NASA announces new lander contracts for Moon Base Phase One
Flight testing is a team sport. For nearly 80 years, teams at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, have used flight testing to push the limits of aerodynamics and advance aviation. Earlier this year, NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) initiative tested a wing concept that would maximize the smooth flow of…
Introduction: In this article, I’ll delve into the captivating realm of human endurance beyond our home planet—specifically, the feasibility of surviving long-duration space missions to other planets. As space exploration advances, the prospect of venturing beyond Earth’s confines to destinations like Mars or even farther becomes increasingly tantalizing. However, embarking on these interplanetary odysseys…
Editor’s note: This release was updated on June 30, 2026, to clarify the engineering development version for the PROMISE rover. NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver…
This article is for students grades 5-8. Mass distribution affects everything from galaxy shapes to aircraft design to planetary rotation. It’s used to map stars in our universe, figure out what planets are made of, and even to determine how luggage is loaded onto an airplane. Mass distribution can be a tricky thing to understand….
Space exploration has always been a fascinating endeavor for humanity, pushing the limits of scientific understanding beyond our planet’s borders. One of the most critical aspects of space exploration is understanding the composition of other celestial bodies. Sample-return missions have been crucial in expanding our understanding of celestial composition, enabling scientists to collect samples from other planets, moons, asteroids, and…
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026. About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close to…