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Explore This Section Mars Home Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates 3 min read Cookies, Cream, and Crumbling Cores NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover captured this image of the intriguing texture of the rock sample dubbed “Serpentine Lake.” Perseverance acquired this image using its SHERLOC WATSON camera, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The SHERLOC instrument (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) uses cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life; in addition to its black-and-white context camera, SHERLOC is assisted by WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), a color camera for taking close-up images of rock grains and surface textures. Perseverance acquired this image on Feb. 1, 2025 — sol 1405, or Martian day 1,405 of the Mars 2020 mission — at the local mean solar time of 23:41:38. NASA/JPL-Caltech Perseverance’s drives over the last few weeks have doubled back several times. Why such an unconventional route? Team scientists have been delighted to find new kinds of rocks that could be the oldest ever found on Mars and are eager to collect samples. Perseverance embarked on the Crater Rim Campaign in search of ancient uplifted rock, to better understand the geologic processes occurring early in Mars’ history, and search for ancient habitable environments. Recent discoveries have not disappointed: so far in this portion of the rim, every outcrop that the rover has taken a close look at using the science instruments on its robotic arm has ended up being something new. As explained in the previous update, after acquiring the “Silver Mountain” core, which is rich in the mineral pyroxene, Perseverance approached a nearby rock that had signatures of the mineral serpentine, fittingly nicknamed “Serpentine Lake.” Following this, the rover used its abrasion tool to clean the rock of dust and coatings for detailed scientific interrogation, and the team was wowed by the intriguing rock texture, which resembles “cookies & cream” dessert (see photo above), and the very high abundance of minerals like serpentine, which form in the presence of water. After finishing that investigation, the operations team decided to have Perseverance head back along its path once more to the site of its first abrasion in this part of the rim, named “Cat Arm Reservoir,” to acquire a sample. Results from that earlier analysis showed a rock texture with coarse pyroxene and feldspar crystals consistent with an igneous origin. However, the sample tube turned up empty. What happened? Perseverance has encountered this problem before: flashback to our first ever coring attempt. It’s not a common occurrence, but sometimes the rocks Perseverance tries to sample are so weak that upon coring they essentially disintegrate into a powder instead of remaining in the tube. The rover drove to a nearby spot and tried again, but when a second attempt to core this rock did not retain any sample, the team decided to move on. This week, Perseverance will return once again to the site of the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch to acquire a core of this fascinating rock, which records intense alteration by water. The team hopes that it will prove strong enough to acquire a core, and if successful, Perseverance may perform more scans on the abrasion patch. Afterward, the plan is to drive downhill to an area called “Broom Point,” home to a spectacular sequence of layered rock, where I’m sure more surprises and exciting scientific discoveries await. Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. student at Purdue University Share Details Last Updated Feb 17, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4454-4457: Getting Ready to Fill the Long Weekend with Science Article 14 hours ago 2 min read Sols 4452-4453: Keeping Warm and Keeping Busy Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sols 4450-4451: Making the Most of a Monday Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions 2 min read Sols 4454-4457: Getting Ready to Fill the Long Weekend with Science NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, which includes the pyramid-shaped rock at left in the photo, the science target dubbed “Pyramid Lake,” using its Left Navigation Camera. The rover acquired the image on sol 4452, or Martian day 4,452 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, on Feb. 13, 2025, at 14:22:06 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 Curiosity is continuing to make progress along the strategic route, traversing laterally across the sulfate (salt) bearing unit toward the boxwork structures. The team celebrated the completion of another successful drive when we received the downlink this morning, and then we immediately got to work thinking about what’s next. There is a holiday in the United States on Monday, so instead of the typical three-sol weekend plan, we actually planned four sols, which will set us up to return to planning next Tuesday. The first sol of the plan focuses on remote sensing, and we’ll be taking several small Mastcam mosaics of features around the rover. One of my favorite targets the team picked is a delightfully pointy rock visible toward the left of the Navcam image shown above. The color images we’ll take with Mastcam will give us more information about the textures of this rock and potentially provide insight into the geologic forces that transformed it into this comical shape. The team chose what I think is a very appropriate name for this Martian pyramid-shaped target — “Pyramid Lake.” The terrestrial inspiration behind this name is a human-made reservoir (lake) near Los Angeles with a big (also human-made) pyramidal hill in it. On the second sol of the plan, we’ll use the instruments on Curiosity’s arm to collect data of rock targets at our feet, including “Strawberry Peak,” a bumpy piece of bedrock, “Lake Arrowhead,” a smooth piece of bedrock, and “Skyline Trail,” a dark float rock. ChemCam will also collect chemical data of Skyline Trail, “Big Tujunga” — which is similar to Strawberry Peak — and “Momyer.” We’ll also take the first part of a 360-degree color mosaic with Mastcam! In the third sol of the plan, we’ll complete the 360-degree mosaic and continue driving to the southwest along our strategic route. The fourth sol is pretty quiet, with some atmospheric observations and a ChemCam AEGIS. Atmospheric observations are additionally sprinkled throughout other sols of the plan. This time of year we are particularly interested in studying the clouds above Gale crater! I’m looking forward to the nice long weekend, and returning on Tuesday morning to see everything Curiosity accomplished. Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Share Details Last Updated Feb 17, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4452-4453: Keeping Warm and Keeping Busy Article 3 days ago 2 min read Sols 4450-4451: Making the Most of a Monday Article 5 days ago 3 min read Sols 4447–4449: Looking Back at the Marker Band Valley Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The engineering club from Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California, visits NASA’s Armstrong Research Flight Center in Edwards, California. The students took a group photo in front of the historic X-1E aircraft on display at the center.NASA/Genaro Vavuris A group of enthusiastic high school students recently visited NASA to learn about facilities and capabilities that enable the agency’s researchers to explore, innovate, and inspire for the benefit of humanity. Engineering club students from Palmdale High School in California were able to connect classroom lessons to real-world applications, sparking curiosity and ambition while at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “I learned a lot about the different careers that you can get at a place like NASA,” student Roberto Cisnero said. Through partnerships with the regional STEM community, NASA’s STEM Engagement provides local students with hands-on opportunities aligned with NASA’s missions. “Many students do not get the opportunity to be encouraged to pursue STEM careers. Part of our NASA mission is to be that encourager,” said Randy Thompson, deputy director for NASA Armstrong Research and Engineering. Highlights from the visit included demonstrations at a mission control room, the Subscale Flight Research Laboratory, the Flight Loads Laboratory, and the Experimental Fabrication Shop, all of which support high-risk, atmospheric flight research and test projects. Students engaged with laboratory technicians, engineers, and program managers, asking questions about the work they do. “It was fun to see what the valued people at NASA do with all of the resources,” student Jonathan Peitz said. NASA’s California Office of STEM Engagement hosted the visit in celebration of National Aviation History Month. By supporting students, educators, and expanding STEM participation, NASA aims to inspire future leaders and build a diverse, skilled workforce. Students examine the Global Hawk Fairing Load Test at the Experimental Fabrication Shop at NASA’s Armstrong Research Flight Center in Edwards, California. The students are from the engineering club from Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California.NASA/Steve Freeman Students tour a control room at NASA’s Armstrong Research Flight Center in Edwards, California. The students are from the engineering club at Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California.NASA/Steve Freeman Students look at a subscale model at the Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Research Flight Center in Edwards, California. The students are from the engineering club from Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California.NASA/Steve Freeman Students examine small parts made at the Experimental Fabrication Shop at NASA’s Armstrong Research Flight Center in Edwards, California. The students are from the engineering club from Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California.NASA/Steve Freeman Share Details Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactArmstrong Communications Related TermsArmstrong Flight Research CenterLearning ResourcesNext Gen STEMSTEM Engagement at NASA Explore More 2 min read An Afternoon of Family Science and Rocket Exploration in Alaska On Tuesday, January 28th, Fairbanks BEST Homeschool joined the Geophysical Institute for an afternoon of… Article 2 hours ago 3 min read Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop Christine Shupla and Claire Ratcliffe Adams, from the NASA Science Activation program’s NASA@ My Library… Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA’s X-59 Turns Up Power, Throttles Through Engine Tests Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Educational Resources Lunar Activities Collected here are a few educational activities related to eclipse science that particularly highlight the Moon, recommended by… Armstrong Capabilities & Facilities Armstrong People View the full article

Credit: NASA NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) is pleased to announce the official release of the highly anticipated 2024 State-of-the-Art Small Spacecraft Technology report. This significant accomplishment was made possible by the contributions of numerous dedicated people across NASA who graciously supported the preparation of the document as authors and reviewers. We also want to extend our gratitude to all the companies, universities, and organizations that provided content for this report. The 2024 report can be found online at https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa. The report is also available in PDF format as a single document containing all report content as well as individual chapters available on their respective chapter webpages. This 2024 edition reflects updates in several chapters to include: the Formation Flying and Rendezvous and Proximity Operations section within the “Guidance, Navigation, and Control” chapter; the Additive Manufacturing section within the “Structures, Materials, and Mechanisms” chapter; the Free Space Optical Communications section within the “Communications” chapter; and the Hosted Orbital Services section within the “Complete Spacecraft Platforms” chapter. As in previous editions, the report contains a general overview of current state-of-the-art SmallSat technologies and their development status as discussed in open literature. The report is not intended to be an exhaustive representation of all technologies currently available to the small spacecraft community, nor does the inclusion of technologies in the report serve as an endorsement by NASA. Sources of publicly available date commonly used as sources in the development of the report include manufacturer datasheets, press releases, conference papers, journal papers, public filings with government agencies, and news articles. Readers are highly encouraged to reach out to companies for further information regarding the performance and maturity of described technologies of interest. During the report’s development, companies were encouraged to release test information and flight data when possible so it may be appropriately captured. It should be noted that technology maturity designations may vary with change to payload, mission requirements, reliability considerations, and the associated test/flight environment in which performance was demonstrated. Suggestions or corrections to the 2024 report toward a subsequent edition, should be submitted to the NASA Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute Agency-SmallSat-Institute@mail.nasa.gov for consideration prior to the publication of the future edition. When submitting suggestions or corrections, please cite appropriate publicly accessible references. Private correspondence is not considered an adequate reference. Efforts are underway for the 2025 report and organizations are invited to submit technologies for consideration for inclusion by August 1, 2025. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute. View the full article

