SpaceMan

NASA NASA and Voyager Technologies have signed an order for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than 2028 from Florida. This is the company’s first selection for a private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, underscoring NASA’s ongoing investment in fostering a commercial space economy and expanding opportunities for private industry in low Earth orbit. “Private astronaut missions are accelerating the growth of new ideas, industries, and technologies that strengthen America’s presence in low Earth orbit and pave the way for what comes next,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “With three providers now selected for private missions, NASA is doing everything we can to send more astronauts to space and ignite the orbital economy. Each new partner brings fresh capabilities that move us closer to a future with multiple commercially operated space stations and a vibrant, sustainable marketplace in low Earth orbit.” The mission, named VOYG-1, is expected to spend as many as 14 days aboard the space station. A specific launch date will depend on overall spacecraft traffic at the orbital outpost and other planning considerations. Voyager will submit four proposed crew members to NASA and its international partners for review. Once approved and confirmed, they will train with NASA, international partners, and the launch provider for their flight. “This award reflects decades of partnership with NASA and validates our belief that the infrastructure being built in low Earth orbit today is the launchpad for humanity’s future in deep space,” said Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO, Voyager. “From the International Space Station’s first commercial airlock to the seventh private astronaut mission, Voyager is committed to making American human spaceflight stronger, more capable, and more sustainable at every step of the journey.” The company will purchase mission services from NASA, including crew consumables, cargo delivery, storage, and other in-orbit resources for daily use. NASA will purchase the capability to return scientific samples that must remain cold during transit back to Earth. NASA made the selection from proposals received in response to its March 2025 NASA Research Announcement. Missions aboard the International Space Station, including private astronaut missions, help advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies in the unique microgravity environment. These commercial efforts in low Earth orbit help develop capabilities and technologies that could support NASA’s long-term goals for missions beyond low Earth orbit, including deep space exploration to the Moon and eventually to Mars through the agency’s Artemis program. Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy at: [Hidden Content] -end- Jimi Russell Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Anna Schneider / Joseph Zakrzewski Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Apr 15, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPrivate Astronaut MissionsCommercial SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)NASA Headquarters View the full article

Experiments and supplies bound for the International Space Station launched on April 11 as part of the agency’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 24 mission. As part of the approximately 11,000 pounds cargo that lifted off inside the company’s Cygnus XL spacecraft, NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) launched six CubeSats built by U.S. educational institutions and non-profit organizations. These CubeSats are Coconut, Harvard Undergraduate CubeSat (HUCSat), Low Earth Orbit Platform for Aerospace Research and Development Satellite 1 (LEOPARDSat-1), and three Pleiades Rapid Orbital Verification Experiment System (PROVES) CubeSats: PROVES – Alcyone, PROVES – Atlas, and PROVES – Electra. Each CubeSat is a small satellite that will deploy into orbit from the space station to conduct its experiments. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages CSLI and manifested these CubeSats on the mission as part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 58 launch grouping. Photo credit: SpaceX View the full article

Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News In Memoriam Announcements Archives 2 min read 2026 NSTA Hyperwall Schedule NASA Science at NSTA Hyperwall Schedule, April 16-18, 2026 Join NASA in the Exhibit Hall (Booth #1265) for Hyperwall Storytelling by NASA experts. Full Hyperwall Agenda below. THURSDAY, APRIL 16 11:00 AM Teaching Space Weather in the Artemis Mission Era Christina Milotte 11:15 AM 5E StoryMaps using NASA Resources Tina Harte Ballinger 11:30 AM Growing Beyond Earth: A Partnership Between Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden & NASA Amy Padolf 11:45 AM Learn Science by Doing Science: Real NASA Research That Your Class Can Do Today Sarah Kirn 12:00 PM Unlock NASA’s Eyes and Inspire the Scientists of Tomorrow Jason Craig 12:15 PM Access NASA Earth Data for your Class Angela Rizzi 12:30 PM Solar System Treks George Chang 12:45 PM Earth in Motion: How the NISAR Satellite Mission will Transform Our View of the Planet Erika Podest 1:30 PM Differentiated NASA Earth Data Analysis and Interpretation Angela Rizzi 1:45 PM Roman Space Telescope and Webb Space Telescope Begoña Vila 2:00 PM Earth in Motion: How the NISAR Satellite Mission will Transform Our View of the Planet Erika Podest 2:15 PM Solar System Treks George Chang 2:30 PM Unlock NASA’s Eyes and Inspire the Scientists of Tomorrow Jason Craig 2:45 PM Teaching Space Weather in the Artemis Mission Era Christina Milotte 3:00 PM Earth in Motion: How the NISAR Satellite Mission will Transform Our View of the Planet Erika Podest 3:45 PM Learn Science by Doing Science: Real NASA Research That Your Class Can Do Today Sarah Kirn FRIDAY, APRIL 17 11:00 AM NASA Solar System Ambassador Program Sarah Marcotte 11:15 AM Growing Beyond Earth: A Partnership Between Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden & NASA Amy Padolf 11:30 AM Access NASA Earth Data for your Class Angela Rizzi 11:45 AM Roman Space Telescope and Webb Space Telescope Begoña Vila 12:00 PM Learn Science by Doing Science: Real NASA Research That Your Class Can Do Today Sarah Kirn 12:15 PM Teaching Space Weather in the Artemis Mission Era Christina Milotte 12:30 PM 5E StoryMaps using NASA Resources Tina Harte Ballinger 1:30 PM Growing Beyond Earth: A Partnership Between Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden & NASA Amy Padolf 1:45 PM Learn Science by Doing Science: Real NASA Research That Your Class Can Do Today Sarah Kirn 2:00 PM Roman Space Telescope and Webb Space Telescope Begoña Vila 2:15 PM NASA Solar System Ambassador Program Sarah Marcotte View the full article

