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Concepto artístico de la fase 3 de la base lunar de la NASA.Credit: NASA Read this news release in English here. Como parte de su evento “Ignition” (Encendido) celebrado el martes, la NASA anunció una serie de iniciativas transformadoras a nivel de toda la agencia, diseñadas para cumplir **** la Política Espacial Nacional del presidente Donald J. Trump y promover el liderazgo estadounidense en el espacio. Estas acciones reflejan la urgencia del momento, pero también la tremenda oportunidad que se ofrece para la ciencia y los descubrimientos capaces de transformar el mundo. “La NASA tiene el compromiso de lograr, una vez más, lo casi imposible: regresar a la Luna antes de que finalice el mandato del presidente Trump, construir una base lunar, establecer una presencia permanente y llevar a ***** las demás acciones necesarias para garantizar el liderazgo estadounidense en el espacio. Por ello, resulta esencial que salgamos de un evento como Ignition **** una total alineación en torno al imperativo nacional que constituye nuestra misión colectiva. El reloj avanza en esta competencia entre grandes potencias, y el éxito o el fracaso se medirán en meses, no en años”, dijo el administrador de la NASA, Jared Isaacman. “Si concentramos los extraordinarios recursos de la NASA en los objetivos de la Política Espacial Nacional, eliminamos los obstáculos innecesarios que frenan el progreso y liberamos el potencial de nuestra fuerza laboral y el poderío industrial de nuestra nación y de nuestros socios, entonces el regreso a la Luna y la construcción de una base parecerán insignificantes en comparación **** lo que seremos capaces de lograr en los próximos años.” El Administrador Asociado de la NASA, Amit Kshatriya, dijo: “Hoy estamos alineando a la NASA en torno a esta misión. En la Luna, estamos adoptando una arquitectura enfocada y por fases que desarrolla capacidades un alunizaje tras otro, de manera incremental y en consonancia **** nuestros socios industriales e internacionales. En la órbita terrestre baja [LEO, por sus siglas en inglés], estamos identificando en qué áreas se encuentra el mercado y dónde no, reconociendo el inmenso valor de la Estación Espacial Internacional y desarrollando una transición que fomente un ecosistema comercial competitivo, en lugar de imponer un resultado único que el mercado no pueda sostener. En nuestras misiones científicas, estamos creando oportunidades en la superficie lunar para investigadores y estudiantes de todo el país y, **** el Reactor Espacial 1 Freedom (SR-1 Freedom, por sus siglas en inglés), estamos finalmente situando la propulsión nuclear en una trayectoria que la lleva fuera del laboratorio y hacia el espacio profundo. Y todo esto es posible invirtiendo en nuestra gente, reincorporando habilidades críticas a la agencia, poniendo a nuestros equipos allí donde se construyen las máquinas y creando vías reales para la siguiente generación de líderes de la NASA. Nuestra fuerza laboral es la joya de la NASA y, por parte de sus líderes, necesita objetivos claros para sus misiones, las herramientas para ejecutarlas y que se les deje trabajar sin interferencias. De esto trata Ignition.” El regreso a la Luna Estos anuncios se basan en las recientes actualizaciones del programa Artemis, las cuales incluyen la estandarización de la configuración del cohete Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial, la incorporación de una misión adicional en 2027 y la realización de al menos un alunizaje en la superficie cada año a partir de entonces. En el marco de esta arquitectura previamente actualizada, la misión Artemis III —programada para 2027— se centrará en poner a prueba los sistemas integrados y las capacidades operativas en la órbita terrestre, como paso previo al alunizaje de Artemis IV. Más allá de Artemis V, la NASA anunció el 24 de marzo que comenzará a incorporar más hardware adquirido comercialmente y reutilizable para llevar a ***** misiones tripuladas a la superficie lunar frecuentes y a un costo asequible, **** el objetivo inicial de efectuar alunizajes cada seis meses, y el potencial de aumentar esta frecuencia a medida que maduren las capacidades. Para lograr una presencia humana duradera en la Luna, la NASA también anunció un enfoque por fases para la construcción de una base lunar. Como parte de esta estrategia, la agencia tiene la intención de poner en pausa el proyecto Gateway en su forma actual y reorientar su enfoque hacia una infraestructura que permita mantener operaciones continuas en la superficie. A pesar de los desafíos que presentan algunos componentes del hardware existente, la agencia reutilizará el equipamiento utilizable y aprovechará los compromisos de sus socios internacionales para apoyar estos objetivos. En los próximos días, la NASA publicará Solicitudes de Información y borradores de Solicitudes de Propuestas (RFI y RFP, respectivamente, por sus siglas en inglés) para garantizar el avance continuo en el cumplimiento de los objetivos nacionales. Construcción de la base lunar El plan de la NASA para establecer una presencia lunar sostenida se desarrollará en tres fases preconcebidas. Fase uno: Construir, ensayar, aprender La NASA pasará de la ejecución de misiones **** diferentes objetivos puntuales y poco frecuentes hacia un enfoque modular y repetible. Mediante los transportes del programa de Servicios Comerciales de Carga Útil Lunar (CLPS, por sus siglas en inglés) y el programa de vehículos para terreno lunar, la agencia aumentará el ritmo de la actividad lunar, enviando rovers, instrumentos y demostraciones tecnológicas que impulsen la movilidad, la generación de energía (incluyendo unidades de calefacción por radioisótopos y generadores termoeléctricos de radioisótopos), las comunicaciones, la navegación, las operaciones en la superficie y una amplia gama de investigaciones científicas. Fase dos: Establecimiento de la infraestructura inicial **** base en las lecciones aprendidas de las misiones anteriores, la NASA avanza hacia la obtención de una infraestructura semi-habitable y una logística permanente. Esta fase respalda las operaciones recurrentes de los astronautas en la superficie e incorpora importantes contribuciones internacionales, entre las que se encuentra el vehículo explorador presurizado de la JAXA (Agencia de Exploración Aeroespacial de Japón) y, potencialmente, otras cargas útiles científicas, rovers y capacidades de infraestructura y transporte de los socios colaboradores. Fase tres: Habilitar una presencia humana de larga duración A medida que entren en funcionamiento los sistemas de aterrizaje humano **** capacidad de carga, la NASA enviará la infraestructura más pesada necesaria para establecer una presencia humana continua en la Luna, marcando de esta manera la transición de expediciones periódicas a una base lunar permanente. Esto incluirá los Hábitats Multiuso de la ASI (Agencia Espacial Italiana), el Vehículo Utilitario Lunar de la CSA (Agencia Espacial Canadiense) y oportunidades para hacer contribuciones adicionales en los ámbitos de habitabilidad, movilidad en la superficie y logística. Garantizar la presencia estadounidense en la órbita terrestre baja A la vez que desarrolla una arquitectura lunar sostenible, la NASA también reafirma su compromiso **** la órbita terrestre baja. Durante más de dos décadas, la Estación Espacial Internacional ha servido como un laboratorio orbital de clase mundial, haciendo posibles más de 4.000 investigaciones científicas, brindando apoyo a más de 5.000 investigadores y recibiendo a visitantes de 26 países. El diseño, desarrollo y construcción de la estación espacial requirieron 37 vuelos de transbordadores espaciales, 160 caminatas espaciales, dos décadas de trabajo y más de 100.000 millones de dólares. Este laboratorio orbital no puede operar indefinidamente. La transición hacia estaciones comerciales debe ser reflexiva, deliberada y estructurada para apoyar el éxito a largo plazo de esta industria. La NASA busca presentar y solicitar la opinión de la industria sobre una estrategia adicional para la órbita terrestre baja que mantiene todas las vías actuales, al tiempo que incorpora un enfoque por fases, anclado a la Estación Espacial Internacional, **** el fin de evitar allí cualquier interrupción en la presencia humana estadounidense y consolidar un ecosistema comercial robusto. En el marco de este enfoque alternativo, la NASA adquiriría un Módulo Central de propiedad gubernamental que se acoplaría a la estación espacial, seguido de módulos comerciales que serían validados utilizando las capacidades de la Estación Espacial Internacional para, posteriormente, desacoplarse y operar en vuelo libre. Una vez consolidadas las capacidades técnicas y operativas, y que se materialice la demanda del mercado, las estaciones se desacoplarían y la NASA pasaría a ser uno de los muchos clientes que adquieren servicios comerciales. Para estimular la economía orbital, la NASA ampliaría las oportunidades para la industria, incluyendo misiones de astronautas privados, la venta de asientos de comandante, misiones conjuntas, concursos para el desarrollo de diferentes módulos y premios basados en competencias. El miércoles 25 de marzo se dará inicio a un proceso de RFI dirigido a la industria, **** el objetivo de orientar la definición de las estructuras de colaboración, financiación y mitigación de riesgos. Avances en descubrimientos transformadores **** misiones científicas actuales y en desarrollo En una edad de oro de exploración y descubrimiento, la NASA aprovecha al máximo cada oportunidad para llevar la ciencia al espacio. El telescopio espacial James Webb continúa transformando nuestra comprensión del universo primitivo; la sonda solar Parker ha volado a través de la atmósfera del Sol; la NASA ha demostrado su capacidad para defender el planeta mediante la desviación de asteroides; y los datos de ciencias de la Tierra son utilizados ampliamente por las empresas de Estados Unidos, el sector agrícola estadounidense y en labores de socorro en caso de desastres. En la Estación Espacial Internacional, la NASA lleva a ***** experimentos pioneros en el ámbito de la ciencia cuántica. Las oportunidades futuras impulsarán el liderazgo de Estados Unidos en la ciencia espacial. El telescopio espacial Nancy Grace, cuyo lanzamiento está previsto para tan pronto como este otoño boreal, ampliará nuestra comprensión de la energía oscura y ha establecido un nuevo estándar para la gestión de grandes misiones científicas. La misión Dragonfly lanzará en 2028 un octocóptero de propulsión nuclear que llegará a Titán —una de las lunas de Saturno— en 2034 para explorar su complejo entorno, rico en compuestos orgánicos. En 2028, la NASA lanzará y enviará a Marte el rover Rosalind Franklin de la ESA (Agencia Espacial Europea), el cual llevará el espectrómetro aportado por la NASA para el instrumento Analizador de moléculas orgánicas en Marte; esto podría dar lugar a la detección y el análisis de materia orgánica más avanzados que se hayan llevado a ***** en el planeta rojo. Una nueva misión de ciencias de la Tierra, cuyo lanzamiento está programado para el próximo año, medirá por primera vez la evolución de la dinámica interna de las tormentas convectivas **** el fin de mejorar la predicción de eventos meteorológicos extremos **** hasta seis horas de antelación. La agencia ha dado detalles de cómo los avances en la ciencia lunar también se verán propiciados por la construcción de la Base Lunar y sustentarán la futura exploración de la Luna y Marte. **** un ritmo acelerado del programa de CLPS —el cual tiene como objetivo efectuar hasta 30 alunizajes robóticos a partir de 2027—, la NASA está agilizando el envío de ciencia y tecnología a la superficie lunar. Habrá numerosas oportunidades para el transporte de cargas útiles —incluyendo rovers, vehículos exploradores propulsados por cohetes o hoppers, y drones— y se recibirán **** agrado las contribuciones de la industria, el ámbito académico y los socios internacionales. Entre las cargas útiles a corto plazo se encuentran el rover VIPER y la misión LuSEE Night. El 24 de marzo se publicará una RFI en la que se requerirán cargas útiles capaces de dar apoyo a los objetivos científicos y tecnológicos de la NASA para los vuelos adicionales previstos para 2027 y 2028. Esto permitirá a estudiantes e investigadores de todo el país trabajar en instrumentos científicos destinados a ser utilizados en la superficie de la Luna en los próximos años. Esta RFI también solicitará cargas útiles para su incorporación en futuras misiones a Marte, que incluyen el establecimiento de la Red de Telecomunicaciones de Marte y una misión de demostración de tecnología nuclear. La agencia tiene planes de asociarse **** organizaciones de investigación filantrópicas y **** financiamiento privado que compartan objetivos en el campo de las ciencias del espacio. Otras RFI que han sido publicadas el 24 de marzo reforzarán las asociaciones bajo el modelo de “La ciencia como un servicio” y las capacidades comerciales, lo que permitirá a la NASA optimizar las operaciones de su legado y concentrar sus inversiones en aquellas misiones transformadoras que solo la agencia puede liderar. Por último, la NASA revelará un par de imágenes inéditas captadas por los telescopios espaciales James Webb y Hubble. Estas imágenes, tanto en longitudes de onda infrarrojas como visibles, muestran el planeta Saturno **** un nivel de detalle sin precedentes. Estados Unidos avanza en el uso de energía nuclear en el espacio Además de estas misiones científicas, tras décadas de estudio y en respuesta a la Política Espacial Nacional, la NASA anunció un importante paso adelante para llevar la energía y la propulsión nucleares de los laboratorios al espacio. La NASA lanzará hacia Marte el SR-1 Freedom, la primera nave espacial interplanetaria de propulsión nuclear, antes de finales de 2028, demostrando así sus avances en la propulsión eléctrica nuclear en el espacio profundo. La propulsión eléctrica nuclear ofrece una capacidad extraordinaria para el transporte eficiente de masa en el espacio profundo y hace posible misiones de alta potencia más allá de Júpiter, donde los paneles solares no son eficaces. Cuando la astronave SR-1 Freedom llegue a Marte, desplegará la carga útil Skyfall —compuesta por helicópteros de la clase Ingenuity— para continuar explorando el planeta rojo. SR-1 Freedom dará inicio a un historial de vuelo para hardware nuclear, sentará precedentes regulatorios y para el lanzamiento, y activará la base industrial para futuros sistemas de energía por fisión nuclear destinados a misiones de propulsión, de superficie y de larga duración. La NASA y su socio, el Departamento de Energía de Estados Unidos, desbloquearán las capacidades necesarias para una exploración sostenida más allá de la Luna y para futuros viajes a Marte y al sistema solar exterior. Ninguno de estos proyectos puede tener éxito sin la fuerza laboral de la NASA. Tal como se anunció anteriormente, la agencia está reconstruyendo sus competencias básicas, transformando miles de puestos de contratistas en cargos de la función pública y restableciendo las capacidades de ingeniería, técnicas y operativas que se esperan de la organización espacial líder en el mundo. La NASA está ampliando las oportunidades para pasantes y profesionales al inicio de su carrera y, en colaboración **** la Oficina de Gestión de Personal de Estados Unidos y NASA Force, está creando nuevas vías de acceso para que el talento experimentado de la industria preste servicio mediante nombramientos de duración determinada. Asimismo, la agencia busca crear oportunidades para que los empleados de la NASA adquieran una experiencia valiosa trabajando dentro de la industria espacial más avanzada tecnológicamente de la historia. Los cambios anunciados el 24 de marzo serán implementados durante los próximos meses, y los equipos de personal de toda la agencia garantizarán una transición fluida mientras se impulsan programas y alianzas clave. La NASA integrará a expertos en la materia a lo largo de toda la cadena de suministros —en cada proveedor principal, subcontratista y componente de ruta crítica— para cuestionar supuestos, resolver problemas, acelerar la producción y ayudar a garantizar que se logren los resultados adecuados. Mediante estas reformas, la NASA está fortaleciendo su capacidad para cumplir **** la Política Espacial Nacional del presidente y garantizar la continua superioridad estadounidense en el espacio. Obtén más información (en inglés) sobre las noticias del plan Ignition en línea: [Hidden Content] Camille Gallo / George Alderman / María José Viñas Sede central de la NASA, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Mar 24, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA en español View the full article

