2026-04-21 07:39
2026-04-18 17:00
2026-04-21 16:03
2026-04-21 13:40
2026-04-20 23:00
2026-04-21 09:14
2026-04-21 17:56
4 min read
Every second counts in the life-saving world of medical transplants. To help address that urgency, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is teaming up with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to explore faster, more reliable ways to transport donor organs using advanced aviation technologies.
NASA Langley and UNOS will collaborate under a new Space Act Agreement announced during a ceremony Tuesday at UNOS’ headquarters in Richmond, Va.
The partnership brings together NASA’s expertise in aviation research and UNOS’ role at the center of the U.S. transplant network. UNOS is a nonprofit organization that manages parts of the national organ donation and transplant system under contract with the federal government and has long supported innovation across the system.
While organs are routinely transported between cities by aircraft, ground logistics can introduce time-sensitive challenges, especially in congested or hard-to-reach areas. Through this agreement, NASA will apply its aeronautics expertise and flight research capabilities to evaluate whether drones can help reduce those delays, improve delivery timelines, potentially improving medical outcomes.
“This is a chance to apply NASA Langley technology to a real-world problem that can save people’s lives who are waiting for transplants,” said John Koelling, director, Aeronautics Research Directorate at NASA Langley. “There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your technical work have a positive impact on people’s lives.”
The collaboration focuses on identifying key challenges in organ transportation and determining how NASA-developed tools such as advanced modeling, flight planning, sensing technologies, and safety systems can help. It allows UNOS and NASA to design research that meets medical field standards.
The work also includes evaluating how drones perform when carrying sensitive biological materials in realistic environments. The first test will be conducted using NASA Langley’s City Environment Range Testing for Autonomous Integrated Navigation (CERTAIN), which provides a unique capability to safely fly drones in real-world conditions beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) without the need for ground-based spotters. This capability enables researchers to explore longer-distance and more complex delivery scenarios that better reflect the time-sensitive nature of organ transport.
After the initial flight evaluations, an animal test organ will be assessed to determine whether it remains viable for transplant, including assessing factors such as temperature stability and potential tissue damage caused by a lack of blood flow.
“The idea that something of worldwide benefit could be created in our own backyard is pretty exciting,” Koelling said.
For NASA, the agreement demonstrates how technologies developed for aviation and space can directly benefit people on Earth. For UNOS, the partnership reflects its commitment to exploring innovative solutions to strengthen the organ donation and transplant system.
If early drone testing proves successful, the partnership may expand to further evaluate operational feasibility and scalability, helping determine whether drones could become a viable option for time-critical medical deliveries.
“It feels great that we’ve made real steps forward in research that is paving the way for life-saving measures using drones,” said Lena Pascale, regional partnerships lead, Strategic Partnerships Office at NASA Langley.
As this collaboration progresses, it highlights how NASA Langley’s research and expertise could revolutionize the medical transplant process, make a lasting impact on patient care, and save lives.
Kimiko Booker
NASA Langley Research Center
2026-04-21 17:41
6 min read

NASA successfully sent four astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, setting the stage for future lunar landing missions. As the agency continues to push the bounds of space exploration, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley provided essential support in preparing for the mission.
Artemis II was the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis program. Launching on April 1, 2026, the mission demonstrated systems and hardware needed for deep space missions. Four astronauts – NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA’s (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – spent approximately 10 days traveling around the Moon and back inside the Orion spacecraft. The test flight built on lessons learned and results from the uncrewed test flight of Artemis I, which launched on November 16, 2022.
Ames continued to build on its contributions from Artemis I, advancing research, engineering, science, and technology for Artemis II.
After the crew set eyes on the far side of the Moon, making observations that will help us prepare for future lunar exploration, they began a four-day journey home. Orion returned home to Earth on a free return trajectory, being naturally pulled back by Earth’s gravity and entering the atmosphere at about 25,000 mph. Its heat shield protected the spacecraft from temperatures up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during reentry.
NASA learned from Artemis I that Orion’s heat shield experienced more char loss than expected, caused by internal gas buildup during reentry. While Artemis I was uncrewed, flight data showed that had crew been aboard, they would have been safe. Engineers used revised analysis methods and extensive arc jet material testing to help understand root cause, reproduce the char loss, and ensured the heat shield would perform as intended during Orion’s return to Earth on a modified trajectory.