3 Min Read NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X PIA26748 Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al. Photojournal Navigation Science Photojournal NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps… Photojournal Home Photojournal Search Latest Content Galleries Feedback RSS About Downloads NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X JPEG (1.99 MB) PIA26748 Figure A JPEG (6.64 MB) Description An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy. One of several maps of molecular clouds made by SPHEREx, this observation is detailed in a study published April 15, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal. The study supports the hypothesis that interstellar ice forms on the surface of tiny dust particles no larger than particles found in the smoke from a candle. The findings show the densest regions of ice coincide with the densest regions of dust, and the dust shields the ice from the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by newborn stars. Figure A Figure A shows the same region, but in three different wavelengths assigned the colors green, blue, and red. This SPHEREx observation highlights the dark, dusty lanes that protect the water molecules from the intense radiation generated by newborn stars. Although space telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the agency’s retired Spitzer have detected water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other icy molecules throughout our galaxy, the SPHEREx observatory is the first infrared mission specifically designed to find such molecules over the entire sky, via the mission’s large-scale spectral survey. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the SPHEREx observatory launchedMarch 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features. By late 2025, SPHEREx had completed the first of four all-sky infrared maps of the universe, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to help answer major questions about the cosmos, including those about the origins of water and life. The mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the U.S. and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Principal Investigator Jamie Bock, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL Project Scientist Olivier Doré. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx dataset is freely available to scientists and the public. For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit: [Hidden Content] Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Photojournal Photojournal Search Photojournal Photojournal’s Latest Content Feedback View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Water ice highlighted Interstellar dust highlighted These observations made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveal vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. Water ice, shown as bright blue structures at left, exactly overlays the dark lanes of interstellar dust, shown in different wavelengths at right.NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al These observations made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveal vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. Water ice, shown as bright blue structures at left, exactly overlays the dark lanes of interstellar dust, shown in different wavelengths at right. Water ice highlightedInterstellar dust highlighted These observations made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveal vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. Water ice, shown as bright blue structures at left, exactly overlays the dark lanes of interstellar dust, shown in different wavelengths at right.NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al These observations made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveal vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. Water ice, shown as bright blue structures at left, exactly overlays the dark lanes of interstellar dust, shown in different wavelengths at right. Water ice highlighted Interstellar dust highlighted CurtainToggle2-Up Image Details These observations made by NASA’s SPHEREx mission reveal vast frozen complexes in the Cygnus X star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy. Water ice, shown as bright blue structures at left, exactly overlays the dark lanes of interstellar dust, shown in different wavelengths at right. NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Milky Way galaxy more than 600 light-years across, the ice was found inside giant molecular clouds — vast regions of gas and dust where dense clumps of matter collapse under gravity, giving birth to stars. A study describing these findings published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal. One of SPHEREx’s main goals is to map the chemical signatures of various types of interstellar ice. This ice includes molecules like water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which are vital to the chemistry that allows life to develop. Researchers believe these ice reservoirs, attached to the surfaces of tiny dust grains, are where most of the universe’s water is formed and stored. The water in Earth’s oceans — and the ices in comets and on other planets and moons in our galaxy — originates from these regions. “These vast frozen complexes are like ‘interstellar glaciers’ that could deliver a massive water supply to new solar systems that will be born in the region,” said study coauthor Phil Korngut, the instrument scientist for SPHEREx at Caltech in Pasadena, California. “It’s a profound idea that we are looking at a map of material that could rain on nascent planets and potentially support future life.” Thanks to its spectral capabilities, SPHEREx can measure the amounts of various ices and molecules, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in and around molecular clouds, helping scientists better understand their composition and environment.  Although space telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the agency’s retired Spitzer have detected water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other icy molecules throughout our galaxy, the SPHEREx observatory is the first infrared mission specifically designed to find such molecules over the entire sky via the mission’s large-scale spectral survey. “We expected to detect these ices in front of individual bright stars: The light from a star acts like a spotlight, revealing any ice in the space between us and that star. But this is something different,” said lead author Joseph Hora, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) at Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “When looking along the galactic plane — where most of the stars, gas, and dust of our galaxy are concentrated — there’s a lot of diffuse background light shining through entire dust clouds, and SPHEREx can see the spatial distribution of the ices they contain in incredible detail.” Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the SPHEREx observatory launched March 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features. By late 2025, SPHEREx had completed the first of four all-sky infrared maps of the universe, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to help answer major questions about the cosmos, including those about the origins of water and life. Icy origins Using the SPHEREx maps of various icy molecules, the study’s authors were able to look deep into many molecular clouds in the Cygnus X and North American Nebula regions of the Milky Way. In the densest areas, where the amount of dust is greatest, dark filamentary lanes block the visible light from the stars behind. With its infrared eye, the space telescope also revealed where the different ices — which absorb specific wavelengths of infrared light that would pass through the clouds if they consisted only of dust — are at their densest.  This finding supports the hypothesis that interstellar ice forms on the surface of tiny dust particles, which are no larger than particles found in candle smoke, and that the dense regions of dust shield the ices from the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by newborn stars. However, not all ices are treated the same way in the interstellar medium. “We can investigate the environmental factors that contribute to different ice formation rates across large areas of interstellar space,” said study coauthor Gary Melnick, also an astronomer at the CfA. “The SPHEREx mission’s ‘big picture’ view provides valuable new information you can’t get when zooming in on a small region.” Within this broad perspective, adds Melnick, SPHEREx can do something ground-based observatories cannot: detect varying amounts of water and carbon dioxide, two ices that respond differently to environmental factors. For example, the presence of intense ultraviolet light from nearby massive young stars or the heating of these dust grains by that light affects the abundances of different ices in distinct ways. This is just the beginning for the mission. Observations from SPHEREx will provide scientists with a powerful tool to explore the various components of our galaxy, the physics of the interstellar medium that lead to star and planet formation, and the chemical processes that deliver molecules essential for life to newly formed planets. More about SPHEREx The mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the U.S. and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Principal Investigator Jamie Bock, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL Project Scientist Olivier Doré. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx dataset is freely available to scientists and the public. For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit: [Hidden Content] Media Contacts Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 *****@*****.tld Alise Fisher NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-617-4977 *****@*****.tld Amy C. Oliver, FRAS Public Affairs Officer Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory *****@*****.tld 2026-022 Share Details Last Updated Apr 15, 2026 Related TermsSPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)AstrophysicsJet Propulsion LaboratoryNebulaeProtostarsStarsThe Milky Way Explore More 3 min read NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X Description An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of… Article 21 minutes ago 5 min read NASA Finds Young Stars Dim in X-rays Surprisingly Quickly Scientists have found that young stellar cousins of our Sun are calming down and dimming… Article 19 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Webb Redefines Dividing Line Between Planets, Stars Planets, like those in our solar system, form in a bottom-up process where small bits… Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics SPHEREx Stars Astronomers estimate that the universe could contain up to one septillion stars – that’s a one followed by 24 zeros.… Infrared Astronomy Beyond Visible Light The rainbow of light that the human eye can see is a small portion of the total… Cosmic Clouds in Cygnus These cosmic clouds of gas and dust driftthrough rich star fields along theplane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the… View the full article

NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA’s Artemis II crew – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – smile at friends, family, and colleagues. They shared brief remarks with the crowd after landing at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, 2026, after a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. View the latest imagery from the Artemis II mission on our Artemis II Multimedia Resource Page. Image credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas View the full article