2 Min Read NASA Research Proposes Technology to Seek Earth-Like Exoplanets Caltech Keck Institute of Space Studies (KISS) team during a March 2026 workshop. Credits: Kiss As NASA seeks to understand the mysteries of the universe, the agency is advancing technologies to locate and explore Earth-like planets far beyond our solar system. A key element of this research involves observing reflected light from exoplanets, which can reveal indicators of Earth-like features such as water and oxygen. However, detecting this faint reflected light with current telescope technology remains a significant challenge due to the overwhelming brightness of nearby stars and other celestial objects. NASA’s Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) concept presents a potential solution by combining an orbiting starshade with a large ground-based telescope to suppress starlight and enable direct imaging of exoplanets. We have pioneered a transformative approach to the search for life beyond our solar system by deploying a space-borne starshade to cast a near perfect shadow over Earth’s largest telescopes, we suppress stellar glare before it ever enters the atmosphere. Dr. John Mather HOEE principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland Recent research, published earlier this year and featured on the cover of Monday’s Nature Astronomy March issue, suggests the HOEE concept could produce much sharper images allowing us to see entire exoplanetary systems and to clearly separate planet images from each other as well as from interference of dust clouds, the host star, and from the starshade itself. Its extreme sensitivity could enable the detection of small planets, and even large dwarf planets. Most notably, it could enable high-fidelity, wide-band spectroscopy, a scientific technique that can be used to study the interaction between matter and light, improving the path to identifying the chemical signatures of life. For decades, the starshade was a novel concept. Now, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (*****) program is turning that idea into a buildable reality. Through a series of targeted studies, NASA researchers are investigating whether it could be practical to build and develop an engineering roadmap. Team leading NASA’s Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets concept pictured with the cover of Nature Astronomy featuring their research “The observation of Earth-like exoplanets with ground-based telescopes and a shared orbiting starshade.” From left NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center researchers Dr. John Mather and Dr. Eliad Peretz, followed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers Dr. Ahmed Soliman and Dr. Stuart Shaklan.KISS NASA’s Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) is a three-time ***** award recipient, having received Phase I awards in 2022 and 2025. The HOEE concept is supported by researchers at NASA Goddard, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Latest Related Research Dynamically Stable Large Space Structures via Architected Metamaterials Inflatable Starshade for Earthlike Exoplanets Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) Ultralight Starshade Structural Design Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts NASA Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Solar System Share Details Last Updated Mar 24, 2026 Related TermsSpace Technology Mission DirectorateAmes Research CenterGoddard Space Flight CenterJet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (*****) ProgramTechnology View the full article

Apollo 17 geologist and astronaut Harrison Schmitt next to a large bolder on the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon. NASA NASA is joining international partners to hunt for ice on the Moon in support of future human exploration. The agency is providing a water-detecting instrument, the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), to the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). The instrument, which detects ice under the lunar surface, will be installed on LUPEX’s lunar rover planned to arrive at the Moon no earlier than 2028. NASA’s support of LUPEX is part of an ongoing effort to identify and characterize lunar water and other materials that easily evaporate near the Moon’s South Pole. Water is a critical material for NASA’s plans to develop an enduring presence on the Moon. Instead of relying solely on resources carried from Earth, astronauts could use the Moon’s water for breathable air, rocket fuel, and more. The first step is to find deposits of meaningful quantities of water close to the surface to mark potential landing areas for future astronauts. The water on the Moon is mostly found as molecules within lunar regolith, the dusty and rocky material that covers the Moon’s surface, but there may be ice deposits below the surface of the lunar South Pole. Once we better understand the quantity and quality of the available resources, we can learn how to harness it for exploration. “There is currently a gap in our understanding of how lunar ice is distributed at small scales, from 10s of centimeters up to 10s of kilometers,” said Rick Elphic, NSS lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where the instrument was developed in collaboration with Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California. “The only way to understand the ‘where’ and ‘how much’ of lunar ice is by exploring on the surface at these scales.” How neutrons signal water NASA’s Neutron Spectrometer System instrument will search for signs of water ice on the Moon’s surface aboard a lunar rover belonging to the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). NASA/Warren Davis Scientists can search for water on the Moon without drilling into the surface. Instead, they hunt for concentrations of hydrogen, the H in H₂O. Past missions in lunar orbit have found signs of water at the Moon’s poles, but ground missions are needed to build detailed maps of location and quantity. Instruments like NSS can infer the presence of hydrogen by detecting interactions with particles called neutrons. Neutrons are constantly rattling around in the lunar soil, and they’re about the same size as hydrogen atoms. When these two particles interact, fewer medium-energy neutrons are ejected from the soil. The absence of medium-energy neutrons suggests more of the particles are interacting with hydrogen underground, a deficit that can be measured with the right tools. The NSS instrument uses a “gas proportional counter” to detect neutrons bouncing out of the lunar soil. It features two tubes that contain a rare gas called helium-3 that is very sensitive to neutrons. When neutrons strike the helium-3 gas atoms, the gas produces electrical pulses that can be counted to infer the presence and quantity of hydrogen up to three feet underground. Series of water-hunters Ongoing investigation of the Moon’s water will inform how astronauts might access it in the future. To that end, NASA researchers at Ames have developed a series of NSS instruments intended to ride aboard different missions to investigate sites at the Moon’s South Pole. The first Moon-bound NSS instrument in the series was carried aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One, which launched in January 2024. That mission came to an end without touching down on the lunar surface, but the NSS aboard powered on and operated on multiple days over the course of the 10-day mission. These operations successfully captured data about the particle background of deep space, which strongly supported NSS operations on future missions. NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission, part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, will carry another NSS. As part of NASA’s ongoing Commercial Lunar Payload Services effort, a fourth NSS instrument will ride aboard the MoonRanger “micro rover” developed by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “The three upcoming NSS rover expeditions will tell us what kinds of places on the Moon are most likely to host ice,” Elphic said. “Missions to the lunar surface can then be planned to similar sites where ice can be found.” The Neutron Spectrometer System was jointly developed by NASA’s Ames Research Center and Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California.   For more information on the science of water on the Moon, visit: [Hidden Content] Karen Fox / Molly Wasser Headquarters, Washington 240-285-5155 / 240-419-1732 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Arezu Sarvestani Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley  650-613-2334 *****@*****.tld View the full article

