Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman has been named Caltech associate vice president and deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The emeritus astronaut and retired U.S. Navy captain begins his new role at NASA’s center of excellence for robotics and deep space exploration and at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, on Nov. 30, 2026.

“Reid has spent his career at the edge of what is possible, and he has the technical judgment, operational experience, and leadership to help push that edge farther,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “As commander of Artemis II, he helped carry America back around the Moon, and now, as an emeritus astronaut, he will continue giving back to NASA from a new vantage point at JPL. Reid is joining a storied laboratory that has made an enormous amount of history, and there is a lot more ahead. I am excited to see what he and the JPL team accomplish in the years to come.”

During the Artemis II test flight, Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen journeyed 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby that took them farther than any humans have ever traveled before.

“It feels fitting for Reid, who with the Artemis II crew traveled farther from Earth than any human in history, to join Caltech and JPL — institutions that for nearly 90 years have sent spacecraft into the far reaches of our solar system and beyond,” said Dave Gallagher, JPL director and Caltech vice president. “Reid shares our drive for discovery, knows what it takes to lead teams through high-stakes missions, and has a remarkable ability to inspire people everywhere. He adds incredible bench strength to our leadership team as we build on the lab’s legacy and shape its future together.”

After joining NASA’s astronaut corps in 2009, Wiseman went on to serve as flight engineer aboard the International Space Station for the 165-day Expedition 41 mission in 2014 and was a commander of NASA’s 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations expedition, during which he lived for eight days in a habitat on the ocean floor in 2016. As the agency’s chief astronaut from December 2020 to November 2022, Wiseman led NASA’s astronaut corps, overseeing crew flight readiness and crew safety for all NASA human spaceflight missions. During his years of service at the agency, he has conducted hundreds of scientific experiments.

“I’ve explored the furthest reaches of what a human can explore at NASA — and there were truly no words in the English vocabulary to describe seeing the Sun disappear behind the Moon from deep space. But that experience was really the jumping off point to go do the impossible things that Caltech and JPL dream, dare together, and do for NASA and the nation,” Wiseman said. “What an awesome time in my career to join this team and to try and push humanity and push our understanding of the solar system and the universe.”

Wiseman joins JPL, NASA’s only federally funded research and development center, as the lab approaches its 90th anniversary since being founded by Caltech. In his role as Caltech’s associate vice president and JPL deputy director, Wiseman will be responsible for the strategic leadership, stewardship and continuous improvement of laboratory operations, including close partnership with Caltech on institutional planning, management and compliance. Serving as Center Management Authority for JPL mission execution, Wiseman will ensure operational excellence across mission support functions in accordance with NASA requirements and applicable federal and state regulations. In addition, he will be JPL’s primary interface for national security programs.

“Reid brings to Caltech and JPL a truly unprecedented view of what humanity can achieve when ingenuity and determination are matched with the courage to pursue the furthest frontiers,” said Caltech president Ray Jayawardhana. “His pioneering spirit coupled with unbounded curiosity make him a natural fit for Caltech and JPL, a force-multiplier for a community whose daring continues to push the limits of humanity’s reach. I look forward to working closely with Dave and Reid as we chart our next era of exploration in partnership with NASA, elevating America’s space ambitions to breathtaking new heights.”

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wiseman joined the Navy, going on to fly combat missions and serve as a test pilot. He also has a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University in his hometown of Baltimore.

-end-

Media Contact

Matthew Segal
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov

2026-077

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The Socialist Republic of Vietnam became the 78th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, joining a growing coalition of like-minded nations committed to the peaceful, transparent, and responsible exploration of space.  

“Vietnam is joining at an important point in the development of its own space program,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson in recorded remarks for the ceremony. “NASA and the Vietnam National Space Center have built momentum in satellite innovation, land-use research, and radar-based Earth observation. Joining the Artemis Accords opens a new chapter in that relationship. We’ve aligned on the principles. The opportunities are in front of us, and now we can build on that foundation together. We are proud to welcome Vietnam to the Artemis Accords community.” 

Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Vũ Hải Quân signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of the country during the Vietnam International Digital Week in Ha Long. The United States Ambassador to Vietnam Jennifer Wicks also participated in the signing event. 

