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NASA’s Neo Surveyor Sunshade

2026-10-27 17:58

A technician in a white clean room gown and face mask shines a flashlight to inspect the dark, patterned cells of a large spacecraft solar array inside a clean room.

BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems

A technician inspects the large sunshade of NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission in this image released on Oct. 26, 2026. The sunshade structure, which stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and measures 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide at its base, will keep the infrared space telescope cool as it searches for near-Earth asteroids and comets while also providing the spacecraft with power.

When in space, NEO Surveyor will detect some of the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets, some of which may be located in the direction of the Sun — a region of sky where ground-based optical telescopes have a harder time searching.

Image credit: BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems

How a Johnson Mentor Shapes the Next Generation of NASA Talent

2026-10-27 07:07

3 Min Read

How a Johnson Mentor Shapes the Next Generation of NASA Talent

Daniel Cohen, Guidance, Navigation & Control (GN&C) engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, leads an outdoor orbital mechanics lesson for interns on Oct. 9, 2026. From left are Cohen, Lucas Anton Alonso-Munoyerro, Nathan Samuell, Marcos Pena, and Malvika Bhardwaj.

Credits: NASA

When Rice University student Malvika Bhardwaj asked her mentor Daniel Cohen, a Guidance, Navigation & Control (GN&C) engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, whether he had time to keep teaching interns with his busy workload, he answered, “You decide what’s important.”

In honor of National Mentoring Day on Oct. 27, Bhardwaj reflects on how Cohen’s advice and support has shaped her internship experience at Johnson.

Through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, interns like Bhardwaj contribute to agency projects while learning from NASA mentors and gaining technical skills and hand-on experience to build a future career in space exploration.

Bhardwaj studies computational and applied mathematics at Rice University and interns with the GN&C team, which focuses on how spacecraft determine their position and maneuver in orbit. She is developing tools to analyze thruster firings on the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will help NASA safely deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its operational life. Bhardwaj also uses computer simulations to test the vehicle’s control system and identify conditions under which it could fail.

“I’ve learned about the culture of community and support at Johnson and NASA as a whole. Daniel made an effort to introduce me to the team and include me in conversations and meetings. I saw how team members step up to help one another and keep the whole unit moving forward,” Bhardwaj said.

Cohen, a Rice University alumnus with a master’s in mechanical engineering, began his NASA career as a flight operations intern in 2020. He later held internships in docking dynamics, propulsion systems, and GN&C analysis before joining Johnson as a full-time engineer in August 2024.

His current work includes developing simulations and models for studies of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, analyzing its control algorithms and GN&C performance, and evaluating SpaceX’s design at multiple life-cycle reviews.

He also analyzes settings for the Orion spacecraft’s docking camera, which provides positioning measurements that can help inform navigation during future Artemis rendezvous activities.

Cohen supports Bhardwaj beyond her internship, giving her a closer look at how colleagues collaborate on projects and share ideas. He sets aside a couple of hours each week to teach interns topics such as orbital mechanics and control systems.

Bhardwaj took Cohen’s advice to heart: How she spends her time and energy reflects what she values. She believes that her internship has shown her that problem-solving is rarely an individual effort. Team members bring different perspectives and need to understand how their work connects to a larger project.

Working alongside interns in outreach, social media, and digital design has also broadened Bhardwaj’s view of STEM careers. “No matter what interests you, there’s likely a role for you here,” she said.

She was proud to complete her first project, a set of analysis tools she built from scratch. Working through the debugging process and seeing a finished, functioning product was especially rewarding.

Bhardwaj’s advice to students interested in NASA internships is to apply even if they do not feel fully prepared.

“You’re probably never going to feel 100% ready, but so much of the learning happens on the job,” she said. “Trust in your ability to navigate new environments.”

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Sumer Loggins

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Oct 27, 2026

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APOD: 2026 October 27 – Noctilucent Clouds over Sweden

2026-10-27 04:05

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

A dark night sky is pictured over a green field bounded by trees in silhouette. Across the image middle are blue filamentary glows -- noctilucent clouds. Dark clouds are seen across the top of the image. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Noctilucent Clouds over Sweden

Explanation: Sometimes it’s night on the ground but day in the air. As the Earth rotates to eclipse the Sun, sunset rises upfrom the ground. Therefore, at sunset on the ground, sunlight still shines on clouds above. Under usual circumstances, a pretty sunset might be visible, but unusual noctilucent clouds float so high up they can be seen well after dark. Normally too dim to be seen, they may become visible just after sunset during the summer when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon. Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds and are known more technically as polar mesospheric clouds. Featured here as they appeared in early August, a network of blue noctilucent clouds was captured in the distant sky above a field of green grass near Linköping, Sweden, with trees in stark silhouette across the horizon. Much about noctilucent clouds has been discovered only in the past two decades, while how they form and evolve remains a topic of active research.

