Harnessing the Sun to Extract Oxygen on the Moon

Light shines onto a solar concentrator being tested in this Aug. 7, 2025, photo. The concentrator is part of the Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project, which aims to produce oxygen from simulated lunar regolith for use at the Moon’s south pole. For this test, the team integrated the solar concentrator, mirrors, and software and confirmed the production of carbon monoxide.

If deployed on the Moon, this technology could enable the production of propellant using only lunar materials and sunlight, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of sustaining a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. The same downstream systems used to convert carbon monoxide into oxygen can also be adapted to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and methane on Mars.

The CaRD project was funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development Program, which advances technologies for the agency’s future space missions and solutions to significant national needs.

Image credit: NASA/Michael Rushing

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Monika Luabeya

NASA’s Home for Experimental Flight Advances Aeronautics Mission

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NASA’s Home for Experimental Flight Advances Aeronautics Mission

Nestled in the Mojave Desert, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, pushes the boundaries of flight to advance the agency’s aeronautics mission. This is where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and engineers are now pioneering the future of high-speed, autonomous, and electrified aircraft. Armstrong contributes to NASA’s broader mission of innovation and collaboration, leveraging its uniquely capable location.

The story begins in 1947, when 13 engineers and technicians from NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, arrived at Muroc Army Airfield – now Edwards Air Force Base – in Southern California’s high desert to establish the Station for High-Speed Research. Their mission was to prepare for the first supersonic research flights of the X-1 rocket plane. The Bell X-1 became the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight, a historic milestone that marked the dawn of a new era in aviation and helped cement Edwards Air Force Base as a cornerstone of NASA’s flight research enterprise.

Today, NASA’s mission continues that tradition, supporting cutting-edge projects in aeronautics like the X-59 quiet supersonic technology aircraft, hypersonic research, and emerging technologies in advanced air mobility, with flight testing led at NASA Armstrong in collaboration with other NASA centers and industry partners.

Why Edwards?

NASA Armstrong’s location at Edwards Air Force Base supports NASA’s flight research that would be difficult or impossible elsewhere, offering unmatched access to the largest secure flight test range in the nation equipped with specialized testing instrumentation. The base spans roughly 470 square miles of mission-critical terrain, including Rogers Dry Lake’s 44-square-mile surface. This range provides extensive restricted airspace enabling safe, complex flight-testing scenarios for NASA teams across multiple programs.

Almost from the start of aeronautical advancements, the region’s natural geography played a critical role. In 1937, nearly all the U.S. Army Air Corp’s fleet conducted maneuvers above Rogers Dry Lake – then known as Muroc Dry Lake – a vast, flat expanse formed by ancient geological processes that serves as a unique emergency landing site. Its hard-packed surface and wide-open area provide a natural safety net for experimental aircraft, offering a margin of safety that’s critical during high-risk missions.

With the U.S. involvement in World War II, the area’s importance grew, bringing additional resources, new facilities, and a focus on research, and experimentation with new aircraft designs. Today, the airspace above the region includes the Bell X-1 Supersonic Corridor, a designated section of restricted airspace within the Edwards test range. This corridor provides a safe, controlled environment for supersonic and transonic flight testing, enabling precision maneuvers at high speeds over the Mojave Desert. Combined with nearly year-round flying weather and low population density, this unique airspace supports uninterrupted flight operations for NASA’s aeronautics programs.

A culture of innovation

NASA’s X-plane legacy is deeply rooted in its history. From the X-1 to the X-59, NASA has developed dozens of X-planes – many flight-tested at Edwards with contributions by Armstrong and other NASA centers. These experimental aircraft were designed to push the boundaries of flight and test new technologies. At Edwards, NASA teams have tested everything from lifting body designs – critical for spacecraft and reentry research – to digital fly-by-wire systems, which have become standard in commercial aviation.

This culture of innovation continues today as NASA’s aeronautics team – leveraging Armstrong’s flight research expertise – advances advanced air mobility, electrified propulsion, and autonomous flight systems. The center’s location and infrastructure enable rapid prototyping and testing, accelerating NASA’s ability to mature next generation aviation technologies.

Partnerships with the U.S. Air Force further strengthen NASA’s capabilities. Shared resources, coordinated airspace management, and joint operations allow NASA researchers to conduct complex missions with support and safety protocols, while collaborating across NASA centers and industry.

Supporting a broad mission portfolio

While Armstrong is best known for experimental aircraft, NASA’s work at Edwards supports a diverse mission portfolio. The center supports Earth science missions, airborne sensor testing, and planetary exploration. Its aircraft – including ER-2 and Gulfstream – carry instruments that study climate, weather, and atmospheric composition, contributing vital data to NASA’s science goals in partnership with agency science teams.

