Flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) helps flight engineer Chris Williams of NASA as he tries on his spacesuit on June 23, 2026, testing its comfort and mobility as well as its communications and life support systems inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock.

Williams will go on a spacewalk on June 30 with fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. They will replace a malfunctioning wrist joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Image credit: NASA/Jessica Meir

Mapping Earth’s Observations, featuring Betsy Ford

2026-06-29 15:16

NASA’s Earth-observing satellites track an enormous range of phenomena: how aerosols move through the atmosphere, how moisture descends through soil, how land-cover shifts over decades. It’s some of the most consequential data NASA produces, informing science, policy, agriculture, and climate research around the world.

As NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) manages this vast portfolio, they operate within an environment marked by significant complexity. This system-of-systems is continually evolving as mission requirements develop, new capabilities come online while others are retired, and international partnerships shift over time. All of this happens against a backdrop of deep uncertainty in technology readiness, launch opportunities, and resource availability.

Decision analyst Betsy Ford

Credit: NASA

“It reaches more people than most realize. The farmers who are growing your food use the data from these satellites.”

“ESD leadership is constantly navigating this complicated landscape,” says Betsy Ford, a decision analyst and Deputy Team Lead for the NASA Earth Science Strategic Integration Environment (NESSIE) team within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA’s Langley Research Center. “Our work focuses on integrating information across the broad system-of-systems so that these decision-makers can visualize the current state, how things could evolve, and how all of it lines up against NASA’s long-term scientific priorities.”

A Detour Through Detroit

Ford’s path to this work runs through two vastly different worlds, and it all started before she could even drive.

Both of her parents spent their careers at NASA Langley and recently retired from it. Growing up, Ford attended the center’s daycare and its summer picnics. “It always felt like a college campus and a big family,” she says. “I really loved that.”

Betsy Ford (in blue gown) and family celebrate her kindergarten graduation at NASA Langley.

Credit: Betsy Ford

Still, when she graduated from Virginia Tech with a mechanical engineering degree, she chose to branch out first. She joined General Motors’ engineering rotation program in Michigan, spending time as a mass integration engineer for Corvette before moving to work as a vehicle occupant safety engineer performing crash testing. She was also finishing a master’s in engineering management at the University of Nebraska, where she was introduced to risk analysis and strategic decision making.

When a position opened in the Space Mission Analysis Branch (part of SACD), she applied, hoping her experience in systems engineering and master’s might offset the gap between the hardware testing of running vehicles into walls and the analytical work NASA needed. “Leadership saw potential in my background and gave me a chance to apply it in a new context,” she says.

Betsy Ford (second from right) and family gather at NASA Langley’s front gate.

Credit: Betsy Ford

Finding the Story in the Data

At its core, NESSIE addresses an information architecture problem. Hundreds of Earth-observing satellite missions, both NASA’s and its partners,’ each observing specific phenomena, from cloud cover to land use. That data has always existed. The challenge was making sense of it all in one place.

NESSIE’s main web application page presents a heat map showing which missions are addressing 34 science observables alongside a mission timeline. Additional views drill down further, such as which specific instruments on which spacecraft cover a given measurement, and how international partner collaborations have evolved over the years.

This graphic shows the fleet of NASA Earth Science missions, which provide hundreds of measurements and data products to understand the Earth system.

Credit: NASA

“We focus on continuous improvement,” Ford explains. “Each iteration aims to give our stakeholders a clearer, more useful product than they had the day before.” While supporting NASA headquarters in its strategic planning, the team is working toward making NESSIE available to the National Academies to help inform the next decadal survey, a document that will define national science priorities and guide government investments into the next decade. It’s a milestone that Ford describes as a significant step toward “using NESSIE to more fully support the scientific community through clearer data-driven planning of future missions.”

Ground Truth

Ford had always cared about Earth science in the abstract. It took a visit to her family’s farm in Nebraska to make it concrete.

She was explaining her work with satellites, observables, and web applications, when her relatives pulled out their phones and showed her satellite data they use every day to monitor soil moisture across their fields. Then they showed her the tool it had once replaced: a metal rod they used to shove into the ground by hand to measure moisture levels.

“That’s just one example of how impactful this work can be,” she says. “It reaches more people than most realize. The farmers who are growing your food use the data from these satellites.”

When Ford wonders why the work matters, that moment is a powerful reminder for her. The satellites are the visible part of the story. The decisions about which ones to build, launch, and sustain, and the tools that make those decisions smarter, are what her work is about.

