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4 Min Read Johnson’s Cindy Evans Prepares Artemis Teams for Lunar Science Cindy Evans, Artemis exploration scientist and geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, preparing for a deep-field deployment to collect meteorites in Antarctica. Credits: Cindy Evans NASA’s Artemis II crew had many technical and operational responsibilities during their historic mission to the Moon, but they also served an important role as scientific ambassadors to Earth’s nearest neighbor. On their 10-day journey, the crew flew by the far side of the Moon, analyzing and photographing geologic features such as impact craters and ancient lava flows. Their observations will help pave the way for science activities on future Artemis missions to the Moon’s surface and contribute to lunar and planetary science. The crew relied on the extensive geology training they received on Earth to describe nuances in shapes, textures, and colors — the type of information that reveals the geologic history of an area. Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Cindy Evans (left) and NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch study geologic features in Iceland during Artemis II crew geology training in August 2024. NASA/Robert Markowitz Cindy Evans, Artemis exploration scientist and geology training lead, was one of the crew’s instructors. Based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division, Evans is part of the Artemis Internal Science Team and spearheads geology training for crew members, mission managers, engineers, and flight controllers. That effort centers around a core curriculum of geology, lunar, and planetary classroom science as well as a progression of geology-focused field classes. “As the scientists ‘on the ground,’ Artemis crew members require geology and field skills so that they can execute the mission science requirements from lunar orbit and on the surface of the Moon,” Evans explained. “Whether they’re looking out the spacecraft’s windows or walking the surface, Artemis astronauts are working on behalf of all scientists to collect clues to the ancient geologic processes that shaped the Moon and our solar system. They need to have the muscle memory and confidence in their geology knowledge to conduct the geology observations, sampling, and other scientific tasks.” Cindy Evans during an Artemis II Lunar Science Team simulation at Johnson Space Center. The team used simulations to practice mission operations support for real-time assessment of imagery and observations made by the Artemis II crew. NASA/James Blair A former oceanographer who studied the rocks comprising oceanic crust, Evans imagined that she would explore the Moon as a NASA astronaut one day. That dream led her to Johnson, even if it did not result in her donning a flight suit. In her 37 years with the agency, Evans contributed to the Space Shuttle Program, Shuttle-Mir Program, and the International Space Station before transitioning to NASA’s Artemis campaign. Some of her notable achievements include establishing the Crew Earth Observations effort for Shuttle-Mir, which equipped crews to photograph the Earth as it changed below them. As part of the imagery team investigating the Columbia accident, she helped to develop and integrate the space shuttle’s Return to Flight imagery inspection process. “I have been both honored and incredibly fortunate to have participated in a wide variety of human spaceflight programs,” Evans said. “And I am very proud of the work my team is doing right now.” Evans also had two opportunities to travel to Antarctica to participate in deep-field geology sessions. “Few things in this world are as wonderful as camping on blue ice just a couple hundred miles from Earth’s South Pole and collecting rocks from space,” she said. Cindy Evans collects a meteorite from the Davis Ward Icefield during a deep-field deployment to Antarctica. Cindy Evans Collaborating with professionals across a variety of fields has been an integral part of Evans’ work since the start of her career. “In graduate school I was trained as an oceanographer – an interdisciplinary field where geology meets biology, chemistry, and physical oceanography,” she said. “As a planetary scientist at Johnson, I am challenged to work in a world of engineers, and embrace the complex teamwork between hardware engineers, operations engineers, management – many of whom are engineers – and scientists. It has been an incredible opportunity.” Those interdisciplinary experiences taught Evans to embrace flexibility. “Human spaceflight is a dynamic endeavor,” she said. “I have enjoyed many different roles, and each and every position taught me new things and stretched my perspective.” Cindy Evans mentors NASA astronaut Marcos Berríos in observing and describing rock samples during an in-field geology training in Flagstaff, Arizona. NASA/Riley McClenaghan Another important lesson? “As a former lab rat, I have learned that it’s all about the people. A common thread throughout my career at NASA is the professional fulfillment brought by relationships with and the talents of colleagues and teammates,” she said. Evans encourages early-career and aspiring NASA team members to reach out to colleagues in different organizations to build connections. “You never know where a pathway will lead,” she said. “Plans can change – don’t pass up opportunities! Even if an opportunity isn’t an obvious or intuitive next step, it’s worth your consideration.” About the AuthorLinda E. Grimm Share Details Last Updated May 18, 2026 Related TermsJohnson Space CenterArtemisAstromaterialsGeneralLunar SciencePeople of Johnson Explore More 3 min read Johnson Photographers Honored for Award-Winning Portraits Article 18 hours ago 4 min read NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans Article 6 days ago 6 min read NASA Langley Engineer Attends FAA Training Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

