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Envisioning the Next Generation of Human Presence in Low Earth Orbit
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By NASA
Caption: The Intuitive Machines lunar lander that will deliver NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign is encapsulated in the fairing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Live launch coverage will air on NASA+ with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, Feb. 25. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Follow all events at:
https://www.nasa.gov/live
After the launch, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will spend approximately one week in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface no earlier than Thursday, March 6. The lander will carry NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.
Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau in the Moon’s South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface.
Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.
The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):
Tuesday, Feb. 25
11 a.m. – Lunar science and technology media teleconference with the following participants:
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Jackie Quinn, Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) project manager, NASA Kennedy Daniel Cremons, LRA deputy principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Bethany Ehlmann, Lunar Trailblazer principal investigator, Caltech Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines Thierry Klein, president, Bell Labs Solution Research, Nokia Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website:
https://www.nasa.gov/live/
Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 25, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Wednesday, Feb. 26
11:30 a.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants:
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines William Gerstenmaier, vice president, build and flight reliability, SpaceX Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website:
https://www.nasa.gov/live/
Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Launch coverage will begin on NASA+ approximately 45 minutes before liftoff. A specific time will be shared the week of Feb. 24.
NASA Launch Coverage
Audio only of the media teleconferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, the full mission broadcast can be heard on -1220 and -1240, while the countdown net only can be heard on -7135 beginning approximately one hour before the mission broadcast begins.
On launch day, a “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel.
NASA Website Launch Coverage
Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning Feb. 26, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468.
NASA Virtual Guests for Launch
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. Registrants will receive mission updates and activities by email, including curated mission resources, schedule updates, and a virtual guest passport stamp following a successful launch. Print your passport and get ready to add your stamp!
Watch, Engage on Social Media
Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #Artemis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon
Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAArtemis
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis
Coverage en Español
Did you know NASA has a Spanish section called NASA en español? Check out NASA en español on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for additional mission coverage.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov.
For more information about the agency’s CLPS initiative, see:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 321-432-4624
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Related Terms
Missions Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Science Mission Directorate Space Technology Mission Directorate View the full article
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By European Space Agency
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar image shows Tokyo and its metropolitan area, the largest urban agglomeration in the world. View the full article
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By NASA
The Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) team hosts a Media Day at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on April 11, 2023.Credit: NASA Media are invited to visit NASA’s simulated Mars habitat on Monday, March 10, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The simulation will help prepare humanity for future missions to the Red Planet.
This is the second of three missions as part of NASA’s CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), set to begin in May 2025 when volunteer crew members enter the 3D printed habitat to live and work for a year.
During the mission, crew members will carry out different types of mission activities, including simulated “marswalks,” robotic operations, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene, exercise, and crop growth. Crew also will face planned environmental stressors such as resource limitations, isolation, and equipment failure.
The in-person media event includes an opportunity to speak with subject matter experts and capture b-roll and photos inside the habitat. Crew members will arrive for training at a later date and will not be available at this event.
To attend the event, U.S. media must request accreditation by 5 p.m. CDT Monday, March 3, and international media by 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 24, via the NASA Johnson newsroom at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@nasa.gov. Media accreditation will be limited due to limited space inside the habitat. Confirmed media will receive additional details on how to participate.
For more information about CHAPEA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea
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Cindy Anderson / James Gannon
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cindy.anderson@nasa.gov / james.h.gannon@nasa.gov
Kelsey Spivey
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelsey.m.spivey@nasa.gov
Victoria Segovia
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
victoria.segovia@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 20, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Humans in Space Analog Field Testing Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) Johnson Space Center View the full article
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By NASA
Official crew portrait for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.Credit: NASA NASA and its partners will discuss the upcoming Expedition 73 mission aboard the International Space Station during a pair of news conferences on Monday, Feb. 24, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Mission leadership will participate in an overview news conference at 2 p.m. EST live on NASA+, covering preparations for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch in March and the agency’s crew member rotation launch on Soyuz in April. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA also will host a crew news conference at 4 p.m. and provide coverage on NASA+, followed by individual crew member interviews beginning at 5 p.m. This is the final media opportunity with Crew-10 before the crew members travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.
