothers used to make the first powered flight in 1903 will be flying aboard Artemis II, lent by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. A smaller square cut of the swatch previously flew aboard space shuttle Discovery on STS-51D in 1985 and will make its second journey into space. After the mission, the fabric will be reunited with two other 1903 Wright Flyer swatches at the museum, celebrating the nation’s history and innovation in aviation. Also flying aboard the Artemis II mission will be a 13-by-8-inch American flag, which flew with the first shuttle mission, STS-1, the final shuttle mission, STS-135, and NASA’s first crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX Demo-2. A flag that was set to fly on NASA’s Apollo 18 mission is included in the flight kit and will make its premiere flight with Orion. The flag serves as a powerful emblem of America’s renewed commitment to human exploration of the Moon, while honoring the legacy of the Apollo pioneers who first blazed the trail. Orion also will carry a copy of a 4-by-5-inch negative of a photo from the Ranger 7 mission, the first U.S. mission to successfully make contact with the lunar surface. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California managed the Ranger series of spacecraft, built to help identify safe Moon landing sites for Apollo astronauts. The photo represents a major turning point in the race to the Moon that will be echoed today through the success of Artemis. On Artemis I, a variety of tree seeds flew and were distributed to educational organizations and teachers after the mission, following in the footsteps of tree seeds flown aboard the Apollo 14 mission sprouted into “Moon Trees” after being returned to Earth. The seeds have since taken root at 236 locations across the U.S. to become their own Artemis I Moon Trees. Soil samples collected from the base of established Artemis I Moon Trees planted at NASA’s 10 centers will fly aboard Artemis II, representing the full cycle of exploration: launch, flight, growth, and return to space again. The CSA (********* Space Agency) will fly various tree seeds in the kit with the intention of distributing them after the mission. Also included in the kit will be an SD card including the millions of names of those who participated in the “Send Your Name to Space” campaign, bringing the public along on this journey. The kit will include a variety of flags, patches, and pins to be distributed after the mission to stakeholders and employees who contributed to the flight. Additionally, NASA has included items from several of its partners in the kit. Stickers and patches from CSA will fly, and ESA (European Space Agency) will fly a flag in the kit for distribution after the mission, marking NASA’s international collaboration with other space agencies through Artemis. Orion’s European Service Module, the powerhouse of the spacecraft, is provided by ESA. Carrying mementos on the NASA spacecraft has been a tradition since the 1960s, one that was continued on Artemis I, the first uncrewed test flight of Orion and the SLS. During this mission, Orion carried a symbolic flight kit including historical artifacts, from Apollo missions STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and math, items, digitized student essays and teacher pledges, and more. The official flight kit for Artemis II, which contains about 10 pounds of mementos in total, augments important scientific research aboard Orion. View a full list of the items included in kit: Artemis II Official Flight Kit Jan 21, 2026 PDF (46.33 KB) Explore More 11 min read Últimos preparativos para la primera misión tripulada a la Luna **** la campaña Artemis de la NASA Article 1 week ago 7 min read Final Steps Underway for NASA’s First Crewed Artemis Moon Mission Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read I Am Artemis: Jacki Mahaffey Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

Official crew portrait for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. Ayers and Onishi will discuss their recent mission to the International Space Station during a visit to Marshall Space Flight Center on Jan. 23.Credit: NASA NASA will host two astronauts at 10 a.m. CST Friday, Jan. 23, for a media opportunity at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, who served as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, will discuss their recent mission to the International Space Station. Media interested in attending the event must confirm their attendance with Lance D. Davis, *****@*****.tld, and Molly Porter, *****@*****.tld, by 12 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 22 to receive further instructions. The Crew-10 mission launched March 14 and was NASA’s 11th human spaceflight with SpaceX to the space station for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Aboard the station, the crew completed dozens of experiments and technology demonstrations before safely returning to Earth on Aug. 9, 2025. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the space station. The International Space Station remains the springboard to NASA’s next leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars. The agency’s Huntsville Operations Support Center, or HOSC, at Marshall provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, Commercial Crew Program, and other missions. Within the HOSC, the commercial crew support team provides engineering and safety and mission assurance expertise for launch vehicles, spacecraft propulsion, and integrated vehicle performance. The HOSC’s Payload Operations Integration Center, which operates, plans, and coordinates science experiments aboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, supported the Crew-10 mission, managing communications between the International Space Station crew and researchers worldwide. Learn more about Crew-10 and agency’s Commercial Crew Program at: [Hidden Content] -end- Lance D. Davis Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-640-9065 *****@*****.tld Molly Porter Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-424-5158 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jan 21, 2026 EditorLee MohonContactLance D. Davis*****@*****.tldMolly Porter*****@*****.tldLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsMarshall Space Flight CenterCommercial CrewInternational Space Station (ISS) View the full article

