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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Daily images of ice cover in the Arctic Ocean (left) and around Antarctica reveal sea ice formation and melting at the poles over the course of two years (Sept 14, 2023 to Sept. 13, 2025).Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio With the end of summer approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic shrank to its annual minimum on Sept. 10, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The total sea ice coverage was tied with 2008 for the 10th-lowest on record at 1.78 million square miles (4.60 million square kilometers). In the Southern Hemisphere, where winter is ending, Antarctic ice is still accumulating but remains relatively low compared to ice levels recorded before 2016.
The areas of ice covering the oceans at the poles fluctuate through the seasons. Ice accumulates as seawater freezes during colder months and melts away during the warmer months. But the ice never quite disappears entirely at the poles. In the Arctic Ocean, the area the ice covers typically reaches its yearly minimum in September. Since scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began tracking sea ice at the poles in 1978, sea ice extent has generally been declining as global temperatures have risen.
“While this year’s Arctic sea ice area did not set a record low, it’s consistent with the downward trend,” said Nathan Kurtz, chief of the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Arctic ice reached its lowest recorded extent in 2012. Ice scientist Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, attributes that record low to a combination of a warming atmosphere and unusual weather patterns. This year, the annual decline in ice initially resembled the changes in 2012. Although the melting tapered off in early August, it wasn’t enough to change the year-over-year downward trend. “For the past 19 years, the minimum ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean has fallen below the levels prior to 2007,” Meier said. “That continues in 2025.”
Antarctic sea ice nearing annual maximum
As ice in the Arctic reaches its annual minimum, sea ice around the Antarctic is approaching its annual maximum. Until recently, ice in the ocean around the Southern pole has been more resilient than sea ice in the North, with maximum coverage increasing slightly in the years before 2015. “This year looks lower than average,” Kurtz said. “But the Antarctic system as a whole is more complicated,” which makes predicting and understanding sea ice trends in the Antarctic more difficult.
It’s not yet clear whether lower ice coverage in the Antarctic will persist, Meier said. “For now, we’re keeping an eye on it” to see if the lower sea ice levels around the South Pole are here to stay or only part of a passing phase.
A history of tracking global ice
For nearly five decades, NASA and NOAA have relied on a variety of satellites to build a continuous sea ice record, beginning with the NASA Nimbus-7 satellite (1978–1987) and continuing with the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder on Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites that began in 1987. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer–for EOS on NASA’s Aqua satellite also contributed data from 2002 to 2011. Scientists have extended data collection with the 2012 launch of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 aboard a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) satellite.
With the launch of ICESat-2 in 2018, NASA has added the continuous observation of ice thickness to its recording. The ICESat-2 satellite measures ice height by recording the time it takes for laser light from the satellite to reflect from the surface and travel back to detectors on board.
“We’ve hit 47 years of continuous monitoring of the global sea ice extent from satellites,” said Angela Bliss, assistant chief of NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory. “This data record is one of the longest, most consistent satellite data records in existence, where every single day we have a look at the sea ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic.”
By James Riordon
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Media contact: Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2025 LocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Earth Goddard Space Flight Center Ice & Glaciers ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2) Explore More
5 min read Antarctic Sea Ice Near Historic Lows; Arctic Ice Continues Decline
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By NASA
NASA researchers Matt Gregory, right, Arwa Awiess, center, and Andrew Guion, left, discuss live flight data being ingested at the Mission Visualization and Research Control Center (MVRCC) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Aug. 21, 2025.NASA/ Brandon Torres-Navarrete NASA and its partners recently tested a tool for remotely piloted operations that could enable operators to transport people and goods more efficiently within urban areas.
The team’s goal is to ensure that when these remotely piloted aircraft – including electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) – take to the skies, air traffic controllers won’t be overburdened by increased flight operations and safety is maintained across the national airspace.
On Aug. 21, NASA’s Air Traffic Management eXploration Project (ATM-X) assisted Wisk Aero when they flew a Bell 206 helicopter in Hollister, California. The purpose of the flight test was to evaluate and fine-tune a ground-based radar developed by Collins Aerospace. The radar, which provides aircraft location data, could be used during future remotely piloted operations to detect and avoid other aircraft in the vicinity. NASA, Wisk, and Collins researchers also used the flight to test data exchange capabilities across different geographic locations between the groups, a critical capability for future remotely piloted operators in a shared airspace. This work builds on a November 2024 flight test NASA performed with Reliable Robotics and Collins Aerospace.
Initial analysis of the August testing of Collins’ ground-based radar actively and accurately surveilled the airspace during the aircraft’s flight test. The Collins radar system also successfully transmitted these data to NASA’s Mission Visualization Research Command Center lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. NASA, Wisk, and Collins will further analyze the flight data to better understand the radar’s performance and data exchange capabilities for future remotely piloted flight tests. This testing is a part of ATM-X’s remotely piloted testing campaign, designed to identify the infrastructure and technologies needed for the Federal Aviation Administration to safely integrate drones and air taxis into the airspace, bringing the movement of people and goods off the ground, and into the sky.
Remotely piloted eVTOL aircraft could bridge the gap for urban communities by offering a more affordable and accessible method of transportation and delivery services in congested, highly-populated areas.
