Friday, 24 April 2026

An Agricultural Mosaic in Taiwan

An array of green rectangular parcels of farmland in a range of hues is interspersed with several small towns.
Farms raising an array of crops form an agricultural mosaic across Yunlin County in this image captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 on March 18, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

About 23 million people live in Taiwan, a Pacific island about the size of Maryland. Despite its size, the island produces a tremendous amount of agricultural goods per year—about $18 billion, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture.

The average size of a farm in Taiwan (less than 1 hectare) is much smaller than in the United Kingdom (87 hectares) or the United States (187 hectares). Since much of the island is mountainous, only about one-quarter of Taiwan’s land is arable, and it is mostly located on the southwestern side of the island in the Chianan Plain. That amounts to 0.03 hectares of farmland per Taiwanese citizen—about half as much arable farmland as there is per person in the United Kingdom and one-tenth as much as in the United States.

The small plot size is apparent in this satellite image of farmland in Yunlin County in southwestern Taiwan, one of the island’s most productive agricultural areas. The small size of farms is partly a result of past policies that limited the size of farms and partly a byproduct of cultural traditions that often lead to the division of farms into smaller parcels as property is passed from one generation to the next.

Located along the floodplains of the Zhoushui and Beigang rivers, Yunlin County is mostly flat, has fertile soils, and enjoys easy access to irrigation water. The county, one of Taiwan’s main agricultural hubs, is known for producing a wide range of crops, including rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, sugarcane, garlic, scallions, coffee, fruit trees, and leafy greens. Farms in the county also raise millions of pigs, the most of any county in Taiwan.

A patch of farmland with much larger fields stands out north of Baozhong.
Areas with large fields were generally once part of sugar plantations.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Most crops in Yunlin County are grown in small rectangular plots defined by roadways and networks of irrigation canals. The exception is sugarcane, which was grown widely in the county in the early 1900s when Japan controlled Taiwan and established an expansive network of sugarcane plantations in the southwestern part of the country. These plantations were consolidated into Taiwan Sugar Corporation after the conclusion of World War II, and the large plot sizes in the farmland north of Baozhong in the image above persist as a legacy of this period.

While the amount of sugarcane cultivated in Taiwan has declined in recent decades and many of the fields have transitioned to other crops, Taiwan Sugar Corporation still raises sugarcane around Baozhong. The company operates a railway that transports harvested cane to nearby Huwei, site of one of just a few remaining sugar refineries on the island. While Taiwan also once had a large network of sugar railways that serviced thousands of kilometers of track and dozens of sugar refineries, the line that serves Huwei is the only one on the island that remains active.

Farm fields around Xiluo appear a darker shade of green than other parts of the image because of shade nets.
Farmers around Xiluo often use shade nets to protect crops from the elements.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

Another area that stands out in the mosaicked agricultural landscape of Yunlin is located around Xiluo (above). Here the fields take on an unusual greenish-blue hue, largely because of the ubiquity of shade nets. Farmers use the nets to protect crops from heat, sun, heavy rains, and pests. They’re generally deployed for specialty crops such as vegetables, fruit, and flowers. This area contrasts with the darker green region in the lower right of the first image, where rice is the dominant crop.

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

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An array of green rectangular parcels of farmland in a range of hues is interspersed with several small towns.

March 18, 2026

JPEG (22.63 MB)

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Johnson Leaders Honored by National Space Club & Foundation 

The 2026 award recipients at the 69th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner at the Washington Hilton on March 13, 2026.
National Space Club & Foundation

The National Space Club & Foundation announced its annual award recipients March 13, 2026, in Washington, D.C.  

Two dedicated leaders from NASA’s Johnson Space Center were recognized for their contributions to human spaceflight. 

Orion Program Manager Howard Hu receives the Norman L. Baker Astronautics Engineer Award.
National Space Club & Foundation

Orion Program Manager Howard Hu received the Norman L. Baker Astronautics Engineer Award for sustained technical contributions to multiple human spaceflight efforts.  

Hu leads the design, development, production, and operations of Orion, NASA’s spacecraft for Artemis missions to the Moon. He has held several leadership roles within the Orion program, including deputy program manager, a manager of the Avionics, Power, and Software Office, and deputy manager of the Vehicle Integration Office. Hu has supported Orion since its inception, beginning as the Vehicle System Performance and Analysis lead. 

On April 1, 2026, Artemis II launched on a 10-day voyage around the Moon, marking the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down safely inside Orion April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. At their farthest point, the crew and spacecraft traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a new record for the greatest distance traveled by humans in space. 

