Science & Space
News about science, space, research, missions, and discoveries.
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NASA Testing Wastewater Treatment Facility for Future Moon Base
Technicians prepare the Divergent Deployable Wastewater Treatment Facility, designed to turn crew wastewater into useful resources, for transport at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. NASA/Kim Shiflett A mobile wastewater treatment system built at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida that can help prepare for long-duration missions on the Moon and Mars departed the spaceport and arrived at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Graduate students at the university will test the technology under conditions designed to closely mimic the challenges of operating on another planetary surface. The Divergent Deployable Wastewater Treatment Facility is designed to turn crew wastewater into useful resources, which future explorers will need every day. At the University of North Dakota, teams will integrate this new wastewater system with the university’s Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat. Student operators and NASA researchers will study how the facility performs when connected to a habitat-like environment and exposed to the kinds of operational limits crews could face on another planet. “NASA’s Artemis program is laying the groundwork for a sustained human presence on the Moon, where habitats will need to operate far from the steady resupply chain that supports astronauts in partial gravity,” said Luke Roberson, surface water systems lead within the Mars Campaign Office at NASA Kennedy. “To solve that challenge, we are developing the future of sustainable lunar surface systems to process wastewater into nutrient feedstocks for plants and biomanufacturing.” How Treatment System Works Housed inside an 8.5-by-24-foot trailer, the facility brings together three biological reactor systems, a vertical garden, water-polishing hardware, environmental monitoring, autonomous control software, and safety systems. The trailer was outfitted at NASA Kennedy to function as a deployable laboratory and to travel between at least two simulation test sites as the technology matures. Unlike wastewater systems on Earth, this facility keeps waste streams separate. That divergent approach is important for small crews, because wastewater from four to eight people can be highly concentrated. Urine, hygiene water, laundry water, fecal waste, and food waste each contain different levels of salts, solids, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other compounds. Treating them separately allows each stream to be processed by the reactor best suited for the job. To do that, the system uses three different bioreactors to treat waste streams. The Anaerobic Phototrophic Membrane Bioreactor processes fecal and food waste and converts it into a nutrient-rich wastewater that can support plant growth. The Suspended Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor processes urine and flush water. The Membrane Aerated Biological Reactor treats graywater from hygiene and laundry activities. Collectively, the bioreactors process nutrients to feed the facility’s vertical garden and prepare the water for reuse. Inside that garden, crops will grow hydroponically, or without using soil, by using nutrient solutions derived from the bioreactors. Researchers will compare crop performance with plants grown using standard hydroponic nutrients. NASA’s Dr. Roberson demonstrating the Divergent Wastewater Treatment Facility to UND Chair Dr. De Leon and Dr. Robert Kraus, Dean of UND’s School of Aerospace Sciences. University of North Dakota At North Dakota, under a NASA EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) grant, the facility was connected to the Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat through a bathroom interface that includes a urine-diverting toilet. The setup will allow different waste streams to be separated at the source and sent to the correct treatment systems. In parallel, Ali Alshami’s team is developing novel membrane-based separation technologies intended for future integration into the divergent wastewater facility to improve water recovery efficiency, contaminant rejection, and overall system resilience for long-duration habitation missions. “The tests will help NASA evaluate real-world operation, crew training needs, system reliability, and how wastewater simulants compare with actual human metabolic waste in an analog mission environment,” said Alshami. These efforts are focused on advancing compact, energy-efficient treatment approaches capable of handling complex wastewater streams generated in closed-loop extraterrestrial environments. “The testing campaign at the University of North Dakota supports the facility’s technology maturation from laboratory-scale validation toward demonstration in a relevant Inflatable Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat environment,” said Pablo De Leon, professor and department chair of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. Lessons learned could inform future higher-fidelity tests, including potential integration with NASA’s next generation of yearlong simulated Mars missions via isolation analogs at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Technology for Making Moon Base Sustainable The work is part of NASA’s broader Bioregenerative Life Support Systems effort, which is developing biological approaches to reduce dependence on Earth-supplied consumables. In future lunar or Martian habitats, systems like the wastewater treatment facility could help close life support loops by recovering water, recycling nutrients, supporting crop production, and reducing the amount of waste that must be stored or discarded. Further NASA research completed trade studies demonstrating how bioregenerative life support becomes more effective for space travel over current life support technologies. NASA researchers also are exploring how wastewater-recovered resources