This view of tracks trailing NASA’s Curiosity rover was captured July 26, 2025, as the rover simultaneously relayed data to a Mars orbiter.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a view of its tracks on July 26, 2025. The robotic scientist is now exploring a region of lower Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain. The pale peak of the mountain can be seen at top right; the rim of Gale Crater, within which the mountain sits, is on the horizon at top left. Curiosity touched down on the crater floor 13 years ago.
Recently, the rover rolled into a region filled with boxwork formations. Studying these formations could reveal whether microbial life could have survived in the Martian subsurface eons ago, extending the period of habitability farther into when the planet was drying out. Read more about the detective work Curiosity is doing on Mars.
Nathan Jermyn frequented NASA Stennis on field trips when he was younger. Now, he works as an attorney-advisor supporting NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
Before Nathan Jermyn could dig into the legal frameworks at NASA, he had to answer a different call.
Jermyn participated in a one-day orientation in the summer of 2023 to begin work as an attorney-advisor supporting NASA’s Stennis Space Center and the NASA Shared Services Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
However, the Biloxi, Mississippi, native shipped out just a week later with the Mississippi Army National Guard to provide military legal counsel for nearly six months in support of Operation Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve.
The decorated military veteran returned to NASA in January 2024 to fully immerse himself as a member of the contract and procurement practice group for the NASA Office of the General Counsel.
“Even though I have been working here for two years, sometimes it does not feel real,” Jermyn said.
As a member of the contract and procurement law team, Jermyn assists with contract- and procurement-related topics for NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center to ensure taxpayer funds are used responsibly.
He also is a member of NASA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) team and provides legal reviews and advice for FOIA requests as the agency creates a cohesive and effective knowledge-sharing environment.
The most interesting thing about his work is seeing how the big picture comes together, how each small detail and decision adds up to something more meaningful.
“Our office is a small piece, and it is amazing to see how our efforts intertwine with NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center operations and NASA,” he said. “It is also amazing the lengths everyone will go to help each other accomplish the mission.”
Before joining NASA, Jermyn graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law.
The Gulfport, Mississippi, resident initially practiced criminal law. Jermyn credits the team he works with at NASA for helping him navigate the complexities of government contract law.
“Having a team that supports you and teaches you every day really expedites the learning process,” he said. “Our team puts a heavy emphasis on learning, development, and teamwork.”
Jermyn is most excited to see how NASA continues to explore the universe moving forward, which includes the Artemis campaign of exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Artemis II is scheduled for 2026.
“I wholeheartedly believe humanity is destined for the stars and NASA is in prime position to lead that charge,” he said.
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4618-4619: The Boxwork Structures Continue to Call to Us
3 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4618-4619: The Boxwork Structures Continue to Call to Us
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 1, 2025 — Sol 4616, or Martian day 4,616 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 03:36:56 UTC.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer and Rover Planner at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.
Now that we have reached August, our “landiversary” (anniversary of landing — Aug. 5 PDT) is less than a week away! The team is looking forward to being able to celebrate the milestone of our rover becoming a teenager at 13. Today’s image is a beautiful back-lit late afternoon image of the nearby mountains and the distant crater rim. These views make working on Mars never get old!
The first sol of today’s plan is very busy because we will only have data from the first sol down in time for planning on Monday. Today I was working as a Rover Planner, supporting both arm and drive activities. We start first thing with arm activities; we DRT brush and do APXS integration on the target “San Cristóbal,” which is a bedrock target, and the only place in the workspace smooth and flat enough for us to brush.
After a brief nap, we have an extensive imaging campaign. We take Mastcam images of the AEGIS target from the previous plan and two potential vein targets “Rio Satja” and “Río Ichilo.” We then take Mastcam stereo mosaics of boxwork targets “Pontezuelo” and “Catedrales de Tara.” Additionally we have stereo mosaics of “Llanos de Challe,” a transition between the bedrock in the boxwork hollow and the boxwork ridge, a nearby light-toned exposure, and some additional troughs and ridges. ChemCam then takes a LIBS observation of “Airport Domes,” which is another hollow in the boxworks. Finally, we take a ChemCam RMI and a Mastcam of Pontezuelo.
