Artemis – Page 2 – NeRDs Moonbase

Moon Tree Planted at U.S. Capitol Marks Enduring NASA, Artemis Legacy

June 4, 2024 NeRD

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman provides remarks at a Moon Tree dedication ceremony Tuesday, June 4, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The American Sweetgum tree was grown from a seed that flew around the Moon during the agency’s Artemis I mission in 2022. In April, NASA announced the agency selected organizations from across the country to receive ‘Moon Tree’ seedlings to plant in their communities. Since returning to Earth, the tree seeds have been germinating under the care of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest…

NASA Welcomes Slovakia as New Artemis Accords Signatory

May 30, 2024 NeRD

From left to right, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States Radovan Javorcik, Slovak Republic Minister of Education, Research, Development, and Youth Tomáš Drucker, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and United States Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter pose for a photo during an Artemis Accords signing ceremony, Thursday, May 30, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Slovakia is the 42nd country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles…

NASA astronauts practice ‘moonwalking’ in the Arizona desert (photos)

May 18, 2024 NeRD

Moonwalking in the Arizona desert? No, it’s not a remake of Michael Jackson’s signature move; it’s a training exercise for NASA astronauts that will be part of the future Artemis Program of missions to the lunar surface. The week-long expedition across the San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, AZ, will give NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas the opportunity to enact moonwalk scenarios in replica spacesuits on a landscape that’s similar to the moon. Throughout the training, the team will rehearse lunar operations from start to finish and will…

NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Competition

May 10, 2024 NeRD

From left to right, Cielo Torres, Jacob Liorca, Thomas Jaycard, and Gavin Fitzgerald work on a robotic rover inside the University of Central Florida’s robotics lab ahead of the 2024 Lunabotics Challenge. University of Central Florida/Antoine Hart NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge offers more than 40 college teams from across the country the chance to design, build, and operate their own lunar robots, with the top 10 teams advancing to the final demonstrations phase. Media are invited to attend the finals on May 16-17 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex…

NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams

May 9, 2024 NeRD

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A small team of participants in the Geology 101 field training gather on a large pile of rocks from a lava flow. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA engineers, managers, and flight directors recently traded their cubicles and conference rooms for an ancient volcanic field in the northern Arizona desert to participate in a field geology course aimed at arming them with first-hand experience in what Artemis astronauts will do when they explore the Moon. The two-and-a-half-day exercise for Artemis mission support…

NASA Announces 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge Winners

April 22, 2024 NeRD

Students from Universidad Católica Boliviana prepare to traverse the course at the 2024 Human Exploration Rover Challenge at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Taylor Goodwin NASA announced the winners of the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) April 22, with Parish Episcopal School, from Dallas, winning first place in the high school division, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, capturing the college/university title. The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges – held its concluding…

Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions

April 19, 2024 NeRD

Early conceptual renderings of cargo variants of human lunar landing systems from NASA’s providers SpaceX, left, and Blue Origin, right. Both industry teams have been given authority to begin design work to provide large cargo landers capable of delivering up to 15 metric tons of cargo, such as a pressurized rover, to the Moon’s surface. SpaceX and Blue Origin Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency and its partners will send large pieces of equipment to the lunar surface to enable long-term scientific exploration of the Moon for the benefit of…

NASA’s Artemis 3 astronauts will put a moonquake detector on lunar surface

April 19, 2024 NeRD

The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) is one of the first three potential payloads NASA selected for the Artemis 3 mission, which will land humans on the moon in 2026 for the first time in more than 50 years. The compact, autonomous seismometer is designed to withstand the long, cold lunar night and operate during the day, continuously monitoring ground motion from moonquakes in the region around the lunar south pole, where Artemis 3 astronauts will land. LEMS is expected to operate on the lunar surface for at least three…

Slovenia Signs Artemis Accords, Joins Pursuit of Safer Space

April 19, 2024 NeRD

Matevž Frangež, State Secretary, Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Sport signs the Artemis Accords on behalf of Slovenia with NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Ambassador Jamie L. Harpootlian, Rebecca Bresnik, Associate General Counsel for International and Space Law, and Slovenian Ambassador to the United States Iztok Mirošič standing behind. Credit: State Department NASA and Slovenia affirmed their cooperation in future space endeavors on Friday as Slovenia became the 39th country to sign the Artemis Accords. The signing certified Slovenia’s commitment to pursue safe and sustainable exploration of space for the benefit…

Sweden becomes 38th country to sign NASA’s Artemis Accords for moon exploration

April 17, 2024 NeRD

Another one signs the (moon) dust. Sweden is the newest nation to sign onto NASA’s Artemis Accords for peaceful and responsible exploration. During a signing event in Stockholm on Tuesday (April 16), Swedish Minister for Education Mats Persson penned the agreement alongside U.S. Ambassador Erik D. Ramanathan. “By joining the Artemis Accords, Sweden strengthens its strategic space partnership with the U.S. on space covering areas such as Swedish space research and the space industry, which in turn also strengthens Sweden’s total defense capability,” Persson said in a NASA statement. Related:…