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 Activates Resources to Help Assess Impacts from Hurricane Milton

3 min read

In the wake of Hurricane Milton, NASA is deploying resources to support Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state emergency management agencies to aid their response effort including satellite and aerial data collection. The agency’s Disasters Response Coordination System and…

A grayscale photograph from the Martian surface shows a field of very rocky terrain in front of the Curiosity rover, stretching out to a hill rising from the surface, all of it light gray. The field is covered in lighter-toned, medium to large angular rocks. Two of the rover's wheels are visible in the image, at the left and right sides of the frame.

Sols 4329-4330: Continuing Downhill

3 min read

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 Curiosity is continuing to make good progress downhill along the western edge of the Gediz Vallis channel, allowing us to take another look from a different perspective at this area we’ve spent many…

A supermoon rises behind the U.S. Capitol, Monday, March 9, 2020

The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon, and the Hunter’s Moon

29 min read

The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon; the Hunter’s Moon; the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon; the start of Sukkoth; Sharad Purnima, Kumara Purnima, Kojagari Purnima, Navanna Purnima Kojagrat Purnima, or Kaumudi Purnima;…

NASA Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month 2024

24 min read

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we recognize Hispanic astronauts who have flown in space. The table below lists these individuals of various nationalities who have made significant contributions to their space programs. The first Hispanic astronauts completed short flights…

A long, white, overexposed comet tail stretches from the upper left to the lower right against a circular blue background scattered with stars. At the center is a blank blue disk with a white circle representing the Sun. A time stamp at the bottom reads 2024/10/10 18:06.

ESA/NASA’s SOHO Spies Bright Comet Making Debut in Evening Sky

2 min read

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured images of the second-brightest comet to ever pass through its field of view, comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.

Pioneering NASA Astronaut Health Tech Thwarts Heart Failure

3 min read

Prioritizing health is important on Earth, and it’s even more important in space. Exploring beyond the Earth’s surface exposes humans to conditions that can impact blood pressure, bone density, immune health, and much more. With this in mind, two NASA…

Controlled Propulsion for Gentle Landings 

2 min read

A valve designed for NASA rover landings enables effective stage separations for commercial spaceflight

A close-in, face-on view of a spiral galaxy. It has two large arms that curve outward from the round, bright, central region to nearly the corners of the image. Channels of dark reddish dust that blocks light line the arms while bright pink, glowing points denote where stars are forming. Beyond its prominent spiral arms, the galaxy’s oval disk is generally cloudy in form and speckled with stars. A black background is visible behind it.

Hubble Spots a Grand Spiral of Starbursts

2 min read

The sparkling scene depicted in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the spiral galaxy NGC 5248, located 42 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Boötes. It is also known as Caldwell 45. The Caldwell catalog holds visually…

A screenshot of the NASA Eyes on the Solar System showing the the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System above Earth.

Sail Along with NASA’s Solar Sail Tech Demo in Real-Time Simulation

2 min read

NASA invites the public to virtually sail along with the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System‘s space journey using NASA’s “Eyes on the Solar System” visualization tool, a digital model of the solar system. This simulation shows the real-time positions of the planets, moons,…

Igniting Inspiration: Jennifer Becerra’s STEM Legacy at Johnson 

3 min read

Jennifer Becerra has nearly three decades of experience in education, both in the classroom and within the NASA community. Leading a team dedicated to fostering a passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), she develops programs that inspire students…

First Greenhouse Gas Plumes Detected With NASA-Designed Instrument

4 min read

The imaging spectrometer aboard the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s Tanager-1 satellite identified methane and carbon dioxide plumes in the United States and internationally. Using data from an instrument designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the nonprofit Carbon Mapper…

Lunar Autonomy Mobility Pathfinder: An OTPS-Sponsored Workshop

4 min read

OVERVIEW NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS), is hosting a Lunar Autonomy Mobility Pathfinder (LAMP) workshop on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, to provide a community forum to discuss modeling and simulation testbeds in this domain. NASA’s agency chief technologist…

Does Distant Planet Host Volcanic Moon Like Jupiter’s Io?

5 min read

The existence of a moon located outside our solar system has never been confirmed but a new NASA-led study may provide indirect evidence for one. New research done at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reveals potential signs of a rocky, volcanic…

The Marshall Star for October 9, 2024

30 min read

Marshall Lends Insight, Expertise to Auburn Aerospace Industry Day Event By Rick Smith Nearly 500 students and faculty of Auburn University gathered on campus Sept. 30-Oct. 2 to hear lectures from leading NASA propulsion and engineering experts and to talk…

A grayscale photo of the Martian surface shows a long, flat channel extending from the bottom of the frame off into the distance, toward the upper left corner of the image, with medium-gray soil covered by a seemingly endless array of lighter-toned, sharp-edged rocks. Rising from the channel on the right side of the frame is a hill that extends to the upper right corner of the image, which looks smoother, darker, and more striped than the ground below.

Sols 4327-4328: On the Road Again

3 min read

Earth planning date: Monday, Oct. 7, 2024 After successfully completing investigations within Gediz Vallis, Curiosity is back on the road through the Mg-sulfate (magnesium sulfate) bearing unit. The terrain under our wheels is a familiar collection of broken up blocks,…

NASA Astronauts, Leadership Visit Children’s Hospital, Cancer Moonshot Event

2 min read

NASA astronauts, scientists, and researchers, and leadership from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) met with cancer patients and gathered in a discussion about potential research opportunities and collaborations as part of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s…

Project Engineer Miranda Peters Flips the Script on Neurological Differences

4 min read

In her six years working with NASA, Miranda Peters has filled a variety of roles. She trained in flight control for the International Space Station, worked as a safety engineer in the station’s program office, and served as a project…

420 Years Ago: Astronomer Johannes Kepler Observes a Supernova

5 min read

In October 1604, a new star appeared in the sky, puzzling astronomers of the day. First observed on Oct. 9, German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) began his observations on Oct. 17 and tracked the new star for over a year.…

A four-panel image. The top two panels are diagrams of Uranus – spheres with gridlines going longitudinally and latitudinally. On the top left, the view from Hubble, the southern pole of the planet faces 3 o’clock. On the top right, the view from New Horizons, the southern pole faces 10 o’clock. The bottom left panel is Hubble’s actual view of Uranus – the planet is a light blue sphere, with a white circle covering the right half of the planet (the southern pole). The bottom right panel is the actual view of Uranus from New Horizons. The planet appears as a tiny whiteish dot.

NASA’s Hubble, New Horizons Team Up for a Simultaneous Look at Uranus

6 min read

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons spacecraft simultaneously set their sights on Uranus recently, allowing scientists to make a direct comparison of the planet from two very different viewpoints. The results inform future plans to study like types of…