The Sun sprays an extremely fast stream of charged particles called the solar wind. At approximately 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers) in front of the Earth toward the Sun, the solar wind collides with the Earth’s protective magnetic field, generating a long-lasting shock wave that stretches for hundreds of thousands of miles. Now, you can help scientists examine data about this “bow shock” to better understand how the solar wind affects the Earth by joining a new research project: Shock Detectives. At this enormous shock wave boundary, the ever-changing magnetic field can either make the solar wind messy and dynamic (“chaotic”) or leave it smooth and stable (“peaceful”). When “chaotic” plasma dominates, more energy can reach Earth’s magnetosphere, possibly leading to disruptions in GPS signals, communications, and power grids. Scientists don’t yet fully understand when the plasma changes between “peaceful” and “chaotic” states or how those changes affect energy transfer to Earth. You can help solve this mystery. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has collected more than ten years of data from this zone – more than scientists can analyze alone. As Shock Detectives, you’ll help sort the chaotic from peaceful regions of the data, giving researchers a crucial set of clues. The value of this new knowledge doesn’t end at Earth – what scientists learn about the Earth-Sun bow shock will help them understand how the solar wind of other stars impacts their orbiting planets. Your contributions may help take Shock Detectives ‘out of this world’! This project is closely connected to another NASA-supported project, Space Umbrella, which also relies on MMS data and imagery. While Space Umbrella focuses on the broad boundary between Earth’s magnetic shield and the surrounding solar wind, Shock Detectives zooms in just outside that boundary on the transition region, which can be upwards of 10 miles (17 kilometers) in thickness, to better understand how plasma behaves near the shock. Together, these efforts build a more complete picture of Earth’s space environment. Join Shock Detectives and help crack the case here: [Hidden Content] Want a quick overview? Check out the introduction video. The Earth’s magnetosphere (blue) interacts with the solar wind,, creating a shock wave (red), like a sonic ***** in space. Join the Shock Detectives project and help scientists study this region and better understand how the solar wind affects our lives Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Farming in Ancient Lake Agassiz 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 Editor’s Note: Today’s story is the answer to the May Puzzler. About 15,000 years ago, southeastern Manitoba sat beneath tens of meters of frigid water. Lake Agassiz—which once encompassed present-day Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake of the Woods—covered an area larger than all of the Great Lakes combined. It formed in front of the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, which dammed rivers that otherwise might have drained into Hudson Bay, producing an expansive body of water 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) long by 300 kilometers wide that spanned parts of today’s Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The lake began draining roughly 12,000 years ago, but its legacy remains visible across the region. In April 2026, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this photograph of farmland along the southern shore of Lake Winnipeg, where Lake Agassiz once deposited a thick, nearly flat bed of nutrient-rich silt and clay. Former lakebed areas like this one now support some of Canada’s most productive agricultural landscapes. A grid-based land survey has also left its mark. The Dominion Land Survey, one of the world’s largest and most systematic surveying efforts, divided much of western Canada into one-square-mile sections after the ********* government purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869. The grid continues to define the layout of farm fields, roads, shelterbelts, and drainage channels. When the photo was taken late in the afternoon on April 19, a layer of snow and ice covered the landscape. The brightest, whitest blocks appear to be snow-covered farmland or icy ponds, while the darker areas are forests, wetlands, or exposed ground with less uniform snow cover. Wheat, barley, oats, and canola are among the crops often grown in the area. In the upper part of the image, cottages and lake houses are clustered around Gull Lake, a popular site for boating, fishing, and other water sports. Common fish species found in the lake include northern pike, walleye, and yellow perch. Astronaut photograph ISS074-E-494130 was acquired on April 19, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 560 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 74 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Story by Adam Voiland. Downloads April 19, 2026 JPEG (14.14 MB) References & Resources Alberta Geomatics Historical Society (2024, October 25) The Dominion Land Survey System. Accessed May 18, 2026. Beaches of 59, Gull Lake. Accessed May 18, 2026. The ********* Encyclopedia (2025, February 21) Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026. Manitoba Historical Society (1984) Review: James G. MacGregor, Vision of an Ordered Land: The Story of the Dominion Land Survey. Accessed May 18, 2026. Minnesota Historical Society (2025, January 29) Draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026. Manitoba Fish and Wildlife, Gull Lake. Accessed May 18, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2020, May 6) A Windbreak Grid in Hokkaido. Accessed May 18, 2026. NASA Johnson Space Center (2026, April 23) The sub-freezing landscape at the southern tip of Canada’s Lake Winnipeg. Accessed May 18, 2026. North Dakota Geological Survey, Glacial Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026. State Historical Society of North Dakota, Red River Valley. Accessed May 18, 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. A Most Unusual Lake 4 min read Lake Unter-See in Antarctica, sealed beneath thick ice, has unusual water chemistry and cone-shaped microbial structures resembling some of Earth’s… Article Finding Freshwater in Great Salt Lake 4 min read Reed-covered mounds exposed by declining water levels reveal an unexpected network of freshwater springs that feed directly into the lake… Article Winter Grips the Michigan Mitten 3 min read A blanket of snow spanned Michigan and much of the Great Lakes region following a potent cold snap. 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. 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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4893-4899: Drilling at Campo Marte and a Visit From the Psyche Spacecraft NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, as the rover used its APXS instrument to measure the composition of the “Campo Marte” block in preparation for drilling. Curiosity captured the image using its Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) on May 14, 2026 — Sol 4895, or Martian day 4,895 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 16:29:02 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth planning date: Friday, May 15, 2026 After freeing the rover’s arm from the “Atacama” block, we are ready to drill again! The new drill target will represent the same geologic stratum as Atacama, which is the layered sulfate unit above the boxwork structures. We’ve named the new block “Campo Marte” after a natural red sandstone feature in Bolivia, following the theme of choosing target names in this Martian quadrangle from locations near the Uyuni region in South America. The name can be literally translated from Spanish as “Field of Mars” or “Mars Field,” appropriate for a target on Mars. In preparation for drilling, we measured the composition of Campo Marte with the ChemCam LIBS and the APXS as well as obtaining close-up imaging with MAHLI. Additional LIBS rasters provided geochemical data on nearby blocks, including a couple of vein and nodule-like features. As we’ve seen in several rover stops in this unit, the “Paso Malo” block and several others are covered in a prominent polygonal texture. We’ve also imaged the Campo Marte block from several angles and determined that it’s substantially thicker than the Atacama block, so we’re hoping that its greater mass will keep it on the ground after drilling so that we can withdraw the drill bit normally this time. The team did get some interesting data on the volume and density of the Atacama block from our little adventure but we don’t feel the need to repeat that particular experiment. In the meantime, we had a chance to support another solar system exploration mission as the Psyche spacecraft flew close by Mars in order to pick up a gravitational boost on its way to the main asteroid belt. The Psyche spacecraft’s eventual destination is the asteroid 16 Psyche, one of the largest members of an unusual spectral category of asteroids that hasn’t yet been visited by a spacecraft. Although 16 Psyche is expected to be quite different from Mars as a science target (for example, it is too small to maintain a Mars-like atmosphere) this flyby was still a valuable opportunity to exercise the spacecraft’s instruments and data analysis pipelines, and validate their calibration. Because of this the Curiosity team planned an extra set of atmospheric observations timed to coordinate with the Psyche flyby: a zenith movie with Navcam to document clouds and a Mastcam solar observation to measure atmospheric opacity. The Mastcam was also supported by a fresh set of calibration data. Together with other coordinated observations from the Mars orbiters and Perseverance rover, these are intended to contribute to the Psyche instrument validation effort. Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team? Visit Mission Updates Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments? Visit the Science Instruments page NASA’s Curiosity rover at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share Details Last Updated May 18, 2026 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style Article 7 days ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4879-4885: Struggle at Atacama Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4873-4878: Welcome to the Atacama Drill Target Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