Landsat Navigation Landsat Home Missions Landsat Next Landsat 9 Landsat 8 Landsat 7 Landsat 6 Landsat 5 Landsat 4 Landsat 3 Landsat 2 Landsat 1 News Latest News People of Landsat Q&As Newsletter Publications Data Overview Cal/Val Open Data Benefits Overview Agriculture & Food Security Disaster Management Ecosystems & Biodiversity Energy Resources Forest Management Human Health Urban Development Water Resources Wildfires Case Studies Outreach Multimedia About Search The Landsat 7 Science Team at the launch of the Landsat 7 satellite, April 15, 1999. In the more than five decades of the Landsat program, there have been many visionaries who have changed the course of remote sensing history. One such figure is Alexander Goetz, a physicist and planetary scientist who pioneered imaging spectrometry from space. Goetz was part of the Landsat Program from the very beginning, working as a principal investigator for Landsats 1 and 2. Years later, he returned to the program as a member of the first formal Landsat Science Team on Landsat 7. This diverse group of researchers, technologists, and calibration and applications specialists helped advance Landsat science goals, refined algorithms, and supported on-the-ground calibration. Crucially, the team advised on the creation of the long-term acquisition plan (LTAP), which ensured consistent global, seasonal coverage of Landsat data. Goetz, for his part, led a study titled “Land and Land-Use Change in the Climate Sensitive High Plains: An Automated Approach with Landsat”. Goetz, who passed away in 2025 at age 86, was an innovator in the field of spectrometry. According to a 2009 special issue of Remote Sensing of Environment, Goetz was “one of the few remote sensing scientists in the early days of the Landsat program to recognize the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and later the Thematic Mapper (TM) for what they really were: quantitative spectral measuring instruments, not just ‘cameras in space’ that made pretty pictures.” True to that vision, in 1974—just two years after the launch of Landsat 1—Goetz developed a portable field spectrometer to acquire ground truth surface reflectance data to calibrate data from the MSS. Building on the success of the field spectrometer experiment, he worked with a team to develop the Shuttle Multispectral Infrared Radiometer (SMIRR), which flew on the Space Shuttle in 1981. SMIRR, which collected data across ten bands, enabled scientists to map mineral composition from space for the first time. Data from SMIRR contributed to the case for adding band 7 to the TM on Landsat 4. By measuring data in the shortwave-infrared (SWIR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum, band 7 allowed geological researchers to better map rock types. Goetz was awarded the prestigious William T. Pecora Award and the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for his pioneering work on imaging spectrometry. Today, 27 years after the launch of Landsat 7, we honor the legacy of Alexander Goetz, one of the key figures in Landsat history. Explore More Honoring Alex Goetz, a Landsat Legend 2 min read Dr. Alex Goetz, who passed away in 2025, was a member of the Landsat 7 Science Team and a key… Apr 15, 2026 Article Megaberg Ends Its Long Odyssey at Sea 5 min read Antarctic Iceberg A-23A’s journey ends in fragmentation in the South Atlantic Ocean, after a 40-year lifespan documented by satellites. Apr 13, 2026 Article Snow in the Shadow of the Andes 2 min read An early autumn storm left higher elevations in southern Argentina with a fresh and fleeting coat of white. Apr 9, 2026 Article 1 2 3 … 303 Next View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Contours of the James Bay… 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 March 26, 2026 Early spring around Hudson Bay in northern Canada is largely indistinguishable from winter. Sea ice still clings to land, and the boggy lowlands remain frozen. In the dulled tones of the boreal landscape, however, snow helps accentuate the area’s subtle topography. In late March 2026, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of frozen channels feeding Hannah Bay—a southern offshoot of James Bay, which is itself an extension of Hudson Bay. Some of the patterns visible in the photo relate to the region’s ice age history. During the Pleistocene Epoch, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of present-day Canada. It centered on Hudson Bay, where its immense weight depressed the land. Since the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago, the ice has retreated and the land has been bouncing back. Glacial isostatic adjustment, or isostatic rebound, is relatively rapid around southern Hudson Bay; the surface continues to rise about 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) per year, or 1 meter per century. The process has left a fingerprint on the newly emerged land. In this photo, faint, closely spaced ridges parallel the shore of ice-covered James Bay at the terminus of the Harricana river. These beach ridges formed from tidal action reworking sands and silts along the shore, with newer ridges developing along the water as land rises and relative sea level drops. The Harricana and adjacent waterways flow through boreal peat bogs, or muskeg, in the Hudson Bay Lowlands on their journey out to sea. As the world’s second largest peatland complex, the lowlands store significant amounts of soil carbon. Elsewhere around the bay, the landscape retains features carved by glaciers, such as drumlins and eskers. With the approach of summer, the muted colors of the frozen months give way to a more varied palette. Peatlands take on a lush, green appearance, and partially decayed organic matter in the peat releases tannins that stain the water dark brown like a strong tea. Sea ice that has remained attached to the James Bay shoreline for several months typically begins to break up in mid- to late-May, with melting complete by the end of July. Astronaut photograph ISS074-E-417241 was acquired on March 26, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 200 millimeters. It was 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 Lindsey Doermann. Downloads March 26, 2026 JPEG (8.70 MB) References & Resources EBSCO Research Starters (2024) Hudson Bay. Accessed April 14, 2026. GRACE Tellus, Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA). Accessed April 14, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2023, June 17) James Bay Melts Out. Accessed April 14, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2016, October 1) Some Tea With Your River? Accessed April 14, 2026. Price, J.S., et al. (1988) Vegetation patterns in James Bay coastal marshes. II. Effects of hydrology on salinity and vegetation. ********* Journal of Botany, 66(12): 2586-2594. Rice, J.M., et al. (2024) The surficial geology record of ice stream catchment dynamics and ice-divide migration in the Quebec-Labrador sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Advances, 13, 100123. 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. 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 Antarctic Sea Ice Saw Its Third-Lowest Maximum 2 min read Sea ice around the southernmost continent hit one of its lowest seasonal highs since the start of the satellite record. Article Chilled New York City 3 min read Ice in the Hudson River hugged the shore of Manhattan amid a deep freeze. 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

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 4859-4866: One Small Crater and Thousands of Polygons NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image showing faint tracks behind the rover on April 9, 2026. The mission team used autonomous navigation during the end of this drive, so Curiosity herself made the decision to take the turns visible in the images. The rover captured this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Sol 4861, or Martian day 4,861 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, at 19:03:01 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, April 10, 2026 Curiosity spent the past week driving towards a small crater, about 10 meters (32 feet) in diameter. Today the team informally named this crater “Antofagasta,” after a region and major city in Chile next to the Atacama. Craters are very cool for many reasons, one of which is that they act as “nature’s drill,” exposing material to the surface through their walls and ejecta that would have otherwise been buried. From orbit, Antofagasta looks like it might be a relatively young crater (less than 50 million years old, which is young on a Martian geologic scale!), so there may be material in and around the crater that was only exposed to the harsh, organic-molecule destroying radiation environment on Mars’ surface in the very recent past. Curiosity has already found many hardy organic molecules that survived billions of years, but could there be an even ******* treasure trove of complex chemistry deep below the surface? Antofagasta could help us answer this question… but only if the crater is big enough to have excavated deep rocks, if it really is relatively young, and if we are able to find a rock we are confident was excavated from depth that also meets the physical requirements for Curiosity’s drill. That’s a lot of “ifs,” but also too exciting of an opportunity to drive by! We’ll be able to answer all these “ifs” and decide what to do once we get a much closer look at the crater from the ground next week. In the meantime, the journey to Antofagasta has been extremely interesting. Many of the rocks we’ve driven over have these incredible textures — thousands of honeycomb-shaped polygons crisscross their surface. Here’s one example, and here’s another example, both from Sol 4859. We’ve seen polygon-patterned rocks like these before, but they didn’t seem quite this dramatically abundant, stretching across the ground for meters and meters in our Mastcam mosaics. This week we continued to collect lots of images and chemical data that will help us distinguish between different hypotheses for how the honeycomb textures formed. We also continued to monitor Mars’ environment, with lots of dust-****** searches and images toward the horizon to characterize the Martian atmosphere as it grows predictably dustier approaching the warm summer months. I’m looking forward to seeing the data that should arrive on Earth by Tuesday morning. If all goes well, Curiosity will be perched on the edge of Antofagasta, sending images that will allow us humans to see the crater rim and into the interior for the first time from the ground. 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 Apr 14, 2026 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4852–4858: When Data Take Their Time… Article 1 day ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4845-4851: Bye-Bye Boxwork, Bye-Bye Article 1 day ago 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4838-4844: Wrapping Up the Boxwork Terrain 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

