Author: [email protected]

This letter from SARA is to issue a waiver for NASA grantees attending the 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), allowing them to be reimbursed out of their grants for their actual lodging, although it’s expected to be above the approved GSA amount. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. Note: I have specified grants (including cooperative agreements). This may also apply to those traveling on NASA contracts, but they should communicate with their contracting officers. The host hotel for the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on March 10–14,…

Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 27 min read Summary of the Third Annual AEOIP Workshop Introduction The Applied Earth Observations Innovation Partnership (AEOIP) was established in 2018 to facilitate knowledge coproduction and optimization of NASA Earth observations that can be used by natural resource managers for decision making. Through continued iteration and reflection, coproduction brings together stakeholders to share responsibilities and the completion of activities towards a common goal. AEOIP enables strong collaborations between NASA and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), along…

NASA/Kim Shiflett From left, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jenni Gibbons, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman participate in a media day event on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Gibbons and Douglas are Artemis II backup crew members. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit points a camera outside a window on the International Space Station’s Poisk module for a sun photography session. (Credit: NASA) Students from Hawthorne Elementary School in Boise, Idaho, will have the chance to hear NASA astronaut Don Pettit answer their prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related questions from aboard the International Space Station. Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 12:30 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media. Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by…

5 min read NASA’s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth’s Magnetosphere A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation. The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support NASA’s goal to understand how…

This map depicts global temperature anomalies for meteorological summer in 2024 (June, July, and August). It shows how much warmer or cooler different regions of Earth were compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. (Credit: NASA/NOAA) Climate researchers from NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will release their annual assessments of global temperatures and discuss the major climate trends of 2024 during a media briefing at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10. NASA will share the briefing on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/live. Participants will include: Gavin Schmidt, director, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Russ…

4 Min Read Lagniappe for January 2025 Explore the January 2025 issue, highlighting the year in review at NASA Stennis, and how to become a NASA test conductor at the official visitor center and more! Explore Lagniappe for January 2025 featuring: NASA Stennis Celebrates Key Testing, Operations Milestones in 2024 NASA Exhibit Puts Visitors in Test Conductor Seat NASA Stennis Hosts Mississippi Kween Gator Speaks Gator SpeaksNASA/Stennis This time of year is one Gator enjoys. The ending of one year and beginning of another provides the opportunity to reflect, reset, and refocus. This is true at NASA Stennis, a place…

2 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Heather Seagren grew up near NASA’s Stennis Space Center and visited for field trips as a child. Now, as a financial management specialist, Seagren coordinates work trips for NASA employees at the south Mississippi NASA center. NASA/Danny Nowlin A leap of faith for Heather Seagren eight years ago brought the Gulf Coast native to something new, yet also returned her to a familiar place at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Following graduation from Pearl River Community College, Seagren worked as an office manager at a pediatric…

Learn Home Science Activation NASA Workshops Culturally… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   2 min read NASA Workshops Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement with Educators From November 6-8, 2024, the NASA Science Activation Program’s Planetary Resources and Content Heroes (ReaCH) project held a Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement workshop at the Bradley Observatory at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia for the space sciences community, including planetary science, astrobiology, astronomy, and heliophysics professionals, as well as invited education specialists. To practice the skills learned in the workshop, participants facilitated a variety of…

3 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector, or NGLR-1, is one of 10 payloads set to fly aboard the next delivery for NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative in 2025. NGLR-1, outfitted with a retroreflector, will be delivered to the lunar surface to reflect very short laser pulses from Earth-based lunar laser ranging observatories. Photo courtesy Firefly Aerospace Apollo astronauts set up mirror arrays, or “retroreflectors,” on the Moon to accurately reflect laser light beamed at them from Earth with minimal scattering or diffusion. Retroreflectors are mirrors that reflect the incoming light…