Lifeboat Foundation

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket hasn’t flown space tourists for over 18 months, following an explosive incident in 2022.

NASA is embarking on an ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustained presence on the lunar surface. The Artemis program, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, aims to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2026. This mission will mark the beginning of a new era of lunar exploration, paving the way for long-term scientific research, resource utilization, and technological advancements that will ultimately enable human missions to Mars and beyond.

The Artemis program is not just about returning to the Moon; it is about staying there. NASA envisions a future where humans live and work on the lunar surface for extended periods, conducting scientific experiments, extracting resources, and testing technologies that will be critical for deep space exploration. The establishment of a sustained lunar presence will require the development of robust infrastructure, including habitats, power systems, and communication networks.

One of the key elements of NASA’s plan is the Artemis Base Camp, a permanent outpost near the Moon’s South Pole. This location was chosen because it offers access to water ice in permanently shadowed craters, which can be used for life support and rocket propellant production. The base camp will consist of a foundation surface habitat for short-term crew stays, a habitable mobility platform for long-duration missions, and a lunar terrain vehicle for transportation.

SpaceX has tested the emergency chutes that could save astronauts’ lives during a launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A new video shared by the company on X-formerly-Twitter shows a person dressed in a black and white SpaceX spacesuit zipping down from the tower’s crew pad inside a tube of red and white fabric, an equally exhilarating and terrifying ordeal — especially considering the threat of an exploding rocket right behind you.

“Even though it’s meant to be used for emergencies, it looks like a lot of fun!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk commented in a tweet.

NASA is debating whether to work with commercial partners to get to Mars.

And while SpaceX is the “elephant in the room,” as Ars Technica put it, NASA is keeping its options wide open.

It’s a notable change, as the first time the space agency has openly raised the possibility of working with private space companies to reach Mars.

A gantlet of tests prepared the spacecraft for its challenging trip to the Jupiter system, where it will explore the icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean.

In less than six months, NASA is set to launch Europa Clipper on a 1.6-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) voyage to Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa. From the wild vibrations of the rocket ride to the intense heat and cold of space to the punishing radiation of Jupiter, it will be a journey of extremes. The spacecraft was recently put through a series of hard-core tests at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to ensure it’s up to the challenge.

Continue reading “Jupiter’s Moon Europa Beckons As NASA’s Clipper Prepares for the Unknown” »

I would have never written the requirements for Starship.

A supersonic drone that will be propelled by a revolutionary new engine has taken to the skies for the first time. When Venus Aerospace’s aircraft does go supersonic on a later date, it will be powered by a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE).

Supersonic drones may sound like something bleeding edge, but they’re surprisingly old hat as a basic concept. As far back as the early 1950s, the US Air Force was fielding remote-controlled supersonic jets for targets to test air defenses, as platforms for reconnaissance in dangerous areas, or as weapons armed with conventional or nuclear warheads.

Continue reading “Video: Supersonic drone flies with revolutionary detonation engine” »

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — NASA has selected three companies to work on lunar rover concepts that would be offered as a service for Artemis lunar landings and scientific activities.

NASA announced April 3 it picked teams led by Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab for its Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) Services contract. The contract covers work to design and develop rovers that would be used by astronauts on Artemis missions starting with Artemis 5 at the end of the decade. The rovers would be provided by the companies to NASA as a service, in much the same way the agency is procuring spacesuits and lunar landers.

While the primary purpose of the LTV will be to transport astronauts across the lunar surface, NASA expects to also teleoperate the rover, allowing it to perform scientific investigations when astronauts are not present. “Think of a hybrid of the Apollo-style lunar rover that was driven by our astronauts and an uncrewed mobile science platform,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, at a briefing to announce the contract selections.

NASA has selected Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that Artemis astronauts will use to travel around the lunar surface, conducting scientific research during the agency’s Artemis campaign at the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars.

The awards leverage NASA’s expertise in developing and operating rovers to build commercial capabilities that support scientific discovery and long-term human exploration on the Moon. NASA intends to begin using the LTV for crewed operations during Artemis V.

“We look forward to the development of the Artemis generation lunar exploration vehicle to help us advance what we learn at the Moon,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This vehicle will greatly increase our astronauts’ ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions.”