2026-07-21 13:33
2026-07-20 19:31
2026-07-20 20:34
2026-07-21 09:08
2026-07-21 14:53

This composite photo released on July 17, 2026, shows the crescent of Mars grow as NASA’s Psyche spacecraft approached the planet for a gravity assist.
Psyche flew by Mars on May 15, 2026, using the planet’s gravity to gain speed and slightly tilt its trajectory. The flyby also gave the team an opportunity to prep for the science they will be conducting when they reach the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in 2029.
Watch a timelapse of the encounter.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
2026-07-21 14:30

To submit a request, visit NASA General Information Request Form and complete the form. You will receive an automated email with the most commonly requested grant status information.
Important Instructions:
How to Fill Out the Form:
Guidance Regarding OMB Memorandum M-25-14 and Recent Temporary Restraining Orders
Update on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Executive Orders – January 29, 2025
On January 23, 2025, NASA’s Office of Procurement (OP) released a memorandum for the NASA contractor and grant community regarding Executive Order “Initial Rescission of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” and the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) memorandum “Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders.”
Per OP’s memo, NASA grant and cooperative agreement recipients shall immediately cease and desist all DEIA activities required for their grant. This work may include but is not limited to: DEIA plan requirements, training, workshops, reporting, considerations for staffing, or any other direct or indirect grant activity related to DEIA. All grant recipients shall notify their cognizant Grant Officer if they identify requirements within their grants that are in violation of this guidance. Your Grant Officer’s contact information can be found on your NF 1687, Notice of Award for Grant and Cooperative Agreement (NOA).
Thank you for your work and partnership with NASA.
In FY2025, NASA separated the Terms and Conditions from the GCAM to create a standalone document. This document outlines both the general and specific terms and conditions and applies to all awards issued under 2 CFR 1800 (NASA’s adoption of 2 CFR 200.)
NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions – January 2026
Administrative Supplement Requests Templates :
No Cost Extension (NCE) Request Form
Other Administrative Supplement Request Form
Principal Investigator (PI) Change Request Form
Period of Performance (POP) Change Form
Submit via email to NSSC-ADMIN-SUPPLEMENT REQUEST
PI Transfer Requests:
Submit via email to NSSC-Grants-PI-Transfer
Grantees are strongly encouraged to use the NASA Insignia Format identified in the guidelines at NASA Insignia Guidelines for NASA Grantees. These guidelines aim to increase awareness of NASA’s mission activities via Grantee partnerships for a broader and more diverse population.
NASA uses a service provider, currently the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Payment Management System (PMS), to provide Federal funds to recipients. PMS will provide instructions to the recipients for registering and requesting funds through the system.
NASA is responsible for routine post-award monitoring on all awards, regardless of the award’s risk determination. At a minimum, routine monitoring includes reviewing award recipients’ annual performance reports, semi-annual Federal Financial Report (FFR), and Transactions Testing Review.
All NASA award recipients must submit annual performance reports. Annual reports are due to NASA 60 days prior to the annual anniversary of the award’s POP start date (e.g., if the POP of an award is October 1 – September 30, the report would be due 60 days prior to October 1.)
Recipients will submit their semi-annual FFRs in PMS:
Period 1 (October 1 – March 31): Due by April 30 each year.
Period 2 (April 1 – September 30): Due by October 30 of each year.
Final FFRs are due 120 days after the end of the POP
Additional information and training are available on the Payment Management System website at https://pms.psc.gov/. The PMS help desk number is 1-877-614-5533.
Post-Award Certifications and Representations
Current and Pending Support (CPS) Form
NASA Pre-Award and Post-Award Disclosure Requirements
The NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM) provides pre and post award policy guidance to NASA proposers and award-managing personnel and award recipients to implement government-wide and NASA-specific regulations for applying for, awarding and administering grants and cooperative agreements with educational and non-profit organizations; State, local, and Indian tribal governments; and for-profit organizations.
In FY2025, NASA separated the Terms and Conditions from the GCAM to create a standalone document. This document outlines both the general and specific terms and conditions and applies to all awards issued under 2 CFR 1800 (NASA’s adoption of 2 CFR 200.)
NASA implemented the Federal-wide research terms and conditions for all research and research-related grant and cooperative agreement awards issued under 2 CFR 1800 (NASA’s adoption of 2 CFR 200). The Research Terms and Conditions implement the requirements of the Uniform Guidance and includes three companion documents:
RTC Appendix A: Prior Approval Matrix, RTC Appendix B: Subaward Requirements, and RTC Appendix C: National Policy Requirements).
The Research Terms and Conditions and companion documents are accessible on the NSF website.
