Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, lies within a network of narrow valleys in the country’s northern highlands. Though the historic city is known for panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, clear skies have become less common. In recent decades, smoke has increasingly darkened the skies during the dry season, particularly in March and April.

A NASA satellite captured this smoky view of the city and the surrounding region on April 22, 2026, when haze partially obscured valleys and ridges typically visible under clearer conditions. Most of the smoke likely comes from small agricultural and forest fires lit to burn off crop debris or maintain forest ecosystems. In 2026, satellite sensors detected small numbers of fires throughout January, but fire detections became more numerous and widespread in February, March, and April. Fire activity typically peaks in March and fades by May as seasonal rains increase. 

Research indicates that smoke from biomass burning is one of the largest contributors to poor air quality in northern Thailand during the dry season. By one estimate, about 70 percent of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in Chiang Mai in April comes from biomass burning. Smaller contributors to the region’s hazy skies include vehicles, power plants and industry, and charcoal burning for cooking and heating. Geography also plays a key role; the surrounding mountains block air flow and encourage temperature inversions that trap both local pollution and haze from the broader region in the valleys.

On the same day the satellite image was captured, air quality sensors on the ground recorded “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” levels of PM_2.5 air pollution throughout Chiang Mai and the region, according to data from the World Air Quality Index project. Prolonged exposure to high levels of air pollution can contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other health problems.

News reports suggest that the haze is affecting the tourism industry and has contributed to a decrease in the number of international travelers coming to Chiang Mai. After more than a month of persistent haze, the number of tourists arriving in the town of Pai, a popular destination for backpackers northwest of Chiang Mai, was down 90 percent, according to one local newspaper.

Unusually warm and dry conditions have gripped the region in recent weeks, according to meteorologists with the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC). On March 27, the group advised that there was a “high risk” of severe transboundary haze in the region and elevated its alert level to three, the highest on the scale. 

In late March, the group noted that dry conditions were forecast to persist over most parts of the Mekong sub-region, with prevailing winds expected to blow mostly from the south or southwest. “Under these conditions,” ASMC noted, “the hotspot and smoke haze situation could escalate further.”

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

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April 22, 2026

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References & Resources

• ASMC (2026) Regional Haze Situation. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• Bangkok Post (2026, April 17) Pai tourism suffers as haze grips North. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earthdata (2026, April 10) Stagnant Skies in Southeast Asia. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2024, April 8) Hazy Skies in a Growing City. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2024, April 1) Grappling with Thailand’s Seasonal Haze. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• The Nation (2026, April 18) Northern wildfire surge pushes Thailand hotspots to 2026 high. Accessed April 22, 2026.   
• Pani, S., et al. (2020) Black carbon over an urban atmosphere in northern peninsular Southeast Asia: Characteristics, source apportionment, and associated health risks. Environmental Pollution, 259, 113871.
• Pirard, C. & Charoenpanwutikul, A. (2023) Comprehensive review of the annual haze episode in Northern Thailand. Earth ArXiv preprint.
• Orion (2025, February 12) Where There is Smoke. Accessed April 22, 2026.

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NASA’s 777 Aircraft Returns Home with Science Flights on the Horizon

NASA’s Boeing 777 has returned to the agency’s fleet after undergoing heavy structural modifications as it transforms from a giant passenger plane into the agency’s next-generation airborne science laboratory. After a check flight and a three-hour transit from Waco, the aircraft returned to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on April 22.

Since January 2025, the aircraft has been in Texas receiving hardware and structural upgrades to prepare for science operations. The modifications include installing dedicated research stations and extensive wiring. This allows payload systems to communicate with sensors such as lidar and infrared imaging spectrometers during flights. Cabin windows were enlarged and open portals installed at the bottom of the fuselage to mount remote-sensing instruments.

“Airborne missions at NASA use cutting-edge instruments to explore and understand our home planet,” said Derek Rutovic, program manager for the Airborne Science Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The 777 will be the largest airborne research laboratory in our fleet, collecting data to improve life on our home planet and extend our knowledge of the Earth system as a whole.”

