NASA
I Am Artemis: Kathleen Harmon
Listen to this audio excerpt from Kathleen Harmon, the Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network:
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Your browser does not support the audio element.Captivated by Apollo launches on her television as a child, Kathleen Harmon now plays a key role in NASA’s Artemis program.
Harmon serves as the Artemis II mission interface manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international array of giant radio antennas which are used to communicate with spacecraft. Managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the Deep Space Network is the largest scientific telecommunications system in the world, supporting more than 40 missions exploring deep space. The network is also a key component of NASA’s Moon-bound Artemis missions.
Kathleen Harmon, Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network, in the Charles Elachi Mission Control Center at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.NASA/JPL-Caltech“If you’re in a car and you’re going somewhere and you don’t have GPS or a cellphone, you might get lost, or you might not be able to tell someone that you’re lost,” said Harmon, illustrating how the Deep Space Network “talks” to spacecraft. “The network provides that lifeline to spacecraft across the solar system, and even interstellar space, so that they can talk to Earth and send back amazing science data, images, and videos from Mars rovers, space telescopes, orbiters, and more.”
In her role as a mission interface manager, and with her background as a systems engineer and decades of experience with NASA, Harmon prepares missions for launch and operations. This role requires careful coordination and collaboration across international partners, as the Deep Space Network’s radio antennas are spread around the world. She was responsible for ensuring the Deep Space Network was prepared to support the Artemis II spacecraft before launch.
You could not get any of that information back without the network. It’s a critical asset that also lets spacecraft know where they are.Kathleen Harmon
Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA's Deep Space Network
“The network has three complexes equally spaced around the world so, as the Earth rotates, one is always in view to communicate with spacecraft wherever they are in the solar system,” said Harmon.
At any given moment, the Deep Space Network complex that is currently experiencing daylight is “in control” of the entire network to ensure consistent spacecraft connectivity, an operational approach the network team calls “follow the Sun.”
While the network supports NASA’s return to the Moon, working in partnership with the Near Space Network, it will continue to maintain a close watch on NASA’s fleet of spacecraft at the Moon and beyond.
“We supported Artemis II 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the entire mission with two antennas — a prime and a backup,” Harmon said. She added that while the network was supporting Artemis II, it also communicated with robotic rovers and spacecraft throughout the solar system.
While Harmon’s work has supported missions from Juno to Voyager, her contributions to the Artemis program remind her of what first inspired her to join to NASA.
“I was a very small child when the Apollo missions happened,” said Harmon. “Apollo was my earliest memory.”
Just thinking that I can be part of not only the Apollo generation but now also the Artemis generation — it’s very exciting to bridge that gap. This is a Golden Age of exploration.Kathleen Harmon
Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA's Deep Space Network
Share Details Last Updated May 12, 2026 EditorLauren LowContactLauren LowLocationJet Propulsion Laboratory Related Terms Explore More 3 min read I Am Artemis: Peter Rossoni Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read I Am Artemis: Erik Richards Article 2 months ago 5 min read Networks Keeping NASA’s Artemis II Mission Connected Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAI Am Artemis
Communicating with Missions
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SCaN & Moon to Mars
I Am Artemis: Kathleen Harmon
Listen to this audio excerpt from Kathleen Harmon, the Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network:
0:00 / 0:00
Your browser does not support the audio element.Captivated by Apollo launches on her television as a child, Kathleen Harmon now plays a key role in NASA’s Artemis program.
Harmon serves as the Artemis II mission interface manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international array of giant radio antennas which are used to communicate with spacecraft. Managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the Deep Space Network is the largest scientific telecommunications system in the world, supporting more than 40 missions exploring deep space. The network is also a key component of NASA’s Moon-bound Artemis missions.
Kathleen Harmon, Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA’s Deep Space Network, in the Charles Elachi Mission Control Center at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.NASA/JPL-Caltech“If you’re in a car and you’re going somewhere and you don’t have GPS or a cellphone, you might get lost, or you might not be able to tell someone that you’re lost,” said Harmon, illustrating how the Deep Space Network “talks” to spacecraft. “The network provides that lifeline to spacecraft across the solar system, and even interstellar space, so that they can talk to Earth and send back amazing science data, images, and videos from Mars rovers, space telescopes, orbiters, and more.”
In her role as a mission interface manager, and with her background as a systems engineer and decades of experience with NASA, Harmon prepares missions for launch and operations. This role requires careful coordination and collaboration across international partners, as the Deep Space Network’s radio antennas are spread around the world. She was responsible for ensuring the Deep Space Network was prepared to support the Artemis II spacecraft before launch.
