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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.Credit: National Institute of Aerospace NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, an initiative to fuel innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping through university engagement. RASC-AL, one of NASA’s longest-running student competitions, solicits concepts from the next generation of engineers and scientists to explore the future of deep space exploration.
RASC-AL is seeking proposals from the university community to develop new concepts that leverage innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. This year’s themes range from developing large-scale lunar surface architectures enabling long-term, off-world habitation, to designing new systems that address objective characteristics and needs and leverage human-scale exploration infrastructure for new science paradigms.
Through RASC-AL, teams and their faculty advisors will design innovative solutions with supporting original engineering and analysis in response to one of the following four themes:
Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment
Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign
Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot
“The RASC-AL competition is a wellspring for groundbreaking ideas,” said Dan Mazanek, Assistant Branch Head for the Exploration Space Mission Analysis Branch (SMAB) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “It fosters creativity and pushes the boundaries of what is possible in space exploration. We are looking for innovative solutions that can advance our capabilities beyond Earth’s orbit and pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration and beyond.”
Interested undergraduate and graduate university student teams and their faculty advisors should submit a Notice of Intent by October 16, 2024, and submit proposals and videos by February 24, 2025. Based on review of the team proposal and video submissions in March, up to 14 teams will be selected to advance to the final phase of the competition – presenting their concepts to a panel of NASA and industry judges in a competitive design review at the 2025 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida next June.
In addition to their research, teams are also highly encouraged to develop a prototype of part or all of their concept to demonstrate its key functions. Each finalist team will receive a $6,500 stipend to facilitate their full participation in the 2025 RASC-AL Competition, and the top two overall teams will be awarded with additional travel stipends to present their concept at an aerospace conference later in 2025.
Dr. Christopher Jones, Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA Langley, emphasized RASC-AL’s distinctive fusion of educational value with real-world experience. “RASC-AL provides students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with NASA’s vision for space exploration. Participants not only gain hands-on experience in developing aerospace concepts but also contribute fresh perspectives that the Agency can take as inspiration for future missions and technologies.”
The call for proposals is now open, with proposal submissions due by February 24, 2025. Interested student teams are encouraged to visit the official RASC-AL competition website for detailed guidelines and eligibility requirements.
RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by SMAB within SACD at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including eligibility, complete themes, and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org
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Last Updated Aug 01, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
2 Min Read Exploring the Moon: Episode Previews
Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program Discover. Learn. Explore.
NASA’s video series, Exploring the Moon, takes a “behind-the-scenes” look at humanity’s next steps on the Moon. Here is your first look at some of the key moments from the upcoming series! Scroll down or navigate through CONTENTS, to the side, to explore!
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Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How…
How many small steps equal a giant leap? Find out what it takes to plan our next great voyage to the Moon, what exactly we plan to do there, and what may come next.
We went to the Moon fifty years ago, but we only explored a very small part of the Moon.
Nujoud Merancy
Exploration Systems Strategy & Architecture Lead
Going to the Moon Won’t Be Easy…
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Episode 01: Why Explore the Moon? Exploring the Moon Series Next-Generation Spacesuits
Explore the special technologies and improvements NASA has made to its spacesuits since the International Space Station (ISS), and how they will be used to make Artemis mission possible.
Basically you should think of a spacesuit as a human-shaped spacecraft.
Liana Rodriggs
Spacesuit Expert
Advancements in Mobility
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Episode 02: Artemis SpacesuitsExploring the Moon Series Spacesuits. How do they work?
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Episode 02: Artemis SpacesuitsExploring the Moon Series Spacewalks: Microgravity vs Planetary
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Episode 02: Artemis SpacesuitsExploring the Moon Series Lunar Rovers
Buckle up and roll out! Learn all about the different capabilities crewed and uncrewed rovers have. Plus, find out how these technologies will be used to explore the lunar surface.
We are taking the ability to transport crew and tools. And these rovers that can operate independent of the crew.
