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

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NASA SBIR/STTR Phase I and II BAA, 2026 Appendix A and B are now live! Offers due May 21, 2026, 5:00PM EDT

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NASA’s 777 Aircraft Returns Home with Science Flights on the Horizon

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NASA’s 777 Aircraft Returns Home with Science Flights on the Horizon

The white 777 aircraft can be seen touching down on a long runway with a row of grass along the pavement at NASA's Langley Research Center.
After heavy structural modifications in Waco, Texas, NASA’s 777 aircraft returns to Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Credits: NASA/Ryan Hill

NASA’s Boeing 777 has returned to the agency’s fleet after undergoing heavy structural modifications as it transforms from a giant passenger plane into the agency’s next-generation airborne science laboratory. After a check flight and a three-hour transit from Waco, the aircraft returned to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on April 22.

Since January 2025, the aircraft has been in Texas receiving hardware and structural upgrades to prepare for science operations. The modifications include installing dedicated research stations and extensive wiring. This allows payload systems to communicate with sensors such as lidar and infrared imaging spectrometers during flights. Cabin windows were enlarged and open portals installed at the bottom of the fuselage to mount remote-sensing instruments.

A white 777 aircraft is shown in a warehouse space with support scaffolding underneath it. A few windows along the fuselage have been cut out and replaced with larger windows to serve as instrument viewports.
Widened windows along the NASA 777 will serve as viewports for a variety of scientific instrument sensors. Modifications on the belly of the aircraft at the L3Harris facility in Waco require extensive support to ensure aircraft alignment during reassembly.
Credit: L3Harris

“Airborne missions at NASA use cutting-edge instruments to explore and understand our home planet,” said Derek Rutovic, program manager for the Airborne Science Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The 777 will be the largest airborne research laboratory in our fleet, collecting data to improve life on our home planet and extend our knowledge of the Earth system as a whole.”

Acquired in 2022 to succeed NASA’s retired DC-8 aircraft, the 777 will expand the agency’s airborne research capacity. It can accommodate 50 to 100 operators and carry 75,000 pounds of equipment for flights lasting up to 18 hours.

“NASA’s DC-8 was an incredible workhorse for Earth science for nearly 40 years,” said Kirsten Boogaard, the NASA 777 program manager at NASA Langley and former deputy program manager of NASA’s DC-8. “Being part of that team, I got to see the impact up close. I’m excited for what the 777 will bring. It gives us the ability to bring together more partners, more educational opportunities, and more instruments. That will make a real difference in the data we collect moving forward.”

A view from inside the cabin of the 777 shows holes in the bottom of the fuselage where viewports have been cut. Workers are throughout the cabin, standing above and below the ports.
L3Harris installs viewports in the 777 aircraft cargo bay that will house advanced scientific instruments.
Credit: L3Harris

The aircraft’s inaugural science mission, slated to deploy in January 2027, will investigate high-impact winter weather events, such as severe cold air outbreaks, wind, snow and ice storms, and hazardous seas. Known as the North American Upstream Feature-Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment (NURTURE), the mission will collect detailed atmospheric observations across a vast region spanning North America, Europe, Greenland, and the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.

A worker
Temporary fasteners are utilized to map out hole patterns through four layers of reinforcement. Nearly 35,000 precision holes are drilled into the belly of the aircraft.
Credit: L3Harris

“We’ve been completing the engineering design and analysis to install the NURTURE payload into the aircraft in parallel with the portal modification,” Rutovic said. “We’re excited to get the airplane back home to NASA and on the road to its first mission.”

The NASA 777’s major structural modification was performed by L3Harris Technologies in partnership with Yulista Holding, LLC. Research station and wiring upgrades in the cabin are being performed by NASA and HII. NASA’s Airborne Science Program is responsible for providing aircraft systems that further science and advance the use of satellite data and is part of the Science Mission Directorate’s Earth Science Division.

To learn more about NASA’s airborne science missions, visit:

https://airbornescience.nasa.gov

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NASA Targets Early September for Roman Space Telescope Launch

The Roman observatory in a clean room
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is photographed in the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The observatory is on track for delivery to the launch site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June and launch as soon as early September.
NASA/Scott Wiessinger

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team now is targeting as soon as early September 2026 for launch, ahead of the agency’s commitment to flight no later than May 2027.