You could not get any of that information back without the network. It’s a critical asset that also lets spacecraft know where they are.Kathleen Harmon
Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA's Deep Space Network
“The network has three complexes equally spaced around the world so, as the Earth rotates, one is always in view to communicate with spacecraft wherever they are in the solar system,” said Harmon.
At any given moment, the Deep Space Network complex that is currently experiencing daylight is “in control” of the entire network to ensure consistent spacecraft connectivity, an operational approach the network team calls “follow the Sun.”
While the network supports NASA’s return to the Moon, working in partnership with the Near Space Network, it will continue to maintain a close watch on NASA’s fleet of spacecraft at the Moon and beyond.
“We supported Artemis II 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the entire mission with two antennas — a prime and a backup,” Harmon said. She added that while the network was supporting Artemis II, it also communicated with robotic rovers and spacecraft throughout the solar system.
While Harmon’s work has supported missions from Juno to Voyager, her contributions to the Artemis program remind her of what first inspired her to join to NASA.
“I was a very small child when the Apollo missions happened,” said Harmon. “Apollo was my earliest memory.”
Just thinking that I can be part of not only the Apollo generation but now also the Artemis generation — it’s very exciting to bridge that gap. This is a Golden Age of exploration.Kathleen Harmon
Artemis II Mission Interface Manager for NASA's Deep Space Network
Share Details Last Updated May 12, 2026 EditorLauren LowContactLauren LowLocationJet Propulsion Laboratory Related Terms Explore More 3 min read I Am Artemis: Peter Rossoni Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read I Am Artemis: Erik Richards Article 2 months ago 5 min read Networks Keeping NASA’s Artemis II Mission Connected Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAI Am Artemis
Communicating with Missions
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SCaN & Moon to Mars
New Ultra-Black Coating Could Enable the Search for Life on Exoplanets
A recently developed ultra-black coating not only efficiently absorbs light, but is also extremely thin and durable, enabling its potential use on starshades that could someday support the imaging of exoplanets and potentially facilitate the detection of life beyond our solar system.
Artist’s conception of a starshade (a disk surrounded by “petals” at the top left) blocking starlight from a starso that a space-based telescope (at right) can image the two planets. Credit: NASA Exo-S Study Team What is a Starshade and What Could it Do?
The light emitted by a star can be billions of times brighter than the light reflected from its surrounding planets. This bright starlight makes it very difficult for a space telescope to image an exoplanet — it’s like trying to find the light reflected from a gnat that is flying near a spotlight. In addition, the light from our Sun scatters off spacecraft surfaces and back into the telescope, contributing even more light “pollution” that can easily obscure the dim light reflected from an exoplanet.
A starshade is a giant, flower-shaped spacecraft (roughly half the size of a football field) that is designed to be positioned between a space telescope and a distant star so that it casts a shadow from the distant star onto the telescope. A starshade can block unwanted light from the parent star to the extent that less than one part per billion of the starlight is observable, while allowing the much fainter light from an orbiting exoplanet to pass around the starshade and reach the telescope, thereby enabling its detection. But to enable a telescope to distinguish an exoplanet, a starshade must create an extremely pristine shadow on the telescope. Not only must it block the starlight from the parent star, it must also suppress the stray light from our Sun that scatters from the starshade’s “petal” edges into the telescope.
The Problem of Stray SunlightOver the past decade, NASA-sponsored engineers have explored various methods to address the issue of stray sunlight. For example, they developed a way to make a starshade’s edges razor sharp by crafting blades from amorphous metals. The edges of these blades were only 300 nanometers thick, but data showed that even such thin metal edges would still scatter too much sunlight into the telescope.
Researchers also tried applying black coatings to the starshade edges to reduce the reflected light. Unfortunately, the existing black coatings were far too thick; they made the starshade edges thicker (duller), which actually increased the scatter. Carbon nanotube coatings, for instance, are several microns thick — much thicker than the 300-nm starshade edge. Other existing coatings that rely on three-dimensional microstructures to trap light were also too thick.
A New Kind of Black CoatingIn 2004, David Sheikh, founder of the small business ZeCoat Corporation, was researching the concept of a “black mirror” — a mirror that absorbs nearly all incident light instead of reflecting it. He came across a methodology used decades ago to make light-absorbing, smooth surfaces.
Sheikh used modern computing techniques and more accurate material property data to improve this methodology, and developed a breakthrough method for manufacturing an ultra-black coating using a unique, motion-controlled, physical vapor deposition process also developed at ZeCoat. The coating design uses extremely thin, partially transparent metal layers that are separated by dielectric glass layers to form multiple light-absorbing, nanoscale cavities. When the thicknesses of the layers are tuned precisely with the aid of a computer, incoming light resonates as a standing wave inside the cavities, where the metals absorb it. The principle is similar to the Fabry–Perot cavity used in lasers — except instead of amplifying light, the light is trapped and absorbed. This new coating turned out to be 100 times thinner than those previously tested for use on starshades.