Three photographers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center who inspire the world through visual storytelling earned top honors in the portrait category at the 2025 NASA Imagery Experts Program Annual Awards. “Congratulations to all three on this impressive achievement and for capturing such breathtaking imagery,” said Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche. “Their work represents the collaboration, precision, and creativity that drive human space exploration forward.” David DeHoyos, Josh Valcarcel, and Bill Stafford were recognized during the award ceremony held April 20, 2026, in Las Vegas. From engineering tests to astronaut training to mission control operations, these photographers document the people and work central to NASA’s human spaceflight mission. First place: David DeHoyos ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot pauses for a pensive moment during her official NASA portrait session at Johnson Space Center.NASA/David DeHoyos Sophie is so kind and friendly with a beautiful presence. Being around her made everyone feel good, which allowed my creativity to flow. David Dehoyos NASA Photographer Portrait of NASA photographer David DeHoyos. A Houston native, born in 1963, David DeHoyos’ life has been deeply shaped by the city’s dual legacy of arts and aerospace. DeHoyos graduated from Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 1981 with a specialization in photography. After spending a decade refining his technical craft in photo labs, he joined Johnson’s photography department in 1991. “This opportunity represented the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition,” said DeHoyos. “Growing up during the fervor of the Apollo era, I always dreamed of contributing to NASA’s mission. I am so honored and blessed to be amongst a team of wonderful people and, more importantly, friends.” Second place: Josh Valcarcel NASA astronaut Jessica Meir poses with an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit during an official portrait sessionNASA/Josh Valcarcel Jessica’s quiet presence reflects years of preparation, passion, and responsibility. She understands, more clearly than most of us ever will, the fragility of the body, the precision of systems, and the narrow margins within which exploration unfolds. Josh Valcarcel NASA Photographer Portrait of NASA scientific photographer Josh Valcarcel. Josh Valcarcel has worked as a professional photographer and videographer for over 20 years and has been a scientific photographer at Johnson since 2017. He previously served as a staff photographer and photo editor at WIRED magazine and as a mass communication specialist in the U.S. Navy, capturing stories from flight deck operations to remote island nations across the Pacific. “As a NASA photographer, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing impossible dreams become reality every day,” said Valcarcel. “That experience has shown me that with the right vision, culture, and trust, what once seemed impossible can become part of everyday life.” Third place: Bill Stafford Expedition 74 crew member Christopher Williams in an EMU spacesuit.NASA/Bill Stafford There’s a stillness and quiet resolve in Chris’ expression that says everything about who he is and what he’s about to do. Bill Stafford NASA Photographer Portrait of NASA scientific photographer Bill Stafford. A Texas native and 1999 graduate of East Texas A&M University, Bill Stafford has served as a photographer and videographer for NASA since graduation, documenting over two decades of the nation’s space exploration milestones. In addition to his work with NASA, Stafford teaches photography at the Gilruth Center. He is passionate about sharing his expertise and helping others develop their skills behind the lens. “Photography is how I find meaning in the moments around me, and working at NASA has given me a front-row seat to some of the most remarkable stories of our time,” said Stafford. “My job is to slow things down long enough to find the moment inside the moment: the small details that tell the ******* story.” Explore More 2 min read Nicholas Houghton: Engineering Crew Safety for NASA’s Artemis Missions Article 1 week ago 3 min read Industry Moon Lander Training Cabin Lands at NASA for Artemis Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read Blue Origin Moon Lander Completes Testing at NASA Vacuum Chamber Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected — observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, scientists identified a phenomenon known to occur in Earth’s magnetosphere, where charged particles are squeezed like toothpaste coming out of a tube along magnetic structures called flux tubes. This so-called Zwan-Wolf effect aids in the deflection of solar wind around Earth and has been observed and studied there for decades. Now, a new study published in Nature Communications provides the first comprehensive observations of the same effect in Mars’ atmosphere. An artistic representation of the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars, as observed by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission. While this effect typically helps to deflect the solar wind at Earth, at Mars it is shown to “squeeze” the atmosphere and have implications on how space weather interacts with the planet. The yellow arrows represent the movement of the effect in the Martian atmosphere. LASP/CU Boulder “When investigating the data, I all of a sudden noticed some very interesting wiggles,” said Christopher Fowler, a research assistant professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown and lead author of the study. “I would never have guessed it would be this effect, since it’s never been seen in a planetary atmosphere before.” The Zwan-Wolf effect was first discovered in 1976, and until now has only been observed in planetary magnetospheres, not their atmospheres. Unlike Earth, Mars is not protected by a global magnetic field, affecting how it interacts with the solar wind and space weather. In this new study, the Zwan-Wolf effect was observed in the ionosphere — deep within the Martian atmosphere below 200 km — which contains significant numbers of electrically charged particles. The data showed that these charged particles were being squeezed and distributed around Mars’ atmosphere. Although Mars has an induced magnetosphere, a magnetic field generated by the solar wind interacting with the Martian ionosphere, it can greatly change in size and shape with large solar wind and space weather events. That is what Fowler and his team saw in the MAVEN data when a large solar storm hit Mars. Based on their findings, the Zwan-Wolf effect may be occurring constantly in the Martian ionosphere but at levels undetectable by MAVEN’s instrumentation. The impact of the space weather event appears to have amplified the effect, allowing the scientists to observe it in the data. In the beginning, Fowler and his team came across some interesting-looking fluctuations in measurements of the magnetic field as the spacecraft flew through the atmosphere. To explain this, they dug into observations made by several instruments on MAVEN, including measurements of the charged particle environment in the ionosphere. Their sleuthing uncovered even more weird and interesting features in the data. After ruling out several other possibilities, the team was able to identify the culprit as the Zwan-Wolf effect, which explained all the features they were seeing. “No one expected that this effect could even occur in the atmosphere,” said Fowler. “That’s what makes this even more exciting. It introduces interesting physics that we haven’t yet explored and a new way the Sun and space weather can change the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere.” Understanding the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars will further our understanding of how space weather affects the planet and provides new insight into how this effect might occur at similar unmagnetized bodies, such as Venus and Saturn’s moon Titan. Observations like this also highlight the importance of knowing how large space weather events can lead to changes in the environment at and around the Red Planet and potentially affect assets on or near Mars. “Knowing how space weather interacts with Mars is essential,” said Shannon Curry, the principal investigator of MAVEN and research scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. “The MAVEN team continues making new discoveries with our datasets and finding these links between our host star and the Red Planet.” The MAVEN spacecraft launched in November 2013 and entered Mars’ orbit in September 2014. The mission’s goal is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space. Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of the Red Planet’s atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The MAVEN spacecraft, in orbit around Mars, experienced a loss of signal with ground stations on Earth on Dec. 6, 2025. In Feb. 2026, NASA launched an anomaly review board to assess the probable current state of the spacecraft and the likelihood of its recovery. The MAVEN mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The mission’s principal investigator is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, which is also responsible for managing science operations and public outreach and communications. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN mission. Lockheed Martin Space built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California provides navigation and Deep Space Network support. By Willow Reed Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder Media contacts: Karen Fox / Alana Johnson Headquarters, Washington 240-285-5155 / 202-672-4780 *****@*****.tld / alana.r*****@*****.tld Sarah Frazier Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated May 18, 2026 Editor Rob Garner Contact Sarah Frazier *****@*****.tld Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) Goddard Space Flight Center Mars The Solar System View the full article

A view of NASA’s Orion spacecraft aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on April 1 during the launch of the Artemis II test flight.Credit: NASA The NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) has selected two early‑career scientists for its next class of postdoctoral fellows. The new fellows will begin their projects in May, focusing on space food systems and astronaut eye health. The TRISH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program supports independent research that advances biomedical, behavioral, and technological approaches relevant to human space exploration. The selected projects should aim to reduce spaceflight-related health risks and improve human health on Earth. The selected fellows are: Dr. Baiyang Liu Institution: Columbia University in New York City Project: Developing a Diazotrophic and Nutritionally Optimized Spirulina Strain for Extended Space Missions Mentor: Dr. Harris Wang Dr. Dylan Pham Institution: Texas A&M University in College Station Project: Impact of Simulated Microgravity and Aging on Ocular Artery and Neural Retina Function Mentor: Dr. Travis Hein “Our postdoctoral fellows bring new ideas, technical expertise, and energy to some of the most complex challenges in human spaceflight,” said Dr. Dorit Donoviel, executive director of TRISH and associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “By investing in the next generation, we are building the capability required to achieve a sustained presence on the Moon and extend human exploration deeper into space.” A virtual institute, TRISH is empowered by NASA’s Human Research Program to help solve challenges of human deep space exploration. It pursues and funds research to deliver scientific and technological solutions that advance space health and help humans thrive wherever they explore, in space or on Earth. ____ NASA’s Human Research Program NASA’s Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, the International Space Station and Artemis missions, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives the program’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Explore More 3 min read NASA’s Simulated Mars Mission Marks 200 Days Inside Habitat Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 to Study Adaptation to Altered Gravity Article 3 months ago 5 min read Out of This World Discoveries: Space Station Research in 2025 Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Living in Space Artemis Human Research Program Space Station Research and Technology View the full article

This latest Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features Messier 77 (M77), a barred spiral galaxy famous and appreciated among astronomers for its combination of relative proximity and spectacular features to study. It is located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale).ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy The heart of galaxy M77 shines brightly in this May 7, 2026, image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The intense glow is due to gas being pulled by the strong gravity of the central ****** hole into a tight and rapid orbit around it. The motion of the gas causes it to heat up, releasing tremendous amounts of radiation. The bright lines radiating out of the center are diffraction spikes. The spikes are not a physical feature of the galaxy, but an optical effect caused by the telescope itself. Read more about M77. Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy View the full article

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft atop, launched Friday, May 15, 2026, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Credit: NASA+ The 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission under contract with NASA is headed to the International Space Station with new scientific experiments after lifting off at 6:05 p.m. EDT Friday on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The SpaceX spacecraft, loaded with nearly 6,500 pounds of cargo for the space station’s Expedition 74 crew, is scheduled to autonomously dock at about 7 a.m. Sunday, May 17, to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module. Watch NASA’s live rendezvous and docking coverage beginning at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media. In addition to cargo for the crew aboard the space station, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including a project to determine how well Earth-based simulators mimic microgravity conditions, a bone scaffold made from wood that could produce new treatments for fragile bone conditions like osteoporosis, and equipment to help researchers evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space. The Dragon spacecraft also will carry a new instrument to study charged particles around Earth that can impact power grids and satellites, an investigation that could provide a fundamental understanding of how planets form, and an instrument designed to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the Moon. These experiments are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that aren’t possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars. The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the station until mid-June, when it will depart and return to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo, ahead of splashing down off the coast of California. Learn more about International Space Station research, operations, and its crews at: [Hidden Content] -end- Jimi Russell Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 *****@*****.tld Danielle Sempsrott / Leejay Lockhart Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p*****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated May 15, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsCommercial ResupplyHumans in SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)Johnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterMissionsNASA HeadquartersSpaceX Commercial Resupply View the full article

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS After NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled a sample from this rock on April 25, 2026, it withdrew its robotic arm and pulled the entire rock off the surface with it. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try and get the rock loose. When it finally detached on May 1, the rock broke into pieces. This close-up image of the rock was produced by Curiosity’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on May 6. Nicknamed “Atacama,” the rock is estimated to be 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick. It would weigh roughly 28.6 pounds on Earth (and about a third of that on Mars). The circular hole produced by Curiosity’s drill is visible in the rock. See Atacama stuck on Curiosity’s drill. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS View the full article

