NASA
-
NASA
New Ultra-Black Coating Could Enable the Search for Life on Exoplanets
A recently developed ultra-black coating not only efficiently absorbs light, but is also extremely thin and durable, enabling its potential use on starshades that could someday support the imaging of exoplanets and potentially facilitate the detection of life beyond our solar system. Artist’s conception of a starshade (a disk surrounded by “petals” at the top left) blocking starlight from a…
Read More » -
NASA
Hello Universe: NASA’s Next-Gen Space Processor Undergoes Testing
NASA’s High Performance Spaceflight Computing project aims to dramatically improve the computing power of spacecraft. Missions need processors that can withstand the harsh space environment, so they use chips developed years ago that are hardy and reliable. But upgraded chips are needed to enable the development of autonomous spacecraft, accelerate the rate of scientific discovery through faster data analysis, and…
Read More » -
NASA
Australia’s Cloudy Beauty
It’s autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it’s fog season in the Victorian Alps. NASA’s Terra satellite captured this view of morning fog filling valleys in several national parks across the mountains of eastern Victoria in May. As nights lengthen with the season, the atmosphere has more time to cool and approach the dew point—the temperature at which the air becomes saturated…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style
Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026 While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was enabled by the ingenuity of…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
Description NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill…
Read More » -
NASA
May 2026 Satellite Puzzler
Every month, NASA Earth Observatory features a puzzling satellite image. The May 2026 puzzler appears above. Your ChallengeIdentify the location shown in this satellite image. Share what clues you see, where you think it is, and what makes this place interesting or unique to you. How to AnswerSubmit your response using this form and select “Puzzler Answer” as the topic. Please include your preferred…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Robotics Competition
NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Links to view the Lunabotics competition live can be found on the agency’s Lunabotics page. The competition is slated to run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day. Media are invited to attend the competition event on Wednesday, May 20, and should…
Read More » -
NASA
Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released
NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has released the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines. Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir
NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir sits for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 23, 2025. This photo was chosen as one of the 2025 NASA Photographer of the Year finalists. Meir launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station in February 2026 with fellow NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and…
Read More » -
NASA
Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center
The Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the bulbous region that surrounds the galactic center, contains a dense collection of stars, planets, and other free-floating objects. This region has been studied for decades with numerous ground-based and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Soon, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be the first to make studying the galactic bulge a part of its core…
Read More »