A glimmer of hope :)

 

An artist’s conception shows the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on the lunar surface.

(Blue Origin Illustration)

Maybe NASA might survive after all as NASA's offering a helping hand to companies
wanting to explore space at deep level. 

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.”

While the ACO agreements do not involve an exchange of funds, the selected companies can leverage NASA’s specialized facilities, software, hardware and subject-matter experts to mature their technologies for commercial and government use. The performance periods will be negotiated individually, with an expected duration of 12 to 24 months.

Five Seattle-area companies made NASA’s list:

• Aerojet Rocketdyne: The L3Harris-owned operation in Redmond focuses on producing thrusters for spacecraft propulsion systems.
• Blue Origin: The Kent-based space venture founded by Jeff Bezos is developing crewed and uncrewed lunar landers for NASA’s Artemis moon program, as well as technology to produce solar cells and other components from lunar resources.
• Starcloud: This Redmond-based startup aims to launch thousands of satellites to build orbital, in-space data center constellations.
• Stoke Space: This Kent-based venture, founded by veterans of Blue Origin, is building a fully reusable medium-lift rocket.
• Zeno Power Systems: Operating out of offices in Seattle and Washington, D.C., Zeno is developing a new type of nuclear battery for applications in space as well as on Earth.

The other 32 companies are Advanced Cooling Technologies, Advanced Space, Apech Labs, Astrobotic Technology, Axiom Space, Busek, Canopy Aerospace, Chase Supply, Dcubed USA, Elementum 3D, Enduralock, General Galactic Technologies, Hebi Robotics, Hyperion Transport Systems, Kall Morris, Lockheed Martin, Lunar Outpost, Made in Space, Max Space, Mission Space U.S., Moonprint Solutions, Motiv Space Systems, Opterus Research and Development, Orbital Composites, Psionic, Quadrus Corp., Rogue Space Systems, Starpath Robotics, Teledyne Energy Systems, Ten One Aerospace, Varda Space Industries and Venturi Astrolab.

Researchers used the NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to map specific chemical contents of comet 3I/ATLAS as it moved away from the Sun. 

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Martin Cordiner (CUA, NASA-GSFC); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)