The Flight Dynamics Research Facility, located at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is the agency’s first major wind tunnel built in more than 40 years.
NASA/Mark Knopp
Media are invited to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Friday, July 31, to attend a media tour and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, the agency’s first new wind tunnel in more than 40 years.
The event will include a brief media availability with:
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
Dr. Trina Dyal, center director, NASA Langley
Administrator Edward C. Forst, U.S. General Services Administration
This event is in person only and open to members of the media who are United States citizens or lawful permanent residents. Information about timing will be shared closer to the event. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Media requesting to participate in person must RSVP no later than 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 29. Media RSVPs must be sent to Kimiko Booker, kimiko.s.booker@nasa.gov, and Brittny McGraw, brittny.v.mcgraw@nasa.gov, with the following information:
Legal first and last names (must match government identification)
Email
Phone number
Job title and organization
The wind tunnel opening marks a major milestone in the evolution of NASA and the nation’s aeronautics and space research capabilities. The state-of-the-art facility will support research and technology development that will advance NASA’s aeronautics, exploration, and science goals, including establishing a sustained human presence on the lunar surface through the Artemis program and the development of a Moon Base.
Learn more about the Flight Dynamics Research Facility at:
Following its liftoff from Cape Canaveral on July 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) hosting the NASA-supported Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload is now en route to geosynchronous Earth orbit, where it will use its advanced robotics to service spacecraft.
RSGS leverages in-space robotics expertise from NASA, aligned with the agency’s broader goals to advance U.S. capabilities for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing that can be applied to space commerce and exploration.
Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle hosting the NASA-supported Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 21. The RSGS program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and uses twin robotic arms developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
SpaceX
Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the RSGS program uses twin dexterous robotic arms designed and developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. DARPA provided the robotic arm assembly for integration onto Northrop Grumman’s MRV, the nation’s first multi-mission robotic in-space servicer. The spacecraft will inspect and upgrade satellites in orbit by installing small propulsion modules – called mission extension pods – extending the operational life of existing spacecraft for years.
RSGS brings together government agencies and industry to test advanced robotic systems in space. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, began supporting the RSGS mission in 2024 under an interagency agreement with DARPA.
NASA’s contributions to the mission leverage its legacy of servicing missions including the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions and the Robotic Refueling Missions on the International Space Station. NASA support to RSGS program includes the development of dynamic simulation and analysis tools, software analysis for performance verification, and a team of flight robot operators who will support highly technical procedures in orbit. Hundreds of satellites are in geosynchronous orbit. Of those, fully functional satellites are often decommissioned early because they run out of fuel or their equipment becomes obsolete. RSGS establishes a critical U.S. capability to extend the lifetime of spacecraft in orbit, allowing for more innovative and cost-effective mission designs.
By Colleen Wouters NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS 28 spacecraft is pictured in November 2025 shortly after docking to the International Space Station’s Rassvet module.
Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev are wrapping up their 241‑day mission aboard the International Space Station.
The crew and its Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 3:02 a.m. EDT Sunday, July 26, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 6:26 a.m. (3:26 p.m. local time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
NASA’s live return coverage will stream through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online:
Williams and his crewmates will complete 3,856 orbits and travel more than 102 million miles before returning to Earth. The flight marks the first mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud‑Sverchkov.
After landing, the crew will fly by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where recovery teams are based. Williams then will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Kud‑Sverchkov and Mikaev head back to their training base in Star City, Russia.
NASA’s live return coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Saturday, July 25
9:40 a.m. – Coverage of the Space Station Expedition 74/75 change of command ceremony begins.
Kud‑Sverchkov will transfer command of the orbital complex to NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Expedition 75 officially begins when Soyuz MS‑28 undocks.
11:10 p.m. – Coverage of crew farewells and hatch closing begins.
11:30 p.m. – Hatch closing
Sunday, July 26
2:30 a.m. – Coverage of undocking begins.
3:02 a.m. – Undocking
5:15 a.m. – Coverage of deorbit and landing begins.
5:32 a.m. – Deorbit burn
6:26 a.m. – Landing
For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.
To learn more about International Space Station research, operations, and its crews, visit:
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical:Brian Brennan and Remi Lacasse; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory unveiled this new look at the galaxy NGC 4736, also known as Messier 94, on June 30, 2026. Messier 94 is a spiral galaxy with a bright inner ring around it, called a starburst ring, where new stars are forming, perhaps fueled by gas driven in the unique oval-shaped structure seen here.