In 2020, NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California chartered a Starshade Science and Industry Partnership (SIP) to maximize the technology readiness level of starshades to enable potential future exoplanet science missions. As part of this initiative, the new coating developed by Zecoat was applied to prototype starshade edges, and engineers at JPL used a custom-built laser scatterometer to measure scatter from coated and uncoated 50-cm long amorphous metal blades. These tests demonstrated that the new coating reduced the reflected light by a factor of about 20 — enough to enable a telescope to image an exoplanet. (The results of this effort were published here in the SPIE digital Library).
Beyond the Edge: Coating Starshade MembranesBuilding on the success of the edge coating demonstration and supported by a 2021 NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract, ZeCoat developed a novel thin film deposition process to coat large sheets of polyimide film with a similar ultra-black finish. The process uses multiple electron beam evaporators to apply thin, uniform films to a moving membrane substrate in a roll-to-roll coating process. These large coated membranes (~ 1-meter wide and many meters long) could be patched together to form a starshade’s central disk section, as well as its petal surfaces, which would remove even more stray light and further improve the quality of images a space telescope could produce. (For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort and this article in the SPIE digital Library.)
Black coating applied to a thin plastic membrane at ZeCoat coating laboratory. Credit: David Sheikh Additional ApplicationsBesides use on starshades, durable black coatings have a wide variety of science, military, and commercial applications. For example, they could be used to darken constellations of satellites so they are less visible from the ground, or to darken surfaces near the camera on a cell phone.
In addition, ZeCoat recently was awarded a NASA SBIR Phase I contract and is applying the thin-film roll-to-roll coating process described above to develop thermal control coatings that are resilient enough to mitigate damage from micrometeorite strikes. These coatings could be potentially used on future space vehicles such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
Project Lead: David A. Sheikh, ZeCoat Corporation
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Astrophysics Exoplanet Exploration Program, NASA STMD, NASA JPL
Some of the work described above was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech for NASA (80NM0018D0004).
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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style
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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image showing an oblique view into the “Atacama” drill hole, where the rover’s drill was briefly lodged. Curiosity created the image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a close-up camera located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, and an onboard focusing process that merges multiple images of the same target at different focus positions, creating a composite that brings as many features into focus as possible. Curiosity performed the focus merge on May 6, 2026 — Sol 4887, or Martian day 4,887 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission — at 01:39:34 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSWritten by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator
Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026
While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was enabled by the ingenuity of the Curiosity engineers and scientists manifested in this extraordinary time lapse. It demonstrates the careful dance of arm motions employed — each one diligently planned by the team — to free Curiosity’s drill from the “Atacama” target. Watch the arm twist, bend, and turn with a rock slab attached, and be amazed.
The highest-priority activities after liberating the drill included imaging the drill with Mastcam and ChemCam RMI, and imaging into the now-empty drill hole with MAHLI (the image above). The science team made the most of the freshly-broken surfaces created when Atacama fell back to Mars, and the freshly-exposed sand once hidden underneath Atacama. ChemCam targeted one of the clean fracture faces with two LIBS rasters at “Tamarugal” and “Tamarugo,” and followed with another raster on a light-toned patch of bedrock formerly under Atacama at “Colchane.” MAHLI and APXS analyzed sand near Colchane at the target “Yerba Loca.” Beyond Atacama, Mastcam and ChemCam imaged the large buttes towering above our current and future drive paths. Mastcam also imaged two exposures of the polygonal fractures present in this area (targets “Cerro Elefantes” and “Azul Pampa”) and looked for wind-induced changes in the sand (“Playa los Metales”). ChemCam planned a passive spectroscopy observation of light-toned features on the “Paniri” butte and checked out a potential meteorite with a LIBS raster at “Isla Mocha.”
As engineering assessments continued, Curiosity drove uphill to study a contact between two different rock types, which can indicate a change in formation conditions, a break in time, or both. MAHLI, APXS, and ChemCam teamed up to study both rock types at the lighter-toned, layered “Toro” target and the darker, flaky “Inca de Oro” target. Mastcam planned multiple mosaics capturing different structures and transitions exposed along the contact. Across the plans during the week, REMS, RAD, and DAN regularly measured the environment above and below the rover, and Navcam and Mastcam teamed up to look for clouds, dust devils, and dust in the atmosphere.
With the health of the drill and arm confirmed by the engineers, Curiosity exhibited perseverance by heading toward a new workspace with a promising (larger) block for a new drill attempt. Our Martian exploration continues undaunted.