Explore This Section Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 21 min read Summary of the 10th DSCOVR EPIC and NISTAR Science Team Meeting Introduction The 10th Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Camera (EPIC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Radiometer [NISTAR] Science Team Meeting (STM) was held October 16–18, 2024. Over 50 scientists attended, most of whom were from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), with several participating from other NASA centers, U.S. universities, and U.S. Department of Energy laboratories. There was one international participant – from Estonia. A full overview of DSCOVR’s Earth-observing instruments was published in a previous article in The Earth Observer and will not be repeated here. This article provides the highlights of the 2024 meeting. The meeting agenda and full presentations can be downloaded from GSFC’s Aura Validation Data Center. Opening Presentations The opening session of the 10th DSCOVR STM was special. Former U.S., Vice President Al Gore attended the opening session and gave a presentation at the panel discussion “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations” – see Photo. Gore was involved in the early days of planning the DSCOVR mission, which at that time was known as Triana. He reminisced about his involvement and praised the team for the work they’ve done over the past decade to launch and maintain the DSCOVR mission. Following the STM Opening Session, Gore spoke at a GSFC Engage session in Building 3 later that afternoon on the same topic, but before a wider audience. [Link forthcoming.] Following Gore’s remarks, the remainder of the opening session consisted of a series of presentations from DSCOVR mission leaders and representatives from GSFC and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Thomas Neumann [GSFC, Earth Sciences Division (ESD)—Deputy Director] opened the meeting and welcomed Vice President Gore and the STM participants on behalf of the ESD. Adam Szabo [GSFC—DSCOVR Project Scientist] briefly reported that the spacecraft was still in “good health.” The EPIC and NISTAR instruments on DSCOVR continue to return their full science observations. He also gave an update on DSCOVR Space Weather research. Alexander Marshak [GSFC—DSCOVR Deputy Project Scientist] briefly described DSCOVR mission history and the science results based on DSCOVR observations from the first Sun–Earth Lagrange point (hereinafter, the L1 point). He also summarized the major EPIC and NISTAR results to date. At this time, more than 125 papers related to DSCOVR are listed on the EPIC website. Elsayed Talaat [NOAA, Office of Space Weather observations—Director] discussed the future of Earth and space science studies from the L1 point. Photo. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore spoke at the opening session of the 10th DSCOVR Science Team Meeting. This photo shows Gore together with Makenzie Lystrup [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—Center Director], Christa Peters-Lidard [GSFC, Director of the Science and Exploration Directorate], Elsayed Talaat [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—Director of the Office of Space Weather Observations], Dalia Kirschbaum [GSFC—Director of Earth Sciences], other GSFC management, and members of the DSCOVR Science Team. Photo credit: Katy Comber (GSFC) Updates on DSCOVR Operations The DSCOVR mission components continue to function nominally. The meeting was an opportunity to update participants on progress over the past year on several fronts, including data acquisition, processing, and archiving, and release of new versions of several data products. The number of people using DSCOVR data continues to increase, with a new Science Outreach Team having been put in place to aid users in several aspects of data discovery, access, and user friendliness. Amanda Raab [NOAA, DSCOVR Mission Operations and Systems] reported on the current status of the DSCOVR mission. She also discussed spacecraft risks and issues such as memory fragmentation and data storage task anomalies but indicated that both these issues have been resolved. Hazem Mahmoud [NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC)] discussed the work of the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), which is based at LaRC. He showed DSCOVR mission metrics since 2015, focusing on data downloads and the global outreach of the mission. He noted that there has been a significant rise in the number of downloads and an increasing diversity of countries accessing ozone (O3), aerosol, and cloud data products. Mahmoud also announced that the ASDC is transitioning to the Amazon Web Services cloud, which will further enhance global access and streamline DSCOVR data processing. Karin Blank [GSFC] covered the discovery of a new type of mirage that can only be seen in deep space from EPIC. The discussion included the use of a ray tracer in determining the origin of the phenomenon, and under what conditions it can be seen. Alexander Cede [SciGlob] and Ragi Rajagopalan [LiftBlick OG] gave an overview of the stability of the EPIC Level-1A (L1A) data over the first decade of operation. They explained that the only observable changes in the EPIC calibration are to the dark count and flat field can – and that these changes can be entirely attributed to the temperature change of the system in orbit compared to prelaunch conditions. No additional hot or warm pixels have emerged since launch and no significant sensitivity drifts have been observed. The results that Cede and Rajagopalan showed that EPIC continues to be a remarkably stable instrument, which is attributed to a large extent to its orbit around the L1 point, which is located outside the Earth’s radiation belts and thus an extremely stable temperature environment. Consequently, in terms of stability, the L1 point is far superior to other Earth observation points, e.g., ground-based, low-Earth orbit (LEO), polar orbit, or geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). Marshall Sutton [GSFC] discussed the state of the DSCOVR Science Operation Center (DSOC). He also talked about processing EPIC Level-1 (L1) data into L2 science products, daily images available on the EPIC website, and special imaging opportunities, e.g., volcanic eruptions. EPIC Calibration After 10 years of operation in space, the EPIC instrument on DSCOVR continues to be a remarkably stable instrument. The three presentations describe different ways that are used to verify the EPIC measurements remain reliable. Conor Haney [LaRC] reported on anomalous outliers during February and March 2023 from the broadband shortwave (SW) flux using EPIC L1B channel radiances. To ensure that these outliers were not a result of fluctuations in the EPIC L1B channel radiances, both the EPIC radiance measurements and coincident, ray-matched radiance measurements from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) platform, were processed using the same deep convective cloud invariant target (DCC-IT) algorithm. This analysis confirmed that the anomalous behavior was due to the DCC-IT algorithm – and not because of fluctuations in the EPIC L1B channel radiances. The improved DCC-IT methodology was also applied to the EPIC L1B radiances. The results indicate that the EPIC record is quite stable with a lower uncertainty than when processed using the previous DCC-IT methodology. Igor Geogdzhaev [NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)/Columbia University] reported that EPIC Visible–Near Infrared (VIS-NIR) calibration based on VIIRS (on Suomi NPP) data has showed excellent stability, while VIIRS (on NOAA-20 and -21) derived gains agree to within 1–2%. Preliminary analysis showed continuity in the gains derived from Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data. (ABI flies on NOAA’s two operational Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite–Series R satellites – GOES-17 and GOES-18. Liang–Kang Huang [Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)] reported on updates to the EPIC ultraviolet (UV) channel sensitivity time dependences using Sun-normalized radiance comparisons between EPIC and measurements from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Nadir Mapper (NM) on Suomi NPP, with coinciding footprints and solar/satellite angles. Huang’s team determined vignetting factors in the sensitivity calibration between 2021–2024, as a function of charge coupled device (CCD) pixel radius and pixel polar angles, using special lunar measurement sequences. NISTAR Status and Science with Its Observations The NISTAR instrument remains fully functional and continues its uninterrupted data record. The NISTAR-related presentations during this meeting included more details on specific topics related to NISTAR as well as on efforts to combine information from both EPIC and NISTAR. Steven Lorentz [L-1 Standards and Technology, Inc.] reported that the NISTAR on DSCOVR has been measuring the irradiance from the sunlit Earth in three bands for more than nine years. The three bands measure the outgoing total and reflected-solar radiation from Earth at a limited range of solar angles. To compare the long-term stability of EPIC and NISTAR responses, researchers developed a narrowband to wideband conversion model to allow the direct comparison of the EPIC multiband imagery and NISTAR SW – see Figure 1 – and silicon photodiode channels. Lorentz presented daily results spanning several years. The comparison employed different detectors from the same spacecraft – but with the same vantage point – thereby avoiding any model dependent orbital artifacts. Figure 1. NISTAR daily average shortwave (SW) radiance plotted for each year from 2017–2024. The results indicated a 10% increase in the shortwave radiance as the backscattering angle approaches 178° in December 2020. A 6% increase is noted in September of the same year. Figure credit: Steven Lorentz (L-1 Standards and Technology) Clark Weaver [University of Maryland, College Park (UMD)] used spectral information from the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CartograpHY (SCIAMACHY), which flew on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Envisat satellite from 2002–2012, to fill EPIC spectral gaps. He reported on construction of a composite height resolution spectrum that was spectrally integrated to produce SW energy. Weaver explained that he compared the EPIC reflected SW with four-hour averages from Band 4 on NISTAR. He used spectral information from SCIAMACHY to fill in gaps. Weaver also discussed results of a comparison of area integrated EPIC SW energy with observations from NISTAR . Andrew Lacis [GISS] reported on results of analysis of seven years of EPIC-derived planetary albedo for Earth, which reveal global-scale longitudinal variability occurring over a wide range of frequencies – with strong correlation between nearby longitudes and strong anticorrelation between diametrically opposed longitudes. This behavior in the Earth’s global-scale energy budget variability is fully corroborated by seven years of NISTAR silicon photodiode measurements, which view the Earth with 1º longitudinal resolution. This analysis establishes the DSCOVR mission EPIC/NISTAR measurements as a new and unmatched observational data source for evaluating global climate model performance– e.g., see Figure 2. Figure 2. This graph shows the diurnal variation in planetary albedo as measured by EPIC for five different eight-day-Blurred Meridians relative to Global Mean for 2021 [left] and 2022 [right]. Figure credit: Andrew Lacis [GISS] Wenying Su [LaRC] discussed global daytime mean SW fluxes within the EPIC field of view produced from January 2016–June 2024. These quasi-hourly SW fluxes agree very well with the Synoptic data product from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments (currently flying on the Terra and Aqua, Suomi NPP, and NOAA-20 platforms) with the root mean square errors (rmse) less than 3 W/m2. This SW flux processing framework will be used to calculate NISTAR SW flux when Version 4 (V4) of the NISTAR radiance becomes available. Su noted that SW fluxes from EPIC are not suitable to study interannual variability as the magnitude of EPIC flux is sensitive to the percentage of daytime area visible to EPIC. Update on EPIC Products and Science Results EPIC has a suite of data products available. The following subsections summarize content during the DSCOVR STM related to these products. The updates focus on several data products and the related algorithm improvements. Total Column Ozone Jerry Ziemke [Morgan State University (MSU), Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research–II (GESTAR II)] and Natalya Kramarova [GSFC] reported that tropospheric O3 from DSCOVR EPIC shows anomalous reductions of ~10% throughout the Northern Hemisphere (NH) starting in Spring 2020 that continues to the present. The EPIC data, along with other satellite-based (e.g., Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura platform) and ground-based (e.g., Pandora) data, indicate that the observed NH reductions in O3 are due to combined effects from meteorology and reduced pollution, including reduced shipping pollution in early 2020 (during COVID) – see Figure 3. EPIC 1–2 hourly data are also used to evaluate hourly total O3 and derived tropospheric O3 from NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) geostationary instrument. Ziemke explained that comparison of TEMPO data with EPIC data has helped the researchers characterize a persistent latitude-dependent offset in TEMPO total O3 data of ~10–15% from south to north over the North American continent. Figure 3. This dataset combines input from EPIC, OMPS, and OMI from 2004–2022. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 can be seen clearly in the data as it corresponds to a sudden drop in tropospheric column ozone by ~3 Dobson Units in the Northern Hemisphere. Figure credit: Jerry Ziemke (Morgan State University, GESTAR-II) Algorithm Improvement for Ozone and Sulfur Dioxide Products Kai Yang [UMD] presented a comprehensive evaluation of total and tropospheric O3 retrievals, highlighting the long-term stability and high accuracy of EPIC measurements. He also validated EPIC’s volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) retrievals by comparing them with ground-based Brewer spectrophotometer measurements and summarized EPIC’s observations of SO2 from recent volcanic eruptions. Simon Carn [University of Michigan] showed the first comparisons between the EPIC L2 volcanic SO2 product and SO2 retrievals from the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) on the Korean GEO-Kompsat-2B satellite. GEMS observes East Asia as part of the new geostationary UV air quality (GEO-AQ) satellite constellation (which also includes TEMPO that observes North America and will include the Ultraviolet–Visible–Near Infrared (UVN) instrument on the European Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, that will be launched in 2025 to observe Europe and surrounding areas) – but is not optimized for measurements of high SO2 columns during volcanic eruptions. EPIC SO2 data for the 2024 eruption of Ruang volcano in Indonesia are being used to validate a new GEMS volcanic SO2 product. Initial comparisons show good agreement between EPIC and GEMS before volcanic cloud dispersal and confirm the greater sensitivity of the hyperspectral GEMS instrument to low SO2 column amounts. Aerosols Alexei Lyapustin [GSFC] reported that the latest EPIC aerosols algorithm (V3) simultaneously retrieves aerosol optical depth, aerosol spectral absorption, and aerosol layer height (ALH) – achieving high accuracy. He showed that global validation of the single scattering albedo in the blue and red shows 66% and 81–95% agreement respectively, with Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) observations – which is within the expected error of 0.03 for smoke and dust aerosols. Lyapustin also reported on a comparison of EPIC aerosol data collected from 2015–2023 by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), which flew on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission. The results show that ALH is retrieved with rmse ~1.1 km (0.7 mi). ALH is unbiased over the ocean and is underestimated by 450 m (1470 ft) for the smoke and by 750 m (2460 ft) for the dust aerosols over land. Myungje Choi and Sujung Go [both from University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC), GESTAR II] presented results from a global smoke and dust characterization using Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm. This study characterized smoke and dust aerosol properties derived from MAIAC EPIC processing, examining spectral absorption, ALH, and chemical composition (e.g., black and brown carbon). Regions with smoldering wildfires, e.g., North America and Siberia, exhibited high ALH and a significant fraction of brown carbon, while Central Africa showed lower ALH with higher black carbon emissions. Omar Torres [GSFC] discussed how L1 DSCOVR-EPIC observations are being used to study air quality (i.e., tropospheric O3 and aerosols) globally. Torres noted that this application of EPIC-L1 observations is of particular interest in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) where, unlike over the NH, there are currently no space GEO-based air quality measurements – and no plans for them in the foreseeable future. Hiren Jethva [MSU, GESTAR II] presented the new results of the aerosol optical centroid height retrieved from the EPIC Oxygen-B band observations. He described the algorithm details, showed retrieval maps, and reviewed the comparative analysis against CALIOP backscatter-weighted measurements. The analysis showed a good level of agreement with more than 70% of matchup data within 1–1.5 km (0.6–0.9 mi) difference. Jun Wang [University of Iowa] presented his team’s work on advancing the second generation of the aerosol optical centroid height (AOCH) algorithm for EPIC. Key advancements included: constraining surface reflectance in aerosol retrieval using an EPIC-based climatology of surface reflectance ratios between 442–680 nm; incorporating a dynamic aerosol model to characterize aged smoke particles; and employing a spectral slope technique to distinguish thick smoke plumes from clouds. Results show that both atmospheric optical depth (AOD) and AOCH retrievals are improved in the second generation of AOCH algorithm. Olga Kalashnikova [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)] reported on improving brown carbon evolution processes in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model with EPIC products. She indicated that DSCOVR product evaluation, using lidar aerosol height measurements from CALIOP, led to an improved operational brown carbon product. To better resolve the temporal evolution of brown carbon, chemical transport models need to include more information about near-source fires. Mike Garay [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)] discussed constraining near-source brown carbon emissions from 2024 Canadian ‘zombie’ fires with EPIC products. He reported that fires in British Columbia, Canada showed differences in brown carbon emission near the sources. Garay explained that their investigation has revealed that these differences were related to fire intensity and variations in vegetation/soil content. Yuekui Yang [GSFC] presented work that examined the impact of Earth’s curvature consideration on EPIC cloud height retrievals. Biases under the Plane Parallel (PPL) assumption is studied by comparing results using the improved pseudo-spherical shell approximation. PPL retrievals in general bias high and for a cloud with height of 5 km (3 mi), the bias is about 6%. Alfonso Delgado Bonal [UMBC] stated that the EPIC vantage point offers a unique opportunity to observe not only the current state of the Earth but also its temporal evolution. By capturing multiple observations of the planet throughout the day, EPIC enables statistical reconstruction of diurnal patterns in clouds and other atmospheric parameters. Bonal’s team focused their research on O3 (primarily tropospheric) over the U.S. to demonstrate the presence of a diurnal cycle in the western regions of the continental U.S. However, ground-based data from PANDORA for specific locations do not support these diurnal variations – underscoring the critical role of space-based O3 retrievals. The proposed methodology is not limited to clouds or O3 but is broadly applicable to other EPIC measurements for the dynamic nature of our planet. Elizabeth Berry [Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER)] presented results from a coincident DSCOVR–CloudSat dataset [covering 2015–2020]. Cloud properties (e.g., cloud height and optical depth) from DSCOVR and CloudSat are moderately correlated and show quite good agreement given differences in the instruments sensitivities and footprints. Berry explained that a machine-learning model trained on the coincident data demonstrates high accuracy at predicting the presence of vertical cloud layers. However, precision and recall metrics highlight the challenge of predicting the precise location of cloud boundaries. Anthony Davis [JPL] presented a pathway toward accurate estimation of the cloud optical thickness (COT) of opaque clouds and cloud systems, e.g., supercells, mesoscale convective complexes, and tropical cyclones (TCs). He described the approach, which uses differential oxygen absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) that has resolving power greater than 104 – which is comparable to that of the high-resolution spectrometers on NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory–2 (OCO-2) – but is based upon the cloud information content of EPIC’s O2 A- and B-band radiances. Unlike the current operational retrieval of COT – which uses data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua – the DOAS-based technique does not saturate at COT exceeding ~60. According to a popular TC model with two-moment microphysics, COT in a tropical storm or hurricane can reach well into the hundreds, sometimes exceeding 1000. Davis said that once the new COT estimates become available, they will provide new observational constraints on process and forecast models for TCs. Ocean Robert Frouin [Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California] discussed ocean surface radiation products derived from EPIC data. He explained that significant advancements have been achieved in processing and evaluating ocean biology and biogeochemistry products derived from EPIC imagery. V1 updates enhanced accuracy by integrating Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications V2 (MERRA-2) ancillary data and refining calculations for atmospheric and surface parameters. Frouin introduced several diurnal products, including hourly photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) fluxes, spectral water reflectance, and chlorophyll-a concentrations. He said that these new MODIS-derived products have been validated through comparisons with data from the Advanced Himawari Imager on the Japanese Himawar–8 and –9 satellites. In order to address the gaps in these diurnal products, Frouin explained that the team developed a convolutional neural network that has been used effectively to reconstruct missing PAR values with high accuracy. Vegetation Yuri Knyazikhin [Boston University] reported on the status of the Vegetation Earth System Data Record (VESDR) that provides a variety of parameters including: Leaf Area Index (LAI), diurnal courses of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Sunlit LAI (SLAI), Fraction of incident Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) absorbed by the vegetation, Directional Area Scattering Function (DASF), Earth Reflector Type Index (ERTI), and Canopy Scattering Coefficient (CSC). Knyazikhin discussed analysis of the diurnal and seasonal variations of these quantities. EPIC LAI and FPAR are consistent with MODIS-derived measurements of the same parameters. Jan Pisek [University of Tartu/Tartu Observatory, Estonia] discussed efforts to derive leaf inclination information from EPIC data. The very first evaluation over Tumbarumba site (in New South Wales, Australia) showed that the angular variation in parameters obtained from EPIC reflects the expected variations due to the erectophile vegetation present at the site. Sun Glint Tamás Várnai [UMBC, JCET] discussed EPIC observations of Sun glint from ice clouds. The cloud glints come mostly from horizontally oriented ice crystals and have strong impact in EPIC cloud retrievals. Várnai reported that the EPIC glint product is available from the ASDC – see Figure 4. Glint data can help reduce the uncertainties related to horizontally oriented ice crystals and yield additional new insights about the microphysical and radiative properties of ice clouds. Figure 4. [top row] EPIC glint mask examples over land in [left to right] Paraguay, Sudan, Thailand, and Brazil. [bottom row] The corresponding EPIC glint mask for each image on the top row indicates the band (red, green and blue) and the size of sun glint for each of them. Figure credit: Tamás Várnai (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) Alexander Kostinski [Michigan Technology University] explained that because they detected climatic signals (i.e., longer-term changes and semi-permanent features, e.g., ocean glitter), they developed a technique to suppress geographic “noise” in EPIC images that involves introducing temporally (monthly) and conditionally (classifying by surface/cover type, e.g., land, ocean, clouds) averaged reflectance images – see Figure 5. The resulting images display seasonal dependence in a striking manner. Additionally, cloud-free, ocean-only images highlight prominent regions of ocean glitter. Figure 5. Monthly reflectances for clear land pixels. Earth masquerading as Jupiter; latitudinal bright bands are caused by features such as the Sahara and Antarctica. Black spots are due to the lack or dearth of clear land pixels at that latitude. Repeated spots within latitudinal bands reflect roughly bi-hourly image sampling. Figure credit: Alexander Kostinski (Michigan Technology University); from a 2024 paper published in Frontiers of Remote Sensing Jiani Yang [Caltech] reported that spatially resolving light curves from DSCOVR is crucial for evaluating time-varying surface features and the presence of an atmosphere. Both of these features are essential for sustaining life on Earth – and thus can be used to assess the potential habitability of exoplanets. Using epsilon machine reconstruction, the statistical complexity from the time series data of these light curves can be calculated. The results show that statistical complexity serves as a reliable metric for quantifying the intricacy of planetary features. Higher levels of planetary complexity qualitatively correspond to increased statistical complexity and Shannon entropy, illustrating the effectiveness of this approach in identifying planets with the most dynamic characteristics. Other EPIC Science Results Guoyong Wen [MSU, GESTAR II] analyzed the variability of global spectral reflectance from EPIC and the integrated broadband reflectance on different timescales. He reported that on a diurnal timescale, the global reflectance variations in UV and blue bands are statistically similar – and drastically different from those observed in longer wavelength bands (i.e., green to NIR). The researchers also did an analysis of monthly average results and found that temporal averaging of the global reflectance reduces the variability across the wavelength and that the variability of broadband reflectance is similar to that for the red band on both timescales. These results are mainly due to the rotation of the Earth on diurnal timescale and the change of the Earth’s tilt angle. Nick Gorkavyi [Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)] reported that EPIC – located at the L1 point, 1.5 million km (0.9 million mi) away from Earth – can capture images of the far side of the Moon in multiple wavelengths. These images, taken under full solar illumination, can be used to calibrate photographs obtained by lunar artificial satellites. Additionally, he discussed the impact of lunar libration – the changing view of the Moon from Earth, or it’s apparent “wobble” – on Earth observations from the Moon. Jay Herman [UMBC] discussed a comparison of EPIC O3 with TEMPO satellite and Pandora ground-based measurement. The results show that total column O3 does not have a significant photochemical diurnal variation. Instead, the daily observed diurnal variation is caused by weather changes in atmospheric pressure. This measurement result agrees with model calculations. Conclusion Alexander Marshak, Jay Herman, and Adam Szabo led a closing discussion with ST participants on how to make the EPIC and NISTAR instruments more visible in the community. It was noted that the EPIC website now allows visitors to observe daily fluctuations of aerosol index, cloud fraction, cloud height, and the ocean surface – as observed from the L1 point. More daily products, (e.g., aerosol height and sunlit leaf area index) will be added soon, which should attract more users to the website. Overall, the 2023 DSCOVR EPIC and NISTAR STM was successful. It provided an opportunity for participants to learn the status of DSCOVR’s Earth-observing instruments, EPIC and NISTAR, the status of recently released L2 data products, and the science results being achieved from the L1 point. As more people use DSCOVR data worldwide, the ST hopes to hear from users and team members at its next meeting. The latest updates from the mission can be found on the EPIC website. Alexander Marshak NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center alexander.marshak@nasa.gov Adam Szabo NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center adam.szabo@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 Related Terms Earth Science View the full article

