Friday, 1 May 2026

Cyclone Rains Spur Papua New Guinea Landslides

Sept. 24, 2025
April 20, 2026

A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Sept. 24, 2025

April 20, 2026


During a break in the clouds, the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 captured an image of landslide fallout in the forested Gazelle district of East New Britain on April 20, 2026 (right). A second image from Landsat 9 shows the same area on September 24, 2025 (left), before the landslides.

Since much of Papua New Guinea lies close to the equator where the Coriolis effect is weak, the risk of tropical cyclones striking the island nation is relatively low, especially in its northern areas. Nevertheless, unusually warm sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions favorable to storm formation brought powerful Tropical Cyclone Maila dangerously close to the islands of Bougainville, New Britain, and New Ireland in April 2026, fueling intense rainfall.

The heavy rains saturated steep terrain in the Gazelle district of East New Britain, triggering landslides on and around April 9 that led to several deaths, according to news reports. The Landsat 9 satellite captured an image of the fresh landslide scars cutting through the dense tropical forests in the Baining Mountains on April 20, 2026. The Toriu River and other sediment-laden waterways are visible to the east of the landslides.

The landslides appear as light-brown swaths of exposed soil and debris extending north toward a nearby river valley, contrasting with the surrounding green vegetation and scattered white clouds. A second image from Landsat 9 shows the same area on September 24, 2025, before the landslides.

Maila was notable for its intensity—reaching Category 4 strength on Australia’s cyclone intensity scale (Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale used for U.S. hurricanes)—and also for its slow movement near Papua New Guinea. Instead of passing quickly through the region, Maila lingered, allowing rainbands to repeatedly strike East New Britain. Satellite-based precipitation estimates from NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission indicate that hundreds of millimeters of rain likely fell across the region in less than a week.

NASA’s Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (LHASA) model uses precipitation estimates from GPM along with slope, soil, and land cover data to identify areas where rainfall is likely to trigger landslides. During the height of the storm, LHASA highlighted parts of East New Britain—including the Baining Mountains—as having an elevated risk of slope failure.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

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A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.

September 24, 2025

JPEG (18.10 MB)

A narrow, light-brown landslide scar cuts through dark green forested mountains in East New Britain and extends south toward a stream valley. Rivers swollen with floodwaters, areas of forest clearing, and scattered clouds are also visible in some parts of the image.

April 20, 2026

JPEG (17.23 MB)

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NASA Invites Media to Ireland Artemis Accords Signing

NASA meatball
Credit: NASA

Ireland will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 3 p.m. EDT Monday, May 4, at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will host Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America Geraldine Byrne Nason; Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, T.D., of Ireland; and U.S. Department of State officials for the ceremony.

This event is in person only. Media interested in attending must RSVP no later than 12 p.m. on May 4 to: hq-media@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.

In 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the United States, led by NASA and the State Department, joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies.

The accords introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety, transparency, and coordination of civil space exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

-end-

Camille Gallo / Elizabeth Shaw 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1600 
camille.m.gallo@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.shaw@nasa.gov 

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Apr 30, 2026


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What’s Up: May 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA

Shooting stars before dawn, a brilliant meetup between the Moon and Venus and a rare blue moon to end the month

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower brings shooting stars before dawn, the Moon meets brilliant Venus after sunset, and May wraps up with a rare Blue Moon.

Skywatching Highlights

  • May 5 + 6 : Best time to see the Eta Aquarids 
  • May 18: Moon and Venus conjunction
  • May 31: Blue moon

Transcript

Shooting stars before dawn, a brilliant meetup between the Moon and Venus, and a rare “Blue Moon” to end the month.

That’s What’s Up this May.

First up: the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaks in early May.

These shooting stars come from Halley’s Comet. Every year, Earth passes through the comet’s dusty trail, and those tiny particles burn up in our atmosphere. That’s what creates those bright streaks across the sky.

Halley’s Comet last passed through the inner solar system in 1986, and won’t return until 2061.

The Eta Aquarids appear to come from the constellation Aquarius. That’s where the shower gets its name.

A star chart titled
NASA/JPL-Caltech

These meteors are fast, racing into Earth’s atmosphere at about 40 miles per second. And because they’re moving so quickly, they can leave behind glowing trails that linger for a moment after the flash.

At peak, the shower can produce up to about 50 meteors an hour under ideal skies. The best time to watch? In the hours before dawn, looking generally toward the eastern sky.

For the best chance of seeing meteor showers, go somewhere dark, let your eyes adjust for about 20 to 30 minutes, and avoid bright lights, including your phone screen.

The peak is expected around May 5th to 6th, but bright moonlight this year may wash out some of the fainter meteors.

On May 18th, look west just after sunset.

A star chart titled
NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Moon gets a bright little sidekick as Venus shines nearby. The crescent Moon helps point the way, making this an easy one to spot.

Venus is one of the brightest objects we can see from Earth, often called the Evening Star.

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

Last month, Artemis II launched right around the time of the April 1st Full Moon, sending astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years and giving us some spectacular new views of our closest neighbor.

And now, May ends with another lunar moment: a Full Moon on May 31st. This one is a Blue Moon.

But it actually won’t look blue.

Blue Moon is the name given to the second Full Moon in a single calendar month. It’s a relatively rare event, hence the phrase “once in a blue moon.”

So whether you’re up before sunrise or out after sunset, May is a great time to look up.

Here are the phases of the Moon for May.

An infographic titled May 2026 displays the month's primary lunar phases against a black background. It features five distinct moon stages arranged horizontally with their dates: a Full Moon on the 1st, a Third Quarter on the 9th, a New Moon on the 16th, and a First Quarter on the 23rd. The sequence concludes with a second Full Moon on the 31st, specifically labeled as a
NASA/JPL-Caltech

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

I’m Raquel Villanueva from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.

