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By NASA
Members of NASA Glenn Research Center’s Office of Communications gather for a photo after the Public Relations Society of America’s Cleveland Rocks Awards ceremony. Credit: Tim Phillis NASA Glenn Research Center’s Office of Communications earned top honors — including Best in Show — during the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)’s Cleveland Rocks Awards on Nov. 19. During the event, the PRSA Greater Cleveland chapter recognized outstanding campaigns and tactics developed in 2024 by leading public relations and communications professionals in the Northeast Ohio community.
The Best in Show award is presented to the top scoring submission across all categories and subcategories. NASA Glenn’s Solar Eclipse Campaign entry scored the highest out of more than 75 entries in the Cleveland/Akron area. The Glenn team took home the prestigious red guitar for their outstanding effort.
WKYC’s Betsy Kling assisted in presenting the following awards to NASA Glenn:
Integrated Communications Campaign (Public Affairs and Government Category)
· 2024 Solar Eclipse – In the Path of Totality Campaign – Gold
· Spaceplane Stacked and Shaken at NASA Glenn Test Facility – Silver
Events (Public Affairs and Government Category)
· Total Solar Eclipse Fest 2024 (NASA Glenn and Great Lakes Science Center) – Gold
Tactic – Best Use of X (Formerly Twitter)
· Congrats, “Passtronaut” Josh Dobbs! – Gold
Best in Show
· 2024 Solar Eclipse – In the Path of Totality Communications Campaign
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Office of Communications Director Kristen Parker, holding a guitar, poses with Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Greater Cleveland Board of Director’s Cleveland Rocks Chair Kristin Pohlig. The guitar symbolizes PRSA’s Cleveland Rocks Best in Show award. Credit: Tim Phillis Return to Newsletter Explore More
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By NASA
Benchmarks for solidifying metal alloys
Researchers report benchmark data for modeling the growth of specific types of microstructures that form during solidification of metal alloys under different conditions. These microstructures affect the properties of materials and products such as refrigeration devices and solar cells.
The ESA (European Space Agency) Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Solidification Processing (CETSOL) investigation studied the processes of metal alloy solidification and the crystal patterns that form as liquids transition to solids. Results could improve ground-based development of lightweight, high-performance structural materials for space and ground applications. Microgravity is key to this research because it eliminates influences of gravity during solidification and allows researchers to control turbulence and convection.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Frank De Winne works on the Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Solidification Processing (CETSOL) investigation in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory.NASA Composite materials shield against radiation, other hazards
Researchers found no degradation in two multifunctional radiation shielding composite materials after exposure to space. This finding suggests that composite materials with a surface layer and a coating could protect crews on future missions from radiation and other hazards of space.
Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) continued a series of investigations examining how exposure to space affects materials and material configurations used for space missions. The MISSE-13 suite of materials included a multifunctional composite material for shielding crew members in habitats and spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit against radiation, atomic oxygen, and temperature extremes.
An image of the Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) platform used for MISSE experiments.NASA Modeling the use of boiling to transfer heat
Researchers developed an algorithm to determine the amount of heat transferred via boiling of a liquid and showed that maximum heat flow occurs where the bubble contacts the surface and the liquid. This finding could inform design of thermal control systems for spacecraft and for cooling electronics and other applications on Earth.
ESA’s Multiscale Boiling examined the dynamics of heat transfer via boiling, which generates vapor bubbles that lift heat from a surface. This technique is less efficient in microgravity because boiling happens more slowly, and bubbles remain near the surface in the absence of buoyancy. But microgravity also makes it possible to observe effects that are too fast and too small to be measured under normal gravity conditions, helping scientists understand the dynamics of boiling heat transfer.
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano works on the Multiscale Boiling hardware aboard the International Space Station. ESA/Luca ParmitanoView the full article
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. SpaceX From sending crew members to the International Space Station to launching a spacecraft to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine if it could support life, 2024 was a busy record setting year for NASA and its partners at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
JANUARY
First Lunar Lander Takes Flight
The first flight of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative lifted off with Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One lunar lander aboard the inaugural launch of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket on Jan. 8 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and magnetic fields on the Moon’s surface. This mission became the first U.S. commercial lander to launch to the lunar surface; however, the spacecraft experienced a propulsion issue that prevented the landing on the Moon.
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander lifts off at 2:18 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.NASA/Kim Shiflett JANUARY
Third Private Mission to Space
At the world’s premier multi-user spaceport, the four-person crew of Axiom Mission 3 became the third private astronaut mission to launch to the International Space Station on Jan. 18 from Launch Complex 39A. The crew completed more than 30 research experiments developed for microgravity in collaboration with organizations across the globe.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft for Axiom Space’s Mission 3 to the International Space Station lifts off at 4:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. NASA/Chris Swanson JANUARY
Food and Supplies Delivered to the International Space Station
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the first time on Jan. 30 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company’s 20th resupply mission brought 8,200 pounds of science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station.