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander captured a bright image of the Moon’s South Pole (on the far left) through the cameras on its top deck, while it travels to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.Credits: Firefly Aerospace With a suite of NASA science and technology on board, Firefly Aerospace is targeting no earlier than 3:45 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, to land the Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon. Blue Ghost is slated to touch down near Mare Crisium, a plain in the northeast quadrant on the near side of the Moon, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence. Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, will air on NASA+ starting at 2:30 a.m. EST, approximately 75 minutes before touchdown on the Moon’s surface. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. The broadcast will also stream on Firefly’s YouTube channel. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates as the descent milestones occur. Accredited media interested in attending the in-person landing event hosted by Firefly in the Austin, Texas, area may request media credentials through this form by Monday, Feb. 24. Following the landing, NASA and Firefly will host a news conference to discuss the mission and science opportunities that lie ahead as they begin lunar surface operations. The time of the briefing will be shared after touchdown. Blue Ghost launched Jan. 15, at 1:11 a.m. EST on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lander is carrying a suite of 10 NASA scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, which will provide insights into the Moon’s environment and test technologies to support future astronauts landing safely on the lunar surface, as well as Mars. NASA continues to work with multiple American companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the agency’s CLPS initiative. This pool of companies may bid on contracts for end-to-end lunar delivery services, including payload integration and operations, launching from Earth, and landing on the surface of the Moon. NASA’s CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum value of $2.6 billion through 2028. In February 2021, the agency awarded Firefly this delivery of 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon using its American-designed and -manufactured lunar lander for approximately $93.3 million (modified to $101.5 million). Through the Artemis campaign, commercial robotic deliveries will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities on and around the Moon to help NASA explore in advance of Artemis Generation astronaut missions to the lunar surface, and ultimately crewed missions to Mars. Watch, engage on social media Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #Artemis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASA_Johnson, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon Facebook: NASA, NASAJohnsonSpaceCenter, NASAArtemis Instagram: @NASA, @NASAJohnson, @NASAArtemis For more information about the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative: https://www.nasa.gov/clps -end- Karen Fox / Alise Fisher Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 natalia.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)ArtemisEarth's Moon View the full article

Explore This Section Science Science Activation An Afternoon of Family Science… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 2 min read An Afternoon of Family Science and Rocket Exploration in Alaska On Tuesday, January 28th, Fairbanks BEST Homeschool joined the Geophysical Institute for an afternoon of rocket exploration, hands-on activities, and stargazing inside a planetarium. This event was free and open to the public. Despite their frigid winter weather, 200 attendees were curious about the scientific endeavors of Alaska-based researchers alongside cutting-edge investigations conducted by NASA rocket scientists. Families and friends in attendance learned about two NASA rocket missions that would study the flickering and vanishing auroras: Ground Imaging to Rocket investigation of Auroral Fast Features (GIRAFF) and Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor (BaDASS). Visitors had an opportunity to sign up for text notifications related to the launch window. The planetarium presentations touch on Heliophysics Big Ideas that align with the three questions that drive NASA’s heliophysics research: What are the impacts of the changing sun on humanity? How do Earth, the solar system, and the heliosphere respond to changes on the sun? What causes the sun to vary? The event also offered sun-related hands-on activities provided by the University of Alaska Museum of the North. This event was offered to the community in association with the Science For Alaska Lecture Series and the 2025 NASA Sounding Rocket campaign. Every attendee left with something inspiring to think about. Parents and educators interested in learning more about auroras and do participatory science may check out NASA’s Aurorasaurus citizen science project. The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a Co-Investigating team for the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT), which is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn Aurora Educational Resource List by Aurorasaurus Families constructed and decorated their paper rockets. Katelin Avery It was so much fun! We are receiving rave reviews from our families and the surrounding community. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR COLLABORATING WITH US! Fairbanks BEST Homeschool Share Details Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 Editor Earth Science Division Editorial Team Related Terms Science Activation Citizen Science Heliophysics Explore More 3 min read Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop Article 1 day ago 2 min read Newly Minted Ph.D. Studies Phytoplankton with NASA’s FjordPhyto Project Article 4 days ago 5 min read NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm Article 1 week 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

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand This image, released on Feb. 12, 2025, is the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus. By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and green) with optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow) and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (orange), this stellar arrangement comes alive. Otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Dor is located about 160,000 light-years away in a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. Because it one of the brightest and populated star-forming regions to Earth, 30 Dor is a frequent target for scientists trying to learn more about how stars are born. Learn more about this new image and what it reveals. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand View the full article

Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read Hubble Captures a Cosmic Cloudscape This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray Download this image The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known. The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include of bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies. Dust plays several important roles in the universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in disks around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore More Caldwell 103 / Tarantula Nebula / 30 Doradus Hubble Studies the Tarantula Nebula’s Outskirts Hubble’s New View of the Tarantula Nebula Hubble’s Bubbles in the Tarantula Nebula Hubble Probes Interior of Tarantula Nebula Media Contact: Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov) NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Hubble Space Telescope Absorption or Dark Nebulae Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Emission Nebulae Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Star-forming Nebulae The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Exploring the Birth of Stars Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge Hubble Focus: The Lives of Stars This e-book highlights the mission’s recent discoveries and observations related to the birth, evolution, and death of stars. View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions 2 min read Sols 4452-4453: Keeping Warm and Keeping Busy NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the science targets before it, including “Catalina Island,” the flat rock at image center, using its Left Navigation Camera. The rover captured the image on sol 4450 — or Martian day 4,450 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Feb. 11, 2025, at 13:11:14 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 I woke up this morning to my weather app telling me it felt like minus 15° C (5°F) outside. On days like this, it can take me a little longer to get myself up and out into the world. Curiosity has a similar problem — as we head toward winter and it gets colder and colder in Gale Crater, Curiosity has to spend more time warming up to do things like driving and all our good science. I’ve also been watching a couple winter storms that are expected in the next few days here in Toronto. Luckily, Curiosity doesn’t have to deal with snowstorms, and our drive in the last plan went ahead as planned and put us in a good position to go ahead with contact science today, a relief after having to forego it on Monday. The contact science location that the geology team chose is called “Catalina Island,” the flat rock you can see in almost the center of the image above. As you can likely also see above, there’s a whole jumble of rocks in that image, and Mastcam and ChemCam have picked out a couple others to take a look at. These are “Point Dume,” which will be the target of ChemCam’s laser spectrometer, and “Whittier Narrows,” on which Mastcam will image some linear features. Mastcam and ChemCam are also turning their gazes further afield for Mastcam targets “Cleghorn Ridge,” “Cuyamaca Peak,” “Kratka Ridge,” and two long-distance ChemCam mosaics of the top of the Wilkerson butte and a spot a little further down known as “Pothole Trail.” Much like I’m keeping an eye out the window on the changing weather here, Curiosity is also continuing to keep an eye on the environment in Gale Crater. Even though it’s not the dusty season, we continue to monitor the dust around us and in the atmosphere with a dust-devil survey and a tau. But we’re especially interested in what the clouds are up to right now, which we’re checking in on with our normal zenith and suprahorizon movies, and our cloud-season-only Phase Function Sky Survey. This is a series of movies covering the whole sky that we can use to determine how sunlight interacts with the individual water-ice crystals in the clouds. Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University Share Details Last Updated Feb 14, 2025 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4450-4451: Making the Most of a Monday Article 2 days ago 3 min read Sols 4447–4449: Looking Back at the Marker Band Valley Article 3 days ago 4 min read Sols 4445–4446: Cloudy Days are Here Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

