NASA's AVIRIS-5 spectrometer, in collaboration with USGS, conducts airborne spectroscopy over the American West to accelerate the discovery of lithium and other critical minerals. Within the GEMx campaign, based on the Earth MRI initiative, open data are collected that help industry and communities in planning sustainable research.
The structural model of ROSE-L has successfully withstood vibration and acoustic tests, confirming readiness for final integration in Rome. As a new Copernicus mission in the L-band, it will provide more robust data for soil moisture, biomass, ice and floods and will complement Sentinel-1 with consistent imagery independent of clouds and night.
The SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope images debris disks around young stars and reveals belts similar to our asteroid and Kuiper belts. Such observations help understand how planets form, where small bodies reside, and how special the Solar System is in the Milky Way.
Badain Jaran on the Alxa Plateau is China's third-largest desert: a labyrinth of megadunes up to 460 m, more than a hundred saline and freshwater lakes, and the rare phenomenon of “singing” sands. Sentinel-1 radar images in September 2025 reveal dune density, lake edge dynamics, and seasonal snow on crests. The landscape is simultaneously geologically stable and climatically sensitive, with underground inflows feeding oases and high biodiversity between sand and water.
Senyar, only the second recorded cyclone formed in the Malacca Strait, on November 25, 2025, brought extreme rainfall and devastating floods to Aceh and North Sumatra. Satellites record about 400 mm of rain, and an earthquake on November 27 worsened landslides. Consequences include hundreds dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and widespread damage across Southeast Asia.
NASA has selected two instruments for Artemis IV that astronauts will deploy at the lunar South Pole: DUSTER for measuring dust and plasma, and SPSS, a seismic station with an active "thumper". Data will reduce risks, guide equipment design, and prepare sustainable operations and the corridor to Mars and the Gateway station.