Thursday, 29 October 2026

Caltech Names Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman as NASA JPL Deputy

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Former NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman joins Caltech and NASA JPL as Caltech associate vice president and JPL deputy director on Nov. 30.
Photo Credit: NASA

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman has been named Caltech associate vice president and deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The emeritus astronaut and retired U.S. Navy captain begins his new role at NASA’s center of excellence for robotics and deep space exploration and at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, on Nov. 30, 2026.

“Reid has spent his career at the edge of what is possible, and he has the technical judgment, operational experience, and leadership to help push that edge farther,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “As commander of Artemis II, he helped carry America back around the Moon, and now, as an emeritus astronaut, he will continue giving back to NASA from a new vantage point at JPL. Reid is joining a storied laboratory that has made an enormous amount of history, and there is a lot more ahead. I am excited to see what he and the JPL team accomplish in the years to come.”

During the Artemis II test flight, Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen journeyed 695,081 miles on a lunar flyby that took them farther than any humans have ever traveled before.

“It feels fitting for Reid, who with the Artemis II crew traveled farther from Earth than any human in history, to join Caltech and JPL — institutions that for nearly 90 years have sent spacecraft into the far reaches of our solar system and beyond,” said Dave Gallagher, JPL director and Caltech vice president. “Reid shares our drive for discovery, knows what it takes to lead teams through high-stakes missions, and has a remarkable ability to inspire people everywhere. He adds incredible bench strength to our leadership team as we build on the lab’s legacy and shape its future together.”

After joining NASA’s astronaut corps in 2009, Wiseman went on to serve as flight engineer aboard the International Space Station for the 165-day Expedition 41 mission in 2014 and was a commander of NASA’s 21st Extreme Environment Mission Operations expedition, during which he lived for eight days in a habitat on the ocean floor in 2016. As the agency’s chief astronaut from December 2020 to November 2022, Wiseman led NASA’s astronaut corps, overseeing crew flight readiness and crew safety for all NASA human spaceflight missions. During his years of service at the agency, he has conducted hundreds of scientific experiments.

“I’ve explored the furthest reaches of what a human can explore at NASA — and there were truly no words in the English vocabulary to describe seeing the Sun disappear behind the Moon from deep space. But that experience was really the jumping off point to go do the impossible things that Caltech and JPL dream, dare together, and do for NASA and the nation,” Wiseman said. “What an awesome time in my career to join this team and to try and push humanity and push our understanding of the solar system and the universe.”

Wiseman joins JPL, NASA’s only federally funded research and development center, as the lab approaches its 90th anniversary since being founded by Caltech. In his role as Caltech’s associate vice president and JPL deputy director, Wiseman will be responsible for the strategic leadership, stewardship and continuous improvement of laboratory operations, including close partnership with Caltech on institutional planning, management and compliance. Serving as Center Management Authority for JPL mission execution, Wiseman will ensure operational excellence across mission support functions in accordance with NASA requirements and applicable federal and state regulations. In addition, he will be JPL’s primary interface for national security programs.

“Reid brings to Caltech and JPL a truly unprecedented view of what humanity can achieve when ingenuity and determination are matched with the courage to pursue the furthest frontiers,” said Caltech president Ray Jayawardhana. “His pioneering spirit coupled with unbounded curiosity make him a natural fit for Caltech and JPL, a force-multiplier for a community whose daring continues to push the limits of humanity’s reach. I look forward to working closely with Dave and Reid as we chart our next era of exploration in partnership with NASA, elevating America’s space ambitions to breathtaking new heights.”

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wiseman joined the Navy, going on to fly combat missions and serve as a test pilot. He also has a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University in his hometown of Baltimore.

-end-

Media Contact

Matthew Segal
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov

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Oct 28, 2026

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NASA Welcomes Vietnam as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory 

Artemis Accords flags
Credit: NASA

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam became the 78th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, joining a growing coalition of like-minded nations committed to the peaceful, transparent, and responsible exploration of space.  