In this image, X-rays of different wavelengths from Chandra (red, orange, and blue) are layered with a visible light image from astrophotographers using their telescopes on the ground (red, green, and blue).
This graphic illustrates the areas of Jupiter’s moon Io sampled by the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during two close flybys. The black overlapping lines show the instrument’s footprints during Perijove 57 on Dec. 30, 2023, when the spacecraft primarily mapped the northern hemisphere. The blue lines represent Perijove 58 on Feb. 3, 2024, which focused heavily on the moon’s mid-latitudes and equatorial regions.
Both passes mapped the side of Io that constantly faces Jupiter. The sweeping, overlapping patterns are a result of the spacecraft spinning at two revolutions per minute as it flew past the moon at a distance of roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers).
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The MWR was built by JPL. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
This map represents data captured by the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, indicating heat rising from just beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io. While infrared instruments measure the temperature of the moon’s surface, the lowest frequency microwave channels (0.6 and 1.25 gigahertz) on the MWR can penetrate between about 6 and 20 feet (2 and 6 meters) into the crust. The colors on this map illustrate a distinct temperature gradient across the moon, with the most extreme, localized heat output in red.
The most prominent red anomaly in the upper left (between 60 and 120 degrees west longitude) reveals subsurface temperatures 18 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 20 degrees Celsius, or 10 to 20 Kelvin) warmer than the surrounding area. This massive regional heat source coincides with the Zal Montes Patera complex, an area where Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit observed an active lava flow. A second major subsurface heat source is also visible near the equator, stretching from 0 to 50 degrees west longitude. Together, these distinct microwave anomalies indicate significant internal heating occurring within the upper tens of meters of Io’s crust.
Contrasting with these intense hot spots are the yellow and green regions, which reflect temperatures more common across the moon. The yellow areas represent intermediate temperatures that naturally warm up to near -190°F (-123°C, or 150 Kelvin) as they approach the equator. Meanwhile, the green areas, primarily visible toward the higher northern latitudes, indicate the coolest subsurface temperatures, dropping to around -298°F (-183°C, or 90 Kelvin) near the pole.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The MWR was built by JPL. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
TThe north polar region of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io was captured by NASA’s Juno during the spacecraft’s 57th close pass of the gas giant on Dec. 30, 2023. Data from that flyby and one on Feb. 3, 2024, is helping scientists understand Io’s interior.
Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt
NASA’s Juno mission has provided the first measurements of the temperature below the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, revealing significant heating within the shallow subsurface of the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Collected during two close flybys, the data also shows that most of Io’s surface is remarkably smooth and composed of material of very low density.
Published Wednesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, these findings break new observational ground for both fiery and icy worlds beyond our planet.
Io’s extreme volcanism is powered by tidal heating. The moon is constantly stretched and squeezed by Jupiter’s immense gravity as it travels its slightly elliptical orbit, generating internal heat output many times greater than Earth’s. Until now, virtually everything known about that heat came from infrared observations, which sense only the temperature of the top surface. The latest findings are derived from data collected by the spacecraft’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument.
“The Juno Microwave Radiometer directly observed Io’s heat output by looking below the surface,” said Scott Bolton, study coauthor and Juno’s principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The surprising discovery that we could see below a rocky moon’s surface has important implications for studying Earth’s volcanoes. Juno has taught us that if we look with an MWR-type instrument near a volcano on Earth, we might see a similar signature in the subsurface temperature gradient, providing new information on how terrestrial volcanoes work.”
This map represents data captured by the Microwave Radiometer instrument aboard NASA’s Juno, indicating heat rising from just beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io. The colors illustrate a distinct temperature gradient across the moon, with the most extreme, localized heat output in red.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/USGS
Fire, ice
Juno’s Microwave Radiometer was designed by Bolton to peer beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops to investigate the dynamics and composition of the gas giant’s deep atmosphere. The MWR’s six microwave antennas serve as a single instrument, simultaneously detecting microwaves at a wide range of wavelengths, from about half an inch to 20 inches (1.3 to 51 centimeters). During the mission’s extended phase, the MWR instrument has provided the opportunity to observe three of the planet’s Galilean moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Io.
“The technique is novel in that each wavelength explores different depths, providing a new way to characterize the deep atmosphere of giant planets and the subsurface crusts of icy and rocky moons,” said Bolton. “At Ganymede and Europa, we explored tens of miles below the surface, assuming their ice shells were mostly pure water, but the ability to probe into the volcanic rock at Io was an unexpected discovery.”
During flybys on Dec. 30, 2023, and Feb. 3, 2024, the solar-powered Juno spacecraft came within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the moon’s surface.