could support in-space manufacturing. One effort is studying how nutrient-rich water from bioregenerative wastewater systems could feed microbes that produce lactic acid, which can be turned into polylactic acid. The material could one day serve as a binder for 3D printing with lunar or Martian regolith, the loose, fragmental surface material, or could be used for replacement parts, extending the value of recovered waste beyond water and food systems. “By sending the facility from NASA Kennedy to North Dakota, the agency is moving a key part of that circular economy out of the lab and into a real-world test,” said J.J. Edelmann, surface systems domain lead for the Mars Campaign Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The work may begin with wastewater, but its goal is much larger. We want to help future crews live sustainably on the Moon, learn how to operate farther from Earth, and carry those lessons forward to Mars.” To learn more about the agency’s lunar and Mars exploration, visit: https://nasa.gov/esdmd
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Be a Clump Scout and Help Reveal Secrets of Stellar Nurseries
Explore This Section Science Citizen Science Be a Clump Scout and Help… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science Science Activation Opportunities In the mid-20th century, astronomers discovered strange “clumpy” galaxies filled with mysterious bright blobs – massive stellar nurseries where stars are born at an explosive rate. Curiously, these clumpy galaxies were much more common in the early universe than they are today. We still don’t know why they vanished. The Euclid space telescope, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with critical contributions from NASA, has begun to capture images of millions of galaxies. These images – far more than any team of professional scientists could ever catalog alone – include high-definition views of clumpy galaxies that promise to reveal structure within and among the clumps. Astronomers hope to use these images to obtain new information about which galaxies host clumps, where the clumps are, how and why they evolved, and more – but they need your help! To tackle this mountain of data, scientists are creating a “digital assistant” in the form of machine learning, a kind of artificial intelligence. The machine algorithm has been partially trained with results from an earlier project called “Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout.” Now, as a volunteer for the new Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout II project, you’ll improve and train this tool further. You’ll examine images of galaxies that the machine has labelled with squares where it thinks it sees a real clump. The machine often gets confused by distant stars or camera glitches. So you’ll gently move those squares around, delete them, or add new ones, to help the algorithm learn. As a part of Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout II, you will help investigate how giant star-forming nurseries formed, solve the mystery of their disappearance over cosmic time, and reveal more about how star formation really works in galaxies. All you need is a laptop or smartphone. Click here to learn more! A clumpy galaxy seen by telescopes with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (left), the Hyper Suprime-Cam (middle) and the Euclid mission (right). You can see how the better resolving power of each subsequent telescope helps us see more and more detail about the star-forming clumps. (The bright object at the bottom right is a foreground star.) Image data: SDSS (left; Sloan Digital Sky Survey – CC BY 4.0); HSC (center; NAOJ/HSC Project – CC BY 4.0); Euclid (right; ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA – CC BY 3.0 IGO). Image post-processing and compilation by Hugh Dickinson and Jürgen Popp. Learn More and Get Involved Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout II Identify star-forming clumps in galaxy images, and help train machines to do the same. Facebook logo @nasascience_ @nasascience_ Instagram logo @nasascience_ Linkedin logo @nasascience_
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Spacewalking With Scott Wray, Artemis EVA Training Lead
6 Min Read Spacewalking With Scott Wray, Artemis EVA Training Lead Scott Wray conducts an underwater test of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credits: NASA/Bill Brassard Scott Wray’s experience with spacewalks started when he was about 6 years old. A tent resembling a lunar lander provided the perfect imaginary spacecraft. “I would lie on my back with my feet propped up on a pillow as I imagined going through a launch countdown sequence,” he said. “Then I would exit the tent into a darkened bedroom and hop around just like the footage I had seen of Apollo astronauts.” Today, with more than 16 years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center under his belt, Wray is proud to have shaped spacewalk training across three eras of human spaceflight. Scott Wray smiles before a suited test run with Johnson’s Active Response Gravity Offload System. NASA/Josh Valcarcel The childhood fascination with spaceflight evolved into a passion for engineering, demonstrated through countless LEGO and airplane model builds and voracious readership of aircraft design books. His path to NASA was cemented by a week-long camp at Space Center Houston, which included several tours of Johnson’s signature facilities and a visit by former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz. “I was so inspired by the facilities and the incredible history of this place, I knew that I had to work here someday,” he said. Wray participated in NASA’s Contractor Co-op Program with United Space Alliance while studying aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and completed several tours with different organizations at Johnson. At the time, astronauts were training to conduct spacewalks, also known as EVAs, for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. During one co-op experience with the