“Vietnam is joining at an important point in the development of its own space program,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson in recorded remarks for the ceremony. “NASA and the Vietnam National Space Center have built momentum in satellite innovation, land-use research, and radar-based Earth observation. Joining the Artemis Accords opens a new chapter in that relationship. We’ve aligned on the principles. The opportunities are in front of us, and now we can build on that foundation together. We are proud to welcome Vietnam to the Artemis Accords community.” 

Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Vũ Hải Quân signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of the country during the Vietnam International Digital Week in Ha Long. The United States Ambassador to Vietnam Jennifer Wicks also participated in the signing event. 

Vietnam’s decision extends the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership into a new frontier.  Built on more than 30 years of cooperation, the partnership spans defense, economic, law enforcement, war legacy, and technological cooperation, and it advances peace, stability, and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific. 

Earlier this year, NASA partnered with Vietnam’s Vietnamese-German University to support the agency’s Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, which measures surface-soil water worldwide. Vietnam also inaugurated its National Space Center in Hanoi and is developing domestic satellite capabilities through the LOTUSat program, focusing on Earth observation, weather monitoring, and disaster response. 

In 2020, 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. They introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. 

Signing the Artemis Accords means committing to explore peaceably and transparently, to render aid to those in need, to enable access to scientific data that all of humanity can learn from, to ensure activities do not interfere with those of others, and to preserve historically significant sites and artifacts by developing best practices for space exploration for the benefit of all.  

More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues its work to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.  

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:  

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



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Artemis III SLS Core Stage Joins Boosters at Kennedy

A view of the bottom portion of the 212-foot core stage of the Space Launch System rocket as a crane moves it vertically above the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Dominating the center of the image are four rocket engines covered in red caps.
The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is lifted from the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026.
NASA/Sean Cannon
Four people in hard hats are silhouetted against the side of the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket as it is raised in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building. A spotlight on the group’s right shines a bright spot on a portion of the orange stage which is very close and fills the image.
The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is lifted from the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026.
NASA/Sean Cannon
Vertical overhead view of a rocket stage extending through the center of a large assembly building, framed by surrounding platforms and structure.
The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is horizontal in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
NASA/Cory S Huston
The 212-foot core stage of the Space Launch System rocket is vertical in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The nose cones of the two side boosters are visible as the crane places the core stage between them where they are already set on the Mobile Launcher.
The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is integrated alongside the twin solid rocket booster motor segments on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida completing its short stack configuration.
NASA/Sean Cannon
The central portion of the Space Launch System rocket stack is seen from a platform across the central aisle in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The nose cones of the solid rocket booster flank the orange core stage and are surrounded by platforms and staircases.
The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage is integrated with the solid rocket boosters for Artemis III in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to complete its short stack configuration.
NASA/Frank Michaux

NASA’s Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is integrated alongside the twin solid rocket boosters on Oct. 28 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building’s High Bay 3 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  

Technicians lifted the 212-foot rocket stage from the facility’s High Bay 2 using a one-of-a kind lifting beam designed to place the stage onto the mobile launcher. Once testing and checkouts are complete, teams will roll the core stage and booster stack out to Launch Pad 39B to conduct a tanking test where liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel will be loaded only into the core stage and launch teams will practice countdown procedures and timelines.  

The Artemis III mission will launch NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft from Blue Origin and SpaceX ahead of future mission to land astronauts on the Moon.  

Photo credit: NASA/Sean Cannon, Cory S Huston, and Frank Michaux



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NASA University Challenge Ignites Trajectory of Drone Entrepreneur

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

NASA University Challenge image shows four men dressed in t-shirts and jeans, each holding a small quad-copter drone, stand in front of a “Camp Grayling” sign with trees and bushes in the background.
Four co-founders of AG3 Labs –from left Matt Atkinson, Gavin Gardner, Ryan Atkinson, and Gryson Gardner – show off the military training drones their company builds at a U.S. Army event at Camp Grayling in Michigan. As a student, Gavin was on a Michigan State team twice selected for participation in NASA’s University Student Research Challenge. His NASA experience served as a foundation for the creation of AG3.
AG3 Labs

Five years ago, Gavin Gardner was a Michigan State University engineering student researching next-generation drone technology as part of a NASA grant. Garder expected the research to be demanding – but he was surprised that navigating the financial side of the work presented an even greater challenge.