Ames engineers and researchers developed a suite of sensors to provide heat shield performance data during reentry, including temperature and pressure information. Ames also contributed to Orion’s 3D-MAT compression pads, which connect the crew module to the service module. This technology maintains strength under extreme heat while insulating the spacecraft. Developed through collaboration with small businesses, 3D-MAT demonstrates how NASA innovations can impact human spaceflight and beyond.
Understanding the heating conditions Orion faced during reentry as well as potential abort scenarios was key to mission success. The Ames Aerosciences team provided support in these key aerothermal simulations and developed an innovative tool that combines onboard pressure sensor data from Orion with advanced computer modeling. The result predicted the spacecraft’s path back to Earth more accurately, making reentry safer, more precise, and improving mission confidence.
The SLS rocket experienced higher-than-expected vibrations near the solid rocket booster attach points during Artemis I, caused by unsteady airflow between the boosters and the core stage. To address this, engineers added four strakes – thin, fin-like structures – to the SLS core stage for Artemis II. These strakes change the airflow and reduce vibration, improving safety during ascent. Ames, in collaboration with other centers, played a key role in validating this solution through supercomputer modeling and advanced wind tunnel testing using Unsteady Pressure Sensitive Paint and high-speed cameras.
The team also reviewed potential debris impacts and analyzed the impact of strengthening parts of the vehicle after larger-than-expected debris was observed during Artemis I. Ames engineers also supported launch operations by monitoring aerodynamic data and debris analysis in real time.
This collaboration between wind tunnel engineers, data visualization scientists, and software developers delivered a quick, cost-effective solution that combines physical testing with computational modeling, building on NASA Ames’s history of using supercomputer simulations to further testing and research across the agency. The result is a refined rocket designed and optimized for Artemis II’s historic journey.
Ames funding through the Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program also led to new innovations that supported both Orion and SLS, including advanced material design, software development, safety sensors, and acoustic modeling.
As members of the Artemis II lunar science team, Ames scientists worked with flight operations at NASA’s Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to lead and guide the Artemis II crew through the mission’s lunar observations. Key science objectives included studying lunar color, impact history, tectonic features, and future landing sites, as well as characterizing dynamic events such as impact flashes.
The Ames scientists have been members of a team that trained the Artemis II crew over several years to use their eyes – remarkably sensitive instruments – to observe, describe, and interpret geologic variations in lunar features during the flyby. After launch, a timeline of targeted observations built by the lunar science team guided the crew to describe and photograph specific lunar targets, including craters, volcanic formations, and surface colorations. These firsthand observations, paired with imagery from Orion, create a unique dataset to inform future human exploration of the Moon.
Ames also supported mission assurance through its Mission and Fault Management team, which helps the agency anticipate and respond to potential problems by testing systems, verifying software, and creating tools to detect issues early through simulation and scenario testing.
The Cross-Program Integrated Data Systems team at Ames developed a suite of software products to support flight readiness, risk assessment, and decision making up to the moment of launch.
During Artemis II, Ames experts served as backup console operators and contributed to real-time analysis, helping NASA respond quickly to unexpected conditions. These efforts strengthened the reliability of critical systems and reduced risk for the crew.
Ames experts are heavily involved in the post-flight data analysis effort assessing the performance of the Mission and Fault Management logic during the Artemis II flight.
Learn more:
Ames contributions to Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/what-are-ames-contributions-to-artemis-i/
For news media:
Artemis II press kit: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-press-kit/
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
2026-04-21 17:26
2 min read
NASA was recognized today by the 30th Annual Webby Awards with two Webby Awards and five Webby People’s Voice Awards, the latter of which are awarded by the voting public. Reflecting the tremendous growth of the Internet, The Webbys now honors excellence in 8 major media types: Websites & Mobile Sites; Video & Film; Advertising, Media & PR; Podcasts; Social & Games; Apps, Software & Immersive; Creators; and new this year, AI.
Since 1998, NASA has been nominated for more than 100 Webby Awards, winning 51 Webbys and 72 People’s Voice Awards.
NASA’s Curious Universe Podcast | Earth Series
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Podcasts, Health, Science and Education (Limited Series and Specials)
NASA’s Webb Telescope and the Universe: Using Social Media to Connect Us All
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Social, Education and Science
NASA Astronauts Posts From Space
People’s Voice Winner
Social, Education and Science
Hearing Hubble
People’s Voice Winner
Apps, Software and Immersive, Science and Education
Houston We Have a Podcast | Artemis II: The Mission
People’s Voice Winner
Podcasts, Science and Education (Individual Episodes)
Established in 1996 during the web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the IADAS—a 3000+ member judging body. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities—and associate members who are former Webby winners, nominees and other internet professionals.