5 Min Read NASA Tests Drones to Provide Micrometeorology, Aid in Fire Response Pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs pre-flight checks on the NASA Alta X quadcopter during the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula.<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Aptos, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-family: Arial, sans-serif"><span class="msoIns" style="color: teal"><ins cite="mailto:Tabor,%20Abby%20(ARC-DO)" datetime="2025-02-11T16:38"></ins></span></span></p> Credits: NASA/Milan Loiacono In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior. Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around the world, including the United States, and wind is a major factor. It leads to unexpected and unpredictable fire growth, public threats, and fire fatalities, making micrometeorology a very effective tool to combat fire. This composite image shows the NASA Alta X quadcopter taking off during one of eight flights it performed for the 2024 FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. Mounted on top of the drone is a unique infrastructure designed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,Virginia, to carry sensors that measure wind speed and direction into the sky. On the ground, UAS pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs final pre-flight checks. NASA/Milan Loiacono The campaign was run by NASA’s FireSense project, focused on addressing challenges in wildland fire management by putting NASA science and technology in the hands of operational agencies. “Ensuring that the new technology will be easily adoptable by operational agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Weather Service was another primary goal of the campaign,” said Jacqueline Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The FireSense team chose the Alta X drone because the U.S. Forest Service already has a fleet of the quadcopters and trained drone pilots, which could make integrating the needed sensors – and the accompanying infrastructure – much easier and more cost-effective for the agency. The UAS pilot in command, Brayden Chamberlain, flashes a “good to go” signal to the command tent, indicating that the NASA Alta X quadcopter is prepped for takeoff. Behind Chamberlain, the custom structure attached to the quadcopter holds a radiosonde (small white box) and an anemometer (hidden from view), which will collect data on wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature, and pressure.NASA/Milan Loiacono The choice of the two sensors for the drone’s payload was also driven by their adoptability. The first, called a radiosonde, measures wind direction and speed, humidity, temperature, and pressure, and is used daily by the National Weather Service. The other sensor, an anemometer, measures wind speed and direction, and is used at weather stations and airports around the world. The two sensors mounted on the NASA Alta X quadcopter are a radiosonde (left) and an anemometer (right), which measure wind speed and direction. The FireSense teams hopes that by giving them wings, researchers can enable micrometeorology to better predict fire and smoke behavior. NASA/Milan Loiacono “Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary,” said Robert McSwain, the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) lead, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.” Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary. We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings. Robert Mcswain FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead Both sensors create datasets that are already familiar to meteorologists worldwide, which opens up the potential applications of the platform. Current Forecasting Methods: Weather Balloons Traditionally, global weather forecasting data is gathered by attaching a radiosonde to a weather balloon and releasing it into the air. This system works well for regional weather forecasts. But the rapidly changing environment of wildland fire requires more recurrent, pinpointed forecasts to accurately predict fire behavior. It’s the perfect niche for a drone. Left: Steven Stratham (right) attaches a radiosonde to the string of a weather balloon as teammates Travis Christopher (left) and Danny Johnson (center) prepare the balloon for launch. This team of three from Salish Kootenai College is one of many college teams across the nation trained to prepare and launch weather balloons. Right: One of these weather balloons lifts into the sky, with the radiosonde visible at the end of the string. NASA/Milan Loiacono “These drones are not meant to replace the weather balloons,” said Jennifer Fowler, FireSense’s project manager at Langley. “The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.” The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting. Jennifer Fowler FireSense Project Manager Drones Provide Control, Repeat Testing, Sustainability Drones can be piloted to keep making measurements over a precise location – an on-site forecaster could fly one every couple of hours as conditions change – and gather timely data to help determine how weather will impact the direction and speed of a fire. Fire crews on the ground may need this information to make quick decisions about where to deploy firefighters and resources, draw fire lines, and protect nearby communities. A reusable platform, like a drone, also reduces the financial and environmental impact of forecasting flights. “A weather balloon is going to be a one-off, and the attached sensor won’t be recovered,” Fowler said. “The instrumented drone, on the other hand, can be flown repeatedly.” The NASA Alta X quadcopter sits in a field in Missoula, outfitted with a special structure to carry a radiosonde (sensor on the left) and an anemometer (sensor on the right) into the air. This structure was engineered at NASA’s Langley Research Center to ensure the sensors are far enough from the rotors to avoid interfering with the data collected, but without compromising the stability of the drone.NASA/Milan Loiacono The Missoula Campaign Before such technology can be sent out to a fire, it needs to be tested. That’s what the FireSense team did this summer. Smoke from the nearby Miller Peak Fire drifts by the air control tower at Missoula Airport on August 29, 2024. Miller Peak was one of several fires burning in and around Missoula that month, creating a smokey environment which, combined with the mountainous terrain, made the area an ideal location to test FireSense’s new micrometeorology technology.NASA/Milan Loiacono McSwain described the conditions in Missoula as an “alignment of stars” for the research: the complex mountain terrain produces erratic, historically unpredictable winds, and the sparsity of monitoring instruments on the ground makes weather forecasting very difficult. During the three-day campaign, several fires burned nearby, which allowed researchers to test how the drones performed in smokey conditions. A drone team out of NASA Langley conducted eight data-collection flights in Missoula. Before each drone flight, student teams from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, launched a weather balloon carrying the same type of radiometer. Left: Weather balloon teams from University of Idaho and Salish Kootenai College prepare a weather balloon for launch on the second day of the FireSense campaign in Missoula. Right: NASA Langley drone crew members Todd Ferrante (left) and Brayden Chamberlain (right) calibrate the internal sensors of the NASA Alta X quadcopter before its first test flight on Aug. 27, 2024. Once those data sets were created, they needed to be transformed into a usable format. Meteorologists are used to the numbers, but incident commanders on an active fire need to see the data in a form that allows them to quickly understand which conditions are changing, and how. That’s where data visualization partners come in. For the Missoula campaign, teams from MITRE, NVIDIA, and Esri joined NASA in the field. An early data visualization from the Esri team shows the flight paths of weather balloons launched on the first day of the FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. The paths are color-coded by wind speed, from purple (low wind) to bright yellow (high wind).NASA/Milan Loiacono Measurements from both the balloon and the drone platforms were immediately sent to the on-site data teams. The MITRE team, together with NVIDIA, tested high-resolution artificial intelligence meteorological models, while the Esri team created comprehensive visualizations of flight paths, temperatures, and wind speed and direction. These visual representations of the data make conclusions more immediately apparent to non-meteorologists. What’s Next? Development of drone capabilities for fire monitoring didn’t begin in Missoula, and it won’t end there. “This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing,” said McSwain. “We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.” This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing. We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA. Robert Mcswain FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead The NASA Alta X and its sensor payload will head to Alabama and Florida in spring 2025, incorporating improvements identified in Montana. There, the team will perform another technology demonstration with wildland fire managers from a different region. To view more photos from the FireSense campaign visit: https://nasa.gov/firesense The FireSense project is led by NASA Headquarters in Washington and sits within the Wildland Fires program, with the project office based at NASA Ames. The goal of FireSense is to transition Earth science and technological capabilities to operational wildland fire management agencies, to address challenges in U.S. wildland fire management before, during, and after a fire. About the AuthorMilan LoiaconoScience Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Related TermsAmes Research Center's Science DirectorateAmes Research CenterEarth ScienceEarth Science DivisionGeneralWildfiresWildland Fire Management Explore More 3 min read Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop Christine Shupla and Claire Ratcliffe Adams, from the NASA Science Activation program’s NASA@ My Library… Article 4 hours ago 4 min read In the Starlight: Tristan McKnight Brings NASA’s Historic Moments to Life Article 6 hours ago 2 min read Why Does the Moon Look Larger at the Horizon? We Asked a NASA Scientist: Episode 50 Why does the Moon look larger on the horizon? The short answer is, we don't… Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Skywatching Science Skywatching The Next Full Moon is the Snow… Skywatching Home What’s Up Eclipses Explore the Night Sky Night Sky Network More Tips and Guides FAQ 23 Min Read The Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon A full moon hike at Bryce Canyon National Park. Credits: National Park Service The next full moon will be Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, 2025, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth longitude) at 8:53 a.m. EST. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Monday night into early Thursday evening. The bright star Regulus will appear near the full moon. Sky chart showing Jupiter and Mars high overhead after nightfall in February. NASA/JPL-Caltech The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing Native American names for full moons in the 1930s, and these names are now widely known and used. According to this almanac, as the full moon in February, the tribes of the northeastern U.S. called this the Snow Moon or the Storm Moon because of the heavy snows in this season. Bad weather and heavy snowstorms made hunting difficult, so this Moon was also called the Hunger Moon. NOAA monthly averages for the Washington, D.C. area airports from 1991 to 2020 show January and February nearly tied as the snowiest months of the year (with February one tenth of an inch ahead). Here are the other celestial events between now and the full moon after next with times and angles based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington: As winter continues in the Northern Hemisphere, the daily periods of sunlight continue to lengthen. Wednesday, Feb. 12 (the day of the full moon), morning twilight will begin at 6:04 a.m. EST, sunrise will be at 7:03 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:23 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 37.7 degrees, sunset will be at 5:43 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 6:41 p.m. Daylight Saving Time starts on the second Sunday in March for much of the United States. The day before, Saturday, March 8, morning twilight will begin at 5:32 a.m., sunrise will be at 6:30 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:19 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 46.5 degrees, sunset will be at 6:08 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 7:06 p.m. Early on Sunday morning, March 9, the clock will “spring forward” from 1:59:59 a.m. EST to 3:00:00 a.m. EDT. Sunday, March 9, morning twilight will begin at 6:30 a.m., sunrise will be at 7:28 a.m., solar noon will be at 1:19 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 46.9 degrees, sunset will be at 7:09 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 8:07 p.m. By Friday, March 14 (the day of the full moon after next), morning twilight will begin at 6:23 a.m., sunrise will be at 7:20 a.m., solar noon will be at 1:17 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 48.9 degrees, sunset will be at 7:14 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 8:12 p.m. This should still be a good time for planet watching, especially with a backyard telescope. On the evening of the March 14, the full moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus will all be in the evening sky. The brightest of the planets, Venus, will be 28 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, appearing as a 29% illuminated crescent through a telescope. Second in brightness will be Jupiter at 71 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon. With a telescope you should be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, noticeably shifting positions in the course of an evening. Jupiter was at its closest and brightest in early December. Third in brightness will be Mars at 48 degrees above the eastern horizon. Mars was at its closest and brightest for the year just a month ago. Fourth in brightness (and appearing below Venus) will be Saturn at 11 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. With a telescope you may be able to see Saturn’s rings and its bright moon Titan. The rings will appear very thin and will be edge-on to Earth in March 2025. Saturn was at its closest and brightest in early September. The planet Uranus will be too dim to see without a telescope when the Moon is in the sky, but later in the lunar cycle, if you are in a very dark area with clear skies and no interference from moonlight, it will still be brighter than the faintest visible stars. Uranus was at its closest and brightest in mid-November. During this lunar cycle, these planets, along with the background of stars, will rotate westward by about a degree each night around the pole star Polaris. Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love, will reach its brightest around Feb. 14, making this a special Valentine’s Day. After about Feb. 17, the planet Mercury, shining brighter than Mars, will begin emerging from the glow of dusk about 30 minutes after sunset. Feb. 24 will be the first evening Mercury will be above the western horizon as twilight ends, while Feb. 25 will be the last evening Saturn will be above the western horizon as twilight ends, making these the only two evenings that all of the visible planets will be in the sky after twilight ends. For a few more evenings after this, Saturn should still be visible in the glow of dusk during twilight. Around March 8 or 9, Mercury will have dimmed to the same brightness as Mars, making Mars the third brightest visible planet again. By the evening of March 13 (the evening of the night of the full moon after next), as twilight ends, Venus and Mercury will appear low on the western horizon, making them difficult targets for a backyard telescope, while Jupiter and Mars (and Uranus) will appear high overhead and much easier to view. Comets and Meteor Showers No meteor shower peaks are predicted during this lunar cycle. No comets are expected to be visible without a telescope for Northern Hemisphere viewers. Southern Hemisphere viewers may still be able to use a telescope to see comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), although it is fading as it moves away from Earth and the Sun, and some recent reports suggest that it might be breaking apart and disappearing from view. Evening Sky Highlights On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 12 (the evening of the full moon), as twilight ends at 6:41 p.m. EST, the rising Moon will be 7 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon with the bright star Regulus 2 degrees to the right. The brightest planet in the sky will be Venus at 28 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, appearing as a crescent through a telescope. Next in brightness will be Jupiter at 71 degrees above the south-southeastern horizon. Third in brightness will be Mars at 48 degrees above the eastern horizon. The fourth brightest planet will be Saturn at 11 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. Uranus, on the edge of what is visible under extremely clear, dark skies, will be 68 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will be Capella at 75 degrees above the northeastern horizon. Capella is the 6th brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Auriga (the charioteer). Although we see Capella as a single star, it is actually four stars (two pairs of stars orbiting each other). Capella is about 43 light years from us. Also high in the sky will be the constellation Orion, easily identifiable because of the three stars that form Orion’s Belt. This time of year, we see many bright stars in the sky at evening twilight, with bright stars scattered from the south-southeast toward the northwest. We see more stars in this direction because we are looking toward the Local Arm of our home galaxy (also called the Orion Arm, Orion-Cygnus Arm, or Orion Bridge). This arm is about 3,500 light years across and 10,000 light years long. Some of the bright stars from this arm that we see are the three stars of Orion’s Belt, and Rigel (860 light years from Earth), Betelgeuse (548 light years), Polaris (about 400 light years), and Deneb (about 2,600 light years). Facing toward the south from the Northern Hemisphere, to the upper left of Orion’s Belt is the bright star Betelgeuse (be careful not to say this name three times). About the same distance to the lower right is the bright star Rigel. Orion’s belt appears to point down and to the left about seven belt lengths to the bright star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Below Sirius is the bright star Adhara. To the upper right of Orion’s Belt (at about the same distance from Orion as Sirius) is the bright star Aldebaran. Nearly overhead is the bright star Capella. To the left (east) of Betelgeuse is the bright star Procyon. The two stars above Procyon are Castor and Pollux, the twin stars of the constellation Gemini (Pollux is the brighter of the two). The bright star Regulus appears farther to the left (east) of Pollux near the eastern horizon. For now, Mars is near Castor and Pollux, while Jupiter is near Aldebaran, but these are planets (from the Greek word for wanderers) and continue to shift relative to the background of the stars. Very few places on the East Coast are dark enough to see the Milky Way (our home galaxy), but if you could see it, it would appear to stretch overhead from the southeast to the northwest. Since we are seeing our galaxy from the inside, the combined light from its 100 to 400 billion stars make it appear as a band surrounding Earth. As this lunar cycle progresses, the planets and the background of stars will rotate westward by about a degree each evening around the pole star Polaris. The brightest of the planets, Venus, will reach its brightest around Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Bright Mercury will begin emerging from the glow of dusk around Feb. 17 and will be above the horizon as twilight ends beginning Feb. 24, initiating a brief period when all the visible planets will be in the evening sky at the same time that will end after Feb. 25, the last evening Saturn will be above the horizon as twilight ends. Feb. 24 and 25 will also be the two evenings when Mercury and Saturn will appear closest together. The waxing crescent “Wet” or “Cheshire” Moon will appear near Mercury on Feb. 28 and Venus on March 1, appearing like a bowl or a smile above the horizon. The waxing gibbous Moon will appear near Mars and Pollux on March 8. Mercury will reach its highest above the horizon as twilight ends on March 8 but will be fading, appearing fainter than Mars. The nearly full moon will appear near Regulus on March 11. Venus and Mercury will be closest to each other on March 12. By the evening of Thursday, March 13 (the evening of the night of the full moon after next), as twilight ends at 8:11 p.m. EDT, the rising Moon will be 14 degrees above the eastern horizon. The brightest planet in the sky will be Venus at 4 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, appearing as a thin, 4% illuminated crescent through a telescope. Next in brightness will be Jupiter at 62 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. Third in brightness will be Mars at 72 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Mercury, to the left of Venus, will also be 4 degrees above the western horizon. Uranus, on the edge of what is visible under extremely clear, moonless dark skies, will be 45 degrees above the western horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will still be Capella at 75 degrees above the northwestern horizon. Morning Sky Highlights On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 (the morning of the night of the full moon), as twilight begins at 6:04 a.m. EST, the setting full moon will be 13 degrees above the western horizon. No planets will appear in the sky. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Arcturus at 65 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes (the herdsman or plowman) and the 4th brightest star in our night sky. It is 36.7 light years from us. While it has about the same mass as our Sun, it is about 2.6 billion years older and has used up its core hydrogen, becoming a red giant 25 times the size and 170 times the brightness of our Sun. One way to identify Arcturus in the night sky is to start at the Big Dipper, then follow the arc of the dipper’s handle as it “arcs toward Arcturus.” As this lunar cycle progresses the background of stars will rotate westward by about a degree each morning around the pole star Polaris. The waning Moon will appear near Regulus on Feb. 13, Spica on Feb. 17, and Antares on Feb. 21. The nearly full moon will appear near Regulus on March 12. By the morning of Friday, March 14 (the morning of the full moon after next), as twilight begins at 6:23 a.m. EDT, the setting full moon will be 12 degrees above the western horizon. No visible planets will appear in the sky. The bright star closest to overhead will be Vega at 68 degrees above the eastern horizon. Vega is the 5th brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Lyra (the lyre). Vega is one of the three bright stars of the “Summer Triangle” (along with Deneb and Altair). It is about 25 light-years from Earth, has twice the mass of our Sun, and shines 40 times brighter than our Sun. Detailed Daily Guide Here is a day-by-day listing of celestial events between now and the full moon on March 14, 2025. The times and angles are based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, and some of these details may differ for where you are (I use parentheses to indicate times specific to the D.C. area). If your latitude is significantly different than 39 degrees north (and especially for my Southern Hemisphere readers), I recommend using an astronomy app that is set up for your location or a star-watching guide from a local observatory, news outlet, or astronomy club. Sunday morning, Feb. 9 Mars will appear to the upper left of the waxing gibbous Moon. In the early morning at about 2 a.m. EST, Mars will be 8 degrees from the Moon. By the time the Moon sets on the northwestern horizon at 5:58 a.m., Mars will have shifted to 6 degrees from the Moon. For parts of Asia and Northern Europe the Moon will pass in front of Mars. Also, Sunday morning, the planet Mercury will be passing on the far side of the Sun as seen from Earth, called superior conjunction. Because Mercury orbits inside of the orbit of Earth it will be shifting from the morning sky to the evening sky and will begin emerging from the glow of dusk on the west-southwestern horizon after about Feb. 17 (depending upon viewing conditions). Sunday evening into Monday morning, Feb. 9 – 10 The waxing gibbous Moon will have shifted to the other side of the Mars (having passed in front of Mars in the afternoon when we could not see them). As evening twilight ends (at 6:38 p.m. EST) the Moon will be between Mars and the bright star Pollux, with Mars 3 degrees to the upper right and Pollux 3 degrees to the lower left. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 10:27 p.m., Mars will be 4.5 degrees to the right of the Moon and Pollux 2.5 degrees to the upper left of the Moon. Mars will set first on the northwestern horizon Monday morning at 5:44 a.m., just 22 minutes before morning twilight begins at 6:06 a.m. Wednesday morning, Feb. 12 As mentioned above, the full moon will be Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, at 8:53 a.m. EST. This will be on Thursday morning from Australian Central Time eastward to the international date line in the mid-Pacific. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Monday night into early Thursday evening. Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, Feb. 12 to 13 The bright star Regulus will appear near the full moon. As evening twilight ends at 6:41 p.m. EST, Regulus will be less than 2 degrees to the right of the Moon, very near its closest. By the time the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 12:55 a.m., Regulus will be 3 degrees to the right. As morning twilight begins at 6:03 a.m., Regulus will be 5 degrees to the lower right of the Moon. Friday evening, Feb. 14 Venus, the brightest of the planets, will be near its brightest for the year (based on a geometric estimate called greatest brilliancy). As evening twilight ends at 6:43 p.m. EST, Venus will be 28 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. Venus will set on the western horizon about 2.5 hours later at 9:09 p.m. Having Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love, shining at its brightest on this evening will make for a special Valentine’s Day! Sunday night into Monday morning Feb. 16 to 17 Bright star Spica will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Spica rises on the east-southeastern horizon at 10:19 p.m. EST, it will be 3.5 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. Throughout the night Spica will appear to rotate clockwise around the Moon. As the Moon reaches its highest at 3:37 a.m., Spica will be 2 degrees to the left of the Moon. By the time morning twilight begins at 5:58 a.m., Spica will be a little more than a degree above the Moon. Monday evening, Feb. 17 This will be the first evening Mercury will be above the west-southwestern horizon 30 minutes after sunset, a rough approximation of when it might start emerging from the glow of dusk before evening twilight ends. Increasing the likelihood it will be visible, Mercury will be brighter than Mars, but not as bright as Jupiter. Monday evening, Feb. 17 At 8:06 p.m. EST, the Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from Earth for this orbit. Midday on Thursday, Feb. 20 The waning Moon will appear half full as it reaches its last quarter at 12:32 p.m. EST. Friday morning, Feb. 21 The bright star Antares will appear quite near the waning crescent Moon. As the Moon rises on the southeastern horizon at 2:05 a.m. EST, Antares will be one degree to the upper left. Antares will appear to rotate clockwise and shift away from the Moon as morning progresses. By the time morning twilight begins at 5:53 a.m., Antares will be 2 degrees to the upper right of the Moon. From the southern part of South America, the Moon will actually block Antares from view. Monday, Feb. 24 This will be the first evening Mercury will be above the western horizon as evening twilight ends at 6:54 p.m. EST, setting three minutes later at 6:57 p.m. This will be the first of two evenings when all the visible planets will be in the evening sky at the same time after twilight ends. This also will be the evening when Mercury and Saturn will appear nearest to each other, 1.6 degrees apart. To see them you will need a very clear view toward the western horizon and will likely have to look before evening twilight ends at 6:54 p.m. EST, as Mercury will set three minutes later at 6:57 p.m., and Saturn two minutes after Mercury at 6:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25 This will be the last evening Saturn will be above the western horizon as evening twilight ends at 6:55 p.m. EST, setting one minute later at 6:56 p.m. This will be the last of two evenings when all of the visible planets will be in the evening sky at the same time after twilight ends. Mercury and Saturn will appear almost as close together as the night before, with Mercury setting six minutes after Saturn at 7:02 p.m. Saturn, appearing about as bright as the star Pollux, may still be visible in the glow of dusk before evening twilight ends for a few evenings after this. Thursday evening, Feb. 27 At 7:45 p.m. EST will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. The day of, or the day after, the new Moon marks the start of the new month for most lunisolar calendars. The second month of the Chinese calendar starts on Friday, Feb. 28. Sundown on Feb. 28 also marks the start of Adar in the Hebrew calendar. In the Islamic calendar the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way (intended for civil and not religious purposes). This calendar predicts the holy month of Ramadan will start with sunset on Feb. 28, but because of Ramadan’s religious significance, it is one of four months in the Islamic year where the start of the month is updated based upon the actual sighting of the crescent Moon. Ramadan is honored as the month in which the Quran was revealed. Observing this annual month of charitable acts, prayer, and fasting from dawn to sunset is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Friday evening, Feb. 28 As evening twilight ends at 6:58 p.m. EST, you may be able to see the thin, waxing crescent Moon barely above the western horizon. The Moon will set two minutes later at 7 p.m. Mercury will be 3.5 degrees above the Moon. For this and the next few evenings the waxing crescent Moon will appear most like an upward-facing bowl or a smile in the evening sky (for the Washington, D.C. area and similar latitudes, at least). This is called a “wet” or a “Cheshire” Moon. The term “wet Moon” appears to originate from Hawaiian mythology. It’s when the Moon appears like a bowl that could fill up with water. The time of year when this occurs as viewed from the latitudes of the Hawaiian Islands roughly corresponds with Kaelo the Water Bearer in Hawaiian astrology. As the year passes into summer, the crescent shape tilts, pouring out the water and causing the summer rains. The term “Cheshire Moon” is a reference to the smile of the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Saturday afternoon, March 1 At 4:14 p.m. EST, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to Earth for this orbit. Saturday evening, as evening twilight ends at 6:59 p.m. EST, the thin, waxing crescent Moon will be 13 degrees above the western horizon, with Venus 7 degrees to the upper right of the Moon. Mercury will appear about 10 degrees below the Moon. The Moon will set 76 minutes later at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 4 This is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), which marks the end of the Carnival season that began on January 6. Don’t forget to march forth on March Fourth! Thursday, March 6 The Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its first quarter at 11:32 a.m. EST. Saturday morning, March 8 Just after midnight, Mercury will reach its greatest angular separation from the Sun as seen from Earth for this apparition (called greatest elongation). Saturday evening, will be when Mercury will appear at its highest (6 degrees) above the western horizon as evening twilight ends at 7:06 p.m. EST. Mercury will set 34 minutes later at 7:40 p.m. This will also be the evening Mercury will have dimmed to the brightness as Mars, after which Mars will be the third brightest visible planet again. Also on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, March 8 to 9, Mars will appear near the waxing gibbous Moon with the bright star Pollux (the brighter of the twin stars in the constellation Gemini) nearby. As evening twilight ends at 7:06 p.m. EST, Mars will be 1.5 degrees to the lower right of the Moon and Pollux will be 6 degrees to the lower left. As the Moon reaches its highest for the night 1.25 hours later at 8:22 p.m., Mars will be 1.5 degrees to the lower right of the Moon and Pollux will be 5.5 degrees to the upper left. By the time Mars sets on the northwestern horizon at 4:53 a.m., it will be 4 degrees to the lower left of the Moon and Pollux will be 3 degrees above the Moon. Sunday morning, March 9 Daylight Saving Time begins. Don’t forget to reset your clocks (if they don’t automatically set themselves) as we “spring forward” to Daylight Saving Time! For much of the U.S., 2 to 3 a.m. on March 9, 2025, might be a good hour for magical or fictional events (as it doesn’t actually exist). Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, March 11 to 12 The bright star Regulus will appear close to the nearly full moon. As evening twilight ends at 8:09 p.m. EDT, Regulus will be 4 degrees to the lower right of the Moon. When the Moon reaches its highest for the night at 11:52 p.m., Regulus will be 3 degrees to the lower right. By the time morning twilight begins at 6:26 a.m., Regulus will be about one degree below the Moon. Wednesday morning, March 12 Saturn will be passing on the far side of the Sun as seen from Earth, called a conjunction. Because Saturn orbits outside of the orbit of Earth it will be shifting from the evening sky to the morning sky. Saturn will begin emerging from the glow of dawn on the eastern horizon in early April (depending upon viewing conditions). Wednesday evening, March 12 The planets Venus and Mercury will appear closest to each other low on the western horizon, 5.5 degrees apart. They will be about 5 degrees above the horizon as evening twilight ends at 8:10 p.m. EDT, and Mercury will set first 27 minutes later at 8:37 p.m. Friday morning, March 14: Full Moon After Next The full moon after next will be at 2:55 a.m. EDT. This will be on Thursday evening from Pacific Daylight Time and Mountain Standard Time westward to the international date line in the mid Pacific. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Wednesday evening into Saturday morning. Total Lunar Eclipse As the Moon passes opposite the Sun on March 14, it will move through Earth’s shadow, creating a total eclipse of the Moon. The Moon will begin entering the partial shadow Thursday night at 11:57 p.m., but the gradual dimming of the Moon will not be noticeable until it starts to enter the full shadow Friday morning at 1:09 a.m. The round shadow of Earth will gradually shift across the face of the Moon (from lower left to upper right) until the Moon is fully shaded beginning at 2:26 a.m. The period of full shadow, or total eclipse, will last about 65 minutes, reaching the greatest eclipse at 2:59 a.m. and ending at 3:31 a.m. Even though it will be in full shadow, the Moon will still be visible. The glow of all of the sunrises and sunsets on Earth will give the Moon a reddish-brown hue, sometimes called a “blood” Moon (although this name is also used for one of the full moons near the start of fall). From 3:31 until 4:48 a.m., the Moon will exit the full shadow of Earth, with the round shadow of Earth again shifting across the face of the Moon (from upper left to lower right). The Moon will leave the last of the partial shadow at 6 a.m. ending this eclipse. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Skywatching Moons Solar System Exploration Planets View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer approaches the Moon as it enters its science orbit in this artist’s concept. The small satellite will orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface, producing the best-yet maps of water on the Moon.Lockheed Martin Space NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft gets covered in anti-static wrap before being shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it arrived on Jan. 29.Lockheed Martin Space Before arriving at the Moon, the small satellite mission will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon over several months to gradually line up for capture into lunar orbit. NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer arrived in Florida recently in advance of its launch later this month and has been integrated with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, the small satellite is riding along on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 launch — part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative — which is slated for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Approximately 48 minutes after launch, Lunar Trailblazer will separate from the rocket and begin its independent flight to the Moon. The small satellite will discover where the Moon’s water is, what form it is in, and how it changes over time, producing the best-yet maps of water on the lunar surface. Observations gathered during its two-year prime mission will contribute to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system while also supporting future human and robotic missions to the Moon by identifying where water is located. Key to achieving these goals are the spacecraft’s two state-of-the-art science instruments: the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) infrared spectrometer and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) infrared multispectral imager. The HVM3 instrument was provided by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and LTM was built by the University of Oxford and funded by the UK Space Agency. Lunar Trailblazer’s voyage to the Moon will take between four and seven months, de-pending on the day it launches. This orbital diagram shows the low-energy transfer trajectory of the NASA mission should it launch on Feb. 26, the earliest date in its launch period.NASA/JPL-Caltech “The small team is international in scope, which is more typical of larger projects,” said Andy Klesh, Lunar Trailblazer’s project systems engineer at JPL. “And unlike the norm for small missions that may only have a very focused, singular purpose, Lunar Trailblazer has two high-fidelity instruments onboard. We are really punching above our weight.” Intricate Navigation Before it can use these instruments to collect science data, Lunar Trailblazer will for several months perform a series of Moon flybys, thruster bursts, and looping orbits. These highly choreographed maneuvers will eventually position the spacecraft so it can map the surface in great detail. Weighing only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, Lunar Trailblazer is about the size of a dishwasher and has a relatively small engine. To make its four-to-seven-month trip to the Moon (depending on the launch date) as efficient as possible, the mission’s design and navigation team has planned a trajectory that will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon to guide the spacecraft — a technique called low-energy transfer. “The initial boost provided by the rocket will send the spacecraft past the Moon and into deep space, and its trajectory will then be naturally reshaped by gravity after several lunar flybys and loops around Earth. This will allow it to be captured into lunar orbit with minimal propulsion needs,” said Gregory Lantoine, Lunar Trailblazer’s mission design and navigation lead at JPL. “It’s the most fuel-efficient way to get to where we need to go.” As it flies past the Moon several times, the spacecraft will use small thruster bursts — aka trajectory correction maneuvers — to slowly change its orbit from highly elliptical to circular, bringing the satellite down to an altitude of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Moon’s surface. Arriving at the Moon Once in its science orbit, Lunar Trailblazer will glide over the Moon’s surface, making 12 orbits a day and observing the surface at a variety of different times of day over the course of the mission. The satellite will also be perfectly placed to peer into the permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole, which harbor cold traps that never see direct sunlight. If Lunar Trailblazer finds significant quantities of ice at the base of the craters, those locations could be pinpointed as a resource for future lunar explorers. The data the mission collects will be transmitted to NASA’s Deep Space Network and delivered to Lunar Trailblazer’s new operations center at Caltech’s IPAC in Pasadena, California. Working alongside the mission’s experienced team will be students from Caltech and nearby Pasadena City College who are involved in all aspects of the mission, from operations and communications to developing software. Lunar Trailblazer was a selection of NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration), which provides opportunities for low-cost science spacecraft to ride-share with selected primary missions. To maintain the lower overall cost, SIMPLEx missions have a higher risk posture and lighter requirements for oversight and management. This higher risk acceptance allows NASA to test pioneering technologies, and the definition of success for these missions includes the lessons learned from more experimental endeavors. “We are a small mission with groundbreaking science goals, so we will succeed by embracing the flexibility that’s built into our organization,” said Lee Bennett, Lunar Trailblazer operations lead with IPAC. “Our international team consists of seasoned engineers, science team members from several institutions, and local students who are being given the opportunity to work on a NASA mission for the first time.” More About Lunar Trailblazer Lunar Trailblazer is led by Principal Investigator Bethany Ehlmann of Caltech in Pasadena, California. Caltech also leads the mission’s science investigation and mission operations. This includes planning, scheduling, and sequencing of all science, instrument, and spacecraft activities during the nominal mission. Science data processing will be done in the Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization at Caltech. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California manages Lunar Trailblazer and provides system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM3 instrument, and mission design and navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provides the spacecraft, integrates the flight system, and supports operations under contract with Caltech. University of Oxford developed and provided the LTM instrument. Part of NASA’s Lunar Discovery Exploration Program, the mission is managed by NASA’s Planetary Mission Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Lunar Trailblazer, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/lunar-trailblazer How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Could Decipher the Moon’s Icy Secrets NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Gets Final Payload for Moon Water Hunt Moon Water Imager Integrated With NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer News Media Contacts Karen Fox / Molly Wasser NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov Isabel Swafford Caltech IPAC 626-216-4257 iswafford@ipac.caltech.edu 2025-021 Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Related TermsLunar TrailblazerCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)Earth's MoonJet Propulsion LaboratoryLunar Science Explore More 5 min read NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Will Seek Life’s Ingredients Article 5 hours ago 2 min read Lunar Space Station Module Will Journey to US ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV Moon Mission A key element of the Gateway lunar space station has entered the cleanroom for final… Article 8 hours ago 3 min read NASA’s Polar Ice Experiment Paves Way for Future Moon Missions Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA/JPL-Caltech One of three small lunar rovers — part of a NASA technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) — is prepared for shipping in a clean room on Jan. 29, 2025, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The project is designed to show that a group of robots can collaborate to gather data without receiving direct commands from mission controllers on Earth, paving the way for potential future multirobot missions. The autonomous rovers, plus a base station and camera system, will launch to the Moon aboard IM-3, Intuitive Machines’ third lunar delivery, which has a mission window that extends into early 2026, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The CADRE hardware was delivered from NASA JPL to Intuitive Machines on Feb. 9, 2025. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech View the full article