Vietnam’s decision extends the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership into a new frontier.  Built on more than 30 years of cooperation, the partnership spans defense, economic, law enforcement, war legacy, and technological cooperation, and it advances peace, stability, and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific. 

Earlier this year, NASA partnered with Vietnam’s Vietnamese-German University to support the agency’s Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, which measures surface-soil water worldwide. Vietnam also inaugurated its National Space Center in Hanoi and is developing domestic satellite capabilities through the LOTUSat program, focusing on Earth observation, weather monitoring, and disaster response. 

In 2020, NASA and the State Department joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies. They introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. 

Signing the Artemis Accords means committing to explore peaceably and transparently, to render aid to those in need, to enable access to scientific data that all of humanity can learn from, to ensure activities do not interfere with those of others, and to preserve historically significant sites and artifacts by developing best practices for space exploration for the benefit of all.  

More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues its work to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.  

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:  

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

NASA’s Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is integrated alongside the twin solid rocket boosters on Oct. 28 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building’s High Bay 3 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  

Technicians lifted the 212-foot rocket stage from the facility’s High Bay 2 using a one-of-a kind lifting beam designed to place the stage onto the mobile launcher. Once testing and checkouts are complete, teams will roll the core stage and booster stack out to Launch Pad 39B to conduct a tanking test where liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel will be loaded only into the core stage and launch teams will practice countdown procedures and timelines.  

The Artemis III mission will launch NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft from Blue Origin and SpaceX ahead of future mission to land astronauts on the Moon.  

Photo credit: NASA/Sean Cannon, Cory S Huston, and Frank Michaux

Five years ago, Gavin Gardner was a Michigan State University engineering student researching next-generation drone technology as part of a NASA grant. Garder expected the research to be demanding – but he was surprised that navigating the financial side of the work presented an even greater challenge.

Although Gardner was used to leading fellow students in a lab setting, he and his team were completely new to things like creating budgets, handling large sums of money, and promoting their work for crowdfunding.

That’s why demonstrating both engineering and entrepreneurship skills are major tentpoles of NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC), an initiative that provides grants to teams of college students interested in helping the agency realize its aeronautical research goals.

“Half the battle is building your product,” Gardner said recently. “The other half is selling the product in a way that everyone else can understand what you’re doing and not talking in nerdy, engineering ways.”

We hope that every team that participates in the program sees, like Gavin, how they can grow technically, entrepreneurially, and use the opportunity as a launchpad for their own innovative careers.

STEVEN HOLZ

NASA USRC Manager

Gardner and his Michigan State USRC alumni teammates are still using those lessons today, as aerospace developers. In 2024, they founded their own company, AG3 Labs, which specializes in drones for military training exercises.

“I don’t think I would discredit our technical expertise in getting us to where we are today, but I know that USRC was a booster that really amplified our trajectory at such a young age,” Gardner said.

NASA USRC manager Steven Holz said Gardner’s experience shows what students can accomplish when they receive both a grant and guidance – enabling a future workforce and contributing to the aviation industry.

“We are proud to see the success of USRC alumni,” Holz said. “We hope that every team that participates in the program sees, like Gavin, how they can grow technically, entrepreneurially, and use the opportunity as a launchpad for their own innovative careers.” 

Research path

Gardner’s path to running his own company began with a middle school age trip to Space Camp, where he began realizing that he wanted to be an engineer.

The engineering bug also bit his brother, Gryson Gardner, and the two of them would often be found in their Michigan garage tinkering with various machinery, including drones and electronic kits.

When Gardner arrived at Michigan State, he looked for extracurricular groups and found one dedicated to the increasingly popular hobby of drones. He gained hands-on, practical experience in how drones are made and operated.

In 2021, Gardner received an email from a friend who told him they had just won a USRC grant from NASA for an activity called Aerial Intra-city Delivery Electric Drones (AIDED), and they needed help building a new drone.

“We had this idea that instead of flying through the whole city, why can’t a drone just hitchhike a ride on a city bus like everyone else does?” Gardner said.