To file a complaint regarding denial of equal opportunity or discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age; go to
https://oig.nasa.gov/hotline.html
1-800-424-9183
300 E Street, S.W. Suite 8V39
Washington, DC 20546-0001
NASA OIG Hotline
http://missionstem.nasa.gov/filing-a-complaint.html
Grants.gov
NSSC Grants Payment Package
NASA Research Opportunities Online (NSPIRES)
System for Award Management (SAM)
2026-07-21 14:03
Human exploration of Mars will expose crews to a persistent, fine particulate environment whose physicochemical properties and health implications remain only partly understood. Because no samples of authentic Martian airborne dust have been returned to Earth, NASA must rely on lunar dust toxicology, Martian regolith simulants, and extensive rover/lander geochemical and mineralogical datasets to develop an initial, risk‑informed Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL). The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Lunar and Martian Dust Risk Custodian, the JSC Toxicology group, and the OCHMO Standards team worked together to draft a preliminary standard for incorporation into NASA-STD-3001 NASA Spaceflight Human-System Standard, Volume 2: Human Factors, Habitability, and Environmental Health.
The Martian Dust Limit Working Group was assembled to review this draft standard and associated evidence. Across two working sessions in February 2026, panel members reviewed mission architecture drivers, the current scientific understanding of Martian dust composition, and the toxicological evidence base supporting the establishment of a Mars dust PEL. Discussions emphasized the critical interplay between dust standards and Mars mission design elements including Extravehicular Activity (EVA) cadence, dust ingress characteristics, and the performance of habitat environmental control systems; these features highlight the need for a limit that is conservative, verifiable, and adaptable as the Mars architecture evolves. Panel members for the Working Group were David Damby, Claire Horwell, Brian Hynek, Shaunna Morrison, and Joyce Tsuji; NASA presenters were Katie Borremans, Elizabeth Rampe, and Torin McCoy; the OCHMO organizers/moderators were Douglas Ebert, David Francisco, and Kim Lowe. The Working Group meetings were also attended by members of Space Medicine and Operations group and JSC Toxicology.
Evaluate NASA’s proposed derivation of this initial standard
The panel concluded that NASA’s approach to deriving a 30‑day continuous PEL of 0.1 mg/m³ is reasonable and appropriately conservative for early short‑stay missions. This value originates from the established lunar 30‑day PEL (0.4 mg/m³), reduced by a 3x database uncertainty factor to account for knowledge gaps in Martian dust toxicity, higher iron content, amorphous constituents, and differences between simulants and actual dust. Members supported this framework, noting that a continuous limit applied using measured time‑weighted averages is more practical than making assumptions tied to fixed dust clearance rates given the diversity of spacecraft designs. They also acknowledged that near‑term exposures will be peak‑driven (e.g., post‑EVA suit ingress) and therefore recommended that the standard explicitly address the need to manage short‑duration spikes.
Identify chemical constituents requiring further scrutiny
The panel affirmed that overall dust mass remains the primary near‑term engineering concern, but several chemical constituents warrant attention. Chromium 6+, manganese, and perchlorate were all considered low‑risk in the context of inhaled Martian dust, provided the overall dust PEL is applied (see below). However, perchlorate was recommended for broader agency‑level exposure management across multiple intake routes (e.g., ingestion due to in situ crop growth). Iron was discussed in detail due to its high abundance in Martian regolith and its potential to generate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), though current toxicology shows no clear link between iron‑driven ROS and pulmonary harm; still, knowledge gaps led the panel to prioritize iron for further study and potential Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration (SMAC) development. Arsenic was judged unlikely to pose meaningful risk at present.
Weigh the merits of an overall dust limit versus separate SMACs
Chemical constituents embedded within Martian dust were evaluated with respect to whether independent SMACs are warranted. Based on rover observations indicating predominantly trivalent chromium, low airborne perchlorate, and manganese concentrations well below conservative SMAC thresholds at the proposed PEL, the group agreed that the overall dust limit is likely sufficiently protective for expected 30‑day missions. However, panel members advised that SMACs be maintained for select constituents such as perchlorate and manganese for mission‑planning crosschecks. From the requirement perspective, an overall Martian dust PEL approach was favored for practicality and clarity, with constituent-specific SMACs retained or developed only where they add tangible operational value.
Refine the standard’s technical language for operational use
The working group also refined the standard language to ensure clarity and consistency in implementation. Members recommended that the limit apply to a specified time‑weighted average measurement period but also making it explicit that the requirement is for protection during continuous exposure. They encouraged incorporation of peak‑exposure management within the rationale, and highlighted uncertainties related to iron content, nanophase iron, and oxidative potential so that future revisions can incorporate emerging scientific insight.