Commercial Resupply Mission to space station
YouTube FEBRUARY
Understanding Earth’s Climate
NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) is a mission to observe and explore what makes Earth so different from every other planet we study – life itself. Three-quarters of our home planet is covered by water, and PACE’s advanced instruments provide new ways to study life at the ocean’s surface by measuring the abundances and distributions of microscopic algae known as phytoplankton. The observations are helping researchers better monitor ocean health, air quality, and climate change. PACE launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on Feb. 8.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft stands vertical at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. SpaceX FEBRUARY
Intuitive Machines First Mission Lands on Moon
NASA’s CLPS initiative with Intuitive Machines’ made history when the Nova C-class lunar lander launched from Kennedy and later arrived on the Moon’s South Pole region known as Malapert A on Feb. 22.
IM-1, the first NASA Commercial Launch Program Services. launch for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, will carry multiple payloads to the Moon, including Lunar Node-1, demonstrating autonomous navigation via radio beacon to support precise geolocation and navigation among lunar orbiters, landers, and surface personnel. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center FEBRUARY
Artemis II Practice Procedures
Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery Team, and partners from the Department of Defense participated in the Underway Recovery Test 11 off the coast of San Diego. The operation mimicked procedures that will be used to recover the Artemis II crew and the Orion spacecraft after their return from the Moon, with the crew exiting a mockup of Orion into a boat and then ferried to a U.S. Navy ship.
During sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the USS San Diego practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. NASA/Kenny Allen MARCH
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Quartet Launches to Space Station
NASA astronauts Matt Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin launched March 3 from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on an eight-month science mission aboard the International Space Station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft launches NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station on Sunday, March 3, 2024, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Cory S Huston MARCH
NASA’s SpaceX 30th Commercial Resupply Mission
Research and technology demonstrations, along with food and other supplies launched to the International Space Station aboard NASA’s SpaceX commercial resupply mission. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft launched March 21 from Space Launch Complex 40.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars after its liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, on the company’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. NASA/Glenn Benson APRIL
Solar Eclipse Captivates Nation
A total solar eclipse moved across North America, passing over Mexico, United States, and Canada on April 8. Kennedy provided coverage on air and online from every city’s point of totality for viewers at home.
Solar prominences are seen during a total solar eclipse in Dallas, Texas on Monday, April 8, 2024. NASA/Keegan Barber MAY
NASA Welcomes New Commercial Resupply Spacecraft
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser arrived at Kennedy on May 18 following testing at the agency’s Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The uncrewed spaceplane is scheduled to launch aboard a ULA Vulcan rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2025, delivering thousands of pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory.
Dream Chaser Tenacity, Sierra Space’s uncrewed cargo spaceplane is lifted and moved by crane inside the Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, May 20, 2024. Sierra Space/Shay Saldana MAY
Historic Marker Honors Original Headquarters Location
Officials unveiled a large bronze historical plaque on May 28 to mark the location of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s original headquarters building just west of the current Central Campus Headquarters Building on NASA Parkway.
From the left, NASA Kennedy Space Center’s, Maui Dalton, project manager, engineering; Katherine Zeringue, cultural resources manager; Janet Petro, NASA Kennedy Space Center director; and Ismael Otero, project manager, engineering, present a large bronze historical marker plaque at the location of NASA Kennedy’s original headquarters building on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. NASA/Mike Chambers JUNE
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Launches First Crew
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams became the first crew to fly aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Starliner launched on June 6 atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 as part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Florida. NASA/Joel Kowsky JUNE
Final NASA, NOAA GOES-R Launch
NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) launched June 25 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. The GOES-U satellite is the last of NOAA’s GOES-R Series, and it carries seven instruments that collect advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, provide real-time mapping of lightning activity, and detect approaching space weather hazards.
Technicians prepare NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) for encapsulation inside payload fairing halves on Thursday, June 13, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Ben Smegelsky JULY
Barge Carries Artemis II Core Stage to Kennedy
NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket that will power humans to the Moon arrived July 24 at Kennedy. NASA’s Pegasus barge ferried the 212-foot-tall core stage from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage remains at the Vehicle Assembly Building awaiting integration ahead of the Artemis II launch.
