NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

What space treats are in store for October? 🎃 This month kicks off with a supermoon on Oct. 6 and then offers not one but two meteor showers: The Draconid meteors peak on Oct. 8, and the Orionid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 21. More skywatching tips: go.nasa.gov/whatsup

For decades, NASA and its partners have tracked our ocean. This November, Sentinel-6B continues the legacy. 🌊 Once in orbit, the satellite will measure sea levels for nearly all of Earth’s ocean, helping to improve hurricane forecasting and protect coastal communities. go.nasa.gov/46GagEO

The NISAR mission has captured its first images of Earth, offering a preview of the mission’s scientific potential. Using its L-band radar, NISAR captured Mount Desert Island in Maine and portions of northeastern North Dakota, revealing forests, wetlands, farmland, and rivers. By distinguishing between land-cover types, NISAR will help track ecosystems, crops, and changes to Earth’s land and ice surfaces. Launched this past July, the NASA-ISRO mission is the first to have both L-band and S-band radar, giving it unique capabilities to study vegetation and land changes around the globe. go.nasa.gov/42HjY8Q

This week, NASA announced a new class of astronaut candidates that could support future science and exploration missions to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. The new class includes Dr. Lauren Edgar, who – in a way – has already been to the Red Planet: The Caltech grad has 17 years of mission operations experience supporting Mars rovers, including as a member of the Curiosity science team. Learn more about the candidates: https://lnkd.in/gzrn3x2p 

As NASA prepares to send human explorers to the Moon and beyond, we are advancing the technology that will enable high-definition video and science data to be transferred... with lasers! "Technology unlocks discovery, and we are committed to testing and proving the capabilities needed to enable the Golden Age of exploration." -Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy Learn more about the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment (DSOC), which exceeded all of its technical goals during its two-year technology demonstration: go.nasa.gov/4ppAPGZ 

NASA now has confirmed 6,000 planets beyond our solar system! In the 30 years since the first exoplanet was discovered, researchers have revealed a universe full of other worlds, though many remain hidden. Fewer than 100 have been imaged directly, and more than 8,000 candidates still await confirmation. The pace of discovery has accelerated in recent years and that momentum is only expected to continue. go.nasa.gov/4psBzuV

"We weren’t looking to solve a mystery about Jupiter and Saturn with these observations," said JPL’s Peter Eisenhardt, project scientist for the WISE mission. "We wanted to see why this brown dwarf is so odd, but we weren’t expecting silane. The universe continues to surprise us." New observations of a peculiar cosmic object nicknamed "The Accident" has shed new light on the atmospheric composition of Jupiter, Saturn, and gas giant exoplanets. Researchers found a simple silicon molecule, silane (SiH₄), in the atmosphere of The Accident, confirming that the molecule can form in brown dwarf and planetary atmospheres. Silicon is one of the most common elements in the universe, and scientists are fairly confident it exists in Jupiter and Saturn’s atmospheres, but they have been largely unable to find it – possibly because it binds to oxygen and sinks down deep into the planets’ atmospheres. This would hide it from even the spacecraft that have studied these planets up close.  Read more: go.nasa.gov/3K6QsD9

Innovations in tsunami detection systems: An experimental technology that detects radio signal distortions in Earth's upper atmosphere and notifies experts proved successful following a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami in late July. The demonstration shows how new approaches could complement existing early warning systems and provide critical information to threatened communities faster. More on GUARDIAN: go.nasa.gov/3VhO92q

After a year of scientific scrutiny, a rock sample collected by the Perseverance rover has been confirmed to contain a potential biosignature. The sample is the best candidate so far to provide evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars. These findings suggest that Mars may have once had the ingredients necessary to support life, but further analysis is needed to confirm. More on this peer-reviewed finding: go.nasa.gov/4nmZuKm 

Since launching on July 30, NISAR is checking off milestones on its way to science operations: Deployed its giant reflector ✔️ Powered on its radars ✔️ Completed preliminary checkouts ✔️ Next up: The powerful Earth-observing satellite is getting positioned into its operational orbit, where it will offer a highly detailed view of Earth’s land and ice surfaces, helping scientists track changes in ecosystems, monitor ice and agriculture, and better understand natural hazards. More on these milestones at go.nasa.gov/466LhKL