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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4886-4892: Ingenuity and Perseverance, Curiosity Style NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image showing an oblique view into the “Atacama” drill hole, where the rover’s drill was briefly lodged. Curiosity created the image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a close-up camera located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, and an onboard focusing process that merges multiple images of the same target at different focus positions, creating a composite that brings as many features into focus as possible. Curiosity performed the focus merge on May 6, 2026 — Sol 4887, or Martian day 4,887 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission — at 01:39:34 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSWritten by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator
Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026
While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was enabled by the ingenuity of the Curiosity engineers and scientists manifested in this extraordinary time lapse. It demonstrates the careful dance of arm motions employed — each one diligently planned by the team — to free Curiosity’s drill from the “Atacama” target. Watch the arm twist, bend, and turn with a rock slab attached, and be amazed.
The highest-priority activities after liberating the drill included imaging the drill with Mastcam and ChemCam RMI, and imaging into the now-empty drill hole with MAHLI (the image above). The science team made the most of the freshly-broken surfaces created when Atacama fell back to Mars, and the freshly-exposed sand once hidden underneath Atacama. ChemCam targeted one of the clean fracture faces with two LIBS rasters at “Tamarugal” and “Tamarugo,” and followed with another raster on a light-toned patch of bedrock formerly under Atacama at “Colchane.” MAHLI and APXS analyzed sand near Colchane at the target “Yerba Loca.” Beyond Atacama, Mastcam and ChemCam imaged the large buttes towering above our current and future drive paths. Mastcam also imaged two exposures of the polygonal fractures present in this area (targets “Cerro Elefantes” and “Azul Pampa”) and looked for wind-induced changes in the sand (“Playa los Metales”). ChemCam planned a passive spectroscopy observation of light-toned features on the “Paniri” butte and checked out a potential meteorite with a LIBS raster at “Isla Mocha.”
As engineering assessments continued, Curiosity drove uphill to study a contact between two different rock types, which can indicate a change in formation conditions, a break in time, or both. MAHLI, APXS, and ChemCam teamed up to study both rock types at the lighter-toned, layered “Toro” target and the darker, flaky “Inca de Oro” target. Mastcam planned multiple mosaics capturing different structures and transitions exposed along the contact. Across the plans during the week, REMS, RAD, and DAN regularly measured the environment above and below the rover, and Navcam and Mastcam teamed up to look for clouds, dust devils, and dust in the atmosphere.
With the health of the drill and arm confirmed by the engineers, Curiosity exhibited perseverance by heading toward a new workspace with a promising (larger) block for a new drill attempt. Our Martian exploration continues undaunted.
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NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Photojournal Navigation Downloads NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
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Description
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try and get the rock loose, finally detaching the rock on May 1.
Atacama is estimated to be 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick. It would weigh roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms) on Earth (and about a third of that on Mars). The circular hole produced by Curiosity’s drill is visible in the rock.
This mosaic is made up of eight images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 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. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.
To learn more about Curiosity, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
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NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Photojournal Navigation Downloads NASA’s Curiosity Takes Close Look at Rock That Got Stuck on Drill
PNG (20.94 MB)
Description
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try and get the rock loose, finally detaching the rock on May 1.
Atacama is estimated to be 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick. It would weigh roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms) on Earth (and about a third of that on Mars). The circular hole produced by Curiosity’s drill is visible in the rock.
This mosaic is made up of eight images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 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. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.
To learn more about Curiosity, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
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May 2026 Satellite Puzzler
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Nicholas Houghton: Engineering Crew Safety for NASA’s Artemis Missions
Nicholas Houghton always dreamed of working at NASA and one day becoming an astronaut. Today, he helps design systems that keep crews safe during missions aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, including the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon.
Nicholas Houghton in NASA’s Orion Crew Survival System Spacesuit. I hope someday people look back at Artemis and marvel at the technological achievement and collective dedication that it took to carry out these missions, just like we do now for Apollo.Nicholas Houghton
Orion Crew Survival Systems Engineer
After joining NASA as a Pathways intern, Houghton later became a full-time engineer on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The OCSS team designs and certifies the orange pressure suits that were worn by astronauts inside Orion during Artemis II, along with the survival hardware integrated into each suit system.
Houghton manages key pieces of flight hardware that keep crew members safe during contingency scenarios before launch, in flight, and after landing, including the Orion Crew Survival Kits, Suit-Worn Survival Suite, and Life Preserver Units. He guides each system from design through testing and final certification to ensure it performs as required in flight.