shuttle’s In-Flight Maintenance Team (IFM), Wray observed the IFM and EVA teams collaborating with the STS-117 crew to fix the peeled-back thermal blanket on space shuttle Atlantis’s Orbital Maneuvering System pod. He helped the teams develop crew procedures for practicing the repair inside the shuttle, using surgical staples and pins to tack the blanket down. “This real-time troubleshooting is where I learned about the EVA group and set my sights on working there during my final co-op tour,” he said. “I love to be hands-on, to take things apart and come up with creative solutions – that’s what really attracted me to EVA.” EVA work also reminded Wray of time spent as a dog mushing guide in Alaska. “That is where I got my first taste of expeditionary skills,” he said. “We lived in a remote glacier camp, taking care of 250 Alaskan Huskies. I learned how to make do with the tools you have and make repairs to a broken sled miles away from home.” At times, Johnson’s EVA team must create similar workarounds. “Some of our best moments as a team have come when our hardware or vehicle has malfunctioned, requiring us to devise a real-time solution,” he said. “It sounds scrappy, but I think it’s how we put the human into human spaceflight.” Wray became a full-time EVA team member at Johnson after graduation, working under various contracts until he transitioned to a civil servant position in 2021. He started as an EVA instructor focused on tools and hardware and teaching astronauts how to perform their maintenance and repair duties. As NASA’s astronaut corps evolved to include a wider range of backgrounds and body types, Wray worked to develop new EVA techniques and tools that could accommodate any crew member. “That meant creating a curriculum that capitalized on individual strengths while building teamwork and resilience,” he said. Scott Wray prepares JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui for an EVA training run in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory pool. NASA/Bill Stafford Wray also served as a flight controller for shuttle and space station EVAs. He remembers being on console in Johnson’s Mission Control Center during a space station EVA in July 2013. That excursion was terminated early after water began filling the spacesuit helmet of ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, and the team could neither determine its source nor stop its flow. “That incident taught me that even after decades of operating a spacesuit, there are still failure modes we haven’t imagined,” he said. “It reinforced the need for vigilance, adaptability, and continuous learning—because in human spaceflight, lives depend on it.” In the last few years, Wray’s responsibilities shifted to preparing Artemis crew members for missions to the Moon. Now the Artemis EVA training lead, Wray oversees the development of training flows that will ready astronauts for lunar surface operations – a challenge NASA has not faced in over 50 years. Scott Wray participates in a nighttime evaluation of EVA operations at the Johnson Space Center Rock Yard in March 2021. The evening test was designed to better understand the impact of lunar South Pole lighting conditions on EVA operations. While many astronauts have completed space station training or an EVA, the skills required for lunar exploration will be different. “It’s going to be a completely new spacesuit, new vehicles, new environment,” Wray said. “And now they’re going to be walking instead of translating with their hands like we do on station.” At the same time, trainings must go beyond these foundational spacewalk techniques. “Our curriculum integrates geology, covering topics like impact cratering, volcanology, sample collection, and traverse planning,” Wray explained. “It’s about enabling astronauts to become effective field scientists while mastering complex EVA operations.” To build these skills, the team uses multiple training environments. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory has been NASA’s flagship EVA training facility since it opened in 1997, but the team also uses the Active Response Gravity Offload System for suited mobility practice. Additional training systems include virtual reality, lighting laboratories that simulate the Moon’s harsh South Pole lighting conditions, field sites for geology training and sample collection, and suit simulators that prepare astronauts to respond to caution-and-warning scenarios. “Spearheading this effort as EVA training lead allows me to ensure every element—from science to operations—is integrated into a program that will prepare astronauts for success on the Moon and beyond,” Wray said. “This effort is more than preparation, it’s the foundation for future exploration and a steppingstone toward Mars. Knowing that our work will help shape the next era of human spaceflight is incredibly rewarding.” Scott Wray serves as the test subject for Exploration EVA Pressure Garment Subsystem mobility data collection using the Active Response Gravity Offload System. Amid these complex preparations, Wray still finds time for new pursuits outside of the office. His daughter inspired him and his wife to try an acting class at a local fine arts studio, leading to Wray’s on-stage debut in a performance of “Rock of Ages.” He starred as William Shakespeare in this year’s production of “Something Rotten.” “I never would have thought I’d have so much fun acting, singing, and dancing on stage,” he said. “The community we are part of and the ability to join our daughter in activities she enjoys has been so rewarding.” Wray said he is incredibly grateful to play another role off-stage – being part of missions that will conduct meaningful science on the lunar surface. “Returning to the Moon is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” he said. “Artemis isn’t just about going back—it’s about shaping the future. When we choose to push the boundaries of exploration, the advancements we make don’t just expand knowledge, they create lasting benefits for all of humanity.” About the Author Linda E. Grimm Share Details Last Updated May 28, 2026 Related Terms Johnson Space Center Artemis General People of Johnson Explore More 5 min read NASA Testing Wastewater Treatment Facility for Future Moon Base Article 13 hours ago 3 min read NASA to Conduct Low-Altitude Flights Near Houston Article 1 day ago 4 min read I Am Artemis: Daniel Stubbs Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System
