Archivo del Autor: admin

Say Cheese!

Eleven International Space Station crew members gather inside the space station’s Unity module for a portrait on Aug. 3, 2025. In the front row, from left are, Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Zena Cardman of NASA, Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Mike Fincke of NASA. In the second row are, Nichole Ayers of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, and Anne McClain of NASA. In the back are, Takuya Onishi of JAXA, Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos, Jonny Kim of NASA, and Alexey Zubritsky of Roscosmos.

Ayers, McClain, Onishi, and Peskov recently returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Aug. 9, 2025.

Keep up with daily activity aboard the orbital laboratory.

Image credit: NASA/Mike Fincke

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Monika Luabeya

U.S. Transportation Secretary & Acting NASA Administrator Sean P. Duffy Joins President Trump Executive Order Signing to Boost U.S. Space Competitiveness

U.S. Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy joined President Donald J. Trump at the White House Wednesday for the historic signing of the Executive Order (EO), “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.”

“People think the Department of Transportation (DOT) is just planes, trains, and automobiles – but we have a critical role to play in unlocking the final frontier. By slashing red tape tying up spaceport construction, streamlining launch licenses so they can occur at scale, and creating high-level space positions in government, we can unleash the next wave of innovation. At NASA, this means continuing to work with commercial space companies and improving our spaceports’ ability to launch,” said Duffy. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we will enable American space competitiveness and superiority for decades to come. I look forward to leveraging my dual role at DOT and NASA to make this dream a reality.”

The EO will enable a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increase commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030.

“The FAA strongly supports President Trump’s Executive Order to make sure the U.S. leads the growing space economy and continues to lead the world in space transportation and innovation,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “This order safely removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate commercial space activities.”

Executive Order highlights:
The “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry” EO will help to:

• Streamline commercial license and permit approvals for United States-based operators. This includes eliminating regulatory barriers and expediting environmental reviews for commercial launches and reentries.
• Cut unnecessary red tape to make it easier to build new spaceports in the U.S. where more commercial space operations will be launched from. To ensure this Next Generation Spaceport Infrastructure, duplicate review process will be eliminated, and environmental reviews will be expedited.
• Promote new space activities like in-space manufacturing and orbital refueling through a streamlined framework. Expediting and streamlining authorization for this Novel Space Activity is essential to American space competitiveness and superiority. 
• Establish a new position in the Office of the Secretary with the responsibility of advising the Secretary of Transportation on fostering innovation and deregulation in the commercial space industry.
• The FAA’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation also will be a senior executive non-career employee, and the Office of Space Commerce will be elevated into the Office of the Commerce Secretary.
• Mitigate the risk of the United States losing its competitive edge in the commercial space industry by dismantling regulatory barriers that prevent rapid innovation and expansion.

For more information about the EO, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/3J8fMZ5

-end-

Bethany Stevens
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov 

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Gerelle Q. Dodson

The NASA RASC-AL 2026 Competition

NASA is calling on the next generation of collegiate innovators to imagine bold new concepts pushing the boundaries of human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond through the 2026 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The RASC-AL challenge fuels innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping by bridging gaps through university engagement with NASA and industry. The competition is seeking U.S.-based undergraduate and graduate-level teams and their faculty advisors to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon and Mars. This year’s themes range from developing systems and technologies to support exploration of the lunar surface, to enhancing humanity’s ability to operate and return data from the surface of Mars.  

Award: $112,000 in total prizes

Open Date: August 13, 2025

Close Date: February 23, 2026

For more information, visit:  https://rascal.nianet.org/

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Sarah Douglas

NASA Seeks Moon and Mars Innovations Through University Challenge

NASA is calling on the next generation of collegiate innovators to imagine bold new concepts l pushing the boundaries of human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond through the agency’s 2026 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.  

The RASC-AL challenge fuels innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping by bridging gaps through university engagement with NASA and industry. The competition is seeking U.S.-based undergraduate and graduate-level teams and their faculty advisors to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon and Mars. This year’s themes range from developing systems and technologies to support exploration of the lunar surface, to enhancing humanity’s ability to operate and return data from the surface of Mars.  

“This competition is a unique opportunity for university students to play a role in the future of space innovation,” said Dan Mazanek, assistant branch head of NASA’s Exploration Space Mission Analysis Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia. “The RASC-AL challenge fuels creativity and empowers students to explore what’s possible. We’re excited for another year of RASC-AL and fresh ideas coming our way.”  

Interested and eligible teams are invited to propose groundbreaking solutions and systems approaches that redefine how humans live and explore in deep space with relation to one of the following themes:  

• Communications, Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Architectures for Mars Surface Operations 

• Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and Distribution Architectures  

• Lunar Sample Return Concept 

• Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure  

Teams should express their intent to participate by submitting a non-binding notice of intent by Monday Oct. 13. Teams who submit a notice will be invited to a question-and-answer session with NASA subject matter experts on Monday Oct. 27.  

The proposals, due Monday Feb. 23, 2026, are required to be seven-to-nine pages with an accompanying two-to-three-minute video. Proposals should demonstrate innovative solutions with original engineering and analysis in response to one of the four 2026 RASC-AL themes. Each team’s response should address novel and robust technologies, capabilities, and operational models that support expanding human’s ability to thrive beyond Earth. 

Based on review of the team proposal and video submissions, in March, up to 14 teams will be selected to advance to the final phase of the competition – writing a technical paper, creating a technical poster, and presenting their concepts to a panel of NASA and industry experts in a competitive design review at the 2026 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, beginning Monday June 1, 2026. 

“The RASC-AL challenge enables students to think like NASA engineers—and in doing so, they often become the engineers who will carry NASA forward,” said Dr. Christopher Jones, RASC-AL program sponsor and Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. “The concepts they develop for this year’s competition will help inform our future strategies.”  

Each finalist team will receive a $7,000 stipend to facilitate their full participation in the 2026 RASC-AL competition, and the top two overall winning teams will each be awarded an additional $7,000 cash prize as well as an invitation to attend and present their concept at an aerospace conference later in 2026. 

The 2026 NASA RASC-AL competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace on behalf of NASA. The RASC-AL competition is sponsored by the agency’s Strategy and Architecture Office in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), and the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in STMD, manages the challenge. 

For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including eligibility and submission guidelines, visit: https://rascal.nianet.org/. 

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Sarah Douglas