Although Gardner was used to leading fellow students in a lab setting, he and his team were completely new to things like creating budgets, handling large sums of money, and promoting their work for crowdfunding.

That’s why demonstrating both engineering and entrepreneurship skills are major tentpoles of NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC), an initiative that provides grants to teams of college students interested in helping the agency realize its aeronautical research goals.

“Half the battle is building your product,” Gardner said recently. “The other half is selling the product in a way that everyone else can understand what you’re doing and not talking in nerdy, engineering ways.”

We hope that every team that participates in the program sees, like Gavin, how they can grow technically, entrepreneurially, and use the opportunity as a launchpad for their own innovative careers.

STEVEN HOLZ

STEVEN HOLZ

NASA USRC Manager

Gardner and his Michigan State USRC alumni teammates are still using those lessons today, as aerospace developers. In 2024, they founded their own company, AG3 Labs, which specializes in drones for military training exercises.

“I don’t think I would discredit our technical expertise in getting us to where we are today, but I know that USRC was a booster that really amplified our trajectory at such a young age,” Gardner said.

NASA USRC manager Steven Holz said Gardner’s experience shows what students can accomplish when they receive both a grant and guidance – enabling a future workforce and contributing to the aviation industry.

“We are proud to see the success of USRC alumni,” Holz said. “We hope that every team that participates in the program sees, like Gavin, how they can grow technically, entrepreneurially, and use the opportunity as a launchpad for their own innovative careers.” 

Research path

Gardner’s path to running his own company began with a middle school age trip to Space Camp, where he began realizing that he wanted to be an engineer.

The engineering bug also bit his brother, Gryson Gardner, and the two of them would often be found in their Michigan garage tinkering with various machinery, including drones and electronic kits.

When Gardner arrived at Michigan State, he looked for extracurricular groups and found one dedicated to the increasingly popular hobby of drones. He gained hands-on, practical experience in how drones are made and operated.

In 2021, Gardner received an email from a friend who told him they had just won a USRC grant from NASA for an activity called Aerial Intra-city Delivery Electric Drones (AIDED), and they needed help building a new drone.

“We had this idea that instead of flying through the whole city, why can’t a drone just hitchhike a ride on a city bus like everyone else does?” Gardner said.

The concept was for a cargo-carrying drone to take off, dock on top of public transportation such as a bus, charge its batteries while riding along, and then take off for its final leg of the delivery. The team built and flew a full-scale drone to prove the concept but decided against pursuing a commercial venture.

“The commercial drone market kind of scared us a little bit with the large number of regulations that go into operating such a novel idea like this with flying over people in a dense city,” Gardner said.

But the team’s demonstration of technical prowess and confidence led to a second USRC award from NASA in 2023 – the Laser Energized Aerial Drone System (LEADS), which focused on using a laser to transfer power directly to a drone in flight.

While working on LEADS, which led to flying a prototype, Gardner’s network of contacts within the drone community expanded to include NASA personnel at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, who made him aware of internship opportunities, which he applied for and was accepted while in graduate school.

Screen shot of Gavin Gardner's intern post whee he is standing in front of the FIFI aircraft wearing a red NASA t-shirt and dark shorts.
Gavin Gardner, a University Student Research Challenge participant who went on to co-found his own drone company, also was a NASA intern in 2024 and wrote this social media post. 

Student challenge paves way for opportunity 

As his graduation in the spring of 2025 with a master’s degree approached, Gardner took the initial steps in late 2024 to co-found with his brother and other USRC alumni AG3 Labs after a friend suggested the military could use low-cost drones to test effective counter drone systems.

