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About the PSI Users Group

The Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) Users Group is a recurring Webex forum that brings together researchers, open-science practitioners, and collaborators from across the physical sciences community. Designed to foster collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and data-driven discovery, each meeting provides participants with a platform to directly engage with leading researchers and PIs. Each month, a guest speaker is invited to present their physical sciences research, highlighting the experimental methods, findings, and the resulting datasets-all of which are accessible through the PSI database for further exploration. Through the featured presentations, the Users Group encourages interactive discussion, questions and networking, helping to build a engaged community dedicated to advancing open scientific research through use of NASA’s PSI.

Reach out to PSI to learn more or request to be added to the mailing list, psi-join@lists.nasa.gov.

February Spotlight

Plant Water Management (PWM) 5 & 6 experiments, led by PI Mark Weislogel, co-founder of IRPI LLC, were conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and demonstrated recirculating hydroponic and ebb-and-flow watering techniques in microgravity. The experiments systemically evaluated bubble behavior, gas-liquid phase separation and nutrient delivery across varied flow configurations and root analog densities.

The resulting data from PWM was recently published in the PSI database (PSI-187) and provides a comprehensive record of microgravity two-phase fluid dynamics in plant systems.

Results from this research can lead to technical risk reduction for future bioregenerative life support architectures and potentially strengthen NASA’s ability to develop reliable, scalable crop production systems for sustained lunar and Mars exploration.

During the February 19th Users Group, Dr. Weislogel presented his findings, highlighted potential research impacts and provided a walk-through of the PWM dataset in PSI. Given the relevance of these experiments to the biological sciences community, the invitation for this meeting was extended to the Biological and Physical Science’s (BPS) OSDR members, resulting in significant participation, productive cross-disciplinary discussions and connections.

Watch the recording from the February Users Group.

Upcoming Meetings

• Thursday, March 26 – 11AM
  • Guest Speaker: Prof. Tanvir Farouk/University of South Carolina
  • Topic: Effect of External Thermo-Convective Perturbation on Cool Flame Dynamics: A Multidimensional Multi-Physics CFD Analysis 
  • Summary: PSI-awarded research used microgravity combustion data from the FLEX investigation to validate and inform simulations of low-temperature combustion processes that are difficult to isolate under Earth’s buoyancy-driven convection.
  • At the scheduled time, join the Webex here.
• Thursday, April 30 – 11AM
  • Guest Speaker: Prof. Amir Riaz / University of Maryland
  • Topic: Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Mechanisms in Low Gravity: Numerical Experiments of MABE and NPBX Data
  • Summary: PSI-awarded research which used numerical simulations to analyze pool boiling heat transfer under microgravity conditions using experimental data from the 2011 MABE and NPBX experiments.
  • At the scheduled time, join the Webex here.
• Thursday, June 4 – 11AM
  • Guest Speaker: Dr. Rick Weber & Dr. Stephen Wilke / Materials Development Inc. (MDI)
  • Topic: The Origin of Fragility in High-Temperature Oxide Liquids – Toward Fabrication of Novel Non-Equilibrium Oxides (ELF-6 PRONTO)
  • Summary: Microgravity research which used containerless processing to measure the thermophysical properties of molten metal oxides, revealing how liquid fragility, atomic structure, and glass-forming behavior are correlated in high-temperature oxide systems.
  • At the scheduled time, join the Webex here.
• Thursday, July 26 – 11AM
  • Guest Speaker: Prof. Anand Oza / New Jersey Institute of Technology
  • Topic: Phase Transitions in Colloid-Polymer Mixtures in Microgravity
  • Additional details coming soon.

Sunlight beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025. This is an example of sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it. The result is a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water and back at the satellite sensor or astronaut.

While sunglint often produces visually stunning images, the phenomenon can create problems for remote sensing scientists because it obscures features that are usually visible. This is particularly true for oceanographers who use satellites to study phytoplankton and ocean color. As a result, researchers have developed several methods to screen sunglint-contaminated imagery out of data archives.

Despite the challenges posed by sunglint, the phenomenon does offer some unique scientific opportunities. It makes it easier, for instance, to detect oil on the water surface, whether it is from natural oil seeps or human-caused oil spills. This is because a layer of oil smooths water surfaces.