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Thursday, 30 April 2026

US-Indian Spacecraft Captures Mexico City Subsidence

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US-Indian Spacecraft Captures Mexico City Subsidence

A satellite map of the Mexico City area shows land subsidence, with blue patches indicating the fastest rates of sinking compared to yellow and green patches. A color bar in the corner shows rate of change. The airport and a few landmarks are labeled.
PIA26709
Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/David Bekaert

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US-Indian Spacecraft Captures Mexico City Subsidence

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PIA26709 Figure A

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Description

A scientist produced this map of land subsidence (sinking) in Mexico City using data from the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission captured between Oct. 25, 2025, and Jan. 17, 2026. The region has been a well-known hot spot of subsidence for decades, and images like this help confirm that NISAR is performing as expected in its first year of operation.

The dark blue color indicates areas found to be subsiding by more than half an inch (more than 2 centimeters) per month, due in large part to groundwater pumping, which has led to compaction of the dry, ancient lakebed on which the city was built. The yellow and red areas are likely residual noise signals that are expected to decrease as NISAR collects more data and refines its measurements.

Two marshy ecosystems with ties to the country’s past can be seen in the image. The dark green oblong to the northeast of the airport is Nabor Carrillo, an artificial lake constructed over the now-extinct Lake Texcoco. Chalco Lake, a wetland located in a historically fertile region to the south, shares its name with a major body of water that was drained over a period of centuries to reduce flooding in the city. The ancient lake was a primary natural habitat of the Mexican Axolotl, an endangered species of salamander with the ability to regrow limbs.

Another landmark pinpointed in the image — the Angel of Independence along the Paseo de la Reforma — was built in 1910 to commemorate 100 years of Mexico’s independence. Standing over 100 feet (30 meters) tall, the monument has had 14 steps added to its base over the years as the land around it has gradually sunk.

A satellite map of the Mexico City area shows land subsidence, with blue patches indicating the fastest rates of sinking compared to yellow and green patches. A color bar in the corner shows rate of change. The airport and a few landmarks are labeled.
Figure A

Figure A is a version of the image extending further south and with no labels, scale, or compass.

The images were created with data from NISAR’s L-band radar instrument, which uses a 9-inch (24-centimeter) wavelength that enables its signal to penetrate dense vegetation such as forest canopies.

The satellite’s S-band radar, provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Space Applications Centre, uses a 4-inch (10-centimeter) microwave signal that’s more sensitive to small vegetation, which makes it effective at monitoring certain types of agriculture and grassland ecosystems. Launched in 2025, NISAR is the first satellite to carry two SAR instruments at different wavelengths.

Data from NISAR will benefit humanity by helping researchers around the world better understand changes across our planet’s surface, from cities to forests and glaciers. The global and rapid coverage from NISAR will also provide unprecedented support for disaster response, producing data to assist in mitigating and assessing damage, with observations before and after catastrophic events available in short time frames.

Find more information about NISAR here: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/nisar/



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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4873-4878: Welcome to the Atacama Drill Target

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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4873-4878: Welcome to the Atacama Drill Target

A black-and-white, wide-angle photograph taken on Mars by the Curiosity rover. In the foreground, the rover's robotic arm with a complex cluster of instruments at its end reaches down, casting a dark shadow onto the ground. The terrain consists of flat, jagged, light-colored rock slabs separated by patches of dark sand with wind-blown ripples. Parts of the rover's hardware are visible in the bottom corners of the frame. In the background, a desolate, rocky landscape stretches toward a curved horizon lined with distant hills under a pale sky.
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) on April 23, 2026 — Sol 4874, or Martian day 4,874 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 01:12:31 UTC.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Earth planning date: Friday, April 24, 2026

There was excitement in the air as the Curiosity Science Team kicked off a drill campaign at the Atacama site to characterize the first Mount Sharp layered-sulfate bedrock since leaving the boxwork terrain.

Monday was a three-sol plan (4873-4875) where we focused on “drill sol 1” activities that included a pre-load test on our drill target as well as triage contact science. APXS assembled a set of repeated observations on the Atacama drill target, and the coordinated MAHLI images taken with different lighting will provide an opportunity to detect possible changes between the datasets. Mastcam assembled stereo mosaics to document the Atacama drill site, investigate variations in the bedrock at “Kimsa Chata,” and characterize the layering within Paniri butte.

Planning resumed Friday with another three-sol plan (4876-4878) that included the full drill and portion characterization related to “drill sols 2 and 3” activities. Mastcam planned stereo mosaics of rocks in the workspace including a laminated rock with an exposed edge named “Queen of the Andes,” a rock with polygonal fractures that was broken when the rover drove over it named “Curaco,” and more coverage of the “El Almendrillo” target.

Rounding out the plans this week, the Environmental theme group continues to monitor dust in the atmosphere, study cloud movements, and document the presence of dust devils. The rover will also autonomously select two targets to be analyzed by the ChemCam instrument.

Next week we look forward to continuing our drill campaign, where the next step will be delivering a portion of the Atacama target to the ChemMin instrument for analysis. The science team is looking forward to seeing how the mineralogy of the layered sulfate unit here compares to our last drill of the same unit at the Mineral King site, which is nearly 160 meters (525 feet) below our current location!

A rover sits on the hilly, orange Martian surface beneath a flat grey sky, surrounded by chunks of rock.
NASA’s Curiosity rover at the base of Mount Sharp
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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Apr 29, 2026

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Curiosity Blog, Sols 4867-4872: Sand Fill In Antofagasta Crater and Finding Our Next Drill Target



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Cyclone Rains Spur Papua New Guinea Landslides

Science Earth Observatory Cyclone Rains Spur Papua New… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer All Topic...