Artist’s concept of Phase 3 of NASA’s Moon Base.Credit: NASA As part of its “Ignition” event on Tuesday, NASA announced a series of transformative agencywide initiatives designed to achieve President Donald J. Trump’s National Space Policy and advance American leadership in space. These actions reflect the urgency of the moment, but also the tremendous opportunity ahead for world-changing science and discovery. “NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space. This is why it is essential we leave an event like Ignition with complete alignment on the national imperative that is our collective mission. The clock is running in this great‑power competition, and success or failure will be measured in months, not years,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “If we concentrate NASA’s extraordinary resources on the objectives of the National Space Policy, clear away needless obstacles that impede progress, and unleash the workforce and industrial might of our nation and partners, then returning to the Moon and building a base will seem pale in comparison to what we will be capable of accomplishing in the years ahead.” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said, “Today we are aligning NASA around the mission. On the Moon, we are shifting to a focused, phased architecture that builds capability landing by landing, incrementally, and in alignment with our industrial and international partners. In low Earth orbit (LEO), we are recognizing where the market is and where it isn’t, recognizing the incredible value of the International Space Station, and building a transition that builds a competitive commercial ecosystem rather than forcing a single outcome the market cannot support. In our science missions, we are opening the lunar surface to researchers and students nationwide, and with Space Reactor‑1 Freedom, we are finally putting nuclear propulsion on a trajectory out of the laboratory and into deep space. And this is all possible by investing in our people, bringing critical skills back into the agency, putting our teams where the machines are being built, and creating real pathways for the next generation of NASA leaders. Our workforce is the jewel of NASA, and from their leaders, they need clear mission goals, the tools to execute, and to get out of their way. This is what Ignition is about.” Going back to the Moon The announcements build on recent updates to the Artemis program, including standardizing the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter. Under this previously updated architecture, Artemis III – scheduled for 2027 – will focus on testing integrated systems and operational capabilities in Earth orbit in advance of the Artemis IV lunar landing. Looking beyond Artemis V, NASA announced March 24 it will begin to incorporate more commercially procured and reusable hardware to undertake frequent and affordable crewed missions to the lunar surface, initially targeting landings every six months, with the potential to increase cadence as capabilities mature. To achieve an enduring human presence on the Moon, NASA also announced a phased approach to building a lunar base. As part of this strategy, the agency intends to pause Gateway in its current form and shift focus to infrastructure that enables sustained surface operations. Despite challenges with some existing hardware, the agency will repurpose applicable equipment and leverage international partner commitments to support these objectives. In the coming days, NASA will release Requests for Information (RFIs) and draft Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to ensure continued progress in meeting national objectives. Building the Moon Base NASA’s plan for establishing a sustained lunar presence will roll out in three deliberate phases. Phase One: Build, Test, Learn NASA shifts from bespoke, infrequent missions to a repeatable, modular approach. Through CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) deliveries and the LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) program, the agency will increase the tempo of lunar activity, sending rovers, instruments, and technology demonstrations that advance mobility, power generation (including radioisotope heater units and radioisotope thermoelectric generators), communications, navigation, surface operations, and a wide range of scientific investigations. Phase Two: Establish Early Infrastructure With lessons from early missions in hand, NASA moves toward semi‑habitable infrastructure and regular logistics. This phase supports recurring astronaut operations on the surface and incorporates major international contributions, including JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) pressurized rover, and potentially other partner scientific payloads, rovers, and infrastructure/transportation capabilities. Phase Three: Enable Long‑Duration Human Presence As cargo‑capable human landing systems (HLS) come online, NASA will deliver heavier infrastructure needed for a continuous human foothold on the Moon, marking the transition from periodic expeditions to a permanent lunar base. This will include ASI’s (Italian Space Agency) Multi-purpose Habitats (MPH), CSA’s (********* Space Agency) Lunar Utility Vehicle, and opportunities for additional contributions in habitation, surface mobility and logistics. Ensuring American presence in low Earth orbit While building a sustainable lunar architecture, NASA is also reaffirming its commitment to low Earth orbit. For more than two decades, the International Space Station has served as a world‑class orbital laboratory, enabling more than 4,000 research investigations, supporting more 5,000 researchers, and hosting visitors from 26 countries. The space station required 37 shuttle flights, 160 spacewalks, two decades, and more than $100 billion to design, develop, and build. The orbital laboratory cannot operate indefinitely. The transition to commercial stations must be thoughtful, deliberate, and structured to support long‑term industry success. NASA is introducing and seeking industry feedback on an additional LEO strategy that preserves all current pathways while adding a phased, International Space Station‑anchored approach to avoid any gap in U.S. human presence and mature a robust commercial ecosystem. Under this alternative approach, NASA would procure a government‑owned Core Module that attaches to the space station, followed by commercial modules that are validated using International Space Station capabilities and later detach into free flight. After maturing technical and operational capabilities and market demand is realized, the stations would detach and NASA would be one of many customers purchasing commercial services. To stimulate the orbital economy, NASA would expand industry opportunities, including private astronaut missions, commander seat sales, joint missions, multiple module competitions, and prize‑based awards. An industry RFI opens Wednesday, March 25, to inform partnership structures, financing, and risk mitigation. Advancing world-changing discovery with current, developing science missions In a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, NASA takes full advantage of every opportunity to get science into space. The James Webb Space Telescope continues to transform our understanding of the early universe, Parker Solar Probe has flown through the atmosphere of the Sun, NASA has shown it can defend the planet by deflecting asteroids, and Earth science data is used extensively by American companies, U.S. agriculture, and disaster relief. On the International Space Station, NASA is conducting groundbreaking experiments in quantum science. Future opportunities will advance U.S. leadership in space science. The Nancy Grace Space Telescope, launching as early as this fall, will advance our understanding of dark energy, and has created a new standard for the management of large science missions. Dragonfly will launch a nuclear-powered octocopter in 2028, arriving at Saturn’s moon Titan in 2034 to explore its complex, organic-rich environment. In 2028, NASA will launch and deliver ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Rover to Mars, with NASA’s contributed mass spectrometer for the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument, which may result in the most advanced detection and analysis of organic matter ever conducted on Mars. A new Earth science mission launching next year will measure for the first time the evolution of the dynamics within convective storms to improve the prediction of extreme weather events up to six hours before the storm occurs. The agency detailed how advancements in lunar science also will be afforded by the build out of the Moon Base and underpin future Moon and Mars exploration. With an accelerated CLPS cadence, targeting up to 30 robotic landings starting in 2027, NASA is expediting delivery of science and technology to the lunar surface. There will be many opportunities for payload delivery including rovers, hoppers, and drones with contributions welcomed from industry, academia, and international partners. Near-term payloads include the VIPER rover and the LuSEE‑Night mission. An RFI will be released March 24 that calls for payloads capable of supporting NASA’s science and technology goals for additional 2027 and 2028 flights. It will enable students and researchers across the country to work on scientific instruments for use on the surface of the Moon in the years ahead. This RFI also will solicit payloads incorporated on future missions to Mars including the Mars Telecom Network (MTN) and a nuclear technology demonstration mission. The agency intends to partner with philanthropic and privately funded research organizations with shared objectives in space science. Other RFIs released March 24 will strengthen “Science as a Service” partnerships and commercial capabilities, allowing NASA to streamline legacy operations and focus investment on the transformational missions only the agency can lead. Finally, NASA will unveil a previously unseen pair of images from the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes. These images show the planet Saturn in unprecedented detail in both infrared and visible wavelengths. America underway on nuclear power in space In addition to these scientific missions, after decades of study and in response to the National Space Policy, NASA announced a major step forward in bringing nuclear power and propulsion from the lab to space. NASA will launch the Space Reactor‑1 Freedom, the first nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft, to Mars before the end of 2028, demonstrating advanced nuclear electric propulsion in deep space. Nuclear electric propulsion provides an extraordinary capability for efficient mass transport in deep space and enables high power missions beyond Jupiter where solar arrays are not effective. When SR-1 Freedom reaches Mars, it will deploy the Skyfall payload of Ingenuity‑class helicopters to continue exploring the Red Planet. SR-1 Freedom will establish flight heritage nuclear hardware, set regulatory and launch precedent, and activate the industrial base for future fission power systems across propulsion, surface, and long‑duration missions. NASA and its U.S. Department of Energy partner will unlock the capabilities required for sustained exploration beyond the Moon and eventual journeys to Mars and the outer solar system. None of these endeavors can succeed without the NASA workforce. As previously announced, the agency is rebuilding its core competencies, converting thousands of contractor positions to civil service, and restoring the engineering, technical, and operational strengths expected of the world’s premier space organization. NASA is expanding opportunities for interns and early‑career professionals and, in partnership with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and NASA Force, is creating new pathways for experienced industry talent to serve through term‑based appointments. The agency also is seeking to open opportunities for NASA employees to gain valuable experience working within the most technologically advanced space industry in history. The changes announced on March 24 will be implemented during the coming months, with teams agencywide ensuring a smooth transition while advancing key programs and partnerships. NASA will embed subject‑matter experts across the supply chain – at every major vendor, subcontractor, and critical‑path component – to challenge assumptions, solve problems, accelerate production, and help ensure the right outcomes are achieved. Through these reforms, NASA is strengthening its ability to deliver on the President’s National Space Policy and ensure continued American superiority in space. Learn more about NASA’s Ignition news online: [Hidden Content] -end- Camille Gallo / George Alderman Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Mar 24, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsArtemisInternational Space Station (ISS)NASA Headquarters View the full article

