1. The 13 biggest announcements at Google I/O 2026  The Verge
2. Gemini 3.5: frontier intelligence with action  blog.google
3. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic  CNBC
4. Live: Updates From Google I/O Conference  Bloomberg.com
5. How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race  The New York Times

1. Google gets ‘intelligent’ Search box redesign, information agents, mini apps, & more  9to5Google
2. Google is making its biggest change to the search bar in years  CNN
3. How to use Google’s new AI agents to go beyond your standard searches  TechCrunch
4. Google to release smart glasses and add AI ‘agents’ to search engine  Financial Times
5. Google Revamps Search for AI Era, Debuts Coding Tools  Bloomberg.com

1. Google takes a page out of Meta’s book, announces new audio-powered smart glasses  TechCrunch
2. Google gives first glimpse of new AI glasses ahead of fall launch  CNBC
3. Google to release first smart glasses since Google Glass flop  BBC
4. Intelligent eyewear is coming this fall  blog.google
5. Hands-On With All of Google’s New Upcoming Android XR Smart Glasses  WIRED

1. Google's Gemini Omni Can Generate 'Anything From Any Input,' Starting With Video  Engadget
2. Introducing Gemini Omni  blog.google
3. Google’s Gemini Omni AI Model Promises to Create ‘Anything’ From Any Type of Input  Gizmodo
4. Google Doubles Down on AI Creativity With Updates Coming to Flow and Flow Music  CNET
5. Google debuts new Omni world model at Google I/O with advanced AI video capabilities  Mashable

1. Sony Launches $650 Headphones Made With Steel and Vegan Leather  Bloomberg.com
2. Sony 1000X The Collexion Review: More Luxurious, But Far From Perfect  Engadget
3. Sony's 1000X The ColleXion Wireless Headphones Make the AirPods Max 2 Look Affordable  Gizmodo
4. Are Sony's New The Collexion Headphones Worth Their High Price? Here Are My Thoughts  CNET
5. Sony’s Iconic Headphones Just Got Even More Elite  Gear Patrol

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used a gravity assist from Mars to provide a critical boost in speed and to adjust the spacecraft’s orbital plane without using any onboard propellant, sending it on its way toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche.

The spacecraft is now headed directly toward the asteroid, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After the Mars flyby, the flight team analyzed radio signals between the spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the agency’s global system for communicating with interplanetary spacecraft, to confirm that Psyche was on the correct trajectory.

“Although we were confident in our calculations and flight plan, monitoring the DSN’s Doppler signal in real time during the flyby was still exciting,” said Don Han, Psyche’s navigation lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’ve confirmed that Mars gave the spacecraft a 1,000 mile‑per‑hour boost and shifted its orbital plane by about 1 degree relative to the Sun. We are now on course for arrival at the asteroid Psyche in summer 2029.”

Unique Martian view

In the days running up to and during close approach, all of Psyche’s instruments were powered up for calibration efforts, including its imagers, magnetometers, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. The planetary encounter provided the mission a valuable practice run for when it reaches the asteroid Psyche; as a bonus, it captured Mars images from a rare perspective. 

Because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, the planet appeared as a thin crescent in the days running up to the close approach, lit by sunlight reflecting off its surface. In observations from the spacecraft’s multispectral imager, the crescent appeared brighter and extended farther around the planet’s disk than anticipated because of the strong scattering of sunlight through the planet’s dusty atmosphere. As Psyche passed from Mars’ nighttime skies to daytime, it took a rapid series of pictures of the surface around the time of closest approach. 

“We’ve captured thousands of images of the approach to Mars and of the planet’s surface and atmosphere at close approach. This dataset provides unique and important opportunities for us to calibrate and characterize the performance of the cameras, as well as test the early versions of our image processing tools being developed for use at the asteroid Psyche,” said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. “As the spacecraft continues its journey after the flyby, we’ll continue calibration imaging of Mars for the rest of the month as it recedes into the distance.”  

Bell also leads the Mastcam-Z imaging investigation on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover mission team, which was among several missions that provided complementary surface and atmospheric imaging as well as navigation data during the flyby to help with calibration efforts. Other missions involved include NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, and Curiosity rover, along with ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. 

In addition to the imager, early calibration measurements made by Psyche’s magnetometers may have detected Mars’ bow shock as the spacecraft passed the planet. The gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer team was also quickly gathering data to calibrate the instrument by comparing their measurements with the large pool of existing Mars data.

Onward to asteroid Psyche

With Mars in the rearview mirror, the spacecraft will soon resume using its solar-electric propulsion system to make a beeline to the main asteroid belt. When it arrives in August 2029, it will insert itself into orbit around the asteroid Psyche, which is thought to be the partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet. Through a series of circular orbits that go lower and then higher in altitude around Psyche, which is about 173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point, the spacecraft will map the asteroid and gather science data.  

If the asteroid proves to be the metallic core of an ancient planetesimal, it could offer a one-of-a-kind window into the interior of rocky planets like Earth. 

“We’ve been anticipating the Mars flyby for years, but now it’s complete. We can thank the Red Planet for giving our spacecraft a critical gravitational slingshot farther into the solar system,” said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator for Psyche at the University of California, Berkeley. “Onward to the asteroid Psyche!”

More about Psyche

The Psyche mission is led by ASU. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Intuitive Machines in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. The operations of the imager instrument are led by ASU, collaborating with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego on the design, fabrication, and testing of the cameras. 

Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, managed the launch service. 

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/

News Media Contacts

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649 
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov 

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser 
NASA Headquarters, Washington 
240-285-5155 / 240-419-1732 
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

2026-033

Explore More

5 min read

NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars

In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected — observations…

Article 1 day ago

2 min read

NASA Draws on Industry for Mars Telecommunications Network

Article 5 days ago

6 min read

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Snaps Selfie in Mars’ Western Frontier 

Article 1 week ago

Keep Exploring

Discover Related Topics

Psyche Spacecraft

Psyche is a NASA mission to study a metal rich asteroid with the same name located in the main asteroid…

Asteroids, Comets & Meteors

Overview Asteroids, comets, and meteoroids are chunks of rock, ice, and metal left over from the formation of our solar…

Mars Exploration

Mars is the only planet we know of inhabited entirely by robots. Learn more about the Mars Missions.

Planetary Science

NASA’s planetary science program explores the objects in our solar system to better understand its history and the distribution of…

The Moon and Venus, center, are seen in conjunction above the Washington Monument, Monday, May 18, 2026, as viewed from the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington.

The Moon and Venus look close together because they line up from our point of view on Earth. In reality, they are separated by millions of miles in space.

See more photos of the conjunction.

Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

4 Min Read

Johnson’s Cindy Evans Prepares Artemis Teams for Lunar Science

NASA’s Artemis II crew had many technical and operational responsibilities during their historic mission to the Moon, but they also served an important role as scientific ambassadors to Earth’s nearest neighbor.

On their 10-day journey, the crew flew by the far side of the Moon, analyzing and photographing geologic features such as impact craters and ancient lava flows. Their observations will help pave the way for science activities on future Artemis missions to the Moon’s surface and contribute to lunar and planetary science. The crew relied on the extensive geology training they received on Earth to describe nuances in shapes, textures, and colors — the type of information that reveals the geologic history of an area.

Cindy Evans, Artemis exploration scientist and geology training lead, was one of the crew’s instructors. Based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division, Evans is part of the Artemis Internal Science Team and spearheads geology training for crew members, mission managers, engineers, and flight controllers. That effort centers around a core curriculum of geology, lunar, and planetary classroom science as well as a progression of geology-focused field classes.

“As the scientists ‘on the ground,’ Artemis crew members require geology and field skills so that they can execute the mission science requirements from lunar orbit and on the surface of the Moon,” Evans explained. “Whether they’re looking out the spacecraft’s windows or walking the surface, Artemis astronauts are working on behalf of all scientists to collect clues to the ancient geologic processes that shaped the Moon and our solar system. They need to have the muscle memory and confidence in their geology knowledge to conduct the geology observations, sampling, and other scientific tasks.”

A former oceanographer who studied the rocks comprising oceanic crust, Evans imagined that she would explore the Moon as a NASA astronaut one day. That dream led her to Johnson, even if it did not result in her donning a flight suit.

In her 37 years with the agency, Evans contributed to the Space Shuttle Program, Shuttle-Mir Program, and the International Space Station before transitioning to NASA’s Artemis campaign. Some of her notable achievements include establishing the Crew Earth Observations effort for Shuttle-Mir, which equipped crews to photograph the Earth as it changed below them. As part of the imagery team investigating the Columbia accident, she helped to develop and integrate the space shuttle’s Return to Flight imagery inspection process. “I have been both honored and incredibly fortunate to have participated in a wide variety of human spaceflight programs,” Evans said. “And I am very proud of the work my team is doing right now.”

Evans also had two opportunities to travel to Antarctica to participate in deep-field geology sessions. “Few things in this world are as wonderful as camping on blue ice just a couple hundred miles from Earth’s South Pole and collecting rocks from space,” she said.

Collaborating with professionals across a variety of fields has been an integral part of Evans’ work since the start of her career.  “In graduate school I was trained as an oceanographer – an interdisciplinary field where geology meets biology, chemistry, and physical oceanography,” she said. “As a planetary scientist at Johnson, I am challenged to work in a world of engineers, and embrace the complex teamwork between hardware engineers, operations engineers, management – many of whom are engineers – and scientists. It has been an incredible opportunity.”

Those interdisciplinary experiences taught Evans to embrace flexibility. “Human spaceflight is a dynamic endeavor,” she said. “I have enjoyed many different roles, and each and every position taught me new things and stretched my perspective.”

Another important lesson? “As a former lab rat, I have learned that it’s all about the people. A common thread throughout my career at NASA is the professional fulfillment brought by relationships with and the talents of colleagues and teammates,” she said.

Evans encourages early-career and aspiring NASA team members to reach out to colleagues in different organizations to build connections. “You never know where a pathway will lead,” she said. “Plans can change – don’t pass up opportunities! Even if an opportunity isn’t an obvious or intuitive next step, it’s worth your consideration.”

About the Author

Linda E. Grimm

Explore More

3 min read

Johnson Photographers Honored for Award-Winning Portraits 

Article 24 hours ago

4 min read

NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans

Article 6 days ago

6 min read

NASA Langley Engineer Attends FAA Training

Article 1 week ago

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

The Sun sprays an extremely fast stream of charged particles called the solar wind. At approximately 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers) in front of the Earth toward the Sun, the solar wind collides with the Earth’s protective magnetic field, generating a long-lasting shock wave that stretches for hundreds of thousands of miles. Now, you can help scientists examine data about this “bow shock” to better understand how the solar wind affects the Earth by joining a new research project: Shock Detectives.

At this enormous shock wave boundary, the ever-changing magnetic field can either make the solar wind messy and dynamic (“chaotic”) or leave it smooth and stable (“peaceful”).

When “chaotic” plasma dominates, more energy can reach Earth’s magnetosphere, possibly leading to disruptions in GPS signals, communications, and power grids. Scientists don’t yet fully understand when the plasma changes between “peaceful” and “chaotic” states or how those changes affect energy transfer to Earth.

You can help solve this mystery. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has collected more than ten years of data from this zone – more than scientists can analyze alone. As Shock Detectives, you’ll help sort the chaotic from peaceful regions of the data, giving researchers a crucial set of clues.

The value of this new knowledge doesn’t end at Earth – what scientists learn about the Earth-Sun bow shock will help them understand how the solar wind of other stars impacts their orbiting planets. Your contributions may help take Shock Detectives ‘out of this world’!  

