America’s Emerald Isle

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In a process that played out over thousands of years, a retreating ice sheet carved, scoured, and shaped the landscape of the present-day Great Lakes. In northern Lake Michigan, this sculpting left distinct ridges and valleys running north-to-south along the lake floor. Some parts of those ridges, made of erosion-resistant rock, have remained above the waves of the big lake, forming the Beaver Archipelago.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 captured this image of several of the archipelago’s islands on August 2, 2024. These patches of land contain upland forests, dunes, wetlands, and marshes—habitats that support rare plant and bird species and provide spawning grounds for fish. The bright, sandy perimeters of the islands are surrounded by shallow, turquoise waters and deeper, dark blue areas, where depths reach up to about 330 feet (100 meters).

This image centers on Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan at 13 miles (21 kilometers) long and 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. It is also the only inhabited island of the Beaver Archipelago, and many of its approximately 600 residents are of Irish descent. In the mid-1800s, scores of immigrants from County Donegal, Ireland, and Irish fishermen from nearby islands and ports in Michigan settled on the island, which subsequently took on the moniker of “America’s Emerald Isle.”

The farming and fishing, in particular, were productive for the new arrivals. In the 1880s, Beaver Island became the largest supplier of freshwater fish in the United States. Due to overfishing, however, such abundance would be short-lived.

Ship traffic on the Great Lakes was also increasing during this time. Two lighthouses were constructed on the island to help the growing number of vessels traveling between Chicago and the Straits of Mackinac. The Beaver Head Lighthouse operated from 1852 to 1962 on the southern end of the island. On the northern side, the Beaver Island Harbor Light, pictured below, was first lit in 1870 and remains an active beacon more than 150 years later.

Today, people travel to Beaver Island by boat or plane to explore its history and enjoy activities such as biking, fishing, and kayaking. The island’s remote location and minimal light pollution led to the establishment of the Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2024. Sky gazers may be drawn to the sanctuary for a chance to glimpse the aurora borealis and other celestial phenomena.

Neighboring islands in the archipelago are more difficult to access and have remained relatively undisturbed. Perched, or cliff-top, sand dunes are found up to 200 feet (60 meters) above the lake level on the western side of High Island. Unique plant species, including the Pitcher’s thistle and Lake Huron tansy, grow in the island’s dunes. On Hog Island, patches of old-growth northern hardwood forest remain. Wetland communities known as Great Lakes marshes along the shoreline provide spawning grounds for perch and smallmouth bass.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photo by Kelcie Herald/Unsplash. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

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August 2, 2024

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References & Resources

• Beaver Island Historical Society, Beaver Island Historical Society Welcomes You to Our Past. Accessed May 12, 2026.
• DarkSky International (2024, April 8) Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area. Accessed May 12, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2013, August 24) Garden and Hog Islands, Michigan. Accessed May 12, 2026.
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Lake Michigan Geomorphology. Accessed May 12, 2026.
• Northern Michigan History, Beaver Island History: From Ancient Circles to Irish Settlers. Accessed May 12, 2026.
• Wisconsin Sea Grant, The formation of the Great Lakes. Accessed May 12, 2026.

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NASA Langley Engineer Attends FAA Training

At a busy airport, every aircraft in the area shares just a handful of radio frequencies. Spectrum and time are constrained and if multiple people speak at once, both messages can get lost. Communications like “clearance delivery,” which require long transmissions and readbacks, are challenging in high-traffic areas, particularly when weather or other factors require many aircraft to communicate with controllers at once. Going digital clears that channel for urgent, time-critical calls, among other things. And it’s the current practice at some airports, where pilots can confirm clearances with the touch of a button, that the response goes directly to the controller’s screen, and the updated information loads into their flight management system.

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And in early April, Cummings-Grande traveled to the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC) in Oklahoma City to complete the Tower Data Link Services (TDLS) Application Specialist training — the same two-day, hands-on course required of working controllers at the 72 U.S. airports currently equipped with digital clearance delivery capability.

Will Cummings-Grande, aerospace engineer with the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center

Credit: NASA

The air traffic control tower at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, where Cummings-Grande visited to observe the Tower Data Link Services system in live operation.