Nicholas Houghton, left, and two other suited subjects participate in Human Vacuum Chamber Testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to help certify Orion’s environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) for Artemis II. The test lasts about 12 hours while fully suited.Like many complex engineering efforts at NASA, the work relies on close collaboration across disciplines. Houghton works alongside experts in electromagnetic interference, radiation, stress and loads, and materials to evaluate and refine each system. He also helps lead development of water survival and post-landing hardware, writing manufacturing and assembly procedures and troubleshooting issues during integration and testing.
Nicholas Houghton gives U.S. Navy medical personnel space suit training aboard amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25) during NASA Underway Recovery Test 12 in the Pacific Ocean, March 26, 2025.Beyond hardware development, Houghton prepares astronauts and recovery teams for real-world operations. He supports suit-up activities, helps train Department of Defense recovery forces, and participates in Underway Recovery Training alongside the U.S. Navy to rehearse post-splashdown operations.
Ground testing plays a critical role in that preparation. During these tests, systems are pushed to their limits to uncover potential issues before flight.
I have had my hardware fail during ground testing. It takes teamwork, quick thinking, technical understanding, and a willingness to dig into every detail to solve these kinds of problems.Nicholas Houghton
Orion Crew Survival Systems Engineer
Nicholas Houghton, right, supports crew suit-up operations during Underway Recovery Training 12, an end-to-end practice recovery run conducted at sea to prepare for Artemis II.Outside of his NASA career, Houghton gives back by volunteering as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. “Serving my community is something that I have always been passionate about,” he said. “I am thankful to have the opportunity to support those around me.”
About the AuthorSumer Loggins Share Details Last Updated May 11, 2026 Related Terms Explore More 3 min read I Am Artemis: Kathleen Harmon Article 59 minutes ago 3 min read I Am Artemis: Anton Kiriwas Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA Fuel Cell Tests Pave Way for Energy Storage on Moon Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAMissions
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Nicholas Houghton: Engineering Crew Safety for NASA’s Artemis Missions
Nicholas Houghton always dreamed of working at NASA and one day becoming an astronaut. Today, he helps design systems that keep crews safe during missions aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, including the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon.
Nicholas Houghton in NASA’s Orion Crew Survival System Spacesuit. I hope someday people look back at Artemis and marvel at the technological achievement and collective dedication that it took to carry out these missions, just like we do now for Apollo.Nicholas Houghton
Orion Crew Survival Systems Engineer
After joining NASA as a Pathways intern, Houghton later became a full-time engineer on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The OCSS team designs and certifies the orange pressure suits that were worn by astronauts inside Orion during Artemis II, along with the survival hardware integrated into each suit system.
Houghton manages key pieces of flight hardware that keep crew members safe during contingency scenarios before launch, in flight, and after landing, including the Orion Crew Survival Kits, Suit-Worn Survival Suite, and Life Preserver Units. He guides each system from design through testing and final certification to ensure it performs as required in flight.
Nicholas Houghton, left, and two other suited subjects participate in Human Vacuum Chamber Testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to help certify Orion’s environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) for Artemis II. The test lasts about 12 hours while fully suited.Like many complex engineering efforts at NASA, the work relies on close collaboration across disciplines. Houghton works alongside experts in electromagnetic interference, radiation, stress and loads, and materials to evaluate and refine each system. He also helps lead development of water survival and post-landing hardware, writing manufacturing and assembly procedures and troubleshooting issues during integration and testing.
Nicholas Houghton gives U.S. Navy medical personnel space suit training aboard amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25) during NASA Underway Recovery Test 12 in the Pacific Ocean, March 26, 2025.Beyond hardware development, Houghton prepares astronauts and recovery teams for real-world operations. He supports suit-up activities, helps train Department of Defense recovery forces, and participates in Underway Recovery Training alongside the U.S. Navy to rehearse post-splashdown operations.
Ground testing plays a critical role in that preparation. During these tests, systems are pushed to their limits to uncover potential issues before flight.
I have had my hardware fail during ground testing. It takes teamwork, quick thinking, technical understanding, and a willingness to dig into every detail to solve these kinds of problems.Nicholas Houghton
Orion Crew Survival Systems Engineer
Nicholas Houghton, right, supports crew suit-up operations during Underway Recovery Training 12, an end-to-end practice recovery run conducted at sea to prepare for Artemis II.Outside of his NASA career, Houghton gives back by volunteering as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. “Serving my community is something that I have always been passionate about,” he said. “I am thankful to have the opportunity to support those around me.”
About the AuthorSumer Loggins Share Details Last Updated May 11, 2026 Related Terms Explore More 3 min read I Am Artemis: Anton Kiriwas Article 3 days ago 4 min read NASA Fuel Cell Tests Pave Way for Energy Storage on Moon Article 3 days ago 3 min read NASA Welcomes Paraguay as 67th Artemis Accords Signatory Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAMissions
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NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Robotics Competition
NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
Links to view the Lunabotics competition live can be found on the agency’s Lunabotics page. The competition is slated to run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day.
