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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Marshall Fires Up Hybrid Rocket Motor to Prep for Moon Landings
NASA’s Artemis campaign will use human landing systems, provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin, to safely transport crew to and from the surface of the Moon, in preparation for future crewed missions to Mars. As the landers touch down and lift off from the Moon, rocket exhaust plumes will affect the top layer of lunar “soil,” called regolith, on the Moon. When the lander’s engines ignite to decelerate prior to touchdown, they could create craters and instability in the area under the lander and send regolith particles flying at high speeds in various directions.
To better understand the physics behind the interaction of exhaust from the commercial human landing systems and the Moon’s surface, engineers and scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently test-fired a 14-inch hybrid rocket motor more than 30 times. The 3D-printed hybrid rocket motor, developed at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, ignites both solid fuel and a stream of gaseous oxygen to create a powerful stream of rocket exhaust.
“Artemis builds on what we learned from the Apollo missions to the Moon. NASA still has more to learn more about how the regolith and surface will be affected when a spacecraft much larger than the Apollo lunar excursion module lands, whether it’s on the Moon for Artemis or Mars for future missions,” said Manish Mehta, Human Landing System Plume & Aero Environments discipline lead engineer. “Firing a hybrid rocket motor into a simulated lunar regolith field in a vacuum chamber hasn’t been achieved in decades. NASA will be able to take the data from the test and scale it up to correspond to flight conditions to help us better understand the physics, and anchor our data models, and ultimately make landing on the Moon safer for Artemis astronauts.”
Fast Facts
Over billions of years, asteroid and micrometeoroid impacts have ground up the surface of the Moon into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder, called regolith. Regolith can be made of different minerals based on its location on the Moon. The varying mineral compositions mean regolith in certain locations could be denser and better able to support structures like landers. Of the 30 test fires performed in NASA Marshall’s Component Development Area, 28 were conducted under vacuum conditions and two were conducted under ambient pressure. The testing at Marshall ensures the motor will reliably ignite during plume-surface interaction testing in the 60-ft. vacuum sphere at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, later this year.
Once the testing at NASA Marshall is complete, the motor will be shipped to NASA Langley. Test teams at NASA Langley will fire the hybrid motor again but this time into simulated lunar regolith, called Black Point-1, in the 60-foot vacuum sphere. Firing the motor from various heights, engineers will measure the size and shape of craters the rocket exhaust creates as well as the speed and direction the simulated lunar regolith particles travel when the rocket motor exhaust hits them.
“We’re bringing back the capability to characterize the effects of rocket engines interacting with the lunar surface through ground testing in a large vacuum chamber — last done in this facility for the Apollo and Viking programs. The landers going to the Moon through Artemis are much larger and more powerful, so we need new data to understand the complex physics of landing and ascent,” said Ashley Korzun, principal investigator for the plume-surface interaction tests at NASA Langley. “We’ll use the hybrid motor in the second phase of testing to capture data with conditions closely simulating those from a real rocket engine. Our research will reduce risk to the crew, lander, payloads, and surface assets.”
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Credit: NASA Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
For more information about Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
News Media Contact
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Curiosity rover appears as a dark speck in this contrast-enhanced view captured on Feb. 28, 2025, by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Trailing Curiosity are the rover’s tracks, which can linger on the Martian surface for months before being erased by the wind. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona The image marks what may be the first time one of the agency’s Mars orbiters has captured the rover driving.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has never been camera shy, having been seen in selfies and images taken from space. But on Feb. 28 — the 4,466th Martian day, or sol, of the mission — Curiosity was captured in what is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet.
Taken by the HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the image shows Curiosity as a dark speck at the front of a long trail of rover tracks. Likely to last for months before being erased by wind, the tracks span about 1,050 feet (320 meters). They represent roughly 11 drives starting on Feb. 2 as Curiosity trucked along at a top speed of 0.1 mph (0.16 kph) from Gediz Vallis channel on the journey to its next science stop: a region with potential boxwork formations, possibly made by groundwater billions of years ago.
How quickly the rover reaches the area depends on a number of factors, including how its software navigates the surface and how challenging the terrain is to climb. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads Curiosity’s mission, work with scientists to plan each day’s trek.