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Universe Uncovered Hubble’s Partners in Science Hubble & Citizen Science AI & Hubble Science Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Science Operations Astronaut Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Online Activities e-Books Sonifications Podcasts 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources 35th Anniversary More Online Activities 3 min read Hubble Sights Galaxy in Transition This NASA Hubble Space Telescope images reveals the lenticular galaxy, NGC 1266. This enigmatic post-starburst galaxy has a bright center and a face that hints at spiral structure, yet it holds no discernable spiral arms. NASA, ESA, K. Alatalo (STScI); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals an enigmatic galaxy with a bright center and a face that hints at spiral structure, yet it holds no obvious spiral arms. Reddish-brown clumps and filaments of dust partially obscure the galaxy’s full face, while red, blue, and orange light from distant galaxies shines through its diffuse outer regions and dots the inky-****** background. NGC 1266 is a lenticular galaxy located some 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (the Celestial River). Astronomers classify lenticulars as transitional galaxies that represent an evolutionary bridge between spirals and ellipticals. Lenticulars are “lens-shaped” and have a bright central bulge and flattened disk like spirals, but they have no spiral arms and little to no star formation like ellipticals. As interesting as this galaxy’s structure and lenticular classification are, those traits aren’t its most intriguing features. NGC 1266 is a rare post-starburst galaxy that is in transition between a galaxy that experienced a major burst of star formation and a quieter elliptical galaxy. Post-starburst galaxies have a young population of stars but few star-forming regions. Roughly one percent of the local galaxy population is a post-starburst galaxy. Astronomers think that NGC 1266 had a minor merger with another galaxy some 500 million years ago. The merger spurred the formation of new stars and increased the mass of the galaxy’s central bulge while funneling gas into its supermassive ****** hole. The additional matter made the ****** hole much more active, creating an active galactic nucleus or AGN. The ****** hole’s increased activity would have generated powerful winds and jets of gas along its axis of rotation. Over time, the burst of new stars and the ****** hole’s powerful jets would deplete the galaxy’s reservoir of star-forming gas, while the turbulence generated in these processes suppressed new stars from forming in the gas that remained. Observations by Hubble and other observatories reveal a strong outflow of gas from the galaxy and that the space between its stars is shocked or highly disturbed. Researchers found that any remaining stellar nurseries are in the core of the galaxy, and that very little to no star formation happens beyond that core. These observations suggest the supermassive ****** hole in the galaxy’s heart may be suppressing star birth by stripping or ejecting star-forming gas from the galaxy. The shockwaves from this process would create turbulence that disturbs the gas and dust between stars enough to stop any remaining matter from gravitationally condensing into infant stars. Post-starburst galaxies like NGC 1266 are ideal subjects for astronomers to study the complex physical processes that suppress star formation. They help us better understand the evolution of galaxies and how supermassive ****** holes interact with their hosts. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated May 15, 2026 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Hubble Space Telescope Active Galaxies Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Lenticular Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble’s Galaxies Hubble Science Universe Uncovered View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Picturing Earth in a New Light 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 Some parts of the planet are shown to brighten (gold) and some dim (purple) in an analysis of nearly a decade of nighttime lights data from NASA’s ****** Marble product. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison Maps can show more than just where things are—they can also show how things change. New maps of artificial light reveal a planet that has been reshaping its nights through patterns of brightening and dimming. The maps are based on a recent analysis of NASA’s ****** Marble data, which found that instead of a gradual increase in artificial light at night over the course of nearly a decade, the patterns are much more nuanced. The analysis portrays a world flickering with industrial booms and busts, construction, and blackouts, as well as more gradual shifts, such as policy-driven retrofits. NASA’s ****** Marble product uses observations from the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensors on the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites to produce records of nighttime lights at daily, monthly, and yearly time scales. The VIIRS day-night band detects nighttime light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, reflected moonlight, and auroras. The map above shows changes in brightness across most of the inhabited world (between 60 degrees south and 70 degrees north). Yellow and gold areas are where there has been more brightening during the study *******, from 2014 to 2022, and purple areas are where there has been more dimming. The visualization below shows the same data for the Eastern Hemisphere. Note that this version includes some artistic touches, such as simulated sunlight and shadows, while the nighttime lights data overlaid on the globe remain grounded in the scientific analysis. The image was featured on the cover of Nature, where the study was published in April 2026. An analysis of nearly a decade of nighttime lights data (2014-2022) from NASA’s ****** Marble product revealed areas of brightening (gold) and dimming (purple) shown here across the Eastern Hemisphere. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison Overall, the researchers found that global radiance increased by 34 percent during the study *******, but that surge masks large areas of dimming. Such “bidirectional changes” often happen side by side. In the U.S., for example, West Coast cities grew brighter as their populations increased, while much of the East Coast showed dimming, which the team attributed to the increased use of energy-efficient LEDs and broader economic restructuring. The authors concluded that internationally, nighttime light surged in China and northern India along with urban development, while LEDs and energy conservation measures coincided with reduced light pollution in Paris and throughout France (a 33 percent dimming), the *** (22 percent dimming), and the Netherlands (21 percent dimming). European nights dimmed sharply in 2022 during a regional energy crisis that followed the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Large versions of the maps on this page can be downloaded below. Animations showing annual changes in nighttime lights throughout the study ******* are available from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using data from Li, T., et al. (2026). Story by Sally Younger adapted for Earth Observatory by Kathryn Hansen. Downloads Global map: 2014-2022 JPEG (1.90 MB) Eastern Hemisphere: 2014-2022 JPEG (3.51 MB) References & Resources Li, T., et al. (2026) Satellite imagery reveals increasing volatility in human night-time activity. Nature, 652, 379–386. NASA (2026, April 13) NASA Night-light Imagery Tracks US Energy Transition, Global Volatility. Accessed May 14, 2026. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (2026, April 8) Global Nighttime Lights Change (2014–2022). Accessed May 14, 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. North America’s Greenhouse Hub 3 min read The expansion of greenhouses in southern Ontario is changing the appearance of the land surface—and the night sky. Article Northern Glow Spans Iceland and Canada 3 min read A vivid display of the aurora lit up skies over the Denmark Strait and eastern Canada during a minor geomagnetic… Article Shades of a Lunar Eclipse 3 min read A series of nighttime satellite images revealed how moonlight reaching Earth varied throughout a total lunar eclipse. 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 Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data View the full article

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this image of “Santa Cruz,” a hill about 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) away from the rover, on April 29, 2021. Credit: NASA On Thursday, NASA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP), seeking industry collaboration for the Mars Telecommunications Network. Reliable, high bandwidth communications is necessary to relay science data, high-definition imagery, and critical information during Mars missions. The network will use high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiters at the Red Planet to support future surface, orbital, and human exploration. This RFP builds on a draft released April 2, as well as insights gathered during the accompanying industry day at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where commercial partners provided feedback on agency objectives for the Mars Telecommunications Network. The request seeks responses that address both current and future operational missions. It also seeks a science payload accommodation that will be selected by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Industry is asked to respond within 30 calendar days of the posting, and the network should be ready to operate at Mars no later than 2030. The Mars Telecommunications Network is part of NASA’s evolving space architecture, extending continuous network services beyond Earth to the Moon and Mars. The Mars Telecommunications Network is part of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program’s Moon to Mars strategy, and is enabled by the direction and funding provided by Congress in the Working Families Tax Cut Act. To learn more about NASA’s deep space exploration, visit: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated May 14, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateMars View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA is collaborating with Eta Space of Rockledge, Florida, on an in‑orbit technology demonstration to advance a key capability for future deep space missions. The Liquid Oxygen Flight Demonstration, or LOXSAT, will test cryogenic fluid management technologies necessary for creating in-space propellant depots, essentially gas stations in space, that could support long-term exploration. The LOXSAT payload is displayed inside Rocket Lab’s Spacecraft Production Complex in Long Beach, California. Rocket Lab During a nine-month mission, LOXSAT will demonstrate 11 cryogenic fluid management technologies. Eta Space built LOXSAT as part of a NASA Tipping Point opportunity, and Rocket Lab is providing spacecraft and launch services to deliver it to low Earth orbit. The LOXSAT payload has been integrated with a Rocket Lab Photon satellite bus and will launch aboard the company’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula no earlier than July 17. The technologies that LOXSAT will demonstrate were selected to address the core challenges of using cryogenic, or super-cold, propellants in microgravity, including reducing boiloff, transferring propellant, maintaining tank pressure, and gauging propellant levels. Data collected from these tests will support development of future in-space propellant depots that could refuel spacecraft as they journey to the Moon, Mars, or other deep space destinations. Members of NASA’s Cryogenic Fluid Management project tour Rocket Lab’s Spacecraft Production Complex in Long Beach, California, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 . The portfolio project team had the opportunity to view the LOXSAT payload and the setup for vibration testing. CreditRocket Lab NASA’s LOXSAT team is composed of members of the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and includes more than 20 individual technology development activities. To learn more, visit: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated May 14, 2026 EditorLee MohonContactJoel Wallace*****@*****.tldLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsCryogenic Fluid Management (CFM)Marshall Space Flight CenterSpace Technology Mission DirectorateTechnology Demonstration Missions Program Explore More 3 min read Ice to Fuel: NASA Tests Technology for Refueling Landers Article 2 months ago 4 min read Stay Cool: NASA Tests Innovative Technique for Super Cold Fuel Storage Article 10 months ago 3 min read NASA Propellant Tech Could Fuel Long-Duration Missions Article 1 year ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