A team of NASA researchers is developing new types of optical masks that could help enable the many orders of magnitude of starlight suppression needed for future space observatories to pick out very faint habitable exoplanets from the far brighter glare of their stellar hosts. Artist’s conception of an exoplanet reflecting the light from its nearby star. NASA One of the goals of NASA’s Astrophysics Division is to carry out a census of nearby solar systems to search for habitable worlds around nearby stars, and ultimately, to determine whether life might be present outside our own solar system. Because other stars are so far away, we must rely on remote observations of these systems, and in particular, on the spectroscopy of any planets present (i.e., on the examination of their color characteristics to determine their atmospheric characteristics). NASA’s future Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission will be the first telescope designed specifically to search for signs of life on planets orbiting other stars. Significant progress has been made over the past couple of decades in observing the brightest and often largest exoplanets, especially those that happen to pass in front of their stars, allowing us to see the planet’s atmospheric constituents that absorb particular colors of the host star’s light. However, most exoplanets are not so favorably aligned; to detect them, HWO must be able to distinguish the very small bit of light coming from an exoplanet from the overwhelming glare of the very bright nearby host star. For example, an Earth-like planet orbiting a star similar to our Sun would be only about 1 ten billionth as bright as its host star. An apt analogy is the light from a firefly flying right next to a lighthouse! To see faint potentially habitable worlds in nearby solar systems, we must remove the incoming starlight to such an extent that the much smaller bit of light arriving from the exoplanet can be distinguished. Unfortunately, telescopes don’t produce perfect point-like images of stars. Two contributing factors–scattering and diffraction—blur and spread the starlight across the region of the image where exoplanets are likely to be found. Scattering of starlight is caused by surface irregularities in the mirrors that make up the telescope’s optical system. These irregularities can be mitigated by using a high-performance adaptive optics system to correct the wavefront errors. But even with a perfectly corrected optical system, diffraction must also be mitigated. Diffraction is the angular spread of a light beam (or of any type of wave, including water or sound waves) that occurs as the wave passes through an aperture, such as a telescope’s light-collecting mirror. Diffraction causes the starlight to spread across the focal plane into a ringed light distribution called an Airy pattern (see figure below). Since this Airy pattern can be many times brighter than the light emitted from an exoplanet, it also needs to be removed. A logarithmically scaled simulation of the image of a star with two nearby exoplanets, as seen by a telescope with a circular aperture. The centered multi-ringed Airy pattern is due to diffraction of the starlight. Off-axis exoplanets fainter by 100 times and 1000 times are seen at 3 o’clock on the 3rd Airy ring, and at 12 o’clock on the 4th Airy ring, respectively. An Earth-like exoplanet would be 10 million times fainter than the dimmer of the two exoplanets shown. Gene Serabyn, NASA JPL Suppression of the Airy pattern’s rings is usually done with an optical instrument known as a coronagraph. The coronagraph was invented a century ago to allow astronomers to see the faint solar corona that surrounds the Sun. When applied to other stars, a coronagraph can enable us to see faint exoplanets near their much brighter stars. The core component of most coronagraphs is an optical mask—a small piece of glass with a special surface coating or surface shape that is designed to either selectively attenuate or delay the light distribution making up the stellar image. One particularly promising type of optical mask is the optical vortex phase mask, which applies a phase delay that increases in proportion to the azimuthal angle around the center of the mask (see figure below). When centered on the stellar Airy pattern, the mask thus applies delays that increase along the Airy rings. The colors in this image depict the phase delay pattern that a vortex phase mask applies to the incoming starlight in the focal plane: the phase delay increases azimuthally around the center of the mask. The colors indicate a phase delay range from -2 pi to 2 pi (-6.28 to 6.28) radians. Gene Serabyn, NASA JPL This delay pattern, which is somewhat analogous to the helical surface of a ****** thread, causes the starlight to destructively interfere in such a way that if one reimages the telescope aperture downstream of the vortex mask, no starlight remains inside that aperture image. Instead, the starlight is only seen outside of where the filled telescope aperture image is expected to be, where it can then be easily blocked by a simple aperture stop, as is used in photography. (The figure below depicts images of a telescope aperture in advance of and downstream of the vortex mask.) Since the light from the exoplanet typically hits the vortex mask off-center, it propagates unchanged through the aperture stop to reach the detector, where it can be successfully imaged. The left-hand panel shows a normal image of a telescope aperture that is filled with starlight. After passing through the vortex phase mask, the starlight is expelled from that circular region (as shown in the right-hand image) where it can be blocked by an aperture stop, leaving only exoplanet light inside the bright rim of starlight. Gene Serabyn, NASA JPL Fabricating vortex masks is challenging since they must be able to simultaneously reject starlight over a wide range of wavelengths. A team of technologists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is investigating a number of different technologies that could be used make optical vortex masks with the desired characteristics. To date, the most promising approach uses a flat layer of a specially prepared liquid crystal polymer (LCP) to provide the required optical delay pattern. The long molecular polymer chains making up the LCP layer can be specifically oriented to induce different delays in the two polarization directions of light. (Polarization refers to the direction of oscillation of the electric field vector in a propagating light wave, i.e., whether it is up-down or left-right). Depending on whether the electric field vector lies along or perpendicular to the long LCP axis, the light experiences different delays. Moreover, if the LCP layer is laid down in a pattern wherein the long LCP axis rotates while following a circular path around the mask’s center (reaching a multiple of a full molecular rotation in a full circuit around the center), the desired delay pattern can be achieved (see figure below). The main advantage of such masks is that since their phase delays are induced geometrically (i.e., by a purely geometric orientation pattern) they are wavelength-independent to first order, and can reject starlight over a wide range of wavelengths. The JPL team has recently advanced these masks to the point where the light from an artificial “star” can be rejected in the laboratory to about one part in a billion (with the single-wavelength rejection even better), which is within about an order of magnitude of the ultimate 10 billion-to-one rejection needed for the HWO. The team is currently working on further mask improvements to achieve that last factor of ten. Orientation pattern of the liquid crystal polymer (LCP) molecules in an optical vortex layer. Center: The output electric (E) field directions such a mask produces. Right, an LCP vortex mask seen through crossed polarizers. Note that the mask is dark at all angles at which the output light is horizontally polarized (horizontal lines in the center panel), verifying its functionality. Gene Serabyn, NASA JPL At the same time, the team is also looking into alternative mask approaches with different advantages and disadvantages. In particular, they have been revisiting the idea of shaping the surface of a piece of glass to look like a helical turn of a ******. However, this design will only work across multiple wavelengths if one combines several different pieces of glass, each with its own ****** height, and if further deformations of the surface shape are also implemented. Moreover, since only a rather small number of materials seem to have the characteristics required for this design, it is not yet clear what ultimate performance can be achieved by this technique. As a result, the team is also looking into fabricating their own artificial materials (i.e., metamaterials) for use in such masks. Metamaterials are thin layers of tiny nanoposts (see figure below) in which the nanopost heights, widths, shapes, and spacings can be selected to generate material properties that do not exist in nature. While this approach is very new, it is conceivable that it could be used to tailor materials that have the characteristics needed to make optical vortex masks work over a wide range of wavelengths. Electron microscope image of nanoposts. Lorenzo König, NASA JPL Optical vortex coronagraphs are becoming increasingly popular in the hunt for larger (brighter) exoplanets using ground-based telescopes, but seeing dimmer Earth-like exoplanets with a space-based telescope such as HWO will require vortex masks with vastly improved starlight rejection capabilities. While the liquid crystal polymer approach is the clear frontrunner, such masks also have limitations, so it is good that other possibilities are being investigated. These candidate technologies will be fully vetted and tested over the next few years to enable the fabrication of the optical vortex masks needed to be able to pick out and characterize nearby Earth-like exoplanets with HWO. For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort. Project Lead(s): Eugene Serabyn, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and Dimitri Mawet, California Institute of Technology Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Astrophysics Division Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) and Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) programs. Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA (80NM0018D0004) Share Details Last Updated Mar 24, 2026 Related Terms Technology Highlights Astrobiology Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Science-enabling Technology View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Tropical Cyclone Narelle… 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 Tropical Cyclone Narelle approaches northern Queensland, Australia, in this image acquired on March 19, 2026, with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-21 satellite. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison Tropical Cyclone Narelle traced a long path across the northern edge of Australia, bringing damaging winds and rain to areas already saturated with abundant precipitation. The system made separate landfalls in three different states and territories between March 20 and 23, 2026. These satellite images show Narelle at about 2 p.m. local time (04:00 Universal Time) on March 19. By that time, the tropical cyclone was poised to make its first and most powerful landfall after intensifying over the Coral Sea. Sea surface temperatures along its path were 0.5–1.0 degrees Celsius above average, experts noted, which helped fuel its rapid intensification. As it approached Queensland, the storm intensified to a category 5 on Australia’s tropical cyclone scale with maximum sustained winds up to 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour—equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. However, because Narelle’s structure was compact by cyclone standards, the most damaging winds extended a relatively short distance from its core. Narelle reached the Cape York Peninsula, a sparsely populated region in northern Queensland, on the morning of March 20. Tropical Cyclone Narelle churns over the Coral Sea in this image acquired on March 19, 2026, with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-21 satellite. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison Narelle re-emerged over the Gulf of Carpentaria as a weakened cyclone, and wind speeds continued to decline as it neared the Northern Territory’s coast. The storm made its second landfall on the afternoon of March 21 with maximum sustained winds up to 148 kilometers (92 miles) per hour. It traversed the territory’s “Top End” until March 22. More than 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain fell across a wide area of the Northern Territory during Narelle’s passage, according to news reports. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warned of minor to major flooding of several rivers. The storm arrived amid a severe wet season in the region that had already caused damaging floods and prompted evacuations. After exiting the Northern Territory, the storm briefly crossed water and reached the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia as a tropical low on March 23. Even after Narelle’s multiple strikes in northern Australia, the storm may keep going. On March 23, the BOM said Narelle could potentially re-intensify into a tropical cyclone off the coast of Western Australia, curve south, and track along the coastline toward Perth. Cyclones with several landfalls on mainland Australia are rare but not unheard of. In 2005, Ingrid followed a similar path to Narelle. That “triple-strike” storm, however, made landfall each time as a category 3 tropical cyclone or higher. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads March 19, 2026 JPEG (2.66 MB) March 19, 2026, detail JPEG (1.96 MB) References & Resources *********** Broadcasting Corporation (2026, March 17) Cyclone Narelle could be the first storm in 21 years to make landfall three times. Accessed March 23, 2026. Bureau of Meteorology, via YouTube (2026, March 23) Severe Weather Update 23 March 2026: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle impacting WA this week. Accessed March 23, 2026. The Conversation (2026, March 19) Cyclone Narelle: ‘compact’, dangerous and unusually predictable. Accessed March 23, 2026. The Guardian (2026, March 22) Saturated NT braces for Tropical Cyclone Narelle to dump another 300mm of rain. Accessed March 23, 2026. The New York Times (2026, March 19) Remote Part of Australia Braces for ‘Significant’ Tropical System. Accessed March 23, 2026. Weather Underground (2026, March 23) Tropical Cyclone Narelle. Accessed March 23, 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 Second Cyclone Slams Madagascar 3 min read Widespread flooding affected tens of thousands of people after cyclones Fytia and Gezani drenched the island. Article Australia’s “Red Centre” Turns Green 3 min read Abundant rainfall in February and March 2026 transformed the desert landscape of Central Australia. Article Imelda and Humberto Crowd the Atlantic 3 min read The tropical cyclones are close enough in proximity that they may influence one another. 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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On Jan. 31, students, library staff, researchers, and community members gathered at the University of Florida’s (UF) Marston Science Library for the Environmental Monitoring through Education, Research, and Geospatial Engagement (EMERGE) NASA Data Hackathon. This initiative empowers libraries, educators, and individuals to engage in public health and environmental science using real-world data tools and citizen science. At the center of EMERGE is NASA’s Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Observer app, which allows anyone with a smartphone to collect and explore data on mosquito habitats, land cover, clouds, and more. From morning workshops to an end-of-day sprint, participants spent the day transforming real environmental data into maps, dashboards, infographics, and practical insights supporting public health and environmental decision-making. The event was hosted by the Geospatial Digital Informatics Lab (part of the Geography Department at UF), SciStarter (the world’s largest citizen science database), and Florida Community Innovation (a civic technology nonprofit), with support from NASA and UF Libraries. The hackathon gave participants a chance to work directly with these volunteer-collected datasets and see how local observations connect to global research. Participants had access to a digital textbook created by the GeoDI Lab that explains how to download, process, visualize, and analyze GLOBE Observer data. At the hackathon, 13 teams came together to build projects analyzing GLOBE data or reenvisioning data collection for the app. You can explore the gallery of projects online here! Celebrating Hackathon Winners The following participants won honors in their categories. APP IMPROVEMENT TRACK Winner — Mosquito Tracker Matheus Kunzler Maldaner Hoang Anh Mai Luana Kunzler Maldaner Nicolas Murguia Alfred Navarro Honorable Mention — App Improvement Brief Kelly Muma Seth Paul User Interface Recognition — GLOBE Observer, Simplified Kaushal Thota Sparsh Mogha ADVANCED TRACK Winner — Epidemiological Vector Mapping System Aseel Ismail Shreya Shanmugam Devadarshini Dhandapani Shivani Chandrasekar Winner — GeoDude Siddharth Nahar Anushri N R Avantika Holla Matthew Losito Honorable Mention — Mosquito Habitat Observations and Wildfire Hazard in Florida Nancy Murphy Philippa Burgess Mapping Recognition — Mosquitos Worldwide Project Ayesha Malligai M. INTERMEDIATE TRACK Winner — Swarm Sense Isabella Bodea Evan Mullins Aashita Rai Honorable Mention — Mosquito Risk Mapping RamyaLakshmi KS Delilah Penate Thomas Barbato Amit Rajpurkar Data Analysis Recognition — Bias and Uncertainty in Reported Mosquito Habitat Data Gabriel Dos Santos Satyabrata Das Matthew White Dylan Aaron BEGINNER TRACK Winner — Beginner Track EMERGE Project Breanna Blackwood Demitri Tu Masha Belyaeva Elizabeth Nguyen Tommy Lin Honorable Mention — Mosquito Predicting with Globe Observer Data Novaarcoid Rajpurkar FIELD TRACK Winner — Field Track Data Collection for Mosquito Habitat Wei Liu Yichan Li How You Can Get Involved If you’re interested in civic tech, public-interest data, and community-centered research, you’re invited to get involved with Florida Community Innovation (FCI), one of the Hackathon partners. The FCI works year-round with students and community partners to build accessible tools, maps, and public resources and welcomes new collaborators from a wide range of backgrounds. Get started with FCI by visiting floridainnovation.org, and email *****@*****.tld to join one of their Wednesday meetings at 6 p.m. EDT to be matched with a project (like building games for Miami-Dade’s Recyclepedia app, helping create an AI tool for social workers in Orlando, and more). Interested in shaping future EMERGE events? Apply to join a planning committee to help design the next hackathon! Committee members will help think through formats, tracks, accessibility, and community partnerships, with the goal of keeping future events welcoming, practical, and responsive to local needs. Organizers will receive a small honorarium. For more information, send an email to Caroline Nickerson: *****@*****.tld To start doing NASA science from your own neighborhood or backyard, you can also download the GLOBE Observer app! This app makes it possible for anyone to collect and explore data on mosquito habitats, land cover, and more! The EMERGE program is made possible with the support of NASA through the Citizen Science Seed Funding Program, with the goal of enabling more scientists to develop and use citizen science techniques in their work. From left: Olivia Zhang, Joe Aufmuth, Natya Hans, Yichan Li, Wei Liu, and Caroline Nickerson. Caroline Nickerson [Hidden Content] Learn More and Get Involved GLOBE Observer Choose from several different projects to help scientists learn about planet Earth. For anyone with a smartphone. Kid friendly! Facebook logo @nasascience_ @nasascience_ Instagram logo @nasascience_ Linkedin logo @nasascience_ Share Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms Citizen Science Community Partners Earth Science Division Explore More 2 min read Hail Yeah! NASA Researchers Use Volunteer Observations for Hail Estimates The ******* the hailstone, the more damage it can cause. But scientists find that predicting… Article 6 days ago 2 min read Volunteers Find Oddly High Solar Flare Rates Article 1 week ago 2 min read Extra Extra! Extra Data Stream Added to the Daily Minor Planet! The Daily Minor Planet citizen science project is expanding! In addition to data received nightly… Article 1 week ago View the full article