The mission successfully proved the capability of Orion’s critical systems such as life support with humans aboard. Data from Artemis II will help refine mission operations and further evaluate Orion’s performance in deep space, supporting future Artemis missions.  

NASA and its partners are now shifting their focus to Artemis III, which will test integrated operations between Orion and the human landing system in lunar orbit and advance plans to return astronauts to the Moon. 

Before joining Orion, Hu served in multiple technical and leadership roles at Johnson, including chief engineer for exploration in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, project manager and co-developer of shuttle abort flight management software for the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrades Program, and deputy guidance, navigation, and control system manager for the International Space Station program. 

International Space Station Program Manager Dana Weigel receives the Eagle Manned Mission Award.
National Space Club & Foundation

International Space Station Program Manager Dana Weigel received the Eagle Manned Mission Award. She leads development, integration, and operations for the International Space Station. The space station celebrated a historic milestone on Nov. 2, 2025, marking 25 years of continuous human habitation. The orbiting laboratory remains a critical testbed for future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and for deep space exploration, supporting Artemis missions and future human missions to Mars. 

Weigel has held several leadership roles within the program, including deputy chief of the Flight Director Office, where she led the Extravehicular Activity Recovery Team following a major in-flight spacewalk anomaly. She also served as a NASA flight director for STS-123 and led the agency’s geosynchronous Earth orbit satellite servicing habitat study. 

NASA’s Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche attends the 69th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner with her husband George Wyche Jr.
National Space Club & Foundation

Selected by panels of experts across industry, government, and academia, the awards reflect achievements that advance aerospace and national interests. Honorees were recognized at the 69th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner at the Washington Hilton.  

“Dana Weigel and Howard Hu’s contributions to human space exploration, through their leadership and roles within the agency, are paramount,” said Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche. “It was a privilege to be there in person to celebrate and champion them as they were recognized for the lasting impact of their work. Congratulations to Dana, Howard, and all the award recipients on this well-deserved recognition.” 

Hu and Weigel’s service exemplifies the leadership and technical excellence that continue to advance U.S. human space exploration. 

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NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-13 Assignments for Space Station Mission

Compilation of four astronaut portraits that make up NASA's SpaceX Crew-13
From left to right, NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
Credit: NASA

As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission, four crew members from three space agencies will launch no earlier than mid-September to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition.

NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively. They will be joined by CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, who will serve as mission specialists. After arriving at the orbiting laboratory, Crew-13 will become members of the space station’s Expedition 75.

This flight is the 13th crew rotation with SpaceX to the space station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA is advancing the launch date of Crew-13 from November to help increase the frequency of U.S. crew rotation missions to the space station. The crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, and benefit people on Earth.

This will be the second flight to the space station for Watkins, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. Watkins grew up in Lafayette, Colorado, and earned an undergraduate degree in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University, as well as a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles. As a geologist, she studied the Martian surface and was a member of the Curiosity rover science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Watkins first launched to the space station as a crew member aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission, spending a total of 170 days in space across Expeditions 67/68 in 2022. She will be the first NASA astronaut to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice.

Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Delaney earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of North Florida and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School. The Florida native is a distinguished naval aviator who participated in exercises throughout the Asia Pacific region and conducted missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. As a test pilot, Delaney evaluated developmental aircraft systems and served as a test pilot instructor. He also worked as a research pilot at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where he supported airborne science missions. This is the first spaceflight for Delaney.

The Crew-13 mission also is the first spaceflight for Kutryk. Prior to his selection as a CSA astronaut in 2017, he served as a CF-18 fighter pilot, flying missions in support of Canada’s NATO, U.N., and North American Aerospace Defense Command commitments. A native of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Kutryk also worked as an experimental and operational test pilot at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment in Cold Lake, Alberta. Kutryk received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and he is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot school in Edwards, California. He has master’s degrees in space studies, flight test engineering, and defense studies.