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Fire’s Footprint on Santa Rosa Island
Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Fire’s Footprint on Santa… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search May 16, 2026 May 24, 2026 A false-color image of Santa Rosa Island from May 16, 2026, shows a dark-brown burned area toward the bottom-right. A thin, bright orange line runs along the burned area, indicating the active fire front. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin A false-color image of Santa Rosa Island from May 24, 2026, shows a reddish-brown burned area spanning the eastern third of the island. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin May 16, 2026 May 24, 2026 A false-color image of Santa Rosa Island from May 16, 2026, shows a dark-brown burned area toward the bottom-right. A thin, bright orange line runs along the burned area, indicating the active fire front. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin A false-color image of Santa Rosa Island from May 24, 2026, shows a reddish-brown burned area spanning the eastern third of the island. NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin May 16, 2026 May 24, 2026 Curtain Toggle 2-Up Image Details The burned area from a wildland fire on Santa Rosa Island in California’s Channel Islands National Park grows between May 16 (left) and May 24, 2026 (right), in these false-color images captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 , respectively. On May 15, 2026, a fire was spotted from aircraft on the southeastern side of Santa Rosa Island, part of California’s Channel Islands National Park. The blaze spread over the next several days, ultimately burning 18,379 acres (7,438 hectares)—about one-third of the island. These images show the expansion of the fire’s burned area between May 16 (left), the day after it was discovered, and May 24 (right), after the fire’s growth had stabilized . The Landsat satellite images are false-color to help distinguish burned areas (brown) from healthy vegetation (green). Officials reported the fire was 97 percent contained by the evening of May 26. NASA tools utilizing satellite observations, namely FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) and the Fire Event Explorer , show how the fire spread to the north and east over several days. As it advanced, it consumed areas of grassland, coastal sage scrub, and island chaparral . Santa Rosa Island, like the other Channel Islands, is known for its diversity of plant and animal species, some of them rare. Observers were concerned that the fire threatened the island’s Torrey pines , a rare type of tree that in the United States grows naturally only on the northeastern coast of Santa Rosa Island and near San Diego. Initial post-fire surveys by firefighters and unmanned aircraft indicated the Torrey pine stand remained largely intact. The fire mostly burned at lower intensity through the pine areas and spared the canopy. However, some pockets of forest sustained damage where intensity was higher. Along the northwest edge of the fire, suppression crews worked to protect another vulnerable area—the cloud forests —by cooling fuels ahead of the fire’s front. Local reports suggest the Santa Rosa Island fire is the largest on record on any of California’s Channel Islands. Some of the islands’ chaparral and tree species are adapted to fire but less dependent on it than their mainland counterparts, according to the National Park Service, because naturally occurring fire is less frequent on the Channel Islands. NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey . Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads May 16, 2026 JPEG (2.50 MB) May 24, 2026 JPEG (2.34 MB) References & Resources Capital Public Radio (2020) California Wildfire History Map . Accessed May 29, 2026. InciWeb (2026, May 28) Santa Rosa Island Fire . Accessed May 29, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2026, May 20) Fire Chars Santa Rosa Island . Accessed May 29, 2026. National Park Service, Channel Islands . Accessed May 29, 2026. Santa Barbara Independent (2026, May 21) What We’re Losing in the Santa Rosa Island Fire . Accessed May 29, 2026. You may also be interested in: Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Fire Chars Santa Rosa Island 2 min read The blaze spread across the southern side of the second-largest island in California’s Channel Islands National Park. Article Fires Tear Through Nebraska Grasslands 3 min read Dry, warm, and windy conditions across the U.S. Great Plains led to extreme fire activity in March 2026. Article Smoke Rises Over Big Cypress National Preserve 2 min read The National fire has burned tens of thousands of acres within the Florida preserve, fueled by vegetation dried by prolonged… Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep Exploring Discover More from NASA Earth Science Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. Earth Observatory Image of the Day NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Explore Earth Science Earth Science Data Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data
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NASA Awards Modification Contract for Reduced Gravity Test Aircraft
