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NASA’s chief talks up nuclear power on Northwest tour

Jared Isaacman on stage with Rocketdyne logo in background
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman addresses Rocketdyne employees at the company’s facility in Redmond, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

REDMOND, Wash. — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman came to Rocketdyne’s facility here today to give a pep talk to the space company’s employees — and lay out his vision for the future of America’s space effort. Isaacman made clear that nuclear power will be a big part of that vision.

“NASA is at our best when we’re doing the near-impossible,” he said. “There is no obvious revenue model or business case for what we’re doing. We’re just out there pursuing the secrets of the universe, and nuclear or fission-powered spacecraft make sense in that it helps us extend our reach farther into the solar system.”

The pathfinder mission for NASA’s nuclear ambitions is likely to be SR-1 Freedom, a Mars probe that’s scheduled for launch in 2028. SR-1 Freedom is designed to carry a fission reactor and nuclear electric propulsion system.

Rocketdyne’s Redmond facility is working on thrusters for the system. “We built here, in Redmond, the Advanced Electric Propulsion System,” Rocketdyne CEO Kristin Houston told GeekWire before Isaacman’s talk. “It’s a 12-kilowatt Hall-thruster system, and that is going to be the propulsion element on the SR-1 Freedom. So, yeah, we’re really proud of that.”

Today’s visit was part of the Pacific Northwest leg of Isaacman’s nationwide “Inspiration Tour,” aimed at strengthening the connections between NASA and its partners.

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Blue Origin wins $700M from NASA for Mars relay satellite

Illustration: Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in Martian orbit
An artist’s conception shows the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in Martian orbit. (Blue Origin Photo)

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has won a contract worth up to $700 million to boost NASA’s telecommunications capability in Martian orbit, using a version of the company’s Blue Ring multi-mission space platform.

The contract calls on Blue Origin to deliver a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter to NASA by the end of 2028, the space agency said in a news release. Blue Origin would also be charged with operating the Mars telecommunications network as part of NASA’s broader space communications and navigation infrastructure.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the Blue Ring spacecraft for the mission was already in production in Huntsville, Alabama. “Before the first human steps on Mars, we have to build the road. … MTO will enable science, carry payloads, and help lay the foundation for human exploration,” he said in a post to X.

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Universe Today

Roman rises! Get to know NASA’s newest space telescope

Falcon Heavy rocket rises with Roman Space Telescope aboard
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket rises from its pad, sending the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into space. (NASA Photo / Joel Kowsky)

NASA’s newest eye on the sky, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, has begun its journey to unravel the secrets of dark matter, dark energy and Earthlike planets — months ahead of schedule.

The 9-ton telescope rode to space today aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:26 a.m. ET (4:26 a.m. PT). The ascent went off without a hitch, setting up the telescope for a three-month cruise to a gravitational balance point known as Earth-sun L2, almost a million miles beyond our planet.

The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters flew themselves back to landings on the Florida coast, near the launch site, while the center core booster splashed into the sea after stage separation.

NASA had originally scheduled liftoff for 2027, but the $4.3 billion mission came in ahead of schedule and under budget.

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GeekWire

NASA funds research into nuclear heaters for astronauts

Collage of illustrations highlighting NASA-funded research projects, including picture of astronaut working on moon with a glowing heater on backpack
This collage highlights some of the projects selected for funding through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, including a study looking at radioisotope heating systems for moonwalking astronauts, depicted at center left. (NASA Graphic)

NASA says it’s funding a new batch of far-out research projects, including a study evaluating how radioactive heaters can keep astronauts warm while they work on the moon.

The heating project was proposed by Zeno Power Systems, a nuclear battery company with operations in Seattle, California and Washington, D.C. It’s one of 18 projects selected for nine-month, $175,000 Phase I grants by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. For decades, NIAC grants have helped researchers test concepts with potential space applications.

Zeno’s research project is led by A.C. Charania, the company’s senior vice president of space business development. Charania previously spent two years as NASA’s chief technologist and five years in management roles at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.

The project comes with an acronym taken from J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth: EARENDIL, which stands for Extended Astronaut Radioisotope-EVA in Nighttime and Deep-Space Icy Landscapes. In “The Silmarillion,” Eärendil is a half-Elven mariner who voyaged to the Undying Lands. As described in Zeno’s proposal, EARENDIL technology would warm space voyagers while they work outside during the frigid lunar night, amid temperatures that can plunge as low as 410 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-246 degrees Celsius).

Zeno is already developing a new class of compact nuclear devices powered by the heat of radioactive decay. One type of device would convert that heat into electricity, but the device proposed for EARENDIL would function strictly as a heater rather than a battery.

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NASA considers sending spare Mars rover to the moon

Engineering rover at JPL
An engineering development version of the NASA Mars rover takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube)

NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon’s south polar region.

The plan calls for turning the test rover, which is currently sitting at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, into a lunar explorer named PROMISE (“Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration”).

During an update on the space agency’s long-range plan to build a moon base, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stressed that the PROMISE mission was still being defined, but added that “there’s very little that would hold us back from making use of that hardware.”