The concept was for a cargo-carrying drone to take off, dock on top of public transportation such as a bus, charge its batteries while riding along, and then take off for its final leg of the delivery. The team built and flew a full-scale drone to prove the concept but decided against pursuing a commercial venture.

“The commercial drone market kind of scared us a little bit with the large number of regulations that go into operating such a novel idea like this with flying over people in a dense city,” Gardner said.

But the team’s demonstration of technical prowess and confidence led to a second USRC award from NASA in 2023 – the Laser Energized Aerial Drone System (LEADS), which focused on using a laser to transfer power directly to a drone in flight.

While working on LEADS, which led to flying a prototype, Gardner’s network of contacts within the drone community expanded to include NASA personnel at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, who made him aware of internship opportunities, which he applied for and was accepted while in graduate school.

Student challenge paves way for opportunity 

As his graduation in the spring of 2025 with a master’s degree approached, Gardner took the initial steps in late 2024 to co-found with his brother and other USRC alumni AG3 Labs after a friend suggested the military could use low-cost drones to test effective counter drone systems.

An initial award from the U.S. Army led to more contracts, allowing the company to expand and ramp up its operations, where today their production capability enables thousands of drones to be built each month.

Gardner credits his experience with USRC, especially when it came to learning more about the business side of running a technical operation, with helping create the opportunities for success he and his team are experiencing today.

About the Author

Jim Banke

Aeronautics Senior Writer

Jim Banke is a veteran aviation and aerospace communicator with more than 40 years of experience as a writer, producer, consultant, and project manager based at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He is part of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications Team and is Senior Writer for the Aeronautics Division within the Research Technology Mission Directorate. In 2007 he was recognized with a Distinguished Public Service Medal, NASA's highest honor for a non-government employee.

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So far, 2026 has seen a flood of successes for volunteers who do NASA science, exemplifying NASA’s commitment to gold-standard science—transparent, reproducible and intrinsically collaborative. The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announced that their project volunteers have now discovered most of the known brown dwarfs, celestial objects that are similar to planets. The Zooniverse platform, with grant from NASA, reached a milestone of 1 billion classifications. Several projects have come online that leverage new super intelligence (SI) techniques to amplify or extend the work of volunteers. More NASA volunteers are using SI to build their own data tools and help write scientific papers than ever before.

Even with all of those achievements, our science community is already working on the next round of new volunteer projects and innovations. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has selected nineteen proposals from research teams in 2026 that will result in new opportunities for you to do NASA science.

The Citizen Science Seed Funding Program

The Citizen Science Seed Funding Program (CSSFP-25) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate aims to support scientists and other experts to develop citizen science projects and expand the pool of professional scientists who use citizen science techniques in their science investigations. Twelve new proposals to this program were selected.

Astrophysics

“The Rogue Worlds Project: Activating volunteers to uncover the hidden population of super Jupiters with SPHEREx” led by Principal Investigator Jacqueline Faherty from the American Museum of Natural History. This project will invite you to search data from NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to find free-floating planets and brown dwarfs in clusters of young stars. The SPHEREx space observatory mapping the entire sky in near-infrared wavelengths.

“Quantifying the calibrations between intrinsic galaxy merger timescales with visual pair/tidal-feature classifications” led by Principal Investigator Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha of the University of Missouri. This project will investigate galaxy mergers, helping astronomers understand how galaxies evolve through time. You will be invited to classify realistic mock images of galaxies to help probe the statistics and dynamical evolution of galaxy mergers.

“Overlap Zoo; cosmic light tables for galaxy transparency” led by Principal Investigator Benne Holwerda of the University of Louisville. Galaxies, which glow with the light of the billions of stars they contain, also contain dust. This dust is easiest to see and quantify when it overlaps, or is backlit by, another galaxy. Help spot and characterize these rare overlapping galaxy pairs to help reveal how much dust they contain. Overlap Zoo is live! Follow this link to learn more and join the project.

“Planet Hunters Roman: Extending Citizen Science to Planetary Microlensing” led by Principal Investigator Bernard Gaudi of the Ohio State University. Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. Their gravity can bend the light that travels around them. This project will invite you to spot exoplanets in data from NASA’s new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope data by the way they bend starlight.

