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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
These maps of Prince George’s County, MD, show surface temperatures collected a few hours apart on July 30, 2023 from the Landsat 9 satellite and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument. The dark blue spots in the right hand image are likely clouds that formed in the afternoon.Credit: Stephanie Schollaert Uz, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Thousands of Americans are impacted each summer by excessive heat and humidity, some suffering from heat-related illnesses when the body can’t cool itself down. Data from NASA satellites could help local governments reduce the sweltering risks, thanks to a collaboration between NASA scientists and officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The effort demonstrates how local officials in other communities could turn to NASA data to inform decisions that provide residents with relief from summer heat.
NASA researchers and their Prince George’s County collaborators reported in Frontiers in Environmental Science that they used the Landsat 8 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey, and NASA’s Aqua satellite, to gain insight into surface temperature trends across the county over the past few decades. The data also show how temperatures have responded to changing land use and construction. It is information that county planners and environmental experts hope can aid them in their attempts to remediate and prevent heat dangers in the future. The collaboration may also help the county’s first responders anticipate and prepare for heat-related emergencies and injuries.
Cooperation with Prince George’s County expands on NASA’s historic role, said Stephanie Schollaert Uz, an applications scientist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and one of the study authors. “Applying government satellite data to county-level problems is new here. We’re trying to make it easier for people outside of NASA to use our data, in part by including how-to guides referenced at the end of our paper,” Schollaert Uz said.
In the long run, county officials hope to use NASA satellites to track the negative health impacts that arise from land use and modification. Removal of tree cover and the construction of non-permeable roads, parking lots, and structures that lead to water runoff are among the factors that create heat islands, where temperatures in localized areas soar relative to the surrounding landscape. In addition to the direct dangers of heat for county residents and workers, areas with higher-than-normal temperatures can drive intense local weather events.
“There’s potentially a greater incidence of microbursts,” said Mary Abe of Prince George’s County’s sustainability division. “The atmosphere can become supercharged over hot spots,” causing high winds and flood-inducing rains.
Prince George’s County planners anticipate relying on NASA satellites to determine where residents and county employees are at greater risk, predict how future construction could impact heat dangers, and develop strategies to moderate heat in areas currently experiencing elevated summer temperatures. Efforts might include protecting existing trees and planting new ones. It could include replacing impermeable surfaces (cement, pavement, etc.) with alternatives that let water soak into the ground rather than running off into storm drains. To verify and calibrate the satellite observations crucial for such planning, county experts are considering enlisting residents to act as citizen scientists to collect temperature and weather data on the ground, Abe said.
Eventually, the NASA satellite temperature data could also lead to strategies to curb insect-borne diseases, said Evelyn Hoban, associate director for the Prince George’s County division of environmental health and communicable disease. “Once we know where the higher temperatures are, we can check to see if they create mosquito or tick breeding grounds,” said Hoban, who coauthored the study. “We could then focus our outreach and education, and perhaps prevention efforts, on areas of greater heat and risk.”
A NASA guide is available to aid other communities who hope to duplicate the Prince George’s County study. The guide provides introductions on a variety of NASA satellite and ground-based weather station data. Instructions for downloading and analyzing the data are illustrated in an accompanying tutorial that uses the Prince George’s County study as an example for other communities to follow on their own.
One of the greatest benefits of the collaboration, Abe said, is the boost in credibility that comes from incorporating NASA resources and expertise in the county’s efforts to improve safety and health. “It’s partly the NASA brand. People recognize it and they’re really intrigued by it,” she said. “Working with NASA builds confidence that the decision-making process is based firmly in science.”
By James Riordon
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Media contact: Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters
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Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 EditorJames RiordonLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Earth General Landsat 8 / LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Explore More
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By European Space Agency
According to the newly released 35th State of the Climate report, 2024 saw record highs in greenhouse gas concentrations, global land and ocean temperatures, sea levels, and ocean heat content. Glaciers also suffered their largest annual ice loss on record. Data records from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative helped underpin these findings.
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By NASA
NASA/Christopher LC Clark The parachute of the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy, or EPIC, test experiment deploys following an air launch from an Alta X drone on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering instruments and payloads to Mars.
The flight tests were a first step toward filling gaps in computer models to improve supersonic parachutes. This work could also open the door to future partnerships, including with the aerospace and auto racing industries.