Credit: Will Cummings-Grande/NASA

In the Classroom

Cumming-Grande shadowed a working controller during exercises, trading off at the terminal during breaks so both got time on the system. His classmates were application specialists from Seattle, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fort Lauderdale, all controllers with day jobs managing high-traffic airspace who were there to become the designated system maintainers at their home airports. During breaks, Cummings-Grande had a luxury: time to test. “I got to bounce some of my ideas and concepts off of controllers who are out there interacting with the TDLS and all of the tools it touches in the current system,” he said. “It was great to have both — here’s what the controller-in-training gets, and here’s what I get as a researcher — kind of lumped into the same experience.”

The FAA Academy also connected him with the systems engineers responsible for developing, testing, and implementing new TDLS hardware and software versions, and arranged a visit to the OKC tower to observe the system in live operation.

What He Found

The TDLS runs on fully air-gapped software, completely isolated from standard operating systems — a deliberate cybersecurity design that made the hands-on experience revelatory in ways a research paper couldn’t replicate. “Interacting with the system was just very eye-opening as to how different these systems are from other computers that we commonly interact with,” he said.

The more significant discovery came from the curriculum itself. Reviewing the FAA’s system architecture during training, Cummings-Grande noticed something he didn’t know to look for: a link between the TDLS and the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM), which does not yet exist operationally. That gap is now the center of his research questions. “I didn’t realize I was missing this piece until I took this course,” he said.

Building on Two Decades of Homework

The research Cummings-Grande is pursuing connects to a long thread of NASA work on surface safety and digital communications, including the Terminal Area Productivity program, the Surface Operation Automation Research (SOAR) project, the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) project, and Surface Trajectory Based Operations (STBO) studies. These efforts kicked off in the mid-90s to inform FAA NextGen and demonstrated digital taxi clearances in a series of simulations at multiple facilities and ultimately flight tests at the Atlanta Airport. Those findings showed meaningful workload reductions, but the cost-benefit case wasn’t there yet, and the technology wasn’t ready in the fleet or in the facilities.

What’s changed, in Cummings-Grande’s view, is the convergence of new infrastructure investments, including the rollout of systems derived from Airspace Technology Demonstration (ATD-2) technologies like the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor and the Precision Departure Release Capability through the TFDM, with renewed industry interest from a partner on the aircraft side. “We have all this homework that people have been doing for the last 20-30 years,” he said. “Can we take advantage of the renewed interest from FAA and industry to enable this safety-enhancement?”

His timeline estimate for a fully implemented system leans somewhere in the range of five to ten years. And the payoff, he says, will be tangible to anyone who flies. “This means that your flight will be safer than ever, and that your pilots will be focused on the right things during taxi. Instead of relying on pilots to write down their taxi clearance correctly or be familiar with the airport, the airplane will know and can double-check what the pilot is doing.”

A Case for Partnership

Cummings-Grande isn’t aware of another NASA researcher having taken this FAA course, and he thinks the model is worth repeating. He pointed to terminal procedures design (TERPS) as another area where FAA Academy training could benefit researchers working on urban air mobility and small UAS integration. “Anytime someone needs to do a deep dive into one of the systems — understanding the current state of practice, here are the buttons you push to make this happen — I think it’d be great to have an ongoing partnership with the FAA Academy and make that possible.”

The FAA Academy team was, by all accounts, a willing partner.

Cummings-Grande extends his special thanks to the FAA’s Eric Gandrud and Carol Raiford.

Will Cummings-Grande met an unexpected security detail during his final day at MMAC — a goose standing guard over a vintage Lear Fan 2100 parked outside the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. “I hear a hiss, and I look down, and there’s a goose who is defending their favorite airplane.”

Credit: Will Cummings-Grande/NASA

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May 2026 Satellite Puzzler

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Every month, NASA Earth Observatory features a puzzling satellite image. The May 2026 puzzler appears above. 

Your Challenge
Identify the location shown in this satellite image. Share what clues you see, where you think it is, and what makes this place interesting or unique to you.

How to Answer
Submit your response using this form and select “Puzzler Answer” as the topic. Please include your preferred name or alias.

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About a week after the challenge, we’ll post the answer at the top of this page, along with a link to an Earth Observatory Image of the Day story that explains the image in more detail. We’ll recognize the first person who correctly guesses the location, and we may also highlight readers who share especially thoughtful or interesting answers. By submitting a response, you acknowledge that your comments may be edited, excerpted, and published on this page.

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Nicholas Houghton: Engineering Crew Safety for NASA’s Artemis Missions

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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.