Heliophysics

“Space Weather UnderGround: Deploying a low-cost Magnetometer Array with Citizens for Heliophysics Research” led by Principal Investigator Hyunju Connor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Along with sunshine, our Sun produces the solar wind, an unrelenting flow of charged particles. Earth’s protective magnetic field shield deflects most of these particles, but not all, and not during extreme events. Help scientists monitor the subtle disturbances of Earth’s magnetosphere by the solar wind by setting up and monitoring your own magnetometer in Alaska.

“A Citizen Science Initiative for Sonified Plasma Wave Characterization” led by Principal Investigator Lauren Blum of the University Of Colorado, Boulder. “Plasma” is the name given to the ionized gases at the edge of Earth’s magnetosphere. Solar wind, the rain of charged particles that flows out from the Sun, can interact with and generate waves in the plasma. This project will turn data from this dynamic zone into sound signals. You will be invited to listen in to identify waves in the Earth’s magnetosphere.

“Revealing the Consequences of Foreshock Transients for Earth’s Magnetospheric System Through Participatory Science” led by Principal Investigator Wenli Mo at the Johns Hopkins University. This project will invite you to examine data from NASA’s MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale) mission to identify “foreshock transients,”  phenomena that have a critical but poorly understood role in space weather. The resulting dataset will help reveal how foreshock transients form, their properties, and their impacts.  

“IMPACT: Interactive Magnetospheric Particle Analysis and Citizen Technology” led by Principal Investigator Muhammad Fraz Bashir at the University of California, Los Angeles. Energetic particles rain down from the magnetosphere into the upper ionosphere, heating and perturbing the ionosphere, disrupting the scatter of radio waves and GPS operations. This project will invite you to help match patterns between two types of data: measurements from satellites flying overhead that detect energetic particles raining down from space and measurements from ground-based instruments that detect electromagnetic waves. By comparing these patterns, volunteers will help scientists figure out which types of space waves are causing different kinds of particle precipitation, and in turn, help scientists better understand and predict disruptions to GPS and increased radiation risks during space weather events.

“Unlocking Clues About Particle Acceleration and Transport Using Particle Distributions” led by Principal Investigator Gang Kai Poh at the Catholic University Of America. NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer, Parker Solar Probe, and Solar Orbiter are complementary missions gathering data to help scientists improve understanding of the Sun, solar wind, and space weather. Examine data from these missions to contribute to the study of the complicated flow of energetic particles from the Sun.

“Data Fusion in Space: Combining Citizen Observations to Classify Solar Wind Tracers” led by Principal Investigator Cynthia Lopez-Portela of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. This project will invite you to use their pattern-recognition skills to spot features in images of the Sun’s corona, where the solar wind begins. These features can be used as tracers to help scientists track the movement of the solar wind and build better models of how it behaves.

Planetary Sciences 

“Mapping Lunar Iron Abundance Hotspots to Enable In-Situ Resource Utilization of Regolith Consolidation Technologies” led by Principal Investigator Karen Martirosyan at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley. Building a base on the Moon will require creative use of Moon materials. So what materials will future teams of astronaut base-builders have to work with? This project will invite you to help locate iron deposits in data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper mission to help understand how the Moon formed and to aid future exploration.

“Small Body Discovery and Outburst Monitoring with a Worldwide Citizen Science Telescope Network” led by Principal Investigator Ariel Graykowski at the SETI Institute. This project proposes to activate a global network of citizen scientists, each equipped with a standardized small-aperture telescope, to conduct follow-up observation of cometary outbursts and small moving bodies (comets, near-Earth asteroids, and main-belt asteroids). With their global distribution and a program of twilight observations, amateurs will complement professional surveys. The project will develop systems to automate processing of contributed images and to distribute alerts for objects of interest to the network.

The Science Activation Program

The Science Activation Program (SciAct) from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate supports a portfolio of competitively selected, collaborative project teams that extend the impact of NASA science. These “SciAct Teams” accomplish this by connecting people and communities – many of whom would not otherwise meaningfully engage – with NASA science data and experts, local partnerships, and authentic science experiences. Seven teams selected in the latest round of competition will engage learners with citizen science efforts directly related to NASA research priorities. Several other selected teams plan to incorporate citizen science projects or community science projects (research efforts led by and focused on specific communities) into their work. 