Acquired in 2022 to succeed NASA’s retired DC-8 aircraft, the 777 will expand the agency’s airborne research capacity. It can accommodate 50 to 100 operators and carry 75,000 pounds of equipment for flights lasting up to 18 hours.

“NASA’s DC-8 was an incredible workhorse for Earth science for nearly 40 years,” said Kirsten Boogaard, the NASA 777 program manager at NASA Langley and former deputy program manager of NASA’s DC-8. “Being part of that team, I got to see the impact up close. I’m excited for what the 777 will bring. It gives us the ability to bring together more partners, more educational opportunities, and more instruments. That will make a real difference in the data we collect moving forward.”

The aircraft’s inaugural science mission, slated to deploy in January 2027, will investigate high-impact winter weather events, such as severe cold air outbreaks, wind, snow and ice storms, and hazardous seas. Known as the North American Upstream Feature-Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment (NURTURE), the mission will collect detailed atmospheric observations across a vast region spanning North America, Europe, Greenland, and the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.

“We’ve been completing the engineering design and analysis to install the NURTURE payload into the aircraft in parallel with the portal modification,” Rutovic said. “We’re excited to get the airplane back home to NASA and on the road to its first mission.”

The NASA 777’s major structural modification was performed by L3Harris Technologies in partnership with Yulista Holding, LLC. Research station and wiring upgrades in the cabin are being performed by NASA and HII. NASA’s Airborne Science Program is responsible for providing aircraft systems that further science and advance the use of satellite data and is part of the Science Mission Directorate’s Earth Science Division.

To learn more about NASA’s airborne science missions, visit:

https://airbornescience.nasa.gov

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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team now is targeting as soon as early September 2026 for launch, ahead of the agency’s commitment to flight no later than May 2027.

“Roman’s accelerated development is a true success story of what we can achieve when public investment, institutional expertise, and private enterprise come together to take on the near-impossible missions that change the world,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who announced the update at a news conference on April 21 at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Roman will pair a large field of view with crisp infrared vision to survey deep, vast swaths of sky. While the mission was designed with dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets in mind, Roman’s unprecedented observational capability will offer practically limitless opportunities for astronomers to explore all kinds of cosmic topics.

By the end of its five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to amass a 20,000-terabyte data archive. Scientists can draw on it to identify and study 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and rare objects and phenomena — including some that astronomers have never witnessed before.

Roman will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX will share more information about a specific launch date, and the agency will continue to share updates concerning prelaunch preparations as new information becomes available.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, and scientists from various research institutions.

To learn more about the Roman mission, visit:

https://nasa.gov/roman

Media contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940

NASA will host a news conference at 1:45 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 29, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to preview astronaut Anil Menon’s upcoming mission to the International Space Station.

Watch the news conference live on NASA’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

Following the news conference, individual interviews with Menon will begin at 3 p.m.

United States-based media interested in attending the news conference in person must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom at jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov by 5 p.m. Monday, April 27. U.S. and international media interested in participating by phone must contact NASA Johnson by 9:45 a.m. Thursday, April 23. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

Requests for interviews with Menon should be submitted by 5 p.m., April 27. In-person interviews are limited to U.S. media. International media may request to conduct interviews virtually.

The Soyuz MS-29 mission, targeted to launch Tuesday, July 14, will carry Menon and his crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, to the International Space Station for an eight-month stay as part of Expeditions 74/75. It will be Menon’s first spaceflight.

Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Menon graduated with the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. After completing initial astronaut candidate training, he began preparing for his first space station flight assignment.

Menon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is an emergency medicine physician, mechanical engineer, and lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a medical degree from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Menon completed his emergency medicine and aerospace medicine residency at Stanford and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, respectively.

