Cosmic Log
NASA is serving up a double scoop of delicious Saturn imagery in two flavors — near-infrared and visible light. The subtle differences between the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared view and the Hubble Space Telescope’s visible-light view can help scientists dig deeper into the workings of the ringed planet’s atmosphere.
NASA’s leaders today laid out an ambitious multibillion-dollar space exploration plan that calls for building a moon base over the next decade and launching a nuclear-powered probe to Mars by 2028.
The space agency is also pressing the pause button on its multibillion-dollar plan to create a moon-orbiting outpost known as the lunar Gateway, and on its plan for transitioning from the International Space Station to commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.
Instead, NASA says it aims to work with commercial partners to procure a government-owned Core Module for the ISS. That module would serve as the attachment point for commercial space modules that could eventually detach to become free-flying space stations.
Meanwhile, the Power and Propulsion Element that was designed for the Gateway would be repurposed for the Mars probe known as Space Reactor-1 Freedom. SR-1 Freedom would be powered by a nuclear electric propulsion system and drop off a payload capable of deploying three helicopters in the Martian atmosphere. Such a mission, known as Skyfall, builds on the success of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars and parallels a concept proposed last year by AeroVironment.
NASA is aiming to launch SR-1 Freedom, land astronauts on the lunar surface with its Artemis 4 mission and start laying the groundwork for a moon base with Artemis 5 by the end of 2028, when President Donald Trump’s term in office comes to a close.
It took longer than expected, but NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is back on its launch pad in preparation for sending four astronauts on a historic round-the-moon mission as early as next month.
The 322-foot-tall SLS rocket, topped by NASA’s Orion crew capsule, began rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:20 a.m. ET March 20 (9:20 p.m. PT March 19). The start of the trip was delayed by more than four hours due to concerns about high winds in the area.
NASA’s rocket and its massive mobile launcher made the 4-mile trek to Launch Complex 39B in 11 hours, traveling at a top speed of less than 1 mph. The trip required the use of a crawler-transporter — the same vehicle used for the Apollo and space shuttle programs, now upgraded for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
The Apollo connection is particularly fitting because this mission, known as Artemis 2, will mark the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972 that astronauts have been sent around the moon. No landing will be made this time around, but the crew is due to go about 4,700 miles beyond the moon’s orbit during their 10-day mission. That would set a new distance record for human spaceflight.
NASA is reworking its Artemis moon program to add a test mission for commercial lunar landers in low Earth orbit next year, with a crewed lunar landing to follow in 2028 at the earliest. The revised plan raises the profile of the Blue Moon lander that’s being built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.
“We’re all in!” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a post to X.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took up his post last December, announced the schedule shift today. “This is going to be our pathway back to the moon,” he said.
The next step in the pathway is the same as it has been: NASA is getting set to use its giant Space Launch System rocket to launch four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon in an Orion capsule. That Artemis 2 mission is currently set for no earlier than April, due to a helium leak that forced this week’s rocket rollback from the launch pad for troubleshooting.
NASA’s previous plan called for following up on Artemis 2 with a crewed lunar landing next year for Artemis 3. However, the development of the SpaceX Starship lander for that mission has proceeded more slowly than expected.
Under the revised architecture, Artemis 3 becomes a crewed orbital test for SpaceX’s Starship and/or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander. The mission could also test the next-generation spacesuits that are being developed for extravehicular activities. The Artemis program’s first crewed lunar landing would follow in 2028, presumably using either Starship or Blue Moon.
NASA rolled the giant rocket that’s slated to launch four astronauts on a round-the-moon trip back to its garage today to troubleshoot a problem with its helium pressurization system.
The Space Launch System rocket, topped by an Orion crew capsule, returned to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at about 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), NASA said. It took more than 10 hours for NASA’s crawler-transporter to make the 4-mile trip from Launch Complex 39B.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says the giant rocket set to send four astronauts around the moon for the history-making Artemis 2 mission must be rolled back from its launch pad to troubleshoot a technical problem.
The 10-day mission, previously scheduled for as soon as March, is now postponed until April at the earliest. “I understand people are disappointed by this development,” Isaacman said in a posting to X. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”
The technical issue cropped up just days after a successful launch-pad rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Data from the Space Launch System rocket’s upper stage registered an interruption in the flow of helium, which is used to pressurize the propellant tanks and purge the engines. “Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle,” Isaacman wrote today. “This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system.”
