Funding Future Tech: NASA Names 2024 Innovative Concept Studies

A collage of illustrations highlighting the novel concepts proposed by the 2024 NIAC Phase I awardees. Credit: clockwise, from upper right: Steven Benner, Beijia Zhang, Matthew McQuinn, Alvaro Romero-Calvo, Thomas M. Eubanks, Kenneth Carpenter, James Bickford, Alvaro Romero-Calvo, Peter Cabauy, Geoffrey Landis, Lynn Rothschild, and Ge-Cheng Zha. NASA NASA selected the 2024 Phase I awardees for its program to fund ideas that could  innovate for the benefit of all and transform future agency missions. From proposals to explore low Earth orbit to the stars, the 13 concepts chosen stem from…

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NASA Sets Coverage for ULA, Astrobotic Artemis Robotic Moon Launch

Ahead of launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is encapsulated in the payload fairing, or nose cone, of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket on Nov. 21, 2023, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch of Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One will carry NASA and commercial payloads to the Moon in early 2024 to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar…

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La Movilidad Aérea Avanzada Ayuda al Transporte de Mercancías

4 min read La Movilidad Aérea Avanzada Ayuda al Transporte de Mercancías La NASA está especialmente calificada para ayudar a revolucionar el sector del transporte de carga con Movilidad Aérea Avanzada para encontrar soluciones que faciliten el transporte de paquetes de forma más rápida y ecológica, utilizando grandes aviones para el transporte de carga y pequeños drones para la entrega de paquetes, como se ve en esta imagen conceptual. NASA / Kyle Jenkins Lee esta historia en inglés aquí. Hoy podemos recibir paquetes más rápido que antes gracias a los pedidos…

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The Heat is On! NASA’s “Flawless” Heat Shield Demo Passes the Test

5 Min Read The Heat is On! NASA’s “Flawless” Heat Shield Demo Passes the Test The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, spacecraft is pictured after its atmospheric re-entry test in November 2022. Credits: NASA / Greg Swanson A little more than a year ago, a NASA flight test article came screaming back from space at more than 18,000 mph, reaching temperatures of nearly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit before gently splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. At that moment, it became the largest blunt body — a…

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Five Ways NASA Supercomputing Takes Missions from Concept to Reality

NASA high-end computing plays a key role in taking many agency missions from concept to application in the real world. From increasing accuracy of global weather forecasts for forecast entities (like NOAA) to warn of severe storms, to designs for future air taxis to safely fly people around urban areas, to parachute design tests for landing spacecraft on the Moon and other planets, our supercomputing resources and experts are driving science and engineering advances for the benefit of humanity. These projects and much more will be on display in the…

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NASA Ames Astrogram – November/December 2023

Astronaut Candidates Visit Ames and Learn about Heat Shields and More NASA astronaut candidates visited the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Nov. 8 to learn about the center’s unique facilities and contributions to NASA missions, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. Pictured here at the Arc Jet Complex, where spacecraft thermal protection systems are tested, are the 10 members of NASA’s current astronaut candidate class and two United Arab Emirates astronauts who are training with NASA. From left: Nichole Ayers, Mohammad Almulla (UAE), Marcos Berríos, Nora Almatrooshi (UAE),…

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Watch NASA Build Its First Robotic Moon Rover

Engineers assemble and test NASA’s first robotic Moon rover in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/Robert Markowitz The public now has a live, front row seat to see NASA’s first robotic Moon rover take shape in the Surface Segment Integration and Testing Facility clean room at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Members of VIPER — short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — and the Office of Communications at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, will host watch parties and answer questions…

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NASA Test Piloting Legends Reunite

1 min read NASA Test Piloting Legends Reunite Former flight test instructor and current NASA test pilot Nils Larson reunited with former student and current astronaut Victor Glover on Oct. 21 during an open house at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. NASA / Dave Bowman Nils Larson, aerospace engineer and test pilot for NASA’s X-59 aircraft, met up with his former student, Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover, on Saturday, Oct. 21 during an open house held at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The pilots originally met…

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The Space Life Sciences Training Program at Ames Research Center

Space Life Sciences Training Program An investment in tomorrow The Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP) provides undergraduate students entering their junior or senior years, and entering graduate students, with professional experience in space life science disciplines. This challenging ten-week summer program is hosted by NASA’s Ames Research Center in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. The primary goal of the program is to train the next generation of scientists and engineers, enabling NASA to meet future research and development challenges in the space life sciences. Summer 2023 SLSTP students…

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