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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 Author

Sumer Loggins

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May 11, 2026

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Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released

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NASA’s SpaceX 34th Commercial Resupply Mission Overview

NASA’s SpaceX 34th commercial resupply mission will launch on the company’s Dragon spacecraft on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to deliver research and supplies to the International Space Station.

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NASA and SpaceX are targeting a mid-May launch to deliver scientific investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. 

Loaded with about 6,500 pounds of supplies, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will lift off aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following its arrival to the orbital complex, Dragon will dock autonomously to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module. 

Watch agency launch and arrival coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and NASA’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media. 

NASA’s SpaceX 34th commercial resupply mission will launch from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA

For more than 25 years, the International Space Station has provided research capabilities used by scientists from more than 110 countries to conduct more than 4,000 experiments in microgravity. Research conducted aboard the station helps advance long-duration missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis program and to Mars, while providing multiple benefits to humanity. 

Science highlights: 

In addition to cargo for the crew aboard the space station, Dragon will deliver several new science experiments, including: 

ODYSSEY will evaluate how well Earth-based microgravity simulators recreate space conditions.

NASA

ODYSSEY will evaluate how well Earth-based microgravity simulators recreate space conditions. Researchers will examine bacterial behavior in space and compares the results to experiments conducted in microgravity simulators on Earth. 

STORIE will monitor charged particles in orbit around the Earth, which respond to space weather and can affect assets like power grids and satellites.

NASA

STORIE will monitor charged particles in orbit around the Earth, which respond to space weather and can affect assets like power grids and satellites. The instrument could help researchers gain knowledge to better predict and respond to these changes. 

Laplace will study the movement and collision of dust particles in microgravity to understand particle motion in space.

NASA

Laplace will study the movement and collision of dust particles in microgravity to understand particle motion in space. Researchers hope to learn more about Earth’s origins and provide fundamental understanding of how planets in our solar system and beyond came into existence. 

Green Bone will observe how bone cells grow and develop in space on a bone scaffold made from wood.

NASA

Green Bone will observe how bone cells grow and develop in space on a bone scaffold made from wood. Microgravity results could help researchers improve products that treat fragile bone conditions such as osteoporosis. 

SPARK will evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space for future astronauts.

NASA

SPARK will evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space for future astronauts. Researchers will observe human samples and imagery taken before, during, and after spaceflight to identify ways to protect astronaut health during long-duration space missions.  

Arrival and return: 

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot will monitor the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot will monitor the spacecraft’s arrival. Dragon will remain docked to the orbiting laboratory for about a month before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, returning critical science and hardware to teams on Earth. 

Cargo highlights: 

NASA’s SpaceX 34th commercial resupply mission will launch on the company’s Dragon spacecraft on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to deliver research and supplies to the International Space Station

Launch  

European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device Power Cable – A replacement power cable is launching for installation on the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device.  

Catalytic Reactor – A vital component of the Water Recovery and Management System, the catalytic reactor oxidizes volatile organics from wastewater that are removed by the Gas Separator and Ion Exchange Bed orbital replacement units. This part is launching to maintain on orbit sparing.  

Universal Pretreat Concentrate Tank – This is a passive tank to provide alternate pretreat concentrate to the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) and Waste Hygiene Compartment (WHC). Two units are launching to maintain this hardware, in tandem with Russian pretreat tanks currently used. A universal pretreat concentrate tank adapter will accompany the tanks to connect with the Russian hose.  

Additional equipment launching includes an Ultraprobe to replace a worn ultrasonic inspection tool, a Remote Sensor Unit to restore spares for the station’s vibration monitoring system, and flexible repair patches for sealing the pressure hull if needed. The mission also will deliver an updated ARMADILLO (AOGA ReMediation, Advanced DeIonization and Limited Life Optimization) cartridge and hose assemblies to improve water processing for oxygen generation, along with a nitrogen recharge tank assembly to help maintain the station’s gas reserves. 

Return  

When Dragon returns in mid‑June, it will bring back an ocular imaging device used to monitor crew eye health, a sorbent bed that filters trace contaminants from cabin air, and a separator pump from the Waste and Hygiene Compartment. The Advanced Plant Habitat, which supported long-duration plant biology studies, also will return for eventual museum display. A pressure management device that recovers vestibule air during depressurization will come back for repair and storage as a ground spare.  

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