LEIA Stories
Description This 360-degree look at Neretva Vallis within Mars’ Jezero Crater was stitched together using 217 images acquired by the rover’s Mastcam-Z on May 20, 2024, the 1,155th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. While it is a wind-swept dusty vista today, billions…
Written by Margaret Deahn, Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University Oct. 19, 2026 Once upon a time, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover investigated the southern border of “Idubi,” an outcrop composed primarily of an igneous mineral geologists call olivine. The rover’s “eyes”…
Over 1,645 Martian days, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover measured the fine and ultrafine Martian dust particles found clinging to samples of spacesuit materials that are carried aboard the rover, including some that are small enough to penetrate the lungs and…
Description The large sunshade of NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is mounted on an assembly ring during inspections in a clean room at BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in July 2026. The sunshade structure stands 20 feet (6…
Description The large sunshade of NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission is inspected by a technician at BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in late July. Built by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, the sunshade structure was…
The NASA STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Internship Program at the University of Texas Center for Space Research places high school students on small, mission-focused research teams mentored by NASA, academic, and industry experts.…
A modern satellite makes it possible to pursue the ancient tradition of leaf-peeping in a whole new way.
As NASA returns humans to the lunar surface and establishes a long-term presence on our closest celestial neighbor, the agency and commercial human landing system providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have streamlined the designs and changed both concepts of operations…
Before astronauts return to the lunar surface, NASA will first conduct one of the most ambitious and complex test missions in the agency’s history. Launching in 2027, Artemis III will send NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and…
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has ended its science mission now that the spacecraft is orbiting less than 171 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. The greater atmospheric drag at this height prevents the satellite’s telescopes from steadily gazing at…