You’re allowed to play with your food when you’re on the International Space Station!NASA/Chris Williams NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway (bottom left), Jessica Meir (middle left), and Chris Williams (bottom right), and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot (top right) have some fun with food and microgravity in this April 19, 2026, photo. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft delivered a shipment of fresh food, including oranges, apples, onions, and peppers, to the International Space Station. Cygnus XL also brought over 2,300 pounds of new research hardware and science experiments that the space station crew will use to explore blood stem cells to treat cancers and blood disorders and study ways to protect astronaut gut health. Other gear delivered aboard Cygnus XL include an advanced exercise system from ESA, new eye-imaging hardware, oxygen and nitrogen tanks to recharge spacesuits, and more. Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Ice Moves Out of Aniak 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 April 21, 2026 May 7, 2026 A frozen river winds from east to west past Aniak, Alaska. Nearby meandering channels are also frozen, and much of the surrounding land is snow-covered. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison A river winds from east to west past Aniak, Alaska. Some stretches of the wide channel are still frozen over, while others contain broken-up ice. Most of the surrounding land is snow-free. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison April 21, 2026May 7, 2026 A frozen river winds from east to west past Aniak, Alaska. Nearby meandering channels are also frozen, and much of the surrounding land is snow-covered. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison A river winds from east to west past Aniak, Alaska. Some stretches of the wide channel are still frozen over, while others contain broken-up ice. Most of the surrounding land is snow-free. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison April 21, 2026 May 7, 2026 CurtainToggle2-Up Image Details The landscape along the Kuskokwim River near Aniak, Alaska, is frozen on April 21, 2026 (left), while spring melt and river ice breakup are evident on May 7, 2026 (right). Both images were acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison. Thawing may be a welcome sight for Alaskans following a remarkably cold winter and early spring in much of the state. But with melting comes the threat of rapid flooding in low-lying areas as river ice breaks up and periodically jams. The landscape along the Kuskokwim River appeared frozen in a Landsat 9 image acquired on April 21, 2026 (left). According to observations published by the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center, river ice near the town of Aniak was thick and still covered in deep snow as of April 16. The Kuskokwim ice road connecting numerous villages traces a dark line down the river. The thick river ice supported a route that extended about 350 miles (560 kilometers) in winter 2025-2026 and shut down for the season on April 10, according to news reports. Conditions were changing quickly around May 7, when the right image was acquired. The previous day, the front of the ice breakup had nearly reached Aniak, and a sheet of grounded ice caused a jam that stretched 21 miles (34 kilometers) upstream. News reports showed ice chunks several feet thick piled up on riverbanks around the town. Ice became unstuck by May 7, and the backup, visible above (right), had started to flow downstream. Aniak remained at risk, however, as ice clogged the river later that night, this time several miles downstream from the community. Waters began to rise, and a flood watch was issued for the town on May 8. Water inundated low-lying areas and encroached on homes and businesses near the east side of the runway, according to reports, before receding two days later. Flooding caused by spring breakup can be most hazardous when heavy snowpack and thick ice remain in place from the winter and there’s a sudden transition from freezing to warmer temperatures. In what is known as a dynamic breakup, snowmelt encounters intact ice and causes water to back up quickly. On the other hand, if ice weakens before significant snowmelt or ice from upstream arrives, jams are less likely to form. Forecasters noted that spring 2026 showed warning signs of a dynamic breakup. Snowpack was above average in some major river drainages, and historically low temperatures marked the winter and spring months in many places. For example, the March average temperature in Bethel, downstream of Aniak, was 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) below normal. However, floods had been relatively minor along the large rivers through early May, experts noted, while cautioning that more severe flooding still has the potential to develop quickly. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads April 21, 2026 JPEG (21.62 MB) May 7, 2026 JPEG (21.49 MB) References & Resources Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter (2026, May 8) Spring 2026 River Break-up to May 8th. Accessed May 13, 2026. Alaska’s News Source (2026, May 9) Mother’s Day weekend: May weather action. Accessed May 13, 2026. Alaska’s News Source (2026, April 24) A projected late river breakup could lead to dangerous flooding potential in Alaska. Accessed May 13, 2026. Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center (2026) River Notes. Accessed May 13, 2026. KYUK (2026, May 9) Thermal breakup on the Kuskokwim may bode well for many communities, while Aniak remains under flood warning. Accessed May 13, 2026. Lindsey, S. (2019) Spring breakup on the Yukon: What happens when the ice stops. Alaska Park Science, 18(1): 70-75. 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. Chilled New York City 3 min read Ice in the Hudson River hugged the shore of Manhattan amid a deep freeze. Article Chesapeake Bay Locked in Ice 3 min read Nearly 50 years ago, the first Landsat satellite captured the rare sight of Mid-Atlantic waterways frozen over. Article Record-Setting Retreat of Hektoria Glacier 5 min read Scientists relied on satellite data to understand how the Antarctic glacier lost so much ice so rapidly. 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 Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Branch’s work outfitting a prototype of a lunar surface habitat they developed, pictured here, under a cooperative agreement with Marshall Space Flight Center, helped the company evolve its printing processes.Credit: Branch Technology Inc. An innovative 3D printing process that advanced NASA’s approach to outfitting a lunar habitat is making buildings on Earth beautiful, efficient, and strong. Instead of building structures layer by layer, Branch Technology Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has developed a process the company calls Freeform 3D Printing, which creates shapes with lightweight lattice structures that can be filled or covered. The company uses the technique to manufacture visually interesting, modular building elements, such as wall panels and cladding. “Our process eliminates a ton of material from something that otherwise might be printed solid all the way through,” said David Goodloe, who leads Branch Technology’s Advanced Concepts team, which manages the company’s NASA collaborations. In 2017, the company won Phase II of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, a public competition to build a habitat for deep space exploration. Tracie Prater, a technical manager in the Habitat Systems Development Branch at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, served as a subject matter expert for the challenge and worked with Branch Technology on a cooperative agreement. “With the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, teams were focused on how to build a large habitat structure on a planetary surface,” said Prater. “But once that structure is pressurized and ready for crew occupancy, how do you populate it with systems and supplies? That’s what Branch was looking at through the cooperative agreement — what their on-demand fabrication process enables in terms of novel designs for interior items.” NASA’s parameters for the habitat challenge led Branch to develop its nozzles to extrude unique lattice structures as well as more traditional layers. The company uses this dual capability frequently in its wall panels where traditionally printed sections offer solid substrates for attaching fasteners. The polymers Branch extrudes were informed by its materials science research for the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, which asked that print material be made of something like the dust and rocks found on the Martian surface and mission recyclables. Branch came up with a basalt fiber-reinforced plastic and from that work went on to develop an optimal loading recipe for its terrestrial “inks.” These innovations exemplify the purpose of NASA’s Technology Transfer program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate, which uses space-based solutions to improve life on Earth. For 50 years, NASA has documented the everyday benefits of space technology through the agency’s Spinoff publication. Read More Share Details Last Updated May 13, 2026 Related TermsTechnology Transfer & SpinoffsSpinoffsTechnology Transfer Explore More 4 min read Hello Universe: NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor Undergoes Testing Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA Heat Shield Technology Enables Space Industry Growth Article 3 months ago 3 min read NASA, Industry Weave Data Fabric with Artificial Intelligence Air taxis and drones navigate different flight zones with NASA-inspired system Article 6 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge Technology Transfer & Spinoffs View the full article

