Earth Science in Action
We don’t just study climate. We act on it.
NASA collects data to show how our climate is changing from both natural causes and human activities, from documenting impacts on ice sheets, sea level, and Arctic sea ice to monitoring vegetation health and freshwater movement. We are putting decades of research, technology, and innovation to work to improve people's lives on our home planet.
NASA Wins 6 Webby Awards, 8 Webby People’s Voice Awards
NASA’s broad reach across digital platforms has been recognized by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), which awarded NASA 6 Webbys in the 28th Annual Webby Awards. Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to add Hubble’s…
Sols 4164-4165: What’s Around the Ridge-bend?
Earth planning date: Monday, April 22, 2024 Curiosity succeeded on a ~14 m drive along a bend in upper Gediz Vallis ridge (uGVR) to park next to “Pinnacle Ridge,” an outcrop of uGVR to the north. Benefitting from a…
First NASA Mars Analog Crew Nears End of Mission
The first crew to take part in a yearlong NASA Mars analog mission reached the 300-day mark of its mission on April 20. The team of four volunteers entered the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) habitat at NASA’s…
NASA’s CloudSat Ends Mission Peering Into the Heart of Clouds
Over the course of nearly two decades, its powerful radar provided never-before-seen details of clouds and helped advance global weather and climate predictions. CloudSat, a NASA mission that peered into hurricanes, tallied global snowfall rates, and achieved other weather and…
Explore the Universe with the First E-Book from NASA’s Fermi
To commemorate a milestone anniversary for NASA’s Fermi spacecraft, the mission team has published an e-book called “Our High-Energy Universe: 15 Years with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.” Readers can download the e-book in PDF and EPUB formats. The e-book…
Hubble Celebrates 34th Anniversary with a Look at the Little Dumbbell Nebula
In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s legendary Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651) located 3,400 light-years away in the…
Pushing the Limits of Sub-Kilowatt Electric Propulsion Technology to Enable Planetary Exploration and Commercial Mission Concepts
NASA has developed an advanced propulsion technology to facilitate future planetary exploration missions using small spacecraft. Not only will this technology enable new types of planetary science missions, one of NASA’s commercial partners is already preparing to use it for…
Sols 4161-4163: Double Contact Science
Earth planning date: Friday, April 19, 2024 Curiosity has a three-sol weekend plan coming up as it makes progress along the edge of upper Gediz Vallis ridge. We have observations planned to investigate multiple bedrock targets with interesting rippled textures,…
NASA Invites Media to Learn About New Tech Mission Powered by the Sun
A new NASA mission is testing a new way to navigate our solar system by hoisting its sail into space – not to catch the wind, but the propulsive power of sunlight. NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is led by the…
Why is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas
The most surprising revelation from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover — that methane is seeping from the surface of Gale Crater — has scientists scratching their heads. Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth. But scientists haven’t found convincing…
Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency and its partners will send large pieces of equipment to the lunar surface to enable long-term scientific exploration of the Moon for the benefit of all. NASA’s human landing system providers, SpaceX and Blue…
NASA Data Helps Beavers Build Back Streams
Humans aren’t the only mammals working to mitigate the effects of climate change in the Western United States. People there are also enlisting the aid of nature’s most prolific engineers – beavers. Using NASA-provided grants, two open-source programs from Boise…
Join NASA in Celebrating Earth Day 2024 by Sharing a #GlobalSelfie
NASA invites you — and everyone else on the planet — to take part in a worldwide celebration of Earth Day with the agency’s #GlobalSelfie event. While NASA satellites constantly look at Earth from space, on Earth Day we’re asking…
NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change
NASA has selected six new airborne missions that include domestic and international studies of fire-induced clouds, Arctic coastal change, air quality, landslide hazards, shrinking glaciers, and emissions from agricultural lands. NASA’s suite of airborne missions complement what scientists can see…
Hubble Captures a Bright Galactic and Stellar Duo
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features NGC 3783, a bright barred spiral galaxy about 130 million light-years from Earth that also lends its name to the eponymous NGC 3783 galaxy group. Like galaxy clusters, galaxy groups are aggregates of…
Students Celebrate Rockets, Environment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, sustainability and preservation efforts here on Earth are as much of a priority as rocket launches, spacecraft, and the exploration of worlds beyond our own. In celebration of Earth Day 2024, nearly 100 students from…
AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change
As extreme weather events increase around the world due to climate change, the need for further research into our warming planet has increased as well. For NASA, climate research involves not only conducting studies of these events, but also empowering…
Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol
Earth planning date: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 Curiosity continues to make progress along the margin of upper Gediz Vallis ridge, investigating the broken bedrock in our workspace and acquiring images of the ridge deposit as the rover drives south. Today’s…
NASA’s Juno Gives Aerial Views of Mountain, Lava Lake on Io
Imagery from the solar-powered spacecraft provides close-ups of intriguing features on the hellish Jovian moon. Scientists on NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter have transformed data collected during two recent flybys of Io into animations that highlight two of the Jovian…
55 Years Ago: Three Months Until the Moon Landing
The rapid pace of preparations for the first Moon landing continued in April 1969. The successful Apollo 9 mission in March cleared the way for Apollo 10 to test all three components of the spacecraft in lunar orbit in May,…