“The instrument measured Io’s thermal emission at depths ranging from a few inches down to tens of feet. Everywhere we looked, we found the temperature rising by more than 40 degrees Fahrenheit just several feet into the surface — a gradient far steeper than solar heating alone can explain,” said Shannon Brown, the paper’s lead author at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
The data suggests two possible explanations. First, heat could be rising steadily through a conductive crust. While this background heat flow — measured at 1 to 3 watts per square meter — is relatively gentle on a local scale (roughly equivalent to a small nightlight glowing under every square yard), across the entire moon it represents a release of energy up to 30 times Earth’s average. Alternatively, the signal could be coming from cooling lava flows, capped by roughly 30 to 35 feet (9 to 11 meters) of solidified crust, that cover about 10% of the moon’s surface at any given time.
“Io provides a unique window into learning how tidal heating works throughout the cosmos, a fundamental process that provides energy and heat to worlds that are far from their parent star,” said Bolton. “This process can not only create the most volcanic body in the solar system, in the case of Io, but also fuels the subsurface oceans on the moons of giant planets, such as Europa and Ganymede. Up until this point we could only observe the heat escaping at the surface or through eruptions. Now we can characterize how the heat is moving from the interior toward the surface.”
This graphic illustrates the areas of Io sampled by the Microwave Radiometer instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during two close flybys of the Jovian moon.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/USGS
Great plains of Io
Another big insight gained from the two flybys is just how smooth Io is. Prior to the recent findings, the moon was known for its tall mountains, but the MWR indicates that apart from this visible topography, the surface features expansive smooth patches that stretch for 60 miles (100 kilometers) or more. Because Juno flew by overlapping regions of Io at different angles, the team was able to map how the surface reflects microwaves, much like an airline passenger might see the ocean flash with sunlight only at specific angles.
“Away from its mountains, the surface is more like the Great Plains of North America, and even though Io is a rocky body, the surface material has a very low density — more like pumice or a fluffy volcanic ash than solid rock,” said Brown.
More about Juno
A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft. More information about Juno is at:
NASA is supporting the Genesis Mission, a national effort to drive the use of artificial intelligence in tackling complex scientific and engineering challenges to advance a new era of discovery.
President Donald J. Trump issued the Executive Order “Launching the Genesis Mission” on Nov. 24, 2025, creating a national mission to leverage artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. The mission is led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and has now expanded to more than 15 federal agencies in a whole-of-government initiative. NASA is exploring how its missions, data, and expertise can support National Science and Technology challenges and help develop the powerful AI tools envisioned under the Genesis Mission, opening the door to faster breakthroughs, new knowledge, and discoveries that benefit the American people and help unlock some of the world’s greatest mysteries.
“America has invested for generations in the data, missions, and technical expertise that make NASA one of the world’s greatest engines of discovery,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “The Genesis Mission is an opportunity to turn that foundation into faster science, stronger engineering, and better mission outcomes. Leveraging our relationships with interagency counterparts, NASA can advance AI tools that accelerate exploration, strengthen American leadership in space, and open new paths to understanding our planet and the universe. Likewise, NASA is committed to applying our research and development to other initiatives within government for the benefit of American taxpayers.”
NASA introduced new Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges that center on two major priorities: strengthening America’s superiority in space and igniting a new era of innovation driven by more than 70 years of science and engineering by the agency.
To operate safely in a space environment that is growing more crowded and dynamic each year, and to maintain America’s leadership in space, NASA must develop advanced systems faster than traditional engineering methods allow. These systems must work together reliably across spacecraft, communications, logistics, surface operations, and other mission capabilities. By combining NASA’s mission expertise with the Department of Energy’s computing and AI capabilities, the Genesis Mission can shorten the path from concept to operational readiness and strengthen America’s ability to operate and lead in space.
NASA also will explore how AI can unlock new discoveries from more than 150 petabytes of data collected across decades of missions and research. NASA’s telescopes, satellites, orbiters, landers, and aeronautics programs have produced an extraordinary record of Earth, the solar system, and the universe, but the scale and complexity of these archives make it difficult to examine every observation using traditional methods. Advanced AI tools could help scientists connect data from different missions, instruments, simulations, and fields of study, identify patterns that might otherwise remain hidden, improve predictions, and reveal new discoveries in data that may have already been studied. By turning NASA’s mission archives into engines of discovery, the Genesis Mission can expand the return on generations of American investment in space and strengthen research across a wide range of scientific fields.
