NASA has published a rare complete aurora ring image captured by the SMILE satellite.^[3] The image was recorded on 6 October 2026. It was featured via the Astronomy Picture of the Day service. On 8 October 2026, NASA Earth Observatory reported that severe 2026 drought is causing widespread cotton crop failure in the Texas High Plains, the largest cotton producing region in the United States.^[2] Researchers led by Lei published a 2026 study simulating observations from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite and ground stations, to evaluate how well extreme surface carbon fluxes can be recovered from measurements.^[1]