Artemis II core state arrives at Kennedy
YouTube AUGUST
NASA, Northrop Grumman Launch Supplies to Space Station
NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment launched on Aug. 24 aboard a Cygnus spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 as part of Northrop Grumman’s 21st commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station.SpaceX SEPTEMBER
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Spacecraft Safely Lands
An uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft undocked from the space station and landed on Sept. 7 at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, completing a three-month flight test to the orbiting laboratory.
Boeing and NASA teams work around NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed.NASA/Aubrey Gemignani SEPTEMBER
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Duo Heads to Space
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov launched to the International Space aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Sept. 28 for a roughly five-month mission as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The launch was the first crewed mission from Space Launch Complex 40. Hague, Gorbunov, along with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are slated to return to Earth in early 2025.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov walk through the crew access arm connecting the launch tower to the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. SpaceX OCTOBER
Mobile Launcher on the Move
NASA’s mobile launcher 1 made the 4.2-mile trek on Oct. 4 from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for stacking the Artemis II Moon rocket. The mobile launcher had been at the launch pad since August 2023 undergoing integrated testing and upgrades. NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 also achieved a milestone reaching 2,500 miles traveled since its construction in 1965.
Mobile launcher rolls back to Vehicle Assembly Building
YouTube OCTOBER
Jupiter Moon Mission Takes Flight
NASA’s Europa Clipper is the agency’s first mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to see if the ocean beneath the moon’s crust has the ingredients to support life. The spacecraft launched Oct. 16 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A. The Europa Clipper spacecraft will reach Europa in 2030.
A reflection in the water shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket at Launch Pad 39A on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX OCTOBER
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Back on Earth
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, splashed down in their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 25, completing a seven-month science mission aboard the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft is seen as it lands Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. NASA/Joel Kowsky NOVEMBER
New Science and Supplies Sent to Space Station
A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket carrying more than 6,000 pounds of supplies launched Nov. 4, from Launch Complex 39A bound for the space station. The commercial resupply mission delivered essential supplies and supports dozens of research experiments during Expedition 72.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 4, on the company’s 31st commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. SpaceX NOVEMBER
NASA’s Artemis II Booster Segments Take Shape
Engineers and technicians with the Exploration Ground Systems Program began stacking on Nov. 20, the first segment of the Artemis II SLS solid rocket boosters onto mobile launcher 1 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Down the transfer aisle from the Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) core stage, an overhead crane hoists the left aft assembly, or bottom portion of the solid rocket boosters for the SLS Moon rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. NASA/Kevin Davis DECEMBER
Record-Setting Year of Launches
More than 80 launches roared into space from Kennedy and Cape Canaveral in 2024, and 2025 promises to bring even more government and commercial missions to the Eastern Range.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. SpaceXView the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its right-front navigation camera to capture this first view over the rim of Jezero Crater on Dec. 10, 2024, the 1,354th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The camera is facing west from a location nicknamed “Lookout Hill.”NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this scene showing the slippery terrain that’s made its climb up to the rim of Jezero Crater challenging. Rover tracks can be seen trailing off into the distance, back toward the crater’s floor.NASA/JPL-Caltech The road ahead will be even more scientifically intriguing, and probably somewhat easier-going, now that the six-wheeler has completed its long climb to the top.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has crested the top of Jezero Crater’s rim at a location the science team calls “Lookout Hill” and rolling toward its first science stop after the monthslong climb. The rover made the ascent in order to explore a region of Mars unlike anywhere it has investigated before.
Taking about 3½ months and ascending 1,640 vertical feet (500 vertical meters), the rover climbed 20% grades, making stops along the way for science observations. Perseverance’s science team shared some of their work and future plans at a media briefing held Thursday, Dec. 12, in Washington at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting, the country’s largest gathering of Earth and space scientists.
“During the Jezero Crater rim climb, our rover drivers have done an amazing job negotiating some of the toughest terrain we’ve encountered since landing,” said Steven Lee, deputy project manager for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “They developed innovative approaches to overcome these challenges — even tried driving backward to see if it would help — and the rover has come through it all like a champ. Perseverance is ‘go’ for everything the science team wants to throw at it during this next science campaign.”
A scan across a panorama captured by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows the steepness of the terrain leading to the rim of Jezero Crater. The rover’s Mastcam-Z camera system took the images that make up this view on Dec. 5. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Since landing at Jezero in February 2021, Perseverance has completed four science campaigns: the “Crater Floor,” “Fan Front,” “Upper Fan,” and “Margin Unit.” The science team is calling Perseverance’s fifth campaign the “Northern Rim” because its route covers the northern part of the southwestern section of Jezero’s rim. Over the first year of the Northern Rim campaign, the rover is expected to visit as many as four sites of geologic interest, take several samples, and drive about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers).