NASA is already planning to send a rover called VIPER (“Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover”) to the moon by the end of next year. But Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s program manager for the Moon Base effort, said PROMISE would bring some capabilities that VIPER lacks.

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NASA backs dozens of projects on the space frontier

Illustration: Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on lunar surface
An artist’s conception shows the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration)

NASA has selected proposals from 37 companies, including several with Seattle-area connections, to further its plans to establish a long-term presence on the moon and enable human exploration of Mars.

The companies applied to partner with NASA under the terms of an Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity, or ACO. The selected proposals aim to develop technologies for space transportation, planetary surface operations and lunar surface infrastructure.

“We are empowering American industry to become active partners in NASA’s missions to the moon, Mars and beyond,” Greg Stover, director of the Advanced Research and Technology Division in NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate, said today in a news release. “By tapping into commercial industry, NASA can rapidly develop key capabilities to support its most ambitious missions while fostering the nation’s robust space economy.”

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Blue Origin’s rocket blast hits NASA and Amazon Leo

ULA Atlas 5 launch with Amazon Leo satellites on board
One day after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded on its pad, an Atlas 5 rocket launched 29 Amazon Leo satellites. (ULA via YouTube)

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is still assessing the damage from this week’s catastrophic New Glenn rocket explosion on the company’s Florida launch pad, but it’s already clear that it will take months to make repairs and return to flight. So, what does that mean for Blue Origin and its customers?

“I guess the short answer, without pontificating, is that everybody gets delayed,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, a Florida-based industry research institute.

The May 28 blast occurred during a static-fire test for the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, which was nicknamed “No, It’s Necessary.” The launcher was due to put 48 satellites into low Earth orbit as early as next week for Amazon Leo’s high-speed internet network.

That launch is now off the table, but Amazon Leo (formerly known as Project Kuiper) is still pushing ahead with satellite deployment in anticipation of kicking off commercial service as soon as this summer. Not far from Blue Origin’s ruined pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36, United Launch Alliance sent 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit today on an Atlas 5 rocket.

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Universe Today

Pentagon releases UFO files from moon trips and more

Apollo 17 image with three light-colored dots highlighted in inset
An image from NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972 shows lunar terrain with an inset photo highlighting three light-colored specks. (NASA Photo)

The Department of Defense has released a fresh batch of images and transcripts relating to reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, formerly known as UFOs, including pictures and descriptions from NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.

Today’s release on the War.gov website was the first in a series planned by the Trump administration’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE. “Additional files will be released by the Department of War on a rolling basis,” the Pentagon said in a news release.

The batch includes pictures taken by astronauts on the moon during Apollo 12 in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972, with enlarged sections highlighting what appear to be bright spots or streaks in the sky. There’s even a transcript from the Gemini 7 mission in 1965, in which astronaut Frank Borman describes a “bogey” and a debris field consisting of “hundreds of little particles.”

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Interlune wins $6.9M from NASA to analyze lunar gases

Interlune engineers working with hardware in Regolith Lab
Interlune engineers Alex Lewandowski and Jessica Wu check test equipment in the company's Regolith Lab. (Interlune Photo)

NASA has awarded a $6.9 million contract to Seattle-based Interlune for the development of a system that can extract gases such as helium-3 and hydrogen from lunar soil and rocks.

The system will be developed and tested on Earth under the terms of an 18-month Small Business Innovation Research Phase III grant, and then launched to the moon on a commercial robotic lander in 2028. Interlune says the project meshes with its plan to extract and market lunar helium-3 for applications on Earth ranging from quantum computing and medical imaging to neutron detection and commercial nuclear fusion.

“We’re gathering data and advancing technologies that serve multiple purposes across industry and government,” Rob Meyerson, co-founder and CEO of Interlune, said today in a news release. “NASA’s continued investment in space technology enables technology development projects like this one to ensure America’s leadership in building the lunar economy.”

Interlune’s payload will include a robotic arm and scoop to gather up moon dirt (technically known as regolith), a particle-sorting device, hardware for heating up lunar material and harvesting the gases that are given off, a multispectral camera capable of determining helium-3 concentrations, and a mass spectrometer that can analyze the gases.

“For the first time ever, we will measure volatile gases by heating lunar regolith while on the moon, dramatically advancing the scientific community’s understanding of its properties,” Interlune chief scientist Elizabeth Frank said. “The data we collect will also tell us how much power is needed to extract resources like helium-3.”

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Cosmic Space

Here’s what ‘moon joy’ looks like on planet Earth

Artemis 2 crew with Orion space capsule on recovery ship
Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Victor Glover strike a pose in front of their Orion spacecraft on the USS John P. Murtha, which served as the main recovery ship for their splashdown. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

While the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission were in the midst of humanity’s first trip around the moon in 53 years, the mission’s lead lunar scientist said “moon joy” was her team’s new motto.

Now that the crew members are back on Earth, they’re reveling in moon joy — and reflecting on the wider meaning of their mission.

Astronaut Christina Koch told the audience at today’s homecoming celebration, held at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, that she was once asked what defines a crew.

“A crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked,” she said. “So, when we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth. It was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat, hanging undisturbingly in the universe. … I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know, and that is: Planet Earth, you are a crew.”

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