Explore This Section Science Science Activation Students Across New England… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science Science Activation Opportunities 3 min read Students Across New England Contribute to Climate Science Through NASA’s GLOBE Green Down Students made observations and tracked the changing color of leaves on a variety of species. In fall 2025, more than 50 educators and over 1,500 young people across Maine and New Hampshire participated in NASA’s Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Green Down, a citizen science (also known as participatory science or community science) initiative that engages students and volunteers in tracking seasonal changes in plant life. By observing and documenting leaf color change and leaf drop, participants contributed valuable data used by scientists studying how ecosystems respond to a changing climate. GLOBE Green Down is part of NASA’s Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, which connects students, educators, and the public with authentic scientific research. Using a standardized color guide and observation protocols, participants measured changes in plant health as autumn progressed, generating consistent, high-quality data that can be analyzed alongside observations collected worldwide. The 2025 field season was led by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and focused on supporting educators in taking learning outdoors while strengthening students’ scientific observation and data literacy skills. Students from pre-kindergarten through high school studied a wide range of tree species—including maple, oak, birch, ash, beech, poplar, and apple—by making repeated observations in their local environments. In Portland, Maine, students from five elementary schools conducted observations in their own schoolyards as part of environmental literacy and science education programs. Beyond New England, learners from Machias, Maine to British Columbia, and many locations in between, contributed observations, creating a geographically diverse dataset that reflects regional and continental patterns of seasonal change. As they collected data, students also began asking their own research questions—mirroring the inquiry process used by scientists. Their questions explored differences in species behavior, the influence of sunlight, drought, wildfire smoke, and the built environment, and how these factors might affect the timing and progression of leaf color change. Educators reported that participation in GLOBE Green Down helped students develop a stronger connection to their local ecosystems while gaining experience working with real-world scientific data. Many noted that learners were able to use their observations to discuss environmental change at both local and global scales, including potential climate change impacts on seasonal patterns. This field season was hosted through NASA’s Science Activation program as part of the Learning Ecosystems Northeast ([Hidden Content]) (LENE) project. LENE brings together educator learning communities across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts, fostering collaboration between school-based and out-of-school educators. Through this network, educators support STEM learning, data literacy, and local ecosystem stewardship—empowering young people to contribute meaningfully to NASA-supported scientific research. Get Involved with GLOBE Educators, students, and community members interested in doing NASA science can get involved. The GLOBE Observer app offers hands-on opportunities to collect and share environmental data used by scientists around the world, while building science skills and local environmental awareness. Learn more: [Hidden Content] LENE is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AB94A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Jan 21, 2026 Related Terms Science Activation Grades 5 – 8 for Educators Grades 9-12 for Educators Grades K – 4 for Educators Explore More 3 min read NASA’s Universe of Learning Unveils Fresh Facilitator Guides Inspired by Community Feedback The goal of NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) is to connect the public to the… Article 1 hour ago 2 min read 2025 Science Activation Opportunity Article 1 month ago 3 min read NASA eClips STEM Student Ambassadors Shine at STEM Exploration Community Event The 5th Annual Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Exploration Community Event hosted by the… Article 1 month ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

Explore This Section Science Science Activation NASA’s Universe of Learning… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science Science Activation Opportunities 3 min read NASA’s Universe of Learning Unveils Fresh Facilitator Guides Inspired by Community Feedback NASA’s Universe of Learning Program Facilitator Guides provide educators with detailed resources, including background information, activities, and slide decks to engage audiences in exploring astrophysics themes such as Stars, Data & Image Processing, the Electromagnetic Spectrum, and Finding Exoplanets. The goal of NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) is to connect the public to the data, discoveries, and experts that span NASA’s Astrophysics missions. To make this possible, the NASA’s UoL team creates engaging STEM experiences that let people explore data and discoveries from NASA’s Astrophysics missions and learn from the experts behind them. Our science center does a lot of work with after school groups weekly. I can’t wait to use