Menon still actively practices emergency medicine at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center and teaches residents at the University of Texas’ residency program. For NASA, Menon also has served as an expedition flight surgeon for the agency’s crew members aboard the space station. Previously, Menon worked at SpaceX and served as the company’s first flight surgeon, helping to launch the first crewed Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission in 2020 and building its medical organization to support humans on future missions.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and prepare for deep space missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis program in preparation for future human missions to Mars.

Learn more about the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
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Anna Schneider / Shaneequa Vereen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
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This image, released in celebration of Earth Day, shows the terminator – the line between night and day – on Earth. The Artemis II astronauts captured this view on April 2, 2026, during their journey to the Moon.

NASA science improves life on Earth every day. The agency provides insights on our home planet that can only be gathered from space to help put actionable satellite information in the hands of decision-makers. In addition, NASA’s observations of Earth and the technologies the agency develops provide the foundation needed to explore and sustain human life on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Download this year’s Earth Day poster.

Image credit: NASA

When NASA’s Apollo 8 crew rounded the far side of the Moon in 1968 and astronaut Bill Anders snapped a picture of Earth peeking above the gray horizon, the image became a symbol of hope in challenging times. The photograph, Earthrise, as it came to be called, helped inspire the first Earth Day celebration two years later.

This year, the astronauts of the Artemis II mission captured their own poignant images of home. The newly released photo shows Earth on April 6, as the crew traveled farther than any humans before them.

“On Earth Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary responsibility we share to understand our planet,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “NASA’s Earth science missions continue to deliver critical data that strengthen communities, support industries like agriculture, and help the nation anticipate and respond to wildfires, droughts, flooding, and other natural hazards. Together with our Earth science partners, NASA is committed to deepening our understanding of Earth.”

From cameras pressed against spacecraft windows to the most powerful radar ever flown, imaging technology has taken giant leaps since 1968, but the drive to understand our home in the cosmos has remained.

“Our four Artemis II astronauts — Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy — took humanity on a journey that showed us just how special and bright our Earth is, even from the dark side of the Moon, that is especially worth celebrating on Earth Day,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Seeing the incredible images of our blue marble planet over time from Apollo 8’s Earthrise to Artemis II’s Earthset, it is not only a symbolic moment of beauty, but like the other images captured during the lunar flyby, Earthset is brimming with incredible science in high definition that will help inform our future Artemis missions on the Moon.”

Here’s a look at how NASA’s view of Earth has advanced since that early image of the planet.

Sea level to soaring

In 1968, during their 120th revolution around the planet, the Apollo 7 astronauts snapped a photo of New Orleans, visible amid the green wetlands and tan sediment of the Mississippi River Delta, some 95 nautical miles below. Today, space-based radar is revealing how the earth beneath our feet is rising, sinking and sliding.

Launched in July 2025 by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NISAR’s (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) L-band and S-band SAR instruments can penetrate clouds and tree canopies to reveal details of Earth’s surface and observe changes. That’s actionable information for communities, including low-lying cities at risk of losing ground due to rising seas and subsiding land.   

The NISAR mission continues a long legacy of Earth-observing satellites. Around the globe, from ice to deserts, NASA’s satellite record has chronicled changes to the human and natural world for decades. See how the recently launched PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Ocean Ecosystem) satellite captured the Mississippi River Delta swirling with marine life.

“The Artemis photos shared with all of humanity the breathtaking beauty of our home planet, as it can only be seen from space,” said Karen St. Germain, division director, NASA Earth Science Division. “NASA’s fleet of Earth science satellites provide additional dimensions to this beauty, by teaching us how our planet supports the vibrant and dynamic forms of life we see on Earth. This data and discovery help us deliver actionable science so we can continue to thrive on our ever-changing planet.”

Reaching new heights

The Himalaya Mountains have captivated astronauts since the early days of the Space Age. Equipped with a handheld 70mm Hasselblad camera, L. Gordon Cooper photographed Mount Everest and its towering neighbors in 1963 while orbiting the planet 22 times alone in his Mercury-Atlas 9 capsule.