Growing the Team

Ford recently stepped into the deputy lead role on the NESSIE team, staffed primarily by early-career engineers. She credits mentors in her NASA tenure, particularly team lead Marie Ivanco, who modeled a method to looking at complex problems that shaped how Ford works now.

“If you’re faced with a challenge, Marie asks, ‘What is your process?” Ford says. “She championed really decomposing a problem and approaching it systematically. That wasn’t natural to me at that point, but I really admired it.”

Now Ford’s doing the same for others. “Finding that balance of providing the opportunities to grow along with some structure and guidance, that’s the job.”

She also believes that NASA offers anyone entering engineering the freedom to define problems and solutions rather than to just execute known processes, and to exercise research instincts in ways that more prescriptive industry environments rarely allow. “It prompts a lot more creativity,” she says. “Getting to flex those research muscles is an opportunity I didn’t really have at other jobs.”

On Ford’s Sci-Fi Shelf

Star Wars — the film franchise

Ford grew up in a Star Wars household: her father was a devoted fan, and she still remembers her first PG-13 movie in theaters, one of the newer films in the series. These days her husband keeps the tradition going, and with a 15-month-old son, Saturday morning Star Wars cartoons may already be on the calendar.

“He’s very excited to get him started.”

Learn more about our work by visiting our website.

NextSTEP-3 A: Lunar Enabling Technology

2026-06-29 14:56

1 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Solicitation Number: 80GRC026R0008
May 19, 2026 – Synopsis issued
June 29, 2026 – Draft BAA and Appendix A Issued | News Release

Artist concept of a moon base with various technologies.

Artistic concept of lunar surface technologies and infrastructure capabilities, including in-situ resource utilization oxygen production systems, surface power systems, in‑space manufacturing tools, and advanced nanomaterials production.

NASA

NASA issued a draft Broad Agency Announcement under NextSTEP‑3, Appendix A, on June 29, 2026, to advance concepts that accelerate the technological readiness of critical systems for lunar surface and cislunar architecture.

This solicitation seeks to close key technology gaps and mature capabilities in vertical solar arrays, ISRU oxygen production systems, Stirling radioisotope generators, in‑space manufacturing, and advanced nanomaterials production.

It focuses on identifying technology areas that require further risk reduction and ground‑based testing to mature competing solutions to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5–6. Funded efforts will advance the technology objectives of NASA’s Moon Base by demonstrating critical systems and accelerating the development of transformative capabilities needed for near‑term mission success.

For more information, read the Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (LEIA) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) NextSTEP-3 Appendix A – Draft Solicitation on SAM.gov.

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Jun 29, 2026

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Loura Hall

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NASA Seeks Industry Input to Accelerate Lunar Surface Technologies

2026-06-29 14:56

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Artistic concept of lunar surface technologies and infrastructure capabilities, including in-situ resource utilization oxygen production systems, surface power systems, in‑space manufacturing tools, and advanced nanomaterials production.

NASA

Long-term lunar exploration requires technology, infrastructure, and operations that function together cohesively on the surface of the Moon. To accelerate the development of key lunar surface systems and reduce risk, NASA and industry must work together in the design, development, testing, and evaluation of innovative solutions that support U.S. space priorities.

NASA is seeking feedback on a draft solicitation for the Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator, an effort to help develop emerging capabilities in surface power, in-situ resource utilization, advanced manufacturing, and innovative nanomaterials. The draft is available for review by U.S. organizations, including industry, educational institutions, and non-profits.

Investments in space technology development unlock the near-impossible for NASA and the nation. A sustained human presence at the Moon requires breakthrough ideas from a competitive U.S industrial base, and we are proud to work toward that vision with our commercial partners.

Greg Stover

Director of the Advanced Research and Technology Division, Research and Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington

This review period allows NASA an opportunity to gather feedback on the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches. NASA strongly encourages industry to carefully review the draft and identify any areas of ambiguity, or concerns. Industry input will help inform the solicitation’s final requirements, acquisition planning, and solicitation parameters.

The Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator includes five topics that address gaps in technology needed for exploring the Moon and the cislunar region between Earth and the Moon as identified in NASA’s Civil Space Shortfalls. The topics focus on near-term mission priorities:

Surface power: Access to continuous, localized, and scalable power generation throughout the lunar day and night is essential for initial phases of the Moon Base plan. NASA’s needs include power generation, power management and distribution, and energy storage.