Trumpler 3 and NGC 2353 (Labeled). X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ/K. Getman; Optical/IR: PanSTARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Scientists have found that young stellar cousins of our Sun are calming down and dimming more quickly in their X-ray output than previously thought, according to a new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. A paper describing the results published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal. Unlike in the new movie “Project Hail Mary,” this quieting of young stars is a benefit for the prospects for life on orbiting planets around these stars — not a threat. Astronomers used Chandra and other telescopes to monitor how powerful radiation from young stars — often in the form of dangerous X-rays — can pummel planets surrounding them. They did not know, however, how long this high-energy barrage continued. This latest study looked at eight clusters of stars between the ages of 45 million and 750 million years old. The researchers found that Sun-like stars in these clusters unleashed only about a quarter to a third of the X-rays they expected. “While science fiction – like the microbes in Project Hail Mary – imagines alien life that dims stellar output by consuming its energy, our real observations reveal a natural ‘quieting’ of young Sun-like stars in X-rays,” said Konstantin Getman, the lead author of the new study from Penn State University. “This is not because an outside force is consuming their light, but because their internal generation of magnetic fields becomes less efficient.” In fact, this calming could be a boon to the formation of life on planets around stars that are younger versions of our own Sun. (Our Sun is about 4.6 billion years old, so significantly older than the stellar cousins in this study.) This is because large amounts of X-rays can erode a planet’s atmosphere and prevent formation of molecules necessary for organic life as we know it. On average, three-million-year-old stars with a mass equal to the Sun produce about a thousand times more X-rays than today’s Sun. Meanwhile, 100-million-year-old solar-mass stars are about 40 times brighter in X-rays than the present Sun. Illustration of a young Sun-like star eroding some of the atmosphere of an orbiting planet. NASA/SAO/CXC/M. Weiss “It’s possible that we owe our existence to our Sun doing the same thing, several billion years ago, that we see these young stars doing now,” said co-author Vladimir Airapetian of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This real-world dimming echoes the dramatic stellar change in fiction, but it may be even more fascinating because it highlights our own Sun’s actual history.” The researchers found that stars with about the same mass as the Sun quieted down relatively rapidly — after a few hundred million years — while ones with less mass kept up their high levels of X-ray emission for longer. Combined with a decrease in the energy of the X-rays and the disappearance of energetic particles, the Sun-sized stars are apparently better suited to host planets with robust atmospheres and possibly blossoming life than previously thought. The research team also used data from ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Gaia satellite and X-ray data from the ROSAT (ROentgen SATellite) mission. This data allowed them to identify the stars that were members of the clusters (not foreground or background stars). To measure the X-ray output from the stars, they made new Chandra observations of five clusters with ages between 45 million and 100 million years, in addition to using Chandra and ROSAT data from archives to study three older clusters with ages between 220 and 750 million years. Astronomers have not been able to study the X-ray output of stars in this age range well before. Most astronomers have relied on sparse data and a derived relation that predicts the X-ray emission young stars should produce based on their ages and rates of spin. Older and more slowly rotating stars are usually fainter in X-rays, but the team found that X-ray output drops off about 15 times more rapidly than the derived relation predicts during this specific adolescent phase. “We can only see our Sun at this current snapshot in time, so to really understand its past we must look to other stars with about the same mass,” said co-author Eric Feigelson, also of Penn State University. “By studying X-rays from stars that are hundreds of millions of years old, we have filled in a large gap in our understanding of their evolution.” While they are still investigating the cause of this slower-than-expected activity, scientists think the process that generates magnetic fields in these stars may become less efficient. This would lead to the stars becoming quieter in X-rays more quickly, as they age. The researchers will continue to look at this and other potential causes for the rapid dimming of young Sun-like stars. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here: [Hidden Content] [Hidden Content] News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 *****@*****.tld Joel Wallace Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 *****@*****.tld View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA/Keegan Barber Since it began in 1958, NASA has been charged by law with spreading the word about its work to the widest extent practicable. From typewritten press releases to analog photos and film, the agency has effectively moved into social media and other online communications. NASA’s broad reach across digital platforms has been recognized by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), with 7 nominations across multiple categories for the academy’s 30th annual Webby Awards. Public Voting Opportunities Voting for the Webby People’s Voice Awards—chosen by the public—is open now through Thursday, April 16. Voting links for each category are listed below. 30th Annual Webby Award Nominees AI, Immersive & Games Hearing Hubble NASA Goddard Immersive Content: Science & Education Social NASA’s Webb Telescope and the Universe: Using social media to connect us all NASA Goddard Social Campaigns: Education & Science Nerdy Words NASA Marshall Social Video Short Form: Education & Science NASA Astronauts Posts from Space NASA General Social: Education & Science Video & Film Cosmic Dawn (NASA+ Original Documentary) NASA General Video and Film: Documentary: Longform Podcasts Houston We Have a Podcast: Artemis II: The Mission NASA Johnson Individual Episodes: Science & Education NASA’s Curious Universe: The Earth Series NASA Limited-Series & Specials: Health, Science, & Education About the Webby Awards Established in 1996 during the web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the IADAS—a 3000+ member judging body. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities—and associate members who are former Webby winners, nominees and other internet professionals. The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open web, the Webby People’s Voice is chosen by the voting public, and garners millions of votes from all over the world. View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) 2025-2026 Dream with Us Winners Congratulation to our 2025-2026 Dream with Us Design Challenge Winners! We are pleased to share this year’s winning projects: Middle School 1st Place: Scout Farm (Varenya D., Aashritha P., and Alvitha P., NJ) 2nd Place: AgriTech (Charlotte W. and Richard F., CA) 3rd Place: AgriDrone (Hasini B. and Kanishka A, TX and CA) High School 1st Place: SkySeekers (****** Vista High School and Foothill High School, CA) Team SkySeekers Engineering Notebook 2nd Place: AeroForge (Adrian Wilcox High School, CA) Team AeroForge Engineering Notebook 3rd Place: Flight Fusion Team (Eastern Technical High School, Damascus High School, Dulaney High School, and Thomas Wooten High School, MD) Team Flight Fusion Engineering Notebook Dream with Us Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASAes @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans In Space Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Apr 14, 2026 EditorLillian GipsonContactJim Banke*****@*****.tld Related TermsAeronautics STEM View the full article

NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist hugs the Orion spacecraft in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha, Saturday, April 11, 2026.NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, hugs the Orion spacecraft in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha, Saturday, April 11, 2026. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, on Friday, April 10. After splashdown, the astronauts were met by a combined NASA and U.S. military team that assisted them out of the spacecraft in open water and transported them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha for initial medical checkouts. On April 11, the astronauts returned to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a news conference. Artemis II is the first crewed mission in the program. Lessons learned from this test flight will inform our return to the lunar surface and future missions to Mars. Learn more about the cadence for upcoming Artemis missions. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory April 2026 Satellite… 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 Every month, NASA Earth Observatory features a puzzling satellite image. The April 2026 puzzler appears above. Your Challenge Identify the location shown in this satellite image. Share what clues you see, where you think it is, and what makes this place interesting or unique to you. How to Answer Submit your response using this form and select “Puzzler Answer” as the topic. Please include your preferred name or alias. You can keep it simple and just guess the location. Want to impress us? Tell us which satellite and instrument captured the image, which spectral bands were used, or point out a subtle detail about the geology or history of the area. If something catches your eye, or if this is your home or means something to you, we’d love to hear about it. The Prize We can’t offer prize money or a trip to space to see Earth like satellites and astronauts do. But we can offer something almost as rewarding: puzzler bragging rights. About a week after the challenge, we’ll post the answer at the top of this page, along with a link to an Earth Observatory Image of the Day story that explains the image in more detail. We’ll recognize the first person who correctly guesses the location, and we may also highlight readers who share especially thoughtful or interesting answers. By submitting a response, you acknowledge that your comments may be edited, excerpted, and published on this page. Until then, zoom in, look closely, and enjoy the challenge. See you at the reveal! View the full article

3 Min Read Nutrition Research Arrives Aboard Space Station NASA astronaut Jessica Meir dines on fresh Mizuna mustard greens she harvested earlier that day aboard the International Space Station. Credits: NASA No matter how far humanity aims to travel or how ambitious the mission, nutrition will play a key role for the crew members on distant worlds. Before planning long-term stays on the Moon, Mars, and beyond, humans must learn to grow and care for plants and other sources of nutrition like algae to keep the explorers taking part in these adventures fed. To solve this problem, NASA and its partners are conducting research aboard the International Space Station to better understand how the space environment affects nutrition-relevant organisms. Several investigations aboard Northrop Grumman’s 24th commercial resupply mission for NASA support efforts to maintain crew diets as humanity ventures deeper into the cosmos. Studying plant-microbe interactions Alfalfa plants in a growth chamber with LED lights during a preflight experiment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Dr. Tom Dreschel Certain plants have bacteria in their roots that can take nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form of food that plants can use for growth. NASA’s Veg-06 studies alfalfa (Medicago sativa), a model organism, to determine how the plant interacts with this bacterium in space. This study also examines the effects of reduced lignin, which reinforces cell walls and helps plants to grow upright against gravity. In microgravity, plants may not need lignin, and reduced levels could allow plant parts to be more easily recycled, facilitating the growth of future plant generations. Improved algae cultivation Preflight image of spirulina growth in plant experiment units as part of the Space Surface Spirulina investigation.Chitose Laboratory Corporation. Other forms of nutrition that could support crew health include spirulina (Arthorospira), a type of algae high in protein, B vitamins, and antioxidants. Spirulina also has an added benefit of converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, helping replenish a crew’s air supply. While spirulina is typically grown in water tanks, a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) experiment called Space Surface Spirulina is testing a method to grow the algae on a thin-film surface. This method allows more efficient production of this high-protein food while conserving water and producing fresh oxygen aboard spacecraft. Seed studies for better spaceflight plants European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake poses with arugula seed packets aboard the International Space Station during the European Space Agency-Education Payload Operation-Peake (ESA-EPO-Peake) investigation.ESA/NASA The ESA (European Space Agency) investigation Seed Vigour exposes seeds from several plant species to spaceflight conditions aboard the space station to determine if seed growth is affected. The research builds on a 2015 study in which arugula seeds spent six months in orbit. After returning to Earth, the seeds were distributed to schools in the United Kingdom for further study. The data contributed to a 2020 publication which found that the space-flown arugula seeds took longer to sprout and demonstrated signs of partial aging, but spaceflight did not compromise seed survival or seedling development. This new study, flying aboard the resupply mission aims to determine whether these findings apply to other plant species and could help researchers find better ways to protect crop seeds during long-duration space missions. ********* Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques holds a bag of thousands of tomato seeds.CSA/NASA The Tomatosphere 9 investigation by the CSA (********* Space Agency) is exposing 1.8 million tomato seeds to microgravity conditions aboard the orbiting laboratory to give students an opportunity to study how the space environment affects plant growth. After the seeds return to Earth, they will be distributed to schools across the United States and Canada, where students can plant them alongside ground controls in a blind study to compare results. Together, these studies aboard space station deepen researchers’ understanding of nutrition in space and inform ways to better grow and maintain food sources that will keep crews healthy on future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Latest News from Space Station Research International Space Station Space Station Research and Technology Humans In Space View the full article

Share Details Last Updated Apr 14, 2026 Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Laura Betz NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland laura.e*****@*****.tld Christine Pulliam Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Related Terms James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research The Universe Related Links and Documents Article: “NASA’s Webb Images Young, Giant Exoplanets, Detects Carbon Dioxide”

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Super Typhoon Sinlaku 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 Super Typhoon Sinlaku spins over the North Pacific Ocean in this image acquired on April 13, 2026, with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison In mid-April 2026, a powerful typhoon bore down on the Mariana Islands in the North Pacific Ocean. The storm, Super Typhoon Sinlaku, was notable for reaching such exceptional strength so early in the year. The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image at about 03:30 Universal Time (1:30 p.m. local time) on April 13, 2026, as Sinlaku approached the islands. At the time, the storm carried sustained winds of around 280 kilometers (175 miles) per hour. That places it as a violent typhoon—the highest intensity on the scale used by the Japan Meteorological Agency and equivalent to a category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. The storm continued along its northwest track toward the Marianas on the morning of April 14, as storm bands began to bring heavy rain to the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, according to an update from the National Weather Service. Forecasts called for typhoon conditions to affect Saipan and Tinian from April 14 into April 15 before subsiding to tropical storm conditions. Though Super Typhoon Sinlaku occurred in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, it formed gravity waves that were visible much higher. The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite captured this nighttime image of the concentric waves made visible in the mesosphere by airglow. Sinlaku is the second category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026, following Horacio, which churned over the South Indian Ocean in late February. Meteorologists note that Sinlaku is also one of only a handful of category 5 typhoons—a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean—known to have occurred so early in the year. Meanwhile, several other storms spun over the planet’s oceans. On April 10, Tropical Cyclone Maila rotated in the opposite direction across the equator, and on April 12, Tropical Cyclone Vaianu crossed New Zealand’s North Island. NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Story by Kathryn Hansen. Downloads April 13, 2026 JPEG (2.47 MB) References & Resources CIMSS Satellite Blog (2026, April 12) Super Typhoon Sinlaku rapidly intensifies to a Category 5 storm. Accessed April 13, 2026. Japan Meteorological Agency (2026, April 13) Tropical Cyclone Information. Accessed April 13, 2026. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2026, April 13) Super Typhoon 04W (Sinlaku) Warning #20. Accessed April 13, 2026. National Weather Service (2026, April 14) Zone Forecast for Guam and the Northern Marianas. Accessed April 13, 2026. Yale Climate Connections (2026, April 12) Cat 5 Super Typhoon Sinlaku the 2nd-strongest typhoon so early in the year. Accessed April 13, 2026. Yale Climate Connections (2026, February 23) Tropical Cyclone Horacio: Earth’s first Category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026. Accessed April 13, 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. Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia 3 min read The powerful storm lashed the northern edge of the continent with damaging winds and drenching rain as it made landfall… Article A Second Cyclone Slams Madagascar 3 min read Widespread flooding affected tens of thousands of people after cyclones Fytia and Gezani drenched the island. Article Senyar Swamps Sumatra 3 min read A rare tropical cyclone dropped torrential rains on the Indonesian island, fueling extensive and destructive floods. 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