By the early 1990s, scientists were tracing the peaks and valleys of the range in spectacular detail using radar aboard the space shuttle. More recently, other space missions and instruments such as ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) and Landsat have aided high-altitude exploration. They’ve helped scientists pinpoint the location of a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest, and track changing plant life across some of the most remote slopes on the planet.

Eye of storm

Liftoff of Artemis II on April 1, came exactly 66 years to the day after another milestone launch. The world’s first successful weather satellite — TIROS-1 — sported a pair of television cameras and magnetic tape machines when it rocketed into low Earth orbit in 1960. It provided weather forecasters images of cloud cover from space that improved storm forecasting.

Satellite data complemented the unique photographs captured by Apollo astronauts, who documented hurricanes, thunderheads, and other storm systems roiling beneath their feet. The work continues to this day. Next year, a new generation of radars will take flight as part of the INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission. The three small satellites, flying in tight formation, will help determine why, when, and where severe tropical thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, and clouds occur.

See how a water-watching satellite tracked another kind of natural hazard — a tsunami — speeding across the Pacific Ocean in the wake of a massive earthquake off Russia last July.

Frozen fringes

The images above capture two spectacular icescapes a world apart.

The snapshot on the left, taken by a crewmember on the SkyLab space station in 1974, shows plumes of brash ice near Belle Isle off Newfoundland. On the right, new sea ice forms along the coast of Antarctica in an aerial photograph taken during Operation Ice Bridge, NASA’s longest-running airborne mission to observe ice in the North and South polar regions. The findings from that mission, along with satellite laser data, have helped scientists track changes to polar ice sheets since 2003. 

In the Arctic, satellites are continually observing how far sea ice retreats season by season and year over year, recording a decades-long trend of less ice cover. On the other side of the globe, in Antarctica, NASA’s MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument recently captured the start of summer in full color.

Night, day

Picturing Earth as a blue marble tells only part of our story. Earth at night also teaches us a lot about humanity. Sensors orbiting our planet can resolve light sources down to the scale of a toll booth on a dark highway. By tracking night light illumination, scientists, policymakers and industry can map urban growth, electricity use, and economic activity across the planet.

Compare, for example, the Apollo 11 crew’s view of a shrouded Earth on the day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon in 1969, and this new data visualization based on more than 1 million satellite observations taken every night for nine years.

To explore thousands of more photographs, visualizations, videos, and diagrams shared by NASA throughout its history, visit:

Cropping and contrast on some images in this story have been adjusted.

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Beyond the border of Washington, D.C., numerous suburbs spread across Virginia and Maryland. Many are accessible from the Capital Beltway (I-495), the highway that encircles Washington. An astronaut on the International Space Station captured this photo of the beltway’s northeast side where it passes through the historic city of Greenbelt, Maryland. 

The photo was taken on July 30, 2023, a time of year when the region’s vegetation is lush and green. One of the more prominent green spaces in this image is Greenbelt Park. The park’s nearly 5 square kilometers (2 square miles) contain forested hiking trails, several picnic areas, and a campground. The land was once intended as a future extension of the city of Greenbelt, but it was acquired by the National Park Service in 1950.

Just north of the park, Greenbelt’s historic district is laid out in a crescent shape. The district is one of three planned communities that arose in the 1930s as part of the New Deal program, intended to provide work for the unemployed and to create affordable cooperative housing with accessible green space. Homes connect to walking paths, which in turn connect to one of the country’s oldest planned shopping centers.

A collection of buildings east of the beltway is NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, established in Greenbelt on May 1, 1959, as NASA’s first spaceflight complex. Several patches of forested land separate some of the buildings. The large green spaces north of Goddard are a mix of forested land and agricultural fields in the town of Beltsville, which include University of Maryland and USDA agricultural research sites. The main campus of the University of Maryland is visible just west of Greenbelt in College Park.