Radioisotope power: A type of nuclear energy technology that uses heat to produce electric power for operating spacecraft systems in the darkest, dustiest, and most remote places in our solar system.

In-situ resource utilization: As a sustained presence grows at the Moon, opportunities to harvest lunar resources could lead to safer, more efficient operations with less dependence on Earth. Advancing in-situ resource utilization technologies could support production of fuel, water, and oxygen from local materials, expanding exploration capabilities.

In-space advanced manufacturing: Long-term human presence beyond Earth orbit requires autonomous in-space production of essential tools and materials. Advancing in-space manufacturing will be critical to reducing reliance on Earth resupply, as well as optimizing mission flexibility and resilience at the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere in deep space.

Innovative nanomaterials: U.S. objectives related to the commercialization of low Earth orbit, building a sustained presence on the lunar surface, and pursuing deeper space exploration will involve work in demanding operational environments and under stringent mission constraints. To meet the agency’s most ambitious space exploration goals, this topic seeks to advance the commercial availability, performance, quality, and uniformity of nanomaterials to address environmental, mass, and performance challenges.

Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator awardees will be expected to design, develop, and demonstrate prototype systems and generate validated performance data, analytical models, and operational insights through testing and demonstration activities to mature technology and manufacturing applications.

The solicitation, Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-3 (NextSTEP-3) Appendix A Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (Solicitation No: 80GRC026R0008), is available on SAM.gov and is open for comment through July 17, 2026.

For more information about NASA’s space technology website as a reference for current technology strategy and priorities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/resources/

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Jun 29, 2026

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Loura Hall

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NASA Announces Winners for 2026 Human Lander Challenge

2026-06-26 19:44

3 Min Read

NASA Announces Winners for 2026 Human Lander Challenge

NASA has announced the top student-developed solutions for environmental control and life support systems in future crewed lunar landers from participants in the 2026 Human Lander Challenge. The announcement marks the culmination of months of research by university teams working to advance technologies supporting the agency’s Artemis program that will return American astronauts to the Moon in 2028.

The challenge concluded June 25 following final technical presentations near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Since September 2025, student teams from across the nation have designed systems‑level approaches to enhance the performance and reliability of environmental control and life support technologies essential for astronauts during deep space missions.

University students and advisors from 11 finalist teams gathered in Huntsville, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, June 23-25 for the agency’s third annual Human Lander Challenge. This year’s competition challenged students to consider solutions for environmental control and life support systems for long duration spaceflight. These technologies are essential for maintaining breathable air, potable water, and thermal stability for astronauts during deep space missions.

NASA/Charles Beason

“As NASA continues preparing for sustained lunar exploration and future human missions to Mars, the development of robust, efficient, and reliable life support systems remains a critical focus area,” said Natalie Martinez-Vlasoff, mission capabilities and risk reduction advanced capabilities integration lead at NASA Marshall. “The 2026 student teams demonstrated a strong understanding of the range of design choices for these systems, and how well-considered, systems-level approaches can improve reliability and crew safety for astronauts using future human landing systems. It is encouraging to see students contributing ideas that help make long-duration lunar exploration more achievable.”

The finalist teams gathered at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville on June 22 to present their research to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry experts, as well as to their peers, during a collaborative poster session. The annual competition concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing the top-performing teams out of the 12 finalists.

NASA announced California Polytechnic State University as the overall winner and recipient of the $10,000 top prize award for their Peltier-based Hydration Accumulation Terminal project. Purdue University won second place and a $5,000 award for work on an Enhanced Potable Water Dispenser, followed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, in third place with a $3,000 award for their Advanced Quality Orbital Rehydration Assembly project.

The Human Lander Challenge is designed to inspire and engage the next generation of engineers and scientists as NASA and its partners prepare to send astronauts to the Moon in preparation for future missions to Mars. The human landing system is the mode of transportation that will take astronauts to the lunar surface and back to lunar orbit under Artemis.

Through competitions like the Human Lander Challenge, NASA fosters the next generation of engineers and researchers while advancing the technologies needed for astronauts to explore deep space. These initiatives support the agency’s exploration goals while cultivating hands-on, problem-solving and systems thinking among future aerospace professionals. Student solutions from the Human Lander Challenge could be incorporated into current work for the next-generation Artemis landers.

NASA’s Human Landing System Program, managed by NASA Marshall, sponsors the challenge, which is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.

Through the Artemis program, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.

For more information about the Artemis program, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis