{"id":530,"date":"2026-08-03T16:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=530"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:39:05","slug":"usgs-nasa-map-critical-minerals-from-65000-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=530","title":{"rendered":"USGS, NASA Map Critical Minerals from 65,000 Feet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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USGS, NASA Map Critical Minerals from 65,000 Feet
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Hyperspectral Survey of the West Supports USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n By Communications and Publishing<\/a>
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\n May 12, 2026
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA announced an addition to the world\u2019s largest airborne hyperspectral survey \u2013 a digital portrait of critical minerals and geology in the American West, taken from 12 miles up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cRegaining America\u2019s mineral independence takes a united effort starting with world-leading USGS mineral science and NASA aeronautics. As of today, the hyperspectral survey from the edge of earth\u2019s atmosphere has covered about 400,000 square miles, giving us a brilliant new picture of the mineral wealth under the western states,\u201d said\u00a0Andrea Travnicek, assistant secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hyperspectral survey is one of the latest tools for a USGS mission that started in 1879: mapping the mineral resources of the United States.\u00a0 NASA flies the highest of all our cutting-edge Earth MRI surveys which together show where to look for the minerals needed to drive the U.S. economy and national security,\u201d said USGS Director Ned Mamula.\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>The 60-year partnership between the USGS and NASA has benefitted both the space program through USGS mapping the moon for Apollo and Artemis missions and had terrestrial benefits such as Landsat and these hyperspectral flights.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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U.S. Geological Survey geophysicists Ray Kokaly (left) and Todd Hoefen (right) monitor incoming hyperspectral data in the hangar as NASA\u2019s high\u2011altitude ER\u20112 aircraft conducts mineral\u2011mapping flights over the western United States. The surveys, part of the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative and the NASA\u2013USGS Geological Earth Mapping Experiment, collect high\u2011resolution spectral information used to identify critical minerals and assess geologic hazards such as landslides. USGS photo by Peter Pearsall.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The hyperspectral survey is part of the USGS\u2019s Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, called Earth MRI, and is\u00a0part of the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), a NASA-USGS partnership. Earth MRI works with\u00a0 the geological surveys of Colorado and 44 other states, educational institutions and industry to map critical minerals in the ground and in mine waste. Earth MRI data yields other applications resulting from greater knowledge of the nation\u2019s geology, such as detailed data on water availability and hazards like landslides.<\/p>\n

The survey flights conducted by NASA\u2019s ER-2 high-altitude plane from Colorado Springs started April 1 and will continue until May 20, weather permitting. The aircraft carries instruments that measure dozens to hundreds of wavelengths of light\u2014including ultraviolet, short-wave infrared and thermal infrared\u2014reflecting off the Earth’s surface.\u00a0These measurements capture ‘spectral fingerprints’ that scientists at the USGS analyze to\u00a0identify minerals.<\/p>\n

Illustrating the importance of minerals to technology, the ER-2 is itself primarily constructed from aluminum, nickel and titanium, all of which appear on the 2025 List of Critical Minerals maintained by the USGS.\u00a0 The United States relied on imported sources for all the titanium it used last year, and at least 75% percent of the aluminum and 41% of the nickel, according to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026.<\/p>\n

The last step in the process is ground-truthing \u2013 examining rocks in prospective areas detected from the edge of space.\u00a0 Field measurements further refine the airborne data. Using backpack-mounted spectrometers, they measure the same areas from the ground to account for atmospheric conditions and confirm mineral identifications.<\/p>\n

Last month, USGS geologist Erik Tharalson investigated an anomaly located by a previous flight in the hyperspectral survey that could be\u00a0related to a\u00a0porphyry copper deposit, a potential source of critical minerals. \u00a0“It\u2019s a large\u00a0outcrop\u00a0of volcanic rocks, but the minerals in it would be easy to miss. That\u2019s why the hyperspectral survey is so critically important,\u201d Tharalson said.<\/p>\n

USGS and NASA are continuing airborne imaging from California to the Rocky Mountain front range and partnering with academic and commercial groups on targeted surveys of legacy mine sites. Hyperspectral mapping is part of Earth MRI\u2019s broader effort to collect and analyze geologic samples and to acquire geophysical and geochemical data that together provide a national-scale picture of mineral resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Earth MRI hyperspectral campaign highlights the importance of continued investment in modern geoscience data collection across the western United States. Colorado\u2019s complex geology makes the Rocky Mountain region an ideal area for advanced airborne mapping and remote sensing work. The information collected through these efforts can improve our understanding of critical mineral resources, water systems, and geologic hazards while supporting future geologic mapping and scientific research. Through AASG, state geological surveys look forward to continued collaboration with federal partners to help maximize the scientific and public value of these efforts,\u201d said Colorado Geological Survey Director Matt Morgan, who is president of the American Association of State Geologists.<\/p>\n

Earth MRI data is made publicly available in keeping with longstanding USGS Fundamental Science Practices and Executive Order 14303\u00a0Restoring Gold Standard Science<\/em>\u00a0which emphasizes the importance of scientific peer review and open communication.<\/p>\n

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From 12 miles high to underground: Data streams for the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Source: National News Release<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: National News Release<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. \u2014 The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA announced an addition to the world\u2019s largest airborne hyperspectral survey \u2013 a digital portrait of critical minerals and geology in the American West, taken from 12 miles up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-u-s-geological-survey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}