Media are invited to attend the competition event on Wednesday, May 20, and should RSVP by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 18, to the Kennedy newsroom at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
For this challenge, 50 college teams from across the country will convene to design, build, and operate their own lunar robot prototypes.
The teams’ self-driving rovers must be capable of building a berm, a protective barrier, from soil and other material simulating lunar regolith to safeguard Artemis infrastructure on the Moon. In space, such berms could protect equipment from debris during lunar landings and launches, shade cryogenic propellant tank farms, help shield a nuclear power plant from space radiation, and serve other purposes.
“The task of robotically building berm structures will be important for preparation and support of crewed lunar missions,” said Kurt Leucht, NASA software developer, In-Situ Resource Utilization researcher, and Lunabotics commentator located at Kennedy. “These competing teams are not only building critical engineering skills that will assist their future careers, but they are literally helping NASA prepare for our future Artemis missions to the Moon.”
NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge was established in 2010. As one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, the competition is designed to engage and retain students in STEM fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
For more competition information, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/lunabotics-challenge
–end–
Amanda Griffin
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
amanda.griffin@nasa.gov
NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Robotics Competition
NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
Links to view the Lunabotics competition live can be found on the agency’s Lunabotics page. The competition is slated to run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day.
Media are invited to attend the competition event on Wednesday, May 20, and should RSVP by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 18, to the Kennedy newsroom at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
For this challenge, 50 college teams from across the country will convene to design, build, and operate their own lunar robot prototypes.
The teams’ self-driving rovers must be capable of building a berm, a protective barrier, from soil and other material simulating lunar regolith to safeguard Artemis infrastructure on the Moon. In space, such berms could protect equipment from debris during lunar landings and launches, shade cryogenic propellant tank farms, help shield a nuclear power plant from space radiation, and serve other purposes.
“The task of robotically building berm structures will be important for preparation and support of crewed lunar missions,” said Kurt Leucht, NASA software developer, In-Situ Resource Utilization researcher, and Lunabotics commentator located at Kennedy. “These competing teams are not only building critical engineering skills that will assist their future careers, but they are literally helping NASA prepare for our future Artemis missions to the Moon.”
NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge was established in 2010. As one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, the competition is designed to engage and retain students in STEM fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
For more competition information, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/lunabotics-challenge
–end–
Amanda Griffin
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
amanda.griffin@nasa.gov
Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released
- CSDA
- Commercial Data
- CSDA Vendors
- Program Activities
- Pilot Research Projects
- FAQs
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3 min read
Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth observation mission quality assessment for the optical domain.NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has released the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines.
Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth Observation (EO) mission quality assessment for the optical domain. This document summarizes the goals of the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework, reviews how optical mission quality is demonstrated through documentation, outlines guidelines for verifying that a mission’s data quality aligns with stated sensor performance, and provides appendices containing information on common radiometric and geometric calibration and validation practices.
“The release of these joint guidelines for EO data from optical missions both documents the rigorous standards we have for commercial data and bolsters the confidence of the user community in the CSDA’s commercial data acquisitions,” said CSDA Project Manager Dana Ostrenga. “By releasing this document to the public, we’re giving end-users the opportunity to review the approach for verifying whether the quality of commercial EO data is consistent with the stated performance of the mission.”
The Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework was produced as part of an ESA and NASA partnership supporting Earthnet Data Assessment Project (EDAP) and CSDA activities, the document details the methodology used to assess the quality of data from commercial satellite data providers. This framework provides standardized, transparent, and repeatable data quality assessment processes and outputs to support mission selection, data integration, and the trusted use of commercial EO data for science and applications. Furthermore, the agencies intend to update the guidelines in step with the evolution of the market and the advancement of Earth sciences and applications of EO data products.
About the Joint EO Mission Quality Assessment FrameworkThe expanding range of applications for EO data products and the availability of low-cost launch services have resulted in a growing number of commercial EO satellite systems. This growth in the marketplace has prompted space agencies like NASA, ESA, and others to explore the acquisition of commercial EO data products and their potential to complement the capabilities and services currently available for scientific and operational purposes.
To ensure that decisions regarding the acquisition of commercial data can be made with confidence, ESA, NASA, and other stakeholders agreed there was a need for an objective framework to assess the quality of data from commercial sources. To that end, ESA established the EDAP, which performs early assessments of EO mission data to evaluate their quality and the potential integration of these missions as third-party missions within ESA’s Earthnet program. The development of EDAP led to the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework, which was later customized for the different types of sensors used in atmospheric, synthetic aperture radar, thermal infrared, and now, optical EO missions.