1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA NASA selected Denmar Technical Services of Nevada to provide aircraft modifications, maintenance, and testing services to the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and Johnson Space Center in Houston. The award is a firm-fixed-price contract and will be time and material for any over and above and unforeseen work. This contract has a maximum potential value of $8.4 million, which runs through Feb. 1, 2027. The contractor will modify a Boeing 737-700 aircraft to perform lunar-gravity parabolic flights to test NASA space equipment. Once modifications are complete, NASA Armstrong will own the aircraft and oversee aircraft operations out of NASA Johnson. The aircraft will be used to validate astronaut lunar suits and associated crew systems required to support Artemis mission objectives. This can be done with the modified 737 aircraft in an operationally relevant, reduced-gravity environment prior to lunar mission execution. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Dede Dinius Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. 661-276-5701 [email protected] Share Details Last Updated Jun 01, 2026 Related Terms Armstrong Flight Research Center Johnson Space Center
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NASA Invites Media to See Roman Space Telescope Arrive at Kennedy
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope stands complete in the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. With its deep, sweeping views of the universe, Roman will observe billions of cosmic objects to explore fundamental questions about dark energy and planets outside our solar system. Credit: NASA/Scott Wiessinger Registration is open for media to cover the arrival of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the coming weeks. The observatory will arrive aboard NASA’s Pegasus barge from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where teams completed its construction, assembly, and testing. Credentialed media will be able to witness the arrival and unloading of the space telescope in its transport container at NASA Kennedy’s turn basin. From there, technicians will move the telescope to the center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for launch processing. NASA subject matter experts will be available on site to answer questions about the arrival. Media interested in participating must apply for credentials at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov To receive credentials, media must apply by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 4. This opportunity is open to U.S. citizens only. Once approved, credentialed media will receive a confirmation email. Additional information, including the specific date of arrival activities, will follow. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email [email protected] . For other questions, please contact Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468. Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a deep, panoramic view of the cosmos, generating never-before-seen pictures that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. The observatory will usher in a new era of cosmic surveys, unveiling troves of celestial objects, and shedding light on some of the universe’s most profound mysteries, including phenomena we can’t see. Roman also will showcase a test of the most advanced technology ever flown in space to directly image planets around nearby stars, a key step in NASA’s search for life on other worlds. The Roman telescope is managed at NASA Goddard with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team of scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc., L3Harris Technologies, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging. Contributions to Roman also are made by ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany. The agency’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Roman Space Telescope, which will lift off as soon as early September on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A. For more information about NASA’s Roman telescope, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/roman -end- Karen Fox / Alise Fisher Headquarters, Washington 202-385-1287 / 202-358-2546 [email protected] / [email protected] Leejay Lockhart / Danielle Sempsrott Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-747-8310 / 321-298-8990 [email protected] / [email protected] Claire Andreoli Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 [email protected] Share Details Last Updated Jun 01, 2026 Editor Jessica Taveau Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Goddard Space Flight Center Kennedy Space Center Science Mission Directorate
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NASA to Conduct Low-Altitude Flights Near Houston
NASA’s C-20A research aircraft takes off from the Edwards Air Force Base runway on an envelope-expansion flight test with the unmanned aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar pod. NASA/Tony Landis Five research aircraft will support a Student Airborne Research Program ( SARP ) mission out of Ellington Field in Houston. Flights are expected from Wednesday, June 3 to Saturday, June 13. During the mission, select maneuvers will be conducted at low altitudes over the Houston area. Pilots will fly remote sensing payloads in raster patterns, or parallel back-and-forth lines. The instruments flown could help researchers map the movement of the gases and particles that make up Earth’s atmosphere, changes to the lowest part of the atmosphere near the coastline, and the natural processes affecting the land and water in that area. The flights will primarily take place in the Houston area, with some extending over the Gulf of America. While many of the flights will operate at higher altitudes, a WP-3D Orion will conduct maneuvers as low as 1,000 feet above ground level. Owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this aircraft is used as a hurricane hunter and has supported several airborne science missions for NASA. It is equipped with a multitude of scientific instrumentation, radars, and recording systems for both in-flight and remote sensing measurements of the atmosphere, the Earth, and its environment. The NASA-operated aircraft participating in the mission also are equipped with a variety of remote sensing instruments, including two lidars, a synthetic-aperture radar, an imaging