Practicing for Safe Landings on the Moon and Beyond
NASA/Ryan Kline
In this Aug. 27, 2026, image, an Alta-X drone flies an advanced guidance and navigation system known as the Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) experiment near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston developed SPLICE, which successfully completed simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers during recent testing. Its technologies provide safe and precise landing for the Moon, Mars, icy worlds, and other destinations using specialized navigation, guidance, and processing techniques. It enables landing in hard-to-reach and unknown areas that are of high scientific interest.
US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic Eruption
In this animation, frames of NISAR data from December 2025 to August 2026 show the spread of lava from the northern crater of Krasheninnikov, a volcano pair on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. In the image, the lava field appears brighter in the foreground than the surrounding surfaces. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
Like tendrils on a vine, lava spreads out from the northern crater of Krasheninnikov, a volcano pair on the Pacific coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. On July 30, 2025, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake had struck in the nearby ocean, apparently jolting one of the two volcanoes awake. A few days later, for the first time in nearly five centuries, Krasheninnikov started erupting. Since that day, the northern volcano has been spilling a steady, eastward-flowing field of molten rock and debris, and the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission has been tracking the changes in the landscape.
From its vantage point 464 miles (747 kilometers) above the surface, NISAR captured an image of Krasheninnikov on Dec. 25, 2025, just as the Earth-observing satellite was finishing post-launch checks and becoming operational. Twice every 12 days since — once as the satellite passed south to north, and again as it passed north to south — NISAR has returned to the same spot in orbit and taken detailed radar snapshots.
Researchers put 17 of the frames captured through mid-August into sequence, forming a time-lapse video that shows lava filling a smaller, inner caldera, then overflowing into a wider crater before widening into a fan. The animation highlights how NISAR’s observations can monitor the development of natural hazards, both for science and potentially for emergency response.
Though remote, many of Kamchatka’s dozens of volcanoes are closely monitored with ground instruments because they erupt frequently. Not so with Krasheninnikov, which has been quiet since about the year 1550. That NISAR’s L-band radar observed it at all speaks to the satellite’s near-global coverage of the planet’s land surface at resolutions in the dozens of feet; that it captured the erupting volcano over time shows the precision and reliability of its measurements.
“The consistency is crucial. Twice every 12 days, acquiring in this high-resolution mode and in two observation directions, this shows the promise of NISAR to closely monitor natural hazards,” said Matthew Pritchard, a member of the NISAR science team and geophysicist at Cornell University who analyzed the data used to create the animation.
Images from microwaves
The detail in a single NISAR image results from the use of synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, a specialized processing technique pioneered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for Earth observation from space. As the satellite orbits, the radar sends thousands of microwave pulses per second to Earth and receives the return signals, each of which is effectively a snapshot in time that contains information about the properties and characteristics of the surface below.
The SAR processing combines the many images of the same area, sharpening the view just as a lens brings a blurry object into focus. Each pixel in the individual frames of the Krasheninnikov time-lapse represents about a 30-foot-by-30-foot (10-meter-by-10-meter) square on the surface — about half the size of a tennis court.
Lava shows up lighter in the images due to the way that microwaves reflect more brightly compared with the surrounding surface, which, depending on the time of year, is either snow or bare ground. In addition to the lava field growing to the east, the video shows another flow to the northwest, one that likely formed before NISAR captured the first NISAR image.
When Pritchard was doing his doctoral research on Kamchatka volcanoes more than 20 years ago, analysis-ready radar data was difficult to come by, both because satellites didn’t revisit as often and the resolution of the images was relatively low.
Now in addition to getting frequent and comprehensive coverage of virtually all the planet’s roughly 1,300 active, above-sea-level volcanoes, the images are sharp down to the several-meter scale and are easily accessible via the cloud.
“We’re seeing volcanoes around the world that we’ve never really had eyes on like this before,” said Pritchard.
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 data products from the NISAR mission’s L-band radar are available at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center in Fairbanks, which hosts and distributes all NASA synthetic aperture radar data.
More about NISAR
Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL 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 ISRO (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, which is the largest radar antenna reflector NASA has sent into space.
NASA to Study Human Health, Performance During Crew-13 Mission
(April 30, 2026) — The SpaceX Crew-13 members are pictured in their pressure suits seated inside a mockup Dragon spacecraft during a preflight training session at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. From left are, Roscosmos Sergey Teteryatnikov, NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk.
Credit: SpaceX
During NASA’s SpaceX Crew‑13 mission aboard the International Space Station, astronauts will support a series of biomedical and human performance investigations, including a new collaborative effort to study how spaceflight affects blood flow and clotting. NASA also is testing crew members’ manual piloting skills, evaluating methods to counter vision and brain changes, gathering essential health data to inform future missions, and measuring forces astronauts experience during return‑to‑Earth to help refine re-entry hardware and procedures.
Among upcoming research, a new collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), called Venous Haemostasis, builds on previous studies of blood flow in space by combining the two space agencies’ research efforts. By coordinating blood collections and other physiological data, researchers can reduce how often astronauts need blood drawn while combining analytical measurements to better understand how microgravity affects blood clotting and circulation.
