Tag: Artemis

NASA Names Finalists to Help Deal with Dust in Human Lander Challenge

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NASA selected 12 finalist teams to compete in the next round of the Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) competition. In 2023, NASA invited undergraduate and graduate students from accredited colleges and universities in the United States to propose innovative solutions to manage the lunar dust a spacecraft stirs up when landing on the Moon. NASA’s Artemis campaign will establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon for the benefit of all, and one of the challenges the agency and its partners must address is the particularly dusty aspect of…

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I Am Artemis: Mat Bevill

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Mat Bevill, the associate chief engineer for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program, stands in front of a four-segment solid rocket booster that powered the space shuttle at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  NASA/Brandon Hancock Significant events in history keep finding Mat Bevill. As the associate chief engineer for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program, Bevill assists the program chief engineer by interfacing with each of the element chief engineers and helping make critical decisions for the development and flight of the SLS mega rocket that will…

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NASA Selects First Lunar Instruments for Artemis Astronaut Deployment

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Artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during Artemis III. Once installed near the lunar South Pole, the three instruments will collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, the lunar interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon, which will help prepare NASA to send astronauts to Mars. “Artemis marks a bold new era of exploration, where human presence…

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NASA to Select Lunar Terrain Vehicle for Artemis Missions

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Artist’s concept of a Lunar Terrain Vehicle on the surface of the Moon. Credits: NASA NASA will host a news conference to announce the company, or companies, selected to move forward in developing the LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle), which will help Artemis astronauts explore more of the Moon’s surface on future missions. The televised event will take place at 4 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. CDT), Wednesday, April 3, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn…

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Artemis 2 moon astronauts celebrate engine test for future lunar missions (video)

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NASA’s next moon mission commander raised his hands in celebration during a powerful rocket engine test. Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut, was caught on video during the recent testing of the RS-25 engine that will power future versions of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for moon missions. NASA captured Wiseman and his Artemis 2 crewmate Christina Koch in Mississippi at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on March 6, and shared the astronauts enjoying the dramatic view on X (formerly Twitter) a few days later. The dramatic, 10-minute…

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NASA Artemis Mission Progresses with SpaceX Starship Test Flight

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SpaceX launched the third integrated flight test of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage from the company’s Starbase orbital launch pad at 8:25 a.m. CT on March 14. This flight test is an important milestone toward providing NASA with a Starship HLS for its Artemis missions. SpaceX As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for the benefit of all, the agency is working with SpaceX to develop the company’s Starship human landing system (HLS), which will land astronauts near the Moon’s South Pole…

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NASA Expanding Lunar Exploration with Upgraded SLS Mega Rocket Design

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A final round of certification testing for production of new RS-25 engines to power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, beginning with Artemis V, is underway at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  Block 1B will also be built to house new-production RS-25 core stage engines that will operate routinely at 111% of their rated power versus the Block 1 RS-25 engines that operate at 109%, providing almost 2,000 more pounds of payload to the Moon. NASA By: Martin Burkey As NASA prepares for its first crewed…

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Luxembourg Leaders Focus on Lunar Exploration at Visit to NASA Ames

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Using the Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbeds at NASA’s Ames Research Center, a team created this simulated lunar environment to study lighting conditions experienced at the unexplored poles of the Moon.  NASA/Uland Wong The challenges of working on the surface of the Moon are at the center of a facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbeds help scientists and engineers – from NASA and industry alike – study how well science instruments, robots, and people might be able to safely work,…

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NASA to Highlight Artemis, US Space Leadership During Annual Address

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Credit: NASA NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will discuss the agency’s goals for the benefit of humanity during the annual State of NASA address on Monday, March 11. The event will coincide with the release of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal. The event will air live at 1 p.m. EDT on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA TV can be streamed on a variety of platforms, including social media. During State of NASA, Nelson will speak about the agency’s plans for promoting U.S.…

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SpaceX Starship docking system readies for moon missions in tests with NASA

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Practice makes perfect, which is especially true for moon missions with astronauts on board. That’s why SpaceX and NASA recently completed more than 200 docking scenarios together with Starship hardware. Starship is the landing system that will bring astronauts to the lunar surface with the Artemis 3 mission, no earlier than 2026. Engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center spent 10 days using hardware from the Starship lander and NASA’s Orion orbiter (designed by Lockheed Martin) at “various approach angles and speeds,” NASA officials said in a release. “These real-world results,…

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