Explore This Section Science Science Activation Tribal Library Co-Design STEM… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop Christine Shupla and Claire Ratcliffe Adams, from the NASA Science Activation program’s NASA@ My Library project, facilitated a professional development Co-Design Space Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Workshop for Tribal libraries on August 29, 2024, hosted at the New Mexico State Library. The workshop was planned with input from Cassandra Osterloh (the New Mexico State Library’s Tribal Libraries Program Coordinator), Teresa Naranjo and Charles Suazo (of the Santa Clara Pueblo Library) and Rexine Calvert (of the P’oe Tsawa Community Library). Evaluation surveys indicate that the workshop met or exceeded 100% of participants’ expectations, and that activities could be made culturally relevant by the participants. Based on input from tribal advisors, the focus topic was space science (although there was also significant interest in various Earth science and environmental topics and in engineering design). These advisors also suggested that the workshop focus on co-design to enable the workshop participants to share and consider ways to make the content and activities culturally-relevant. The team selected space STEM activities that could be done within library programs and that were within different categories: Passive programming activities (which were available while participants were arriving) Physically active activities Engineering design activities Art/Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Mathematics (STEAM) activities After each type of activity, participants discussed aspects of the activities that they liked, modifications to make the activity more culturally-relevant for their Tribal community, and other activities within that category. Throughout the workshop, Christine and Claire reiterated that the participants’ thoughts and input were critical—that they were the keepers of knowledge of their communities and that their voices were respected. One participant stated, “I like how the instructors were re-assuring throughout the session. Making sure everyone was comfortable and making it feel safe to share ideas.” Another, said, “I tend to not participate, but observe, because I’m not a scientist. It was awesome (feeling comfortable) to design too!” Sixteen of the participants filled out and returned evaluation surveys handed out at the close of the workshop. Just over 50% of those survey responses indicated that the workshop exceeded expectations; all others indicated that it met expectations. Participants also indicated that the activities themselves enabled participants to co-design and make them culturally relevant; this likely is in reference to the discussions held after each activity about ways to apply and revise them. The discussion after a crater-creation activity was particularly extensive: participants discussed replacing the materials with local materials and incorporating aspects of the local topography and even local art. Several participants expressed the desire for more workshops. The NASA@ My Library project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE30A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn Workshop participants conducting the “Touchdown” activity, simulating insertion of a rover into an unknown environment. Christine Shupla Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Editor Earth Science Division Editorial Team Related Terms Science Activation Earth Science Heliophysics Planetary Science Explore More 2 min read Newly Minted Ph.D. Studies Phytoplankton with NASA’s FjordPhyto Project Article 3 days ago 5 min read NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm Article 1 week ago 3 min read NASA’s Cloud-based Confluence Software Helps Hydrologists Study Rivers on a Global Scale Article 1 week 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

