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Written by Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Curiosity spent this week at Gale crater completing the last few activities associated with the “Nevado Sajama 2” drill before kicking off our final phase of the boxwork exploration campaign. As we’ve explored the boxwork region, the science team has divided up our activities into four phases: 

• Phase 1: First approach (sols 4534-4570 / May through June 2025) — This phase focused on making initial observations of the boxwork unit, which culminated in the team’s decision to drill at the Altadena location.
• Phase 2: Establish regional context (sols 4571-4599 / June through July 2025) — During this time, we collected additional observations of the boxwork unit between the Altadena drill location and arrival at the “main” boxwork area. This included stopping at the distinctive “Volcán Peña Blanca” feature.
• Phase 3: Exploration of the best expressed boxwork structures (sols 4600-4805 / July 2025 to February 2026) — This period was the heart of the boxwork campaign. During phase 3, we collected lots of observations of the most well-defined ridges and hollows within the boxwork unit, and we used what we learned to select locations where we wanted to drill a hollow and ridge. We selected targets named “Valle de la Luna” and “Nevado Sajama,” respectively.
• Phase 4: Our final look (sols 4805- ??? / February 2026 and beyond) — We’re kicking off this phase now, which will focus on some last measurements of ridges and hollows as well as an exploration of the contacts between the boxwork unit and adjacent geologic units to the east and south. Once this is completed, we’ll wrap up and continue our climb up Mount Sharp through the recently named “Valle Grande.”

Our first drive away from the Nevado Sajama drill took Curiosity northeast along one of the wide ridges. From near this spot, we have a good view of ridges and hollows to the east. We’re particularly interested in getting a better look of a hollow that, in orbital data, seems to have interesting-looking bedrock on its floor as well as a particularly narrow ridge that has many small ridges branching off it, which the team has dubbed “Los Flamencos.” These images will help us see if we want to drive to one or both features, and they will help us plan the exact places to drive next week. While we’re here, Curiosity will also collect lots of data on the bedrock in front of the rover, with APXS and MAHLI observations planned for targets named “Mollecita” and “Monte Cielo.” 

We got so much wonderful data from the drilling activities over the last few weeks, and it feels really good to be back on the Martian boxwork road again to begin this final phase of our boxwork unit campaign.

On February 5, 2026, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of snow-covered landscapes across Hokkaido. With more than 31 active volcanoes, the island features several large caldera lakes, including at least five that are visible in the image. (Calderas are large depressions formed by volcanic eruptions.) In the east, forested windbreaks around Nakashibetsu form a checkerboard pattern, while to the north, swirls of drifting sea ice adorn the Sea of Okhotsk.

Northern Japan, especially the island of Hokkaido, is home to some of the snowiest cities in the world. However, despite the region’s familiarity with heavy snowfall, winter 2026 got off to a disruptive start. A series of intense storms in January and February repeatedly paralyzed transportation systems, closing airports, snarling roadways, and suspending trains.

Read more about sea ice and snowstorms in Japan.

Text credit: Adam Voiland

Image credit: Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

High-altitude flight is getting increasing attention from sectors ranging from telecommunications to emergency response. To make that airspace more accessible, NASA is developing an air traffic management system covering those altitudes and supplementing its work with real-time data from a research balloon in Earth’s stratosphere. 

Aircraft at high altitudes – 50,000 feet or higher, or roughly 10,000 to 20,000 feet above most commercial traffic – offer new possibilities for delivering internet connectivity in regions in need of reliable service. And they can deliver unprecedented situational awareness for the ground below, providing early warnings for floods and other disasters.  

For these types of operations, “station-keeping,” or remaining in the same region for extended periods of time, can be ideal for aircraft including balloons and airships.  

These flights will require a different sort of air traffic management system from the ones that cover most commercial flights – and it needs to be dependable. That’s why NASA is working to produce a system that ensures aircraft can operate safely in high-altitude airspace, with a particular focus on station-keeping.  