Explore This Section Science Science Activation Science Through Shadows: How… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science Science Activation Opportunities 6 min read Science Through Shadows: How Astronomical Alignments Reveal the Universe When one celestial object passes in front of another, it can cast a shadow that travels across space – and sometimes across Earth. These moments of alignment, known as eclipses, occultations, and transits, allow scientists to study distant objects in remarkable ways. By observing how light changes when an object briefly blocks another, astronomers can measure sizes and shapes, detect atmospheres, and refine the orbits of asteroids and planets. From left to right: Image of the total solar eclipse of 2024, an asteroid occulting a distant star, and an exoplanet transiting a star. The Science Through Shadows project, funded by NASA’s Science Activation program and led by Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado Boulder, explores how these shadow-based events help scientists conduct astronomical research. The project has produced a series of short films that explain the science behind eclipses, occultations, and solar observations while highlighting the people who help make these discoveries possible – including students, educators, and volunteer citizen scientists. The videos are designed for use in classrooms, libraries, planetariums, and informal learning environments, and are available free of charge in both English and Spanish. Versions are available in 2D formats for streaming and classroom use, as well as fulldome formats for planetariums worldwide. Explore the seven films currently available: Ring of Fire Eclipse Focus: The annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023 On October 14, 2023, observers across North America experienced an annular solar eclipse, sometimes called a “ring of fire.” During an annular eclipse, the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun but appears slightly smaller in the sky, leaving a bright ring of sunlight visible around its edges. This video explains how annular eclipses differ from total solar eclipses, explores the science behind these events, and highlights safe viewing practices. It also helps viewers understand what makes eclipse observations both scientifically valuable and deeply memorable experiences. Total Eclipse of the Sun Focus: The total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 A total solar eclipse is one of the most dramatic astronomical events visible from Earth. On April 8, 2024, millions of people across North America had the opportunity to witness the Moon completely block the Sun, revealing the Sun’s faint outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This video explores what happens during a total solar eclipse, why traveling to the path of totality offers a dramatically different experience, and how scientists use eclipses to study the Sun’s atmosphere. What Causes Eclipses? Focus: The science behind eclipses Why don’t eclipses happen every month? What conditions must occur for the Sun, Earth, and Moon to align? This episode explains the orbital mechanics that produce eclipses and clarifies the differences between solar and lunar eclipses. By addressing common misconceptions, it helps viewers understand the celestial alignments that create these spectacular events. Chasing Polymele’s Shadow Focus: The Lucy occultation campaign When an asteroid passes in front of a distant star, it briefly blocks the star’s light, casting a shadow across Earth. Astronomers call this event an occultation, and it can reveal valuable information about the asteroid’s size, shape, and surrounding environment. This video follows the Lucy Occultation Project, where scientists and citizen scientists worked together to observe the ******* asteroid Polymele ahead of NASA’s Lucy mission flyby. On February 3, 2023, more than 100 telescopes across two continents were deployed to capture the moment Polymele passed in front of a star. The resulting observations help scientists better understand the asteroid before the spacecraft’s encounter. Humanity Touches the Sun Focus: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is helping scientists explore the Sun closer than ever before. On December 24, 2024, the spacecraft made its closest approach to the Sun, traveling more than 430,000 miles per hour – faster than any human-made object. This video explores how Parker Solar Probe studies the Sun’s outer atmosphere and helps scientists investigate long-standing questions about the solar corona and solar wind. The Sun Touches Humanity Focus: NASA’s PUNCH mission NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission provides a new way to observe how the Sun influences space throughout the inner solar system. Consisting of four suitcase-sized satellites in low-Earth orbit, PUNCH creates global, three-dimensional observations of the region between the Sun and Earth. These measurements help scientists better understand how the solar wind forms and evolves, and how solar storms travel through space. Eclipse Participatory Science Focus: Citizen science during recent solar eclipses Solar eclipses create powerful opportunities for collaborative scientific research. This episode follows two large participatory science projects that took place during recent North American eclipses: the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, another NASA Science Activation-funded project that’s led by Montana State University, and Citizen CATE 2024, a NASA- and National Science Foundation-supported observing campaign. Through balloon launches, telescope observations, and hands-on engineering challenges, students, educators, and volunteers collected atmospheric and solar data that scientists are now analyzing. The episode highlights how people with curiosity and passion can contribute meaningfully to real scientific discovery. 2D versions of these videos in both English and Spanish can be found on Fiske Planetarium’s YouTube channel, and downloadable versions are available through the project’s distribution page. Fulldome masters (1K, 2K, and 4K) are also available for free download via the Fiske Productions page, allowing planetariums around the world to share these stories of discovery with their audiences. Through projects like Science Through Shadows, NASA’s Science Activation program helps connect everyone, everywhere with NASA Science content, experts, and opportunities to participate. Whether observing an eclipse, tracking an asteroid’s shadow, or studying data from a spacecraft, these moments of alignment offer powerful opportunities to explore how the universe works – and how people everywhere can participate in the process of discovery. NASA Citizen Science Everyone, everywhere – regardless of country of origin or citizenship status – can collaborate with professional scientists, conduct cutting-edge science, and make real discoveries as a volunteer for NASA Citizen Science projects. These projects give participants the opportunity to collaborate with professional scientists, conduct cutting-edge science, and make real discoveries related to NASA’s five research divisions: Earth science, planetary science, astrophysics, biological and physical sciences, and heliophysics. Explore available projects and get started: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 Related Terms Science Activation Learning Resources Explore More 4 min read Citizen Scientists Invited to Collect Data for NASA During Eclipse Article 2 years ago 2 min read NASA SCoPE Supports Science Activation Projects and Events for 2024 Eclipse Article 2 years ago 6 min read 10 Things to Know About Parker Solar Probe On Aug. 12, 2018, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe to the Sun, where it will… Article 8 years ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

This animation shows how, following a massive earthquake off Russia on July 29, 2025, GUARDIAN flagged an incoming wave west of Hawaii some 32 minutes before it made landfall and was detected by tide gauges (shown in blue). Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide extra lead time to communities in the path of a tsunami. Called GUARDIAN (GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert Network), the software detects slight distortions in satellite navigation signals to spot hazards on the move.. The animation breaks down a real-life case study: last summer’s massive Kamchatka earthquake and the tsunami that it sent racing across the Pacific and towards Hawaii at over 500 mph (805 kph). The visualization shows the magnitude 8.8 earthquake (seen in purple) strike off the Russian coast on July 29, 2025, triggering the tsunami. The red, orange, yellow, and green ringlets represent real-time readings from ground stations tracking GPS and other navigational satellite signals. The disturbances were spotted by GUARDIAN’s artificial intelligence-powered detection algorithms as soon as eight minutes after the earthquake. For the next several hours, signs of the tsunami were picked up by GUARDIAN across the Pacific Ocean in near real time. The system flagged an incoming wave off the coast of Kauai some 32 minutes before it made landfall and was detected by tide gauges (shown in blue). The results highlight GUARDIAN’s potential to augment existing early warning systems, said Camille Martire, one of its developers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Currently, determining whether an earthquake generated a tsunami remains a challenge. Forecasters rely on seismic data and computer simulations to make their best prediction, then wait for pressure sensors attached to the ocean floor to confirm a passing wave. Those sensors work well but are expensive and thinly dispersed. Gaps in coverage remain. And in those gaps, warning time disappears. The GUARDIAN approach is complementary and cost effective because it monitors existing data from GPS and other constellations that make up the Global Navigation Satellite System. It’s also free to access, though for now best suited to analysts trained to interpret its findings. How GUARDIAN works All day, every day, geopositioning constellations transmit radio signals to ground stations around the globe. On the ground, the data is refined to sub-decimeter (less than 10 centimeters) positioning accuracy by JPL’s Global Differential GPS System. Before the signals get there, however, they must travel through an electrically charged skin of plasma called the ionosphere. Solar storms and other space weather can wreak electrical mayhem in the ionosphere, and so can events on Earth. Tsunamis and earthquakes, by displacing large amount of air at Earth’s surface, unleash pressure waves that can slightly perturb the radio signals coming down from satellites. While systems are in place to correct for this “noise,” GUARDIAN considers it a useful signal. Currently, GUARDIAN scours data from more than 350 GNSS ground stations around the Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotbed for the ocean’s deadliest waves. And the system is not confined to tsunamis. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, missile tests, spacecraft reentries, meteoroid splashdowns — anything that produces a large rumble on Earth is potentially fair game. While the Kamchatka event didn’t cause widespread damage to people or property, it showed how the next time disaster strikes, NASA science could give communities a few more minutes to act. GUARDIAN is being developed at JPL by the GDGPS project, which is partially supported by NASA’s Space Geodesy Project. To learn more, visit: [Hidden Content] Media Contacts Andrew Wang / Andrew Good Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-379-6874 / 818-393-2433 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Written by Sally Younger 2026-017 Explore More 1 min read SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways Explore how rivers move, change, and sustain life across the planet with SWOT data. Article 1 hour ago 5 min read A Fault Line in Full Bloom Plains around the San Andreas Fault and across Carrizo Plain National Monument are awash with… Article 15 hours ago 3 min read Restless Kīlauea Launches Lava and Ash Episode 43 of the Hawaiian volcano’s current eruption was marked by high lava fountains and… Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Climate Change NASA is a global leader in studying Earth’s changing climate. NASA Earth Science Disasters Program Eyes NASA’s Eyes is a suite of 3D visualization applications that allows everyone to explore and understand real NASA data and… View the full article

1 min read SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Science Agriculture Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us Explore how rivers move, change, and sustain life across the planet. Using data from the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission, jointly developed by the NASA/JPL and the Centre National d’Études Spatiales with contributions from the ********* Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency, scientists can now measure rivers continuously and across the entire globe for the first time in human history. From the Mississippi River to the Amazon, these observations reveal how rivers flow, how they change over time, and how they support ecosystems, economies, and communities worldwide like never before. Original Video and Assets Share Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 Editor Earth Science Division Editorial Team Related Terms Earth Surface Water SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) Water on Earth Explore More 5 min read A Fault Line in Full Bloom Plains around the San Andreas Fault and across Carrizo Plain National Monument are awash with… Article 14 hours ago 3 min read Restless Kīlauea Launches Lava and Ash Episode 43 of the Hawaiian volcano’s current eruption was marked by high lava fountains and… Article 4 days ago 3 min read NASA Laser Reflecting Instrument Makes GPS Satellite More Accurate Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Earth Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other. Earth Observatory NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day: images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate. Earth Science at Work NASA Earth Science helps Americans respond to challenges and societal needs — such as wildland fires, hurricanes, and water supplies… Earth Videos Collection of Earth science videos explaining a variety of concepts and activities performed by NASA’s Earth Science Division. View the full article

NASA, CSA, ESA, D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts – Amherst), C. Clark (Space Telescope Science Institute – ESA – JWST), K. Kuntz (The John Hopkins University), and B. Shappee (University of Hawaii); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This March 16, 2026, image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope takes a closer look at the core of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. At 25 million light-years away, M101 is one of the closest “face-on” spiral galaxies to us. With that in mind, Hubble’s ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared data were taken as part of studies to find out more about its stellar population and galactic structure. See more images from Hubble’s Messier Marathon 2026. Image credit: NASA, CSA, ESA, D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts – Amherst), C. Clark (Space Telescope Science Institute – ESA – JWST), K. Kuntz (The John Hopkins University), and B. Shappee (University of Hawaii); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) View the full article

