{"id":17004,"date":"2026-06-26T20:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-backs-dozens-of-projects-on-the-space-frontier-including-some-with-northwest-connections\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:31:08","slug":"nasa-backs-dozens-of-projects-on-the-space-frontier-including-some-with-northwest-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-backs-dozens-of-projects-on-the-space-frontier-including-some-with-northwest-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA backs dozens of projects on the space frontier, including some with Northwest connections"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"760\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-bluemoonmk2-1260x760.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on lunar surface with astronauts and with crescent Earth in sky above\" class=\"wp-image-935573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-bluemoonmk2-1260x760.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-bluemoonmk2-768x463.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-bluemoonmk2-1536x927.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-bluemoonmk2.jpg 1664w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The companies applied to partner with NASA under the terms of an Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity, or ACO. The selected proposals aim to develop technologies for space transportation, planetary surface operations and lunar surface infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are empowering American industry to become active partners in NASA\u2019s missions to the moon, Mars and beyond,\u201d Greg Stover, director of the Advanced Research and Technology Division in NASA\u2019s Research and Technology Mission Directorate, said today in a news release. \u201cBy tapping into commercial industry, NASA can rapidly develop key capabilities to support its most ambitious missions while fostering the nation\u2019s robust space economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the ACO agreements do not involve an exchange of funds, the selected companies can leverage NASA\u2019s specialized facilities, software, hardware and subject-matter experts to mature their technologies for commercial and government use. The performance periods will be negotiated individually, with an expected duration of 12 to 24 months.<\/p>\n<p>Five Seattle-area companies made NASA\u2019s list:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Aerojet Rocketdyne:<\/strong> The L3Harris-owned operation in Redmond focuses on producing thrusters for spacecraft propulsion systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Blue Origin:<\/strong> The Kent-based space venture founded by Jeff Bezos is developing crewed and uncrewed lunar landers for NASA\u2019s Artemis moon program, as well as technology to produce solar cells and other components from lunar resources.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Starcloud:<\/strong> This Redmond-based startup aims to launch thousands of satellites to build orbital, in-space data center constellations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stoke Space:<\/strong> This Kent-based venture, founded by veterans of Blue Origin, is building a fully reusable medium-lift rocket.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zeno Power Systems:<\/strong> Operating out of offices in Seattle and Washington, D.C., Zeno is developing a new type of nuclear battery for applications in space as well as on Earth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The other 32 companies are Advanced Cooling Technologies, Advanced Space, Apech Labs, Astrobotic Technology, Axiom Space, Busek, Canopy Aerospace, Chase Supply, Dcubed USA, Elementum 3D, Enduralock, General Galactic Technologies, Hebi Robotics, Hyperion Transport Systems, Kall Morris, Lockheed Martin, Lunar Outpost, Made in Space, Max Space, Mission Space U.S., Moonprint Solutions, Motiv Space Systems, Opterus Research and Development, Orbital Composites, Psionic, Quadrus Corp., Rogue Space Systems, Starpath Robotics, Teledyne Energy Systems, Ten One Aerospace, Varda Space Industries and Venturi Astrolab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[864,304,509,367,625,190,496,345,4316],"class_list":["post-17004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aerojet-rocketdyne","tag-artemis","tag-blue-origin","tag-mars","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-starcloud","tag-stoke-space","tag-zeno-power-systems"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}