After finishing all the imaging, we continue with the rest of the arm activities. We split the arm activities to accommodate conflicting constraints — both APXS and ChemCam both need to be as early as possible. In this set of arm activities, we begin with MAHLI imaging of the two targets, San Cristóbal and “Salar de Agua Amara,” which consists of delicate branching structures likely made by groundwater.
After another short nap, we do a small adjustment in our position to get another interesting piece of bedrock ridge in our workspace. In order to approach it at a good angle, we first drive parallel to the ridge to be lined up with the target, and then we turn and drive straight to it. Due to constraints on how we like to park at targets, sometimes these shorter drives can be more complicated than longer ones — but today it was simpler. After completing the drive, we unstow the arm to get a clear view of our workspace for Monday’s planning as well as our standard post-drive imaging and then Curiosity goes to sleep for the night.
The second sol of the plan is a bit more leisurely. Around midday, Curiosity will be taking some atmospheric observations, including a Navcam dust-devil survey and a south-facing suprahorizon movie, followed by an AEGIS activity where the rover gets to pick targets and observe them herself. Then, early the next morning, Curiosity will wake up to take some additional atmospheric observations, including Navcam zenith and suprahorizon movies, Navcam line-of-sight toward the crater rim, and a Mastcam solar tau to measure dust in the atmosphere. Finally, she’ll get a short nap before waking up to start the next plan.
NASA Selects Six Companies to Provide Orbital Transfer Vehicle Studies
Rendering of Quantum’s Ranger spacecraft engineered for rapid maneuverability and adaptability, enabling multi-destination delivery for missions from low Earth orbit to cislunar space.
Credit: Arrow Science and Technology/Quantum Space
Rendering of Blue Ring, a large high-mobility space platform providing full-service payload delivery, on-board edge computing, hosting, and end-to-end mission operations.
Credit: Blue Origin
Rendering of Firefly’s Elytra Dark orbital vehicle deploying Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander into lunar orbit.
Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Mira, a high-thrust, highly maneuverable spacecraft for payload hosting and deployment.
Credit: Impulse Space
Helios, a high-energy kick stage to rapidly deliver payloads to medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, and beyond.
Credit: Impulse Space
Pictured, two spacecraft for NASA and the University of California at Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission. The spacecraft are based on Rocket Lab’s Explorer spacecraft, a configurable, high delta-V interplanetary platform.
Credit: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab’s reusable rocket Neutron, a medium-lift class rocket designed for reuse and launch frequency to deliver cost-effective, reliable, and responsive launch for commercial and government missions.
Credit: Rocket Lab
NASA has selected six companies to produce studies focused on lower-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft of various sizes and forms to multiple, difficult-to-reach orbits.
The firm-fixed-price awards comprise nine studies with a maximum total value of approximately $1.4 million. The awardees are:
Arrow Science and Technology LLC, Webster, Texas
Blue Origin LLC, Merritt Island, Florida
Firefly Aerospace Inc., Cedar Park, Texas
Impulse Space Inc., Redondo Beach, California
Rocket Lab, Long Beach, California
United Launch Services LLC, Centennial, Colorado
“With the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we’re asking companies to demonstrate how they can meet NASA’s need for multi-spacecraft and multi-orbit delivery to difficult-to-reach orbits beyond current launch service offerings,” said Joe Dant, orbital transfer vehicle strategic initiative owner for the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “This will increase unique science capability and lower the agency’s overall mission costs.”
Each of the six companies will deliver studies exploring future application of orbital transfer vehicles for NASA missions:
Arrow will partner with Quantum Space for its study. Quantum’s Ranger provides payload delivery service as a multi-mission spacecraft engineered for rapid maneuverability and adaptability, enabling multi-destination delivery for missions from low Earth orbit to lunar orbit.
Blue Origin will produce two studies, including one for Blue Ring, a large, high-mobility space platform providing full-service payload delivery, on-board edge computing, hosting, and end-to-end mission operations. It uses hybrid solar-electric and chemical propulsion capability to reach geostationary, cislunar, Mars, and interplanetary destinations. The second is a New Glenn upper stage study.