As the Genesis Mission advances, NASA remains dedicated to harnessing its decades of scientific and mission data and engineering capabilities to accelerate new innovations and discovery.
For more information about NASA’s missions, visit:
Wildland fire activity in Canada ramped up in July 2026, a time of year when lightning ignitions typically increase, according to a seasonal outlook published by several North American fire agencies. The blazes sent smoke plumes pouring across the U.S. and Canada, affecting air quality in both countries.
This animation tracks brown carbon, the organic aerosols emitted by fires that give smoke plumes their characteristic yellow, orange, and brown tint. Brown carbon is a major component of a fire’s PM2.5 emissions, a type of air pollution that can aggravate cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. Here, the plume drifts across North American skies from July 14 through July 20, 2026.
Data for the animation come from a version of the GEOS (Goddard Earth Observing System) model, which assimilates data from satellites, aircraft, and ground-based observing systems. In addition to satellite observations of aerosols and fires, the model also incorporates meteorological data such as air temperature, moisture, and winds to project the plume’s behavior.
On July 14, at the start of the animation, numerous fires had already cropped up, including more than 180 in Ontario and several in northern Minnesota. Winds carried the smoke southeast, and by July 15, skies turned hazy and air quality declined from southern Ontario in Canada to the Upper Midwest and Northeast in the U.S. July 16 and 17 saw air quality in many areas continue to plummet, including in Detroit, where it stayed in the hazardous range for several consecutive days. Toronto, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., saw air quality ranging from unhealthy to hazardous.
On July 19 and 20, smoke continued to affect air quality downwind, including in the Great Lakes region, according to the National Weather Service. Storms began clearing it away in parts of the East, where air quality improved to good or moderate. Meanwhile, fires in the Pacific Northwest began degrading air quality there.
The brown carbon shown in this animation represents organic carbon that comes specifically from wildfire smoke. Wildfires also emit black carbon, or soot, which contributes to their PM2.5 output. Black carbon has long served as a tracer for smoke plumes, but human sources—such as vehicle exhaust and industrial combustion—produce it too, blending in with the black carbon from fires. The GEOS model has been able to make that distinction for brown carbon since February 2026, when an update enabled it to split organic carbon into its anthropogenic and biomass-burning components.
NISAR’s L-Band Radar Reveals ‘Hummingbird’ in Antarctica
PIA26617
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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NISAR’s L-Band Radar Reveals ‘Hummingbird’ in Antarctica
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Description
Data from the Earth-orbiting U.S.-India NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite’s L-band radar was used to produce an image of Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja — a mountaintop in East Antarctica — poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean. The obstruction causes stresses in the ice, heavily fracturing the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks, called crevasses, which show as sharp green lines in the image. Produced in August 2025, the image has been nicknamed “the hummingbird” by NISAR scientists.
The colors show differences in the way polarized microwave signals, which vibrate in different directions, interact with and reflect from the ice. Over Antarctica, NISAR transmits radar waves toward Earth with a horizontal polarization. The orientation of the signals that return, either horizontal, vertical, or both, provide clues about the object or surface that reflected them.
Signals that come back with a horizontal polarization likely bounced off a more regular surface, such as smooth ice. Those signals appear magenta in the image. Signals that return with vertical polarization may have refracted as they partially penetrated the ice or scattered at different angles as they reflected off irregular surfaces, like the faces of crevasses. Called volume scattering, these observations are displayed in green.
The white represents areas in which both magenta and green signals scatter back strongly, a possible indication that there is an equal blend of surface and volume scattering.
Figure A
Figure A is an annotated version of image.
Managed by Caltech, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the United States component of the project and provided the satellite’s L-band SAR and antenna reflector. The spacecraft bus and its S-band SAR were provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The NISAR satellite is the first to carry two SAR instruments at different wavelengths, collecting data using the spacecraft’s giant drum-shaped reflector, which measures 39 feet (12 meters) wide — the largest radar antenna reflector NASA has ever sent into space.
Technicians and engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida use a crane to lift the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to a specialized work stand June 26, 2026, as the mission prepares to launch nine months ahead of schedule. The Roman Space Telescope will offer a field of view at least 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s, resulting in deep, sweeping explorations of the cosmos.
Credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde (Rocz)
Media are invited to join NASA for a virtual news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 29, to preview the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission, scheduled to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30.
NASA will stream this event live through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online: https://www.nasa.gov/live.
Participants in the briefing, who will provide an overview of the mission and its status, include:
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington
Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard
Jeremy Perkins, Roman telescope integration and test scientist, NASA Goddard
Media interested in participating by phone must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the briefing to Rob Garner at rob.garner@nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
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 cutting-edge technology, including 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 the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a 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.