Crew-13 will be Teteryatnikov’s first trip to the orbiting laboratory. He graduated from the Naval Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2011 as an engineer specializing in ship power plant operations. Before his selection as a test cosmonaut, Teteryatnikov served in various naval engineering roles, including undersea vessels and specialized engine room operations. He was selected for the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Corps in 2021 and has served as a test cosmonaut since 2023.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that aren’t possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov

Anna Schneider / Mary Pfister
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov / mary.m.pfister@nasa.gov



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NASA Kennedy Prepares Facility for Roman Space Telescope Arrival

Image shows sunny, blue skies with a few wispy clouds outside the NASA Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The building is a grayish color with a nearby driveway and a small door for people to enter and huge doors for spacecrafts and instruments to enter. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A photograph shows the exterior of NASA’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

Preparations are underway for launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as soon as early September on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Roman space telescope will provide deep, panoramic views of the cosmos, generating never-before-seen pictures that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. Before Roman arrives at the launch pad, however, the telescope will complete final inspections, checkouts, and fueling at NASA Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF).

The 40-year-old facility is a dedicated dual-use complex for clean room and hazardous material operations, where numerous spacecraft have undergone final prelaunch processing including receiving, integration, testing, and encapsulation ahead of liftoff. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Roman mission.

To prepare for Roman’s arrival, the program oversaw several upgrades to the PHSF. This included replacing its air-shower system, a small entry chamber that blasts high-velocity HEPA-filtered air onto people and equipment before they enter a clean room.

“Roman is a very sensitive spacecraft. NASA is always pushing the boundaries of how precise our instruments can be, and the result of that is they need to be very well cared for while they’re being processed at the PHSF,” said Ryan Boehmer, launch site integration manager with the Launch Services Program at NASA Kennedy. “One of the biggest sources of contamination for a spacecraft is people.”

The PHSF is a clean work area, so the facility must be free of any contamination that could negatively impact the Roman spacecraft. Technicians must dress in a protective suit before using the air shower, which sprays air to reduce any particles carried on clothing or equipment and keeps the spacecraft’s environment in the facility as clean and contamination-free as possible.

Dust, debris, or even a piece of hair can interfere with a spacecraft and its instruments as it gathers crucial science data in orbit. The facility is certified to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO class 8 clean room standards but can exceed that with augmentation. The team is planning to use a HEPA filtration wall to achieve ISO class 7 standards required for Roman.

This image shows the recently upgraded air showers which blast high-velocity HEPA-filtered air onto people before they enter a clean room at NASA’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

Another PHSF upgrade is its HVAC system, which is far more advanced than a typical residential system. The goal of this upgrade is to replace the facility’s chiller coils to ensure the airlock and clean room remain climate-controlled with backups available if one fails. Additional updates include the compressed-air system’s pressure tank, air dryer, and regulator panel to supply clean, reliable compressed air to slide hardware around the floor – like an air hockey table but on a much larger scale. Massive volumes of filtered air circulate through the facility to prevent outside contaminants from entering the building.

“Another consideration we have is keeping both the spacecraft and people working on it at comfortable temperatures during processing, especially given Florida’s hot and humid environment,” said Genevieve Futch, Launch Services Program mission manager for Roman at NASA Kennedy. “Throughout processing, teams are powering on spacecraft for testing, which can generate heat. All the technicians in the clean room wear significant amounts of protective garments that trap heat, so we rely on the PHSF’s HVAC to reliably maintain the facility’s environment. We don’t want to overheat either the hardware or our team.”

Inside, the temperature is kept around 70° F with a maximum relative humidity of 60% and minimum humidity requirement of 30%. Too much humidity can lead to corrosion, while too little can create static electricity. The team constantly monitors the conditions to ensure the spacecraft’s safety.

Workers also repainted the facility’s 15-ton bridge crane, which is used to lift spacecraft hardware, but not for aesthetic reasons. The new paint helps prevent any paint chips from becoming foreign object debris, commonly referred to as FOD. All the teams working on Roman aim to mitigate even microscopic particles from contaminating the spacecraft. Paint chips are larger and heavier than some of the smallest contaminants, but they could still become airborne debris that can settle on hardware, causing mechanical interference and degrading performance. Removing all potential sources of contamination is part of the launch site planning and reflects the attention to detail required to launch a spacecraft.

Roman will undergo several prelaunch operations, including thermal protection closeout, cleaning, solar array work, and loading hydrazine propellant. The PHSF is one of the very few facilities where spacecraft undergo both hazardous fueling operations and delicate contamination control procedures.

Continuing legacy

The PHSF began operations in 1986 during the Space Shuttle Program, where it supported processing for several major shuttle payloads, including missions supporting NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Since 1998, the Launch Services Program has managed 16 launches processed at the PHSF, beginning with the program’s first mission, NASA’s Deep Space 1. Other missions include Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, and soon to be Roman.