NASA/Joel Kowsky “Rise,” the Artemis II zero gravity indicator, is seen sitting on the dais as NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen speak with congressional staff, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington. NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth in April 2026. See more photos from the crew’s visit to the U.S. Capitol. Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky View the full article

The Sun rises behind NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft on top of a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 30, 2026.Credit: NASA/Jim Ross NASA is moving quickly to define next year’s Artemis III mission in Earth orbit, a crewed flight that will test rendezvous and docking capabilities between the agency’s Orion spacecraft and commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX. Since a February announcement adding an Artemis mission ahead of crewed landing missions to the Moon’s South Pole region, engineers have been evaluating mission profile options and operational considerations for Artemis III to ensure the test flight helps the agency and its partners reduce risk ahead of the next Americans landing on the Moon during Artemis IV. “While this is a mission to Earth orbit, it is an important stepping stone to successfully landing on the Moon with Artemis IV. Artemis III is one of the most highly complex missions NASA has undertaken,” said Jeremy Parsons, Moon to Mars acting assistant deputy administrator, NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate in Washington. “For the first time, NASA will coordinate a launch campaign involving multiple spacecraft integrating new capabilities into Artemis operations. We’re integrating more partners and interrelated operations into this mission by design, which will help us learn how Orion, the crew, and ground teams all interact together with hardware and teams from both providers before we send astronauts to the Moon’s surface and build a Moon Base there.” The mission is planned to carry out a series of objectives designed to demonstrate critical systems needed for a future lunar landing. During the Artemis III mission, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four crew members. Instead of using the interim cryogenic propulsion stage as the upper stage of the rocket, NASA will use a “spacer,” a representation of the mass and overall dimensions of an upper stage but without propulsive capabilities. The spacer will maintain the same overall dimensions and interface connection points as the upper stage between the Orion stage adapter and launch vehicle stage adapter. Design and fabrication activities for the spacer are progressing rapidly at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Material for the barrel section and the upper and lower rings is currently being machined at Marshall in preparation for upcoming welding operations. The Artemis III core stage sits in High Bay 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy with the core stage tank attached to its engine section on May 12, 2026.Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett After the rocket delivers Orion to orbit, the spacecraft’s European-built service module will provide propulsion to circularize Orion’s orbit around the planet in low Earth orbit. This orbit increases overall mission success by allowing more launch opportunities for each element as compared to a lunar mission — SLS carrying Orion and its crew, SpaceX’s Starship human landing system pathfinder, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 human landing system pathfinder. Informed by Blue Origin and SpaceX capabilities, NASA also is defining the concept of operations for the mission. While some decisions are yet to be determined, astronauts could potentially enter at least one lander test article. The crew will spend more time aboard Orion than during Artemis II, further advancing the evaluation of life support systems, and for the first time will demonstrate the docking system performance. The mission will inform lander rendezvous and habitation concepts and mission operations in preparation for future surface missions. The agency also plans to test an upgraded heat shield during Orion’s return to Earth to enable more flexible and robust reentry profiles for future missions. The Artemis III Orion service module is pictured ahead of acoustic testing in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout Facility on May 7, 2026.NASA/Jess Ruffa Over the coming weeks, NASA will continue to refine specific plans for the flight, including a timeline for identifying astronauts to train for mission operations, options to evaluate Axiom’s AxEMU spacesuit lander interfaces ahead of lunar surface missions, mission duration, and potential science operations for the flight. NASA has asked for industry input on potential solutions to improve the communications with the ground during the mission since the Deep Space Network will not be used. The agency also is seeking both international and domestic interest in potentially flying CubeSats to deploy in Earth orbit, and may share other opportunities as the concept of operations for the mission is further defined. As part of the Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated May 13, 2026 LocationKennedy Space Center Related TermsArtemis 3ArtemisMissionsOrion Multi-Purpose Crew VehicleSpace Launch System (SLS) View the full article

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway works on MVP Cell-09 research inside a portable glovebag aboard the International Space Station.ESA/Sophie Adenot Expedition 74 astronauts aboard the International Space Station are uncovering how bacteria that causes pneumonia can lead to long-term damage in the heart. Researchers are leveraging the space environment to observe how stem cell derived heart tissues respond to bacterial infections, to discover new methods to manage cardiovascular health and infectious diseases. In space, bacteria tend to be more severe and have enhanced drug resistance. Scientists are harnessing these traits to exaggerate their effect on heart cells and reveal important cellular responses that would be difficult to detect on Earth. Pinpointing the factors that make bacterial infections more severe in space could reveal targets for treatment. Dr. Palaniappan Sethu, professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham says, “By exacerbating the infection, we anticipate clear separation of the infection and control groups, making it easier to identify subtle factors that promote bacterial virulence”. Preflight imagery of stem cell derived heart tissue models produced for the MVP Cell-09 investigation.University of Alabama at Birmingham The Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria is the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), an infection which causes millions of deaths each year. More than a quarter of adults hospitalized for CAP develop heart disease and patients that survive severe cases have an increased risk even after the pneumonia has been fully eradicated. This research is also important as humans venture further into space. For over 25 years, researchers have utilized the space station to study how the human body and microbes respond to space, and deep space missions will require the strategies and knowledge we gain. “Addressing these questions is essential for ensuring human health during long duration space travel and for enabling sustainable habitation beyond Earth. Our experiments are expected to generate new insights into how space specific factors influence disease progression”, says Dr. Carlos J. Orihuela, professor of Microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. From left to right: Redwire Space researchers Grant Vellinger and Dr. Aaron Rogers, and University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers Dr. Vipin Chembilikand and Dr. Ian Berg prepare MVP Cell-09 ahead of launch to the space station.University of Alabama at Birmingham The space station allows researchers from around the world to address complex human health problems on Earth and in space. Using the unique environmental factors aboard the space station allows for advanced study of disease formation, testing drugs and diagnostic tools, and more. Learn more about MVP Cell-09 Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Latest News from Space Station Research International Space Station Humans In Space Space Station Research Results View the full article

