In August 2026, a series of powerful winter storms transformed parts of northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, covering the famously dry landscape in an unusual layer of snow. Snow is not unheard of in the Atacama. Significant falls occurred in 2025 and, before that, in 2011. But one of the August 2026 storms stood out because [...]

Puerto Rico went from no drought to widespread extreme drought in just months as rainfall collapsed and water shortages spread. Puerto Rico usually enters its wet season in May. In 2026, however, the expected rains largely failed to arrive through late August, leaving much of the U.S. territory in drought. The prolonged dry spell has [...]

A giant 29-square-mile iceberg broke from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier and survived a collision with Joe Island that might have shattered a more fragile berg. Summer is the busiest time of year for iceberg activity in Greenland’s glacier-fed fjords, and 2026 brought another dramatic example. In August, a huge iceberg separated from Petermann Glacier on Greenland’s [...]

New Mexico’s largest reservoir plunged to just 1.4 percent capacity in July 2026, revealing the dramatic impact of prolonged drought and record early snowmelt. NASA is using satellite data to help water managers understand the shrinking supply and prepare for future shortages. When astronaut John Glenn remarked on the landscape below him while orbiting Earth [...]

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is back to studying the universe, even as the aging spacecraft continues to lose altitude and a planned mission to raise its orbit has been scaled back. Two of Swift’s three science instruments are operating again after months of conservation measures designed to reduce atmospheric drag and keep the observatory [...]

Webb found a hidden giant planet by detecting its atmospheric chemistry through a bright debris disk. For years, a third giant planet remained concealed within the bright dust surrounding Beta Pictoris, one of the most closely observed planetary systems in the Milky Way. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now exposed the hidden world by [...]

NASA is teaming up with 37 companies to develop the next generation of technologies that could make long-term exploration of the Moon and Mars possible. NASA has chosen 41 proposals from 37 U.S. companies to help develop technologies needed for a sustained human presence on the Moon and eventual crewed missions to Mars. The companies [...]

NASA is taking another major step toward a permanent Moon base with four new commercial missions that will test technology, deliver science, and help prepare for humanity’s future beyond Earth. NASA has selected three commercial space companies to carry out four new lunar missions in late 2028 through the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly [...]

A new NASA orbital image captures Perseverance after completing a marathon across the surface of Mars. NASA’s Perseverance rover has completed the equivalent of a full marathon on Mars, reaching 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) after five years and four months of driving across the Red Planet. The milestone came on the 1,890th Martian day, or [...]

NASA’s newly announced Artemis III crew is preparing for one of the most complex space missions ever attempted on the road back to the Moon. NASA has unveiled the crew for Artemis III and shared new details about what could become one of the most challenging human spaceflight missions ever attempted. Scheduled for 2027, the [...]

Sentinel-6 satellite data shows strengthening warm-water waves in the Pacific, pointing to the likely arrival of El Niño and its global weather impacts later in 2026. Several months before an El Niño develops, large waves of warmer, elevated water travel eastward across the Pacific Ocean. Satellite observations in 2026 have detected several of these waves. [...]

NASA just demonstrated a technology that lets spacecraft communicate across multiple networks, paving the way for a more flexible and reliable space internet. NASA’s experimental Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) has successfully completed its primary technology demonstration, marking an important step toward more flexible communications in space. Because the project met its original goals and continues [...]

NASA has released a new update on a long-running air leak aboard the International Space Station, detailing recent developments involving a troubled section of the orbiting laboratory and precautionary measures taken to protect the crew. The issue involves the PrK transfer tunnel inside Russia’s Zvezda service module, where cracks have been causing small atmosphere leaks [...]

An interstellar comet just revealed hidden methane and chemical clues from another star system. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has achieved another milestone by capturing the first mid-infrared chemical fingerprint of an interstellar object. The observations focused on comet 3I/ATLAS, a rare visitor from beyond our solar system, and the findings have been published in [...]

Typhoon Jangmi dazzled from space with a giant swirling eye while drenching parts of Japan with heavy rain. From late May into early June 2026, Typhoon Jangmi slowly tracked north-northwest across the Philippine Sea on a path toward southern Japan. Although the storm moved at a relatively slow pace, it spread intense rainfall across a [...]

A rapidly intensifying super typhoon sent giant atmospheric ripples skyward, revealing a hidden connection between extreme weather and near-space. In April 2026, Super Typhoon Sinlaku swept across the North Pacific, bringing torrential rain and flooding to parts of the Mariana Islands. The storm intensified into a “violent typhoon,” the highest category used by the Japan [...]

A disappearing Venus, a planet parade, and the start of summer make June a must-see month for skywatchers. June brings several notable skywatching events, including a close meeting between Venus and Jupiter, a rare occasion when the Moon moves in front of Venus, the arrival of astronomical summer, and the return of favorite deep-sky sights. [...]

NASA’s Roman Telescope could reveal 100,000 hidden worlds and rewrite what we know about planets across the Milky Way. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to dramatically expand humanity’s catalog of worlds beyond our solar system. Known as exoplanets, these distant planets number nearly 6,300 discoveries so far through NASA missions and other [...]

NASA’s strange-looking X-59 jet is about to reach the milestone it was built for: flying faster than the speed of sound. NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft is preparing for one of the most important phases of its flight testing program. The next series of flights will include the aircraft’s first journey beyond the speed of sound, [...]

NASA’s Fermi telescope may have finally uncovered the magnetic powerhouse behind the universe’s brightest supernovae. An international team of astronomers analyzing observations from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found what appears to be the first convincing detection of gamma rays from a rare type of extraordinarily bright stellar explosion known as a superluminous supernova. [...]