Text credit: Adam Voiland

Image credit: NASA

After delivering about 12,000 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, hardware, and other cargo to the International Space Station for NASA and its international partners, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s) uncrewed HTV‑X1 cargo spacecraft is scheduled to depart Friday, March 6.

Watch NASA’s live coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. EST on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel in advance of the spacecraft’s release at 12 p.m. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

On Thursday, March 5, flight controllers will use the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach HTV-X1 from the Harmony module’s Earth-facing port on the station and maneuver it into position for release. NASA will not provide live coverage of the spacecraft’s detachment from the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronaut Chris Williams will monitor HTV-X1’s systems during undocking and departure.

The HTV-X1 spacecraft will remain in orbit for more than three months acting as a scientific platform for JAXA’s experiments. Following the deorbit command, the spacecraft will dispose of several thousand pounds of trash during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up harmlessly.

The spacecraft arrived at the space station on Oct. 29, 2025, after launching Oct. 25 on an H3 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center.

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 space station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies concentrate on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a strong low Earth orbit economy, NASA is focusing its resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis campaign in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars.

Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Josh Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

Since the 1970s, planetary geologists have known that volcanic features cover large swaths of Mars. Early Mariner 9 images revealed massive shield volcanoes and lava plains on a scale unlike anything on Earth. Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system, stands nearly three times higher than Mount Everest. Alba Mons, the planet’s widest volcano, spans a distance comparable to the length of the continental United States.

Both Olympus Mons and Alba Mons were primarily built by basaltic effusive eruptions—relatively calm outpourings of “runny” lavas that spread across the surface in sheets. This is thought to be the most common type of volcanism on Mars, accounting for the vast majority of its volcanic landforms. However, a small portion was produced by explosive volcanism of the sort that forms volcanic cones, pyroclastic flows, and ashfalls.

The dearth of explosive volcanic features on Mars has long puzzled geologists. With an average atmospheric pressure 160 times lower than Earth’s and only a third of the gravity, explosive eruptions should theoretically occur more easily on the Red Planet, said Petr Brož, a planetary geologist with the Czech Academy of Sciences. That rarity is part of what makes features like the volcanic cones (shown above) found in Mars’ Ulysses Colles region so compelling to planetary geologists.

“They appear to be scoria cones—a clear sign of explosive volcanism,” Brož added. “They were the first identified in the Tharsis region in the 2010s, and they helped paint a broader and more complete picture of Martian volcanism.”

The CTX (Context Camera) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image (second image above) of Ulysses Colles above on May 7, 2014. Ulysses Colles is located at the southern edge of Ulysses Fossae, a group of troughs within the Tharsis volcanic region.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured an image with similar cones in the San Francisco Volcanic Field (SFVF) in northern Arizona on June 19, 2025 (top). Planetary geologists consider the cones in the two locations to be highly analogous. Both images also include grabens—linear blocks of crust that have shifted downward.

In both images, the scoria cones appear as rounded hills crowned with circular vents, while lava flows spread outward as dark, textured areas around the bases of the cones. At both locations, seemingly younger and smaller lava flows appear to spill from some cones, while older, more weathered flows lie in the background.

“Understanding similar features on Earth helps us know what to look for on Mars and interpret processes that we can’t observe directly,” said Patrick Whelley, a NASA volcanologist who is part of a team that develops field equipment and techniques for Moon and Mars exploration.

SP Crater (above left), located in Arizona’s San Francisco Volcanic Field, features a 7-kilometer-long lava flow that extends northward and has been used for NASA astronaut geology training. In two places, the flow has spilled into a graben, creating a distinctive half-moon pattern along its left side.

On Earth, scoria cones form when gas-rich magmas soar high into the air and solidify into small particles of material called scoria that accumulate in steep-sided structures. While similar processes create cones on Earth and Mars, there are important differences. Martian scoria cones are typically taller, wider, and have gentler slopes, Flynn said. That makes sense. With lower gravity and atmospheric pressure, volcanic fountains can loft erupted magma higher and farther from the vent, producing larger cones.

There are far more scoria cones on Earth, where tens of thousands exist and account for about 90 percent of volcanoes on land. On Mars, “we have only identified tens to a few hundred candidates,” Broz said. It could be that explosive volcanism was never common on Mars, or it could be that it was but that explosive features have been covered up by younger, effusive flows or destroyed by erosion, he added.   