“Roman’s accelerated development is a true success story of what we can achieve when public investment, institutional expertise, and private enterprise come together to take on the near-impossible missions that change the world,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who announced the update at a news conference on April 21 at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Roman will pair a large field of view with crisp infrared vision to survey deep, vast swaths of sky. While the mission was designed with dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets in mind, Roman’s unprecedented observational capability will offer practically limitless opportunities for astronomers to explore all kinds of cosmic topics.

By the end of its five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to amass a 20,000-terabyte data archive. Scientists can draw on it to identify and study 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and rare objects and phenomena — including some that astronomers have never witnessed before.

Roman will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX will share more information about a specific launch date, and the agency will continue to share updates concerning prelaunch preparations as new information becomes available.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, and scientists from various research institutions.

To learn more about the Roman mission, visit:

https://nasa.gov/roman

Media contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940

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Apr 22, 2026
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Wednesday, 22 April 2026

New NASA Views of Earth, From (S)PACE

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New NASA Views of Earth, From (S)PACE

A data visualization of a region of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, around the Kamchatka Peninsula. Blooms of diatoms are shown on a scale from green to yellow, with yellows representing more of the organisms. The yellows swirl along the peninsula’s eastern coastline, with a few further out into the oceans.
A diatom bloom unfolds off the Kamchatka Peninsula as spring conditions drive rapid phytoplankton growth. These blooms play an important role in ocean ecosystems, helping transfer carbon and support marine life.
Credits:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

NASA’s photos of Earth released during Artemis II’s mission around the moon show our planet against the dark backdrop of space. Auroras illuminated the thin atmosphere, city lights dotted the outline of continents, and brown deserts gave way to green vegetation.
 
Are those city lights normally this bright? What kind of clouds are swirling over the Atlantic Ocean? Is that hazy brown bit dust, or smoke, or something else?

An Artemis II astronaut took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn. There are two auroras (top right and bottom left) and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the Sun.
This and another photo of Earth are the first downlinked images from the Artemis II astronauts. 
NASA

To dig into the mysteries of our planet Earth, NASA has a fleet of satellites in orbit, gathering data around the clock. Join one of these satellites — the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem satellite (PACE), which launched in February 2024 — to explore its unique views of our home planet’s ocean, atmosphere, and land surfaces.

  • Dust, smoke in wind

    Photographs like the ones from Artemis II capture visible light. The PACE satellite’s Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), however, sees Earth across a hyperspectral range of visible, ultraviolet, near infrared and shortwave infrared light.
     
    The ultraviolet measurements, collected daily by PACE, provided a way to track dust over the Atlantic Ocean in August 2025 as a large plume blew west from North Africa. At the same time, the data show another plume to the north, traced back to wildfire smoke in the United States and Canada.

    PACE tracks aerosols over the North Atlantic, revealing Saharan dust transported westward and wildfire smoke moving east. The aerosol index highlights these large-scale atmospheric transport patterns.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Wildfires beneath blanket of smoke

    As fires burned across the greater Los Angeles area throughout January 2025, PACE data tracked the size and shape of resulting particles, allowing researchers to distinguish between small, sooty smoke particles and relatively larger and brighter particles in the air, like dust and sea salt.

    Instruments on PACE can capture the evolution and intensity of both the blaze and the resulting smoke.
     
    In addition to OCI, the satellite carries two instruments called polarimeters that measure how sunlight interacts with particles in the atmosphere.
     
    Combining specific wavelengths from OCI also allows researchers to determine a fire’s intensity, adding to other satellite observations that provide valuable information to emergency responders.

    PACE captures smoke and dust from the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in Southern California on January 9. The true-color view shows how these plumes spread across the region and offshore, while additional PACE products reveal relative burn severity on the ground and aerosol properties in the atmosphere, including optical depth, light absorption, and dominant particle size.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Harmful algal blooms

    Data from PACE and other satellites can also help warn local managers of reservoirs, beaches, and other recreation sites of potential water quality problems.
    Cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae, are a normal part of some freshwater ecosystems, like the Great Lakes. They’re unremarkable for most of the year.
     
    But in certain conditions — typically lots of sunshine, nutrients, and warmer temperatures — the numbers can explode into a bloom that produces toxins harmful to people and animals. The PACE satellite can detect specific shades of blues, greens, and reds that indicate a bloom is in progress.