3 min read NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Reveals Dazzling Night Sky NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has released its most complete view of the starry sky to date, filling in gaps from previous observations. Nearly 6,000 colored dots scattered across the image show the locations of either confirmed or candidate exoplanets — worlds beyond our solar system — identified by the mission as of September 2025 at the end of TESS’s second extended mission. “Over the last eight years, TESS has become a fire hose of exoplanet science,” said Rebekah Hounsell, a TESS associate project scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s helped us find planets of all different sizes, from tiny Mercury-like ones to those larger than Jupiter. Some of them are even in the habitable zone, where liquid water might be possible on the surface, an important factor in our search for life beyond Earth.” The TESS mission scans a wide swath of the sky, called a sector, for about a month at a time using its four cameras. These long stares allow the spacecraft to track the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars, looking for variations in their light that might come from orbiting planets. Researchers assembled an all-sky mosaic made of 96 sectors observed between April 2018, when TESS began its work, and September 2025. This view of the whole sky was constructed from 96 TESS sectors. By the end of September 2025, when the last image of this mosaic was captured, TESS had discovered 679 exoplanets (blue dots) and 5,165 candidates (orange dots). The glowing arc running through the center is the plane of the Milky Way. The Large Magellanic Cloud can be seen along the bottom edge just left of center. ****** areas within the oval indicate regions TESS has not yet imaged. NASA/MIT/TESS and Veselin Kostov (University of Maryland College Park) Download high-resolution images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. The blue dots in the image mark the locations of nearly 700 confirmed planets, as of September 9. This menagerie includes worlds that may be covered by volcanoes, are being destroyed by their stars, or orbit two stars — experiencing double sunrises and sunsets each day. The orange dots represent more than 5,000 candidate planets that are awaiting verification. To date, scientists have confirmed over 6,270 exoplanets using missions like TESS, NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope, and other facilities. Also captured in the mosaic is the bright plane of our Milky Way galaxy, seen as a glowing arc through the center. The bright white ovals in the lower left are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These satellite galaxies are located 160,000 and 200,000 light-years away, respectively. “The more we dig into the large TESS dataset, especially using automated algorithms, the more surprises we find,” said Allison Youngblood, the TESS project scientist at NASA Goddard. “In addition to planets, TESS has helped us study rivers of young stars, observe dynamic galactic behavior, and monitor asteroids near Earth. As TESS fills in more of the night sky, there’s no knowing what it might see next.” You could discover the next exoplanet! Join the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science project, and you’ll learn how to read light curves — plots of light data from distant stars — to find telltale signals from orbiting exoplanets. By Jeanette Kazmierczak NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Media Contact: Claire Andreoli 301-286-1940 NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Facebook logo @NASAUniverse @NASAUniverse Instagram logo @NASAUniverse Share Details Last Updated May 13, 2026 Editor Jeanette Kazmierczak Related Terms TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Astrophysics Exoplanet Science Exoplanet Transits Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research Studying Exoplanets The Universe View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory America’s Emerald Isle 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 In a process that played out over thousands of years, a retreating ice sheet carved, scoured, and shaped the landscape of the present-day Great Lakes. In northern Lake Michigan, this sculpting left distinct ridges and valleys running north-to-south along the lake floor. Some parts of those ridges, made of erosion-resistant rock, have remained above the waves of the big lake, forming the Beaver Archipelago. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 captured this image of several of the archipelago’s islands on August 2, 2024. These patches of land contain upland forests, dunes, wetlands, and marshes—habitats that support rare plant and bird species and provide spawning grounds for fish. The bright, sandy perimeters of the islands are surrounded by shallow, turquoise waters and deeper, dark blue areas, where depths reach up to about 330 feet (100 meters). This image centers on Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan at 13 miles (21 kilometers) long and 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. It is also the only inhabited island of the Beaver Archipelago, and many of its approximately 600 residents are of Irish descent. In the mid-1800s, scores of immigrants from County Donegal, Ireland, and Irish fishermen from nearby islands and ports in Michigan settled on the island, which subsequently took on the moniker of “America’s Emerald Isle.” The farming and fishing, in particular, were productive for the new arrivals. In the 1880s, Beaver Island became the largest supplier of freshwater fish in the United States. Due to overfishing, however, such abundance would be short-lived. Ship traffic on the Great Lakes was also increasing during this time. Two lighthouses were constructed on the island to help the growing number of vessels traveling between Chicago and the Straits of Mackinac. The Beaver Head Lighthouse operated from 1852 to 1962 on the southern end of the island. On the northern side, the Beaver Island Harbor Light, pictured below, was first lit in 1870 and remains an active beacon more than 150 years later. Today, people travel to Beaver Island by boat or plane to explore its history and enjoy activities such as biking, fishing, and kayaking. The island’s remote location and minimal light pollution led to the establishment of the Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2024. Sky gazers may be drawn to the sanctuary for a chance to glimpse the aurora borealis and other celestial phenomena. Neighboring islands in the archipelago are more difficult to access and have remained relatively undisturbed. Perched, or cliff-top, sand dunes are found up to 200 feet (60 meters) above the lake level on the western side of High Island. Unique plant species, including the Pitcher’s thistle and Lake Huron tansy, grow in the island’s dunes. On Hog Island, patches of old-growth northern hardwood forest remain. Wetland communities known as Great Lakes marshes along the shoreline provide spawning grounds for perch and smallmouth bass. NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photo by Kelcie Herald/Unsplash. Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads August 2, 2024 JPEG (295.56 KB) References & Resources Beaver Island Historical Society, Beaver Island Historical Society Welcomes You to Our Past. Accessed May 12, 2026. DarkSky International (2024, April 8) Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area. Accessed May 12, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2013, August 24) Garden and Hog Islands, Michigan. Accessed May 12, 2026. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Lake Michigan Geomorphology. Accessed May 12, 2026. Northern Michigan History, Beaver Island History: From Ancient Circles to Irish Settlers. Accessed May 12, 2026. Wisconsin Sea Grant, The formation of the Great Lakes. Accessed May 12, 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. A Sea of Spinning Clouds 3 min read Icy, isolated Peter I Island stirred up a show in the atmosphere off the West Antarctic coast. Article Satellite Spots a Spawn 3 min read The activity of herring around Vancouver Island in British Columbia brightened coastal waters enough to be detectable from space. Article Showy Swirls Around Jeju Island 2 min read Winds blowing past the volcanic landmass near the Korean Peninsula created a trail of spiraling clouds, while murky water churned… 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 Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data View the full article

At a busy airport, every aircraft in the area shares just a handful of radio frequencies. Spectrum and time are constrained and if multiple people speak at once, both messages can get lost. Communications like “clearance delivery,” which require long transmissions and readbacks, are challenging in high-traffic areas, particularly when weather or other factors require many aircraft to communicate with controllers at once. Going digital clears that channel for urgent, time-critical calls, among other things. And it’s the current practice at some airports, where pilots can confirm clearances with the touch of a button, that the response goes directly to the controller’s screen, and the updated information loads into their flight management system. Will Cummings-Grande, aerospace engineer with the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate based at NASA’s Langley Research Center, is leading technical work that centers around Communications Architecture and Performance for Digital Clearance in NASA’s Air Traffic Management and Safety (ATMS) project. He’s researching the next layer of digital clearance, extending that same logic down to taxi instructions on the ground, so that pushback timing, routing, and runway assignments could also arrive digitally rather than over the radio. He sought out the most current, ground-level knowledge about how digital clearance delivery works in practice — not in a research paper, but in a real tower, on real systems, with the people who run them every day. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) offers the training he wanted to air traffic controllers, so he reached out to the FAA Academy “on a hope and a prayer” that they might accept him as a student. And in early April, Cummings-Grande traveled to the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) in Oklahoma City to complete the Tower Data Link Services (TDLS) Application Specialist training — the same two-day, hands-on course required of working controllers at the 72 U.S. airports currently equipped with digital clearance delivery capability. Will Cummings-Grande, aerospace engineer with the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, based at NASA’s Langley Research CenterCredit: NASA The air traffic control tower at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, where Cummings-Grande visited to observe the Tower Data Link Services system in live operation. Credit: Will Cummings-Grande/NASA In the Classroom ********-Grande shadowed a working controller during exercises, trading off at the terminal during breaks so both got time on the system. His classmates were application specialists from Seattle, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fort Lauderdale, all controllers with day jobs managing high-traffic airspace who were there to become the designated system maintainers at their home airports. During breaks, Cummings-Grande had a luxury: time to test. “I got to bounce some of my ideas and concepts off of controllers who are out there interacting with the TDLS and all of the tools it touches in the current system,” he said. “It was great to have both — here’s what the controller-in-training gets, and here’s what I get as a researcher — kind of lumped into the same experience.” The FAA Academy also connected him with the systems engineers responsible for developing, testing, and implementing new TDLS hardware and software versions, and arranged a visit to the OKC tower to observe the system in live operation. What He Found The TDLS runs on fully air-gapped software, completely isolated from standard operating systems — a deliberate cybersecurity design that made the hands-on experience revelatory in ways a research paper couldn’t replicate. “Interacting with the system was just very eye-opening as to how different these systems are from other computers that we commonly interact with,” he said. The more significant discovery came from the curriculum itself. Reviewing the FAA’s system architecture during training, Cummings-Grande noticed something he didn’t know to look for: a link between the TDLS and the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM), which does not yet exist operationally. That gap is now the center of his research questions. “I didn’t realize I was missing this piece until I took this course,” he said. Building on Two Decades of Homework The research Cummings-Grande is pursuing connects to a long thread of NASA work on surface safety and digital communications, including the Terminal Area Productivity program, the Surface Operation Automation Research (SOAR) project, the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) project, and Surface Trajectory Based Operations (STBO) studies. These efforts kicked off in the mid-90s to inform FAA NextGen and demonstrated digital taxi clearances in a series of simulations at multiple facilities and ultimately flight tests at the Atlanta Airport. Those findings showed meaningful workload reductions, but the cost-benefit case wasn’t there yet, and the technology wasn’t ready in the fleet or in the facilities. What’s changed, in Cummings-Grande’s view, is the convergence of new infrastructure investments, including the rollout of systems derived from Airspace Technology Demonstration (ATD-2) technologies like the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor and the Precision Departure Release Capability through the TFDM, with renewed industry interest from a partner on the aircraft side. “We have all this homework that people have been doing for the last 20-30 years,” he said. “Can we take advantage of the renewed interest from FAA and industry to enable this safety-enhancement?” His timeline estimate for a fully implemented system leans somewhere in the range of five to ten years. And the payoff, he says, will be tangible to anyone who flies. “This means that your flight will be safer than ever, and that your pilots will be focused on the right things during taxi. Instead of relying on pilots to write down their taxi clearance correctly or be familiar with the airport, the airplane will know and can double-check what the pilot is doing.” A Case for Partnership Cummings-Grande isn’t aware of another NASA researcher having taken this FAA course, and he thinks the model is worth repeating. He pointed to terminal procedures design (TERPS) as another area where FAA Academy training could benefit researchers working on urban air mobility and small UAS integration. “Anytime someone needs to do a deep dive into one of the systems — understanding the current state of practice, here are the buttons you push to make this happen — I think it’d be great to have an ongoing partnership with the FAA Academy and make that possible.” The FAA Academy team was, by all accounts, a willing partner. Will Cummings-Grande met an unexpected security detail during his final day at MMAC — a goose standing guard over a vintage Lear Fan 2100 parked outside the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. “I hear a hiss, and I look down, and there’s a goose who is defending their favorite airplane.”Credit: Will Cummings-Grande/NASAView the full article