“In space, weightlessness can disrupt normal blood flow in astronauts’ veins,” said Jason Lytle, one of the study’s principal investigators and a cardiovascular researcher at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Irregular and slow blood flow can increase the risk of blood clot formation, a serious health condition. Venous Haemostasis will help us understand why these changes may occur in some astronauts but not others.”
Before, during, and after flight, astronauts will undergo MRI scans, jugular vein ultrasounds, blood pressure checks, and blood draws so researchers can track changes in blood flow and blood composition. Results will inform preventative measures for at-risk crew members and improve health and safety on future missions. Researchers also hope to learn whether knowledge gained from this and other studies may lead to better ways to prevent and treat blood clots both in space and on Earth.
A performance study, called Manual Piloting, uses lunar-landing simulations to test how well astronauts can handle challenging landings after spending extended time in microgravity. Because long-duration spaceflight can affect sensory systems, orientation, and motion control during shifts between gravity environments, researchers are evaluating how those changes influence piloting performance and whether refresher training shortly before landing can strengthen capabilities and decision-making.
Researchers also will continue the B-Complex study, which investigates if a daily B-vitamin supplement can reduce or prevent Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), a condition that can change astronauts’ eye structure during long-duration missions. Past research suggests taking B vitamins daily during spaceflight may help protect astronauts from SANS. Participating crew members will undergo vision tests and take B vitamins before, during, and after flight to evaluate the supplement’s effectiveness. The study also will assess whether the B vitamins influence how crew members’ blood vessels function before and after flight.
Select Crew-13 astronauts also will participate in three additional Human Research Program studies: Standard Measures, Spacecraft Occupant Risk, and Zero T2. Standard Measures collects consistent physiological and behavioral data from as many crew members as possible to establish baselines for research aimed at countering adverse effects. Spacecraft Occupant Risk characterizes the forces astronauts experience during landing to help NASA refine strategies and hardware to reduce injury risks. Zero T2 tracks the exercise routines of select crew members to compare health and performance data between astronauts who use the treadmill for aerobic exercise aboard station and those who do not. The comparisons will help researchers build exercise plans for future Artemis and deep-space missions, where spacecraft size could limit or eliminate treadmill use.
“Together, these investigations will help NASA better understand how the human body responds to spaceflight and whether specific strategies can effectively protect astronaut health and performance,” said Michael Stenger, Human Research Program chief scientist at NASA Johnson. “Knowledge gained will pave the way for NASA’s efforts to safely send humans farther into the solar system, including Artemis missions to the Moon, work on the Moon Base, and future expeditions to Mars.”
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NASA’s Human Research Program pursues methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, the International Space Station and Artemis missions, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives the program’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
APOD: 2026 September 24 – The Ghosts of Five Supernovas
APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The Ghosts of Five Supernovas
Explanation: The ghosts of five supernovas haunt this extraordinary image. It was acquired at Oukaïmeden Observatory in Morocco with approximately 200 hours of observations and shows a large patch of the sky, equivalent to the area of one thousand full moons tiled together, in the constellation of Auriga (the charioteer). From left to right, the five supernova remnants visible across the field are G181.1+9.5, G182.4+4.3, G179.0+2.6, G180.0−1.7 (Sh2-240, the Spaghetti Nebula), and G178.2−4.2. They are highlighted in the annotated image, together with open clusterM37 and the Tadpole Nebula. As each explosion expanded into space, it created a growing shell of shocked gas and delicate filamentary structures shown in red (hydrogen) and blue (oxygen), respectively. These ancient stellar explosions happened independently; they are at various distances up to about several thousands of light-years away from Earth and have estimated ages up to tens of thousands of years old. Early humans may have seen them as bright new stars, fading over weeks or months.
Cool, marine air rolling off the Pacific Ocean led to a picturesque layer of morning clouds over western Washington and Oregon in mid-September 2026. Low-lying stratus clouds and fog extended as far inland as the western foothills of the Cascade Range. Near the coast, taller portions of the Olympic Mountains in Washington and the Oregon Coast Range appeared island-like, protruding above the cloud layer.
The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows the extent of the Pacific Northwest’s cloudy cloak on September 19, 2026, at about 10:45 a.m. Pacific Time (17:45 Universal Time). Abundant clouds also appear offshore over the Pacific, while smoke from wildland fires fills valleys in the North Cascades.
For several nights in a row, marine air flowed onshore, according to the National Weather Service, bringing with it low-level clouds known as marine stratus. These clouds form when moist air near the surface, trapped beneath a warmer air layer in a temperature inversion, cools enough for its water vapor to condense. The surge of cool, moist conditions was particularly strong early on September 19, producing cloudy conditions all the way up to the Cascade foothills. Some areas witnessed foggy conditions, where clouds extended down to the ground.
That same day, when NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the area at about 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time (23:15 Universal Time), skies had cleared over much of the area. However, some marine clouds still clung to the Oregon coast, where temperatures stayed cooler than inland locations.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