For more information about NASA’s Roman telescope, visit:
Scientists used data from the L-band radar aboard the U.S.-India Earth-orbiting NISAR satellite to produce this image of Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The image shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja at center-left, surrounded by ice fractured with crevasses, which are shown as sharp, green lines. The magenta portions of the image represent more regular surfaces, such as smooth ice.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Scientists used data from the L-band radar aboard the U.S.-India Earth-orbiting NISAR satellite to produce this image of Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The image shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja at center-left, surrounded by ice fractured with crevasses, which are shown as sharp, green lines. The magenta portions of the image represent more regular surfaces, such as smooth ice.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Main
Figure A
NISAR’s L-Band Radar Reveals ‘Hummingbird’ in Antarctica
Scientists used data from the L-band radar aboard the U.S.-India Earth-orbiting NISAR satellite to produce this image of Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean. The annotations point out the sharp green lines that indicate ice fractured with crevasses. Magenta represents more regular surfaces, such as smooth ice. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. Teams in the United States and India will release files processed from the satellite’s L-band and S-band radars on an ongoing basis, helping researchers and other users track the movement of Earth’s land and ice masses, monitor changes in ecosystems like forests and wetlands, and respond to natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes.
The release comes as NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) prepare to celebrate the first anniversary of NISAR’s July 30, 2025, launch from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Since that time, the mission engineering and science teams have been busy calibrating instrumentation, refining algorithms, and monitoring nearly all the planet’s land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. Along the way, the team has captured scenes from around the globe — urban street grids, agricultural fields, landslides, earthquakes, and sinking land in Mexico City.
An early image released Tuesday revealed the fractured, barren surface of an Antarctic landscape in stark detail. In a merging of science and serendipity, it also resembles something else entirely: a hummingbird.
Despite its otherworldly quality, the Antarctic image shows a very real geographical feature called Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean. As the moving glacier passes the obstruction, the mountain’s topography causes stresses in the ice, heavily fracturing the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks, called crevasses, which show as sharp green lines in the image.
“First, it’s a beautiful image, with rich details of features that provide insights to how the glacier is moving. Then, because radar can often see through snow and deep into the ice, NISAR can observe fundamentally different properties of Antarctic ice than can be seen in optical imagery,” said Seongsu Jeong, the signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “With NISAR we’re seeing what’s hidden beneath the surface.”
Story in magenta, green
Generated with measurements that NISAR’s L-band instrument gathered in August 2025, as U.S. and Indian mission teams tested the satellite’s systems, the “hummingbird” exemplifies one of the young mission’s hallmarks: intricately detailed imagery that is both informative and eye-catching.
The colors show differences in the way polarized microwave signals, which vibrate in different directions, interact with and reflect from the ice. Over Antarctica, NISAR transmits radar waves toward Earth with a horizontal polarization. The orientation of the signals that return — either horizontal, vertical, or both — provide clues about the object or surface that reflected them.
Signals that come back with a horizontal polarization likely bounced off a more regular surface, such as smooth ice. Those signals appear magenta in the image. Signals that return with vertical polarization may have refracted as they partially penetrated the snow and ice or scattered at different angles as they reflected off irregular surfaces, such as the faces of crevasses. Called volume scattering, these observations are displayed in green.
The white represents areas in which magenta and green signals scatter back strongly, a possible indication that there is an equal blend of surface and volume scattering.
The same scene viewed in optical light is almost entirely white with ice and snow. Slight shadows and rippling indicate the presence of the mountaintop, and textures in the surrounding area suggest the ice is not completely smooth.
An image from the Landsat 9 satellite shows Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja on Nov. 2, 2025. Because microwaves can penetrate frozen surfaces, signals from NISAR’s L-band radar captured more detail of the structure of the surrounding icescape than is visible in this optical image.
USGS
Access to data
The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments: an L-band system and an S-band system. The systems are complementary due to their differing wavelengths. For example, the longer-wave L-band can pass through tree canopies, imaging the ground beneath. Meanwhile, depending on leaf sizes, S-band can collect observations of those canopies.
The Indian science team, based at ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, recently started releasing S-band data via the Bhoonidhi portal.
On July 20, the U.S. side of the mission started releasing calibrated products continuously for all L-band measurements collected since June 17. By the end of the year, the team expects to have released all data acquired earlier during science operations. The NISAR project science team previously had two limited releases of L-band data, the first in January of about 25 sample products and a release in February of thousands of pre-calibrated products.