This project is closely connected to another NASA-supported project, Space Umbrella, which also relies on MMS data and imagery. While Space Umbrella focuses on the broad boundary between Earth’s magnetic shield and the surrounding solar wind, Shock Detectives zooms in just outside that boundary on the transition region, which can be upwards of 10 miles (17 kilometers) in thickness, to better understand how plasma behaves near the shock. Together, these efforts build a more complete picture of Earth’s space environment.

Join Shock Detectives and help crack the case here: https://go.nasa.gov/4wILD6Y

Want a quick overview? Check out the introduction video.

Editor’s Note: Today’s story is the answer to the May Puzzler.

About 15,000 years ago, southeastern Manitoba sat beneath tens of meters of frigid water. Lake Agassiz—which once encompassed present-day Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake of the Woods—covered an area larger than all of the Great Lakes combined. It formed in front of the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, which dammed rivers that otherwise might have drained into Hudson Bay, producing an expansive body of water 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) long by 300 kilometers wide that spanned parts of today’s Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The lake began draining roughly 12,000 years ago, but its legacy remains visible across the region. In April 2026, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this photograph of farmland along the southern shore of Lake Winnipeg, where Lake Agassiz once deposited a thick, nearly flat bed of nutrient-rich silt and clay. Former lakebed areas like this one now support some of Canada’s most productive agricultural landscapes.

A grid-based land survey has also left its mark. The Dominion Land Survey, one of the world’s largest and most systematic surveying efforts, divided much of western Canada into one-square-mile sections after the Canadian government purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869. The grid continues to define the layout of farm fields, roads, shelterbelts, and drainage channels.

When the photo was taken late in the afternoon on April 19, a layer of snow and ice covered the landscape. The brightest, whitest blocks appear to be snow-covered farmland or icy ponds, while the darker areas are forests, wetlands, or exposed ground with less uniform snow cover.

Wheat, barley, oats, and canola are among the crops often grown in the area. In the upper part of the image, cottages and lake houses are clustered around Gull Lake, a popular site for boating, fishing, and other water sports. Common fish species found in the lake include northern pike, walleye, and yellow perch.

Astronaut photograph ISS074-E-494130 was acquired on April 19, 2026, with a Nikon Z9 digital camera using a focal length of 560 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 74 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

April 19, 2026

JPEG (14.14 MB)

References & Resources

• Alberta Geomatics Historical Society (2024, October 25) The Dominion Land Survey System. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• Beaches of 59, Gull Lake. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• The Canadian Encyclopedia (2025, February 21) Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• Manitoba Historical Society (1984) Review: James G. MacGregor, Vision of an Ordered Land: The Story of the Dominion Land Survey. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• Minnesota Historical Society (2025, January 29) Draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• Manitoba Fish and Wildlife, Gull Lake. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2020, May 6) A Windbreak Grid in Hokkaido. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• NASA Johnson Space Center (2026, April 23) The sub-freezing landscape at the southern tip of Canada’s Lake Winnipeg. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• North Dakota Geological Survey, Glacial Lake Agassiz. Accessed May 18, 2026.
• State Historical Society of North Dakota, Red River Valley. Accessed May 18, 2026.

You may also be interested in:

Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

A Most Unusual Lake

4 min read

Lake Unter-See in Antarctica, sealed beneath thick ice, has unusual water chemistry and cone-shaped microbial structures resembling some of Earth’s…

Article

Finding Freshwater in Great Salt Lake

4 min read

Reed-covered mounds exposed by declining water levels reveal an unexpected network of freshwater springs that feed directly into the lake…

Article

Winter Grips the Michigan Mitten

3 min read

A blanket of snow spanned Michigan and much of the Great Lakes region following a potent cold snap.

Article

Keep Exploring

Discover More from NASA Earth Science

Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters

Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.

Earth Observatory Image of the Day

NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science Data

Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data