Tag: Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover

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2 min read NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover NASA’s VIPER robotic Moon rover is seen here in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover. VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was designed to map the…

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CADRE Rovers’ Test Drive in the Mars Yard

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NASA/JPL-Caltech Two full-scale development model rovers, part of NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration, drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in this image from August 2023. The project is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together as a team to accomplish tasks and record data autonomously – without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth. A series of Mars Yard tests with the development models confirmed CADRE hardware and software can work together to…

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NASA Collects First Surface Science in Decades via Commercial Moon Mission

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For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA was able to collect data from new science instruments and technology demonstrations on the Moon. The data comes from the first successful landing of a delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. The six instruments ceased science and technology operations eight days after landing in the lunar South Pole region aboard Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus, meeting pre-launch projected mission operations. Known as IM-1, this was the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in decades, touching…

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NASA Tech Contributes to Soft Moon Landing, Agency Science Underway

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On Feb. 22, 2024, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander captures a wide field of view image of Schomberger crater on the Moon approximately 125 miles (200 km) uprange from the intended landing site, at approximately 6 miles (10 km) altitude. Credit: Intuitive Machines Editor’s note: This release was updated Feb. 23, 2024, to add an image from the news conference and participant titles. For the first time in more than 50 years, new NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations are operating on the Moon following the first successful delivery of…

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NASA, Intuitive Machines to Discuss Historic Moon Mission Today

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NASA and Intuitive Machines will host a televised news conference at 5 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 23, to detail the Odysseus lander’s historic soft Moon landing. With the last-minute assistance of a NASA precision landing technology, the first CLPS, or Commercial Lunar Payload Services, mission carrying the agency’s science and technology demonstrations successfully landed on the Moon at 6:23 p.m. on Feb. 22. This mission is the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in more than 50 years. Flight controllers are communicating and commanding the lander, which is solar…

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NASA Sets Coverage of First US Uncrewed Commercial Moon Landing

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Intuitive Machines is targeting Thursday, Feb. 22, for the landing of their Odysseus lunar lander on the surface of the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign. Intuitive Machines As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines is targeting no earlier than 5:49 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 22, to land their Odysseus lunar lander near Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon. Live landing coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s…

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NASA Tests New Spacecraft Propellant Gauge on Lunar Lander

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander for the company’s first Commercial Lunar Payload Services delivery is positioned before being encapsulated inside its launch fairing. The Nova-C lander will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than mid-February. Credit: Intuitive Machines It’s easy to measure fuel in tanks on Earth, where gravity pulls the liquid to the bottom. But in space, the game changes. Quantifying fuel that’s floating around inside a spacecraft’s tank isn’t…

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NASA’s Laser Navigation Tech Enables Commercial Lunar Exploration

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5 Min Read NASA’s Laser Navigation Tech Enables Commercial Lunar Exploration Navigation Doppler Lidar is a guidance system that uses laser pulses to precisely measure velocity and distance. NASA will demonstrate NDL’s capabilities in the lunar environment during the IM-1 mission. Credits: NASA / David C. Bowman Later this month, NASA’s commercial lunar delivery services provider Intuitive Machines will launch its Nova-C lunar lander carrying several NASA science and technology payloads, including the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL). This innovative guidance system, developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia,…

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Tiny NASA Cameras to Picture Interaction Between Lander, Moon’s Surface

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Say cheese, Moon. We’re coming in for a close-up. As Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander descends toward the Moon, four tiny NASA cameras will be trained on the lunar surface, collecting imagery of how the surface changes from interactions with the spacecraft’s engine plume. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies will help us to land larger payloads as we explore space. Olivia Tyrrell from the SCALPPS photogrammetry team explains how a small array of cameras will capture invaluable imagery…

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NASA to Discuss Science, First Intuitive Machines Artemis Moon Flight

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This artist’s concept shows Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander on the surface of the Moon. This robotic delivery, part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, will transport agency science and technology demonstrations to the Moon for the benefit of all. Intuitive Machines NASA will host a media teleconference at 3:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 31, to discuss its science and technology demonstrations flying aboard Intuitive Machines’ first flight to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.  Audio…

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