Other nearby tree-lined areas are visible as well. For instance, Hyattsville, just south of College Park, has been recognized as a “tree city” for more than three decades. In addition, trees line a large segment of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (MD-295), which runs north-south between Baltimore and Washington and bisects Greenbelt Park.  

Astronaut photograph ISS069-E-39302 was acquired on July 30, 2023, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 1150 millimeters. It was provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 69 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

Downloads

July 30, 2023

JPEG (19.49 MB)

References & Resources

• Greenbelt Museum, Greenbelt History. Accessed April 20, 2026.
• National Park Service, Foundation Document Overview. Accessed April 20, 2026.
• National Park Service (2026) Greenbelt Park, Maryland. Accessed April 20, 2026.
• National Park Service (2018, July 2) Greenbelt Historic District. Accessed April 20, 2026.
• The Washington Post (2025, December 10) In Greenbelt, Md., New Deal history meets co-op spirit. Accessed April 20, 2026.

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On April 1, 2026, Artemis II launched on a nearly 10-day voyage around the Moon, marking the first crewed flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, splashed down on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. 

At their farthest point, the crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a record for the greatest distance humans have traveled in space and observing the lunar surface like never before. 

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly complex missions to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefit, and to prepare for future human missions to Mars. 

Relive exciting mission moments through the videos and images shared below. 

Pre-Launch Preparation 

Iceland Geology Training 

To prepare for lunar exploration, the Artemis II crew trained in Iceland’s volcanic terrain. 

They practiced navigation and field geology skills in challenging conditions while working as a team. The astronauts collected rock samples using tools like hammers, scoops, and chisels, and provided feedback to instructors to refine future Artemis training sites. 

How To Dress For Space 

The crew trained extensively in NASA’s Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS), the bright orange spacesuit worn inside the Orion spacecraft during launch and re-entry. 

Each suit is custom-fitted and includes systems for air, water, food, and waste management. In emergencies, it can sustain life for up to six days. 

The crew practiced suit operations in simulated weightlessness and pressurized environments to confirm performance for deep space travel. 

Moon Talks 

During the mission, the crew reflected on what the Moon means to them personally and professionally, sharing thoughts shaped by years of training and preparation. 

Launch 

Launch of NASA’s Artemis II: Moon Rocket Camera Views 

Enjoy launch views from cameras affixed to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. These cameras, developed by NASA, are called the Flight Imaging Launch Monitoring Real-time System (FILMRS). They survive some of the harshest environments of the avionics on the vehicle. 

Mission to the Moon 

Flight Day Highlights 

Flight Day 1 

Flight Day 2 

Flight Day 3 

Flight Day 4 

Flight Day 5 

Flight Day 6 

Flight Day 7 

Flight Day 8 

Flight Day 9 

Flight Day 10 

Return to Earth 

How to Recover a Spacecraft  

After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, NASA and U.S. Navy teams recovered the Orion spacecraft and crew. 

Recovery teams secured the capsule, opened the hatch, and assisted the astronauts out. The crew was then flown by helicopter to the Navy recovery ship, while Orion was brought aboard for transport back to shore.  

More Mission Moments 

View more imagery on the Artemis II Multimedia Resource Page. 

Go/No-Go: NASA’s Space Toilet Explained 

The Universal Waste Management System, or space toilet, is a critical onboard system. 

During the mission, the crew worked through operational issues to maintain performance in microgravity. 

Space-to-Space Call: NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts and the International Space Station 

A historic first took place during the mission: a direct call between a deep space crew and astronauts aboard the International Space Station. 

Artemis II connected with Expedition 74 astronauts Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, marking the first ship-to-ship communication of its kind. 

Moments Around the Moon  

Artemis II brought the crew to 252,756 miles from Earth at its farthest point and covered a total of 694,481 miles. 

The lunar flyby set a new human distance record, surpassing Apollo 13’s 1970 record. The crew observed the Moon from closer range than any humans before them during a crewed mission. 

