stick the landing in challenging terrain

stick the landing in challenging terrain

Advancing new hazard detection and precision landing technologies to help future space missions successfully achieve safe and soft landings is a critical area of space research and development, particularly for future crewed missions. To support this, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is pursuing a regular cadence of flight testing on a variety of vehicles, … Read more

Construction Technology for Moon and Mars Exploration

Construction Technology for Moon and Mars Exploration

One of the keys to a sustainable human presence on distant worlds is using local, or in-situ, resources which includes building materials for infrastructure such as habitats, radiation shielding, roads, and rocket launch and landing pads. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is leveraging its portfolio of programs and industry opportunities to develop in-situ, resource capabilities … Read more

Precision Landing Tech for Future Space Missions

Precision Landing Tech for Future Space Missions

Nestled in a pod under an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft wing, flying above California, and traveling up to the speed of sound, NASA put a commercial sensor technology to the test. The flight tests demonstrated the sensor accuracy and navigation precision in challenging conditions, helping prepare the technology to land robots and astronauts on the Moon … Read more

Tests in Simulated Lunar Gravity to Prep Payloads for Moon

Tests in Simulated Lunar Gravity to Prep Payloads for Moon

The old saying — “Practice makes perfect!” — applies to the Moon too. On Tuesday, NASA gave 17 technologies, instruments, and experiments the chance to practice being on the Moon… without actually going there. Instead, it was a flight test aboard a vehicle adapted to simulate lunar gravity for approximately two minutes. The test began … Read more

2024: NASA Armstrong Prepares for Future Innovative Research Efforts – NASA

2024: NASA Armstrong Prepares for Future Innovative Research Efforts – NASA

NASA/Quincy Eggert NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is preparing today for tomorrow’s mission. Supersonic flight, next generation aircraft, advanced air mobility, climate changes, human exploration of space, and the next innovation are just some of the topics our researchers, engineers, and mission support teams focused on in 2024. NASA Armstrong began 2024 … Read more

NASA Technologies Aim to Solve Housekeeping’s Biggest Issue – Dust – NASA

NASA Technologies Aim to Solve Housekeeping’s Biggest Issue – Dust – NASA

If you thought the dust bunnies under your sofa were an issue, imagine trying to combat dust on the Moon. Dust is a significant challenge for astronauts living and working on the lunar surface. So, NASA is developing technologies that mitigate dust buildup enabling a safer, sustainable presence on the Moon.  A flight test aboard … Read more

Precision Pointing Goes the Distance on NASA Experiment

Precision Pointing Goes the Distance on NASA Experiment

One year ago today, the future of space communications arrived at Earth as a beam of light from a NASA spacecraft nearly 10 million miles away. That’s 40 times farther than our Moon. That’s like using a laser pointer to track a moving dime from a mile away. That’s pretty precise. That laser — transmitted … Read more

First NASA-Supported Researcher to Fly on Suborbital Rocket

First NASA-Supported Researcher to Fly on Suborbital Rocket

For the first time, a NASA-funded researcher will fly with their experiment on a commercial suborbital rocket. The technology is one of two NASA-supported experiments, also known as payloads, funded by the agency’s Flight Opportunities program that will launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket system on a flight test no earlier than Thursday, … Read more

NASA Opportunities Fuel Growth and Entrepreneurship for Bronco Space Club Students – NASA

NASA Opportunities Fuel Growth and Entrepreneurship for Bronco Space Club Students – NASA

NASA’s public competitions can catalyze big changes – not just for the agency but also for participants. Bronco Space, the CubeSat laboratory at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, matured more than just space technology as a result of winning funds from NASA’s TechLeap Prize competition. It grew from its roots in a broom … Read more

NASA Program Sends University Payloads to Space – NASA

NASA Program Sends University Payloads to Space – NASA

NASA’s Flight Opportunities program sent two university payloads on suborbital flight tests onboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity on June 8 when it launched from Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The payloads carrying scientific research from University of California, Berkeley and Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, align with critical technology needs that NASA has … Read more