Pictured above is the top four-fifths of the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage – the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt. NASA will roll the largest section of the agency’s SLS rocket that will launch the second crewed Artemis mission under the Artemis III mission out of NASA’s the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility on Monday, April 20.Credit: NASA NASA will roll the largest section of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which will launch the second crewed Artemis mission, out of the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday, April 20. What’s called the top four-fifths of the SLS core stage – the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt – will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak with NASA subject matter experts and Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge. This event is open to U.S. media, who must apply by Wednesday, April 15. Interested media must contact Jonathan Deal at jonathan.e*****@*****.tld and Craig Betbeze at *****@*****.tld. Registered media will receive confirmation and additional information about the event by email. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online. Once at NASA Kennedy, teams will complete the stage outfitting and vertical integration before handing the hardware over to the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program that will handle stacking and launch preparations. The Artemis III SLS engine section and boat-tail, which protects the engines during launch, moved from the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy to the Vehicle Assembly Building in July 2025. The four core stage RS-25 engines are scheduled to ship from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi no later than July 2026 for integration into the engine section. The rocket stage with its four RS-25 engines will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III mission. Artemis III currently is scheduled for launch in 2027, following the successful Artemis II test flight mission around the Moon that concluded April 10. Building, assembling, and transporting the core stage is a collaborative process for NASA, Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and lead RS-25 engines contractor L3Harris Technologies. The core stage is the backbone of the SLS rocket. All five major structures for the rocket stage are manufactured at NASA Michoud. By optimizing space at NASA Kennedy and NASA Michoud for production, integration, and outfitting, NASA and industry can streamline production for a standardized SLS configuration for NASA’s Artemis program. The Artemis III mission will launch to Earth’s orbit American astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028. The SLS rocket is the only rocket capable of sending Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch. Artemis III is the second crewed mission under the agency’s Artemis program, where NASA is sending 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 build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program: [Hidden Content] -end- James Gannon Headquarters, Washington 202-664-7828 james.h*****@*****.tld Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256.631.9126 jonathan.e*****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Apr 13, 2026 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsMissionsArtemisArtemis 3Michoud Assembly FacilitySpace Launch System (SLS) View the full article

NASA’s 32nd annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge, one of the agency’s longest-standing student challenges, culminated April 10-11 with its final excursion event at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Spanning nine months, the challenge tasks student teams from around the world to design, build, and test a lunar rover powered by either human pilots or remote control. The annual competition concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing the top-performing teams. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This video highlights student teams from around the world that competed in NASA’s 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge, held April 10–11 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Teams navigated a challenging obstacle course and completed complex mission tasks using human-powered and remote-controlled rovers.NASA In the human-powered division, Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas earned first place in the high school division, while the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri, won the college and university title. In the remote-control division, Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, earned the top award in the middle and high school division, and The University of Alabama in Huntsville in Huntsville, Alabama, secured the college and university title. More than 500 students representing 42 teams from around the world participated in the 32nd annual competition. Teams included students from 28 colleges and universities, 13 high schools, and one middle school across 18 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Teams were scored on their ability to navigate a half-mile obstacle course, complete mission-specific task challenges, and pass multiple safety and design reviews conducted by NASA engineers, with awards presented across human-powered and remote-control divisions. “This challenge gives students a hands-on opportunity to think like engineers and problem-solvers, applying real-world design principles to complex exploration scenarios,” said Vemitra Alexander, who leads the Human Exploration Rover Challenge for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “By encouraging innovation and teamwork, we’re helping prepare the next generation to contribute to missions that will take us farther into space.” Here is the full list of winners: Human-Powered High School Division First Place: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas Second Place: Kealakehe High School, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Third Place: Debbie Smith Career and Technical Education Academy, Reno, Nevada Human-Powered College/University Division First Place: University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri Second Place: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island Third Place: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division First Place: Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine Second Place: SoulPhamm, South Plainfield, New Jersey Third Place: Space and Engineering Technologies Academy, San Antonio, Texas Remote-Control College/University Division First Place: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama Second Place: South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota Third Place: Florida Atlantic University, Boca ******, Florida Rookie of the Year Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine Task Challenge Award Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine College/University Division: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island Ingenuity Award Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Phoenix Award Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine College/University Division: University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. Project Review Award Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: SoulPhamm, South Plainfield, New Jersey College/University Division: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama Industry STEM Engagement Award Human-Powered High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado College/University Division: Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine Community STEM Engagement Award Human-Powered High School Division: Debbie Smith Career and Technical Education Academy, Reno, Nevada College/University Division: Universidad Aeronáutica en Querétaro, Coyote, Mexico Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Chaminade High School, Mineola, New York College/University Division: ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, India Social Media Award Human-Powered High School Division: Albertville Innovation Academy, Albertville, Alabama College/University Division: Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Space and Engineering Technologies Academy, San Antonio, Texas College/University Division: ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, India Team Spirit Award Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ****** and Burn Award The University of Alabama in Huntsville (Human Powered), Huntsville, Alabama Most Improved Performance Award Human-Powered High School Division: Kealakehe High School, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii College/University Division: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Safety Award High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri Pit Crew Award High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Featherweight Award Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina The rover challenge is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis program, which will land Americans on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration, preparing for future human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The competition is managed by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Marshall. Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated – with many former students working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry. Learn more about the Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Share Details Last Updated Apr 13, 2026 EditorLee MohonContactLance D. Davis*****@*****.tldLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsMarshall Space Flight Center View the full article