An initial award from the U.S. Army led to more contracts, allowing the company to expand and ramp up its operations, where today their production capability enables thousands of drones to be built each month.

Gardner credits his experience with USRC, especially when it came to learning more about the business side of running a technical operation, with helping create the opportunities for success he and his team are experiencing today.

About the Author

Jim Banke

Jim Banke

Aeronautics Senior Writer

Jim Banke is a veteran aviation and aerospace communicator with more than 40 years of experience as a writer, producer, consultant, and project manager based at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He is part of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications Team and is Senior Writer for the Aeronautics Division within the Research Technology Mission Directorate. In 2007 he was recognized with a Distinguished Public Service Medal, NASA's highest honor for a non-government employee.

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Wednesday, 28 October 2026

The Land of the Standing-Up Rocks

A satellite image shows Chiricahua National Park outlined in yellow amid mountainous terrain. Within the park, gray ridges are cut by green, vegetated canyons, two of which are labeled Bonita Canyon and Rhyolite Canyon. To the west, the land is flatter and redder with less vegetation.

Some 27 million years ago, a volcano in what’s now southeastern Arizona unleashed a spectacular series of eruptions, strewing more than 1,000 times as much volcanic material across the landscape as Mount St. Helens did in 1980.

The explosive eruptions blanketed the region, part of the Chiricahua Apache Nation’s traditional lands, with ash and pumice. Layered into this were massive pyroclastic flows that hardened into deposits of welded rhyolitic tuff that in some areas were nearly 1,600 feet (500 meters) thick, about three times the height of the Washington Monument. As the magma chamber emptied, the ground above it collapsed, leaving a gaping depression—the Turkey Creek caldera—that was roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide and 4,900 feet (1,500 meters) deep.

An array of geologic processes, including erosion and weathering, gradually sculpted the welded layer of tuff into the collection of dramatic spires, hoodoos, and canyons that visitors to the caldera area encounter today.

The Apache called the area “The Land of the Standing-Up Rocks” for good reason. Hiking through Rhyolite Canyon or driving through Bonita Canyon means encountering a dizzying maze of rock pinnacles, some hundreds of feet tall. Others, like Big Balanced Rock, have surprisingly large boulders precariously perched on top. Meanwhile, those at Heart of Rocks and Massai Point are gathered into groups of hundreds.

The area was designated a national monument in 1924 to preserve its remarkable geology. In October 2026, it was redesignated as Chiricahua National Park (pronounced cheery-cow-ah). The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 captured this cloud-free image of the new national park on July 2, 2026.

Individual rock spires are too small to distinguish, but the eroding rhyolitic tuff landscape appears gray. Stream valleys dense with trees and other vegetation, including Rhyolite Canyon and Bonita Canyon, snake across the landscape. With four biogeographic regions converging in the park—the Sonoran Desert, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Madre—it is a haven of plant diversity.

Among the 1,000 species growing within the park’s varied desert, grassland, chaparral, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest ecosystems are agaves, prickly pear cacti, yuccas, manzanita, pine, fir, cypress, sycamore, juniper, and oak. The park’s location within the Chiricahua Mountains puts it among several “sky islands” in Arizona—isolated mountain ranges that emerge from the surrounding desert “sea.” According to the National Park Service, the range’s highest point (outside the park) rises 2,986 meters (9,795 feet) above sea level, more than 1,800 meters above the surrounding valley.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

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A satellite image shows Chiricahua National Park outlined in yellow amid mountainous terrain. Within the park, gray ridges are cut by green, vegetated canyons, two of which are labeled Bonita Canyon and Rhyolite Canyon. To the west, the land is flatter and redder with less vegetation.

