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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Cloud cover can keep optical instruments on satellites from clearly capturing Earth’s surface. Still in testing, JPL’s Dynamic Targeting uses AI to avoid imaging clouds, yielding a higher proportion of usable data, and to focus on phenomena like this 2015 volcanic eruption in Indonesia Landsat 8 captured.NASA/USGS A technology called Dynamic Targeting could enable spacecraft to decide, autonomously and within seconds, where to best make science observations from orbit.
In a recent test, NASA showed how artificial intelligence-based technology could help orbiting spacecraft provide more targeted and valuable science data. The technology enabled an Earth-observing satellite for the first time to look ahead along its orbital path, rapidly process and analyze imagery with onboard AI, and determine where to point an instrument. The whole process took less than 90 seconds, without any human involvement.
Called Dynamic Targeting, the concept has been in development for more than a decade at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The first of a series of flight tests occurred aboard a commercial satellite in mid-July. The goal: to show the potential of Dynamic Targeting to enable orbiters to improve ground imaging by avoiding clouds and also to autonomously hunt for specific, short-lived phenomena like wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and rare storms.
This graphic shows how JPL’s Dynamic Targeting uses a lookahead sensor to see what’s on a satellite’s upcoming path. Onboard algorithms process the sensor’s data, identifying clouds to avoid and targets of interest for closer observation as the satellite passes overhead.NASA/JPL-Caltech “The idea is to make the spacecraft act more like a human: Instead of just seeing data, it’s thinking about what the data shows and how to respond,” says Steve Chien, a technical fellow in AI at JPL and principal investigator for the Dynamic Targeting project. “When a human sees a picture of trees burning, they understand it may indicate a forest fire, not just a collection of red and orange pixels. We’re trying to make the spacecraft have the ability to say, ‘That’s a fire,’ and then focus its sensors on the fire.”
Avoiding Clouds for Better Science
This first flight test for Dynamic Targeting wasn’t hunting specific phenomena like fires — that will come later. Instead, the point was avoiding an omnipresent phenomenon: clouds.
Most science instruments on orbiting spacecraft look down at whatever is beneath them. However, for Earth-observing satellites with optical sensors, clouds can get in the way as much as two-thirds of the time, blocking views of the surface. To overcome this, Dynamic Targeting looks 300 miles (500 kilometers) ahead and has the ability to distinguish between clouds and clear sky. If the scene is clear, the spacecraft images the surface when passing overhead. If it’s cloudy, the spacecraft cancels the imaging activity to save data storage for another target.
“If you can be smart about what you’re taking pictures of, then you only image the ground and skip the clouds. That way, you’re not storing, processing, and downloading all this imagery researchers really can’t use,” said Ben Smith of JPL, an associate with NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office, which funds the Dynamic Targeting work. “This technology will help scientists get a much higher proportion of usable data.”
How Dynamic Targeting Works
The testing is taking place on CogniSAT-6, a briefcase-size CubeSat that launched in March 2024. The satellite — designed, built, and operated by Open Cosmos — hosts a payload designed and developed by Ubotica featuring a commercially available AI processor. While working with Ubotica in 2022, Chien’s team conducted tests aboard the International Space Station running algorithms similar to those in Dynamic Targeting on the same type of processor. The results showed the combination could work for space-based remote sensing.
Since CogniSAT-6 lacks an imager dedicated to looking ahead, the spacecraft tilts forward 40 to 50 degrees to point its optical sensor, a camera that sees both visible and near-infrared light. Once look-ahead imagery has been acquired, Dynamic Targeting’s advanced algorithm, trained to identify clouds, analyzes it. Based on that analysis, the Dynamic Targeting planning software determines where to point the sensor for cloud-free views. Meanwhile, the satellite tilts back toward nadir (looking directly below the spacecraft) and snaps the planned imagery, capturing only the ground.
This all takes place in 60 to 90 seconds, depending on the original look-ahead angle, as the spacecraft speeds in low Earth orbit at nearly 17,000 mph (7.5 kilometers per second).