The NISAR mission’s science data output is vast, on the order of dozens of terabytes a day, due to the satellite’s frequent coverage of nearly all the land and ice surfaces on Earth. It scans from within a few degrees of the South Pole in Antarctica to 77.5 degrees north latitude, above the Arctic Circle.
More about NISAR
Managed by Caltech, JPL leads the U.S. component of the project and provided the satellite’s L-band SAR and antenna reflector. The spacecraft bus and its S-band SAR were provided by ISRO.
The NISAR satellite is the first to carry two SAR instruments at different wavelengths, collecting data using the spacecraft’s giant drum-shaped reflector, which measures 39 feet (12 meters) wide — the largest radar antenna reflector NASA has sent into space.
Scenes and sounds from the July 16 “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event at NASA Langley.
NASA/Joe Atkinson
NASA Langley’s “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event brought employees, families, and community members together for an evening filled with music, connection, and celebration.
Organizers planned the event, which took place July 16, to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.
The evening featured a dynamic mix of performances from an orchestra that included NASA Langley employees and members of the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra, as well as smaller group performances from employees and special guest artist Karl Werne.
Musicians perform at NASA Langley’s “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event.
NASA/Mark Knopp
“It’s fun to bring people together, to share their diverse talents in order to create something that’s meaningful – and in this case something that was very beautiful too,” said Jennifer Kibler, deputy director of the Research Directorate at NASA Langley.
The orchestra played a selection of patriotic favorites and space-inspired pieces that highlighted the creativity and talent within the community. “America the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” and “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” were among the songs they performed.
The event, which also took place just one day before NASA Langley’s 109th birthday, served as a reminder of the spirit that defines the center—scientists, engineers, communicators, and staff coming together to celebrate not only NASA’s mission, but the people who make that mission possible.
“This was a big team effort,” said Nicole Oman, administrative management specialist with the Research Directorate. “It wouldn’t have been a success without the contributions of every single person.”
Left to right: Guest artist Karl Werne performs with NASA Langley’s Lena Pascale, Jonathan Rathsam, and Kelly Murphy.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A collage of artist concepts highlighting the novel approaches proposed by the 2026 NIAC awardees for possible future missions.
NASA/Left to Right: Keunhan Park, Michael Rubenstein, Austin Phoenix, Benjamin Schafer, A.C. Charania, Gilly Elor, Pablo Sobron, Marco Quadrelli, Daniel Drew, Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, Jeff Nosanov, Anish Damodaran
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Graviational Wave Detection concept.
Paul Stankus
PaulStankus Brookhaven Science Associates
The scientific goal is to enable a new method for observing gravitational waves at low frequencies, based on the astrometric GW signature — gravitational waves passing by the Earth will cause a (very small) coordinated apparent motion of all sky objects. Our innovation is to deploy a new approach to precision astrometry using quantum mechanical two-photon interference, which was published quite recently. The approach has the great benefit that two separate interferometric spacecraft stations can operate independently, ie without an optical connection between them, greatly simplifying spacecraft requirements compared to standard space-based interferometric designs. With this capability we propose to be able to detect passing gravitational waves at low frequencies, in the micro-Hz to nano-Hz range, at a sensitivity at an astronomically interesting level (note that there are, currently, essentially no alternative approaches for GW detection in this band). We show how this could be achieved with a straightforward mission using two modest-sized spacecraft in free-fall orbits; and detection of such GW’s would be of great interest for galaxy formation and SM black hole physics, as well as exciting the public imagination.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Mapping Alien Continents concept.
Paul Stankus
PaulStankus Brookhaven Science Associates
The scientific goal of the proposed work will be reconstructing the image, ie resolving surface features, of an Earth-like exoplanet around a nearby star as seen in visible light. The innovation is in two stages. First, the design of a new kind of nulling interferometer — “dynamic hierarchical nulling” — combining inputs from multiple apertures and capable of separating star light from planet light with contrast of 10^10 or better in the visible. Second, combine the output beams from two such nullers on spacecraft stationed ~100km apart to achieve the required angular resolution using Michelson interferometric imaging; note that the hierarchical nuller preserves the star’s light in a separate beam which can then be used as in interference phase reference. The capability to survey the features of Earth-like exoplanets is perfectly aligned with NASA priorities and sure to excite public interest.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys concept.