Credit: NASA NASA has selected Development Seed of Washington to provide research and development services to the Office of Data Science and Informatics (ODSI) at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The award is a performance-based, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of $76 million. A phase-in ******* begins on May 15, 2026, followed by a two-year base ordering *******, with three one-year options to extend services through June 2031. Under the contract, Development Seed will provide scientific research and development support services for ODSI projects, including system architecture expertise, operations and maintenance of ODSI-developed tools and platforms, and systematic approaches to data curation, management, and stewardship. The contractor also will provide subject matter expertise in informatics, data science, and information management, as well as develop and deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to advance science data systems. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Jennifer Dooren / Jessica Taveau Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Molly Porter Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-424-5158 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Apr 13, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsMarshall Space Flight Center View the full article

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 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4852–4858: When Data Take Their Time… NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mast Camera (Mastcam), showing polygons and other interesting textures that characterize the terrain beyond the boxwork area. Curiosity captured the image on April 3, 2026 — Sol 4855, or Martian day 4,85 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:26:28 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, *** Earth planning date: Friday, April 3, 2026 I was the geology science team lead on Monday for planning Sols 4852-4853, when our data did not arrive on time for planning. Thus, we got creative as a team thinking what we could do, not knowing where exactly our rover might be. And for that we first thought about AEGIS, the capability of the rover to find a target for ChemCam LIBS measurements on its own. We normally use this capability after drives, before we have seen the data here on Earth, to get an extra LIBS measurement. This time, we put two of those observations into the plan, and added many atmospheric and environmental observations, such as dust-****** movies, too. It’s an interesting planning session that always makes the team talk more than normal, because there are no routines for those days! I find it both tense and rewarding at the same time. Anything that isn’t quite as expected adds levels of complexity that require more focus and more thinking, hence making me tense. But it is also really nice when we’ve succeeded in making the best of those days. My colleagues also seem to have lots of energy and are especially supportive of each other. That said, like everyone else I prefer the routine days where everything goes right and we focus on the science. All our data arrived perfectly fine in time for planning on Wednesday and we found ourselves in a terrain with many blocks that have polygons on their top surface. Do check out the images, it’s a wild terrain that reminded me of some boulder-rich terrains we have seen back on the margins of the Gediz Vallis Channel. It is interesting to see the distribution of the blocks, and I am curious how they might change along the traverse up Mount Sharp. For now, we have an activity that we call “MARDI sidewalk” in the plan. This means the MARDI camera takes images while the rover is driving, on Sol 4855. Those image sequences give great insights into changing terrains, and we are looking forward to the data reaching us! Over the course of the week, ChemCam did three AEGIS observations and four human-pointed observations on the targets “Las Petas,” “Punta ******,” “Pampa del Molle,” and “Los Condores.” We were trying to measure the normal-looking bedrock and all the different features, some of which you can see in the image above. We want to find out what the higher-standing materials are that form those prominent polygons. APXS is getting four targets in the plan, also looking at the diversity of rocks. These are called “Rio Espiritu Santo,” “La Escalera,” “Los Condores,” and “Tropico de Capricornio.” It’s all focused on understanding what forms the polygons, because any differences in chemistry could tell us a lot about what happened and how the polygons came to be. By extension, this will then allow the team to deduce the environmental conditions at the time the polygons formed. As you may guess, imaging is very important in a landscape as varied as this! Mastcam is looking in many directions in the near-field and further up the road — our projected drive path. In addition, ChemCam is taking long-distance images with its Remote Micro Imager (RMI) to get a closer look at the walls around us. The butte called “Mishe Mokwa” is still one of the RMI and Mastcam favorites because it gives us many insights into its structure as we are driving past and also somewhat around it. Atmospheric and environmental observations occur all across the plans and include atmospheric opacity measurements, dust-****** searches and, in Friday’s plan, also an APXS atmospheric measurement. The DAN instrument is monitoring water in the subsurface across all plans. So, it’s three full plans, despite the little extra wait on the data! And while I am writing this, four astronauts in the Orion capsule are on the way around the Moon. I am very excited! When Apollo 8 was the very first mission to ever fly around the Moon in December 1968, I wasn’t born yet. In fact, I arrived a few months after Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon for the first time. Now being able to witness these lunar missions myself, to hear the voices between the Integrity spacecraft and the control room in Houston, and to see the pictures as they arrive … magnificent! Go, Artemis II! 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 Apr 13, 2026 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4845-4851: Bye-Bye Boxwork, Bye-Bye Article 28 minutes ago 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4838-4844: Wrapping Up the Boxwork Terrain Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4832–4837: Driving the (Contact) Line! Article 4 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

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 4845-4851: Bye-Bye Boxwork, Bye-Bye NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, showing the polygonal sulfate unit currently being investigated by the rover after leaving the boxwork terrain. Curiosity captured the image using its Left Navigation Camera on March 27, 2026 — Sol 4848, or Martian day 4,848 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 10:43:16 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lucy Thompson, APXS Strategic Planner and Planetary Geologist at the University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth planning date: Friday, March 27, 2026 Last weekend’s drive took us just over the southernmost contact of the boxwork terrain with the surrounding layered sulfate unit. This was our third time crossing this contact, providing an excellent opportunity to look for any changes across it. We have acquired multiple observations (chemistry and imaging for textures) of the boxwork-bearing bedrock close to the contact. We are also interested in determining whether the layered sulfate unit to the south of the boxwork terrain has the same depositional setting as that encountered to the north. Is the composition the same as the typical layered sulfate unit we encountered prior to the boxwork, or could there be a change associated with a different depositional environment, source sediment, or potential alteration along the contact with the boxwork? Unfortunately, although the weekend drive was successful, Curiosity was not on stable enough ground coming into planning Monday to brush the dusty bedrock, although we were able to get MAHLI imaging of a block within the workspace. The rover engineers repositioned the rover so that we could safely unstow the arm, brush, image with MAHLI, and analyze with APXS the layered sulfate unit bedrock just across the contact (“Santa Rosa”) in Wednesday’s plan. We also looked at a concentration of granules with APXS and MAHLI (“Piedra Colgada”). They appear to be a collection of fine nodules that eroded from the bedrock, thereby allowing us to obtain chemical and textural data on these nodules. The drive planned on Wednesday took us another 50 meters (about 164 feet) away from the boxwork, to a stunning sulfate unit workspace. The bedrock contained abundant resistant ridges forming a polygonal pattern. We wanted to compare these current exposures with polygonal textures observed previously, for example, within the boxwork, the sulfate unit before the boxwork, and the clay-sulfate transition. We are brushing two spots on the bedrock in front of us (“Ocharaza” and “Nevado Tres Cruces”) and analyzing them both with APXS and MAHLI for chemistry and texture. Across the three plans, Mastcam imaging was acquired of the boxwork terrain behind, the sulfate unit ahead, and the rocks immediately in front of us. In particular, this weekend’s plan was jam-packed full of mosaics to capture the amazing polygonal textures surrounding the rover. The planned 30-meter drive (about 98 feet) should keep us in this same terrain. The environmental group has also been busy planning multiple observations to monitor atmospheric opacity, optical depth and aerosol scattering properties, clouds, wind direction, and potential dust-****** activity. Navcam and Mastcam are utilized to make these observations. As usual, our plans this week included the standard DAN, REMS and RAD activities. 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 Apr 13, 2026 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4852–4858: When Data Take Their Time… Article 36 seconds ago 4 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4838-4844: Wrapping Up the Boxwork Terrain Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read Curiosity Blog, Sols 4832–4837: Driving the (Contact) Line! Article 4 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