this program guide [Finding Exoplanets] to help run some programs for our ‘space week’ this fall. I also appreciate the adaptations for different age groups. Facilitator Southern Arizona One example is the Program Facilitator Guides—a series of resources for informal educators that cover different astrophysics themes and empower organizations to share NASA science with their audiences. Since their introduction, these guides have supported libraries and community centers in delivering engaging STEM learning experiences. “”The Programming Guide is just amazing … that resource alone is really great for planning. There’s so many opportunities for programs… and there’s room for your own creativity as well,”” shared one educator. The NASA’s UoL team is excited to announce the refresh of several Program Facilitator Guides, along with the introduction of a new guide. These resources have been updated based on feedback from the informal education community, collected through evaluation surveys, focus groups, and webinars. From events held last year before the updates, the guides received a highly favorable rating—91% of educators found them useful as a resource, emphasizing their value in supporting informal STEM education. To make them more effective, we implemented the following updates: Easy and direct access to all Program Facilitator Guides through a dedicated web page under the “Informal Educators” menu on NASA’s Universe of Learning. Creating an easy-to-access URL for the Program Facilitator Guides: [Hidden Content]. Making available PowerPoint slides and Kahoot Quizzes for the facilitator to complement the Program Facilitator Guide themes. Moving activity guides to a more user-friendly and standard template. Designing a set of resources around some of the methods astronomers use to find exoplanets — worlds beyond the solar system — in collaboration with a NASA Science Mission Directorate Community of Practice for Education (SCoPE) grantee: The “Finding Exoplanets” Program Facilitator Guide. The “Lights, Coronagraph, Action!” Activity Guide that demonstrates how astronomers find exoplanets via direct imaging. The “Exoplanet Detectives” Activity Guide that shows how astronomers find exoplanets by measuring the amount of light that gets blocked when a planet transits its host star. The new and updated resources are available now through the following URL: [Hidden Content]. For any questions or suggestions, please contact: The NASA’s Universe of Learning team Email: *****@*****.tld Website: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Jan 21, 2026 Related Terms Science Activation Grades 5 – 8 for Educators Grades 9-12 for Educators Grades K – 4 for Educators Explore More 2 min read 2025 Science Activation Opportunity Article 1 month ago 3 min read NASA eClips STEM Student Ambassadors Shine at STEM Exploration Community Event The 5th Annual Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Exploration Community Event hosted by the… Article 1 month ago 3 min read Eclipse Soundscapes Volunteers Empower Others to Get Involved in Scientific Discovery, Post-Eclipse Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Cross Flow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow test article is mounted beneath the agency’s F-15 research aircraft ahead of the design’s high-speed taxi test on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The 3-foot-tall scale model is designed to increase a phenomenon known as laminar flow and reduce drag, improving efficiency in large, swept wings like those found on most commercial aircraft.NASA/Christopher LC Clark NASA researchers have successfully completed a high-speed taxi test of a scale model of a design that could make future aircraft more efficient by improving how air flows across a wing’s surface, saving fuel and money. On Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, the Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) test article reached speeds of approximately 144 mph, marking its first major milestone. The 3-foot-tall scale model looks like a fin mounted under the belly of one of the agency’s research F-15B testbed jets. However, it’s a scale model of a wing, mounted vertically instead of horizontally. The setup allows NASA to flight-test the wing design using an existing aircraft. The CATNLF concept aims to increase a phenomenon known as laminar flow and reduce wind resistance, also known as drag. A NASA computational study conducted between 2014 and 2017 estimated that applying a CATNLF wing design to a large, long-range aircraft like the Boeing 777 could achieve annual fuel savings of up to 10%. Although quantifying the exact savings this technology could achieve is difficult, the study indicates it could approach millions of dollars per aircraft each year. NASA’s Cross Flow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow test article is mounted beneath the agency’s F-15 research aircraft ahead of the design’s high-speed taxi test on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The 3-foot-tall scale model is designed to increase a phenomenon known as laminar flow and reduce drag, improving efficiency in large, swept wings like those found on most commercial aircraft.NASA/Christopher LC Clark “Even small improvements in efficiency can add up to significant reductions in fuel burn and emissions for commercial airlines,” said Mike Frederick, principal investigator for CATNLF at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Reducing drag is key to improving efficiency. During flight, a thin cover of air known as the boundary layer forms very near an aircraft’s surface. In this area, most aircraft experience increasing friction, also known as turbulent flow, where air abruptly changes direction. These abrupt changes increase drag and fuel consumption. CATNLF increases laminar flow, or the smooth motion of air, within the boundary layer. The result is more efficient aerodynamics, reduced friction, and less fuel burn. The CATNLF