July 2, 2026

JPEG (6.09 MB)

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NASA Invites Media to Crew Completion of Yearlong Mars Simulation

Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) Mission 2 crew members (from left) Ross Elder, Matthew Montgomery, Ellen Ellis, and James Spicer, pose for a photo on Oct. 8, 2025.
Credit: NASA

The four volunteers who lived and worked in a simulated NASA Mars mission for more than a year will exit their habitat on Saturday, Oct. 31, after 378 days of isolation in a facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Health and performance data collected from the simulation can help NASA develop methods to counter human spaceflight risks for future Artemis and Moon Base missions.

Beginning at 3 p.m. EDT, NASA will provide live coverage of the volunteers’ departure from the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA, pronounced cha-pea’-ah) mission habitat. The exit ceremony will be streamed on NASA Johnson’s YouTube and social accounts.

Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche and NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway will provide remarks. The CHAPEA crew members Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, James Spicer, and Matthew Montgomery also will provide remarks.

Media are invited to watch the CHAPEA Mission 2 ceremony live at NASA Johnson on a screen outside the hangar holding the CHAPEA facility, after which a subject matter expert will be available in person to answer questions. Media will have the opportunity to capture the moment the crew exits the building, stepping outside for the first time in more than a year.

U.S. media interested in attending the activities in person, or media interested in speaking virtually with the CHAPEA Mission 2 crew members in the days following completion of their mission, must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30, at jsc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. 

The second CHAPEA mission began on Oct. 19, 2025. Four crew members have lived and worked inside a 3D-printed 1,700-square-foot facility, simulating Mars mission operations, conducting simulated spacewalks, exercising, performing habitat maintenance, growing plants, and more, while operating under stressors that future deep space crews will likely experience. These included communication delays, resource limitations, and isolation.

Data from the mission can aid preparation for NASA’s lunar missions by optimizing food system design, efficient use of crew time, bandwidth on NASA’s Deep Space Network, and other aspects of living in deep space. In addition, data can help flight doctors and psychologists strengthen spaceflight medical care and behavioral support practices to ensure crew readiness and performance.

To learn more about NASA’s CHAPEA mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea

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Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

Kelsey Spivey
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelsey.m.spivey@nasa.gov



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NASA’s Neo Surveyor Sunshade

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.

Read more about the sunshade and NEO Surveyor.

Image credit: BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems



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Tuesday, 27 October 2026

NASA’s Perseverance Offers Clues to Protect Crews From Mars Dust

6 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

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.
This 360-degree panorama from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows Neretva Vallis, the dusty, long-dried river channel that cuts through the western rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Over 1,645 Martian days, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover measured the fine and ultrafine Martian dust particles found clinging to samples of spacesuit materials that are carried aboard the rover, including some that are small enough to penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The findings will be published Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and could inform spacesuit and habitat design, dust-removal procedures, and crew health standards for future NASA missions to Mars.

“NASA has a long history of turning challenges into workable solutions and of finding creative ways to use the data that we have to answer questions beyond what it was originally collected for,” said Lindsay Hays, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Dust has been a surface-exploration challenge since the Apollo program. Perseverance is giving our engineers and flight surgeons measurements they can use to improve our existing designs well before the first American astronauts arrive on Mars.”

Lunar dust scratched visors, degraded outer spacesuit layers, and damaged their seals during NASA’s Apollo missions, and some crew members reported symptoms similar to hay fever.

Rounded by wind-driven collisions with other particles, dust grains on Mars are less abrasive than those on the Moon. They also are enriched in sulfur, chlorine, and iron and contain more silica than lunar dust. Regional and global dust storms on Mars can keep the grains recirculating throughout the atmosphere as well.  

The rover carries a set of five samples of spacesuit material. The swatches, each three-quarters of an inch (20 millimeters) square, are part of a calibration target used to test the settings of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), an instrument on Perseverance’s robotic arm. The calibration target for another instrument that provided the dust measurements, called PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), carries a sample of Teflon and of basaltic glass.

Because Teflon contains no elements that PIXL can directly detect, whatever elemental signals the X-ray spectrometer picks up from that sample comes from dust resting on it.

