A nuclear fission fragment rocket engine (FFRE) that is exponentially more propellent efficient than rocket engines currently used to power today’s space vehicles and could eventually achieve very high specific impulse (>100,000 sec) at high power density (>kW/kg). A new NASA NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) project is creating a buildable near term design for …
Rotating detonation engine could be up to 25% more efficient than traditional jet engines. This could make airplanes and missile faster or with longer range. Smaller weapons could reach the same speeds and ranges as today’s missiles. Rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs) use detonation as the primary means of energy conversion, producing more useful available …
NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston contracts for science and exploration missions to the South Pole of the moon in 2024. The commercial delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and the Artemis program. IM-1 Mission The IM-1 mission launch is currently scheduled for a six-day period that opens November …
Critical challenges and technology development for colonizing and developing the moon are being performed. This includes getting oxygen, water, and metals like Aluminum from the lunar soil. There is In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) related to water-ice and other materials in lunar Permanent Shadowed Regions (PSRs) and extracting O2 and metals (or metalloids) from regolith in …
The NY Times discussed the NASA funding of Icon to send 3D printers to the moon for the construction of buildings. NASA scientists are currently working to perfect a replica of lunar concrete. In the first half of 2024, NASA plans to test ICON’s printers. “If you can survive our [vacuum] chambers, then you’re very …
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has won a contract from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to develop and demonstrate a nuclear-powered spacecraft. The in-space flight demonstration of a nuclear thermal rocket engine vehicle will take place no later than 2027. The project is called Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). DARPA partnered with NASA’s …
The James Webb Space Telescope had a weak detection of the microbial life biomarker, dimethyl sulfide. There is a 1 in 66 chance that it was instrument noise. There will be a follow up analysis with the MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) on the James Webb. This should scan the exoplanet K2-18B at the wavelengths for …
NASA’s James Web found trace of dimythyl suflide (DMS) in th atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b and DMS is a biomarker of life. K2-18b’s atmosphere consists of mainly hydrogen, along with small amounts of methane and carbon dioxide. On Earth, the DMS molecule is only associated with microbial life. We have to wait for the existence …
The SLS is the world’s most powerful rocket and will enable NASA to return humans to the moon. NASA requested $11.2 billion in the fiscal year 2024 president’s budget request to fund the program through fiscal year 2028, in addition to the $11.8 billion spent developing the initial capability. NASA) does not plan to measure …
Our current space telescopes have found thousands of exoplanets based upon the slight variation in movement that they cause to the stars they are orbiting, but we have not seen the reflected light from those exoplanets. NASA has a count of exoplanets and candidate exoplanets. We need better and larger space telescopes so that we …
NASA Commercial Space Capabilities office and SpaceX have a 24 page agreed plan to develop the SpaceX starship into a low earth orbit space station design by 2028. This is unfunded and aspirational. The parties will cooperate to try and make it happen. SpaceX with successful Starlink commercial services will have the funds to make …