Image Credit: NASA/Christopher LC Clark
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By NASA
Tess Caswell supports the International Space Station from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as a capsule communicator, or capcom, as well as through the Extravehicular Activity Office. She is currently on rotation as the Artemis lead capcom, helping to develop training and processes for the Artemis campaign by leveraging her experience supporting the space station.
She helps ensure that astronauts aboard the spacecraft receive the right information at the right time. This role involves a range of activities, from learning the language of the spacecraft and its onboard operations to participating in simulations to relay critical information to the crew, especially during dynamic operations or when things go wrong.
Read on to learn more about Tess!
Tess Caswell serves as lead capsule communicator, or capcom, in the Mission Control Center in Houston for the arrival of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 to the International Space Station. NASA/Robert Markowitz Where are you from?
Soldotna, Alaska.
How would you describe your job to family or friends that may not be familiar with NASA?
Capcoms are the people who speak to the astronauts on behalf of Mission Control, and I am the lead for the team of capcoms who will support missions to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign.
What advice would you give to young individuals aspiring to work in the space industry or at NASA?
Remember that space travel is more than just engineers and scientists. It takes all kinds of people to support astronauts in space, including medicine, food science, communications, photography – you name it!
Tess Caswell
Extravehicular Activity Flight Controller and Lead Capsule Communicator
I like to encourage young people to think about what part of space travel inspires them. We live in an era where there are many companies leveraging space for different purposes, including tourism, settlement, profit, and exploration. It’s important to think about what aspect of space travel interests you – or use things like internships to figure it out!
If you’re excited about space but don’t want to be an engineer, there are still jobs for you.
How long have you been working for NASA?
Eight years, plus a few internships.
What was your path to NASA?
Internships and student projects were my path to NASA. As an undergraduate, I worked in a student rocket lab, which gave me firsthand experience building and testing hardware. During the summers, I participated in internships to explore various careers and NASA centers. My final internship led directly to my first job after college as an Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems (ETHOS) flight controller in mission control for the space station.
I left NASA for a while to pursue an advanced degree in planetary geology and spent two years working at Blue Origin as the lead flight controller for the New Shepard capsule. Ultimately, though, I am motivated by exploration and chose to return to NASA where that is our focus. I landed in the Extravehicular Activity Office (EVA) within the Flight Operations Directorate after returning from Blue Origin.
Tess Caswell suits up in the Extravehicular Mobility Unit at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA’s Sonny Carter Training Facility in Houston during training to become an EVA instructor. NASA/Richie Hindman Is there a space figure you’ve looked up to or someone that inspires you?
It’s hard to name a specific figure who inspires me. Instead, it’s the caliber of people overall who work in flight operations at Johnson Space Center. Not just the astronauts, but the folks in mission control, in the backrooms supporting the control center, and on the training teams for astronauts and flight controllers. Every single person demonstrates excellence every day. It inspires me to bring my best self to the table in each and every project.
What is your favorite NASA memory or the most meaningful project you’ve worked on during your time with NASA?
That is a hard one!
My current favorite is probably the day I certified as a capcom for the space station. The first time talking to the crew is both nerve-wracking and exciting. You know the entire space station community stops and listens when you are speaking, but it’s incredibly cool to be privileged with speaking to the crew. So, your first few days are a little scary, but awesome. After I’d been declared certified, the crew called down on Space –to Ground to congratulate me. It was a very special moment. I saved a recording of it!
Tess Caswell learns to fly the International Space Station Remote Manipulator System, or Canadarm2, in Canada as part of capcom training. Tess Caswell What do you love sharing about station?
The international collaboration required to design, build, and operate the International Space Station is a constant source of inspiration for me.
Tess Caswell
Extravehicular Activity Flight Controller and Lead Capsule Communicator
When I give folks tours of mission control, I like to point out the photo of the U.S.-built Unity node and the Russian-built Zarya module mated in the shuttle cargo bay. The idea that those two modules were designed and built in different countries, launched in two different vehicles, and connected for the first time in low Earth orbit reminds me of what we can all do when we work together across geopolitical boundaries. The space station brings people together in a common mission that benefits all of us.
If you could have dinner with any astronaut, past or present, who would it be?
Sally Ride, definitely.
Do you have a favorite space-related memory or moment that stands out to you?
