NASA Archives

NASA-DARES Draft Strategy Open for Public Comment

by Keith CowingJune 3, 2026June 3, 2026

Comment Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 2nd, 2026.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

MAVEN Mars Mission Is Ending

by Keith CowingJune 3, 2026June 3, 2026

The first mission devoted to observing the Martian atmosphere and its evolution, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), has ended after more than 11 years in orbit at Mars […]

Top: coma maps of H2O, CO2, and CH4, computed as the molecular column density from a pixel-by-pixel retrieval analysis for Observations 6, 15, and 6, respectively. The sunward and target velocity directions are denoted by the white arrows. The target centroids, computed as the photocenter in the median-stacked images (Figure 1), are marked with the black points. For H2O and CO2, the white contours correspond to emission levels of 50% and 20% relative to the maximum value and illustrate the slight antisunward extension of the respective comae. The contours are omitted in the CH4 panel, due to the poorer signal-to-noise ratio of the data. Bottom: corresponding median-stacked images across the continuum wavelengths within each fluorescence region. The H2O coma map shows a significant enhancement in the emission level at large nucleocentric distances relative to the dust continuum, indicating extended H2O production within the coma. -- The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

Webb Detects Methane on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

by Keith CowingJune 2, 2026June 2, 2026

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has collected its first mid-infrared chemical fingerprint of an interstellar object during a recent revisit to comet 3I/ATLAS. The team’s results published recently in The […]

Microgravity, Space Life Science, Space Stations, SPACELINE Current Awareness List, Status Report

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,202 29 May 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

by Keith CowingJune 1, 2026June 1, 2026

The abstract in PubMed or at the publisher’s site is linked when available and will open in a new window.

An artist rendering of the Curiosity rover with its scientific instruments labeled. Scientists used the Chemistry and Minerology (CheMin) instrument to perform X-ray diffraction analysis on samples of powdered rock. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

NASA Uses Mineralogical Marker to Understand Ancient Martian Climate

by Keith CowingJune 1, 2026June 1, 2026

While NASA imagery has shown evidence of ancient rivers and lakes on Mars that transitioned to dry dunes, uncertainty remains over the timing of the environmental changes that may have […]

This plot shows currently known exoplanets, with different categories highlighted. Roman will help fill in the bottom-right of the plot by finding small worlds in large orbits. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

NASA’s Roman Mission Preps to Unveil New Populations of Faraway Worlds

by Keith CowingMay 29, 2026May 29, 2026

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to make a major leap in the hunt for worlds outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. Scientists expect the mission to […]

ID: ESP_092088_1695 date: 19 March 2026 altitude: 261 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona larger image

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Status Report

Mesas Of Layered Sedimentary Rocks In Valles Marineris

by Keith CowingMay 28, 2026June 26, 2026

Valles Marineris, like the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, provides a spectacular look at the geologic history via layered sediments that get older with depth.

Microgravity, Space Life Science, Space Stations, SPACELINE Current Awareness List, Status Report

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,201 22 May 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

by Keith CowingMay 27, 2026May 27, 2026

The abstract in PubMed or at the publisher’s site is linked when available and will open in a new window.

A depiction of the full product generation pipeline for a single OC instrument + TROPOSIF data stream. Each box represents a discretized step of the process. The top of each box lists the name of the step or product generated, and the bottom lists the processes used. The three separate flows across the first four boxes depict the separate TROPOSIF, OC + TROPOSIF, and OC processing pipelines, as described above.

Analog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Orbital Biosignature Recon: NASA-developed AI Could Help Track Harmful Algae

by Keith CowingMay 25, 2026May 25, 2026

Editor’s note: for more than half a century we have been learning how to use the viewpoint from space to study our home world. The instruments we have developed often […]