The selected proposals include: 

“Growing Beyond Earth: Science Activation Through Distributed Space Crop Research” led by Principal Investigator Carl Lewis at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Inc. To travel or live in space, humans will need to eat. Growing Beyond Earth trains and equips middle- and high-school classrooms to conduct growth experiments with seeds and crops being evaluated for use as space food.

“Sungrazer 2.0: From Armchair Discovery to Data-Driven Comet Science” led by Principal Investigator MaryKay Severino of the ARISA Lab and science lead Karl Battams of the Naval Research Laboratory. The original Sungrazer Project launched in 2006 in response to requests from citizen scientists for verification of comet discoveries. Since then, project volunteers have identified 5,204 comets and counting – the majority of known comets. Sungrazer 2.0 will bring the thrill of comet discovery to new audiences who will join the hunt for comets in images from NASA’s SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) missions.

“Discovering the SPARC: Space Physics through Amateur Radio Communications” led by Principal Investigator Nathaniel Frissell of the University of Scranton. Since 2017 amateur radio operators have worked together in the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) community to study Earth’s ionosphere through carefully designed and conducted investigations of how their signals bounce off this high, ionized layer of Earth’s atmosphere. This project will bring hands-on space weather science to communities nationwide through amateur radio equipment and enroll high schools in a national research network.  

“Telescopes for All: Promoting audience engagement with NASA science via participatory data experiences using robotic telescopes” led by Principal Investigator Mary Dussault of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. This project will expand public access to a suite of 22 user-friendly, professional robotic telescopes. This access will allow people to observe, analyze, and contribute to NASA-aligned research, including the search and study of exoplanets and other citizen science projects. 

“Researchers Inspiring Public Participation in Lake Education and Science (RIPPLES)” led by Principal Investigator Sarah Yelton and science lead Tamlin Pavelsky, both at the University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This project will collaborate with the Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists and Satellites (LOCSS) project to expand participation in lake and reservoir level monitoring. Submitted data will be used to validate observations such as those made by NASA’s SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission. 

“ARK (Antarctic Resilience and Knowledge): A Collaborative Network for Discovery and Education of Antarctica’s Iconic Species and their Changing Habitats” led by Principal Investigator Sharon Stammerjohn at the University of Colorado, Boulder. This project will invite you to examine NASA’s very high-resolution satellite images of Antarctica to study and monitor habitat changes affecting penguin, seal, and whale populations. With validation by scientists and integration of machine-assisted detection tools, this project will expand the analytical capacity of Antarctic researchers and build public literacy in polar ecosystem science. 

“Arctic Learning and Engagement with NASA Data for Community Solutions (Arctic LENS)” led by Principal Investigator Katie Spellman of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This project will invite Alaskans to contribute seasonal environmental monitoring (snow, ice, aurora, spring ice-out, and green-up) in support of NASA missions including FORTE (Arctic Coastlines: Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems), SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography), PACE (Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem), and Landsat. 

Explore citizen science awards from previous years: 

• November 2025
• January 2024
• September 2023 
• August 2022
• July 2021

For more information on NASA’s citizen science programs, visit https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science.

^{New NASA citizen science projects launched in 2026. Top row, l-r. Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tails, Artifact Inspector, CoCoRaHS. Middle row. Spiral Graph: Cluster Buster, Backyard Worlds: Binaries, Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout Two. Bottom row. Overlap Zoo, Impact Flash! and Shock Detectives.}

In this Webb image released on Oct. 22, 2026, we see a turbulent cauldron of star formation filled with dense clumps of gas. This region is named N159 and is located 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way galaxy.

This region has a lower metallicity (proportion of elements that are heavier than helium and hydrogen) than the Milky Way, giving astronomers an opportunity to learn more about conditions found in the early universe and how stars formed under those conditions.

Read more about N159.

Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, E. Sabbi, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb); Acknowledgement: M. H. Özsaraç

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

Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

Following the Basque Lakes drill campaign, Curiosity has returned to a spot just a few meters away from the “Chiu Chiu” block to conduct our next drill campaign. “Chiu Chiu” itself wasn’t a good candidate for drilling but the block just beyond it was much more promising, so it became our drive target during Monday’s planning. I was on planning Friday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead when we received our close-up views of the neighbor block from the post-drive imaging and our team was happy to see that it was jam-packed with the “disc- and needle-” shaped lumps, just like “Chiu Chiu.” We quickly gave the science go-ahead to proceed with preparations for drilling at the newly named “Nazca” site.

One major hypothesis about how the “discs and needles” texture formed is that the characteristic shapes were originally created during the growth of crystals, or “crystal forms.” Minerals will tend to grow into specific shapes depending on their microscopic crystal structure, similar to the salt crystals that you can grow in your kitchen as a home science project. (Maybe you have grown one of those for a science class in school!) The relatively large sizes of the crystal forms at “Nazca” and “Chiu Chiu” are providing clues about the temperature at the time when they grew and the availability of salts and fluids. However, we can’t necessarily assume that the modern-day composition represents the original mineral because sometimes mineral crystals are replaced by other minerals some time after original crystallization. The new minerals are then known as “pseudomorphs” because they have the same shape as the first minerals but not the same composition or molecular structure. 

As we prepared for the drill preload test, we also planned several special observations aimed at highly detailed characterization of the crystal forms. MAHLI will execute a Quantitative Relief Model (“QRM”) observation consisting of five overlapping images at slightly different geometries. The combination of these will enable a detailed three-dimensional relief model to be constructed. In addition, MAHLI will also add extra frames to its highest-resolution imaging by doubling the number of focus mechanism steps. Together, these observations will increase the resolution of the 3D models we will have of the crystal forms.

Meanwhile, the ChemCam LIBS will conduct a “depth profile” experiment to obtain compositional information from slightly deeper layers within a nearby crystal-form-rich target, “Toucan”. Normally the 150 LIBS laser shots from each sol’s observation are spaced out over a five-point raster at 30 shots per point, but this time we are concentrating all 150 laser shots on the same spot on the rock. Since each laser shot vaporizes a very small amount of the rock to form a plasma, the 150-shot profile should penetrate approximately five times deeper than a normal 30-shot point observation. We will thus be able to observe the composition deeper inside the exposed crystal form and see whether it’s different from the surface-level composition. There are several reasons this could be the case including exposure of the surface to the modern Martian environment and also the circumstances in which the crystal form developed originally, so it’s an experiment worth pursuing.

The LIBS, DRT and APXS will also be applied to the “Nazca” spot before the preload test to characterize its surface composition as thoroughly as possible before drilling. The third LIBS of the plan will go to “Condor,” a nearby block in which a finely layered texture is exposed.

We also continued to observe the modern Martian environment as twilight cloud season begins. In this plan we included some nighttime imaging of the larger and brighter of Mars’ two satellites, Phobos. Capturing images of Phobos and the nearby sky when Phobos is full can show sunlight reflecting off the moon and scattering in the Martian atmosphere, providing a good way to estimate the particle sizes in the Martian clouds. We can do similar measurements sometimes with solar observations, but the Phobos data allow us to measure cloud particle sizes later in the night. We expect to be measuring high-altitude carbon dioxide (CO₂) clouds in this observation.

• Want to read more posts from the Curiosity team?

  Visit Mission Updates

• Want to learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments?

  Visit the Science Instruments page

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Some 27 million years ago, a volcano in what’s now southeastern Arizona unleashed a spectacular series of eruptions, strewing more than 1,000 times as much volcanic material across the landscape as Mount St. Helens did in 1980.

The explosive eruptions blanketed the region, part of the Chiricahua Apache Nation’s traditional lands, with ash and pumice. Layered into this were massive pyroclastic flows that hardened into deposits of welded rhyolitic tuff that in some areas were nearly 1,600 feet (500 meters) thick, about three times the height of the Washington Monument. As the magma chamber emptied, the ground above it collapsed, leaving a gaping depression—the Turkey Creek caldera—that was roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide and 4,900 feet (1,500 meters) deep.

An array of geologic processes, including erosion and weathering, gradually sculpted the welded layer of tuff into the collection of dramatic spires, hoodoos, and canyons that visitors to the caldera area encounter today.