testing falls under NASA’s Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project, a part of the agency’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The concept of was first developed by NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technology project, and in 2019, NASA Armstrong researchers developed the initial shape and parameters of the model. The design was later refined for efficiency at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Laminar flow technology has been studied and used on airplanes to reduce drag for many decades now, but laminar flow has historically been limited in application,” said Michelle Banchy, Langley principal investigator for CATNLF. NASA ground crew prepares the agency’s F-15 research aircraft and Cross Flow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) test article ahead of its first high-speed taxi test on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The CATNLF design aims to reduce drag on wing surfaces to improve efficiency and, in turn, reduce fuel burn.NASA/Christopher LC Clark This limitation is due to crossflow, an aerodynamic phenomenon on angled surfaces that can prematurely end laminar flow. While large, swept wings like those found on most commercial aircraft provide aerodynamic efficiencies, crossflow tendencies remain. In a 2018 wind tunnel test at Langley, researchers confirmed that the CATNLF design successfully achieved prolonged laminar flow. “After the positive results in the wind tunnel test, NASA saw enough promise in the technology to progress to flight testing,” Banchy said. “Flight testing allows us to increase the size of the model and fly in air that has less turbulence than a wind tunnel environment, which are great things for studying laminar flow.” NASA Armstrong’s F-15B testbed aircraft provides the necessary flight environment for laminar flow testing, Banchy said. The aircraft enables researchers to address fundamental questions about the technology while keeping costs lower than alternatives, such as replacing a test aircraft’s wing with a full-scale CATNLF model or building a dedicated demonstrator aircraft. NASA’s Cross Flow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) scale model completes its first major milestone – high-speed taxi test – Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2026, at Edwards Air Force Base in California. NASA’s F-15 research aircraft, with the 3-foot-tall test article mounted on its underside, reached speeds of approximately 144 mph during testing. If successful, the technology could be applied to future commercial aircraft to improve efficiency and potentially reduce fuel consumption.NASA/Christopher LC Clark CATNLF currently focuses on commercial aviation, which has steadily increased over the past 20 years, with passenger numbers expected to double in the next 20, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Commercial passenger aircraft fly at subsonic speeds, or slower than the speed of sound. “Most of us fly subsonic, so that’s where this technology would have the greatest impact right now,” Frederick said. NASA’s previous computational studies also confirmed that technology like CATNLF could be adapted for supersonic application. In the coming weeks, CATNLF is expected to begin its first flight, kicking off a series of test flights designed to evaluate the design’s performance and capabilities in flight. Looking ahead, NASA’s work on CATNLF could lay the groundwork for more efficient commercial air travel and might one day extend similar capabilities to supersonic flight, improving fuel efficiency at even higher speeds. “The CATNLF flight test at NASA Armstrong will bring laminar technology one step closer to being implemented on next-generation aircraft,” Banchy said. Share Details Last Updated Jan 21, 2026 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h*****@*****.tldLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related TermsArmstrong Flight Research CenterAdvanced Air Vehicles ProgramAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAeronautics TechnologyFlight Demos CapabilitiesFlight InnovationIntegrated Aviation Systems ProgramLangley Research Center Explore More 5 min read NASA Chase Aircraft Ensures X-59’s Safety in Flight Article 23 hours ago 3 min read NASA Develops Blockchain Technology to Enhance Air Travel Safety and Security Through a drone flight test at NASA’s Ames Research Center, researchers tested a blockchain-based system… Article 5 days ago 6 min read Flight Engineers Give NASA’s Dragonfly Lift Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Armstrong Flight Research Center View the full article

NASA/Sam Lott This Jan. 17, 2026, image shows NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s massive Crawler-Transporter, upgraded for the Artemis program, carries the powerful SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B in preparation for the Artemis II mission. Moving at a maximum speed of just 0.82 mph, the crawler carried the towering Moon rocket and spacecraft slowly but surely toward the pad, reaching its destination at 6:42 p.m. EST after a nearly 12-hour journey. The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back. It is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions to the Moon’s surface, leading to a sustained presence on the Moon that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars. See more photos from the rollout. Image credit: NASA/Sam Lott View the full article

Share Details Last Updated Jan 21, 2026 Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Laura Betz NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland laura.e*****@*****.tld Claire Blome Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Christine Pulliam Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Related Terms James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Protostars Science & Research Stars The Universe Related Links and Documents The science paper by J.-E. Lee et al.

