Firefly Aerospace has tapped Redwire to deliver core avionics and optical navigation system for the former’s Blue Ghost lander, which will send science and technology payloads to the moon in 2023 as part of a NASA initiative. Under the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, Firefly will deliver 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations […] More

Rocket Lab is preparing to launch a 55-pound satellite developed by Advanced Space to help NASA test technologies with the potential to facilitate safe navigation for lunar exploration. The launch service provider said Friday its Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft will fly the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment or CAPSTONE from […] More

Masten Space Systems will develop and test a lunar surface-based position and navigation network prototype for the second phase of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX program. Under the Phase II SBIR contract, the company, in collaboration with Leidos, will create shock-proof position, navigation and timing beacon enclosures aimed at making an autonomous surface-based network […] More

NASA has allocated $45 million to fund upcoming contracts that will provide for activities to help reduce the risks of its future human lander system, which astronauts will ride in regular trips to the Moon’s surface as part of the Artemis program. The space agency said Thursday it seeks commercial partners and will award risk […] More

Paragon Space Development will design and implement life support hardware for a pressurized cabin Northrop Grumman is building to accommodate astronauts who will stay aboard the Lunar Gateway as part of NASA’s Artemis mission. The Habitation and Logistics Outpost’s environmental control and life support system will be designed to maintain air and temperature inside the […] More

SpaceX has been selected to launch a Firefly Aerospace-built lunar lander in 2023 using the Falcon 9 rocket for NASA’s mission to land science and technology payloads on the moon’s surface. Firefly said Thursday it will use the Blue Ghost spacecraft to deploy 10 technologies for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, as part of […] More

Astrobotic has selected through a competitive acquisition process SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch its Griffin lunar lander in late 2023. The lunar lander will be transporting NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover as part of Griffin Mission 1 that is set to take off from a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded General Atomics a $22.1 million contract to support the agency’s efforts to conduct a rocket test launch in cislunar orbit. General Atomics will perform Track A contract services as part of DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations program, the Department of Defense said Friday.

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NASA has selected a Luna Innovations-built semiconductor laser for use in its Navigation Doppler LiDAR system. “To precisely measure the vehicle speed, direction, and distance, our NDL system uses both Doppler shift and laser beam travel time, which requires a highly stable single-frequency laser source,” said Farzin Amzajerdian, NDL principal investigator from NASA Langley Research Center. “The RIO laser from Luna Innovations has met NASA’s requirements for high reliability, low noise, and ultra-narrow linewidth.”

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Maxar Technologies and Natick, Massachusetts-based space propulsion technology maker Busek have concluded hot fire tests for a solar electric propulsion component for NASA’s planned lunar Gateway. Busek said Wednesday the fire test validates all parts of the Power and Propulsion Element's SEP subsystem that will help handle the Gateway’s maneuvering, communications and attitude control functions in lunar orbit to support missions like the Artemis program.

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Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory has entered into an agreement with NASA to continue supporting the agency’s lunar habitation research program through an APL-led consortium. APL said Friday it will continue work under the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, which falls under the Space Technology Mission Directorate's oversight and focuses on developing technologies to support the Artemis moon landing mission as well as human operations on the lunar surface.

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NASA has partnered with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to enable the space agency to use the latter's New Shepard suborbital vehicle for flights to study reduced gravity scenarios similar to the gravity on the moon. The new capability for lunar gravity testing is expected to be available in late 2022.

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