Firefly’s line of Elytra orbital vehicles offers on-demand payload delivery, imaging, long-haul communications, and domain awareness across cislunar space. Firefly’s Elytra Dark is equipped to serve as a transfer vehicle and enable ongoing operations in lunar orbit for more than five years.
Impulse Space will produce two studies. The company provides in-space mobility with two vehicles, Mira and Helios. Mira is a high-thrust, highly maneuverable spacecraft for payload hosting and deployment, while Helios is a high-energy kick stage to rapidly deliver payloads from low Earth to medium Earth orbits, geostationary orbits and beyond.
Rocket Lab’s two studies will feature the upper stage of the company’s Neutron rocket, as well as a long-life orbital transfer vehicle based on its Explorer spacecraft. Both vehicles are equipped with their own propulsion systems and other subsystems for missions to medium Earth and geosynchronous orbit and deep space destinations like the Moon, Mars, and near-Earth asteroids.
United Launch Alliance will assess the cislunar mission capabilities of an extended-duration Centaur V upper stage. Centaur would be capable of directly delivering multiple rideshare spacecraft to two different orbital destinations in cislunar space, avoiding the need for an additional rocket stage or orbital transfer vehicle.
The studies will be complete by mid-September. NASA will use the findings to inform mission design, planning, and commercial launch acquisition strategies for risk-tolerant payloads, with a possibility of expanding delivery services to larger-sized payloads and to less risk-tolerant missions in the future.
NASA’s Launch Services Program selected providers through the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare Launch Services) contract, which helps foster growth of the U.S. commercial launch market, enabling greater access to space at a lower cost for science and technology missions.
For more information about NASA’s Launch Services Program, visit:
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Looks Back at Science Mission
7 Min Read
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Looks Back at Science Mission
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Looks Back at Science Mission
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission with agency astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov is preparing to return to Earth in early August after a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. During their stay, McClain, Ayers, and Onishi completed dozens of experiments and technology demonstrations, helping push the boundaries of scientific discovery aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Here’s a look at some scientific milestones accomplished during the Crew-10 mission:
Orbital effects on plants
NASA
The canisters floating in the cupola of the International Space Station contain wild-type and genetically-modified thale cress plants for the Rhodium Plant LIFE experiment. The investigation studies how radiation and gravity environments at different orbital altitudes affect plant growth by comparing Crew-10 data with plants flown aboard the Polaris Dawn mission, which flew deeper into space. Studies have shown microgravity affects growth rates, and a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this could improve plant growth techniques in space and on Earth.
Solar spacewalk
NASA
NASA astronaut Anne McClain conducts a spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station’s power generation systems, which include main solar arrays like the one visible behind her. McClain is installing hardware to support an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array), a type of array that is more compact and produces more power than the station’s original ones. The IROSAs were first demonstrated aboard the orbiting laboratory in June 2017, and eight have been installed to augment the power available for scientific research and other activities.
Microalgae on the menu
NASA
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers uses the International Space Station’s Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory to process samples for SOPHONSTER, a study of microgravity’s effects on the protein yield of microalgae. These organisms are highly nutritious, producing amino acids, fatty acids, B vitamins, iron, and fiber. The microalgae could provide sustainable meat and dairy alternatives during long-duration space missions. It also could be used to make biofuels and bioactive compounds in medicines in space and on Earth.
Looking down on lightning
NASA
The International Space Station orbits more than 250 miles above Earth, giving astronauts a unique view of their home planet, where they can photograph familiar places and interesting phenomena. While passing over a stormy night, NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured this image of simultaneous lightning at the top of two thunderstorms. Scientists use instruments installed on the space station to study lightning and other weather conditions in Earth’s upper atmosphere. This research helps protect communication systems and aircraft while improving atmospheric models and weather predictions.
Testing the tips of DNA
NASA
In this time-lapse video, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers harvest samples for the APEX-12 investigation, which examines how space radiation affects telomere activity in thale cress plants. Telomeres, which are repetitive DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes, become shorter each time a cell divides and indicate cell aging. The APEX-12 investigation could clarify the role of telomeres in aging and diseases and help scientists equip plants and other organisms for the stress of long-duration spaceflight.