Nathan Howard
Lunar Rovers Expert
Reinventing the Wheel: Apollo to Artemis
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Episode 03: Lunar RoversExploring the Moon Series Simulating the Mission
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Episode 03: Lunar RoversExploring the Moon Series Lunar Geology Tools
How does NASA collect surface samples from the Moon? The answer may surprise you! Explore the challenges of designing the geology sampling equipment for the Artemis missions and how geology sampling technology has changed since Apollo missions.
In order to take these samples on the Moon you need something to pick these samples up with. You can't just walk around and pick them up by hand, that is why we make geology tools.
Holly Newton
Lunar Geology Tools Expert
Lessons Learned from Apollo
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Episode 04: Lunar Geology ToolsExploring the Moon Series Breakthrough! The Ingenuity of Artemis Tools
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Episode 04: Lunar Geology ToolsExploring the Moon Series It’s All In The Finer Details…
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Episode 04: Lunar Geology ToolsExploring the Moon Series Special Lunar Challenges
Learn how NASA engineers are working to prepare for the unique challenges astronauts will face when exploring the Lunar South Pole for the first time ever.
There are parts of the Moon and craters that have not seen the Sun in over a billion years.
Ben Greene
EVA Development Manager
The Challenges Ahead
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Episode 05: Special Lunar ChallengesExploring the Moon Series Dust. Gets. Everywhere.
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Episode 05: Special Lunar ChallengesExploring the Moon Series Exploring the South Pole of the Moon
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Episode 05: Special Lunar ChallengesExploring the Moon Series Back to the "Exploring the Moon" Main Page Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 3 min read
Sols 4243-4245: Exploring Stubblefield Canyon
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4241 (2024-07-11 20:34:05 UTC). Earth planning date: Friday, July 12, 2024
Curiosity, now heading uphill from the Mammoth Lakes drill site, has focused on a very interesting exposure of conglomerate rocks, consisting of pebbles cemented together by a fine-grained matrix material. On Earth, conglomerate rock is associated with downhill flows of rock and soil mixtures, often in a water-rich environment, so our science team is excited to find similar rocks on Mars.
The local exposure of this unusual Martian deposit has been named “Stubblefield Canyon,” honoring the headwaters of the stream forming Rancheria Falls, which tumbles into Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy reservoir. All targets in this area of Mount Sharp are named after geological features near the town of Bishop, California, which sits at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Owens Valley of California. Curiosity’s last drive ended at a detached, rubbly conglomerate slab, dubbed “Wishbone Lake” after a Y-shaped lake in upper Lamarck Lake Canyon near Mono Lake. The image above shows the Wishbone Lake slab of conglomerate rock in the rover workspace. Over the weekend, the team will investigate this target and image the surrounding terrain, collecting evidence about the formation of conglomerate rocks on Mars.
On Wednesday, Curiosity successfully completed its MAHLI imaging of “Donohue Pass” and ChemCam laser spectroscopy of “Negit Island,” followed by a 3-meter drive (about 10 feet) to Wishbone Lake. During the current plan, APXS will analyze two pebbles within the Wishbone Lake slab, “Arrowhead Spire” and “Cattle Creek.” Arrowhead Spire honors a 100-foot vertical spike of granite near Yosemite Point, above Yosemite Valley. Cattle Creek is named for a stream that flows from a hanging valley into the Twin Lakes canyon near Bridgeport, California. MAHLI will image Cattle Creek, then do a 4×1 mosaic from a distance of 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) along the edges of Wishbone Lake, centered on the Arrowhead Spire pebble. ChemCam will take laser spectra of Arrowhead Spire, as well as the “Eocene Peak” matrix material target, named for an 11,500-foot peak in the Sawtooth Ridge along the northeastern boundary of Yosemite National Park.