The Apache called the area “The Land of the Standing-Up Rocks” for good reason. Hiking through Rhyolite Canyon or driving through Bonita Canyon means encountering a dizzying maze of rock pinnacles, some hundreds of feet tall. Others, like Big Balanced Rock, have surprisingly large boulders precariously perched on top. Meanwhile, those at Heart of Rocks and Massai Point are gathered into groups of hundreds.

The area was designated a national monument in 1924 to preserve its remarkable geology. In October 2026, it was redesignated as Chiricahua National Park (pronounced cheery-cow-ah). The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 captured this cloud-free image of the new national park on July 2, 2026.

Individual rock spires are too small to distinguish, but the eroding rhyolitic tuff landscape appears gray. Stream valleys dense with trees and other vegetation, including Rhyolite Canyon and Bonita Canyon, snake across the landscape. With four biogeographic regions converging in the park—the Sonoran Desert, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Madre—it is a haven of plant diversity.

Among the 1,000 species growing within the park’s varied desert, grassland, chaparral, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest ecosystems are agaves, prickly pear cacti, yuccas, manzanita, pine, fir, cypress, sycamore, juniper, and oak. The park’s location within the Chiricahua Mountains puts it among several “sky islands” in Arizona—isolated mountain ranges that emerge from the surrounding desert “sea.” According to the National Park Service, the range’s highest point (outside the park) rises 2,986 meters (9,795 feet) above sea level, more than 1,800 meters above the surrounding valley.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

July 2, 2026

JPEG (6.09 MB)

References & Resources

• The Conversation (2026, October 21) Chiricahua is the nation’s newest national park – what does that mean? Accessed October 27, 2026.
• National Geographic (2026, October 26) How Volcanoes Helped Forge America’s Newest National Park. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• National Park Service (2026) NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• National Park Service (2026) Chiricahua National Park. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• National Park Service (2026) Geologic Formations. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• Smithsonian Magazine (2026, October 22) Arizona’s Otherworldly ‘Wonderland of Rocks’ Is Now America’s Newest National Park. Accessed October 27, 2026.
• U.S. Department of the Interior (2026, October 21) Chiricahua National Monument Becomes America’s Newest National Park. Accessed October 27, 2026.

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The four volunteers who lived and worked in a simulated NASA Mars mission for more than a year will exit their habitat on Saturday, Oct. 31, after 378 days of isolation in a facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Health and performance data collected from the simulation can help NASA develop methods to counter human spaceflight risks for future Artemis and Moon Base missions.

Beginning at 3 p.m. EDT, NASA will provide live coverage of the volunteers’ departure from the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA, pronounced cha-pea’-ah) mission habitat. The exit ceremony will be streamed on NASA Johnson’s YouTube and social accounts.

Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche and NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway will provide remarks. The CHAPEA crew members Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, James Spicer, and Matthew Montgomery also will provide remarks.

Media are invited to watch the CHAPEA Mission 2 ceremony live at NASA Johnson on a screen outside the hangar holding the CHAPEA facility, after which a subject matter expert will be available in person to answer questions. Media will have the opportunity to capture the moment the crew exits the building, stepping outside for the first time in more than a year.

U.S. media interested in attending the activities in person, or media interested in speaking virtually with the CHAPEA Mission 2 crew members in the days following completion of their mission, must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30, at jsc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. 

The second CHAPEA mission began on Oct. 19, 2025. Four crew members have lived and worked inside a 3D-printed 1,700-square-foot facility, simulating Mars mission operations, conducting simulated spacewalks, exercising, performing habitat maintenance, growing plants, and more, while operating under stressors that future deep space crews will likely experience. These included communication delays, resource limitations, and isolation.

Data from the mission can aid preparation for NASA’s lunar missions by optimizing food system design, efficient use of crew time, bandwidth on NASA’s Deep Space Network, and other aspects of living in deep space. In addition, data can help flight doctors and psychologists strengthen spaceflight medical care and behavioral support practices to ensure crew readiness and performance.

To learn more about NASA’s CHAPEA mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea

-end-

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

Kelsey Spivey
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelsey.m.spivey@nasa.gov