S125-E-006569 (13 May 2009) --- Hawaiian vog from Kilauea volcano, on the island of Hawaii, has been erupting continuously since 1983. This image, taken by the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis (after completing the capture of the Hubble Space Telescope), shows the volcanic plumes from Kilauea rising up from Halema`uma`u Crater and along the coastline from lava flows entering the ocean from the East rift zone. The volcanic activity has created a blanket of volcanic fog, called vog that envelops the island. The Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) maintains a website (including webcams) that continuously monitors and updates reports on the volcanic activity. Recent maps indicate expanded lava coverage along the coastal plain. In addition, Hawaii?s Department of Health maintains daily vog alerts, and publishes advisories for vog conditions around the ?big island? of Hawaii and the state. When this image was acquired, the region west of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (downwind from the coastal plumes) had a vog advisory for people with respiratory sensitivities. The Volcano Observatory also reported that ?Lava from east rift zone vents continues to flow through tubes to the coast and is entering the ocean at two locations west of Kalapana. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the Halema`uma`u and Pu`u `O`o vents remain elevated. Sulfur dioxide emission rates remain elevated and variable; the most recent rate measurement was 1,200 tonnes/day on May 12, compared to the 2003-2007 average rate of 140 tonnes/day. Small amounts of mostly ash-sized tephra continue to be produced consisting mostly of Pele's hair -- irregular pieces of vesicular glass -- and a few hollow spherules.?

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) science instrument payload, housed in a specially designed shipping container, sits at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport in Bengaluru, India. The payload left NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Feb. 28, and departed the United States on March 3 aboard a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, arriving in Bengaluru on March 6. From there it was transported to the Indian Space Research Organisation's U R Rao Satellite Centre, where it will be integrated with the satellite body, or bus, and undergo further testing leading up to launch in 2024. The NISAR mission – a joint effort between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation – will observe nearly all the planet's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days, measuring movements in extremely fine detail. It will also survey forests and agricultural regions to understand carbon exchange between plants and the atmosphere. NISAR's science payload will be the most advanced radar system ever launched as part of a NASA mission, and it will feature the largest-ever radar antenna of its kind: a drum-shaped, wire mesh reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter that will extend from a 30-foot (9-meter) boom. The mission's science instruments consist of L- and S-band radar, so named to indicate the wavelengths of their signals. ISRO built the S-band radar, which it shipped to JPL in March 2021. Engineers spent much of the last two years integrating the instrument with the JPL-built L-band system, then conducting tests to verify they work well together. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of NISAR. In addition to the L-band radar, NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. In addition to the S-band radar, ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25570