NASA’s Artemis campaign will send astronauts, payloads, and science experiments into deep space on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) super heavy-lift Moon rocket. Starting with Artemis IV, the Orion spacecraft and its astronauts will be joined by other payloads atop an upgraded version of the SLS, called Block 1B. SLS Block 1B will deliver initial elements of a lunar space station designed to enable long term exploration of the lunar surface and pave the way for future journeys to Mars. To fly these advanced payloads, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are building a cone-shaped adapter that is key to SLS Block 1B. At NASA Marshall, the PLA engineering development unit is installed into the 4697-test stand for structural testing. It was then attached to the large cylindrical structure which simulates the Exploration Upper Stage interface. Load lines were then connected to the top of the PLA. The testing demonstrated that it can handle up to three times the expected load.NASA/Samuel Lott The payload adapter, nestled within the universal stage adapter sitting atop the SLS Block 1B’s exploration upper stage, acts as a connecting point to secure a large payload that is co-manifested – or flying along with – the Orion spacecraft. The adapter consists of eight composite panels with an aluminum honeycomb core and two aluminum rings. Beginning with the Artemis IV mission, SLS Block 1B will feature a new, more powerful upper stage that provides a substantial increase in payload mass, volume, and energy over the first variant of the rocket that is launching Artemis missions I through III. SLS Block 1B can send 84,000 pounds of payload – including both a crewed Orion spacecraft and a 10-metric ton (22,046 lbs.) co-manifested payload riding in a separate cargo compartment – to the Moon in a single launch. Artemis IV’s co-manifested payload will be the Lunar I-Hab, one of the initial elements of the Gateway lunar space station. Built by ESA (European Space Agency), the Lunar I-Hab provides expanded capability for astronauts to live, work, conduct science experiments, and prepare for their missions to the lunar surface. Before the Artemis IV mission structure was finalized, NASA engineers needed to design and test the new payload adapter. “With SLS, there’s an intent to have as much commonality between flights as possible,” says Brent Gaddes, Lead for the Orion Stage Adapter and Payload Adapter in the SLS Spacecraft/Payload Integration & Evolution Office at NASA Marshall. However, with those payloads changing typically every flight, the connecting payload adapter must change as well. “We knew there needed to be a lot of flexibility to the payload adapter, and that we needed to be able to respond quickly in-house once the payloads were finalized,” says Gaddes. Working alongside the robots, NASA’s next generation of engineers are learning from experts with decades of manufacturing expertise as they prepare the metal honeycomb structure substrate. During production, the fingerprints of the engineers are imprinted where metal meets composite. Even after the finishing touches are applied, the right light at the right angle reveals the harmless prints of the adapter’s makers as it launches payloads on SLS that will enable countless discoveries.NASA/Samuel Lott A Flexible Approach The required flexibility was not going to be satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach, according to Gaddes. Since different size payload adapters could be needed, Marshall is using a flexible approach to assemble the payload adapter that eliminates the need for heavy and expensive tooling used to hold the parts in place during assembly. A computer model of each completed part is created using a process called structured light scanning. The computer model provides the precise locations where holes need to be drilled to hold the parts together so that the completed payload adapter will be exactly the right size. “Structured light has helped us reduce costs and increase flexibility on the payload adapter and allows us to pivot,” says Gaddes. “If the call came down to build a cargo version of SLS to launch 40 metric tons, for example, we can use our same tooling with the structured light approach to adapt to different sizes, whether that’s for an adapter with a larger diameter that’s shorter, or one with a smaller diameter that’s longer. It’s faster and cheaper.” NASA Marshall engineers use an automated placement robot to manufacture eight lightweight composite panels from a graphite epoxy material. The robot performs fast, accurate lamination following preprogrammed paths, its high speed and precision resulting in lower cost and significantly faster production than other manufacturing methods. At NASA Marshall, an engineering development unit of the payload has been successfully tested which demonstrated that it can handle up to three times the expected load. Another test version currently in development, called the qualification unit, will also be tested to NASA standards for composite structures to ensure that the flight unit will perform as expected. “The payload adapter is shaped like a cone, and historically, most of the development work on structures like this has been on cylinders, so that’s one of the many reasons why testing it is so important,” says Gaddes. “NASA will test as high a load as possible to learn what produces structural failure. Any information we learn here will feed directly into the body of information NASA has pulled together over the years on how to analyze structures like this, and of course that’s something that’s shared with industry as well. It’s a win for everybody.” With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, exploration ground systems, and Orion spacecraft, along with the human landing system, next-generation spacesuits, Gateway lunar space station, and future rovers are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration. News Media Contact Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov Explore More 2 min read Lunar Space Station Module Will Journey to US ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV Moon Mission A key element of the Gateway lunar space station has entered the cleanroom for final… Article 3 hours ago 3 min read NASA’s Polar Ice Experiment Paves Way for Future Moon Missions Article 20 hours ago 4 min read NASA’s Mini Rover Team Is Packed for Lunar Journey Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Humans in Space Orion Spacecraft Solar System View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s SPHEREx mission will survey the Milky Way galaxy looking for water ice and other key ingredients for life. In the search for these frozen compounds, the mission will focus on molecular clouds — collections of gas and dust in space — like this one imaged by the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA Where is all the water that may form oceans on distant planets and moons? The SPHEREx astrophysics mission will search the galaxy and take stock. Every living organism on Earth needs water to survive, so scientists searching for life outside our solar system, are often guided by the phrase “follow the water.” Scheduled to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27, NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission will help in that quest. After its ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force base in California, the observatory will search for water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other key ingredients for life frozen on the surface of interstellar dust grains in the clouds of gas and dust where planets and stars eventually form. While there are no oceans or lakes floating freely in space, scientists think these reservoirs of ice, bound to small dust grains, are where most of the water in our universe forms and resides. Additionally, the water in Earth’s oceans as well as those of other planets and moons in our galaxy likely originated in such locations. The Perseus Molecular Cloud, located about 1,000 light-years from Earth, was imaged by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA’s SPHEREx mission will search the galaxy for water ice and other frozen compounds in clouds of gas and dust in space like this one. NASA/JPL-Caltech The mission will focus on massive regions of gas and dust called molecular clouds. Within those, SPHEREx will also look at some newly formed stars and the disks of material around them from which new planets are born. Although space telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb and retired Spitzer have detected water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other compounds in hundreds of targets, the SPHEREx observatory is the first to be uniquely equipped to conduct a large-scale survey of the galaxy in search of water ice and other frozen compounds. Get the SPHEREx Press Kit Rather than taking 2D images of a target like a star, SPHEREx will gather 3D data along its line of sight. That enables scientists to see the amount of ice present in a molecular cloud and observe how the composition of the ices throughout the cloud changes in different environments. By making more than 9 million of these line-of-sight observations and creating the largest-ever survey of these materials, the mission will help scientists better understand how these compounds form on dust grains and how different environments can influence their abundance. Tip of the Iceberg It makes sense that the composition of planets and stars would reflect the molecular clouds they formed in. However, researchers are still working to confirm the specifics of the planet formation process, and the universe doesn’t always match scientists’ expectations. For example, a NASA mission launched in 1998, the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), surveyed the galaxy for water in gas form — including in molecular clouds — but found far less than expected. BAE Systems employees work on NASA’s SPHEREx observatory in the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Jan. 16. Targeting a Feb. 27 launch, the mission will map the entire sky in infrared light. NASA/JPL-Caltech “This puzzled us for a while,” said Gary Melnick, a senior astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and a member of the SPHEREx science team. “We eventually realized that SWAS had detected gaseous water in thin layers near the surface of molecular clouds, suggesting that there might be a lot more water inside the clouds, locked up as ice.” The mission team’s hypothesis also made sense because SWAS detected less oxygen gas (two oxygen atoms bound together) than expected. They concluded that the oxygen atoms were sticking to interstellar dust grains, and were then joined by hydrogen atoms, forming water. Later research confirmed this. What’s more, the clouds shield molecules from cosmic radiation that would otherwise break those compounds apart. As a result, water ice and other materials stored deep in a cloud’s interior are protected. As starlight passes through a molecular cloud, molecules like water and carbon dioxide block certain wavelengths of light, creating a distinct signature that SPHEREx and other missions like Webb can identify using a technique called absorption spectroscopy. In addition to providing a more detailed accounting of the abundance of these frozen compounds, SPHEREx will help researchers answer questions including how deep into molecular clouds ice begins to form, how the abundance of water and other ices changes with the density of a molecular cloud, and how that abundance changes once a star forms. Powerful Partnerships As a survey telescope, SPHEREx is designed to study large portions of the sky relatively quickly, and its results can be used in conjunction with data from targeted telescopes like Webb, which observe a significantly smaller area but can see their targets in greater detail. “If SPHEREx discovers a particularly intriguing location, Webb can study that target with higher spectral resolving power and in wavelengths that SPHEREx cannot detect,” said Melnick. “These two telescopes could form a highly effective partnership.” More About SPHEREx SPHEREx is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. The mission principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive. For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/ 6 Things to Know About SPHEREx Why NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Will Make ‘Most Colorful’ Cosmic Map Ever News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov 2025-020 Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Related TermsSPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)AstrophysicsExoplanetsGalaxiesJet Propulsion LaboratoryStarsThe Universe Explore More 5 min read Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars Discovery proves decades-old theory of galaxy feeding cycle. Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope… Article 2 hours ago 4 min read NASA Successfully Joins Sunshade to Roman Observatory’s ‘Exoskeleton’ Article 1 day ago 4 min read NASA’s Mini Rover Team Is Packed for Lunar Journey Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

