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Expanded AI Model with Global Data Enhances Earth Science Applications
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By Space Force
The two-week event, held at Vandenberg Space Force Base, focuses on strengthening international partnerships, enhancing operational collaboration and promoting responsible behavior in space.
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Expands SPHEREx Science Return Through Commercial Partnership
A sectional rendering of NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer). Credits: NASA NASA is partnering with commercial industry to expand our knowledge of Earth, our solar system, and beyond. Recently, NASA collaborated with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) to support data transfer for the agency’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to explore the origins of the universe.
“Not only is NASA moving toward commercialization, the agency is making technological advancements to existing systems and saving millions of dollars in the process — all while expanding human knowledge through science and exploration missions,” said Kevin Coggins, associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program.
To receive data from missions in space, NASA relies on the Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, a collection of antennas around the globe.
In preparation for the recently-launched SPHEREx observatory, NASA needed to upgrade an antenna on the world’s most remote continent: Antarctica.
Transmitted via NASA’s Near Space Network, this video shows SPHEREx scanning a region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The shifting colors represent different infrared wavelengths detected by the telescope’s two arrays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s SCaN program took a novel approach by leveraging its established commercial partnership with KSAT. While upgraded KSAT antennas were added to the Near Space Network in 2023, SPHEREx required an additional Antarctic antenna that could link to online data storage.
To support SPHEREx’s polar orbit, KSAT upgraded its Troll, Antarctica antenna and incorporated their own cloud storage system. NASA then connected KSAT’s cloud to the NASA cloud, DAPHNE+ (Data Acquisition Process and Handling Environment).
As the Near Space Network’s operational cloud services system, DAPHNE+ enables science missions to transmit their data to the network for virtual file storage, processing, and management.
“By connecting the Troll antenna to DAPHNE+, we eliminated the need for large, undersea fiberoptic cables by virtually connecting private and government-owned cloud systems, reducing the project’s cost and complexity,” said Matt Vincent, the SPHEREx mission manager for the Near Space Network at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Each day, SPHEREx downlinks a portion of its 20 gigabits of science data through the Troll antenna, which transfers the files across KSAT’s network of relay satellites to the DAPHNE+ cloud. The cloud system combines and centralizes the data from each antenna, allowing access to all of SPHEREx’s health and science data in one convenient place.
The SPHEREx mission data is transmitted from space to the Troll Satellite Station, relayed through a network of satellites, and stored in the Near Space Network’s cloud system for easily-accessible analysis by scientists around the world.NASA/Dave Ryan With coverage throughout its orbit, SPHEREx transmits its 3D maps of the celestial sky, offering new insight into what happened a fraction of a second after the big bang.
“Missions like SPHEREx use the Near Space Network’s combination of commercial and government antennas,” explained Michael Skube, DAPHNE+ manager at NASA Goddard. “And that is the benefit of DAPHNE+ — it enables the network to pull different sources of information into one central location. The DAPHNE+ system treats government and commercial antennas as part of the same network.”
The partnership is mutually beneficial. NASA’s Near Space Network maintains a data connection with SPHEREx as it traverses both poles and KSAT benefits from its antennas’ integration into a robust global network – no new cables required.
“We were able to find a networking solution with KSAT that did not require us to put additional hardware in Antarctica,” said Vincent. “Now we are operating with the highest data rate we have ever downlinked from that location.”
The upgraded ground station antenna at Troll Satellite Station supports cloud-based space communications, enabling NASA’s Near Space Network to support scientific missions via a wireless cloud network.Kongsberg Satellite Services For NASA, its commercial partners, and other global space agencies, this expansion means more reliable space communications with fewer expenses.
Troll’s successful integration into the Near Space Network is a case study for future private and government partnerships. As SPHEREx measures the collective glow of over 450 million galaxies as far as 10 billion light-years away, SCaN continues to innovate how its discoveries safely return to Earth.
The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Funding and oversight for DAPHNE+ and the Near Space Network come from the SCaN program office at NASA Headquarters and operate out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Troll Satellite Station is owned and operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services and located in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.
About the Author
Korine Powers
Lead Writer and Communications StrategistKorine Powers, Ph.D. is a writer for NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, exploration activities, and more.
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Related Terms
Communicating and Navigating with Missions Commercial Space Space Communications & Navigation Program SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) View the full article
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By NASA
6 min read
NASA Data Helps Map Tiny Plankton That Feed Giant Right Whales
This North Atlantic right whale, named “Bowtie,” was spotted feeding in southern Maine waters in January 2025. A new technique aims to use NASA satellite data to see the plankton these whales depend on from space. Credit: New England Aquarium, taken under NMFS permit # 25739 In the waters off New England, one of Earth’s rarest mammals swims slowly, mouth agape. The North Atlantic right whale filters clouds of tiny reddish zooplankton — called Calanus finmarchicus — from the sea. These zooplankton, no bigger than grains of rice, are the whale’s lifeline. Only about 370 of these massive creatures remain.
For decades, tracking the tiny plankton meant sending research vessels out in the ocean, towing nets and counting samples by hand. Now, scientists are looking from above instead.
Using NASA satellite data, researchers found a way to detect Calanus swarms at the ocean surface in the Gulf of Maine, picking up on the animals’ natural red pigment. This early-stage approach, described in a new study, may help researchers better estimate where the copepods gather, and where whales might follow.
Tracking the zooplankton from space could aid both the whales and maritime industries. By predicting where these mammals are likely to feed, researchers and marine resource managers hope to reduce deadly vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements — two major threats to the species. Knowing the feeding patterns could also help shipping and fishing industries operate more efficiently.
Calanus finmarchicus, a tiny zooplankton powering North Atlantic food webs, fuels right whale populations with its energy-rich lipid reserves. Credit: Cameron Thompson “NASA invests in this kind of research because it connects space-based observation with real-world challenges,” said Cynthia Hall, a support scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. She works with the Early Career Research Program, which partly funded the work. “It’s yet another a way to put NASA satellite data to work for science, communities, and ecosystems.”
Revealing the Ocean’s Hidden Patterns
The new approach uses data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite. The MODIS instrument doesn’t directly see the copepods themselves. Instead, it reads how the spectrum of sunlight reflected from the ocean surface changes in response to what’s in the water.
When large numbers of the zooplankton rise to the surface, their reddish pigment — astaxanthin, the same compound that gives salmon its pink color — subtly alters how photons, or particles of light, from the sun are absorbed or scattered in the water. The fate of these photons in the ocean depends on the mix of living and non-living matter in seawater, creating a slight shift in color that MODIS can detect.
“We didn’t know to look for Calanus before in this way,” said Catherine Mitchell, a satellite oceanographer at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. “Remote sensing has typically focused on smaller things like phytoplankton. But recent research suggested that larger, millimeter-sized organisms like zooplankton can also influence ocean color.”
A few years ago, researchers piloted a satellite method for detecting copepods in Norwegian waters. Now, some of those same scientists — along with Mitchell’s team — have refined the approach and applied it to the Gulf of Maine, a crucial feeding ground for right whales during their northern migration. By combining satellite data, a model, and field measurements, they produced enhanced images that revealed Calanus swarms at the sea surface, and were able to estimate numbers of the tiny animals.
“We know the right whales are using habitats we don’t fully understand,” said Rebekah Shunmugapandi, also a satellite oceanographer at Bigelow and the study’s lead author. “This satellite-based Calanus information could eventually help identify unknown feeding grounds or better anticipate where whales might travel.”
Tracking Elusive Giants
Despite decades of study, North Atlantic right whales remain remarkably enigmatic to scientists. Once fairly predictable in their movements along the Eastern Seaboard of North America, these massive mammals began abandoning some traditional feeding grounds in 2010-2011. Their sudden shift to unexpected areas like the Gulf of Saint Lawrence caught people off guard, with deadly consequences.
“We’ve had whales getting hit by ships and whales getting stuck in fishing gear,” said Laura Ganley, a research scientist in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium in Boston, which conducts aerial and boat surveys of the whales.
In 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated the situation as an “unusual mortality event” in an effort to address the whales’ decline. Since then, 80 North Atlantic right whales have been killed or sustained serious injuries, according to NOAA.
NASA satellite imagery from June 2009 was used to test a new method for detecting the copepod Calanus finmarchicus in the Gulf of Maine and estimating their numbers from space. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using data from Shunmugapandi, R., et al. (2025) In the Gulf of Maine, there’s less shipping activity, but there can be a complex patchwork of lobster fishing gear, said Sarah Leiter, a scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “Each fisherman has 800 traps or so,” Leiter explained. “If a larger number of whales shows up suddenly, like they just did in January 2025, it is challenging. Fishermen need time and good weather to adjust that gear.”
What excites Leiter the most about the satellite data is the potential to use it in a forecasting tool to help predict where the whales could go. “That would be incredibly useful in giving us that crucial lead time,” she said.
PACE: The Next Generation of Ocean Observer
For now, the Calanus-tracking method has limitations. Because MODIS detects the copepods’ red pigment, not the animals themselves, that means other small, reddish organisms can be mistaken for the zooplankton. And cloud cover, rough seas, or deeper swarms all limit what satellites can spot.
MODIS is also nearing the end of its operational life. But NASA’s next-generation PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite — launched in 2024 — is poised to make dramatic improvements in the detection of zooplankton and phytoplankton.
NASA’s Ocean Color Instrument on the PACE satellite captured these swirling green phytoplankton blooms in the Gulf of Maine in April 2024. Such blooms fuel zooplankton like Calanus finmarchicus. Credit: NASA “The PACE satellite will definitely be able to do this, and maybe even something better,” said Bridget Seegers, an oceanographer and mission scientist with the PACE team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The PACE mission includes the Ocean Color Instrument, which detects more than 280 wavelengths of light. That’s a big jump from the 10 wavelengths seen by MODIS. More wavelengths mean finer detail and better insights into ocean color and the type of plankton that the satellite can spot.
Local knowledge of seasonal plankton patterns will still be essential to interpret the data correctly. But the goal isn’t perfect detection, the scientists say, but rather to provide another tool to inform decision-making, especially when time or resources are limited.
By Emily DeMarco
NASA Headquarters
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Last Updated May 05, 2025 Editor Emily DeMarco Related Terms
Earth Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Oceans PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Explore More
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While aboard the International Space Station, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, including research to enhance on-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitization technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behavior in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions.
Image credit: NASA/Jonny Kim
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