This joint framework serves as the foundation for the CSDA program’s comprehensive evaluation process to ensure the quality of commercial EO data. The process focuses on assessing geometric and radiometric quality, validating data against trusted reference datasets, ensuring completeness and traceability of dataset documentation, and evaluating data accessibility and utility. Together, these rigorous evaluation efforts help build trust in commercial partnerships, ensure scientific integrity and interoperability, and foster innovation within the EO community.
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Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released
- CSDA
- Commercial Data
- CSDA Vendors
- Program Activities
- Pilot Research Projects
- FAQs
- News
3 min read
Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth observation mission quality assessment for the optical domain.NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has released the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines.
Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth Observation (EO) mission quality assessment for the optical domain. This document summarizes the goals of the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework, reviews how optical mission quality is demonstrated through documentation, outlines guidelines for verifying that a mission’s data quality aligns with stated sensor performance, and provides appendices containing information on common radiometric and geometric calibration and validation practices.
“The release of these joint guidelines for EO data from optical missions both documents the rigorous standards we have for commercial data and bolsters the confidence of the user community in the CSDA’s commercial data acquisitions,” said CSDA Project Manager Dana Ostrenga. “By releasing this document to the public, we’re giving end-users the opportunity to review the approach for verifying whether the quality of commercial EO data is consistent with the stated performance of the mission.”
The Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework was produced as part of an ESA and NASA partnership supporting Earthnet Data Assessment Project (EDAP) and CSDA activities, the document details the methodology used to assess the quality of data from commercial satellite data providers. This framework provides standardized, transparent, and repeatable data quality assessment processes and outputs to support mission selection, data integration, and the trusted use of commercial EO data for science and applications. Furthermore, the agencies intend to update the guidelines in step with the evolution of the market and the advancement of Earth sciences and applications of EO data products.
About the Joint EO Mission Quality Assessment FrameworkThe expanding range of applications for EO data products and the availability of low-cost launch services have resulted in a growing number of commercial EO satellite systems. This growth in the marketplace has prompted space agencies like NASA, ESA, and others to explore the acquisition of commercial EO data products and their potential to complement the capabilities and services currently available for scientific and operational purposes.
To ensure that decisions regarding the acquisition of commercial data can be made with confidence, ESA, NASA, and other stakeholders agreed there was a need for an objective framework to assess the quality of data from commercial sources. To that end, ESA established the EDAP, which performs early assessments of EO mission data to evaluate their quality and the potential integration of these missions as third-party missions within ESA’s Earthnet program. The development of EDAP led to the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework, which was later customized for the different types of sensors used in atmospheric, synthetic aperture radar, thermal infrared, and now, optical EO missions.
This joint framework serves as the foundation for the CSDA program’s comprehensive evaluation process to ensure the quality of commercial EO data. The process focuses on assessing geometric and radiometric quality, validating data against trusted reference datasets, ensuring completeness and traceability of dataset documentation, and evaluating data accessibility and utility. Together, these rigorous evaluation efforts help build trust in commercial partnerships, ensure scientific integrity and interoperability, and foster innovation within the EO community.
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1 week ago
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Scientists relied on satellite data to understand how the Antarctic glacier lost so much ice…
Article
1 week ago
3 min read Fiery Fall Color in Southern Chile
The beech forests of southern Patagonia put on vibrant autumn displays.
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2 weeks ago
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NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir
Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center
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7 min read
Hubble Survey Sets Up Roman’s Future Look Near Milky Way’s Center This VISTA VVV Survey image shows the galactic bulge near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center. A region planned for observation by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is outlined. This area has been observed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Image: NASA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: VISTA, Dante Minniti (UNAB), Ignacio Toledo (ALMA), Martin Kornmesser (ESO)The Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the bulbous region that surrounds the galactic center, contains a dense collection of stars, planets, and other free-floating objects. This region has been studied for decades with numerous ground-based and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Soon, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be the first to make studying the galactic bulge a part of its core science objectives, building on the data collected from all observatories before it. Roman’s field of view will cover more area at a far faster cadence than previous space telescopes, allowing it to survey millions of stars and find thousands of new exoplanets.
To support Roman in characterizing numerous stars and planets, astronomers sought to use Hubble to observe many of the same areas of the galactic bulge that Roman will observe in its core Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey. By comparing Hubble data taken months or years earlier to new Roman data, astronomers will be better able to interpret Roman’s forthcoming observations. The Roman telescope team is targeting as soon as early September 2026 for launch.
“A top priority of our Hubble survey is to cover as much sky area as possible,” said Sean Terry, project lead and assistant research scientist from the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
A paper about the team’s work published May 11, 2026 in the Astrophysical Journal.