For more than a decade, Tristan McKnight has been a driving force behind some of NASA’s most iconic events, orchestrating the behind-the-scenes magic that brings each historic moment to life while sharing the agency’s advancements with the public. As a multimedia producer on the audiovisual team at Johnson Space Center in Houston, McKnight produces and directs live broadcasts and manages event planning, coordination, and execution. From overseeing resources, mitigating risks, and communicating with stakeholders, he ensures every detail aligns seamlessly. Official portrait of Tristan McKnight.NASA/Josh Valcarcel McKnight has played an integral role in the audiovisual team’s coverage of major events including the Artemis II crew announcement, where NASA revealed the astronauts who will venture around the Moon and back, to Johnson’s 2023 Open House, which celebrated the agency’s 65th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station’s operations. These achievements highlight key milestones in human space exploration. A standout achievement was contributing to the Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo naming ceremony, held on the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The event honored the unsung heroes who made humanity’s first steps on the Moon possible. The team’s dedication and passion are a testament to their commitment to sharing NASA’s legacy with the world. “Not only have these events been impactful to Johnson, but they have also resonated across the entire agency,” McKnight said. “That is what I’m most proud of!” Tristan McKnight at the 45th Annual Original Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in downtown Houston.NASA/James Blair One of McKnight’s most memorable events was the 2023 “Back in the Saddle,” an annual tradition designed to refocus Johnson’s workforce at the start of a new year and renew the center’s commitment to safety and mission excellence. McKnight recalled how the speaker transformed Johnson’s Teague Auditorium into a venue filled with drum kits, inspiring messages, and lighting displays. Each audience member, drumsticks in hand, participated in a lesson on teamwork and synchronization to create a metaphor for working in harmony toward a shared goal. Like many high-achieving professionals. McKnight has faced moments of self-doubt. Then he realized that he is exactly where he is supposed to be. “As I settled into my role, I recognized that my contributions matter and simply being true to who I am adds value to the Johnson community,” he said. Tristan McKnight (right) receives a Group Special Act Award from Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche for his contributions to the Dorothy Vaughn in Honor of the Women of Apollo naming ceremony.NASA Each day brings its own set of challenges, ranging from minor issues like communication gaps and scheduling conflicts to major obstacles like technology failures. One of McKnight’s most valuable lessons is recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and each situation requires a thoughtful analysis. McKnight understands the importance of the “check-and double-check,” a philosophy he considers crucial when working with technology. “Taking the extra time to do your due diligence, or even having someone else take a look, can make all the difference,” he said. “The challenges I’ve faced helped me grow as a problem solver and taught me valuable lessons on resilience and adaptability in the workplace,” he said. McKnight approaches obstacles with a level head, focusing on effective solutions rather than dwelling on the problem. Tristan McKnight (left) with his daughter Lydia McKnight and Johnson’s External Relations Director Arturo Sanchez at the 2024 Bring Your Youth To Work Day. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas As humanity looks to the stars, McKnight is energized about the future of exploration, particularly advancements in spacesuit and rocket technology that will enable us to travel farther, faster, and safer than ever before. His work, though grounded on Earth, helps create the inspiration that fuels these bold endeavors. “My hope for the next generation is that they dive deeper into their curiosity—exploring not only the world around them but also the Moon, planets, and beyond,” he said. “I also hope they carry forward the spirit of resilience and a commitment to making the world a better place for all.” View the full article

5 Min Read Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Credits: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) Discovery proves decades-old theory of galaxy feeding cycle. Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally solved the mystery of how a massive galaxy cluster is forming stars at such a high rate. The confirmation from Webb builds on more than a decade of studies using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, as well as several ground-based observatories. The Phoenix cluster, a grouping of galaxies bound together by gravity 5.8 billion light-years from Earth, has been a target of interest for astronomers due to a few unique properties. In particular, ones that are surprising: a suspected extreme cooling of gas and a furious star formation rate despite a roughly 10 billion solar mass supermassive black hole at its core. In other observed galaxy clusters, the central supermassive black hole powers energetic particles and radiation that prevents gas from cooling enough to form stars. Researchers have been studying gas flows within this cluster to try to understand how it is driving such extreme star formation. Image A: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA Annotated) Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Webb’s powerful sensitivity in the mid-infrared detected the cooling gas that leads to a furious rate of star formation in this massive galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) “We can compare our previous studies of the Phoenix cluster, which found differing cooling rates at different temperatures, to a ski slope,” said Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, principal investigator of the program. “The Phoenix cluster has the largest reservoir of hot, cooling gas of any galaxy cluster — analogous to having the busiest chair lift, bringing the most skiers to the top of the mountain. However, not all of those skiers were making it down the mountain, meaning not all the gas was cooling to low temperatures. If you had a ski slope where there were significantly more people getting off the ski lift at the top than were arriving at the bottom, that would be a problem!” To date, in the Phoenix cluster, the numbers weren’t adding up, and researchers were missing a piece of the process. Webb has now found those proverbial skiers at the middle of the mountain, in that it has tracked and mapped the missing cooling gas that will ultimately feed star formation. Most importantly, this intermediary warm gas was found within cavities tracing the very hot gas, a searing 18 million degrees Fahrenheit, and the already cooled gas around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The team studied the cluster’s core in more detail than ever before with the Medium-Resolution Spectrometer on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). This tool allows researchers to take two-dimenstional spectroscopic data from a region of the sky, during one set of observations. “Previous studies only measured gas at the extreme cold and hot ends of the temperature distribution throughout the center of the cluster,” added McDonald. “We were limited — it was not possible to detect the ‘warm’ gas that we were looking for. With Webb, we could do this for the first time.” Image B: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA) This image of the Phoenix cluster combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Very Large Array radio telescope. X-rays from Chandra depict extremely hot gas in purple. Optical light data from Hubble show galaxies in yellow, and filaments of cooler gas where stars are forming in light blue. Outburst generated jets, represented in red, are seen in radio waves by the VLA radio telescope. NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT). A Quirk of Nature Webb’s capability to detect this specific temperature of cooling gas, around 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is in part due to its instrumental capabilities. However, the researchers are getting a little help from nature, as well. This oddity involves two very different ionized atoms, neon and oxygen, created in similar environments. At these temperatures, the emission from oxygen is 100 times brighter but is only visible in ultraviolet. Even though the neon is much fainter, it glows in the infrared, which allowed the researchers to take advantage of Webb’s advanced instruments. “In the mid-infrared wavelengths detected by Webb, the neon VI signature was absolutely booming,” explained Michael Reefe, also of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead author on the paper published in Nature. “Even though this emission is usually more difficult to detect, Webb’s sensitivity in the mid-infrared cuts through all of the noise.” The team now hopes to employ this technique to study more typical galaxy clusters. While the Phoenix cluster is unique in many ways, this proof of concept is an important step towards learning about how other galaxy clusters form stars.The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Downloads Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu. View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Read the research paper published in Nature. Media Contacts Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Hannah Braun hbraun@stsci.edu Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Related Information More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Science Themes Webb Mission Page Article: Large-scale Structures Article: Phoenix Galaxy Cluster’s black hole Article: Spectroscopy 101 Related For Kids What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español Space Place para niños Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Stars Galaxies Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. View the full article

4 Min Read Heart Health Jessica Meir conducts cardiac research in the space station’s Life Sciences Glovebox. Credits: NASA Science in Space: February 2025 February was first proclaimed as American Heart Month in 1964. Since then, its 28 (or 29) days have served as an opportunity to encourage people to focus on their cardiovascular health. The International Space Station serves as a platform for a variety of ongoing research on human health, including how different body systems adapt to weightlessness. This research includes assessing cardiovascular health in astronauts during and after spaceflight and other studies using models of the cardiovascular system, such as tissue cultures. The goal of this work is to help promote heart health for humans in space and everyone on Earth. For this Heart Month, here is a look at some of this spaceflight research Building a better heart model Media exchange in the tissue chambers for the Engineered Heart Tissue investigation.NASA Microgravity exposure is known to cause changes in cardiovascular function. Engineered Heart Tissues assessed these changes using 3D cultured cardiac tissues that model the behavior of actual heart tissues better than traditional cell cultures. When exposed to weightlessness, these “heart-on-a-chip” cells behaved in a manner similar to aging on Earth. This finding suggests that these engineered tissues can be used to investigate the effects of space radiation and long-duration spaceflight on cardiac function. Engineered tissues also could support development of measures to help protect crew members during a mission to Mars. Advanced 3D culture methodology may inform development of strategies to prevent and treat cardiac diseases on Earth as well. Private astronaut heart health In April 2022, the 11-person station crew included (clockwise on the outside from bottom right) NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn; Roscomos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov; NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer; and Ax-1 astronauts (center row from left) Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe, Larry Conner, and Michael López-Alegría.-Alegria.NASA For decades, human research in space has focused on professional and government-agency astronauts, but commercial spaceflight opportunities now allow more people to participate in microgravity research. Cardioprotection Ax-1 analyzed cardiovascular and general health in private astronauts on the 17-day Axiom-1 mission. The study found that 14 health biomarkers related to cardiac, liver, and kidney health remained within normal ranges during the mission, suggesting that spaceflight did not significantly affect the health of the astronaut subjects. This study paves the way for monitoring and studying the effects of spaceflight on private astronauts and developing health management plans for commercial space providers. Better measurements for better health ESA astronaut Tim Peake conducts operations for the Vascular Echo experiment. NASA Vascular Echo, an investigation from CSA (Canadian Space Agency), examined blood vessels and the heart using a variety of tools, including ultrasound. A published study suggests that 3D imaging technology might better measure cardiac and vascular anatomy than the 2D system routinely used on the space station. The research team also developed a probe for the ultrasound device that better directs the beam, making it possible for someone who is not an expert in sonography to take precise measurements. This technology could help astronauts monitor heart health and treat cardiovascular issues on a long-duration mission to the Moon or Mars. The technology also could help patients on Earth who live in remote locations, where an ultrasound operator may not always be available. Long-term heart health in space As part of exploring ways to keep astronauts healthy on missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA is conducting a suite of space station studies called CIPHER that looks at the effects of spaceflight lasting up to a year. One CIPHER study, Vascular Calcium, examines whether calcium lost from bone during spaceflight might deposit in the arteries, increasing vessel stiffness and contributing to increased risk of future cardiovascular disease. Astronaut volunteers provide blood and urine samples and undergo ultrasound and high-resolution scans of their bones and arteries for this investigation. Another CIPHER study, Coronary Responses, uses advanced imaging tests to measure heart and artery response to spaceflight. These studies will help scientists determine whether spaceflight accelerates narrowing and stiffening of the arteries, known as atherosclerosis, or increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, a rapid and irregular heartbeat seen in middle-aged adults. This work also could help identify potential biomarkers and early warning indicators of cardiovascular disease. Melissa Gaskill International Space Station Research Communications Team Johnson Space Center Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Space Station Research and Technology Humans In Space Station Benefits for Humanity Station Science 101: Human Research View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Technicians at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, lower Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) onto a stand in the cleanroom.Thales Alenia Space When NASA’s Artemis IV astronauts journey to the Moon, they will make the inaugural visit to Gateway, humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit. Shown here, technicians carefully guide HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost)—a foundational element of Gateway—onto a stand in the cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The element’s intricate structure, designed to support astronauts and science in lunar orbit, has entered the cleanroom after successfully completing a series of rigorous environmental stress tests. In the cleanroom, technicians will make final installations before preparing the module for transport to the United States, a key milestone on its path to launch. This process includes installing and testing valves and hatches, performing leak checks, and integrating external secondary structures. Once these steps are finished, the module will be packaged for shipment to Gilbert, Arizona, where Northrop Grumman will complete its outfitting. Technicians at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, oversee the HALO module’s transfer to the cleanroom.Thales Alenia Space As one of Gateway’s four pressurized modules, HALO will provide Artemis astronauts with space to live, work, conduct scientific research, and prepare for missions to the lunar surface. The module will also support internal and external science payloads, including a space weather instrument suite attached via a Canadian Space Agency Small Orbital Replacement Unit Robotic Interface, host the Lunar Link communications system developed by European Space Agency, and offer docking ports for visiting vehicles, including lunar landers and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Developed in collaboration with industry and international partners, Gateway is a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis campaign to advance science and exploration on and around the Moon in preparation for the next giant leap: the first human missions to Mars. Learn More About Gateway Facebook logo @NASAGateway @NASA_Gateway Instagram logo @nasaartemis Share Details Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 ContactLaura RochonLocationJohnson Space Center Related TermsArtemisArtemis 4Earth's MoonExploration Systems Development Mission DirectorateGateway ProgramGateway Space StationHumans in SpaceJohnson Space Center Explore More 2 min read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust during Artemis missions, NASA is developing… Article 3 weeks ago 2 min read Gateway Tops Off Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element is now equipped with its xenon and liquid fuel tanks. Article 3 months ago 2 min read Gateway: Life in a Lunar Module Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Humans In Space Orion Spacecraft Human Landing System Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility View the full article