The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open web, the Webby People’s Voice is chosen by the voting public, and garners millions of votes from all over the world.
2026-04-21 15:30

This observation from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, released on March 23, 2026, gives an unparalleled, detailed look at the aftermath of a supernova and how it has evolved over the telescope’s long lifetime.
Hubble captured the nebula’s intricate filamentary structure, as well as the considerable outward movement of those filaments over 25 years, at a pace of 3.4 million miles per hour.
Learn more about the Crab Nebula.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
2026-04-21 15:00
After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars.
Scientists have no way of knowing whether these organic molecules were created by biologic or geologic processes — either path is possible — but their discovery renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life. What’s more, the molecules join a growing list of compounds known to be preserved in rocks even after billions of years of exposure on Mars to radiation, which can break down these molecules over time.
The findings are detailed in a new paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
The rock sample, nicknamed “Mary Anning 3” after an English fossil collector and paleontologist, was collected on a part of Mount Sharp covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago. This oasis surged and dried up multiple times in the planet’s ancient past, eventually enriching the area with clay minerals, which are especially good at preserving organic compounds — carbon-containing molecules that are the building blocks of life and are found throughout the solar system.
Among the newly identified molecules is a nitrogen heterocycle, a ring of carbon atoms that includes nitrogen. This kind of molecular structure is considered a predecessor to RNA and DNA, two nucleic acids that are key to genetic information.
“That detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,” said the paper’s lead author, Amy Williams of the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Nitrogen heterorcycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.”

Another exciting discovery was benzothiophene, a carbon- and sulfur-bearing molecule that’s been found in many meteorites. These meteorites, along with the organic molecules within them, are thought by some scientists to have seeded prebiotic chemistry across the early solar system.
The new paper complements last year’s finding of the largest organic molecules ever discovered on Mars: long-chain hydrocarbons, including decane, undecane, and dodecane.
“This is Curiosity and our team at their best. It took dozens of scientists and engineers to locate this site, drill the sample, and make these discoveries with our awesome robot,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This collection of organic molecules once again increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past.”
Both sets of findings were made with a sophisticated minilab called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), located in Curiosity’s belly. A drill on the end of the rover’s robotic arm pulverizes a carefully selected rock sample into powder and then trickles it into SAM, where a high-temperature oven heats the material, releasing gases that instruments in the lab analyze to reveal the rock’s composition.
In addition, SAM can perform “wet chemistry,” dropping samples into a small cup of solvent. The resulting reactions can break apart larger molecules that would be difficult to detect and identify otherwise. While the instrument has several such cups, only two contain tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), a powerful solution reserved for the highest-value samples. The Mary Anning 3 sample was the first to be exposed to TMAH.
To verify TMAH’s reactions with otherworldly materials, the paper’s authors also tested the technique on Earth with a piece of the Murchison meteorite, one of the most studied meteorites of all time. More than 4 billion years old, Murchison contains organic molecules that were seeded throughout the early solar system. A Murchison sample exposed to TMAH was found to break much larger molecules into some of the ones seen in Mary Anning 3, including benzothiophene. That result verifies that the Martian molecules found in Mary Anning 3 could have been generated from the breakdown of even more complex compounds relevant to life.
Curiosity recently used its second and final TMAH cup while exploring weblike boxwork ridges, which were formed by ancient groundwater. The mission team will be analyzing those results for a future peer-reviewed paper.
Built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, SAM is based on larger, commercial-grade lab instruments. Getting such complex equipment into the rover required engineers to dramatically shrink it down and develop a way for it to run on less power. Scientists had to learn how to heat up SAM’s oven more slowly over longer periods in order to conduct some of these experiments.
“It was a feat just figuring out how to conduct this kind of chemistry for the first time on Mars,” said Charles Malespin, the instrument’s principal investigator at NASA Goddard and a study coauthor. “But now that we’ve had some practice, we’re prepared to run similar experiments on future missions.”
In fact, NASA Goddard has provided several components, including the mass spectrometer, for a next-generation version of SAM, called the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer, for ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. A similar instrument, the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, will explore Saturn’s moon Titan on NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft. Both instruments will be able to perform wet chemistry with the TMAH solvent.
Curiosity was built by JPL, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.
To learn more about Curiosity, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
News Media Contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
240-285-5155 / 202-672-4780
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
2026-024
2026-04-21 17:40
2026-04-21 17:11
2026-04-21 16:00
2026-04-21 16:00
2026-04-21 15:56