Isaacman said the helium pressurization system worked correctly during this week’s wet dress rehearsal. For what it’s worth, a problem with a helium valve cropped up during preparations for the uncrewed Artemis 1 round-the-moon mission in 2022, leading NASA managers to take corrective actions.
The current problem could be due to a failure at any of several points in the helium system. “Regardless of the potential fault, accessing and remediating any of these issues can only be performed in the VAB,” said Isaacman, referring to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where the SLS and its Orion crew capsule were stacked for launch.
NASA counted down to T-minus 29 seconds during a smooth rehearsal for a historic launch that could send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century.
The run-through at Launch Complex 39B, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was known as a wet dress rehearsal because it involved filling up the propellant tanks on NASA’s Space Launch System, a 322-foot-tall rocket that made its debut with 2022’s uncrewed Artemis 1 mission.
The only major component that was missing at the launch pad was the crew. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the commander for the Artemis 2 mission, said in a posting to X that he was watching the proceedings from Launch Control.
Once NASA reviews the results of the two-day rehearsal, mission managers will decide whether to give the final go-ahead for the Artemis 2 crew’s 10-day trip around the moon and back.
Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said the space agency is targeting March 6 for liftoff. “Every night I look at the moon, and I see it, and I get real excited because I can really feel she’s calling us,” she told reporters today. “And we’re ready.”
Nearly two years after Boeing’s botched Starliner mission to the International Space Station, NASA put the mishap in the same category as the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters — and said the spacecraft wouldn’t carry another crew until dozens of corrective actions are taken.
Based on the findings from an independent panel’s 311-page report, NASA classified the crewed test mission in 2024 as a Type A mishap, primarily because five of the thrusters in the Starliner spacecraft’s propulsion system failed during the capsule’s approach to the ISS. The crew was able to regain control of four of those thrusters, but NASA decided not to send astronauts back to Earth on the Starliner due to safety concerns.
Instead, the craft was flown back for a landing without crew, three months after the docking. The two astronauts who rode Starliner to orbit were stuck aboard the station for more than nine months while they waited for a ride back home inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Today’s report faults NASA’s leadership as well as Boeing’s team for the mission’s failings.
“Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took over as the space agency’s chief in December, wrote in a letter to NASA employees that was also posted to X. “It is decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”
Interlune is leveraging a $150,000 NASA contract to develop develop lunar trenching and excavation technology — and although the primary goal is to extract valuable helium-3 from moon dirt, the project also signals the company’s broader play for lunar infrastructure.
Interlune’s work on the Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 1 contract, done in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines, demonstrates that the Seattle-based startup’s business model isn’t limited to helium-3. In the years ahead, the technologies pioneered by Interlune for resource extraction can also be used for building roads, base camps and other construction projects on the moon.
For example, the excavator that’s the focus of the NASA funding — known as the Scalable Implement for Lunar Trenching, or SILT — will support Interlune’ plan to sift through tons of lunar soil. But it will also support NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable lunar presence in the 2030s.
“We’re looking at some other tools that would move regolith around, or prepare a site for making a road or building a radiation berm, burying a certain piece of infrastructure like a nuclear reactor,” Interlune CEO Rob Meyerson told me. “So, we’re very interested in participating in the Artemis program in broader ways, and we think the technology we’re developing for helium-3 extraction can support that.”
NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket crept toward its Florida launch pad today at a top speed of about 1 mph, marking the first step in a journey that will eventually send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The 4-mile trek to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center began at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT) and lasted until evening. Because the rocket with its mobile launcher stands more than 300 feet tall and weighs millions of pounds, the trip required the use of a crawler-transporter — the same vehicle used for the Apollo and space shuttle programs, now upgraded for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
Liftoff for the Artemis 2 mission could come as early as March, but there’s lots to be done in the weeks ahead. After today’s rollout, the mission team will conduct a thorough checkout of the Space Launch System and its Orion crew spacecraft. NASA also aims to conduct a “wet dress rehearsal,” during which the launch team will fuel the rocket and count down to roughly T-minus 30 seconds. (Update: The first such rehearsal took place on Feb. 2 but had to be called off at about T-minus 5 minutes due to a liquid hydrogen leak.)
“We have, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date until we get through wet dress,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters.
Artemis 2 is slated to send three NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut on a 10-day journey tracing a figure-8 route around the moon. The trip will take them as far as 4,800 miles beyond the lunar far side — farther out than any human has gone before.