The new requirement established for NASA-STD-3001 is as follows:
[V2 6253] The system shall limit the concentrations of Martian dust particles less than 10 μm in size in the habitable atmosphere below a 24-hour time-weighted average of 0.1 mg/m3 during exposure scenarios lasting up to 30 days in duration.
Taken together, the working group’s deliberations reinforce that an initial Martian dust standard must balance conservatism with operational feasibility while accommodating architectural and scientific uncertainty. The proposed requirement provides a defensible, evidence‑informed foundation for design, verification, and risk communication. As additional Martian data and toxicological research become available, this standard should be periodically revisited to ensure continued protection of crew health during human exploration of Mars.
For more information on the results of the working group, see link to the special publication below:
2026-07-21 13:00
A team of NASA-sponsored scientists and engineers has developed a novel approach to observing high-energy particles in the near-Earth space environment, incorporating miniaturized sensors into a compact, multi-view particle detection instrument unlike any before it. Built for NASA’s Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL) CubeSat mission, the innovative instrument (also called REAL) enables more complete measurements of how energetic particles are transported and lost in Earth’s radiation environment, opening the door to improved understanding of space weather effects in low Earth orbit (LEO) while also making these unparalleled observations accessible to future small, low-cost spacecraft.
Billions of high-energy charged particles are magnetically trapped around Earth in doughnut-shaped regions called the Van Allen radiation belts. These belts typically form two distinct zones: an inner belt dominated by high-energy protons and an outer belt composed primarily of energetic electrons. Together, they pose a persistent hazard to satellites throughout Earth orbit that modern society depends on, including GPS satellites, and satellites that provide telephone and internet services. The outer belt, in particular, contains so-called killer electrons — particles energetic enough to penetrate satellite shielding and trigger damaging electrical discharges or operational anomalies.
Because of these risks, scientists have spent decades working to better understand and predict how the radiation belts behave. But complicating that effort is how dynamic they can be, particularly the outer belt, where populations of energetic electrons can build up and then rapidly drop off. At times, these electrons are lost from the belts, sometimes plunging into Earth’s atmosphere in microbursts lasting just 100 milliseconds, and other times in longer events that unfold over minutes to hours.
“Radiation particles can be trapped in the Van Allen belts for long periods, going back and forth along magnetic field lines, but if some interaction directs them more closely along Earth’s magnetic field lines, they plunge into the atmosphere,” explained Thomas Sotirelis, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where the REAL instrument was developed. Sotirelis is the originator of the REAL instrument’s sensor concept and serves as instrument scientist for the REAL mission.
These loss events, known as energetic electron precipitation (EEP), represent one of the primary ways electrons are lost from the radiation belts and play an important role in their dynamics. But while researchers have identified plasma waves as likely drivers of these events, the underlying physics — e.g., whether electron scattering occurs gradually through diffusive processes or rapidly through nonlinear interactions — is still uncertain.

Successfully launched on July 23, 2025, the REAL instrument can distinguish between these potential modes, making it possible to investigate their relative importance and determine which, if any, waves are responsible for electron fallout. Leveraging recent advancements in sensor miniaturization, the instrument includes three sensor heads — a low-, medium-, and high-energy head with two, five, and four simultaneous look directions, respectively — integrated with four electronic boards. Together, they occupy only about half of the REAL CubeSat and use a time resolution sufficient to resolve microbursts of electrons with energies ranging from 40 keV up to 2 MeV. As its parent 3U CubeSat flies in LEO, REAL points along Earth’s magnetic field and can simultaneously measure the quantity, energy, and angle of the particles as they fall into the atmosphere — a first-of-its-kind capability.
“Most CubeSats can observe particles from only a single direction, so they have to spin in order to build up a full picture — and that takes a few seconds, too slow to capture microbursts,” said space physicist Robyn Millan of Dartmouth College, who serves as the REAL mission principal investigator. “With REAL, we’ve managed to squeeze three sensors, each with multiple look directions, into the top of this 100-by-100-millimeter head, allowing us to capture those measurements all at once. We’re really proud of that.”
The high-energy head consists of a 30-millimeter-thick aluminum collimator with four apertures, each spanning 20 degrees of pitch angle. Each aperture connects to an active area on a solid-state detector (SSD) at the base. The medium-energy head similarly uses an SSD base but instead employs five active areas that connect to a 22-millimeter-thick aluminum collimator with five apertures, each spanning 20 degrees of pitch angle. The low-energy head, on the other hand, is a miniature electrostatic analyzer (ESA) consisting of titanium electrodes sandwiched between etched silicon selector slits. These lie on top of a microchannel plate (MCP). The low-energy head uses 36 apertures, two look directions (±40 degrees), and 15 channels to measure electrons with lower energies, from 1 keV to 40 keV.