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during a workforce Q&A session, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Glenn marks the eleventh stop in Isaacman’s roadshow to visit NASA facilities and engage directly with the agency’s workforce.NASA/John Kraus NASA will host a public event at 9 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 24, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters in Washington to outline how the agency is executing President Donald J. Trump’s National Space Policy and accelerating preparations for America’s return to the surface of the Moon by 2028. The program will open with remarks from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, followed by a series of high-level panels providing updates on mission priorities, including sending the first astronauts to the lunar surface in more than 50 years, establishing the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, getting America underway in space on nuclear propulsion, and other objectives. At 4:45 p.m., NASA will hold a live news conference from headquarters to provide an update on the agency’s progress toward implementing the National Space Policy and recapping major announcements discussed throughout the day. NASA participants include: Administrator Jared Isaacman Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya Dana Weigel, program manager, International Space Station Program Carlos Garcia-Galan, program executive, Moon Base Steve Sinacore, program executive, Fission Surface Power Dr. Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate Dr. Lori Glaze, program manager, Moon to Mars Program The full program and news conference will stream live on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media. This event is invitation-only for in-person attendance. To participate virtually in the news conference, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to Cheryl Warner at: *****@*****.tld. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For more information about NASA’s missions, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceArtemisLeadership View the full article

Share Details Last Updated Mar 23, 2026 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland *****@*****.tld Leah Ramsay, Christine Pulliam Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland Related Terms Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Crab Nebula Emission Nebulae Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Neutron Stars Pulsars Supernova Remnants Additional Links Release on ESA/Hubble website

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory A Fault Line in Full Bloom 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 5 March 13 Wildflower blooms appear as yellow patches at the center of satellite images centered on Carrizo Plain National Monument. The blooms spread and intensify between March 5 and March 13. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin Wildflower blooms appear as yellow patches at the center of satellite images centered on Carrizo Plain National Monument. The blooms spread and intensify between March 5 and March 13. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin March 5March 13 March 5, 2026 – March 13, 2026 CurtainToggle Image Details Golden wildflowers color the Carrizo Plain and surrounding Southern California landscape in these images captured on March 5, 2026 (left), and March 13, 2026 (right), by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and Landsat 9, respectively. NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin Whether it qualifies as a “superbloom” is in the eye of the beholder, but there is no doubt that California’s Carrizo Plain and the neighboring mountain ranges were awash with color as wildflowers put on their annual show in spring 2026. Landsat satellites began to show the early signs of color in February. By early March, flowers had turned areas around Soda Lake a bright shade of yellow, and by mid-month, they had spread even farther. Yellow wildflower blooms are visible amid the dendritic network of streams flanking the alkaline lake, which dries out completely during drought years. Colors were particularly vibrant across the Carrizo Plain National Monument, even decorating meadows along the zipper-shaped San Andreas Fault with splashes of purple due to blooms of Phacelia ciliata. Wildflowers bloom along the San Andreas Fault in this image acquired on March 13, 2026, by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin Winter 2025-2026 brought bouts of rain and variable conditions that benefited wildflowers. Soaking rains saturated soils in November and December, bringing rainfall totals to nearly twice the usual level, according to a report from the California Department of Water Resources. NASA data cited in the report showed soil moisture remained well above average for the month of February. The pulse of early rains helped kick-start wildflowers because many seeds need at least a half-inch of rain to wash off their protective coating to germinate, according to the National Park Service. The warm, dry periods that followed also helped. Once established, wildflowers benefit from intermittent rainfall rather than constant soaking. Wildflowers in Carrizo Plain National Monument on March 7, 2026. Photograph by Erin Berkowitz The Wild Flower Hotline reported that west-facing slopes of the Temblor Range were the first places to come alive with hillside daisies (Monolopia lanceolata) accompanied by California goldfields (Lasthenia californica) and forked fiddlenecks (Amsinckia furcata) in March. The display in the Caliente Range was enhanced by a lack of grass thatch, which was burned off in the Madre fire in July 2025. Reports from experts on the ground indicate that common goldfield (Lasthenia gracilis), also called the needle goldfield, is responsible for the expanse of yellow near Soda Lake. Individual plants are small, but they often grow in disturbed areas just centimeters apart and bloom simultaneously, creating expansive blankets of color. March 5 March 13 A more detailed view shows yellow blooms against a background of green surrounding Soda Lake and several streams to its east. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin A more detailed view shows yellow blooms against a background of green surrounding Soda Lake and several streams to its east. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin March 5March 13 March 5, 2026 – March 13, 2026 CurtainToggle Image Details Common goldfield spreads around California’s Soda Lake in these images acquired on March 5, 2026 (left), and March 13, 2026 (right), by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and Landsat 9, respectively. NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin In an article for Flora magazine, Bryce King, lead field botanist for the California Native Plant Society, described the Lasthenia blooms there as one of many “seemingly unending stretches of color” across the valley bottom. Lasthenia is a “staple” of vernal pools and seasonally wet areas, he wrote, but the synchronicity of blooms on the valley floor and surrounding hills during a March visit was “beyond anything” he had expected. Teams of NASA scientists are using remote sensing to study wildflower blooms and flowering plants, aiming to develop techniques for tracking blooms over broad areas and tools that can support farmers, beekeepers, and resource managers. Fruit, nuts, honey, and cotton are among the many crops and commodities produced by flowering plants. Yoseline Angel captures the spectral signature of goldfield flowers in grasslands near Soda Lake on March 14, 2026, by measuring the reflectance of yellow petals and green leaves with a field spectrometer. NASA/Andreas Baresch “I would certainly consider this a superbloom,” said Yoseline Angel, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s hard to describe how stunning these wildflowers were from the ground.” Angel and Goddard colleague Andres Baresch were in the field in Carrizo Plain National Monument on March 13 taking spectral measurements of blooming wildflowers as Landsat acquired one of the images shown above. They are in the process of developing a global flower monitoring system that will integrate observations from the ground with those from space-based sensors such as OLI on Landsat 8 and 9 and EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation) on the International Space Station to track the progression of blooms. “This was the perfect opportunity to test how well our models scale between the ground and satellites,” she said. “We were fortunate to have a huge number of seeds germinate and bloom simultaneously because last year was so dry and this winter was so wet.” Gold and purple wildflowers bloom in Carrizo Plain National Monument on March 7, 2026. Photograph by Erin Berkowitz NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photos courtesy of Erin Berkowitz and Andres Baresch. Story by Adam Voiland. Downloads March 5, 2026 JPEG (7.26 MB) March 13, 2026 JPEG (7.72 MB) References & Resources Angel, Y., et al. (2025) Deciphering the spectra of flowers to map landscape-scale blooming dynamics. Ecosphere, 16(2), e70127. Bureau of Land Management (2026, February 9) Wildflower season arrives at Carrizo Plain National Monument and other BLM-managed public lands. Accessed March 19, 2026. California Department of Water Resources (2026, March 16) California Hydrology Update. Accessed March 19, 2026. Flora (2026) Plain Beautiful. Accessed March 19, 2026. The Globe Program (2025, May 14) Looking for Wildflower Blooms and Flowering Trees with GLOBE. Accessed March 19, 2026. KQED (2025, April 8) Can NASA Help Predict Wildflower Super Blooms? Accessed March 19, 2026. National Park Service (2026) Wildflowers. Accessed March 19, 2026. Rahimi, E. & Jung, C. (2025) A review of remote sensing applications in flower phenology detection. Journal of Ecology and Environment, 49,05. The Tribune (2026, March 13) Colorful wildflowers blooming across Carrizo Plain. See photos. Accessed March 19, 2026. The Wild Flower Hotline, via Spotify (2026, March 13) Wildflower Hotline. Accessed March 19, 2026. Theodore Payne Foundation (2024, March 15) Superbloom Season? Accessed March 19, 2026. U.S. Drought Monitor (2025, December 4) Drought Status Update for California-Nevada. Accessed March 19, 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. Plants and Algae Swirl Across a South African Reservoir 5 min read Vivid green blooms form, drift, and fade in Hartbeespoortdam reservoir over the course of a year. Article An Amphitheater of Rock at Cedar Breaks 4 min read The colorful formations found in this bowl-shaped escarpment in southwestern Utah are the centerpiece of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Article Seasons Change in Southwest Virginia 3 min read From autumn color to a winter-white finish, forested areas around Blacksburg trade foliage for snow over the span of two… 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

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A scale model of a possible single-aisle twin-engine airliner is tested in a NASA wind tunnel.NASA Vision Studies, Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) Studies, and White Papers NASA Computational Fluid Dynamics Vision 2030 Study: A Path to Revolutionary Computational Aerosciences Requirements for Aircraft Certification By Analysis Vision 2040: A Roadmap for Integrated, Multiscale Modeling & Simulation of Materials & Systems Autonomy Verification &Validation Roadmap and Vision 2045 (Joint AOSP) Combustion and Emissions Analysis of Alternatives (includes subsonic transport acoustics, combustion and emissions, and aircraft icing) Computational Materials for Qualification and Certification (CM4QC) Strategy Document: Maturation of Computational Materials Methods for Aviation-Focused Qualification and Certification of Metal Additive Manufacturing White Paper: Personnel Selection, Roles, and Training for sUAS White Paper: Considerations for Airspace Integration Enabling Early Multi-Aircraft (m:N) Operations Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASAes @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 2 min read NASA Simulations Improve Artemis II Launch Environment Article 2 days ago 4 min read Award-Winning NASA Camera Revolutionizes How We See the Invisible Article 1 month ago 4 min read NASA Software Raises Bar for Aircraft Icing Research Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Mar 22, 2026 EditorJim BankeContactDiana Fitzgeralddiana.r*****@*****.tld Related TermsTransformational Tools Technologies View the full article

NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft flew its second flight on March 20, 2026, near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.NASA/Jim Ross NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft made its second flight on Friday, kicking off a series of dozens of test flights in 2026. Although the flight duration was abbreviated due to a technical issue, the team was able to collect information that will inform future tests. “Despite the early landing, this is a good day for the team. We collected more data, and the pilot landed safely,” said Cathy Bahm, project manager for NASA’s Low-***** Flight Demonstrator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. “We’re looking forward to getting back to flight as soon as possible.” The aircraft took off at 10:54 a.m. PDT from Edwards Air Force Base, near NASA Armstrong. Several minutes into the flight, pilot Jim “Clue” Less saw a vehicle system warning in the aircraft’s cockpit. Following flight procedures, the aircraft landed at 11:03 a.m. after a return-to-base was called. “As we like to say, it was just like the simulator – and that’s what we like to hear,” Less said. “This is just the beginning of a long flight campaign.” The X-59 is designed to fly supersonic – or faster than the speed of sound – while generating only a quiet thump instead of a loud sonic *****. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which is working to make commercial supersonic flight over land a reality. The aircraft is set to accelerate testing in 2026, demonstrating performance and airworthiness during a process known as envelope expansion, where it will gradually fly faster and higher, on its way to supersonic speeds. Share Details Last Updated Mar 20, 2026 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsQuesst (X-59)AeronauticsArmstrong Flight Research Center View the full article

Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield, Moffett Field, California, in 2006.Credits: NASA/Dominic Hart Restoration has been completed on Hangar One, a historic landmark in the San Francisco Bay Area and a key part of the region’s early aviation history. In December 2025, Planetary Ventures completed restoration of the Hangar One landmark at Moffett Federal Airfield, located at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Work focused on modernizing the structure while maintaining its original visual characteristics as closely as possible. The restoration work included the remediation, clean-up, and recladding of the siding and roof, as well as a variety of structural upgrades. Hangar One — now more than 90 years old — was restored according to U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of historical buildings. This project started years ago when the U.S. Navy removed all the hangar’s roof, siding, windows, doors, and other materials, which were contaminated with toxic chemicals. The Navy then sealed the hangar’s structural frame with epoxy to ensure the chemicals would not pose a health risk, leaving it intact until further work could be completed. In 2014, NASA signed a lease with Planetary Ventures to operate Moffett Federal Airfield and rehabilitate Hangar One. In 2022, Planetary Ventures removed the remaining toxic chemicals from the hangar. First, working section by section, areas of Hangar One were surrounded with scaffolding and encased to keep contaminated materials inside. Only then were they carefully removed and stored in the vicinity of the hangar until being taken off-site for proper disposal. After the contaminated materials were removed, the steel frame was primed and repainted to protect it from the elements until siding, windows, and doors were added. The team also made several structural upgrades — as well as other mechanical, plumbing, electrical, landscape, and hardscape improvements — to ensure the hangar’s long-term operational integrity for generations to come. Timeline: 1933: The United States Navy built Hangar One at Naval Air Station Sunnyvale for the USS Macon airship and to serve as the West Coast base for the U.S. lighter-than-air aviation program. 1935: After the destruction of the dirigible U.S.S. Macon, Hangar One and all of Naval Air Station Sunnyvale was transferred to the U.S. Army, renamed Moffett Field Army Air Corps Base, and was used to house training aircraft. 1942: Moffett Field Army Air Corps Base was transferred back to the U.S. Navy and re-commissioned as Naval Air Station Moffett Field. 1994: The Navy transferred the hangar to NASA after Moffett Field was decommissioned. 1997: During routine stormwater testing, NASA discovered a toxin called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, specifically Aroclor 1260 and 1268, and other contaminants in the Center’s storm drain settling basin. 2002: Sampling programs determine that the composite corrugated material used to make the original external siding of Hangar One was the source of the PCBs as well as asbestos and the paint used to cover both the siding and steel frame of Hangar One contained lead and PCBs. 2003: An inspection reveals PCBs, and other contaminants are leaking from the hangar’s metallic exterior. As a result of the high levels of PCBs present in the Hangar One building components, the hangar was closed to human use, as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act. 2008: At a Navy public hearing, members of the local community expressed overwhelming support for full restoration of Hangar One. June 2010 – June 2013: The Navy addressed contamination at Hangar One by preserving and decontaminating historic artifacts; removing the hangar’s roof, siding, windows, doors, and other exterior components; demolishing the interior structures of the hangar; coating the structure with epoxy; among other activities. May 28, 2013: NASA and the U.S. General Services Administration issued a Request for Proposals to obtain lease proposals for the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of Hangar One, and for the operation, management, and maintenance of Moffett Federal Airfield. February 2014: After a fair and open competition, the U.S. General Services Administration and NASA selected Planetary Ventures, LLC as the preferred lessee and began lease negotiations to manage Moffett Federal Airfield and rehabilitate historic Hangar One. Jan. 14, 2020: Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board). Nov. 17, 2020: Action Memorandum is approved by the EPA. Nov. 18, 2020: Action Memorandum is approved by the Regional Water Board. Feb. 3, 2022: Non-Time-Critical Removal Action (NTCRA) Work Plan is submitted to the EPA and the Regional Water Board. March 24, 2022: EPA and the Regional Water Board approved the Final Non-Time-Critical Removal Action Work Plan. March 2022: Scaffolding and encasement around Hangar One begins. Spring 2022: Removal and disposal of contaminated materials begins. Summer 2022: Repainting of steel frame in the first work area begins. Dec. 1, 2025: Planetary Ventures completed the full remediation and restoration of Hangar One. U.S. Navy J-4 airship with Hangar One, circa 1934.Credits: NASA Ames Fast Facts: Hangar One is a very large structure measuring approximately 1,133 feet long, 308 feet wide, and 198 feet high. Hangar One is in the Shenandoah Plaza Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places at the National level of significance under Criterion A for the association with coastal defense and naval technology that has made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; and Criterion C reflecting the distinctive type, *******, method of construction and high artistic values that are represented in the 1933 station plan and buildings. Hangar One is designated as a Naval Historical Monument as well as a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the San Francisco section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Collaborators: Planetary Ventures, LLC of Delaware Learn more: NASA story: Second Life for Historic Hangar One Wood: Super Bowl 50 Stadium Décor (Feb. 1, 2016) NASA video: Second Life for Hangar One Wood (Feb. 3, 2016) NASA release: NASA Signs Lease with Planetary Ventures LLC for Use of Moffett Airfield and Restoration of Hangar One (Nov. 10, 2014) For researchers: NASA Ames’ Environmental Divisions’ Federal Facility Agreement Administrative Record webpage NASA Historic Preservation Office Hangar One webpage 2008 Archive: Hangar One webpage For news media Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the Ames newsroom. View the full article

Image Credit: National Institute of Aerospace NASA selected 14 university teams from across the nation as finalists in the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition. This NASA challenge tasks students to design innovative concepts that could further human life and work on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The competition links academia and the aerospace community, fostering innovation, collaboration, and workforce development in support of NASA’s long-term exploration goals. “The innovation and technical depth demonstrated this year are exemplary of the next generation of aerospace leaders,” said Daniel Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “The strongest teams demonstrated not only creativity, but also the disciplined analysis and systems engineering required to develop credible solutions for space exploration challenges facing the agency.” The 2026 RASC-AL competition invited university teams to develop technically rigorous proposals addressing one of four mission themes: Communications, Position, Navigation, and Time (CPNT) Architectures for Mars Surface Operations; Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) Architectures; Lunar Sample Return Concepts; and Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure. Each topic reflects relevant areas of exploration technology development aligned with NASA’s Artemis program and long-term human missions to Mars. The 2026 RASC-AL Finalists are: CPNT Architectures for Mars Surface Operations Massachusetts Institute of Technology MELIORA: Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement University of Texas, Austin Project Pharos Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University The Mars Pylon Network (MPN) Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and PMAD Architectures Dartmouth College FLORA: Flywheel for Lunar Operations – Redundancy Architecture Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach Project AUREVO: Advanced Utilization of Resources for Energy & Viability Off-Earth Massachusetts Institute of Technology Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm (ECLIPSE) University of Hawaii, Manoa with University of Hawaii, Hilo Project PETAL: Power Energy Transfer Architecture for the Lunar surface Lunar Sample Return Concept South Dakota State University SELENE: Sample Extraction of Lunar Elements for Network Entry Texas A&M University TAMU NOVA Lunar Mission University of Michigan LASSO – Lunar Autonomous Sample Staging Operations Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure Massachusetts Institute of Technology CHEESEBURGER: CLPS-enabled Highly-autonomous End-to-End isru-System Evaluations to Build Understanding and Resilient Growth by Experimenting with Regolith University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Léonard de Vinci MATRIX: Mining and Advanced Transformation of Regolith for Infrastructure and eXpansion University of Maryland Project LILI: Lunar Infrastructure & Landing Innovation University of Texas, Austin Demonstration of Up-scalable Surface Treatment for Earth-Moon Economy (DUSTEE) Each team submitted an initial proposal paper and a two-minute video presentation, which were evaluated by a review panel of NASA and aerospace industry experts. “The RASC-AL competition challenges students to address many of the same technical and operational questions we encounter working on Artemis, from surface infrastructure to mobility and resource utilization,” added Dr. Christopher Jones, RASC-AL program sponsor and chief technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. “The concepts developed through the competition help expand NASA’s thinking as we plan and refine future exploration missions.” As finalists, each team will further develop their concept into a comprehensive technical paper and oral presentation, culminating in an in-person showcase beginning on June 2 at the 2026 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida. During the Forum, students will present their work to NASA leaders, industry professionals, and fellow finalist teams, gaining valuable feedback and professional experience in systems-level mission design. The top-performing teams at the forum will be recognized for technical merit, innovation, and presentation excellence. NASA’s RASC-AL Competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace. The RASC-AL Competition is sponsored by NASA’s Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and by the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, manages the challenge. For more information about RASC-AL, visit RASCAL.nianet.org. Share Details Last Updated Mar 20, 2026 Related TermsPrizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing ProgramCenter of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI)CoECI NewsExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateGet InvolvedLangley Research CenterNASA DirectoratesOpportunities For Students to Get InvolvedPrizes, Challenges, & Crowdsourcing NewsSpace Technology Mission Directorate View the full article

5 min read How Open NASA Data on Comet 3I/ATLAS Will Power Tomorrow’s Discoveries Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on Nov. 30, 2025, as observed by the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. NASA missions all across the solar system have collected data about the comet to be shared in public archives. NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory). Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI) The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will soon leave our solar system, never to return, but the observations of the comet will live on in NASA’s public data archives. More than a dozen NASA science missions turned their instruments to observe the comet, which is only the third identified object to be visiting our solar system from interstellar space. How open data first captured 3I/ATLAS The NASA-funded ground-based ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile first discovered 3I/ATLAS July 1, 2025. However, queries to another NASA data archive revealed that the comet first appeared on camera long before its official identification in July. NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), which scans the sky for planets outside our solar system, has a wide field of view that happened to capture 3I/ATLAS in May 2025. This allowed astronomers to better track the comet’s trajectory and understand more about its path through the solar system. TESS data is publicly available in the NASA-funded Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (circled) is a bright dot with a tail passing through a field of stars in this January 2026 series of images from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). TESS was the first NASA mission to capture the comet on camera in May 2025. NASA/Daniel Muthukrishna, MIT “NASA’s scientific data archives are a gold mine of discoveries waiting to be made,” said Kevin Murphy, chief science data officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The early observations of 3I/ATLAS from the TESS mission represent just one example of the exciting insights our open data can reveal.” Uncovering comet composition Decades of observations have given scientists a good idea of the usual chemical makeup and structure for comets formed within our solar system, but because 3I/ATLAS formed elsewhere, scientists anticipated this comet would have different characteristics. To date, few, if any, comets have been observed by as many spacecraft as 3I/ATLAS, and combining data from these different missions can deliver powerful new insights. For example, researchers discovered the relative water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide production rates of 3I/ATLAS differed from typical comets. They found this result by combining spectral data from NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) Mars orbiter with infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission. This image, taken on Oct. 5, 2025 by the MAVEN spacecraft, shows the coma of gas and dust surrounding comet 3I/ATLAS. Combining data from NASA’s MAVEN, James Webb Space Telescope, and SPHEREx missions helped reveal the comet’s production rates of volatile molecules including water. NASA/Goddard/LASP/CU Boulder NASA’s commitment to open science makes it easier than ever to work with data from different sources. For example, the agency’s Planetary Data System sets standards that guide planetary science missions to store their data in the same format. It also develops tools that can work across data from several different missions. “Open science, as a set of principles, has been pushing us as research communities and NASA to make data more accessible,” said Thomas Statler, lead scientist for Solar System Small Bodies at NASA Headquarters, who coordinated the agency’s observation campaign for 3I/ATLAS. “It’s worked into the way we structure and establish standards for our data archives. That’s what makes our data usable.” Data from SPHEREx, including its observations of 3I/ATLAS, can be accessed through the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). Data from MAVEN is available through the Planetary Data System. Webb’s observations can be found in the MAST archive. Future research In the short term, scientists and researchers will be able to use 3I/ATLAS data to learn even more about the comet’s structure and composition. However, the impact of NASA’s observations will have effects far beyond this one target. Humans only recently developed technologies capable of spotting interstellar objects passing through our solar system. The first one ever detected, ‘Oumuamua, was discovered in 2017, but scientists estimate an interstellar object may pass through our solar system about once per year. With the advent of ever more powerful telescopes, these discoveries will become much more common. As we become more aware of interstellar objects, scientists will increasingly be able to compare and contrast interstellar objects with each other and understand them as a group. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This movie shows the NASA PUNCH mission’s observations of comet 3I/ATLAS from Sept. 28 to Oct. 10, 2025. PUNCH is a set of four small satellites that primarily study solar wind, but they were able to capture the comet through careful observations and image stacking. Thanks to creative use of instruments on NASA’s science missions, 3I/ATLAS is one of the best-observed comets ever. NASA/Southwest Research Institute The amount of data collected about 3I/ATLAS means this comet could become an important part of the context for understanding interstellar comets for the rest of time. This makes it even more beneficial for that data to be available for everyone to access. “Thirty-five years from now, when astronomers have seen another thirty-five years’ worth of data on interstellar comets, they’re going to be asking different questions,” Statler said. “The way we leave a legacy so scientists of the future can answer the questions of the future is by having these data here and preserved for them to use.” NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer leads the open science efforts for the agency. Public sharing of scientific data, tools, research, and software maximizes the impact of NASA’s science missions. To get more stories about the impact of NASA’s science data delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for the NASA Open Science newsletter. To learn more about NASA’s commitment to transparency and reproducibility of scientific research, visit: science.nasa.gov/open-science By Lauren Leese Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer Share Details Last Updated Mar 20, 2026 Related Terms Open Science 3I/ATLAS Comets James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Hubble Unexpectedly Catches Comet Breaking Up Article 2 days ago 5 min read Artifacts From NASA’s Webb, Parker Solar Probe on View at Smithsonian A testing replica of the “backbone” of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and a full-scale… Article 1 week ago 3 min read Collaborating Through Data: Inside the PSI Users Group Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA/Zena Cardman NASA astronaut Chris Williams smiles at the camera during a spacesuit fit verification on Jan. 2, 2026, inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock. This procedure confirms that the spacesuit is airtight and properly configured, assesses comfort and mobility, and helps prevent potential safety risks. Williams and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir completed an approximately seven-hour and two-minute spacewalk on March 18, 2026. The pair did tasks that will enable the future installation of roll-out solar arrays. These arrays will provide additional power for the orbiting laboratory, supporting critical systems and its safe, controlled deorbit. Learn more about station activities on the International Space Station blog. Image credit: NASA/Zena Cardman View the full article