Using its telescopic RMI camera, ChemCam will image upper Gediz Vallis Ridge and a distant ridgeline along our future drive path. Mastcam will photograph the ChemCam laser targets, as well as interesting portions of the Stubblefield Canyon conglomerate exposure, the Mammoth Lakes drill site as seen from our new location, and an interesting linear ridge. On sol 4244, Curiosity will drive 20 meters (about 66 feet) along our path toward “Fairview Dome,” followed by post-drive imaging and AEGIS observations. Atmospheric studies during the current plan include a Navcam dust devil movie and large dust devil survey, early morning Navcam zenith and suprahorizon cloud movies, Navcam deck imaging, Navcam and Mastcam dust opacity measurements, and a late afternoon Mastcam sky survey. Next week, we expect to explore Fairview Dome, then resume our climb up Mount Sharp.
Written by Deborah Padgett, Curiosity Operations Product Generation Subsystem Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Last Updated Jul 16, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA is moving forward with ten studies to examine more affordable and faster methods of bringing samples from Mars’ surface back to Earth as part of the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program. As part of this effort, NASA will award a firm-fixed-price contract for up to $1.5 million to conduct 90-day studies to seven industry proposers.
Additionally, NASA centers, CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory are producing studies. Once completed, NASA will assess all studies to consider alterations or enhancements to the Mars Sample Return architecture.
“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has undertaken, and it is critical that we carry it out more quickly, with less risk, and at a lower cost,” said Nelson. “I’m excited to see the vision that these companies, centers and partners present as we look for fresh, exciting, and innovative ideas to uncover great cosmic secrets from the Red Planet.”
Over the last quarter century, NASA has engaged in a systematic effort to determine the early history of Mars and how it can help us understand the formation and evolution of habitable worlds, including Earth. As part of that effort, Mars Sample Return has been a long-term goal of international planetary exploration for the past two decades. NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting samples for later collection and return to Earth since it landed on Mars in 2021.
The following companies and proposals were selected from among those that responded to an April 15 request for proposals:
Lockheed Martinin Littleton, Colorado: “Lockheed Martin Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return” SpaceX in Hawthorne, California: “Enabling Mars Sample Return With Starship” Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Alabama: “A High-Performance Liquid Mars Ascent Vehicle, Using Highly Reliable and Mature Propulsion Technologies, to Improve Program Affordability and Schedule” Blue Origin in Monrovia, California: “Leveraging Artemis for Mars Sample Return” Quantum Space, in Rockville, Maryland: “Quantum Anchor Leg Mars Sample Return Study” Northrop Grumman in Elkton, Maryland: “High TRL MAV Propulsion Trades and Concept Design for MSR Rapid Mission Design” Whittinghill Aerospace in Camarillo, California: “A Rapid Design Study for the MSR Single Stage Mars Ascent Vehicle” NASA’s Mars Sample Return is a strategic partnership with ESA (the European Space Agency). Returning scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world can revolutionize our understanding of Mars and would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals as identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
For more information on Mars Sample Return, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-sample-return/
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Dewayne Washington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
dewayne.a.washington@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters View the full article
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By NASA
6 min read
6 Things to Know About NASA’s Asteroid-Exploring Psyche Mission
This illustration depicts NASA’s Psyche spacecraft as it approaches the asteroid Psyche. Once it arrives in 2029, the spacecraft will orbit the metal-rich asteroid for 26 months while it conducts its science investigation. The first-ever mission to study a metal-rich asteroid, Psyche aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system.
With a launch readiness date set for Thursday, Oct. 12, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Trailing a blue glow from its thrusters and powered by a pair of massive solar arrays, the orbiter will use its payload of science instruments to learn more about the asteroid Psyche.
Here are six things to know about the mission:
1. Learning more about the asteroid Psyche could tell us more about the origins of our solar system.
Based on data obtained by Earth-based radar and optical telescopes, scientists hypothesize that the asteroid Psyche could be part of the metal-rich interior of a planetesimal, a building block of a rocky planet that never formed. Psyche may have collided with other large bodies during its early formation and lost its outer rocky shell. Humans can’t bore a path to Earth’s metal core, so visiting Psyche could provide a one-of-a-kind window into the history of violent collisions and accumulation of matter that created planets like our own.
Scientists hypothesize that the asteroid Psyche could be part of a building block of the rocky planets in our solar system. Studying it up close could help us understand how rocky planets formed. Join us on the journey to the first metal-rich asteroid humankind has ever visited. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU 2. The asteroid could also suggest a different story of how solar system objects formed.
While rocks on Mars, Venus, and Earth are flush with iron oxides, Psyche’s surface doesn’t seem to feature much of these chemical compounds. This suggests that Psyche’s history differs from standard stories of planetary formation.
If the asteroid proves to be leftover core material from a planetary building block, scientists will learn how its history resembles and diverges from that of the rocky planets. And if scientists discover that Psyche is not an exposed core, it may prove to be a never-before-seen kind of primordial solar system object.
3. Three science instruments and a gravity science investigation will help sort out these solar system origin stories and more.
The spacecraft’s magnetometer will look for evidence of an ancient magnetic field at the asteroid Psyche. A residual magnetic field would be strong evidence the asteroid formed from the core of a planetary body.
The orbiter’s gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer will help scientists determine the chemical elements that make up the asteroid – and better understand how it formed.
The spacecraft’s multispectral imager will provide information about the mineral composition of Psyche as well as its topography.
The mission’s science team will harness the telecommunications system to conduct gravity science. By analyzing the radio waves the spacecraft communicates with, scientists can measure how the asteroid Psyche affects the spacecraft’s orbit. That information will help them determine the asteroid’s rotation, mass, and gravity field, offering additional insights into the composition and structure of the asteroid’s interior.
4. The spacecraft will use a very efficient propulsion system for the first time beyond the Moon.
Powered by Hall-effect thrusters, Psyche’s solar electric propulsion system harnesses energy from large solar arrays to create electric and magnetic fields. These, in turn, accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of a propellant called xenon (a neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs) at such high speed, it creates thrust. The ionized gas, will emit a sci-fi-like blue glow as it trails behind Psyche in space. Each of Psyche’s four thrusters, which will operate one at a time, exert the same amount of force that you would feel holding three quarters in the palm of your hand. In the frictionless void of space, the spacecraft will slowly and continuously accelerate.
This propulsion system builds on similar technologies used by NASA’s Dawn mission, but Psyche will be the agency’s first mission to use Hall-effect thrusters in deep space.
5. Psyche is a collaboration.
The mission draws on resources and know-how from NASA, universities, and industry. The principal investigator, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, is based at Arizona State University. By enabling collaboration with students nationwide, the partnership offers opportunities to train future instrument and mission leads in science and engineering, and to inspire student projects involving art, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Over a dozen other universities and research institutions are represented on the mission team.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is also responsible for system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.
NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center manages launch operations and procured the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
Maxar Technologies’ team in Palo Alto, California, delivered the solar electric propulsion chassis – the main body of the spacecraft – and most of its engineering hardware systems.
6. The Psyche mission wants you to be part of the journey, too.
Space exploration is for everyone. The mission’s “get involved” webpage highlights activities and opportunities, including an annual internship for college students to interpret the mission through artistic and other creative works, as well as classroom lessons, craft projects, and videos. Information on how to participate in a virtual launch experience is at nasa.gov/specials/virtualguest/.
The mission websites nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu will post official news about the spacecraft’s journey. NASA and ASU will also post regular social media updates on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, a free web-based 3D visualization tool, will track the location of the spacecraft in real time. Visit go.nasa.gov/45k0OVY to see where Psyche is in the solar system.
About two months after launch, as the team performs an initial checkout of the spacecraft and science instruments, the mission expects to receive its first images. Once the team confirms the imager is functioning as expected, a webpage will feature the unprocessed, or raw, images flowing straight from the spacecraft.
Psyche Press Kit More About the Mission
A technology demonstration called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) will fly on Psyche in order to test high-data-rate laser communications that could be used by future NASA missions. JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
For more about the mission, go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/psyche
News Media Contacts
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 05, 2023 Related Terms
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