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Fires Erupt in South-Central… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search January 18, 2026 Wildland fires broke out amid hot and dry conditions in south-central Chile in mid-January 2026, prompting evacuations and causing extensive damage to infrastructure. As of January 20, the spate of deadly fires had burned more than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) in the country’s Biobío and Ñuble regions, according to Chile’s National Forestry Corporation. The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of smoke billowing from multiple fires on January 18. Dozens of active fires in the area prompted the evacuation of 50,000 people and destroyed more than 300 homes, according to a January 19 report from Chile’s U.N. Resident Coordinator’s Office. Aerial and ground-based photographs showed neighborhoods in Concepción charred in the aftermath. Gusty winds, along with temperatures that exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in places, fanned the flames and hampered firefighting efforts, according to news reports. Chile’s president declared a state of catastrophe in the Biobío and Ñuble regions, allowing more resources to go toward battling the blazes and assisting affected communities. Other parts of South America also faced hot and dry conditions during the 2025–2026 summer, likely priming vegetation to burn. About 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of Concepción, firefighters in Argentina battled wildfires in and around Los Alerces National Park, home to rare stands of long-lived cypress trees. NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Lindsey Doermann. References & Resources CONAF (2026, January 20) Situacion Actual Incendios Forestales. Accessed January 20, 2026. The Guardian (2026, January 18) Chilean president declares state of catastrophe as wildfires kill at least 18. Accessed January 20, 2026. NASA (2026) Fire Information for Resource Management System. Accessed January 20, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2026, January 12) Fire Threatens Rare Forests in Argentina. Accessed January 20, 2026. The New York Times (2026, January 18) ‘Come Help Us’: Wildfires Grip Parts of Chile, Killing at Least 18. Accessed January 20, 2026. ReliefWeb (2026, January 20) Reporte de Situación N°1 Incendios Forestales – Enero 2026 (al 19 de enero, 15hrs CL). Accessed January 20, 2026. Downloads January 18, 2026 JPEG (757.81 KB) You may also be interested in: Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Fire Threatens Rare Forests in Argentina 3 min read Blazes spread across Los Alerces National Park, home to some of the world’s oldest trees. Article Smoky Skies in the Pacific Northwest 3 min read Smoke filled river valleys in northeastern Washington and parts of British Columbia. Article Seeing the Monroe Canyon Fire in a New Light 5 min read As wildland fires raged in the American West, NASA airborne technology was there to image it in incredible detail. Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep Exploring Discover More from NASA Earth Science Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. Earth Observatory Image of the Day NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Explore Earth Science Earth Science Data View the full article

The Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial is seen during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA will observe its annual Day of Remembrance on Thursday, Jan. 22, which includes commemorating the crews of Apollo 1 and the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. The event is traditionally held every year on the fourth Thursday of January, as all three astronaut accidents happened around the end of the month. “On NASA’s Day of Remembrance, we pause to honor the members of the NASA family who lost their lives while pushing the boundaries of exploration and discovery,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We remember them not to retreat from risk, but to respect it — to learn, to improve, and continue onward. Their sacrifice and the strength of their families will forever inspire us as we continue to reach for the stars and pursue the secrets of the universe.” Isaacman will lead an observance at 1 p.m. EST at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, which will begin with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by observances for the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews. Several agency centers also will hold observances: Johnson Space Center in Houston NASA Johnson will hold a commemoration at 10 a.m. CST at the Astronaut Memorial Grove with remarks by Center Director Vanessa Wyche, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and Cheryl McNair, widow of Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair. The event will have a moment of silence, a NASA T-38 flyover, taps performed by the Texas A&M Squadron 17, and a procession placing flowers at Apollo I, Challenger, and Columbia memorial trees. Kennedy Space Center in Florida NASA Kennedy and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation will host a ceremony at the Space Shuttle Atlantis building at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex at 11 a.m. EST. The event will include musical guests, a bell ringing commemoration, a moment of silence, and wreath-laying. Kelvin Manning, deputy director at NASA Kennedy, and Bob Cabana, former NASA associate administrator and Kennedy center director, will provide remarks during the ceremony, which will livestream on the center’s Facebook page. Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley NASA Ames will hold a remembrance ceremony at 1 p.m. PST that includes remarks from Center Director Eugene Tu, a moment of silence, and bell ringing commemoration for each astronaut lost in service. Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia NASA Langley will hold a remembrance ceremony at 1 p.m. EST with acting Center Director Trina Dyal, followed by placing flags at the Langley Workers Memorial. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama NASA Marshall will hold a candle-lighting ceremony and wreath placement at 9:30 a.m. CST and include remarks from Rae Ann Meyer, Marshall’s acting center director, and Bill Hill, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Marshall. Stennis Space Flight Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center will hold a wreath-laying ceremony and moment of silence at 10:30 a.m. CST with remarks from Center Director John Bailey and Anita Harrell, NASA Shared Services Center executive director. The agency also is paying tribute to its fallen astronauts with special online content, updated on NASA’s Day of Remembrance, at: [Hidden Content] -end- Bethany Stevens / Elizabeth Shaw Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jan 20, 2026 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA HeadquartersAmes Research CenterApollo 1Johnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterLangley Research CenterMarshall Space Flight CenterNASA Centers & FacilitiesSpace ShuttleStennis Space Center View the full article