Pablo Sobron
Pablo Sobron Sanchez SETI Institute
This proposal explores a new class of reconnaissance spacecraft that map minerals from orbit using Raman spectroscopy during high-speed flybys–without landing, sample return, or extended dwell. If feasible, this concept would enable NASA to evaluate ice and ilmenite at the Moon, ore content at asteroids, and volatile-bearing minerals at Mars’ moons–all with a single 300-kg spacecraft. The capability addresses NASA’s long-term goals in sustainable lunar presence, asteroid resource evaluation, and Mars logistics by answering a key operational question: what exactly is this material?
The central objective is to determine whether Raman spectroscopy–a technique that identifies minerals by their molecular fingerprints–can operate from tens of kilometers away during flyby or orbital arcs. To date, planetary Raman has only been used from meters away on rovers. Performing Raman from 30–50 km standoff would open a new regime for planetary science and space resource mapping, delivering the compositional specificity that passive reflectance or neutron methods cannot.
The reference mission concept uses a single solar electric propulsion spacecraft to conduct three reconnaissance legs: (1) 50 km polar orbit of the Moon to map ice and ilmenite; (2) a 30 km flyby of a near-Earth asteroid to identify silicates, metals, and organics; (3) a 30—50 km orbit of Phobos or Deimos to detect volatile-rich phases that inform Mars mission logistics.
At each leg, a high-energy pulsed laser, time-gated photon-counting detector, and rad-class beam steering system isolate Raman signals from the planetary surface. No existing sensor or mission class can perform this function.
To determine feasibility, this NIAC Phase I study answers three core questions: (1) Can key mineral Raman lines be detected with adequate signal-to-noise from 50 km? (2) Can beam pointing and smear be stabilized during fast flybys to allow integration over dwell time? (3) Can a 300-kg spacecraft with realistic propulsion, power, and attitude control systems close the mission architecture across all three destinations?
Methods include first-principles photon modeling based on known Raman cross-sections, spacecraft jitter analysis, and trajectory design using NASA’s standard mission planning tools. The study is divided into three technical work packages plus synthesis and reporting. Sensitivity analyses and decision gates are built in to determine how changes in photon return or pointing control would affect overall mission viability. Alternative architectures are explored for each leg, including lower flyby altitudes and different propulsion schemes.
The study team combines deep expertise in Raman instrumentation, spaceborne lidar, and mission design. PI Sobron led field 120-meter-range Raman systems and contributed to SuperCam and SHERLOC on Mars. Co-I Lee and Collaborator Yu from NASA Goddard bring direct heritage from ICESat-2 and other orbital laser systems. Co-I Casell at NASA Ames leads early mission design and brings prior NIAC experience. The team is supported by SETI and OffWorld, a commercial partner.
If successful, the work will define the first architecture for orbital Raman mineral detection and demonstrate that high-resolution molecular mapping is possible without landing. Even partial success would establish new boundaries for remote sensing physics, provide validated models, and support future NASA decisions in Artemis siting, asteroid mining, and Mars ISRU planning. The architecture enables a cost-effective Discovery-class template that could eventually scale to a fleet of inner Solar System scouts–bringing Landsat-style mineral intelligence to planetary exploration.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Robotically Assembled Electromagnetic Metamaterials concept.
David Smith
DavidSmith Duke University
The increasing population of spacefaring vehicles and satellites motivates increasingly powerful technologies for space situational awareness (SSA). While the US space surveillance network (SSN) is able to monitor objects down to about four inches in size using, for example, the latest upgrade to the space fence, the associated requirements limit implementation to ground-based tracking of low earth orbit (LEO) objects using kilometer-scale radar arrays. Beyond LEO, the prospect of cislunar traffic and the extreme distances involved render ground-based arrays impractical. This limitation is fundamental to coherent radar systems: for a given detection performance, the required array size grows in direct proportion to the target distance. As a result, it can in fact become simpler to decrease the sensing distance rather than extend array sizes, and this can only be achieved by shifting to a space-based SSA platform.
Although space-deployed radar systems offer distinct advantages in terms of sensing capabilities, the large distances associated with cislunar surveillance still require extremely large apertures for adequate performance. This poses significant practical challenges based on limitations to modern deployable structures which, to date, cannot consistently achieve dimensions greater than 100 meters. This limitation arises because state-of-the-art deployable antennas, including membrane, mesh, and inflatable architectures, require the entire structure to be housed inside a single launch fairing. In contrast, the prospect of in-space assembly suggests the potential for scalable structures that are not limited by launch constraints and so can meet the challenging requirements of long-range SSA.
