Note: This issue is a few days late. Meant to release this past Friday but it’s been a crazy week.
| In this week’s newsletter, discover the space technologies improving our lives on Earth; learn more about the latest Artemis program updates; and hear how we can stay on the Moon’s surface sustainably in the latest episode of the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast. Plus, more stories you might have missed. |
| TECHNOLOGY Space Technologies Improving Life on Earth  |
| As NASA fosters technologies needed to live and work farther away from home than ever before, the agency’s Technology Transfer program has the sole mission of getting those innovations into the hands of companies, entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, everyday people. The agency’s Spinoff publication has captured this endeavor for half a century, sharing stories of space technologies improving our lives on Earth. Any NASA work can result in spinoff technology. Technology developed by engineers to make life easier for astronauts on the International Space Station has evolved into an implantable heart monitor that helps keep heart‑failure patients out of the hospital; equipment developed to 3D‑print habitats on other planetary surfaces is now used to fabricate custom wall panels, cladding, facades, and even entire neighborhoods of affordable housing on Earth; and software built to support astronauts during lunar missions now powers robots that clean bathrooms, build homes, and assist with warehouse and assembly‑line work. SPINOFF 2026 |
 | TECHNOLOGY Feeding Mars The Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table invites multidisciplinary teams to design complete, nutritionally sufficient food systems for crewed missions on the surface of Mars and other long‑duration human missions. The $750,000 competition is now open for registration through July 31. JOIN THE CHALLENGE |
| ARTEMIS Strengthening Artemis To achieve the national goal of landing American astronauts on the surface of the Moon, NASA announced on Feb. 27 it is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program, standardizing the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket configuration, and adding a new mission. In the immediate future, the agency remains focused on the Artemis II mission around the Moon as early as April. PROGRAM MISSION UPDATES |  |
 THE UNIVERSE One Cosmic Eye NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory have teamed up for a new image of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, known as NGC 6543, which has captivated astronomers for decades with its elaborate and multilayered structure. The combined eyes of Hubble and Euclid reveal the remarkable complexity of episodic mass loss from the dying star at the nebula’s center, creating a kind of cosmic “fossil record” of its final evolutionary stages. LEARN MORE |  THE SOLAR SYSTEM Studying Earth’s Giant Halo The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory began its 24-month primary science mission on March 1. The spacecraft, launched in September 2025, will focus its full efforts on studying Earth’s exosphere, the vast cloud of hydrogen that forms the outermost part of our atmosphere. The observatory will reveal how Earth’s upper atmosphere responds to space weather, including solar storms and fast streams of solar wind, that affect satellites, communications, navigation signals, and other space-based systems. LEARN MORE |
| More NASA News |
 | This month, skywatchers can look for Venus and Saturn to draw close in a striking conjunction; the arrival of the vernal equinox, when the Sun crosses above Earth’s equator while traveling from south to north; and the month’s many Moon phases. |
 | Using data from James Webb Space Telescope observations collected on Feb.18 and 26, experts from NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have refined near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4’s orbit and are ruling out a chance of lunar impact on Dec. 22, 2032. |
 | In the latest episode of the Small Steps, Giant Leaps podcast, hear how we can stay on the Moon’s surface sustainably and build a future where astronauts can also live and work on Mars. |
| Do You Know? |
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| In 1966, shortly after graduating with an aerospace engineering degree, Donna Shirley began work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. There, Shirley worked on multiple planetary exploration projects and became the first woman to lead a NASA program. |
| Which of these NASA missions did she work on?A. Cassini-HuygensB. Mars Global SurveyorC. Mars PathfinderD. Mariner 10 |
| Find out the answer in next week’s NASA newsletter! |
 | Last week, we asked about the first humanoid robot in space, brought to the International Space Station on space shuttle Discovery’s final mission in February 2011. The answer? Robonaut 2. Robonaut 2 was designed to do repetitive tasks on the space station so astronauts could concentrate on more critical work, including scientific research. It returned to Earth in 2018 and is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. |
Note: This is a NASA publication. Used with permission and formatted to fit this web page.