Whelley noted that on Mars, it remains unclear whether the Martian lava flows or the scoria cones formed first. The lava flow could be older, with the cone forming on top. Or, the cone may have formed first and later become plugged, forcing lava to spill from its side. Determining the order of events is one of the “puzzles of geology” that planetary geologists try to solve when studying Martian features remotely, he said. “Visiting places like the San Francisco Volcanic Field and studying the geology of analogous features up close on Earth helps us know what clues to look for when interpreting Martian geology.”

Below (left) is a closer view of a scoria cone on Earth, southeast of SP Crater, called Sunset Crater. It erupted about 800 years ago, making it the youngest scoria cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field. The analogous cone in Ulysses Colles (right), in contrast, is thought to be billions of years old.

Note that eruptions that create scoria cones are “mildly explosive,” usually Strombolian events, characterized by intermittent lava fountains, said Ian Flynn, a planetary geologist at the University of Pittsburgh. They differ from the far more violent explosive eruptions that send ash columns billowing tens of kilometers into the air, as happened at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai in the South Pacific, he added.

Mars also shows evidence of highly explosive “super eruptions,” but that type of eruption leaves behind a different geologic signature: large depressions called paterae and broad, thin deposits of ash and other erodible material sculpted into landforms such as yardangs.

Planetary comparison is valuable for understanding the geology of distant worlds, Brož said. Without such comparisons, it becomes harder to determine how landforms on other planets or moons may have formed at all.

But caution is essential. “In planetary science, it’s often said—only half-jokingly—that even if something looks like a duck, behaves like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it may not actually be a duck,” he added. It’s easy, for instance, to confuse scoria cones with mud volcanoes.

Researchers are highly confident that the Ulysses Colles cones formed through explosive volcanism based on the surrounding volcanic landscape, but in more ambiguous terrain it can be difficult to tell. Mars is fundamentally different from Earth, he cautioned. Brož’s laboratory research suggests, for instance, that mud flows on Mars can look much like certain types of lava flows, and that, under certain conditions, they can even boil and levitate. “We also have to avoid being constrained by terrestrial experience,” he said. “If we fail to think outside the box, we may overlook important possibilities.”

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and CTX data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• Brož, P. Everything you wanted to know about Martian scoria cones, but were afraid to ask. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• Brož, P., et al. (2021) An overview of explosive volcanism on Mars. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 409(15), 107125.
• Brož, P., et al. (2014) Shape of scoria cones on Mars: Insights from numerical modeling of ballistic pathways. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 401(15), 14-23.
• Brož, P. & Hauber, E. (2012) A unique volcanic field in Tharsis, Mars: Pyroclastic cones as evidence for explosive eruptions. Icarus, 218(1), 88-99.
• Eos (2021, May 7) Tiny Volcanos Are a Big Deal on Mars. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• Gullikson, A. (2021) A Geologic Field Guide to S P Mountain and its Lava Flow, San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• Mouginis-Mark, P. (2022) Martian volcanism: Current state of knowledge and known unknowns. Geochemistry, 82(4), 125886.
• NASA (2026) Planetary Analog Explorer. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• NASA Planetary Analogs. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• NASA Planetary Analogs: News & Features. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2018, October 9) Flood Basalts on Earth and Mars. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center (2021, August 31) S P Mountain Field Guide. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• U.S. Geological Survey San Francisco Volcanic Field. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• Richardson, J.A., et al. (2021) Small Volcanic Vents of the Tharsis Volcanic Province, Mars. Accessed February 27, 2026.
• Whelley, P., et al. (2021) Stratigraphic Evidence for Early Martian Explosive Volcanism in Arabia Terra. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(15), e2021GL094109.

Light shines onto a solar concentrator being tested in this Aug. 7, 2025, photo. The concentrator is part of the Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project, which aims to produce oxygen from simulated lunar regolith for use at the Moon’s south pole. For this test, the team integrated the solar concentrator, mirrors, and software and confirmed the production of carbon monoxide.

If deployed on the Moon, this technology could enable the production of propellant using only lunar materials and sunlight, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of sustaining a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. The same downstream systems used to convert carbon monoxide into oxygen can also be adapted to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and methane on Mars.

The CaRD project was funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development Program, which advances technologies for the agency’s future space missions and solutions to significant national needs.

Image credit: NASA/Michael Rushing

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