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren takes a selfie with the people behind “Project Hail Mary” and the audience during a panel about the movie at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Feb. 25, 2026.NASA/Dan Goods Real-life space exploration and big-screen science fiction will converge on Friday. As NASA prepares to launch Artemis II, the first crewed mission under the agency’s Artemis program and another step toward sending the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars, the fictional film “Project Hail Mary” premiere will take audiences on a journey into deep space. The agency provided guidance throughout filming, and also is participating in activities related to the release of the film to connect the agency’s missions, innovations, and discoveries to the public through pop culture. “Space exploration captures the public’s imagination, and collaboration between science and storytelling brings that sense of discovery to a wider audience,” said Will Boyington, associate administrator for the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Inspiring the next generation, whether through rocket launches or sci-fi movies, helps build the talent and support that underpin American leadership in space.” NASA’s communications personnel provided informal consultation about human spaceflight and science during the making of the movie, and experts from the agency in astrobiology and astrophysics, which are major themes in “Project Hail Mary,” answered questions about these topics during the making of the film. Agency advisors are listed in the credits. On the movie set, the agency provided an in-person consultation between NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and actor Ryan Gosling, who plays an astronaut in the movie. NASA also facilitated brand use guidance and clearance for the agency’s “meatball” and “worm” logos featured in the film. NASA’s activities related to the movie even reached beyond Earth. In between conducting research and demonstrating new technologies, Expedition 74 crew members living and working aboard the International Space Station, including NASA astronauts Chris Williams, Jessica Meir, and Jack Hathaway, screened “Project Hail Mary” while in orbit. Artemis II crew members, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will help make what once was science fiction a reality through their upcoming deep space launch, are expected to have an opportunity to view “Project Hail Mary” while in quarantine. They are preparing to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Learn more about the agency’s missions on NASA’s website: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Mar 20, 2026 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGeneralJet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA Headquarters View the full article

2 Min Read NASA Simulations Improve Artemis II Launch Environment This simulation of the Artemis I launch shows how the Space Launch System rocket’s exhaust plumes interact with the air, water, and the launchpad. Colors on surfaces indicate pressure levels—red for high pressure and blue for low pressure. The teal contours illustrate where water is present. Credits: NASA/Chris DeGrendele, Timothy Sandstrom Airflow around rockets as they travel from Earth into space can have a dramatic impact on a mission, which is why NASA used advanced simulations to provide the best possible launch conditions for the Artemis II test flight around the Moon. To better understand the Artemis Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s flight environment, engineers turned to a NASA-developed tool called the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework. The software addresses computational fluid dynamics, the flow behavior of gases and liquids. Using data from the 2022 Artemis I launch, researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley used LAVA to simulate complex interactions between the rocket plume and a system that pumps water to suppress sound during launch. The system protects the rocket and other equipment from potentially damaging sound waves. Comparing simulations with and without the sound suppression system activated revealed that the water effectively reduces pressure waves from sound, but exhaust gases from the rocket could also redirect water, causing significant pressure increases in certain areas of the launchpad.   The LAVA simulations improved NASA’s understanding of the plume interaction with the Artemis mobile launcher platform. Using this knowledge, aerospace engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida refined the design plume pressures and adapted the launch platform to endure those pressures for Artemis II, NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS and Orion spacecraft. NASA will release LAVA in the coming weeks to the aerospace community and accelerate innovation by enabling U.S. companies and researchers to run complex simulations and optimize designs for aircraft and rockets. NASA has hosted a seminar on using LAVA with more about the tool’s capabilities. The work on LAVA is supported through NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies project, which develops new computational capabilities to help predict aerospace vehicle performance. The project is part of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. NASA’s decades of aeronautics research expertise strengthens its space missions, using tools like wind tunnel testing, advanced software development, and other innovations to enhance safety and reliability. Explore More 4 min read NASA’s X-59 Prepares for Second Flight Article 3 days ago 7 min read To Protect Artemis II Astronauts, NASA Experts Keep Eyes on Sun As four astronauts travel around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission, they will venture beyond Earth’s… Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA Selects Finalists in Student Aircraft Maintenance Competition Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Mar 19, 2026 EditorJim BankeContactRobert Margetta*****@*****.tld Related TermsAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAmes Research CenterArtemis 2Exploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateFlight InnovationSpace Launch System (SLS)Transformational Tools TechnologiesTransformative Aeronautics Concepts Program View the full article

Students collaborate on a hands‑on STEM project, assembling and testing components during the NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute at NASA’s Glenn Research Center on July 18, 2025.NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is hosting the 2026 NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute this July. The hands-on learning experience is designed to help high school students prepare for a future in the aerospace workforce. Rising high school juniors and seniors can submit applications for this summer program beginning Friday, March 20, through Friday, May 1. The institute will immerse students in NASA’s work while providing essential career readiness tools to help them in future science, technology, engineering, and math-focused academic and professional pursuits. Throughout the five-day program, students will use authentic NASA mission content and work alongside Glenn’s technical experts to gain a deeper understanding of the engineering design process, develop practical engineering solutions to real-world challenges, and test prototypes to answer questions in key mission areas: Acoustic dampening – How can we reduce noise pollution from jet engines? Power management and distribution – How can we develop a smart power system for future space stations? Simulated lunar operations – Can we invent tires that don’t use air? How to Apply: To be considered for the 2026 NASA Glenn High School Engineering Institute, applicants must submit a complete application package no later than May 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Program Dates Selected students will participate in one of the following weeklong sessions: Session 1: July 13-17, 2026 Session 2: July 20-24, 2026 Session 3: July 27-31, 2026 Eligibility and Application Requirements To be eligible for this program, students must: Be entering 11th or 12th grade for the 2026-2027 academic year Have a minimum 3.2 GPA, verified by their school counselor Submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher Be a U.S. citizen Questions about the institute should be directed to GRC-Ed*****@*****.tld. For information about NASA Glenn, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Heather Roe NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland 216-695-7292 *****@*****.tld View the full article

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Restless Kīlauea Launches… 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 10, 2026 Kīlauea has entered its second year of episodic activity after reawakening in December 2024. Since then, the Hawaiian volcano has gone through dozens of bouts of lava fountaining, each lasting several hours to several days. Activity ramped up once again on March 10, 2026, for episode 43 of the eruption. From approximately 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time that day, lava spewed from two active vents on the southwest side of Halema‘uma‘u Crater, adding to the ever-thickening layer of fresh basaltic rock in the summit caldera. The flareup also featured the highest lava fountains of the current eruption, estimated at 1,770 feet (540 meters). Meanwhile, ash and other airborne debris fell on communities up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. About 4 hours after fountaining subsided, the Landsat 9 satellite passed over the Island of Hawai‘i. This image shows shortwave infrared and near-infrared data, acquired with the satellite’s OLI (Operational Land Imager) at 10:20 p.m. local time on March 10 (08:20 Universal Time on March 11), revealing heat emanating from the still-sizzling lava. That information is layered over a composite of daytime Landsat images and a digital elevation model. An estimated 16 million cubic yards (12 million cubic meters) of lava erupted during the episode, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), bringing the total volume erupted across all episodes since December 2024 to close to 325 million cubic yards (250 million cubic meters). Over the same *******, the depth of lava in the crater has increased by about 300 feet (90 meters). While lava remained confined to the summit area, other erupted material traveled much farther. Images captured by satellites orbiting over the area during the daytime showed a volcanic plume drifting northeast from the vents. Volcanic gas and ash reached a maximum height in the atmosphere of more than 30,000 feet (9,100 meters) above sea level, the HVO said. The aviation color code was elevated to red during the eruption, and several flights at the airport in Hilo were canceled, according to news reports. Volcanic fragments up to several inches in diameter fell along the north rim of the caldera and in adjacent communities. The hazards and accumulation of debris caused the temporary closure of Highway 11 and the evacuation of visitors from parts of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Smaller particles were carried farther: people reported ash and *****’s hair falling tens of miles to the north and east of Kīlauea, including in Hilo, Keaʻau, and other communities on the coast. Volcanic debris is an eye, skin, and respiratory irritant, the HVO warned, and it may affect water quality for those using rainwater catchment systems. NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads March 10, 2026 JPEG (1.23 MB) References & Resources NASA Earth Observatory (2025, December 9) A Hot and Fiery Decade for Kīlauea. Accessed March 19, 2026. NASA Earthdata (2026, March 13) Eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea. Accessed March 19, 2026. U.S. Geological Survey (2026, March 12) Volcano Watch – Episode 43, new fountain height record and tephra fallout on communities. Accessed March 19, 2026. U.S. Geological Survey (2026, March 11) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Status Report. Accessed March 19, 2026. U.S. Geological Survey (2026) Kīlauea Eruption Information. Accessed March 19, 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. Krasheninnikova Remains Restless 3 min read The volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula continues to erupt after centuries of quiescence. Article A Hot and Fiery Decade for Kīlauea 6 min read The volcano in Hawaii is one of the most active in the world, and NASA tech makes it easier for… Article Hayli Gubbi’s Explosive First Impression 4 min read In its first documented eruption, the Ethiopian volcano sent a plume of gas and ash drifting across continents. 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/Ben Smegelsky An American bald eagle flies away from its nest and tree at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 13, 2026. Bald eagle nesting surveys across NASA Kennedy, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Canaveral National Seashore are conducted annually to document the number of bald eagle active and inactive nests in support of wildlife management and regulatory compliance. Each year, eagles take up winter residence at the Florida spaceport, breeding and raising a new generation. See more bald eagle photos and video. Text credit: Elyna Niles-Carnes Image credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky View the full article