We propose a spaceborne radar system that pairs the demonstrated performance of robotically assembled mechanically stable structures with reconfigurable, volumetric electromagnetic metamaterials. The former technology enables modular and precise construction of arbitrary volumetric structures, while the latter offers a sophisticated and readily compatible design platform for achieving the challenging requirements of long-range SSA. Both approaches exploit a unit cell-driven, modular design procedure that enables nearly arbitrary scaling for mechanically and electromagnetically robust antenna platforms. The ability to reliably assemble and control volumetric antenna structures in this way provides access to new and powerful capabilities including steering over wide fields of view (FOV) without the need for slow, mechanical slewing of the antenna.
The proposed work will demonstrate the feasibility and scalability of a reconfigurable, volumetric S-band metamaterial for achieving various beam steering capabilities. This effort will include advancement of metamaterial design strategies for omnidirectional electromagnetic beam forming and initial assessment/design of a reconfigurable unit cell compatible with robotic assembly. The development of the metamaterial design procedure will exploit a numerically efficient dipole model that has been previously validated at smaller scales, while the metamaterial element design will proceed by established full-wave numerical methods. System design concepts will incorporate practical constraints according to successful demonstrations of robot assembly by the Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS) project.
While the project will target SSA applications, the design considerations involved are equally applicable to missions requiring large physical apertures such as low-frequency radiometry for earth observation and deep-space communications. Since the performance (resolution, sensitivity) of all beam steering, radar, and observation missions improves with increased aperture sizes, the realization of alternative electromagnetic strategies that offer reduced CSWaP can provide advantages across a wide range of NASA programs.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Stacked Solar Sails for Very High delta-V Missions concept.
Benjamin Schafer
BenjaminSchafer Rarified Technologies, Inc.
We propose a new approach to atmospheric sensing at 30-100 km altitudes using photophoretically levitating tracers. These lightweight structures harness sunlight to remain suspended for up to months at controlled altitudes and can be remotely tracked by satellite-based lidar or radar. Unlike natural aerosols, these tracers are designed to provide strong andtunable backscatter at standard remote sensing wavelengths, enabling passive, persistent, and altitude-selective measurements of wind, temperature, and pressure in a region that is critically under-measured by existing systems.
This concept addresses a major gap in current sensing capabilities. The mesosphere and upper stratosphere play a key role in atmospheric dynamics, space-domain awareness, space weather, and high-altitude platform navigation. Despite the importance of this region, data collection remains a challenge. Near-space is too high for sustained balloon flight and too low for satellites to orbit. Concentrations of extant atmospheric species are also too low for remote sensing techniques such as lidar and radar. Photophoretic tracers offer a new solution: a persistent, stratified sensor layer of non-toxic, inert backscattering points that require no onboard power, propulsion, or control. These tracers can be deployed via high-altitude balloons or rockets and autonomously reach their target altitudes based on their geometry and coatings.
In a representative mission, thousands of tracers are released from a lightweight balloon at around 30 km. The tracers rise to their target altitude of 90-100 km, the lower ionosphere. Satellite-based lidar tracks their motion over their month-long lifetimes. Tracer trajectories enable continuous mapping of wind shear, thermal gradients, and pressure profiles at sub-kilometer resolution and hourly cadence. The collected real-time data are used to calibrate boundary conditions of ionospheric space weather models. As more data is collected, the predictive capabilities of these models improve, leading to enhanced situational awareness and communications resilience in near-space and LEO. Other early deployments could, for example, support weather model improvements in the tropics and monitor atmospheric conditions over spaceports.
This work builds on emerging experimental results in photophoretic flight, with laboratory validation of levitation in near-space conditions and initial simulations of tracer dispersion and visibility. Backscatter models confirm feasibility for orbital detection using commercially available lidar systems. The tracers are designed to safely disintegrate at end-of-life and are compatible with scalable fabrication techniques. By engineering the scattering medium itself, this concept inverts traditional atmospheric remote sensing. It enables lower-SWaP-C satellite sensing systems and a fundamentally new class of persistent measurement tools for national security, meteorology, heliophysics, and planetary exploration.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of the Actively Steerable Femtosat Constellations concept.
Michael Rubenstein
MichaelRubenstein Northwestern University, Chicago
We propose a mission to use ~10,000 actively steerable femtosats to map the ring composition, atmospheric composition and density, and the magnetic field distribution of Saturn. Conducting in-situ surveys of Saturn’s rings with a single flagship mission, such as Cassini, would carry an unacceptably high risk of mission failure due to particle collisions. However, the distributed nature of the proposed mission means it can accept a risk that could destroy many of femtosats in the constellation, making in-situ survey of the ring possible.
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