What’s Next
With the cloud-avoidance capability now proven, the next test will be hunting for storms and severe weather — essentially targeting clouds instead of avoiding them. Another test will be to search for thermal anomalies like wildfires and volcanic eruptions. The JPL team developed unique algorithms for each application.
“This initial deployment of Dynamic Targeting is a hugely important step,” Chien said. “The end goal is operational use on a science mission, making for a very agile instrument taking novel measurements.”
There are multiple visions for how that could happen — possibly even on spacecraft exploring the solar system. In fact, Chien and his JPL colleagues drew some inspiration for their Dynamic Targeting work from another project they had also worked on: using data from ESA’s (the European Space Agency’s) Rosetta orbiter to demonstrate the feasibility of autonomously detecting and imaging plumes emitted by comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
On Earth, adapting Dynamic Targeting for use with radar could allow scientists to study dangerous extreme winter weather events called deep convective ice storms, which are too rare and short-lived to closely observe with existing technologies. Specialized algorithms would identify these dense storm formations with a satellite’s look-ahead instrument. Then a powerful, focused radar would pivot to keep the ice clouds in view, “staring” at them as the spacecraft speeds by overhead and gathers a bounty of data over six to eight minutes.
Some ideas involve using Dynamic Targeting on multiple spacecraft: The results of onboard image analysis from a leading satellite could be rapidly communicated to a trailing satellite, which could be tasked with targeting specific phenomena. The data could even be fed to a constellation of dozens of orbiting spacecraft. Chien is leading a test of that concept, called Federated Autonomous MEasurement, beginning later this year.
How AI supports Mars rover science Autonomous robot fleet could measure ice shelf melt Ocean world robot swarm prototype gets a swim test News Media Contact
Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Last Updated Jul 24, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of the Mapping Sub-cm Orbital Debris in LEO concept.NASA/Christine Hartzell Christine Hartzell
University of Maryland, College Park
The proposed investigation will address key technological challenges associated with a previously funded NIAC Phase I award titled “On-Orbit, Collision-Free Mapping of Small Orbital Debris”. Sub-cm orbital debris in LEO is not detectable or trackable using conventional technologies and poses a major hazard to crewed and un-crewed spacecraft. Orbital debris is a concern to NASA, as well as commercial and DoD satellite providers. In recent years, beginning with our NIAC Phase I award, we have been developing the idea that the sub-cm orbital debris environment may be monitored by detecting the plasma signature of the debris, rather than optical or radar observations of the debris itself. Our prior work has shown that sub-cm orbital debris may produce plasma solitons, which are a type of wave in the ionosphere plasma that do not disperse as readily as traditional waves. Debris may produce solitons that are co-located with the debris (called pinned solitons) or that travel ahead of the debris (called precursor solitons). We have developed computational models to predict the characteristics of the plasma solitons generated by a given piece of debris. These solitons may be detectable by 12U smallsats outfitted with multi-needle Langmuir probes.
In this Phase II NIAC award, we will address two key technical challenges that significantly effect the value of soliton-based debris detection: 1. Develop an algorithm to constrain debris size and speed based on observed soliton characteristics. Our prior investigations have produced predictions of soliton characteristics as a function of debris characteristics. However, the inverse problem is not analytically solvable. We will develop machine learning algorithms to address this challenge. 2. Evaluate the feasibility and value of detecting soliton velocity. Multiple observations of the same soliton may allow us to constrain the distance that the soliton has traveled from the debris. When combined with the other characteristics of the soliton and knowledge of the local plasma environment, back propagation of the soliton in plasma simulations may allow us to extract the position and velocity vectors of the debris. If it is possible to determine debris size, position and velocity from soliton observations, this would provide a breakthrough in space situational awareness for debris that is currently undetectable using conventional technology. However, even if only debris size and speed can be inferred from soliton detections, this technology is still a revolutionary improvement on existing methods of characterizing the debris flux, which provide data only on a multi-year cadence. This proposed investigation will answer key technological questions about how much information can be extracted from observed soliton signals and trade mission architectures for complexity and returned data value. Additionally, we will develop a roadmap to continue to advance this technology.
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Last Updated May 27, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
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By Space Force
A joint team of AFGSC Airmen launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a single Mark-21 High Fidelity Re-Entry Vehicle May 21 from Vandenberg SFB, Calif.
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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes
Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí.
For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions.
Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions. A system astronomers have nicknamed Ansky is the eighth QPE source discovered, and it produces the most energetic outbursts seen to date. Ansky also sets records in terms of timing and duration, with eruptions every 4.5 days or so that last approximately 1.5 days.
“These QPEs are mysterious and intensely interesting phenomena,” said Joheen Chakraborty, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “One of the most intriguing aspects is their quasi-periodic nature. We’re still developing the methodologies and frameworks we need to understand what causes QPEs, and Ansky’s unusual properties are helping us improve those tools.”
Watch how astronomers used data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) to study a mysterious cosmic phenomenon called a quasi-periodic eruption, or QPE.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Ansky’s name comes from ZTF19acnskyy, the moniker of a visible-light outburst seen in 2019. It was located in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. This event was the first indication that something unusual might be happening.
A paper about Ansky, led by Chakraborty, was published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal.
A leading theory suggests that QPEs occur in systems where a relatively low-mass object passes through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black hole that holds hundreds of thousands to billions of times the Sun’s mass.
When the lower-mass object punches through the disk, its passage drives out expanding clouds of hot gas that we observe as QPEs in X-rays.
Scientists think the eruptions’ quasi-periodicity occurs because the smaller object’s orbit is not perfectly circular and spirals toward the black hole over time. Also, the extreme gravity close to the black hole warps the fabric of space-time, altering the object’s orbits so they don’t close on themselves with each cycle. Scientists’ current understanding suggests the eruptions repeat until the disk disappears or the orbiting object disintegrates, which may take up to a few years.
A system astronomers call Ansky, in the galaxy at the center of this image, is home to a recently discovered series of quasi-periodic eruptions. Sloan Digital Sky Survey “Ansky’s extreme properties may be due to the nature of the disk around its supermassive black hole,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal Research and Technology to Explore Supermassive Black Holes, the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, and University of Valparaíso in Chile. “In most QPE systems the supermassive black hole likely shreds a passing star, creating a small disk very close to itself. In Ansky’s case, we think the disk is much larger and can involve objects farther away, creating the longer timescales we observe.”
Hernández-García, in addition to being a co-author on Chakraborty’s paper, led the study that discovered Ansky’s QPEs, which was published in April in Nature Astronomy and used data from NICER, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton space telescope.
NICER’s position on the International Space Station allowed it to observe Ansky about 16 times every day from May to July 2024. The frequency of the observations was critical in detecting the X-ray fluctuations that revealed Ansky produces QPEs.
Chakraborty’s team used data from NICER and XMM-Newton to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the observed QPEs in unprecedented detail by studying variations in X-ray intensity during the rise and fall of each eruption.
The researchers found that each impact resulted in about a Jupiter’s worth of mass reaching expansion velocities around 15% of the speed of light.
The NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope is reflected on NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Nick Hague’s spacesuit helmet visor in this high-flying “space-selfie” taken during a spacewalk on Jan. 16, 2025. NASA/Nick Hague The NICER telescope’s ability to frequently observe Ansky from the space station and its unique measurement capabilities also made it possible for the team to measure the size and temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as it expanded.
“All NICER’s Ansky observations used in these papers were collected after the instrument experienced a ‘light leak’ in May 2023,” said Zaven Arzoumanian, the mission’s science lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Even though the leak – which was patched in January – affected the telescope’s observing strategy, NICER was still able to make vital contributions to time domain astronomy, or the study of changes in the cosmos on timescales we can see.”
After the repair, NICER continued observing Ansky to explore how the outbursts have evolved over time. A paper about these results, led by Hernández-García and co-authored by Chakraborty, is under review.
Observational studies of QPEs like Chakraborty’s will also play a key role in preparing the science community for a new era of multimessenger astronomy, which combines measurements using light, elementary particles, and space-time ripples called gravitational waves to better understand objects and events in the universe.
One goal of ESA’s future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, in which NASA is a partner, is to study extreme mass-ratio inspirals — or systems where a low-mass object orbits a much more massive one, like Ansky. These systems should emit gravitational waves that are not observable with current facilities. Electromagnetic studies of QPEs will help improve models of those systems ahead of LISA’s anticipated launch in the mid-2030s.
“We’re going to keep observing Ansky for as long as we can,” Chakraborty said. “We’re still in the infancy of understanding QPEs. It’s such an exciting time because there’s so much to learn.”
Download images and videos through NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
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NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Editor Jeanette Kazmierczak Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A researcher inspects the interior of a male American horseshoe crab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known scientifically as Limulus polyphemus, the American horseshoe crab is vital to researchers’ understanding of the overall health of NASA Kennedy’s ecosystem.NASA They’re known as “living fossils”.
For over 450 million years, horseshoe crabs have been an ecologically vital part of our planet. They’re one of the few surviving species on Earth dating back to the dinosaurs.
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is one of more than 1,500 types of animals and plants you can find living on its over 144,000 acres, the majority of which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. Sharing a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore, NASA Kennedy is one of the most biologically diverse places in the United States.
The center’s land, water, and air species live alongside the symbols of America’s space program: the vital facilities and infrastructure that support the many launches at NASA Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as well as the rockets enabling humanity’s exploration of the cosmos.
Researchers measure the shell of a male and female American horseshoe crab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known scientifically as Limulus polyphemus, the American horseshoe crab is vital to researchers’ understanding of the overall health of NASA Kennedy’s ecosystem. Preserving NASA Kennedy’s wildlife while also fulfilling the agency’s mission requires a balanced approach. The American horseshoe crab exemplifies that balance.
Horseshoe crabs are keystone species in coastal and estuary systems like the ones surrounding Earth’s premier spaceport. By themselves, these resilient arthropods are a strong indicator of how an ecosystem is doing to support the migratory birds, sea turtles, alligators and other wildlife who rely on it for their survival.
“The presence and abundance of horseshoe crabs influence the structure and functioning of the entire ecosystem,” said James T. Brooks, an environmental protection specialist at NASA Kennedy. “Their eggs provide a vital food source for many shorebirds in coastal habitats, and their feeding activities help shape the composition of plants and animals that live at the bottom of the ocean or in rivers and lakes. Changes in horseshoe crab populations can signal broader ecological issues, such as pollution or habitat loss.”
As featured recently on NASA+, biologists survey NASA Kennedy’s beaches regularly for horseshoe crabs, counting each one they spot and tagging them with devices that lets researchers study their migration patterns and survival rates. The devices also track the crabs’ spawning activity, habitat health, and population trends, especially during peak breeding seasons in spring and summer.
All this data helps in assessing the overall health of NASA Kennedy’s ecosystem, but horseshoe crabs also play a vital role in humanity’s health. Their blue, copper-based blood contains a substance called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, critical for detecting bacterial contamination in medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines.
Their unique value in ensuring biomedical safety underscores why NASA Kennedy emphasizes ecological monitoring in addition to its roles in the global space economy, national defense, and space exploration.
A male and female American horseshoe crab meet during mating season at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known scientifically as Limulus polyphemus, the American horseshoe crab is vital to researchers’ understanding of the overall health of NASA Kennedy’s ecosystem. NASA At NASA Kennedy, horseshoe crabs are protected and monitored through habitat restoration projects like rebuilding shorelines eroded by storms and minimizing human impact on nesting sites. These initiatives ensure that the spaceport’s operations coexist harmoniously with nature and deepen our understanding of Earth’s interconnected ecosystems.
On this Earth Day, NASA Kennedy celebrates the important role these ancient mariners play as we launch humanity’s future.
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Last Updated Apr 22, 2025 Related Terms
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