Tomorrow’s picture: round and round

Date	October 27, 2026
Credit & Copyright	V. Höfer, D. Večerník & B. Večerníková
Authors & editors:	Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of:	ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.

Yesterday’s Image

APOD: 2026 October 26 – M42: The Great Nebula in Orion

Tomorrow’s Image

A-81 Reaches South Georgia

2026-10-27 04:00

A large, blocky iceberg sits in dark ocean water just southwest of a long, narrow, snow-capped island. Thin clouds partly veil the scene.

Iceberg A-81 slows its drift near the edge of South Georgia’s shallow underwater shelf in this image, acquired on October 20, 2026, by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Some Antarctic icebergs linger close to home for decades, running aground near the ice shelves that spawned them or circling partway around the continent on coastal currents. Others, like Iceberg A-81, make a faster exit, heading north out of the Weddell Sea along a route well-traveled by the region’s bergs.

Fast is relative, though. After breaking from the Brunt Ice Shelf in January 2023, the roughly 1,550-square-kilometer (600-square-mile) berg spent more than three years in the Weddell Sea, carried along the coast by the clockwise-flowing Weddell Gyre. By May 2026, it reached the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. It then moved north into the Scotia Sea, and by late October 2026, it approached the remote island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) north-northwest of the Brunt Ice Shelf.

This image, acquired by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows the berg on October 20. In the days before, its progress slowed noticeably, and it appeared to be bumping along the edge of the island’s underwater shelf, according to Jan Lieser of Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and Christopher Shuman of the University of Maryland (retired). South Georgia has slowed and even stopped icebergs before. In 2025, for instance, Iceberg A-23A ran aground on the shelf and later broke apart.

Though Iceberg A-81 was a steadfast traveler once it broke free, it took its time in becoming an iceberg in the first place. For about 35 years, one of the Brunt Ice Shelf’s rifts known as Chasm 1 was relatively stable. Then, around 2012, it began growing again, and by 2019, it was advancing quickly enough that a break seemed imminent. But the floating glacial ice held on for several more years until finally, in January 2023, the berg let go.

Calving is a normal part of the life cycle of ice shelves, but scientists keep a close eye on Brunt, which has recently shed several large icebergs in quick succession and is home to the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley Research Station, a major base for Earth, atmospheric, and space science research since the 1950s. Besides A-81, the ice shelf calved Iceberg A-74 from the North Rift in 2021 and Iceberg A-83 from the Halloween Crack in 2024. A-74 has since broken up, while A-83 remains intact and is trailing A-81 northward, along with a handful of other icebergs that appear to be clearing out of the Weddell Sea.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

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October 20, 2026

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References & Resources

NASA Earth Observatory (2025, March 7) Iceberg Grinds to a Stop off South Georgia Island. Accessed October 26, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory (2023, January 25) Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf Finally Breaks. Accessed October 26, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory (2021, March 3) Breakup at Brunt. Accessed October 26, 2026.
U.S. National Ice Center (2026, October 22) Antarctic Iceberg Files. Accessed October 26, 2026.

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NASA’s Perseverance Views Dust at Neretva Vallis

2026-10-26 22:48

1 Min Read

NASA’s Perseverance Views Dust at Neretva Vallis

A panoramic view of a barren, rocky landscape with distant hills, framed by parts of a robotic rover visible on the left and right edges.

PIA26816

Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

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NASA’s Perseverance Views Dust at Neretva Vallis

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Description

This 360-degree look at Neretva Vallis within Mars’ Jezero Crater was stitched together using 217 images acquired by the rover’s Mastcam-Z on May 20, 2024, the 1,155th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. While it is a wind-swept dusty vista today, billions of years ago it was home to a river channel that fed fresh water into Jezero Crater.

This is an enhanced-color version, which had its color bands processed to improve visual contrast and accentuate color differences,

Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

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