“By comparing the time HiRISE took the image to the rover’s commands for the day, we can see it was nearly done with a 69-foot drive,” said Doug Ellison, Curiosity’s planning team chief at JPL.
Designed to ensure the best spatial resolution, HiRISE takes an image with the majority of the scene in black and white and a strip of color down the middle. While the camera has captured Curiosity in color before, this time the rover happened to fall within the black-and-white part of the image.
In the new image, Curiosity’s tracks lead to the base of a steep slope. The rover has since ascended that slope since then, and it is expected to reach its new science location within a month or so.
More About Curiosity and MRO
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was built at JPL, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL manages both the Curiosity and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado.
For more about the missions, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter
News Media Contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
2025-059
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Last Updated Apr 24, 2025 Related Terms
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity (Rover) Mars Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Explore More
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By European Space Agency
A new wave of ocean scientists has embarked on an extraordinary six-week voyage aboard a majestic tall ship that set sail today from Norway bound for southern France. But this is no ordinary journey.
Thanks to this ESA Advanced Ocean Training Course, these upcoming researchers will be taking a deep dive into ocean science, empowering them with skills to harness satellite data for research, innovation and sustainable development – and preparing them to become tomorrow’s leaders and ambassadors for ocean science.
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Robotics teams gather on the main floor of the 2025 Aerospace Valley FIRST Robotics Competition at Eastside High School in Lancaster, California, adjusting and testing the functions of their robots, on April 3, 2025NASA/Genaro Vavuris A group of attendees to the 2025 Aerospace Valley FIRST Robotics Competition gather outside Eastside High School’s gymnasium in Lancaster, California, to watch an F/A-18 from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California, fly over the school to kick off the competition, on April 3, 2025.NASA/Genaro Vavuris Jose Vasquez, engineering technician at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, machines parts for a robot inside NASA’s mobile machine shop at the 2025 Aerospace Valley FIRST Robotics Competition in Lancaster, California, on April 3, 2025.NASA/Genaro Vavuris Students from Eagle Robotics, Team 399, supported by volunteers from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, adjust their robot during the 2025 Aerospace Valley FIRST Robotics Competition in Lancaster, California, on April 3, 2025.NASA/Genaro Vavuris When young minds come together to test their knowledge and creativity in technology and innovation, the results are truly inspiring. In its sixth year, Aerospace Valley Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at East High School in Lancaster, California, proved to be another success. During three action-packed days, hundreds of students from around the world showcased their skills in building and programming robots designed to tackle real-world challenges. Volunteers from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, played a key role, mentoring students and sharing expertise to guide the next generation of engineers.
The Aerospace Valley Regional was started with NASA’s support through the Robotics Alliance Project, which has helped expand robotics programs nationwide. As part of the project, NASA Armstrong supports five local teams and fosters innovation and mentorship for young minds. “It’s more than just a game – it’s a launchpad for future innovators,” said David Voracek, NASA Armstrong’s chief technologist, who has volunteered for 20 years and is the primary logistics manager.
Brad Flick, NASA Armstrong center director, toured the venue and talked to students, highlighting NASA’s continued commitment to inspiring the next generation of engineers and innovators. The event kicked off with an exciting F/A-18 flyover by NASA Armstrong research test pilots Nils Larson and James Less.
Throughout the competition, NASA volunteers – judges, scorers, and machinists – offered guidance and ensured smooth operations. The mobile shop supported students by repairing and fabricating parts for their robots, completing 79 jobs during the event. “Almost everything we do needs to get done in minutes,” says Jose Vasquez, volunteer, and engineering technician at NASA Armstrong’s fabrication lab, who volunteered at the event.
Beyond the competition, students engaged with industry professionals and explored career opportunities. “They don’t just build robots; they build confidence, resilience, and real-world skills alongside mentors who inspire them and volunteers who make it all possible,” Voracek said. This event showcased the talent, determination, and creativity that will shape the future of technology and innovation.
NASA’s Robotics Alliance Project provides grants for high school teams across the country and supports FIRST Robotics competitions, encouraging students to pursue STEM careers.
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Last Updated Apr 17, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactPriscila Valdezpriscila.valdez@nasa.gov Related Terms
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