Tag: Artemis
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Could nuclear heaters keep astronauts warm on the moon? NASA is funding research to find out
This collage highlights some of the projects selected for funding through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, including a study looking at radioisotope heating systems for moonwalking astronauts, depicted at center left. (NASA Graphic) NASA says it’s funding a new batch of far-out research projects, including a study evaluating how radioactive heaters can keep astronauts…
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SpaceX eyes tower catch for next Starship after auspicious end to 13th flight
SpaceX was more than lucky Friday, sending its 13th full-scale Starship test flight halfway around the world from South Texas to an on-target, intact splashdown in a remote section of the Indian Ocean. Starship has made precise splashdowns before. This time, however, the ship gently tipped over and came to rest floating in a remote…
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NASA Cancels $73M Draper CLPS Lunar Lander CP-12
NASA Cancels Draper’s $73M CLPS Mission — What Happened to CP-12? NASA has terminated a $73 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order with Draper after successive lander redesigns pushed the projected lunar landing to 2030 or 2031 — six years behind the original 2025 schedule. Of that $73 million, NASA confirmed it paid…
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NASA Artemis III Demo Will Fly Two HLS Landers in 2027
Does NASA’s 2027 Artemis III Mission Actually Land on the Moon? No — and that distinction matters enormously for anyone tracking the Artemis Program schedule. NASA’s Artemis III, currently planned for 2027, is a crewed rendezvous-and-docking demonstration in low Earth orbit and cislunar space, not a lunar surface landing. The actual crewed Moon landing is…
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NASA SBA Partnership Targets Space Supply Chain Gaps
Does NASA’s New SBA Partnership Fix the Space Supply Chain? NASA and the U.S. Small Business Administration signed a memorandum of agreement last week that directs at least 60% of participating investment fund capital toward seven NASA-identified technology focus areas — a structural fix aimed squarely at a fragile supplier base that industry groups say…
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Ars Live, today: The latest on the aftermath of the New Glenn catastrophe
Nearly a month has passed since the New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad in Florida, creating a massive fireball. It was likely the largest ever rocket explosion at the historic Florida spaceport, and we are still dealing with its implications today. The rocket’s explosion took out its only launch pad, LC-36A. So even…
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NASA backs dozens of projects on the space frontier, including some with Northwest connections
An artist’s conception shows the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration) NASA has selected proposals from 37 companies, including several with Seattle-area connections, to further its plans to establish a long-term presence on the moon and enable human exploration of Mars. The companies applied to partner with NASA under…
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NASA 2026 Human Lander Challenge Winners Named
Who Won NASA’s 2026 Human Lander Challenge for Lunar Life Support? NASA announced the winning university teams in the 2026 Human Lander Challenge on June 26, selecting student-developed solutions focused on environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) for crewed lunar landers supporting the Artemis Program. The competition marks one of the agency’s primary mechanisms…
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13 years and $500 million for a stage adapter? Report justifies NASA cancellations.
Three months ago, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the space agency was making a major pivot from building a space station in lunar orbit to a base on the surface. This “Ignition” event followed an earlier announcement in which NASA also said it was ending development of a new upper stage for its Space Launch…
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ESA Reviews Future of Gateway Contributions Following NASA Program Pause
The European Space Agency (ESA) is evaluating the future of its planned contributions to NASA’s Gateway lunar space station following changes to the Artemis programme that have placed the station’s development on hold. ESA officials said the agency intends to continue work on several Gateway-related projects while examining how the technologies could be adapted for…