Moon Joy, Courtesy of NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts 

With years of training and thousands of experts behind the mission, one unexpected outcome stood out: Moon joy. 

It captured the emotional weight of seeing the Moon up close and the significance of returning humans to deep space. 

Crew Comes Home

Watch the official NASA broadcast as the Artemis II crew splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.  

Crew Return to Houston 

The Artemis II astronauts returned to Ellington Airport in Houston following their historic mission around the Moon. 

Artemis II Crew News Conference 

The crew shared reflections on their journey, the challenges of deep space flight, and what comes next for Artemis. 

The Artemis II mission marks a major step forward in human exploration. 

The mission demonstrated deep space crew operations, tested Orion systems with astronauts aboard, and set the stage for future lunar missions. 

We are just getting started. 

The Next Steps in Lunar Exploration 

NASA is preparing for future missions to the Moon’s South Pole.  

Work continues on next-generation spacesuits, lunar tools, and rovers at Johnson and its supporting training facilities. Listen as Apollo and Artemis astronauts, as well as subject matter experts, discuss the challenges of exploring the Moon in preparation for Mars 

Future Artemis missions will face challenges including harsh lighting conditions, lunar dust, and extreme temperatures as NASA builds toward sustained exploration of the Moon and eventual human missions to Mars. 

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Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth planning date: Friday, April 17, 2026

At the beginning of the week, Curiosity arrived right on target on the rim of the 10-meter (33 feet) “Antofagasta” crater.  

The crater looked fresh and deep as we had hoped with a nice well-defined rim that didn’t look too eroded, but the bottom of it turned out to be filled with dark rippled sandy material that covered up the most interesting rock layers. There were a few rock exposures just above the sand cover that seemed like they might have been deep enough to have been sheltered from space radiation between the time their sediments were deposited and the crater-forming impact, but reaching them from the rim would have put the rover at such an awkward angle that we wouldn’t have been able to deliver the sample to the instruments. It’s possible that we might have been able to get into a better position by instead placing the rover on the rippled crater fill, but the chance that the rover could get stuck in all that sand made it much too high a risk. We also looked at the nearby blocks in case they could have been ejecta from the crater, but since all the rocks visible in the crater wall looked very similar to each other, there wasn’t a good way to tell which ejecta blocks might have come from the deeper layers of the crater. Because of this, the team decided against attempting to drill in or around the crater.

Luckily the rover’s workspace was rich with interesting bedrock targets including polygonal features. We planned detailed imaging of the crater and nearby buttes together with APXS geochemistry, MAHLI close-up imaging and ChemCam LIBS geochemistry of the polygon-bearing rocks on the crater rim.  The plan was rounded out with our ongoing observations of the present-day Martian environment, including monitoring for dust-devil activity and regular measurements of atmospheric opacity and clouds.

Meanwhile, with the decision not to drill at Antofagasta, we started planning our next drill campaign! To plan our drill strategy in this post-boxwork section of the layered sulfate strata, we’ve been looking at the exposed layering in the buttes above us as we have been driving up through “Valle Grande.” Based on these observations, team members have mapped out a succession of varying depositional styles and levels of diagenetic activity. As we climb southwards, the rover will reach these rock layers one by one. 
It’s been quite a while since we’ve drilled into the layered sulfate rocks outside the distinctive regions of the boxwork-forming unit and Gediz Vallis. The last “typical” layered sulfate drill was the “Mineral King” campaign in February/March 2024, more than 150 meters (492 feet) lower in elevation. So for our next drill campaign our goal is to measure a representative bedrock sample from the layers just above the boxworks. The Sol 4870 workspace turned out to have a drillable-looking, representative-looking block right in front of the rover so we have planned our preliminary APXS, MAHLI, and ChemCam geochemistry on the potential drill target, “Atacama,” in addition to some measurements on surrounding blocks for context. If the results look good we’ll proceed with the preload test in the next plan and look forward to a new set of drill data on Mars.

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