NASA’s Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, shared brief remarks with friends, family, and colleagues after they landed at Ellington Airport near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, 2026, after a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Fresh off their return to Earth, the Artemis II astronauts will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, April 16, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss their historic mission around the Moon. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (********* Space Agency) Jeremy Hansen, will answer questions about their mission. The crew returned to Earth on April 10, splashing down off the coast of San Diego, and arrived in Houston on April 11, where they are undergoing standard postflight reconditioning, evaluations, and lunar science debriefs. NASA will provide live coverage of the news conference on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of additional online platforms, including social media. Media are invited to attend in person or by phone. In-person attendanceis limited to media previously credentialed by NASA Johnson for the Artemis II mission. To attend in person, contact the NASA Johnson newsroom by 5 p.m. CDT Tuesday, April 14, at *****@*****.tld. NASA is unable to provide additional credentials for international media beyond those previously approved for mission coverage. Media joining by phone must RSVP to the NASA Johnson newsroom via email by 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, April 15. Those participating by phone must dial in no later than 10 minutes before the start of the event. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available on the agency’s website. The Artemis II mission launched April 1 on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the nearly 10‑day test flight, the crew achieved the mission’s primary objectives, including testing its life support systems; manually piloting the Orion spacecraft; performing maneuvers to propel Orion to the Moon and adjust its course; conducting a lunar flyby with unprecedented views of the Moon’s far side; and completing a safe re-entry and recovery. The astronauts also set a record for the farthest distance traveled by humans away from Earth. As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly challenging missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and lay the groundwork for sending the first astronauts – American astronauts – to Mars. Learn more about the mission by visiting: [Hidden Content] -end- Rachel Kraft / Lauren Low Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 rachel.h*****@*****.tld / lauren.e*****@*****.tld Courtney Beasley Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Apr 13, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsArtemis 2ArtemisEarth's MoonExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateHumans in SpaceJohnson Space Center View the full article

NASA/Bill Ingalls The first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century are back on Earth after a record-setting mission aboard NASA’s Artemis II test flight. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Christina Koch (mission specialist), Victor Glover (pilot), and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist) pose for a group photo in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha after inspecting the Orion spacecraft on Saturday, April 11, 2026. The crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday, April 10, at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT), marking the completion of their Artemis II mission. After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts were met by a combined NASA and U.S. military team that assisted them out of the spacecraft in open water and transported them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha for initial medical checkouts. Artemis II is the first crewed flight aboard NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions. View the full article

4 Min Read NASA Night-light Imagery Tracks US Energy Transition, Global Volatility This data visualization shows how nighttime light changed between 2014 and 2022 around the globe. For each date range, we see how much night lights changed during that *******. Derived from satellite imagery taken daily over the past decade, golden areas feature brightening, purple areas feature dimming, and white areas show both kinds of changes. See full video. Credits: Kel Elkins/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio New nighttime maps based on NASA satellite imagery are upending assumptions, revealing a world where artificial brightening and dimming have intensified over the past decade. The findings show intense flaring over major oil and gas fields in the United States, while factors such as rural electrification and energy conservation are changing how billions around the world experience the night. Scientists analyzed 1.6 million satellite images collected every night for nine years to picture Earth in a new light. Their findings reveal a world flickering with change. Data image by Michala Garrison/ NASA Earth Observatory “Unlocking energy sector insights is just one way NASA data is advancing national security interests at a critical time,” said Miguel Román, deputy director for atmospheres and data systems at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Earth at night has so much to teach us.” The study team, led by Tian Li and Zhe Zhu at the University of Connecticut, used a new algorithm to analyze 1.16 million satellite images collected at approximately 1:30 a.m. local time every day for nine years by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The refrigerator-size sensors, orbiting Earth at over 16,000 mph, can resolve light sources down to the scale of a toll booth on a dark highway. They fly aboard Earth science satellites that were launched and operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The analysis, reported April 8 in Nature, covered most of the inhabited world, from latitudes between 60 degrees south and 70 degrees north. During the time frame analyzed—2014 to 2022—domestic production of oil and natural gas reached record levels, driven by technological developments and horizontal drilling. Satellite imagery revealed cycles of intense gas flaring over central U.S. regions, particularly the Permian Basin in Texas and North Dakota’s Bakken Formation. Flaring occurs at oil wellheads when excess gas—mostly methane—is burned off. The process releases carbon dioxide and soot, among other byproducts. Flared gas is money burned, said Deborah Gordon, a methane expert at the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) who was not involved in the study. “Letting operators, investors, and insurers know that this is happening is a huge value proposition, both privately and publicly to the world. And it all starts with taxpayer dollars and NASA.” Scientists, such as Gordon, and analysts across industries, use NASA night-light data to understand how energy moves through grids, pipelines, and supply chains in near real time. The data is free to access via the agency’s ****** Marble product suite. “Understanding where gas is being wasted around the globe and to have this data be public is huge for energy, and economic and environmental security,” Gordon said. “The ****** Marble product provides free, openly validated flaring data that are critical inputs into RMI’s suite of public tools.” City of Light saves energy, global shocks revealed The latest nighttime maps also challenge some long-held assumptions. Instead of a planet that simply glows brighter over time due to development—the prevailing view among researchers for decades—the new analysis portrays a world flickering with industrial booms and busts, construction, and blackouts, as well as more gradual shifts, such as policy-driven retrofits. The study team was able to detect changes in night lights continuously, pixel by pixel, using methods that filter out interference from moonlight, clouds, and atmospheric effects. Their approach acts like giving satellites “smart glasses,” allowing them to focus on real changes. Overall, the researchers found that global radiance increased by 34% 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 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% dimming), the *** (22% dimming), and the Netherlands (21% dimming). European nights dimmed sharply in 2022 during a regional energy crisis that followed the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Tracking such dips and flares night after night “is like watching the heartbeat of the planet,” said coauthor Zhe Zhu, director of the Global Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Connecticut. Flying since 2011, VIIRS sensors now are carried aboard three satellite platforms: Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21. The instruments can sense light spanning visible to thermal infrared wavelengths. Their unique day-night band is ultrasensitive in low-light conditions, achieving finer resolution compared to previous night-light imagery provided by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Learn More By Sally Younger NASA’s Earth Science News Team Share Details Last Updated Apr 13, 2026 Related Terms Earth at Night Earth Goddard Space Flight Center Explore More 3 min read Hubble Spies an Active Spiral Article 3 hours ago 5 min read Megaberg Ends Its Long Odyssey at Sea Antarctic Iceberg A-23A’s journey ends in fragmentation in the South Atlantic Ocean, after a 40-year… Article 11 hours ago 2 min read Earthset From the Lunar Far Side The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission captured extraordinary images of our home planet during… Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article