“The Northern Rim campaign brings us completely new scientific riches as Perseverance roves into fundamentally new geology,” said Ken Farley, project scientist for Perseverance at Caltech in Pasadena. “It marks our transition from rocks that partially filled Jezero Crater when it was formed by a massive impact about 3.9 billion years ago to rocks from deep down inside Mars that were thrown upward to form the crater rim after impact.”
This animation shows the position of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover as of Dec. 4, 2024, the 1,347th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, along with the proposed route of the mission’s fifth science campaign, dubbed Northern Rim, over the next several years. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/University of Arizona “These rocks represent pieces of early Martian crust and are among the oldest rocks found anywhere in the solar system. Investigating them could help us understand what Mars — and our own planet — may have looked like in the beginning,” Farley added.
First Stop: ‘Witch Hazel Hill’
With Lookout Hill in its rearview mirror, Perseverance is headed to a scientifically significant rocky outcrop about 1,500 feet (450 meters) down the other side of the rim that the science team calls “Witch Hazel Hill.”
“The campaign starts off with a bang because Witch Hazel Hill represents over 330 feet of layered outcrop, where each layer is like a page in the book of Martian history. As we drive down the hill, we will be going back in time, investigating the ancient environments of Mars recorded in the crater rim,” said Candice Bedford, a Perseverance scientist from Purdue University in West Layfette, Indiana. “Then, after a steep descent, we take our first turns of the wheel away from the crater rim toward ‘Lac de Charmes,’ about 2 miles south.”
Lac de Charmes intrigues the science team because, being located on the plains beyond the rim, it is less likely to have been significantly affected by the formation of Jezero Crater.
After leaving Lac de Charmes, the rover will traverse about a mile (1.6 kilometers) back to the rim to investigate a stunning outcrop of large blocks known as megabreccia. These blocks may represent ancient bedrock broken up during the Isidis impact, a planet-altering event that likely excavated deep into the Martian crust as it created an impact basin some 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) wide, 3.9 billion years in the past.
More About Perseverance
A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and as the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance
News Media Contacts
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 12, 2024 Related Terms
Perseverance (Rover) Astrobiology Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Mars 2020 Explore More
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By NASA
At Goddard Space Flight Center, the GSFC Data Science Group has completed the testing for their SatVision Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) Foundation Model, a geospatial foundation model for coarse-resolution all-sky remote sensing imagery. The team, comprised of Mark Carroll, Caleb Spradlin, Jordan Caraballo-Vega, Jian Li, Jie Gong, and Paul Montesano, has now released their model for wide application in science investigations.
Foundation models can transform the landscape of remote sensing (RS) data analysis by enabling the pre-training of large computer-vision models on vast amounts of remote sensing data. These models can be fine-tuned with small amounts of labeled training and applied to various mapping and monitoring applications. Because most existing foundation models are trained solely on cloud-free satellite imagery, they are limited to applications of land surface or require atmospheric corrections. SatVision-TOA is trained on all-sky conditions which enables applications involving atmospheric variables (e.g., cloud or aerosol).
SatVision TOA is a 3 billion parameter model trained on 100 million images from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This is, to our knowledge, the largest foundation model trained solely on satellite remote sensing imagery. By including “all-sky” conditions during pre-training, the team incorporated a range of cloud conditions often excluded in traditional modeling. This enables 3D cloud reconstruction and cloud modeling in support of Earth and climate science, offering significant enhancement for large-scale earth observation workflows.
With an adaptable and scalable model design, SatVision-TOA can unify diverse Earth observation datasets and reduce dependency on task-specific models. SatVision-TOA leverages one of the largest public datasets to capture global contexts and robust features. The model could have broad applications for investigating spectrometer data, including MODIS, VIIRS, and GOES-ABI. The team believes this will enable transformative advancements in atmospheric science, cloud structure analysis, and Earth system modeling.
The model architecture and model weights are available on GitHub and Hugging Face, respectively. For more information, including a detailed user guide, see the associated white paper: SatVision-TOA: A Geospatial Foundation Model for Coarse-Resolution All-Sky Remote Sensing Imagery.
Examples of image reconstruction by SatVision-TOA. Left: MOD021KM v6.1 cropped image chip using MODIS bands [1, 3, 2]. Middle: The same images with randomly applied 8×8 mask patches, masking 60% of the original image. Right: The reconstructed images produced by the model, along with their respective Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) scores. These examples illustrate the model’s ability to preserve structural detail and reconstruct heterogeneous features, such as cloud textures and land-cover transitions, with high fidelity.NASAView the full article
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