If I had to choose one, I’d say it was the day a person from NASA visited my elementary school in 1995. I remember being completely captivated by his presentation and dying to ask questions when he came by my classroom later. It’s a favorite memory because it poured fuel on the spark of my early childhood interest in space exploration. It wasn’t the thing that initially piqued my interest, but that visit made the dream feel attainable and set me on the course that has me at NASA today.
What are some of the key projects you have worked on during your time at NASA? What have been your favorite?
I’ve worked in mission control for the space station as an ETHOS flight controller and, later, as a capcom. I’ve also certified as an EVA task backroom controller and scripted three spacewalks that were performed on the space station. While working in EVA, I also helped design the products and processes that will be used to design moonwalks for Artemis astronauts and how flight control operations will work during dynamic, science-driven spacewalks.
Developing an EVA is a huge integration effort, and you get to work with a broad range of perspectives to build a solid plan. Then, the spacewalks themselves were both challenging and rewarding. They didn’t go exactly to plan, but we kept the crew safe and accomplished our primary objectives!
I’m fortunate to have had so many cool experiences while working at NASA, and I know there will be many more.
Tess Caswell, right, and geoscientist Dr. Kelsey Young, left, conduct night operations in NASA’s Johnson Space Center rock yard, testing EVA techniques to prepare for future lunar missions.NASA/Norah Moran What are your hobbies/things you enjoy doing outside of work?
I like to stay active, including trail running, taekwondo, backpacking, and cross-country skiing (which is a bit hard to train for in Houston). I spend as much time as I can flying my Piper J-3 Cub, trying to make myself a better pilot each time I fly. Finally, I read and write fiction to let my imagination wander.
Day launch or night launch?
Night launch!
Favorite space movie?
Apollo 13, hands down!
NASA Worm or Meatball logo?
Worm – elegant and cool!
Every day, we are conducting exciting research aboard our orbiting laboratory that will help us explore farther into space and bring benefits back to people on Earth. You can keep up with the latest news, videos, and pictures about space station science on the Station Research & Technology news page. It is a curated hub of space station research digital media from Johnson and other centers and space agencies.
Sign up for our weekly email newsletter to get the updates delivered directly to you.
Follow updates on social media at @ISS_Research on X, and on the space station accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s Apollo Samples, LRO Help Scientists Predict Moonquakes
This mosaic of the Taurus-Littrow valley was made using images from the Narrow Angle Cameras onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter has been circling and studying the Moon since 2009. The ancient-lava-filled valley is cut by the Lee-Lincoln thrust fault, visible as a sinuous, white line extending from South Massif (mountain in the bottom left corner) to North Massif (mountain in the top center) where the fault abruptly changes direction and cuts along the slope of North Massif. The Lee-Lincoln fault has been the source of multiple strong moonquakes causing landslides and boulder falls on both North and South massifs. The approximate location of the Apollo 17 landing site is indicated to the right of the fault with a white “x”. NASA/ASU/Smithsonian As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the surface of the Moon’s south polar region for the first time ever during the Artemis III mission, scientists are working on methods to determine the frequency of moonquakes along active faults there.
Faults are cracks in the Moon’s crust that indicate that the Moon is slowly shrinking as its interior cools over time. The contraction from shrinking causes the faults to move suddenly, which generates quakes. Between 1969 and 1977, a network of seismometers deployed by Apollo astronauts on the Moon’s surface recorded thousands of vibrations from moonquakes.
Moonquakes are rare, with the most powerful ones, about magnitude 5.0, occurring near the surface. These types of quakes are much weaker than powerful quakes on Earth (magnitude 7.0 or higher), posing little risk to astronauts during a mission lasting just a few days. But their effects on longer-term lunar surface assets could be significant. Unlike an earthquake that lasts for tens of seconds to minutes, a moonquake can last for hours, enough time to damage or tip over structures, destabilize launch vehicles on the surface, or interrupt surface operations.
“The hazard probability goes way up depending on how close your infrastructure is to an active fault,” said Thomas Watters, senior scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington.
Watters is a long-time researcher of lunar geology and a co-investigator on NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) camera. Recently, he and Nicholas Schmerr, a planetary seismologist at the University of Maryland in College Park, developed a new method for estimating the magnitude of seismic shaking by analyzing evidence of dislodged boulders and landslides in an area, as the scientists reported on July 30 in the journal Science Advances. Studies like these can help NASA plan lunar surface assets in safer locations.