The team also analyzed swatches of Teflon and Vectran, two materials used in spacesuits, on SHERLOC’s calibration target. NASA sent the swatches to Mars to study how spacesuit materials hold up on the planet’s surface.

“Perseverance’s main job is to search for signs of ancient microbial life, but the mission was also designed to help prepare for human explorers. That effort includes technology demonstrations like MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) and Ingenuity, as well as the spacesuit samples,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Fine, ultrafine

While earlier measurements on Mars resolved dust particles down to about 3 micrometers across, PIXL detected two categories of even smaller particles: fine particles measuring less than 2.5 micrometers (a human hair is about 70 micrometers wide) and ultrafine particles around 100 nanometers (about 700 times thinner than a human hair). Particles on PIXL’s Teflon target and SHERLOC’s Vectran swatch averaged about 2 micrometers. On PIXL’s basaltic glass and SHERLOC’s Teflon swatch, dust particle sizes ranged down to about 100 to 300 nanometers.

A split view shows a rover on a rocky landscape with a yellow circle highlighting a deck instrument, alongside a close-up of that instrument's calibration target featuring rows of circular and square material samples.
This annotated composite image shows the location on NASA’s Perseverance of the calibration target for rover’s SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument. At right is a close-up of the calibration target.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Static electricity appears to determine which size dust particles stick to which surface. Dust grains become charged as they collide in the air, and different materials on the calibration target attract grains of different sizes. The finest particles stayed attached through years of driving and drilling. Organic polymers like SHERLOC’s Teflon spacesuit sample are common in the outer layers of spacesuits, and the results show they readily collect fine dust.

The study also found that some materials hold less dust than others, which could guide future choices of materials and protective coatings for spacesuits and habitats. Designs such as suitports, which let astronauts enter a suit attached to the outside of a habitat, and dual-chamber airlocks could reduce how much dust gets inside astronauts’ living quarters.

“The existence of Mars dust at these ultrafine sizes has been predicted for a long time, and PIXL gave us the chance to measure it directly on Mars,” said Scott VanBommel, a Perseverance scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and the paper’s lead author. “The larger clumps, the Martian dust bunnies, get shaken off over time. But the smallest particles stay behind, and those are the ones that pose the greatest challenge for human support systems.”

Chemically, the dust matches the iron- and sulfur-rich composition that earlier missions measured. The PIXL instrument also found the dust to be enriched in phosphorus and detected signs of calcium sulfate.

Protecting crews

On Earth, airborne particles, or particulate matter, below 2.5 micrometers (that is, fine particles) are tied to a range of negative health effects because they can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Studies have shown that ultrafine particles (those no larger than 100 nanometers) can travel from the nasal cavity to the brain along the olfactory nerve.

Martian dust is composed predominantly of silicate minerals and carries chemically reactive compounds, including perchlorates that can disrupt thyroid function and reactive iron that induces cellular damage. Scientists believe that the health risks of Mars dust depend on the quantity of dust and length of exposure.

The PIXL results are the first on-site measurements of fine and ultrafine particles on Mars, and this research can inform broader efforts to refine indoor dust-exposure limits for astronauts, develop safe habits, and establish ways to remove dust while exploring Mars.

NASA is already working on solutions to extraterrestrial dust hazards, using ground test facilities and lunar missions as proving grounds for future Mars explorers. In March 2025, the agency tested an Electrodynamic Dust Shield, which used electric fields to clear lunar regolith from glass and thermal radiator surfaces on the Moon. Developed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it landed on the Moon aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers at the Lunar Development and Test Facility use vacuum chambers and lunar regolith simulant to test spacesuit components, mechanisms, and a Handheld Lunar Electrostatic Dust Mitigation tool ahead of Artemis missions to the lunar surface.

More about Perseverance

Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. NASA JPL also built PIXL and SHERLOC.

To learn more about Perseverance visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance

-end-

Media Contacts
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
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Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
240-285-5155 / 202-672-4780
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

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Caltech Names Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman as NASA JPL Deputy

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Former NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman...