Tag: Artemis

NASA’s SLS Rocket: Block 1 vs. Block 1B Configuration

NeRD

NASA/Kevin O’Brien NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket in the Block 1B cargo configuration will launch for the first time beginning with Artemis IV. This upgraded and more powerful SLS rocket will enable SLS to send over 38 metric tons (83,700 lbs.) to the Moon, including NASA’s Orion spacecraft and its crew, along with heavy payloads for more ambitious missions to deep space. While every SLS rocket retains the core stage, booster, and RS-25 engine designs, the Block 1B features a more powerful exploration upper stage with four RL10 engines…

Read More

Space weather forecasting needs an upgrade to protect future Artemis astronauts

NeRD

NASA has set its sights on the moon, aiming to send astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2026 and establish a long-term presence there by the 2030s. But the moon isn’t exactly a habitable place for people. Cosmic rays from distant stars and galaxies and solar energetic particles from the sun bombard the surface, and exposure to these particles can pose a risk to human health. Both galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles, are high-energy particles that travel close to the speed of light. While galactic cosmic radiation…

Read More

NASA Invites Media to See Artemis II Moon Rocket Elements at Kennedy

NeRD

NASA’s Pegasus barge delivers the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s core stage for the 2022 Artemis I mission to the turn basin at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in April 2021. Credits: NASA/Michael Downs Media are invited in late July to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see progress on the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket as preparations continue for the Artemis II test flight around the Moon. Participants joining the multi-day events will see the arrival and unloading of the 212-foot-tall SLS core stage at the…

Read More

Gateway’s HALO Making Moves

NeRD

Technicians at a Thales Alenia Space industrial plant in Turin, Italy. guide Gateway’s HALO module to its stress testing location. Thales Alenia Space The Gateway space station’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost), one of four modules where astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for lunar surface missions, is a step closer to launch following welding completion in Turin, Italy, a milestone highlighted by NASA earlier this year. Teams at Thales Alenia Space gently guide HALO to a new location in the company’s facility for a series of stress tests…

Read More

NASA Invites Media to Rollout Event for Artemis II Moon Rocket Stage

NeRD

The core stage is the backbone of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s Artemis II mission to send a crew of four astronauts around the Moon in 2025. Here, the core stage is currently behind scaffolding to allow work to continue at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The stage’s two massive propellant tanks hold a collective 733,000 gallons of liquid propellant to power the four RS-25 engines at its base. Following hardware acceptance reviews and final checkouts, the stage will be readied for…

Read More

NASA Welcomes Slovakia as New Artemis Accords Signatory

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…

Read More

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

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…

Read More

NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams  

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…

Read More