Unlike an earthquake that lasts for tens of seconds to minutes, a moonquake can last for hours, enough time to damage or tip over structures, destabilize launch vehicles on the surface, or interrupt surface operations.
There are thousands of faults across the Moon that may still be active and producing quakes. Watters and his team have identified these faults by analyzing data from LRO, which has been circling the Moon since 2009, mapping the surface and taking pictures, providing unprecedented detail of features like faults, boulders, and landslides.
For this study, Watters and Schmerr chose to analyze surface changes from quakes generated by the Lee-Lincoln fault in the Taurus-Littrow valley. NASA’s Apollo 17 astronauts, who landed about 4 miles west of the fault on Dec. 11, 1972, explored the area around the fault during their mission.
By studying boulder falls and a landslide likely dislodged by ground shaking near Lee Lincoln, Watters and Schmerr estimated that a magnitude 3.0 moonquake — similar to a relatively minor earthquake — occurs along the Lee Lincoln fault about every 5.6 million years.
“One of the things we’re learning from the Lee-Lincoln fault is that many similar faults have likely had multiple quakes spread out over millions of years,” Schmerr said. “This means that they are potentially still active today and may keep generating more moonquakes in the future.”
The authors chose to study the Lee-Lincoln fault because it offered a unique advantage: Apollo 17 astronauts brought back samples of boulders from the area. By studying these samples in labs, scientists were able to measure changes in the boulders’ chemistry caused by exposure to cosmic radiation over time (the boulder surface is freshly exposed after breaking off a larger rock that would have otherwise shielded it).
This cosmic radiation exposure information helped the researchers determine how long the boulders had been sitting in their current locations, which in turn helped inform the estimate of possible timing and frequency of quakes along the Lee-Lincoln fault.
This 1972 image shows Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt sampling a boulder at the base of North Massif in the Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon. This large boulder is believed to have been dislodged by a strong moonquake that occurred about 28.5 million years ago. The source of the quake was likely a seismic event along the Lee-Lincoln fault. The picture was taken by astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 commander. NASA/JSC/ASU Apollo 17 astronauts investigated the boulders at the bases of two mountains in the valley. The tracks left behind indicated that the boulders may have rolled downhill after being shaken loose during a moonquake on the fault. Using the size of each boulder, Watters and Schmerr estimated how hard the ground shaking would have been and the magnitude of the quake that would have caused the boulders to break free.
The team also estimated the seismic shaking and quake magnitude that would be needed to trigger the large landslide that sent material rushing across the valley floor, suggesting that this incident caused the rupture event that formed the Lee-Lincoln fault.
A computer simulation depicting the seismic waves emanating from a shallow moonquake on the Lee-Lincoln fault in the Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon. The label “A17” marks the Apollo 17 landing site. The audio represents a moonquake that was recorded by a seismometer placed on the surface by astronauts. The seismic signal is converted into sound. Both audio and video are sped up to play 10 times faster than normal. The background image is a globe mosaic image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera. Red and blue are positive (upward ground motion) and negative (downward ground motion) polarities of the wave. Nicholas Schmerr Taking all these factors into account, Watters and Schmerr estimated that the chances that a quake would have shaken the Taurus-Littrow valley on any given day while the Apollo 17 astronauts were there are 1 in 20 million, the authors noted.
Their findings from the Lee-Lincoln fault are just the beginning. Watters and Schmerr now plan to use their new technique to analyze quake frequency at faults in the Moon’s south polar region, where NASA plans to explore.
NASA also is planning to send more seismometers to the Moon. First, the Farside Seismic Suite will deliver two sensitive seismometers to Schrödinger basin on the far side of the Moon onboard a lunar lander as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Additionally, NASA is developing a payload, called the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, for potential flight on NASA’s Artemis III mission to the South Pole region. Co-led by Schmerr, the payload will assess seismic risks for future human and robotic missions to the region.
Read More: What Are Moonquakes?
Read More: Moonquakes and Faults Near Lunar South Pole
For more information on NASA’s LRO, visit:
Media Contacts:
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Lonnie Shekhtman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
lonnie.shekhtman@nasa.gov
About the Author
Lonnie Shekhtman
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Last Updated Aug 14, 2025 Related Terms
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