NASA and Wisk will continue to collaborate on emerging eVTOL technologies to safely integrate advanced aircraft, into the national airspace. Together, the teams will gather data on eVTOL performance and characteristics during a flight test of a helicopter, which will act as a “surrogate” simulating an eVTOL flight. This work will mark another critical step towards better connecting communities across the globe.
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By Space Force
U.S. Space Command hosted Joint Integrated Space Team leaders for the fifth annual JIST Summit here, August 26-27, 2025.
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By NASA
From left to right: JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and NASA astronauts Jonny Kim (seated), Zena Cardman, and Mike Fincke conduct training scenarios with their instructors at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, for their upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui will connect with students in New York as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions aboard the International Space Station.
The Earth-to-space call will begin at 9:20 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 5, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel.
Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, to Sara Sloves at: 917-441-1234 or ssloves@thecomputerschool.org.
The Computer School will host this event in New York for middle school students. The goal of this event is to extend learning by exposing students to the real-world experiences and engineering challenges of astronauts working and living aboard the International Space Station.
For nearly 25 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lay the groundwork for other agency deep space missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars, inspiring the world through discovery in a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration.
See more information on NASA in-flight calls at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
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Gerelle Dodson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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By NASA
4 Min Read Washington State Student Wins 2025 NASA Art Contest
“My Wonders with You” by Dahyun Jung, 2025 NASA Student Art Contest grand prize winner Credits: NASA/Dahyun Jung A Washington state high school student with a passion for art, space exploration, and a curiosity about the possibility of life on other planets earned the grand prize for the 2025 NASA Student Art Contest.
Dahyun Jung’s winning piece, titled “My Wonders with You,” shows a child seated on the roof of a barn, their arm draped around a dog, watching a space shuttle blast off in the distance. The two are joined by three extraterrestrial beings that also watch in awe. Jung was a high school senior during the submission period for the 2025 competition, which was December 1 through December 31, 2024. The theme for the 2025 art contest was “Our Wonder Changes the World.”
“My Wonders with You” by Dahyun Jung, 2025 NASA Student Art Contest grand prize winner
Credit: NASA/Dahyun JungNASA/Dahyun Jung “The theme immediately sparked memories of the moment I first saw a NASA spacecraft launch into space,” Jung said. “That experience filled me with awe and endless questions—especially about how aliens might view our efforts to explore the cosmos. I began imagining what future space missions might look like if we ever made contact with extraterrestrial life. That was the moment everything clicked—the exact moment when imaginations started to fill up the tiny world in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to draw!”
Jung said art and crafting have been a special part of her life since childhood. She enjoys using a variety of materials to create everything from drawings and paintings to keychains and crochet dolls.
“I’ve always loved drawing, but it was in middle school that I really began to delve into it more deeply,” Jung said. “I see everything that passes through my hands as a form of art.”
I see everything that passes through my hands as a form of art.
Dahyun Jung
2025 NASA Student Art Contest grand prize winner
“A Marsbulous Future” by Chloe Ji, 2025 NASA Student Art Contest First Place Winner, 1st Grade Division
Credit: NASA/Chloe JiNASA/Chloe Ji Jung was one of more than 2,300 kindergarten through 12th grade students from across the United States and its territories who participated in the 2025 art contest, a record-breaking number. Kristina Cors, art contest coordinator at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, said, “This contest gives the students a way to connect their passion for art with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and hopefully inspires them to continue exploring those connections throughout their lives.”
Jung is no stranger to the art contest. She said she first participated in 2022.
“Returning to the contest in 2025 felt both nostalgic and thrilling as I came back with improved techniques, more experience, and a fresh new idea that fit this year’s theme,” she said.
Jung used Procreate, a digital illustration and painting app, to create her award-winning work.
“For this piece, I used my customized brush in Procreate,” Jung said. “The biggest merit of using a digital platform for drawing is the variety of textured brushes they offer. They allowed me to vividly illustrate various elements—like the sky, the rocket’s exhaust plume, hair, and roof—each with its own texture and detail.”
Dahyun Jung, grand prize winner of the 2025 NASA Student Art Contest, holds her winning piece “My Wonders with You.”
Credit: NASA/Dahyun JungNASA/Dahyun Jung Jung’s artwork brought to life her own enthusiasm regarding NASA’s work advancing space exploration, aeronautics, and science.
“I’ve always been fascinated by NASA’s commitment to pushing boundaries—especially in space exploration,” Jung said. “Space feels like an undiscovered world, full of endless possibilities, but only a few have had the chance to access it. In many ways, NASA’s work mirrors how I always push creative boundaries in my own art. I’ve always dreamed of traveling to space, and it’s that sense of wonder that inspired my piece.”
Jung said she hopes her artwork can help to inspire awe and stir imagination in others.
“Changing the World” by Jane Lee, 2025 NASA Student Art Contest First Place Winner, 8th Grade Division
Credit: NASA/Jane LeeNASA/Jane Lee “I want my artwork to be the starting point of all wonders—a spark that takes people back to their childhood, when dreams were bold and limitless,” Jung said. “I hope it rekindles that sense of passion, whatever it may be, and encourages others to dare to dream again.
To view a complete list of winners by grade, please click here.
To view all 2025 art contest entries, please click here.
Brittny McGraw
NASA Langley Research Center
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Joe Atkinson
Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
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