How NASA’s new moon map will guide future manned missions

If Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin didn’t know the moon’s topography cold, the first human moon landing might have been aborted or worse. Now that NASA is planning new missions to the Moon with project Artemis, it needs the most detailed maps of our s...

USGS releases first complete geologic map of the Moon

Have you ever wanted to study the Moon’s surface in exacting detail? Now’s your chance. The USGS (with help from NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute) has released the first complete geologic map of the Moon, providing a truly comprehensive look at...

How conservationists are controlling invasive species in the 21st century

When humans colonized islands throughout the Pacific some 2,000 years ago, rats came along for the ride. The introduction of those rodents proved disastrous for the local island exosystem, a pattern than unfortunately continues to this day with no si...

Decades of spy satellite images help track melting Himalayan glaciers

You don't need cutting-edge satellite data to make sense of Earth's changing climate. Researchers have published a study of melting Himalayan glaciers that takes advantage of 40 years' worth of satellite imagery posted by the US Geological Survey, i...

NASA launches Landsat 8 satellite to better study the skies above, water below

NASA launches Landsat 8 satellite to improve our coverage of the skies above and water below

NASA's Landsat program recently turned the big four-oh, and what better way to deal with the mid-life crisis by getting a new satellite as a present? Accordingly, the space agency has just launched Landsat 8 into orbit to give its Earth Science program a new injection of youth. The new vehicle improves the accuracy of existing light and thermal sensors while widening the scope to better reflect modern climate studies -- number 8 now tracks aerosols in the atmosphere, high cirrus clouds and the telltale signs of water quality and consumption levels. We won't get the first USGS-derived results from the new satellite until after a 100-day shakedown period, but we're sure the deeper understanding of our planet will help the Landsat program forget all about those first few gray hairs.

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Source: NASA