The pitch-angle-resolved measurements from these different look directions make it possible to distinguish precipitating, quasi-trapped, and trapped electron populations from each other, on timescales as short as 20 milliseconds, thereby more accurately quantifying the rate of electron loss and its impact on Earth’s atmosphere.

Just as importantly, this novel capability demonstrates that measurements once requiring large, resource-intensive missions can now be achieved with compact, cost-effective instruments on small satellites. This shift enables new, more complex mission concepts and technologies and paves the way for CubeSat constellations that could continuously observe Earth’s radiation environment and help us to better protect the space-based systems modern society depends on.
All three sensor heads in REAL are still functioning nominally and continue to collect valuable science data. In fact, the REAL team recently fine-tuned the instrument (changing threshold settings, etc.) to improve its sensitivity.
Project Lead(s): Dr. Tom Sotirelis, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Dr. Robyn Millan, Dartmouth College
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Heliophysics Division’s Heliophysics Flight Opportunities in Research and Technology (H-FORT) program
2026-07-21 04:00
The Wabanaki people have a deep well of creation myths explaining the rocky coastlines of the Bay of Fundy, Downeast Maine, and Acadia National Park. Many involve Glooscap—a magical figure said to have floated down the Bay of Fundy in a stone canoe, sculpting coastal features by scraping the vessel across the landscape and scattering enormous boulders during battles with primordial beavers, frogs, moose, whales, and other gigantic animals.
Fewer Indigenous creation myths survive to explain the origins of the sandy and marshy shorelines of southern Maine and the rocky, indented coasts of the state’s Midcoast region. But the sharp contrast between the sandy shoals and beaches south of Portland and the rocky shoreline of promontories, headlands, and narrow peninsulas to the east—visible in the Landsat image above—has long drawn the attention of coastal geologists, whose scientific explanations on its origins abound.
The coastal transition reflects both differences in the underlying bedrock and the distribution of sediment left behind by the last glacial maximum, coastal geologists say. Southern Maine has broad deposits of sand, much of it sourced from rivers. The sandy beaches of Saco Bay, for instance, home to Maine’s longest contiguous beach and the state’s largest saltmarsh, received sediment from the weathering and breakdown of the White Mountains, with material transported to the coast largely by the Saco River, explained Peter Slovinsky, a geologist with the Maine Geological Survey. Waves and tides reworked these soft sediments over time, sculpting them into the arch-shaped embayed beaches and sprawling salt marshes found around Saco Bay and the broader region.
While erosion-resistant granite juts from the sandy shorelines in southern Maine to form rocky headlands, metamorphic bedrock becomes the dominant surface feature east of Portland. There, whole ridges and valleys made of rock layers transformed by exposure to high pressures and temperatures define the landscape. During the last ice age, glaciers scoured and widened many of these coastal valleys, which later flooded as the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted and sea levels rose.
Around Casco Bay, these ridge-and-valley systems, combined with the drowning of the shoreline, produce the jagged, highly indented shoreline and many long, narrow islands seen today. “The tortured folds of these old landscapes also set up a sharp directional preference for erosion to exploit,” said Nicholas Whiteman, also a geologist with the Maine Geological Survey. “This led to the eye-catching difference in the orientation of the islands and necks that dominate Casco Bay compared with those to the northeast.”
The various forms that coastlines take fascinate geologists, but they also carry everyday implications for the economies of Maine’s coastal communities. While tourists flock to the sandy beaches of communities like Saco and Kennebunkport, the state’s iconic lobster fisheries are concentrated in Midcoast Maine. The crustaceans thrive in the cold waters of the region’s many rocky, protected inlets, turning communities such as Harpswell into leaders in lobster landings.
The state’s oyster farms are also concentrated in this region. Casco Bay and the Damariscotta Estuary, sheltered from winds and waves, offer waters that farmers can easily access without large boats. These waters provide a range of temperatures, salinities, and other characteristics that create numerous microclimates where oysters can grow quickly and take on a variety of tastes, known as merroir, explained Tom Kiffney, a researcher at the University of Maine. Kiffney is part of a team of researchers using Landsat and other satellite observations to predict oyster growth rates and help identify the most promising locations for new oyster farms in Maine based on water temperatures and quality.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated from present-day Hudson Bay, rebounding land has revealed striking nearshore topography.

The expansive mudflats, sandy beaches, and mangrove forests of the Bijagós archipelago support an array of migratory shorebirds and large…

The coastal province features striking tropical karst landscapes and sandy beaches alongside a mix of natural land cover and developed…
2026-07-21 15:00
2026-07-21 14:54
2026-07-21 14:48
2026-07-21 14:15
2026-07-21 14:13