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.” Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop in the foreground after creating a circular abrasion patch, with the western rim of Jezero Crater stretching into the background. During abrading, the rover grinds down a portion of the rock’s surface, allowing the science team to analyze what’s inside. The selfie was captured on March 11, the 1,797th Martian day (or sol) of the mission, during the rover’s deepest push west beyond the crater. Read more about Perseverance’s recent exploration. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video NASA’s Perseverance looks down at a rocky outcrop nicknamed “Arethusa” and then appears to look into the camera in this animated selfie, which is composed of 61 images taken March 11, 2026, during the rover’s deepest push west beyond Jezero Crater. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.” Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop on which it had just made a circular abrasion patch, with the western rim of Jezero Crater stretching into the background. The selfie was captured on March 11, the 1,797th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, during the rover’s deepest push west beyond the crater. Perseverance is in its fifth science campaign, known as the Northern Rim Campaign, of its mission on the Red Planet. The Lac de Charmes region represents some of the most scientifically compelling terrain the rover has visited. NASA’s Perseverance captured this enhanced-color panorama of an area nicknamed “Arbot” on April 5, the 1,882nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Made of 46 images, the panorama offers one of the richest geological vistas of the rover’s mission, revealing a windswept landscape of diverse rock textures.NASA/JPL-Caltech/****/MSSS “We took this image when the rover was in the ‘Wild West’ beyond the Jezero Crater rim — the farthest west we have been since we landed at Jezero a little over five years ago,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We had just abraded and analyzed the ‘Arethusa’ outcrop, and the rover was sitting in a spot that provided a great view of both the Jezero Rim and the local terrain outside of the crater.” During abrading, the rover grinds down a portion of the rock’s surface, allowing the science team to analyze what’s inside. The technique enabled the team to determine that the Arethusa outcrop is composed of igneous minerals that likely predate the formation of Jezero Crater. Igneous rocks with large mineral crystals form underground as molten rock cools and solidifies. Perseverance acquired the selfie — its sixth since landing on Mars in 2021 — using the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera mounted at the end of its robotic arm, which made 62 precision movements over approximately one hour to build the composite image (learn more about how selfies are made). Significant science Along with the selfie, Perseverance used Mastcam-Z, located on its mast, to capture a mosaic of the “Arbot” area in Lac de Charmes on April 5, or Sol 1882. Made of 46 images, the panorama offers one of the richest geological vistas of the mission, revealing a windswept landscape of diverse rock textures. The image provides the team a clear road map for investigating the ridgeline and the area’s ancient rock variety, including what appear to be megabreccia — large fragments (some the size of skyscrapers) hurled by a massive meteorite impact that occurred on the plain called Isidis Planitia about 3.9 billion years ago. “What I see in this image is excellent exposure of likely the oldest rocks we are going to investigate during this mission,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance’s deputy project scientist at Caltech in Pasadena. “There is a sharp ridgeline visible in the mosaic whose jagged, angular texture contrasts starkly with the rounded boulders in the foreground. We also see a feature that may be a volcanic *****, a vertical intrusion of magma that hardened in place and was left standing as the softer surrounding material eroded away over billions of years.” The rock color in the mosaic offers less information to the science team than the distinctive textures, which help them differentiate the rock types. Unlike Jezero Crater’s river delta, which is composed of sedimentary rock, some rocks here appear to be extrusive igneous rocks (molten rock that reached the surface as lava flows) and impactites (rocks created or modified by a meteorite impact) believed to have formed before the crater about 4 billion years ago, offering a window into the planet’s deep early crust. New ballgame, near-marathon distance “The rover’s study of these really ancient rocks is a whole new ballgame,” said Stack Morgan. “These rocks — especially if they’re from deep in the crust — could give us insights applicable to the entire planet, like whether there was a magma ocean on Mars and what initial conditions eventually made it a habitable planet.” After studying Arethusa, Perseverance drove northwest to the Arbot area, where it has been analyzing other rocky outcrops. When the team is satisfied with the work accomplished there, the rover will drive south to “Gardevarri,” a site with a notably clear exposure of olivine-bearing rocks. Formed in cooling magma, these types of rocks contain information that can help scientists better understand Mars’ volcanic history and provide context for large-scale geological processes. From there, the rover is expected to head southeast toward a region the team is calling “Singing Canyon” for more insights into the planet’s early crust. After more than five years of surface operations, Perseverance has abraded 62 rocks, collected 27 rock cores in its sample tubes (25 sealed, 2 unsealed), and traveled almost 26 miles (42 kilometers) — in other words, just shy of a marathon (26.2 miles, or 42.195 kilometers). “Having the benefit of four previous rover missions, the Perseverance team has always known our mission was a marathon and not a sprint,” said acting Perseverance project manager Steve Lee at JPL. “We’ve almost reached marathon distance. Our selfie may show that the rover is a bit dusty, but its beauty is more than skin deep. Perseverance is in great shape as we continue our explorations and extend into ultramarathon drive distances.” More about Perseverance NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The WATSON imaging system was built by, and is operated by, Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. To learn more about NASA’s Perseverance: [Hidden Content] News Media Contacts DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 *****@*****.tld Karen Fox / Alana Johnson NASA Headquarters, Washington 240-285-5155 / 202-672-4780 *****@*****.tld / alana.r*****@*****.tld 2026-032 Share Details Last Updated May 12, 2026 Related TermsPerseverance (Rover)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryMarsMars 2020Planetary Science Division Explore More 4 min read Hello Universe: NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor Undergoes Testing Article 2 hours ago 3 min read I Am Artemis: Kathleen Harmon Article 2 hours ago 3 min read NASA, Industry Advance High Performance Spaceflight Computing Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Mars Perseverance Rover The Mars Perseverance rover is the first leg the Mars Sample Return Campaign’s interplanetary relay team. Its job is to… Ingenuity Mars Helicopter NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completed 72 historic flights since first taking to the skies above the Red Planet. Mars Exploration Mars is the only planet we know of inhabited entirely by robots. Learn more about the Mars Missions. Planetary Science NASA’s planetary science program explores the objects in our solar system to better understand its history and the distribution of… View the full article