Microscopic motion
NASA
A fluorescent microscope, known as ELVIS, captures the motion of microscopic algae and bacteria in 3D, a new capability aboard the International Space Station. The technology could be helpful in various applications in space and on Earth, such as monitoring water quality and detecting potentially infectious organisms. NASA astronaut Anne McClain prepares bacterial samples for viewing with the microscope.
How cells sense gravity
NASA
Individual cells in our bodies can respond to the effects of gravity, but how they do this is largely unknown. The Cell Gravisensing investigation is an effort to observe the mechanism that enables cells to sense gravity and could lead to therapies to treat muscle and bone conditions, like muscle atrophy during long-duration spaceflight and osteoporosis on Earth. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi processes research samples in the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module.
Water works
NASA
NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain work on installing hardware for the International Space Station’s Exploration Potable Water Dispenser. Scientists are evaluating the device’s water sanitization and microbial growth reduction technology. The dispenser provides room temperature and hot water for crew consumption and food preparation. This technology could be adopted for future exploration missions.
Free-flying camera
NASA
Astronaut Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) monitors the JEM Internal Ball Camera 2 as it floats through the International Space Station. The free-flying, rechargeable camera provides a visual field outside the other cameras installed aboard the space station. JAXA is testing the robot’s ability to capture video and imagery of scientific experiments and other activities, which could free up crew time for research and other duties.
Two rings to pin them all
NASA
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers sets up the space station’s Ring Sheared Drop device, which uses surface tension to pin a drop of liquid between two rings. The device makes it possible to study liquid proteins without a solid container, eliminating interactions between the solutions and container walls that can affect results. The Ring Sheared Drop-IBP-2 experiment studies the behavior of protein fluids in microgravity and tests predictive computer models. Better models could help advance manufacturing processes in space and on Earth for next-generation medicines to treat cancers and other diseases.
Crystallization research
NASA
NASA astronaut Anne McClain swaps out hardware in the International Space Station’s Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4, which enables physical science and crystallization research. A current investigation uses the processor to demonstrate technology that may be able to produce medications during deep space missions and improve pharmaceutical manufacturing on Earth.
Monitoring astronaut health
NASA
NASA astronaut Anne McClain helps JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi collect a sample of his blood. Analysis of blood samples is one tool NASA uses to continuously monitor crew health, including cardiovascular and immune system functions, bone and muscle mass changes, nutritional and metabolic status, and mental well-being. Crew members aboard the International Space Station also participate in various ongoing studies to better understand how different body systems adapt to weightlessness.
Catching a corona
NASA/KASI/INAF/CODEX
This animated, color-coded heat map shows temperature changes in the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, over several days, with red indicating hotter regions and purple showing cooler ones. Scientists can observe these changes thanks to the International Space Station’s CODEX, which collected data during the Crew-10 mission. The instrument uses a coronagraph to block out sunlight and reveal details in the Sun’s corona. Data from this investigation could help scientists understand the energy source of the solar wind, a flow of charged particles from the Sun that constantly bombards Earth.
Expanding in-space crystallization
NASA
Astronaut Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) services the International Space Station’s Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 in preparation for ADSEP-Industrial Crystallization Cassette. This investigation tests new hardware that scales up research and could enable in-space production of pharmaceuticals and other materials for commercial space applications.
Sowing seeds in space
NASA
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers prepares mixture tubes containing samples for Nanoracks Module-9 Swiss Chard. This student-designed experiment examines whether the size, shape, color, and nutritional content of Swiss chard seeds germinated in space differ from those grown on Earth. The International Space Station hosts ongoing plant research as a source of food and other benefits, including contributing to astronaut well-being, for future long-duration missions.
Protecting astronaut vision
NASA
Spaceflight can cause changes to eye structure and vision, so crew members monitor eye health throughout their missions. Astronaut Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), assisted by NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, conducts an eye exam aboard the International Space Station using optical coherence tomography. This technology uses reflected light to produce 3D images of the retina, nerve fibers, and other eye structures and layers.
