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By NASA
NASA astronaut and Pilot for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission Nichole Ayers is pictured training inside a mockup of a Dragon cockpit at the company’s facilities in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX Students from Richmond Hill, New York,will have the chance to connect with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers as they answer prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related questions from aboard the International Space Station.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 12 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 26, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
The event, open to students and their families, will be hosted by Richmond Hill High School, a New York City public high school in Queens South, District 27. The school’s goal is to inspire their students to pursue STEM careers.
Media interested in covering the event must contact Lilly Donaldson at Lily@arttechnically.org by 5 p.m., Monday, March 24.
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
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Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 21, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Learning Resources In-flight Education Downlinks Outside the Classroom View the full article
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By NASA
Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin fitted three spacecraft adapter jettison fairing panels onto the service module of the agency’s Orion’s spacecraft. The operation completed on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The European-built service module is the powerhouse that will propel the spacecraft to the Moon. Its four solar array wings which were installed to its exterior in early March. The latest addition of fairing panels on Orion’s service module will protect the solar array wings, shielding them from the heat, wind, and acoustics of launch and ascent, and also help redistribute the load between Orion and the massive thrust of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during liftoff and ascent. Once the spacecraft is above the atmosphere, the three fairing panels will separate from the service module, allowing the wings to unfurl.
In addition to power, the service module will provide propulsion and life support including thermal control, air, and water for the Artemis II test flight, NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign that will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.
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.
Image credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
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By NASA
This year’s RASC-AL competition invited undergraduate and graduate students from across the nation to develop new, innovative concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.ASANASA Fourteen university teams have been selected as finalists for NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition. This year’s competition invited undergraduate and graduate students from across the nation to develop new, innovative concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Finalists will present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders.
The 2025 Finalists are:
Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “M.I.S.T.R.E.S.S. – Moon Infrastructure for Sustainable Technologies, Resource Extraction, and Self-Sufficiency” Tulane University, “Scalable Constructs for Advanced Lunar Activities and Research (SCALAR)” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Aeneas” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Khonsu” Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign: Auburn University, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, “MATER: Mars Architecture for Technology Evaluation and Research” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Vehicles for Engineering Surface Terrain Architectures (VESTA)” Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot: Arizona State University, “DIANA – Diagnostic and Intelligent Autonomously Navigated Assistant” South Dakota State University, “Next-gen Operations and Versatile Assistant (NOVA)” South Dakota State University, “MANTIS: Maintenance and Navigation for Technical Infrastructure Support” Texas A&M University, “R.A.M.S.E.E.: Robotic Autonomous Maintenance System for Extraterrestrial Environments” University of Maryland, “Servicing Crane Outfitted Rover for Payloads, Inspection, Operations, N’stuff (SCORPION)” University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, “Multi-functional Operational Rover for Payload Handling and Navigation (MORPHN)” Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM)” The RASC-AL Competition is designed to engage university students and academic institutions in innovation within the field of aerospace engineering. By providing a platform for students to develop and present their ideas, NASA aims to cultivate foundational research for new concepts and technologies for the future of space exploration. This year’s RASC-AL projects include scalable lunar infrastructure and services, a lunar robot that can work autonomously or be controlled remotely, and a concept for a science or technology demonstration mission using human-scale launch, transportation, entry, and landing capabilities at Mars. All of these functions are critical to future NASA missions.
“This year’s RASC-AL projects are not just academic exercises; they will contribute real solutions to some of the most pressing challenges we currently face. The competition continues to highlight the importance of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in aerospace,” said Daniel Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.
These finalist teams will move forward to the next phase of the competition, where they will prepare and submit a detailed technical paper outlining their designs, methodologies, and anticipated impacts. Each team will present their concepts at the 2025 RASC-AL Competition Forum in June 2025 showcasing their work to a judging panel of NASA and industry experts for review and discussion.
“The ingenuity and out-of-the-box designs showcased by these students is inspiring,” added Dr. Christopher Jones, RASC-AL program sponsor and chief technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA’S Langley “We are excited to see how their ideas can contribute to NASA’s ongoing missions and future exploration goals. This is just the beginning of their journey, and we are proud to be part of it.”
To learn more about NASA’s RASC-AL Competition, visit NASA’s RASC-AL Competition Website. RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
Genevieve Ebarle / Victoria O’Leary
National Institute of Aerospace
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By NASA
This compressed, resolution-limited gif shows the view of lunar sunset from one of the six Stereo Cameras for Lunar-Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 cameras on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, which operated on the Moon’s surface for a little more than 14 days and stopped, as anticipated, a few hours into lunar night. The bright, swirly light moving across the surface on the top right of the image is sunlight reflecting off the lander. Images taken by SCALPSS 1.1 during Blue Ghost’s descent and landing, as well as images from the surface during the long lunar day, will help researchers better understand the effects of a lander’s engine plumes on the lunar soil, or regolith. The instrument collected almost 9000 images and returned 10 GB of data. This data is important as trips to the Moon increase and the number of payloads touching down in proximity to one another grows. The SCALPSS 1.1 project is funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Game Changing Development program. SCALPSS was developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, with support from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.NASA/Olivia TyrrellView the full article
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By NASA
After delivering ten NASA science and technology payloads to the near side of the Moon through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander captured this image of a sunset from the lunar surface. Credit: Firefly Aerospace After landing on the Moon with NASA science and technology demonstrations March 2, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 concluded its mission March 16. Analysis of data returned to Earth from the NASA instruments continues, benefitting future lunar missions.
As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander delivered 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the Mare Crisium basin on the near side of the Moon. During the mission, Blue Ghost captured several images and videos, including imaging a total solar eclipse and a sunset from the surface of the Moon. The mission lasted for about 14 days, or the equivalent of one lunar day, and multiple hours into the lunar night before coming to an end.
“Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 marks the longest surface duration commercial mission on the Moon to date, collecting extraordinary science data that will benefit humanity for decades to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With NASA’s CLPS initiative, American companies are now at the forefront of an emerging lunar economy that lights the way for the agency’s exploration goals on the Moon and beyond.”
All 10 NASA payloads successfully activated, collected data, and performed operations on the Moon. Throughout the mission, Blue Ghost transmitted 119 gigabytes of data back to Earth, including 51 gigabytes of science and technology data. In addition, all payloads were afforded additional opportunities to conduct science and gather more data for analysis, including during the eclipse and lunar sunset.
“Operating on the Moon is complex; carrying 10 payloads, more than has ever flown on a CLPS delivery before, makes the mission that much more impressive,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. “Teams are eagerly analyzing their data, and we are extremely excited for the expected scientific findings that will be gained from this mission.”
Among other achievements, many of the NASA instruments performed first-of-their-kind science and technology demonstrations, including:
The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity is now the deepest robotic planetary subsurface thermal probe, drilling up to 3 feet and providing a first-of-its kind demonstration of robotic thermal measurements at varying depths. The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals, from satellite networks such as GPS and Galileo, for the first time enroute to and on the Moon’s surface. The LuGRE payload’s record-breaking success indicates that GNSS signals could complement other navigation methods and be used to support future Artemis missions. It also acts as a stepping stone to future navigation systems on Mars. The Radiation Tolerant Computer successfully operated in transit through Earth’s Van Allen belts, as well as on the lunar surface into the lunar night, verifying solutions to mitigate radiation effects on computers that could make future missions safer for equipment and more cost effective. The Electrodynamic Dust Shield successfully lifted and removed lunar soil, or regolith, from surfaces using electrodynamic forces, demonstrating a promising solution for dust mitigation on future lunar and interplanetary surface operations. The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder successfully deployed five sensors to study the Moon’s interior by measuring electric and magnetic fields. The instrument allows scientists to characterize the interior of the Moon to depths up to 700 miles, or more than half the distance to the Moon’s center. The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager captured a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding Earth affect the planet. The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector successfully reflected and returned laser light from two Lunar Laser Ranging Observatories, returning measurements allowing scientists to precisely measure the Moon’s shape and distance from Earth, expanding our understanding of the Moon’s inner structure. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies instrument captured about 9,000 images during the spacecraft’s lunar descent and touchdown on the Moon, providing insights into the effects engine plumes have on the surface. The payload also operated during the lunar sunset and into the lunar night. The Lunar PlanetVac was deployed on the lander’s surface access arm and successfully collected, transferred, and sorted lunar soil using pressurized nitrogen gas, demonstrating a low-cost, low-mass solution for future robotic sample collection. The Regolith Adherence Characterization instrument examined how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon’s environment, which can help test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive lunar dust or regolith. The data captured will benefit humanity in many ways, providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces may impact Earth. Establishing an improved awareness of the lunar environment ahead of future crewed missions will help plan for long-duration surface operations under Artemis.
To date, five vendors have been awarded 11 lunar deliveries under CLPS and are sending more than 50 instruments to various locations on the Moon, including the lunar South Pole and far side.
Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-617-4977
alise.m.fisher@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 Mar 18, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Artemis Blue Ghost (lander) Johnson Space Center Kennedy Space Center NASA Headquarters View the full article
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