The Crew-10 mission, targeted to launch Wednesday, March 12, will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the orbiting laboratory.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, scheduled to launch to the space station on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft no earlier than April 8, also will participate in the crew briefing and interviews. Kim will be available again on Tuesday, March 18, for limited virtual interviews prior to launch. NASA will provide additional details on that opportunity when available.
For the Crew-10 mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. The three-person crew of Soyuz MS-27, including Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
United States-based media seeking to attend in person must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, at 281-483-5111 or at jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. U.S. and international media interested in participating by phone must contact NASA Johnson by 9:45 a.m. the day of the event.
U.S. and international media seeking remote interviews with the crew must submit requests to the NASA Johnson newsroom by 5 p.m. on Feb. 21. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Briefing participants include (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
2 p.m.: Expedition 73 Overview News Conference
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build & Flight Reliability, SpaceX Mayumi Matsuura, vice president and director general, Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, JAXA 4 p.m.: Expedition 73 Crew News Conference
Jonny Kim, Soyuz MS-27 flight engineer, NASA Anne McClain, Crew-10 spacecraft commander, NASA Nichole Ayers, Crew-10 pilot, NASA Takuya Onishi, Crew-10 mission specialist, JAXA Kirill Peskov, Crew-10 mission specialist, Roscosmos 5 p.m.: Crew Individual Interview Opportunities
Crew-10 members and Kim available for a limited number of interviews Official portrait of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, who will serve as a flight engineer during Expedition 73.Credit: NASA Kim is making his first spaceflight after selection as part of the 2017 NASA astronaut class. A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his internship with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After completing the initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in various roles, including the Expedition 65 lead operations officer, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer. Follow @jonnykimusa on X and @jonnykimusa on Instagram.
Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2013, this will be McClain’s second spaceflight. A colonel in the U.S. Army, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and holds master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security, and Strategic Studies. The Spokane, Washington, native was an instructor pilot in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. McClain has more than 2,300 flight hours in 24 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including more than 800 in combat, and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team. On her first spaceflight, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59, and completed two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. Follow @astroannimal on X and @astro_annimal on Instagram.
The Crew-10 mission will be the first spaceflight for Ayers, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. Ayers is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class named to a crew. The Colorado native graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Russian, where she was a member of the academy’s varsity volleyball team. She later earned a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University in Houston. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide. She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat. Follow @astro_ayers on X and @astro_ayers on Instagram.
With 113 days in space, this mission also will mark Onishi’s second trip to the space station. After being selected as an astronaut by JAXA in 2009, he flew as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49, becoming the first Japanese astronaut to robotically capture the Cygnus spacecraft. He also constructed a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, the station’s Japanese experiment module. After his first spaceflight, Onishi became certified as a JAXA flight director, leading the team responsible for operating Kibo from JAXA Mission Control in Tsukuba, Japan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo, and was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, flying more than 3,700 flight hours in the Boeing 767. Follow astro_onishi on X.
The Crew-10 mission will also be Peskov’s first spaceflight. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Learn more about how NASA innovates for the benefit of humanity through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Kenna Pell / Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kenna.m.pell@nasa.gov / sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 18, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Humans in Space Anne C. McClain Astronauts Commercial Crew International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Johnson Space Center Jonny Kim Nichole Ayers View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
Ultra-low-noise Infrared Detectors for Exoplanet Imaging
A linear-mode avalanche photodiode array in the test dewar. The detector is the dark square in the center. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i One of the ultimate goals in astrophysics is the discovery of Earth-like planets that are capable of hosting life. While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, the vast majority of these detections have been made via indirect methods, that is, by detecting the effect of the planet on the star’s light, rather than detecting the planet’s light directly. For example, when a planet passes in front of its host star, the brightness of the star decreases slightly.
However, indirect methods do not allow for characterization of the planet itself, including its temperature, pressure, gravity, and atmospheric composition. Planetary atmospheres may include “biosignature” gases like oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, etc., which are known to be key ingredients needed to support life as we know it. As such, direct imaging of a planet and characterization of its atmosphere are key to understanding its potential habitability.