‘Small’ lenses, large discoveriesMany planetary systems within the Milky Way evolve much like our solar system did, beginning with the collapse of a cosmic gas cloud, the growth of a star, and the formation of surrounding planets. However, in some systems, different events can result in a planet being ejected from the system where it formed. Hundreds of these “rogue planets” will be detected by Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, in addition to previously unseen, isolated neutron stars, and even black holes with masses similar to our Sun.
This survey consists of six 72-day observing seasons during which Roman will take a snapshot every 12 minutes of a large portion of the bulge (approximately 1.7 square degrees of the region, or the area of 8.5 full moons). While it will detect a variety of targets, the survey is optimized to look for a specific type of event known as microlensing.
Microlensing events, a type of gravitational lensing event, occur when the light from a more distant object is warped by the mass of a closer object along the line of sight. These events occur on a much smaller scale than larger lensing events (on the order of individual stars instead of galaxies or galaxy clusters) and allow us to search for exoplanets between us and the densely packed stars within the galactic bulge.
“The great thing about microlensing is that we’ll be able to do a complete census of objects as small as Mars that are moving between us and these fields in the bulge, no matter what it is,” said co-author Jay Anderson of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
For Roman, from HubbleWhen a telescope observes a lensing object, such as a bright star, aligning with a star in the galactic bulge, it can be difficult for astronomers to decipher which of the two the starlight comes from. Therefore, timing is a key consideration. If astronomers can identify light sources separately before a microlensing event occurs, it becomes far easier to disentangle them.
To collect this pre-Roman data, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to conduct a large-scale survey, which began in the spring of 2025, covering much of the same area that Roman will observe in the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey. The size of this program is even larger than two previous surveys (each around 0.5 square degrees) that led to Hubble’s largest mosaic, that of our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, which took over 10 years to assemble.
“The main goal of these observations is to be able to identify objects that participate in lensing events during the Roman survey, catching them before they undergo the lensing event,” said Anderson. “When, in a couple of years, an event happens during Roman’s long stare at the field, we can go back and say, ‘This was a red star, this was a blue star, and the event happened when the red star went in front of the blue star.’”
The data from Hubble also will help shape the analysis of the lensing objects themselves. The microlensing event itself measures only a ratio of the masses of a host star and its planet. With data from stars before or after their microlensing events, however, scientists would be able to measure the stars’ individual masses, echoing the way Hubble previously determined the mass of a star and its planet in the Milky Way. This method turns a more opaque measurement of the relationship between a star and its planet into one far more certain.
“Instead of estimating a mass ratio of a planet that’s orbiting a star, we can say that we’re confident it’s a Saturn-mass planet orbiting a star that’s 0.8 solar masses, for example,” Terry said. “So with the help of precursor imaging from Hubble you can hope to get direct measurements of the masses as opposed to indirect mass ratios.”
Next leap in magnitudeWhile exoplanet discovery is a large part of Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, observing such a large area with Hubble also can help identify areas of extinction, dense pockets of dust and gas that absorb or scatter light, allowing us to create maps detailing where we can see stars and where we can’t.
Hubble’s survey also has provided the crucial beginning of a brand-new catalog of stars, which will help astronomers characterize the host stars of exoplanets discovered by Roman. The research team predicts Roman will add to Hubble’s star catalog by an order of magnitude.
“This Hubble survey will build a catalog of 20 to 30 million point sources,” said Terry. “But, by the end of the Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, Roman may measure about 200 to 300 million, and it will produce, essentially, some of the deepest images ever taken of any part of the sky.”
The data from the most recent Hubble survey is available in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA Goddard manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA Goddard with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
Related Images & Videos Hubble/Roman Galactic Bulge Survey Region (VISTA VVV Survey)This VISTA VVV Survey image shows the galactic bulge near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center. A region planned for observation by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is outlined. This area has been observed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Microlensing Event at OGLE-2013-BLG-0341 (Hubble Image)
A follow-up observation by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows a region containing a microlensing event captured by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) in 2013. Hubble was able to separate the foreground lens from the background star.
Microlensing Infographic
This graphic illustrates a microlensing event, which occurs when the light from a distant object warps as a mass, such as a foreground star, precisely aligns in front of that object. This causes the more distant background star to increase in apparent brightness.
Zoom Into the Milky Way’s Galactic Bulge – Hubble/Roman Survey Regions
This video shows a zoom into the Milky Way’s galactic bulge near the galactic center. As it zooms in, the view changes from the near-infrared 2MASS survey to the VISTA VVV survey (both ground-based).
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Matthew Brown, Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
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Cosmology with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
