Tag: Mars
-
NASA Administrator Tours Idaho Lab Building Reactor for 2028 Mars Mission
Isaacman and a group of NASA executives toured INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex, meeting the scientists and engineers developing nuclear power for space. The visit followed a period of accelerated activity at the laboratory tied to a May 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which called for at least three nuclear power criticalities…
-
Psyche Nails Mars Gravity Assist, Puts Instruments to the Test Ahead of 2029 Asteroid Arrival
The encounter served two purposes. The gravitational boost adjusted Psyche’s path and increased its speed, and the well-mapped planet acted as a practice target for the tools that will eventually investigate the asteroid. Data returned after the flyby showed the instruments performed as expected and matched established knowledge about Mars, while adding several observations from…
-
Mars Society and South Seattle College strike a deal to build a simulated space habitat
Two analog astronauts trudge toward the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. (Mars Society Photo) The Mars Society is planning to build a Pacific Northwest research station suitable for simulating missions to the moon or Mars, in partnership with South Seattle College. The nonprofit space advocacy group announced today that its executive director,…
-
Elon Musk’s Mars illusion
Elon Musk takes a bow at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in May 2020 after the launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, which carried two astronauts to the International Space Station, about 250 miles up, and a world away from Mars. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) Ever since its founding, SpaceX has fixed upon a…
-
Firefly Gets $13M to Build NASA Skyfall Mars Aeroshell
Is Firefly Aerospace Building the Heat Shield for NASA’s Mars Helicopter Mission? Yes — and JPL just cut a $13 million check to make it happen. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $13 million subcontract to design and manufacture the aeroshell for the Skyfall mission — NASA’s first nuclear-powered interplanetary probe, targeting…
-
NASA considers sending a spare Mars rover to the moon to rev up preparations for lunar base
An engineering development version of the NASA rovers currently operating on Mars takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube) NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon’s south polar region. The plan calls for turning the test rover,…
-
NASA Delivers First Braking Engines for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mars Mission
NASA has delivered the first braking engines for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosalind Franklin Mars mission, marking an important milestone in the agencies’ collaboration to return the rover mission to flight. The braking engines are one of three major contributions NASA is providing to the mission, alongside launch services and Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUs)…
-
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…
-
Having sex in space would be tricky, but having kids in space is riskier
Researchers say the mechanics of having sex in space would be easier to manage than the biology of pregnancy and fetal development in a reduced-gravity environment. (Credit: ID 309694213 © Anna Ivanova | Dreamstime.com) Sex in space is the perfect subject for levity and double entendres, and the panelists at a Deep Tech Week session…
-
NASA concludes MAVEN mission at Mars, uses data to discover new atmospheric phenomenon
Following a six-month battle to regain communication with its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft around Mars, NASA announced the conclusion of the MAVEN mission on June 3rd. The mission, which launched to the red planet in 2013, studied the Martian atmosphere and its evolution for 11 years — over a decade longer than…