 “Current high-altitude air traffic management is manual and piecemeal,” said Jeff Homola, researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “We saw the need for a scalable solution – something multiple operators in a shared airspace can safely rely on. Our system provides shared awareness of the airspace, identifies potential conflicts, enables cooperative conflict resolution, and allows operators to complete missions safely.” 

NASA’s expertise and technology, and the agency’s knowledge of the needs of the aviation industry, put it in an ideal position to perform the work. And NASA researchers are collaborating with the companies Aerostar and Sceye, developers and operators of high-altitude aircraft, to evaluate the system.  

“We’re leveraging decades of NASA’s air traffic management expertise to make this possible,” Homola said. 

This NASA system enables operators to share live flight data, information about their flight plans, and potential conflict alerts. Based on this information, operators can coordinate flight plans in real time. During a 2025 simulation at NASA Ames, researchers tested how efficiently that data sharing would be among operators of lighter-than-air vehicles – both balloons and airships. 

For this test, NASA, Aerostar, Sceye acted as operators of high-altitude vehicles, sharing information from facilities in California, South Dakota, and New Mexico. They were able to share flight information, as well as telemetry data from an Aerostar stratospheric balloon floating 66,500 feet above Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the time of the testing. 

The simulation built on earlier tests, adding improved flight-intent visualization, conflict detection, and, for the first time, live flight data from the balloon.  

NASA researchers also studied how operators make decision when planned aircraft trajectories overlap, which will help refine essential rules and guidelines for safer high-altitude airspace operations.    

For decades, NASA has biggest air traffic management challenges facing the National Airspace System. NASA innovations have helped cut fuel consumption, prevent accidents, enable precision navigation, and lay the groundwork for today’s modern air traffic management systems. This specific work builds on the initiatives focused on drone operations. 

NASA will share results and lessons learned from the simulation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to inform its approach to ensuring that higher airspace operations are accessible, safe, and scalable.

The agency will continue advancing the high-altitude traffic management system through continued collaboration with industry partners and the FAA. NASA’s goal is to create a framework that opens the door to new commercial, scientific, and humanitarian missions.

This work has been supported through NASA’s Air Traffic Management Exploration project. The project is part of the agency’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program within its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev onboard, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission is the twelfth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev launched at 5:15 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin a mission aboard the orbital outpost.

After NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev arrive at the space station, they will conduct various experiments and technology demonstrations to benefit life on Earth and in orbit, furthering our journey back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.

Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission launched at 5:15 a.m. EST Friday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled a Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.

“With Crew-12 safely on orbit, America and our international partners once again demonstrated the professionalism, preparation, and teamwork required for human spaceflight,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “The research this crew will conduct aboard the space station advances critical technologies for deep space exploration while delivering real benefits here on Earth. I’m grateful to the NASA and SpaceX teams whose discipline, rigor, and resilience made today’s launch possible. We undertake these missions with a clear understanding of risk, managing it responsibly so we can continue expanding human presence in low Earth orbit while preparing for our next great leap to the Moon and onward to Mars.”

During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA’s live coverage resumes at 1:15 p.m. Saturday on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel with rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 5 p.m. NASA also will provide coverage of the welcome ceremony aboard the space station shortly following hatch opening.

Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev will join the Expedition 74 crew, including NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev already aboard the orbiting laboratory, returning the space station to its standard seven crew members complement following the Jan. 14 departure of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.

During its mission, Crew-12 will conduct scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth. Participating crew members will study pneumonia-causing bacteria to improve cardiovascular treatments, on-demand intravenous fluid generation for future space missions, and research on how physical characteristics may affect blood flow during spaceflight. Other experiments include automated plant health monitoring and investigations of plant and nitrogen-fixing microbe interactions to enhance food production in space.

Crew-12 is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development, and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Learn more about the agency’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

-end-

Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov

Amnesty International says it found evidence that a government customer of Intellexa, a sanctioned surveillance vendor, used its Predator spyware against a prominent journalist in Angola.

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A combination of 3D-printed Lego-like parts, Formula 1 thinking, and a bounty program will help the company hit that target. The team, led by Tesla veteran Alan Clarke, is obsessed with efficiency.

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