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A future with numerous robotic probes spread throughout the Solar System sounds thrilling to space scientists and space enthusiasts, but you can’t get there with flat budgets and billion-dollar missions that take a decade to get off the ground. Many of NASA’s robotic science missions use purpose-built satellites and instruments, usually manufactured by large contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, university labs, or NASA itself. Unlike SpaceX’s hangars full of reusable rockets, there’s no building with cameras, spectrometers, telescopes, and spacecraft buses—the core chassis of a
"I'll buy 10 of those"—NASA science chief yearns for mass-produced satellitesNASA faces significant challenges to bring about the Artemis III mission next year and to complete a series of test objectives involving the interaction between Orion and the two lunar lander prototypes. So what happens if the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are ready next summer, but one or both of the landers is not? Isaacman said they would not launch Artemis III until they are ready to fly a meaningful mission. “I would say, at a very high level, we’re not going to launch this mission until we feel like the objectives that are outlined are sufficient to bring down the risk
NASA assigns crew for Artemis III, sets aggressive timeline for flying it… NASA could set up future competitions to review proposals and select winners more quickly. In the past, NASA has selected a handful of concepts for study contracts, then chosen one or two proposals to proceed into development. For future competitions, NASA might go straight to a final selection. …
… The four crew members are: NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander ESA European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist The Artemis III test flight will serve as a bridge between the recent Artemis … …
… One of NASA’s most data-intensive missions, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch in August. It will return more data through the DSN than all of NASA’s previous astrophysics missions combined. …
… For most of the Moon, the current imagery resolution is 1 meter, and NASA wants to improve it to 1 cm, Garcia-Galan said. …
… Navigators at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California set up the spacecraft for a course taking it 2,864 miles 4,609 km from the Martian surface, well above the planet’s tenuous atmosphere. …
… Harnessing this capability from NASA satellite data could allow researchers to better filter out interference from GPS jammers that may impact NASA science missions, Chew said. …
NASA’s infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center, the crown jewel of US spaceports, is aging and approaching its limit due to increased demand from private companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, a new report finds. “NASA’s launch infrastructure is vital to providing the agency, other government … …
… And beyond NASA, what about customers who had lined up for a super heavy lift launch alternative to SpaceX’s Falcon rockets? …
… A NASA spokesperson confirmed to Spaceflight Now that NASA would like to see the launches of the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander and potentially the Blue Moon Mark 2 crewed lander move to a rocket that’s not New Glenn. …
… NASA gave Katalyst less than a year to design and build the satellite. …