On Feb. 11, 2000, space shuttle Endeavour took to the skies on its 14th trip into space on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The international STS-99 crew included Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele of Germany representing the European Space Agency, Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, who served as payload commander on the mission, and Mamoru Mohri of the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan, now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. During their 11-day mission, the astronauts used the radar instruments in Endeavour’s payload bay to obtain elevation data on a near global scale. The data produced the most complete, high-resolution digital elevation model of the Earth. The SRTM comprised a cooperative effort among NASA with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, managing the project, the Department of Defense’s National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the German space agency, and the Italian space agency. Prior to SRTM, scientists had a more detailed topographic map of Venus than of the Earth, thanks to the Magellan radar mapping mission. The STS-99 crew patch. Official photo of the STS-99 crew of Janice Voss, left, Mamoru Mohri of the National Space Development Agency of Japan, now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kevin Kregel, Dominic Gorie, Gerhard Thiele of Germany representing the European Space Agency, and Janet Kavandi. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission patch. Schematic of the Space Radar Topography Mission payloads including the deployed mast. The mast antenna during preflight processing. NASA assigned the STS-99 crew in October 1998. For Kregel, selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1992, STS-99 marked his fourth trip to space, having served as pilot on STS-70 and STS-78 and commanded STS-87. Gorie and Kavandi, both selected in 1994, previously flew together as pilot and mission specialist, respectively, on STS-91, the final Shuttle Mir docking mission. Voss, selected in 1990, served as a mission specialist on STS-57 and STS-63, and as payload commander on STS-83 and STS-94. NASDA selected Mohri as an astronaut in 1985 and he previously flew as a payload specialist on STS-47, the Spacelab-J mission. Selected as an astronaut by the German space agency in 1987, Thiele joined the European Astronaut Corps in 1998, completing his first spaceflight on STS-99. The SRTM used an innovative technique called radar interferometry to image the Earth’s landmasses at resolutions up to 30 times greater than previously achieved. Two of the synthetic aperture radar instruments comprising the SRTM payload had flown previously, on the STS-59 Shuttle Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1) and the STS-68 SRL-2 missions in April and October 1994, respectively. A second receiver antenna, placed at the end of a 200-foot deployable mast, enabled the interferometry during SRTM. The SRTM payload in Endeavour’s cargo bay in the orbiter processing facility. Endeavour rolls out to Launch Pad 39A. The STS-99 crew walks out of crew quarters for the van ride to the launch pad. Workers rolled Endeavour to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Dec. 2 for mating with its external tank and solid rocket boosters, and then out to Launch Pad 39A on Dec. 13. The astronauts traveled to Kennedy to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test Jan. 11-14, returning afterwards to Houston for final training. They traveled back to Kennedy on Jan. 27 for the first launch attempt four days later. After two launch attempts, the STS-99 mission prepared to liftoff on Feb. 11, 2000. Liftoff! Space shuttle Endeavour takes to the skies to begin the STS-99 mission. At 12:43 p.m. EST, Endeavour thundered into the sky from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A to begin the STS-99 mission. Thirty-seven minutes later, a brief firing of the orbiter’s two engines placed Endeavour in the proper 145-mile orbit for the radar scanning. The SRTM instruments in Endeavour’s payload bay with the mast holding the second antenna receiver deployed at right. The antenna at the end of the deployed mast. STS-99 astronauts Janet Kavandi, left, Dominic Gorie, and Mamoru Mohri in Endeavour’s middeck. Astronaut Janice Voss in the commander’s seat on Endeavour’s flight deck. Astronauts Kevin Kregel, left, and Gerhard Thiele on Endeavour’s flight deck. Shortly after reaching orbit, the crew opened the payload bay doors and deployed the shuttle’s radiators. Kavandi and Thiele turned on the instruments, deployed the 200-foot mast, and conducted initial checkouts of the radars. The crew split into two shifts to enable data collection around the clock during the mission. After overseeing the initial activation of the radars, the red shift of Kregel, Kavandi, and Thiele began their first sleep period as the blue shift of Gorie, Voss, and Mohri picked up with activation and began the first data takes. The major crew activity for SRTM involved changing tapes every 30 minutes. The SRTM generated 332 high density tapes during more than 222 hours of data collection and these recordings covered 99.96 percent of the planned observations. Data collection finished on the mission’s 10th flight day, after which the astronauts reeled the mast back into its container in the payload bay. EarthKAM image of the greater Boston area. The EarthKAM camera mounted in a space shuttle window. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of the Galapagos Islands. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of the greater New York area. STS-99 crew Earth observation photograph of Erg Chech, or sand sea, in the Algerian Sahara. NASA’s EarthKAM program enabled middle school students to remotely take photographs of the Earth using an electronic still camera mounted in one of the shuttle’s windows. The University of California at San Diego houses the control center for EarthKAM, linked with middle schools via the Internet. Students choose Earth targets of interest, and the camera takes photos of that region as the shuttle passes overhead. A then-record 75 schools from around the world participated in the EarthKAM project on STS-99, the camera returning 2,715 images of the Earth. The STS-99 astronauts also spent time taking photographs of the Earth using handheld cameras and the high inclination orbit enabled views of some parts of the Earth rarely seen by shuttle astronauts. The six-person STS-99 crew pose for their inflight photo. Kevin Kregel guides Endeavour to a smooth touchdown on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-99 crew poses with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin under Endeavour at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Kevin Kregel addresses the crowd at Houston’s Ellington Field during the welcome home ceremony for the STS-99 crew. On Feb. 22, the crew closed Endeavour’s payload bay doors, donned their launch and entry suits, and strapped themselves into their seats for entry and landing. Kregel piloted Endeavour to a smooth landing on Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility. The crew had flown 181 orbits around the Earth in 11 days, 5 hours, and 39 minutes. Enjoy the crew narrate a video about the STS-99 mission. Postscript Final coverage map for the SIR-C radar, indicating 99.96 percent coverage of planned land mass targets, with many areas imaged more than once. False-color image generated from SRTM data of the island of Oahu. False-color image generated from SRTM data of Mt. Cotopaxi in Ecuador, the tallest active volcano in the world. During the 11-day mission, SRTM collected more than one trillion data points, generating 12.3 terabytes of 3-D data of the Earth. Earnest Paylor, SRTM program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., called the mission “a magnificent accomplishment.” He cited that SRTM imaged by radar equatorial regions of the Earth previously unmapped due to constant cloud cover. Explore More 12 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-68 The Second Space Radar Lab Mission Article 5 months ago 22 min read 35 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 13th Group of Astronauts Article 4 weeks ago 17 min read 30 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 15th Group of Astronauts Article 2 months ago View the full article

Artistic rendering of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander on the surface of the Moon.Credit: Intuitive Machines NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is preparing to explore the Moon’s subsurface and analyze where lunar resources may reside. The experiment’s two key instruments will demonstrate our ability to extract and analyze lunar soil to better understand the lunar environment and subsurface resources, paving the way for sustainable human exploration under the agency’s Artemis campaign for the benefit of all. Its two instruments will work in tandem: The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains (TRIDENT) will drill into the Moon’s surface to collect samples, while the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) will analyze these samples to determine the gas composition released across the sampling depth. The PRIME-1 technology will provide valuable data to help us better understand the Moon’s surface and how to work with and on it. “The ability to drill and analyze samples at the same time allows us to gather insights that will shape the future of lunar resource utilization,” said Jackie Quinn, PRIME-1 project manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Human exploration of the Moon and deep space will depend on making good use of local resources to produce life-sustaining supplies necessary to live and work on another planetary body.” The PRIME-1 experiment is one of the NASA payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26, on Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander and explore the lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. Developed by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin Company, TRIDENT is a rotary percussive drill designed to excavate lunar regolith and subsurface material up to 3.3 feet (1 meter) deep. The drill will extract samples, each about 4 inches (10 cm) in length, allowing scientists to analyze how trapped and frozen gases are distributed at different depths below the surface. The TRIDENT drill is equipped with carbide cutting teeth to penetrate even the toughest lunar materials. Unlike previous lunar drills used by astronauts during the Apollo missions, TRIDENT will be controlled from Earth. The drill may provide key information about subsurface soil temperatures as well as gain key insight into the mechanical properties of the lunar South Pole soil. Learning more about regolith temperatures and properties will greatly improve our understanding of the environments where lunar resources may be stable, revealing what resources may be available for future Moon missions. A commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer, MSOLO, developed by INFICON and made suitable for spaceflight at Kennedy, will analyze any gas released from the TRIDENT drilled samples, looking for the potential presence of water ice and other gases trapped beneath the surface. These measurements will help scientists understand the Moon’s potential for resource utilization. Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA is one of many customers on future flights. PRIME-1 was funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Game Changing Development program. Learn more about CLPS and Artemis at: https://www.nasa.gov/clps View the full article

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a seasonal imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds. A new campaign in January 2025 led to Curiosity capturing this video of red- and green-tinged clouds drifting through the Martian sky. Learn more about iridescent twilight clouds on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS View the full article

The cover of Spinoff 2025, NASA’s annual publication that chronicles commercial products born from space technology, is a detailed view of the lunar surface captured by cameras on the Orion spacecraft on a close approach of the Moon during the Artemis I mission.Credit: NASA The latest edition of NASA’s Spinoff publication, which highlights the successful transfer of agency technology to the commercial sector, is now available online. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported crew working in low Earth orbit to learn about the space environment and perform research to advance deep space exploration. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have learned a wealth of lessons and tried out a host of new technologies. This work leads to ongoing innovations benefiting people on Earth that are featured in NASA’s annual publication. “The work we do in space has resulted in navigational technologies, lifesaving medical advancements, and enhanced software systems that continue to benefit our lives on Earth,” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Technologies developed today don’t just make life on our home planet easier – they pave the way to a sustained presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.” The Spinoff 2025 publication features more than 40 commercial infusions of NASA technologies including: A platform enabling commercial industry to perform science on the space station, including the growth of higher-quality human heart tissue, knee cartilage, and pharmaceutical crystals that can be grown on Earth to develop new medical treatments. An electrostatic sprayer technology to water plants without the help of gravity and now used in sanitation, agriculture, and food safety. “Antigravity” treadmills helping people with a variety of conditions run or walk for exercise, stemming from efforts to improve astronauts’ fitness in the weightlessness of space. Nutritional supplements originally intended to keep astronauts fit and mitigate the health hazards of a long stay in space. As NASA continues advancing technology and research in low Earth orbit to establish a sustained presence at the Moon, upcoming lunar missions are already spinning off technologies on Earth. For example, Spinoff 2025 features a company that invented technology for 3D printing buildings on the Moon that is now using it to print large structures on Earth. Another group of researchers studying how to grow lunar buildings from fungus is now selling specially grown mushrooms and plans to build homes on Earth using the same concept. Spinoffs produce innovative technologies with commercial applications for the benefit of all. Other highlights of Spinoff 2025 include quality control on assembly lines inspired by artificial intelligence developed to help rovers navigate Mars, innovations in origami based on math for lasers and optical computing, and companies that will help lead the way to hydrogen-based energy building on NASA’s foundation of using liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel. “I’ve learned it’s almost impossible to predict where space technology will find an application in the commercial market,” said Dan Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “One thing I can say for sure, though, is NASA’s technology will continue to spin off, because it’s our goal to advance our missions and bolster the American economy.” This publication also features 20 technologies available for licensing with the potential for commercialization. Check out the “Spinoffs of Tomorrow” section to learn more. Spinoff is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program. Tech Transfer is charged with finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technology through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring agency investments benefit the nation and the world. To read the latest issue of Spinoff, visit: https://spinoff.nasa.gov -end- Jasmine Hopkins Headquarters, Washington 321-431-4624 jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 12, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNASA Centers & FacilitiesAmes Research CenterArmstrong Flight Research CenterGlenn Research CenterGoddard Institute for Space StudiesGoddard Space Flight CenterJet Propulsion LaboratoryJohnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterLangley Research CenterMarshall Space Flight CenterNASA HeadquartersSpace Technology Mission DirectorateSpinoffsStennis Space CenterTechnology TransferTechnology Transfer & Spinoffs View the full article