But the technical challenges involved in imaging Earth-like extrasolar planets are extreme. First such planets are detected only by observing light they reflect from their parent star, and so they typically appear fainter than the stars they orbit by factors of about 10 billion. Furthermore, at the cosmic distances involved, the planets appear right next to the stars. A popular expression is that exoplanet imaging is like trying to detect a firefly three feet from a searchlight from a distance of 300 miles.
Tremendous effort has gone into developing starlight suppression technologies to block the bright glare of the star, but detecting the light of the planet is challenging in its own right, as planets are incredibly faint. One way to quantify the faintness of planetary light is to understand the photon flux rate. A photon is an indivisible particle of light, that is, the minimum detectable amount of light. On a sunny day, approximately 10 thousand trillion photons enter your eye every second. The rate of photons entering your eye from an Earth-like exoplanet around a nearby star would be around 10 to 100 per year. Telescopes with large mirrors can help collect as much of this light as possible, but ultra-sensitive detectors are also needed, particularly for infrared light, where the biosignature gases have their strongest effects. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art infrared detectors are far too noisy to detect the low level of light emitted from exoplanets.
With support from NASA’s Astrophysics Division and industrial partners, researchers at the University of Hawai’i are developing a promising detector technology to meet these stringent sensitivity requirements. These detectors, known as avalanche photodiode arrays, are constructed out of the same semiconductor material as conventional infrared sensors. However, these new sensors employ an extra “avalanche” layer that takes the signal from a single photon and multiplies it, much like an avalanche can start with a single snowball and quickly grow it to the size of a boulder. This signal amplification occurs before any noise from the detector is introduced, so the effective noise is proportionally reduced. However, at high avalanche levels, photodiodes start to behave badly, with noise exponentially increasing, which negates any benefits of the signal amplification. Late University of Hawai’i faculty member Donald Hall, who was a key figure in driving technology for infrared astronomy, realized the potential use of avalanche photodiodes for ultra-low-noise infrared astronomy with some modifications to the material properties.
University of Hawai’i team members with cryogenic dewar used to test the sensors. From left to right, Angelu Ramos, Michael Bottom, Shane Jacobson, Charles-Antoine Claveau. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i The most recent sensors benefit from a new design including a graded semiconductor bandgap that allows for excellent noise performance at moderate amplification, a mesa pixel geometry to reduce electronic crosstalk, and a read-out integrated circuit to allow for short readout times. “It was actually challenging figuring out just how sensitive these detectors are,” said Michael Bottom, associate professor at the University of Hawai’i and lead of development effort. “Our ‘light-tight’ test chamber, which was designed to evaluate the infrared sensors on the James Webb Space Telescope, was supposed to be completely dark. But when we put these avalanche photodiodes in the chamber, we started seeing light leaks at the level of a photon an hour, which you would never be able to detect using the previous generation of sensors.”
The new designs have a format of one megapixel, more than ten times larger than the previous iteration of sensors, and circuitry that allows for tracking and subtracting any electronic drifts. Additionally, the pixel size and control electronics are such that these new sensors could be drop-in replacements for the most common infrared sensors used on the ground, which would give new capabilities to existing instruments.
Image of the Palomar-2 globular cluster located in the constellation of Auriga, taken with the linear-mode avalanche photodiode arrays, taken from the first on-sky testing of the sensors using the University of Hawai’i’s 2.2 meter telescope. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i Last year, the team took the first on-sky images from the detectors, using the University of Hawai’i’s 2.2-meter telescope. “It was impressive to see the avalanche process on sky. When we turned up the gain, we could see more stars appear,” said Guillaume Huber, a graduate student working on the project. “The on-sky demonstration was important to prove the detectors could perform well in an operational environment,” added Michael Bottom.
According to the research team, while the current sensors are a major step forward, the megapixel format is still too small for many science applications, particularly those involving spectroscopy. Further tasks include improving detector uniformity and decreasing persistence. The next generation of sensors will be four times larger, meeting the size requirements for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA’s next envisioned flagship mission, with the goals of imaging and characterizing Earth-like exoplanets.
Project Lead: Dr. Michael Bottom, University of Hawai’i
Sponsoring Organization: NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program
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Last Updated Feb 18, 2025 Related Terms
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