Tag: Artemis
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Aerojet Rocketdyne expands operations to deliver four SLS engines a year
NASA is extending its RS-25 engine production contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne through the rest of the decade, a move that guarantees a steady supply of liquid-fueled engines for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage. This consolidates Aerojet Rocketdyne’s RS-25 engine contracts, ensuring they continue to prepare the 16 RS-25 flight engines inherited from…
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NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway space station in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space,…
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Hopeful for launch next year, NASA aims to resume SLS operations within weeks
A crane hoisted the Space Launch System core stage into the B-2 test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in January. Credit: NASA/SSC With the Space Launch System’s inaugural test flight now officially delayed to November 2021, NASA says work halted by the coronavirus pandemic will resume within weeks to prepare for the first test-firing…
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NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal
Artist’s illustration of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company’s reusable Starship vehicle could be “game-changing” for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that “threaten the schedule viability” to achieve NASA’s goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024,…
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Companies release new details on human-rated lunar lander concepts
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated May 1 with details from Blue Origin. Artist’s illustration of SpaceX’s Starship on the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed…
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Blue Origin wins lion’s share of NASA funding for human-rated lunar lander
Artist’s illustration of Blue Origin’s lunar lander with an ascent stage, and astronauts on the lunar surface. Credit: Blue Origin NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to move forward with development of human-rated lunar landers, committing nearly $1 billion in funding for a range of moonship concepts that include a variant of SpaceX’s…
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NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander, equipped with an ascent module built by Lockheed Martin. (Blue Origin Illustration via NASA) NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. “We want to be…
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Intuitive Machines announces moon mission’s launch date, landing site
Artist’s concept of the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander. Credit: Intuitive Machines Intuitive Machines, under contract to carry NASA science instruments to the moon on a privately-developed robotic spacecraft, said this week its first commercial lunar mission will target landing in October 2021 near a deep, narrow valley named Vallis Schröteri. The startup company, based in…
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NASA awards robotic lunar landing contract to Masten Space Systems
Masten’s XL-1 lunar lander will deliver science and technology payloads to the moon’s south pole in 2022.Credit: Masten Space Systems NASA has awarded Masten Space Systems, a small company based in Mojave, California, a $75.9 million contract to deliver nine science and technology instruments to the moon’s south pole in 2022 with its XL-1 robotic…
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In parallel with rocket development, Firefly launches lunar lander initiative
Artist’s illustration of Firefly’s Genesis moon lander. Credit: Firefly Aerospace A souped-up version of the Israeli Beresheet moon lander built in Texas could be ready to carry NASA science and technology payloads to the lunar surface before the end of 2022, according to officials from Firefly Aerospace. Firefly’s Genesis lander is one of several major…