Six people in white protective suits surround a NASA spacecraft that is secured atop a wheeled work stand at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA
September 1998
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers maneuver Deep Space 1 into place to attach the solar panels.
NASA
Image shows a gold protective layer covering NASA's Hubble Space Telescope at NASA Kennedy. People dressed in white and blue protective suits to not contaminate the telescope ahead of launch. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
April 2009
Crew members conduct equipment and procedure familiarization on parts of the payload in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility in preparation for their mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA/Kim Shiflett
Several workers wearing white and blue protective suits watch as the Mars spacecraft is moved with a crane on a metallic lift at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
January 2020
Mars 2020 lift activities in Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
NASA/Kim Shiflett
Image shows NASA's Europa Clipper five solar arrays expanded during inspection inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. On the far right is Europa Clipper's spacecraft wrapped in a silver protective coating ahead of launch. People wearing white and blue protective suits inspect the spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
August 2024
Technicians tested deploying a set of massive solar arrays measuring about 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long and about 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) high for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside the agency’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

“We have the responsibility for ensuring the highest practical probability of launch success for these incredibly sophisticated and delicate spacecrafts,” said Boehmer. “We’re a common thread combining the capabilities of commercial rockets with NASA’s scientific spacecraft, and we have experience supporting the processing of everything from space telescopes to Mars rovers to deep space probes in this building.”

Roman will work in collaboration with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble. It is a survey mission with a field of view 100 times larger than Webb and up to 200 times larger than Hubble. Roman’s wide view will help answer essential questions about dark energy, exoplanets, and astrophysics, while Webb can follow up on rare objects Roman discovers, looking at them in greater detail.

“I think it’s human nature to wonder about what is out there in space,” said Boehmer. “I believe when we start getting images from Roman and see more of the universe than ever before, people will connect to that feeling of wonder.”



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Thursday, 23 April 2026

Smoke Shrouds Northern Thailand

A satellite image shows gray smoke obscuring most of the landscape around Chiang Mai except for small areas where mountain ridges are visible.
The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this hazy view of the city and the surrounding region on April 22, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin

Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, lies within a network of narrow valleys in the country’s northern highlands. Though the historic city is known for panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, clear skies have become less common. In recent decades, smoke has increasingly darkened the skies during the dry season, particularly in March and April.

A NASA satellite captured this smoky view of the city and the surrounding region on April 22, 2026, when haze partially obscured valleys and ridges typically visible under clearer conditions. Most of the smoke likely comes from small agricultural and forest fires lit to burn off crop debris or maintain forest ecosystems. In 2026, satellite sensors detected small numbers of fires throughout January, but fire detections became more numerous and widespread in February, March, and April. Fire activity typically peaks in March and fades by May as seasonal rains increase. 

Research indicates that smoke from biomass burning is one of the largest contributors to poor air quality in northern Thailand during the dry season. By one estimate, about 70 percent of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Chiang Mai in April comes from biomass burning. Smaller contributors to the region’s hazy skies include vehicles, power plants and industry, and charcoal burning for cooking and heating. Geography also plays a key role; the surrounding mountains block air flow and encourage temperature inversions that trap both local pollution and haze from the broader region in the valleys.

On the same day the satellite image was captured, air quality sensors on the ground recorded “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” levels of PM2.5 air pollution throughout Chiang Mai and the region, according to data from the World Air Quality Index project. Prolonged exposure to high levels of air pollution can contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other health problems.

News reports suggest that the haze is affecting the tourism industry and has contributed to a decrease in the number of international travelers coming to Chiang Mai. After more than a month of persistent haze, the number of tourists arriving in the town of Pai, a popular destination for backpackers northwest of Chiang Mai, was down 90 percent, according to one local newspaper.

Unusually warm and dry conditions have gripped the region in recent weeks, according to meteorologists with the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC). On March 27, the group advised that there was a “high risk” of severe transboundary haze in the region and elevated its alert level to three, the highest on the scale. 

In late March, the group noted that dry conditions were forecast to persist over most parts of the Mekong sub-region, with prevailing winds expected to blow mostly from the south or southwest. “Under these conditions,” ASMC noted, “the hotspot and smoke haze situation could escalate further.”

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

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A satellite image shows gray smoke obscuring most of the landscape around Chiang Mai except for small areas where mountain ridges are visible.

April 22, 2026

JPEG (2.10 MB)

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An Agricultural Mosaic in Taiwan

Science Agriculture An Agricultural Mosaic in Taiwan Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer All Topics ...