Edwards’ location and infrastructure enable these missions by providing access to high-altitude corridors, stable flying conditions, and the ability to integrate new technologies quickly. Whether it’s testing sensors for Mars exploration or flying over hurricanes to collect data, NASA’s airborne science, supported by Armstrong’s flight operations, advance agency priorities.

Milestones that matter

NASA’s flight research heritage at Edwards includes milestones that have shaped aviation history:

• 1947: Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1.
• 1960s-70s: Lifting body aircraft tested at Edwards lay the groundwork for the space shuttle. NASA tested the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle at Edwards in the mid-1960s to develop techniques later used by Apollo astronauts.
• 1980s: Digital fly-by-wire systems validated at NASA Armstrong become standard in commercial aviation.
• 2000s and beyond: Two successful flights of a scramjet-powered airplane, the X-43A, at hypersonic speeds – greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Autonomous aircraft and drones tested for Earth science and defense applications. The X-59 prepares to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight over land, potentially reshaping commercial aviation.

Each of these achievements reflects NASA collaboration, drawing on location, infrastructure, and culture to deliver agency impact. As aviation enters a new era of fuel savings, autonomy, and accessibility, NASA’s aeronautics team – through flight research at Armstrong and elsewhere – remains steady to test the technologies that will define the future of flight.

Looking ahead

With growing interest in advanced air mobility, high-speed flight research, and new aircraft technologies, NASA’s integrated approach is more critical than ever. NASA Armstrong’s flight test discipline and safety frameworks contribute to agency-wide risk management and systems engineering, supporting NASA’s top priorities – from commercial supersonic technologies to the safety practices that underpin human spaceflight.

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Dede Dinius

NASA Adds Mission to Artemis Lunar Program, Updates Architecture  

As part of a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the Moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter.

As teams prepare to launch Artemis II in the weeks ahead, the Artemis III mission, now in 2027, will be designed to test out systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit to prepare for an Artemis IV landing in 2028. This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests of the docked vehicles, integrated checkout of life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suits. NASA will further define this test flight after completing detailed reviews between NASA and our industry partners. The agency will share the specific objectives for the updated Artemis III mission in the near future.

NASA’s recently announced workforce directive is a key factor in enabling this acceleration. NASA will rebuild core competencies in the civil servant workforce including more in-house and side-by-side development work with our Artemis partners, enabling a safer, more reliable, and faster launch cadence.

“NASA must standardize its approach, increase flight rate safely, and execute on the President’s national space policy. With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays, and achieve our objectives,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again.” 

“After successful completion of the Artemis I flight test, the upcoming Artemis II flight test, and the new, more robust test approach to Artemis III, it is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “There is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown. We are looking back to the wisdom of the folks that designed Apollo. The entire sequence of Artemis flights needs to represent a step-by-step build-up of capability, with each step bringing us closer to our ability to perform the landing missions. Each step needs to be big enough to make progress, but not so big that we take unnecessary risk given previous learnings. Therefore, we want to fly the landing missions in as close to the same Earth ascent configuration as possible – this means using an upper stage and pad systems in as close to the ‘Block 1’ configuration as possible. We will work with our partners that have been developing the evolved block configuration of these systems to take proper actions to align their efforts towards this goal and announce the details of those changes once they are finalized. We will take a similar approach to in-space, landing, and surface EVA operations as well, as we evolve the mission sequence in the spirit of the Apollo mindset, which was obsessed with system reliability and crew safety as the keys to mission success.” 

“Boeing is a proud partner to the Artemis mission and our team is honored to contribute to NASA’s vision for American space leadership,” said Steve Parker, Boeing Defense, Space & Security president and CEO. “The SLS core stage remains the world’s most powerful rocket stage, and the only one that can carry American astronauts directly to the moon and beyond in a single launch. As NASA lays out an accelerated launch schedule, our workforce and supply chain are prepared to meet the increased production needs. With a rocket designed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, built at America’s rocket factory at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and integrated at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, we are ready to meet the increased demand.” 

The announcement came during a news conference at NASA Kennedy where leaders also discussed the status of the Artemis II mission. NASA rolled the SLS and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Feb. 25 for repairs ahead of the next launch opportunities for the test flight in April. 

Once the Artemis II hardware was back in the VAB, teams immediately began work on the helium issue discovered on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and prepared for several actions including replacing batteries in the flight termination system, end-to-end testing for range safety requirements, and more.

“I’m grateful to Administrator Isaacman for taking this bold step and moving quickly to assure we have the support and resources needed to launch Artemis astronauts to the Moon every year,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our team is up to the challenge of a successful Artemis II mission, and soon thereafter, enabling a more frequent cadence of Moon missions.” 

For more about the Artemis campaign, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

-end-

Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

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Jessica Taveau