    PACE detects harmful cyanobacteria blooms across the Great Lakes during summer 2024. Elevated concentrations appear in regions like Green Bay, Saginaw Bay, and western Lake Erie, showing how cyanobacteria abundance changes over time.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • NASA’s PACE knows type

    Blooms of tiny plant-like organisms called phytoplankton play essential roles in ocean ecosystems. A key capability of PACE is that it not only spots them from space, but its ocean color observations can identify different types of phytoplankton.
     
    In September 2024, for example, tiny algae were thriving along the coast of Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, while two types of cyanobacteria dominated in the open ocean waters around Madeira and north of the Canary Islands.

    PACE resolves different types of phytoplankton in the eastern Atlantic, distinguishing communities like picoeukaryotes, Prochlorococcus, and Synechococcus. Each group occupies distinct regions of the ocean, shaped by differences in nutrient availability and large-scale ocean structure.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Some are helpful

    Ocean ecologists often sing the praises of diatoms, a relatively large phytoplankton in the center of food webs. When diatoms bloom, fisheries thrive.
     
    Diatoms also play a key role in the global carbon cycle. They produce oxygen and transform carbon dioxide into sugars that feed the marine food web. Diatoms can sink to the ocean depths when they die, effectively capturing carbon absorbed from the atmosphere.

    A data visualization of a region of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, around the Kamchatka Peninsula. Blooms of diatoms are shown on a scale from green to yellow, with yellows representing more of the organisms. The yellows swirl along the peninsula’s eastern coastline, with a few further out into the oceans.
    A diatom bloom unfolds off the Kamchatka Peninsula as spring conditions drive rapid phytoplankton growth. These blooms play an important role in ocean ecosystems, helping transfer carbon and support marine life.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Some are harmful

    Some species of phytoplankton can be deadly, especially in large numbers. In waters off South Australia, a massive bloom of the algae called Karenia began forming in March 2025, producing neurotoxins that can kill marine life and sicken beachgoers.
     
    Researchers used PACE satellite data to track the bloom for months, picking up its characteristic fluorescence expanding from a few pixels to a region-wide bloom, impacting fishing, tourism, and other businesses.

    A harmful algal bloom of Karenia mikimotoi appears off the coast of South Australia. Unlike cyanobacteria, this species is identified through its fluorescence in sunlight.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Silver linings

    For some scientists sifting through PACE data, clouds block the view; for others, the clouds arethe view. Polarimeters on PACE measure the sunlight bouncing off cloud droplets in the atmosphere, taking observations from multiple angles to provide a unique kind of depth perception.
     
    With the help of machine learning, PACE scientists can reconstruct a 3D portrait of the clouds. It’s a new way of using satellite imagery that could provide insights into how clouds and precipitation form.

    HARP2’s multi-angle observations reveal the three-dimensional structure of clouds along a satellite orbit. These measurements provide new insight into cloud vertical structure and variability.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

  • Ship tracks

    In some PACE images of the ocean, streaks of brighter clouds indicate the path of ships below. With few sources of pollution in the open ocean, exhaust from ships changes the nature of the clouds formed. These “ship tracks” comprise smaller cloud droplets than typical marine clouds.

    Ship emissions modify marine stratocumulus clouds over the North Pacific, creating bright streaks known as ship tracks. Aerosols from ships lead to smaller cloud droplets and brighter clouds.
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Kel Elkins

By Kate Ramsayer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA at SXSW: Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche on Why Artemis Changes Everything

On March 21, 2026, NASA’s Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche took the stage at the Space House event at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, to outline NASA’s next giant leap in human spaceflight — from low Earth orbit to the Moon, and ultimately Mars. 

As NASA prepares for a new era of exploration, Wyche made clear that the agency’s Artemis program is about returning to the Moon and building the systems, partnerships, and workforce that will carry humanity deeper into space than ever before. The vision aligns with agencywide initiatives announced at NASA’s “Ignition” event, which prioritize Artemis mission planning, advance space nuclear power and propulsion research, and position the U.S. at the forefront of innovation. 

NASA’s Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche speaks about how the Artemis program is shaping the future of human spaceflight at the Space House event at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on March 21, 2026.
Juice Consulting

Speaking to a packed audience, Wyche spoke about “Why Artemis Changes Everything” and described a rare moment of global alignment. 

“This is now where we’re all committed to do one thing together,” she said, pointing to international and commercial partnerships driving Artemis forward. 