spectrometer, and two spectrometers. The operations will involve the agency’s Gulfstream V (N95NA), Gulfstream C-20A (N802NA), and Gulfstream III (N520NA), as well as NOAA’s WP-3D Orion (N43RF) and a King Air B200 aircraft (N46L) owned by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA. The flights can be tracked in real time at NASA Airborne Science Program Tracker . The SARP effort is an eight-week summer internship program that provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience by engaging in field research and data analysis and with access to one or more NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories. For more information about the NASA Airborne Science program, visit: https://airbornescience.nasa.gov Explore More 6 min read Spacewalking With Scott Wray, Artemis EVA Training Lead Article 5 hours ago 4 min read Contractor to Civil Servant: NASA Welcomes Kenny Heckle Article 5 days ago 2 min read Growing Stem Cells in Space to Improve Cancer and Disease Treatments Article 5 days ago
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What’s Up: June 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA
Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up Meteor Showers Eclipses Daily Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network Venus and Jupiter meet after sunset, the Moon passes in front of Venus, summer begins, and deep-sky treasures rise into view. Skywatching Highlights June 9: Venus and Jupiter conjunction June 11–15: Mercury joins Venus and Jupiter after sunset June 17: Moon passes in front of Venus & close Moon and Venus pairing June 21: June solstice & start of astronomical summer June: Summer Triangle and deep-sky observing targets rise into view Transcript Planets gather after sunset, the Moon passes in front of Venus, summer officially begins and deep sky treasures rise into view. That’s What’s Up for June. Early this month, look west shortly after sunset to see Venus and Jupiter. They are two of the brightest planets in our sky and around June 9th, they’ll appear close together after sunset. This is called a planetary conjunction—when two planets appear near each other from our point of view on Earth, even though they’re still millions of miles apart in space. NASA/JPL-Caltech From June 11th through June 15th, Mercury joins the scene, creating a mini parade of planets low in the western sky. This happens because the planets orbit the sun along nearly the same path in our sky, called the ecliptic. So from our point of view on Earth, they sometimes appear to gather in the same part of the sky. NASA/JPL-Caltech Venus will be the brightest and easiest to spot with Jupiter nearby. Mercury will sit lower toward the horizon, so you will need a clear view to the west to catch it in the glow of twilight. On June 17th, from some locations the Moon will pass in front of Venus. This is called a lunar occultation. For viewers in the right viewing path, Venus will look like it disappears behind the Moon, then reappears later. The event will be visible from parts of the United States, Canada, Brazil and Venezuela. Outside of the exact viewing path, many skywatchers may still see a close pairing of the Moon and Venus, but this comes with an important safety note. For many viewers this will happen during the daytime. If you’re trying to observe the occultation, do not point binoculars, a telescope, or a camera near the sun unless you’re using proper solar safety equipment. Looking at or near the sun through optics can cause serious eye injury. June also brings the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the June solstice marks the start of the astronomical summer. In Pacific time, it happens on Sunday, June 21st at 1:24 a.m. Around the solstice, the Northern Hemisphere gets its longest days and shortest nights of the year. But here’s a fun fact, the longest day does not usually line up exactly with the earliest sunrise or latest sunset. For example, in Los Angeles, the earliest sunrise comes before the solstice, while the latest sunset comes after it. And once the sky gets dark, summer brings some favorite targets for telescope users and astrophotographers. First, look for the Summer Triangle, formed by the bright stars Vega, Altair, and Deneb. Inside and around this region are deep sky objects like the Dumbbell Nebula, the Ring Nebula, the North America Nebula, and the Veil Nebula. The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 27, was the first planetary nebula ever discovered. These objects are not bright like planets, but with telescopes or long exposure photography, they reveal glowing gas, dying stars, and stellar nurseries in our galaxy. NASA/JPL-Caltech Here are the phases of the Moon for June. You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Raquel Villanueva from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up this month. NASA/JPL-Caltech Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA What’s Up Skywatching Galaxies Stars
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HLTH_SILC_13 - "Dataset: updated structure and data"
Self-reported unmet needs for medical examination by sex, age, main reason declared and labour status
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Pretty in Pink
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Sejong Univ./Hur et al; JWST: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, and the EWOCS team. Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand This image of Westerlund 2 released on March 19, 2026, features Chandra X-ray Observatory data (pink) and infrared data from NASA’S James Webb Space Telescope (red, orange, green, cyan, and blue). Scores of gleaming stars ringed in neon pink stretch across the frame, highlighting a cluster where stars are between one and three million years old. Brick-orange dust clouds along the bottom edge illustrate the raw materials of this active stellar nursery. Westerlund 2 resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina. See a different view of Westerlund 2. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Sejong Univ./Hur et al; JWST: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, and the EWOCS team. Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand
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Science & Space
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Space Out This Summer with Variety of NASA STEM Activities
4 Min Read Space Out This Summer with Variety of NASA STEM Activities Summer is “Go” for launch, and NASA has a universe of ways to help you to jump in, explore, and create! Whether you prefer to spend this season fueling your creativity, going outdoors into nature, or daydreaming about your future, NASA offers ways to take your interests to the next level. Here are some opportunities to level up your skills with NASA STEM this summer. Rise to Stardance Challenge From Monday, June 1, through Sept. 30, students ages 13 to 18 are invited to flex their creativity in the online Stardance Challenge, a partnership between NASA and the education non-profit Hack Club. Whether you’re into space, coding, hardware, or just love building cool things, this is your chance to work with real NASA mission data from programs like Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope, and more. Participants can create anything from code and apps to electronics, circuit boards, models, and simulations. Hack Club will offer peer and expert reviews, prizes, and plenty of opportunities to show off your work. Meanwhile, NASA will provide access to publicly available datasets, mission materials, multimedia, and virtual sessions with subject matter experts who can share insights on space science, engineering, and careers. Ready to start brainstorming? Visit the Hack Club: Stardance Challenge website to explore project options, check out prizes, and RSVP to get a reminder when the challenge opens NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur is conducting a technology demonstration with Astrobee flying robots. Credit: NASA Go Behind Scenes of NASA Careers Think NASA is only for astronauts, scientists, and tech experts? Think again. It takes a wide range of professionals and specialists to bring the nation’s aerospace goals to life. Summer is the perfect time to discover how your skills and interests could make a difference at NASA. Connect directly with NASA experts through online events designed to spark your curiosity and help you explore real STEM career paths. These virtual sessions provide a behind‑the‑scenes look at NASA’s workforce, plus the chance to ask questions. Tuesday, June 2: NASA’s Career Technical Education Day at Goddard Space Flight Center dives into robotics, AI, autonomous systems, and the skilled technical careers that keep NASA missions running. Register by May 26. Thursday, June 11: Virtual Career Connection: Aviation Technology and Maintenance introduces you to aircraft mechanics and technicians who support NASA’s flight programs and explores pathways into aviation technology careers. Register by June 2. Looking for more? Check out the Next Gen STEM for Careers web page for videos, articles, and more ways to learn about the variety of jobs at NASA. Noctilucent clouds seen from Fairbanks, Alaska. Credit: Patrick Cobb – Photovoltaic designer, photographer Dive into NASA Research Through Citizen Science NASA invites people of all ages and backgrounds to do NASA science as a part of real science projects that rely on volunteers. Citizen Science is a great way to make new friends, meet some scientists, and help NASA solve mysteries of the universe this summer – using just a phone or computer. You can join from anywhere, participate on your own schedule, and dive right into real research using actual mission data. Here are two examples: Through Space Cloud Watch , you can help NASA study noctilucent clouds. Noctilucent means “night-shining,” and that’s exactly what they do! During summer twilight at high latitudes, these clouds catch sunlight and appear to glow even in a darkened sky. Take a photo and submit a report to help scientists track how these rare clouds are changing. Take your cloud‑watching to another planet with Cloudspotting on Mars , where you review real NASA images to identify clouds above the Red Planet and help scientists understand Martian weather. Curious about what other projects you might enjoy? See all current Citizen Science opportunities available through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. No matter how you spend your summer – building projects like the Hack Club’s Stardance Challenge, jumping into real NASA research through citizen science, or exploring possible NASA career paths – there’s a launch pad waiting for you. And remember, NASA’s STEM Resources website is available year-round to serve as your one-stop hub for hands-on activities, videos, articles, and more to spark curiosity and fuel big ideas. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA For Students Grades 9-12 Mobile and Desktop Apps Games and Interactives NASA STEM Opportunities and Activities For Students
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Science & Space
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Gravity Waves From Super Typhoon Sinlaku
Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Gravity Waves From Super… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search Atmospheric gravity waves generated by Super Typhoon Sinlaku are visible via mesospheric airglow in this nighttime image acquired with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite on April 12, 2026, Universal Time (April 13 local time). NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison In mid-April 2026, Super Typhoon Sinlaku churned across the North Pacific Ocean and brought heavy rain and flooding to the Mariana Islands. The storm reached “violent typhoon” status—the highest intensity on the scale used by the Japan Meteorological Agency and roughly equivalent to a category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale . Sinlaku was one of only a handful of tropical cyclones of that intensity known to have occurred so early in the year in the region, meteorologists noted . Sinlaku rapidly intensified over the ocean before its impacts reached land. Around the time of this strengthening, satellites began to detect that the typhoon’s effects also extended upward, into the upper atmosphere . The nighttime image above, acquired with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite, shows atmospheric gravity waves radiating from the typhoon. These waves, resembling ripples on a pond, were made visible to the sensor via airglow in the mesosphere. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules, excited by sunlight during the day, later emit light to release excess energy. The release of latent heat near the eyewalls of tropical cyclones is known to drive convection and the formation of tall cumulonimbus clouds. These “ hot towers ” can rise out of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, and generate waves that propagate into the stratosphere and mesosphere above. An analysis of past tropical cyclones revealed that gravity waves often occur around the time that storms are intensifying. Indeed, in the 24 hours prior to the acquisition of the image above, Sinlaku had strengthened from a category 2 to a category 5 storm. “We’re seeing waves propagating radially and upward, in a cone-like shape,” said Joan Alexander , senior research scientist at NorthWest Research Associates. Alexander was surprised to see nearly complete rings in the mesospheric airglow above the storm. Winds in the upper atmosphere can dissipate the waves before they reach such high altitudes, Alexander explained, but relatively light stratospheric winds at the storm’s latitude in April 2026 may have helped preserve them. A relatively low amount of moonlight was fortuitous, as well. The VIIRS day-night band is sensitive to airglow in the mesosphere but also observes reflected moonlight. The Moon was about 25 percent illuminated on April 12, so some light reflected off clouds in the troposphere was visible, but not enough to overpower the signal from the airglow. Thermal energy from gravity waves produced by Super Typhoon Sinlaku was detected in the stratosphere by the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 13, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison Sinlaku’s gravity waves, in addition to appearing high in the atmosphere via airglow, were observed lower in the atmosphere by the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite. The image above depicts thermal emissions from gravity waves in the stratosphere on April 13. The rippling pattern appeared in April 14 observations, as well, indicating the storm’s continuing effects on the atmosphere. Observing atmospheric gravity waves, particularly those caused by tropical cyclones, goes beyond scientific curiosity. Practical implications could include improved monitoring of storm development. “We’d like to use gravity waves to tell us if a storm is intensifying,” Alexander said, “which can be difficult to know, especially over the open ocean.” A geostationary satellite with the proper infrared imager would be able to observe gravity waves and track tropical cyclone evolution , she and colleagues have argued. Furthermore, it’s critical to account for processes in the stratosphere in weather models, said Laura Holt, also a senior research scientist at NorthWest Research Associates. Stratospheric wind patterns are factors in long-term forecasts of the next Northern Hemisphere winter, for example, and tropical cyclones have a disproportionate influence because their sustained, intense convection drives prolonged gravity wave forcing of the stratosphere. The effect of gravity waves even reaches into the realm of space weather. “For a while, people have seen signatures of hurricanes in ionospheric weather,” Holt said. Gravity waves can lead to traveling ionospheric disturbances—large-scale ripples in plasma density—and in some cases plasma bubbles , both of which can disrupt satellite signals and radio communications. “With space weather in particular,” Holt added, “a single event such as a tropical cyclone can be very important.” NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS day-night band data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE , GIBS/Worldview , and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), and AIRS data from Hoffmann, L . Story by Lindsey Doermann. Downloads VIIRS: April 12, 2026 JPEG (2.89 MB) AIRS: April 13, 2026 JPEG (1.75 MB) References & Resources Hoffmann, L., et al. (2018) Satellite observations of stratospheric gravity waves associated with the intensification of tropical cyclones . Geophysical Research Letters , 45, 1692–1700. NASA (2018, October 22) Why NASA Watches Airglow, the Colors of the (Upper Atmospheric) Wind . Accessed May 28, 2026. NASA Earth Observatory (2026, April 14) Super Typhoon Sinlaku . Accessed May 28, 2026. Nolan, D. S. (2020) An Investigation of Spiral Gravity Waves Radiating from Tropical Cyclones Using a Linear, Nonhydrostatic Model . Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 77, 1733–1759. You may also be interested in: Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet. Super Typhoon Sinlaku 3 min read The violent storm aimed at the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in mid-April 2026. Article Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia 3 min read The powerful storm lashed the northern edge of the continent with damaging winds and drenching rain as it made landfall… Article A Second Cyclone Slams Madagascar 3 min read Widespread flooding affected tens of thousands of people after cyclones Fytia and Gezani drenched the island. Article 1 2 3 4 Next Keep Exploring Discover More from NASA Earth Science Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox. Earth Observatory Image of the Day NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery. Explore Earth Science Earth Science Data Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data
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