Future missions will increase launch cadence, expand robotic exploration, and lay the groundwork for a sustained human presence. The Moon will become a testing ground to build a lunar base for future deep space exploration, a key step toward enabling missions to Mars. 

Wyche began with the foundation of modern exploration: the International Space Station. For 25 years, astronauts have lived and worked continuously aboard the orbiting laboratory, advancing science and testing technologies critical for deep space missions. 

She emphasized the station’s role as a proving ground for systems, operations, and crew performance – capabilities that will be carried forward into lunar and eventually interplanetary missions. 

Low Earth orbit remains a critical domain while maintaining a strong U.S. presence to support research, technology development, and crew training. 

Vanessa Wyche gives remarks during the Space House event at South by Southwest.
Juice Consulting

NASA’s approach has evolved alongside that work. The agency is working with commercial companies to deliver cargo, transport crews, and develop future destinations in low Earth orbit.  

“With the Artemis program, we’ve been able to keep going on what we call a Moon to Mars strategy,” Wyche said. “That’s allowing us to develop the capabilities – some that we’re testing on the International Space Station for Mars, some that we’re testing for the Moon – but it will allow us to do that together.” 

Johnson Lead Public Affairs Officer and NASA Live Broadcasts Co-Executive Producer Nilufar Ramji (third from left) participated in a panel discussion “The Cosmos Has Entered the Chat” at South by Southwest. Fellow panelists were, from left, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Planet Labs, Ilsa Mroz; Filmmaker, Space: The Longest Goodbye, Ido Mizrahy; Nilufar Ramji; and moderator Loren Grush, Space Reporter, Bloomberg.
Juice Consulting

Johnson Lead Public Affairs Officer Nilufar Ramji spoke during the “The Cosmos Has Entered the Chat” session, highlighting how communication and collaboration are driving this new era of exploration. As co-executive producer for NASA’s live broadcasts, Ramji leads efforts to connect global audiences with the agency’s missions. 

“The different sectors that intersect with space, the storytelling aspect, but more importantly doing it collaboratively, is so important to make space accessible for everybody,” Ramji said. “That’s a really big part of NASA working with different organizations to do just that.” 

Nilufar Ramji speaks during the Space House event at South by Southwest.
Juice Consulting

She pointed to recent commercial lunar missions supported by NASA, including Blue Ghost Mission 1, which delivered NASA payloads to the Moon’s Mare Crisium, and Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, which landed near the lunar South Pole. These missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, expanding access to the Moon through industry partnerships. 

Companies like Axiom Space are also developing next-generation technologies, including advanced spacesuits designed for the lunar environment, while NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program is supporting the growth of privately operated destinations in orbit. 

At the same time, international participation continues to grow. More than 60 countries have signed the Artemis Accords, committing to peaceful and cooperative exploration. 

Wyche noted that these partnerships go beyond agreements and are reflected in real mission contributions. International partners are helping build the systems needed for sustained exploration. 

Some nations are providing major elements, such as rovers and habitation systems, while others contribute research, technology, and operational support. 

Expanded commercial and international partnerships will be essential to NASA’s three-phase plan to build a permanent lunar base. The effort begins with robotic landings and surface operations, advances to infrastructure supported by international partners, and ultimately establishes the framework for a sustained human presence on the Moon. 

“There is much more opportunity for companies all around the world to be a part of this,” Wyche said. 

Wyche explained that Artemis missions will chart a new path to the Moon, focusing on regions like the lunar South Pole and exploring approaches Apollo never pursued. 

At Johnson, that future is already taking shape through analog missions like CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), where crews live inside a 3D-printed habitat for a year to simulate the physical and psychological demands of deep space travel. 

Wyche also highlighted the growing ecosystem in Texas, including Exploration Park and the Texas Space Institute, where government, industry, and academia are working together to test hardware, robotics, and surface systems. This effort supports integrated testing and rapid development of exploration systems before deployment to the Moon and beyond. 

Both Wyche and Ramji emphasized that commercial partnerships help NASA go farther and move faster, expanding human space exploration. From student programs and internships to workforce development, the need to inspire and prepare the next generation is greater than ever. 

“We don’t go to space just for each individual,” Wyche said. “We go because we’re trying to go for humanity, and that’s what we get to do together.” 

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Smoke Shrouds Northern Thailand

Science Earth Observatory Smoke Shrouds Northern Thailand Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer All Top...